I've added new photos to the galleries: Flora - other places, Macro - other places and Macro - other places II. Other than that, I've improved the structure of the pages (max 30 photos per page) to make easier to browse in the galleries.

I've added the Canon MP-E to the Canon lenses page - the best is basically the same that I already published on my previous essay, but I've added some 100% crop taken at 5:1 with various apertures.

Water drops had been photographed thoushands of times, but they are always a cool subject. With a flash, you can freeze the motion of the water, to create fascinating water sculptures. This kind of photos is not too difficult, but it takes a bit of preparation. The first thing to do is to set the camera on the right parameters: RAW file format, M exposure, manual focus...

The new essay is online: Water sculptures

Focal lenght is never enough - so, I recently bought a Sigma 2.0x TC for my Sigma 180mm macro (the reason is the same of the 1.4x - I've already the Canon TC, but it does not fit the Sigma lens). Of course, I was curios to compare the two TCs: the Sigma 1.4x was so good that I've sold the Canon equivalent; the same will hold true even for the 2x TCs?

I've published a comparison of the two TC in the Miscellaneous lens reviews and other tests page!

I've added new photos to the galleries Carnivorous plants and Macro - Upper Nure Valley.

When I used Nikon, I had the 70-300 ED zoom lens. It has been one of the worst lenses that I've ever had - very soft, almost unusable at 300mm, average built quality and slow autofocus. The new 70-300 VR AFS is an huge improvement: in my opinion, it is the best 70-300 5.6 on the market...

I've added the preview of this lens to the Sigma, Nikkor and other lens review page!

The Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1x-5x Macro is the most extreme macro lens currently available in every digital SLR system. When I look through this lens, I feel like Alice in the Wonderland: through this lens, you can see a whole new world of amazing creatures, colors, shapes...even the smallest creatures becomes fascinating alien-like monsters, and you can see...

The new essay is online: The Amazing Canon MP-E 65mm 1x-5x

I've added new photos to the galleries: Flora - Other places,  Macro - Other places and Macro - Trebbia Valley.

Some of these photos had been taken with the amazing Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1x-5x, a truly unique lens! I'm going to publish more info about this lens in the next days.

To photograph flowers and bugs, I often have to place the camera at weird angles, that makes difficult to look into viewfinder. The Canon Angle-Finder C is a useful accessory that can be mounted on every Canon camera (and even some cameras from other brands); it can be rotated by 360 degrees, and it magnifies the viewfinder by 1.25x...

I've updated the article The essential accessories with some info about the angle-finder.

The 18-200 is a superzoom designed exclusively for Nikon cameras with APS-C sensors. Considering the extreme range of focal lenghts and the relatively low price, I didn't expected much from this lens: I have been (very) surprised. Physically, it is really small: it is not much bigger than the Nikkor 18-70 DX, and it is much, much smaller and lighter than the Canon 28-300 L IS USM. The built quality is...

I've added the preview of this lens to the Lenses Previews page!

I've added new photos to the galleries: Macro - Upper Nure Valley and Flora - Upper Nure Valley. I've taken all the new photos during my Macro&Flora workshop, with the Sigma 180 Macro + 1.4x TC - a dream lens for every macro photographer...it gives a great working distance and an awesome background blur!

Other than that, in the following days I'm going to post the preview of Nikkor 18-200 VR, that I've recently tried (on Nikon D70s).

I've added new photos to the galleries: Other Birds, Ducks, Geese and Grebes and Miscellaneous landscapes.

All the new photos had been taken at Texel, The Netherlands, with Canon 600 f4 L IS, 500 f/4 L IS and 70-200 f/2.8 L IS. I'm going to post more about this trip in next weeks!

I've added new photos to the galleries: Flora - Other places and Garden flowers - Gallery II.

I've rewritten the review of one of my favorite lenses - the Sigma 180 Macro. The review now includes in-depth test of the 180 + Sigma 1.4x, with many full size image samples, both JPEG and RAW!

New articles: Sigma 180mm f/3.5 EX APO Macro HSM field review