picked up an old sigma wide "macro" (1:3) but. its aperture seems to be chosen randomly some of time. turns out this was a known issue on early models and sigma would repair them. this lens is from 2000 and looks basically untouched, so it's probably one of the faulty ones that never got turned in for the fix. i'll try calling sigma tomorrow and see if they'll do the fix on a 20+ year old lens lol. I doubt it but hey it might save me from returning it x . x

update: i returned it just fine 👍

anyway, subject is the same assassin bug on the same plant from last time, but no crop! wowee! BUG!

found an actual tripod and had fun with it in the garden!
using a tripod is fun actually! at least for small things.
speaking of, macro shooting is not fun on a non-close-focusing lens x . x
setting minimum focus distance then moving the whole tripod back and forth, don't recommend! (i guess you do this during Real Macro too, but there you have the wiggle room to focus out to like 1:2-1:4 magnification and still have a Pretty Big small subject).

2nd shot is very busy and i should've stopped the aperture down even more than just f8 but i'm still pretty happy with it.

edited for BON:er issue 1

should've stopped the aperture up a lot more. dang old minimum focus distance shots

+a shot raised 9 stops in post

did not expect nature photos to hit with this camera but hey its nice

my hand is a good subject, it knows just how to pose. b&w on the lx3 has been feeling pretty rewarding lately. trying out new ways for editing. i'm liking where i'm heading.

second image is from adapting my f mount 28mm f/2 to the pentax q using a toilet paper roll... it's not a very good experience, and is soft even when i hit the focus out of luck. eh. using any of my higher focal length lenses like that would be a true nightmare, yet... im still tempted to get a F to Q adapter. at least then i could properly tripod the setup

The Tamron 80-210mm F3.8(4?) is nuts! Another $5 bargain bin lens! Why is the bokeh like that????