So I actually had a different post planned for today but I haven’t been feeling that well and the idea of getting dressed up and pretty for once felt daunting rather than fun.

Instead, I’m going to gush about the cool new toys I’ve gotten recently!

I’d been wanting to play with close-up shots but didn’t want to spent too much money on anything, especially considering I just bought my camera AND a new lens for it, so I decided to go the route of close-up filters.

Et voila!

eBay tip: Set a limit for how much you want to spend and stick to it! I let about four other listings go by because they went up too much and then I snagged these for $6! Waay under budget!

These are awesome! I did accidentally forget to ask what the thread size was, and it turns out it was 49mm when I needed 52mm. At first I panicked, until I discovered the existence of step-down (and step-up) rings! I got mine on Amazon for about $3 shipped. So far no vignetting issues!

This other toy arrived literally twenty minutes ago.

I’ve wanted a prime lens for aaages and kept flipflopping between the 35mm and the 50mm. Eventually I just took my camera out, set it to 35mm and snapped some photos, and then did the same at 50mm. Turns out I like 50mm better. Same thing though, I didn’t want to spend the $200+ on a current lens, so I decided to go vintage!

Meet my new Nikon 50mm f/1.8 Series E!

And yes, this is a fully manual lens, but I hardly use autofocus anyway. If you’re very dependent on autofocus I wouldn’t recommend this route.

Holy crap, guys. This lens is awesome. I’m still figuring out the quirks but I might have a new favorite!

Anddd just a sneak peek of what I’m working on today, taken with the new toy.