Rediscovering an Old Friend

Five years ago I was a film photographer... student. I was in high school, and I was using a Nikon N75 for my b+w photography class. My parents got the camera for me only after all other options were ruled out, and we paid a smooth $250 for it at Ritz Camera.

It came with this cute little Quantaray 28-90mm lens, with macro capabilities at 90mm. Back in that high school photography class, I often wondered what that macro thing was, and just never bothered to ask. I was having too much fun with the projects.

After that class it went in my closet, and wasn't heard from again until I let a friend borrow it for the same class. Came back home in perfect condition, and back in the closet it went. That was about two years ago.

I recently thought to ask about the lens though, and if you could take a lens from a film camera and use it on a digital one. Felt kind of like an idiot for asking, but hey, I only know how to use a lens, not too much of the hardware. The answer was how I thought though--yes, I could.

So I dug out the N75, and I switched that Quantaray from the N75 to the D200, and went to town.

I have been itching to do macro for a while now, and wishing I had the thousand some-odd dollars for a beautiful macro lens to do it with. I've been trying to fudge it with what I have at low apertures, and in very few cases it kind of worked. But after my failed water drop stuff, I realized I really needed the macro lens.

Do you know how badly I wanted to put my head through a wall for being so dense to not have thought about my old N75 until now? Wow... I've had a macro lens collecting dust in my closet for five years.

Playing with it tonight was euphoric, to say the least.

Here are my results, re-shooting will be coming up after some feedback. Enjoy! And don't be afraid to leave me some comments and critiques! You can view more of my photography at http://www.photo-phantasy.com


This was the first shot. The focus is definitely a bit off, but I really loved the idea and the angle, so I included it. It is going to be re-shot.


I had forgotten I had these little daisy buttons... until tonight. I really loved how it "reflected" on the fabric, but I need to re-shoot it with some better focus as well. Still, the concept makes me smile and I wanted to share it.


Looking at this shot makes me smile... a lot. I totally planned this, and pushed colour theory as far as I could.


For this, I had a broken bead and some interesting fabric. I think I'm going to re-shoot it and try to adjust the focus a bit, but I still really like this shot as it is as well.