# OOF Ecstasy. Fuji 80mm Macro



## jcdeboever (Jun 4, 2018)

I think this lens can really do a lot of things if I could harness it's power. I need to journal this lens for sure, like the 50-140. These two lens are really artistic and can produce a wide scale. Here are four, hardly touched, just cropped. 

1. medium close, wide open custom chrome



 

2. way back, cropped big time for composition that was pre visualized. custom velvia 


 

3. almost uncropped


 

5.


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## Jeff G (Jun 4, 2018)

Nice batch JC.


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## smoke665 (Jun 4, 2018)

Nice JC, this maybe some of the best SOOC you've done yet. Colors are fantastic.


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## 407370 (Jun 4, 2018)

oooooh nice!!!
I been working on flower macro myself for a while and now I can see what I need to get right.
Well done


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## Gary A. (Jun 4, 2018)

Very nice, but all can be improved with some post.  ... at least to my eye and taste.


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## Fujidave (Jun 5, 2018)

Good colourful set JC, love the last one great shot.


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## jcdeboever (Jun 5, 2018)

Jeff G said:


> Nice batch JC.





smoke665 said:


> Nice JC, this maybe some of the best SOOC you've done yet. Colors are fantastic.





407370 said:


> oooooh nice!!!
> I been working on flower macro myself for a while and now I can see what I need to get right.
> Well done





Gary A. said:


> Very nice, but all can be improved with some post.  ... at least to my eye and taste.





Fujidave said:


> Good colourful set JC, love the last one great shot.



Thanks everyone.  I'm really at a loss with post processing. I have no idea how to do much in software. I was thinking of taking a class at some point along this journey. Every time I try to do something in post, I don't care for the changes. I trust it is from a lack of understanding the tools.


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## Donde (Jun 5, 2018)

Great colors!


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## smoke665 (Jun 5, 2018)

@jcdeboever There really isn't anything wrong with your approach to create in camera. It obviously works for you and you're happy with it so don't beat yourself up.

For me my style is to shoot for maximum data that can manipulated into something that I envisioned when I took the shot. We both approach a shot similarly and the better the exposure the better the final result. To say you don't do much in software is a bit of a misnomer, as every time you chose a processing feature in camera you are using software to convert the image. I have built in feature on the K3ii and the K1MKII, that I could just as easily apply in camera, but for the most part they are global effects. The new one goes a step further by using face recognition software to apply specific skin tone treatments. Call me weird  but I like the further control in post that I can apply as I see it, not as the camera manufacturers think it should be.


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## jcdeboever (Jun 5, 2018)

Donde said:


> Great colors!


Thanks bud. Yup, fuji does a bang up job on color rendering. I have found the standard or default really nice on flowers. I was using a custom velvia simulation for a while but have gone away from it.


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## jcdeboever (Jun 5, 2018)

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever There really isn't anything wrong with your approach to create in camera. It obviously works for you and you're happy with it so don't beat yourself up.
> 
> For me my style is to shoot for maximum data that can manipulated into something that I envisioned when I took the shot. We both approach a shot similarly and the better the exposure the better the final result. To say you don't do much in software is a bit of a misnomer, as every time you chose a processing feature in camera you are using software to convert the image. I have built in feature on the K3ii and the K1MKII, that I could just as easily apply in camera, but for the most part they are global effects. The new one goes a step further by using face recognition software to apply specific skin tone treatments. Call me weird  but I like the further control in post that I can apply as I see it, not as the camera manufacturers think it should be.


Thanks. These days, I mostly just convert the raw as is. I check the histogram for blinking highlights, if none, I just convert it. If there are blinking highlights, I pull them back. I rarely even get those now, I can usually look at a scene in viewfinder and adjust ec and no blinking lights. It really is a wonderful camera, it just gives me what I want in camera 99% of the time. 

I eventually want to get more creative, and I think post could do that if I knew what to do. I am slowly working on previsualizing more dramatic looks to images and journaling my thoughts as opposed to actually performing them in post. I have a running folder of select images (roughly 20) that I plan on exploring through software. However, it's on the back burner, because I am in the process of finishing my darkroom. I am focused on wet printing now and will begin that journey in a week or two.


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## smoke665 (Jun 5, 2018)

jcdeboever said:


> I can usually look at a scene in viewfinder and adjust ec and no blinking lights.



