cicadas are coming! new camera questions

[JLG]

have been waiting for the 2021 cicadas since 2004!

bought a sony a7siii

only bought the body. no lens yet. lots of lenses out there. ultimately i'd like to get a few lenses but right now i just want to get a good one for some up close cicada pics and vids. will probably be going out at night to see if i can get pics and vids of them coming out of the ground too!

haven't used lenses since high school so this is a bit of a step forward but i'm looking forward to learning/having fun with the new camera

what would be a good lens for insect photos? one for closeups and some pics with a little distance between the camera and subject(in 2004 i could see 100s, maybe 1000s bouncing around a parking lot)

[Mark Tolch]

Sounds like this is gonna be a great thread with some really awesome pics.

[Dick Ringeisen]

This is also a time of year you can save on the cost of meat. Forget those, "Beyond Burgers", just make Cicada patties for the grill.

[Dom D]

I don't know anything about cicadas, Sony lens, or macro photography but that's an impressive hunk of camera you've bought there. What was your thinking in going with the a7siii?

God speed getting that sweet Days Of Heaven footage.

[JLG]

I don't know anything about cicadas, Sony lens, or macro photography but that's an impressive hunk of camera you've bought there. What was your thinking in going with the a7siii?

God speed getting that sweet Days Of Heaven footage.

that is a cicada

went with the sony mainly because it is supposed to be good in low-light, battery life, and i'm a bit familiar with sony already.

had been looking at black magic cameras for a while, a long while, but saw a review of a particular one with very short battery life. major deal breaker.

had been looking at others but kept going back to the sony. might try to get some astro/moon pics.

then at some point, i'll start taking it down into the "sewer" to see how things look with that one compared to what i have already seen with my older equipment.

wanted to get something good for the cicadas tho! been waiting 17 years for this one!

[JLG]

Dom-i see cicadas every year, but this year is a bit different. this is one of the once-every-17-years-cicada-orgy

https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/pu...E-47/E-47.html

i have read that you can hear them coming out of the ground

[Dom D]

Good choice skipping over the Blackmagic. I had a couple days with one last year and managed to destroy it in the process. Great cameras but definitely Production cameras and not really built for the kind of work your talking about. The Sony's autofocus (nearly non existstent on the Blackmagic) will make you happy I think.

[JLG]

Good choice skipping over the Blackmagic. I had a couple days with one last year and managed to destroy it in the process. Great cameras but definitely Production cameras and not really built for the kind of work your talking about. The Sony's autofocus (nearly non existstent on the Blackmagic) will make you happy I think.

got to play with it for a bit yesterday but it started to rain. had a fixed, or prime, 30mm lens on. found a hornet or wasp, think it was a hornet, inside and got a few pics. maybe later i will post one. nothing too spectacular but still learning.

think the sony was the right choice for me

[JLG]

[Paul L]

have been waiting for the 2021 cicadas since 2004!

bought a sony a7siii

only bought the body. no lens yet. lots of lenses out there. ultimately i'd like to get a few lenses but right now i just want to get a good one for some up close cicada pics and vids. will probably be going out at night to see if i can get pics and vids of them coming out of the ground too!

haven't used lenses since high school so this is a bit of a step forward but i'm looking forward to learning/having fun with the new camera

what would be a good lens for insect photos? one for closeups and some pics with a little distance between the camera and subject(in 2004 i could see 100s, maybe 1000s bouncing around a parking lot)

I don't use a Sony camera though have done in the past and have a number of student who swear by them. Most of the Sony sensors are excellent in lowlight situations.

I believe Sony make a couple of excellent macro lenses in the E mount: one of these is 105mm and the other is 90mm. I think the cheapest of these is about $500, and the most expensive is twice that. However, depending on what lenses you've already got, a set of extension tubes will be much cheaper and in many circumstances can work just as well. (I don't have a macro lens for my Fuji but have achieved some pleasing results with an 85mm portrait lens and a set of extension tubes.) This video has some good advice specifically tailored to Sony's E mount system: