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Photo#11595
Cranefly - Nephrotoma ferruginea - female

Cranefly - Nephrotoma ferruginea - Female
Springfield, Virginia, USA
February 18, 2005
Size: 18mm (body)
I was eating a midnight snack last night when I found this cranefly on a wall in my kitchen near the ceiling. Having been deprived of decent entomological subjects to photograph all winter, I coaxed it down gently onto a table so I could take some pictures.

Images of this individual: tag all
Cranefly - Nephrotoma ferruginea - female Cranefly - Nephrotoma ferruginea Cranefly - Nephrotoma ferruginea Cranefly - Nephrotoma ferruginea

Moved
Moved from Tiger Crane Flies.

Nephrotoma ferruginea
This crane fly has the typical ferruginea markings: rusty thoracic stripes; two black marks in front of the wings; black outlining to some of the thoracic stripes; triangular dorsal abdominal patches; almost no black at the tips of the femora.

WOW!
Okay, what equipment are you using? Those are saaweet!

 
equipment
I'm currently using a Nikon D70. For the first two pics, which show a large part of the cranefly, I used a 105mm true macro lens attached to a 2X teleconverter (aka tele-extender). The closeup of the head was done by adding a reversed 50mm normal lens (set to f/1.8) on the end of the 105mm lens. I practiced using the reversed lens while taking pictures of thrips, and doing so allowed me to photograph the cranefly's head which was roughly 2mm wide or less. The working distance was so small, though, that I kept hoping I wouldn't accidentally touch the insect with the lens and send it flying away. Light was provided by an off-camera flash unit placed on the same table as the insect and attached to the camera's accessory shoe using a cord. All my photos have been taken while hand-holding the camera, which isn't the best way for maintaining sharpness. I really should invest in a decent tripod.

 
Thanks!
...you've got me inspired to upgrade some of my equipment:)

 
Nikon D70
I too use the D70 with Nikon's 105 macro lens. Difficult to beat for close-up work; until next week! The D70 is a 6 million pixel camera. Later this month, Nikon should release its D2X that has a whopping 12.4 million pixels. High priced, but with its release you may see the D70 drop appreciably in price.

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