Before leaving for my trip I had become increasingly frustrated by my 55-250mm kit lens, the lens I use the most, because I was finding the auto focus was becoming decidedly inconsistent and unreliable. Altho I shoot in manual mode, I do tend to use auto focus a lot because I like to shoot moving critters and because I don’t totally trust my eyesight to get it right all the time. I was thinking I would have to get the lens serviced, but didn’t have time before the trip.
But since I arrived here the auto focus has been behaving beautifully! It must have liked the flight over…😊 Today’s post is a series of images that I probably couldn’t have captured with this degree of sharpness in the weeks leading up to my trip…or even in the past year. It’s SO nice to be able to find a subject I want to capture and have a decent expectation that it’ll be in focus! I was delighted with the clarity of this series of images that I captured earlier in the week, a hoverfly (Syrphidea) sizing up a pair of blue flax blossoms (Linum perenne).
Click on images for larger view. 
mythical horse 
Fantastic shots!
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Thank you. I’m very pleased with them!
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Stunning photos! I strive for that kind of sharpness but rarely achieve it. Awesome!
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Thank you. Me too! 😊 I would’ve been delighted to get a couple of them that sharp. To get a series of them was more than I dared hope for…especially the head-on shots.
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Well mission accomplished! 🙂
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Definitely!
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Magnificent images!
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Thank you so much!
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Beautiful photos. I have also been unhappy with my lens that used to take great macro, but the camera store said the lens was fine and it was just me. Maybe I will take it on a trip!
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LOL, yes — you never know! 😊 Thanks for your nice comment…
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Lovely sequence. I like what you were able to do with depth of field and soft background color too.
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Thanks — I’m glad you like it. 😊
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I love this series of shots. You nailed them all with very nice depth of field and focus.
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Thank you for commenting. 😊 I’m very pleased with them.
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You have ample reason to be pleased with them.
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That’s understandable.
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Thanks, Chris. 😊 Your comments are much appreciated!
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This is one of the first posts of yours that I’ve seen, so I don’t know your equipment or how you maintain it. But, I know that when any of my lenses give the first hint of not auto-focusing as they normally do, it’s time to give the front element of the lens a thorough cleaning with glass cleaner. I think that both you and your lens did an excellent job with these photos!
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Thank you. Yes that was the first thing that came to mind when it started giving me trouble. When a thorough cleaning didn’t help I thought it might be the protective filter so I removed that for a dozen outings but that didn’t make any difference either. It now seems to be focusing much more reliably since packing it across the Atlantic… Maybe there is something that is a little loose inside and it received enough of a jostle during the trip to realign whatever it was. Who knows.
Thanks for visiting and leaving the comments. 😊
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