Great Spreadwing Damselfly

I am still going through backup drives for images to post here. But at the same time I am also editing out images I do not need on my backup drives. Which is freeing a lot of room on these drives for more recent work. This is an image of a Great Spreadwing Damselfly. I was using a Canon 70-300mm DO lens (Diffractive Optics) at 300mm on a Canon 7D. I was surprised that lens worked so well on this subject. It is not the “sharpest” Canon zoom lens for fine detail, but is convenient, stabilized & lightweight to carry. Also much shorter, but wider than a “normal” 70-300mm lens because of the Diffractive Optics. It really helps to shoot “raw” files with this lens & use Adobe Camera Raw to pull out more detail and smooth out the nasties.

10 Comments on “Great Spreadwing Damselfly”

belindagroverphotography
May 13, 2020

Lovely! Such an elegant damselfly, we don’t see them too often.

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- Reed Andariese
  May 14, 2020
  
  Thanks Belinda! I usually do not see this type of Damselfly by us.
  
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Eliza Waters
May 13, 2020

Wow, exquisite captures, Reed! Damselflies are so winsome. 🙂

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- Reed Andariese
  May 14, 2020
  
  Thanks Eliza! They are fun to photograph!
  
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bayphotosbydonna
May 14, 2020

Spectacular detail, Reed! Nicely done!!

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- Reed Andariese
  May 14, 2020
  
  Thanks Donna! I was surprised I got that much detail with that lens! But using Camera raw helped a lot!
  
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  - bayphotosbydonna
    May 14, 2020
    
    I shoot raw too. 🙂
  - Reed Andariese
    May 14, 2020
    
    Camera Raw works well with my iPhone images also. You could set the phone to shoot raw files, but I set Adobe Camera Raw to open jpegs as raw files and works quite well!
Pedro
May 14, 2020

Nice pictures, I was wondering your further experience with this special DO lens ?
It’s a 70-300mm in a very small housing and less sharpened than the L models but a lot cheaper to buy and less weight.
Weighing to buy a second hand 70-300 DO IS lens or a 70-300 L IS lens or maybe a 100-400 L IS. I am using a EOS6D Mark II body.

Thanks.

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- Reed Andariese
  May 14, 2020
  
  Hi Pedro! I liked the 70-300mm DO lens. It was a little shorter than a normal 70-300mm but a little wider. If you do not shoot or work on raw files I would not buy the 70-300mm DO. I had both but usually used the DO. I sold my 70-300mm DO years ago, but might try to find another one. I do not think they still make it, so you would have to find a used one. The 70-300mm L would probably give you the best image quality. Hope this helps!
  
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