Not sure if it's a Pentax thing or all cameras are this way, but I seek to expose to where it kisses the right. If I stop before any blinkies, when I import the histogram registers a 1/4 to a 1/2 stop under. If I expose to where the blinkies are barely visible when I import it's right on the money.



jcdeboever said:


> I eventually want to get more creative, and I think post could do that if I knew what to do.



I actually envy you and your patience in camera, so I strive to be more like you in that respect, because I sometimes find myself a bit lazy about knowing I can fix it in post, but I find there is a whole new world that opens up in post.  Don't like a background, change it. Don't like the colors change them, don't like the expression on one person out a group shot, change it, nothing quite fits the vision you wanted initially, then go to files to pick and choose the images to combine. With in camera the creative process starts and ends there, with post it never ends.


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## SquarePeg (Jun 5, 2018)

Lovely set!  Love that first one especially.  The 60mm is still my favorite lens!!!  I've been using the Lensbaby velvet 56 quite a bit lately but in looking at my photos, the ones taken with the 60mm are my favorites.


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## jcdeboever (Jun 5, 2018)

SquarePeg said:


> Lovely set!  Love that first one especially.  The 60mm is still my favorite lens!!!  I've been using the Lensbaby velvet 56 quite a bit lately but in looking at my photos, the ones taken with the 60mm are my favorites.


Thank you. I miss my 60. However, I'm still Trying to figure out the 80. As far as creative lenses in the Fuji lineup, I have to give the edge to the 50 - 140 at this point. Then probably the 60. The 35F 1.4 Has a lot of possibilities. The 56 is driving me insane, because I miss a lot of shots with it. Not sure if it's my copy or it's just a difficult lens to use. It seems to me that it focuses really slow and hence the reason I miss a lot of shots with it. But if you nail the focus with that 56, it is pretty stellar. I may move on from the 56. I suspect the 56 is pretty much a portrait lens and hungry for a tripod. I've asked around and it is considered a slow, precise type lens.


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## SquarePeg (Jun 5, 2018)

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> > Lovely set!  Love that first one especially.  The 60mm is still my favorite lens!!!  I've been using the Lensbaby velvet 56 quite a bit lately but in looking at my photos, the ones taken with the 60mm are my favorites.
> ...



I think you would love the Lensbaby 56.  Super sharp when stopped down, really soft with a glow when wide open.  Since you love to use manual focus, it would be right up your alley.  And about a 1/4 of the cost of the Fuji 56...


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## Gary A. (Jun 5, 2018)

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> > Lovely set!  Love that first one especially.  The 60mm is still my favorite lens!!!  I've been using the Lensbaby velvet 56 quite a bit lately but in looking at my photos, the ones taken with the 60mm are my favorites.
> ...


That's the reason I stayed away from the 56mm.  85mm FOV (FF) is one of my most used focal lengths, but I think the slowness of the focus would drive me crazy (as I don't do many 'formal' portraits).  It was a similar problem with the fast Canon 85mm, the front element is so large and heavy that the little motors struggle to focus the sucker.


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## Gary A. (Jun 5, 2018)

jcdeboever said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> > Nice batch JC.
> ...


Yep, lack of getting your hands dirty.  I have a similar problem with flash.  I am crappy with flash, because I am crappy with flash, I rarely use it ... as I rarely use it ... I will remain crappy at flash.  One of those vicious circles.


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## jcdeboever (Jun 5, 2018)

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> > SquarePeg said:
> ...



I've considered the Burnside 35.


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## SquarePeg (Jun 5, 2018)

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> > jcdeboever said:
> ...



Lots of positive feedback on that one in the Lensbaby Unplugged Facebook group.


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## Steven Dillon (Jun 6, 2018)

My favorite is image #2.  Nice.


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## Breezy85 (Jun 6, 2018)

Love the detail in that second one. Makes my allergies stir up just looking at it. Haha


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## jcdeboever (Jun 6, 2018)

Steven Dillon said:


> My favorite is image #2.  Nice.





Breezy85 said:


> Love the detail in that second one. Makes my allergies stir up just looking at it. Haha



Thanks, I appreciate it.


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## birdbonkers84 (Jun 11, 2018)

2nd one is really striking


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## jcdeboever (Jun 11, 2018)

birdbonkers84 said:


> 2nd one is really striking


Thank you. #1 is my favorite.


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## Gary A. (Jun 11, 2018)

#3 pour moi.


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## HLXNebula (Jun 16, 2018)

#2 is excellent! Feels like you're getting pulled into the center.


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