A praying mantis and the Vivitar Series 1 90mm Macro

With interchangeable lenses and larger sensors, these two popular camera styles appeal to the professional in all of us.
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melek
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A praying mantis and the Vivitar Series 1 90mm Macro

Post by melek »

This was hanging on to the frame of the front door last night, and it was still there this morning.
mantis_01_10.17.25.jpg
mantis_02_10.17.25.jpg
It looks like it's missing an antenna, but I looked again. The other antenna is still there. These are such bizarre-looking insects with their triangular heads.

I shot this with the aforementioned Vivitar Series 1 90mm Macro on a Sony NEX-7. I did not use the "Macro adapter," because I didn't need to get that close.

A couple of thoughts:
  • This lens is heavy.
  • I enlarged the view, which of course magnifies camera shake.
  • When shooting very close, you have to stop down the lens to f/5.6 or smaller. This is a 90mm lens, so depth of field is shallow, even at smaller apertures. This meant that I had to increase the ISO to 800 to minimize camera shake.
  • Take a lot of photos, because of the narrow depth of field.
  • 90mm gives you more working distance between you and your subject. This is important for insects, I think.
  • Love this lens. A great lens in the 1970s and still a great lens today.
Last edited by melek on Fri Oct 17, 2025 3:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Fix some minor things in the last sentence.


-Mike Elek
Julio1fer
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Re: A praying mantis and the Vivitar Series 1 90mm Macro

Post by Julio1fer »

Impressive!


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