Just documenting

The boys got their report cards yesterday. Dor made honor roll (with a 1/2 average, like a/b) and Mal got a “you try hard” award. His marks were all over the place.

I got a tidy paycheck today, so I bought myself a present. Ritz Camera was having a sale on filters (I know, it’s kind of a waste, since I can do it in PhotoShop, but I wanted to experiment without using PS) so I got

  • QUANTARAY 49MM 6X CROSS SCREEN FILTER
  • QUANTARAY 49MM SPOT FILTER
  • QUANTARAY 49MM CLOSE-UP FILTER SET (I got this for macro photography – super cheap alternative, if it works)
  • and I picked up a Q-RAY 18-50MM F/3.5-5.6 DIG ZOOM F/NIK.
  • Seeing as I had gone to price check a Nikon F/1.2 50mm, I didn’t do so bad. I came away with the less expensive lens (which does the same thing) and three filters for less than the Nikon brand lens. I just wish I wasn’t too cheap to pay for over night shipping lol  Eh, it wouldn’t have been here by tomorrow anyway. I guess I could have seen if the local Ritz had it in stock – I just thought about that. No worry. I’ll have plenty of chance to use it, and the lenses I have are perfect for the trip anyway.

    We picked up a Wii Fit – the kids are loving it and I am hoping it does some good. I’ve done more yoga in the past two days than I’ve done in the past two months (longer even) and I’ve had fun doing it. Yay!

    I bought myself a present

    I shouldn’t have, but I did. It was the right price. I got a Reverse Ring Macro for my camera. I’ve been wanting a macro lens, and fuck if they aren’t expensive enough to keep me from getting on because it’s a hobby, not something I’ll be making money back on. This little gizmo was 23$ after shipping and supposedly does a spiffy job of converting my current lens into a macro lens. Good enough for government work anyway.

    For you nosy types, here’s the description:

    Here is a brand new Nikon 52mm lens reversing ring for extreme Macro close up photographs. Macro-photography is one of my favorite forms of photography. You will be surprised to see what is lurking just out of site. You will have so much fun you will hardly be able to stand it! To give an example of what this will do, I will use this illustration, results may vary depending on your lenses, this is just a ballpark figure from what I have here. If you use a 55mm (focal length) Macro lens that has a 1:1 ratio capability and take a photo of a dime you will get almost a full frame of the dime. With this ring attached to the camera the lens mounted in reverse you will almost get a full frame of the date on the dime. This is for extreme Macro and if you use longer lenses with Macro capability you will get ultra close to the smallest subjects! The threads are 52mm so the front ring of the lens you want to mount in the reverse position needs to have a 52mm front ring. You can also use step up or down rings to make this fit other lenses that are bigger or smaller than 52mm. The ring is brand new in the box made in Japan. This is not a Nikon brand item but it is very high quality. This is for the Nikon manual focus cameras and will also fit the Auto Focus Nikon cameras.

    Fun stuff, I can’t wait for it to get here! I almost got a macro/fish eye instead (also cheap as fuck, so how good could it really be, right?) but I can’t see using a fisheye more than a handful of times for the sake of using it.