Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 December 26

= December 26 =

Macro lens for Nikon D5100?
Could someone please recommend me a sub-$1000 macro lens for a Nikon D5100? Primary uses would be insect and wildflower photography. This is a gift for a shutterbug relative, I know nothing about photography. Thank you! The Masked Booby (talk) 03:46, 26 December 2011 (UTC)


 * How macro are you looking, how sub-$1000 are you looking, and does it need to be a lens? The cheapest option is a reversing ring that combines a pair of ordinary lenses into a single macro lens, but the result is limited in capability and awkward to use.  Going up a bit in price, an extension tube will let a regular lens focus closer than normal, giving a macro effect, but they're really only good for wider-angle lenses (and there's no way a bug will let you get that close to it).  The step up from that is a set of close-up filters: they act like a set of magnifying glasses that attach to the front thread of a regular lens.  You need to pick a set with the correct thread diameter for the lens they'll be attached to, and you'll want to look for the more expensive achromatic doublet variety (they're constructed in a way that minimizes chromatic aberration).


 * Stepping up to dedicated macro lenses, wildflower and insect photography have different requirements.


 * For flowers, I use a 135mm 1:5 macro (that is, the image formed on the sensor is 1/5 the size of the actual object): it gives a reasonably wide field of view and good control of depth of field, but it wouldn't be considered a macro lens by purists, since it's not 1:1. Anything in the 75mm-150mm focal length range will give good results, with the major difference being a matter of taste: the higher focal lengths will give a more orthogonal projection, while wider lenses will emphasize the subject relative to more distant objects.


 * For bugs, I use a 750mm 1:2 telephoto lens: it lets me stand a good six feet away while still getting high magnification. Most people don't go to that extreme, but you still need a sufficiently high focal length to avoid disturbing the insect you're trying to photograph.  Typical focal lengths are in the 150mm to 200mm range, and lenses with 1:1 capability aren't cheap.


 * If money isn't a major concern, pick your focal length and buy a Nikon-branded 1:1 macro in that length. If it is, you'll want to do some research and either buy a third-party lens or go with one of the other options for macrophotography. --Carnildo (talk) 10:53, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Walkman MP3 sync
I'm not sure if this question would be better off on the Computing desk, but:

On the model NWZ-E353 Walkman MP3 player by Sony (natch), if you put a song on the Sync list on Windows Media Player that the player already has on it and sync the song, will it duplicate, or will updated information appear, or both? 75.73.226.36 (talk) 16:29, 26 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I can't directly answer (I don't own a Walkman), but in my opinion the best thing to do would be to experiment: try syncing and see what happens. -- Erik Siers (talk) 21:30, 26 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I very seriously doubt it will save the same song file twice. Dismas |(talk) 04:18, 27 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I tried it, and despite very serious doubts, it did duplicate them! It did, however, update the information. Should I reset the player and re-download all my songs again? (There are only about 70). 75.73.226.36 (talk) 16:33, 27 December 2011 (UTC)