First of all, I had to crop a 4000x3000 pixel file to 677x961 pixels - otherwise the Mantis would have been only a green blob in a sea of green leafs. Then I had to shoot with ISO 400 again to get a manageable shutter speed. This of course means that there is considerable noise - visible if you blow the picture up to 100%.
Then there is the issue with focusing - because of all the leafs in the way, I have to disable the auto-focus and do it manually. No problem, if you have a DSLR with a good macro lens. which I don't have at my disposal now. My old trusty Nikon D70 has some kind of electronic hick up, which leads to all kinds of weird behavior. This is a known problem for this camera, and I already had it fixed once under warranty. But now, six years later, there is no warranty anymore, and also the technology has of course made giant leaps in the meantime, so it is about time to replace this machine with something new and shiny.
But until this new wonder weapon arrives, I have to cope with the Fujifilm Finefix S100fs - which is a fantastic camera, but very frustrating for macro work.
First of all, the macro mode only works with the lower end of the lens, at 28 mm. Everybody who ever tried to shoot macro, knows that this is not what you want. Macro lenses are usually between 60 mm ans 200 mm.
Then, the camera has a manual focusing mode - which is frustrating to say the least. The focus ring does not work directly on the lens, but activates an electrical motor, which then in turn activates the lenses. Needless to say that adjusting the focus is hit and miss - well, more miss than hit.
The S100fs is a perfect example for an all-round camera, it is very good at most uses, but once you stray from the mainstream, it is merely adequate, or even not usable at all.
So, to make a long story short, for this kind of photographic experience, one most certainly needs specialized equipment.
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