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| Coast Range Fence Lizard on a Leica M10 w/ Telyt-R 400mm & APO-Extender-R 2x, 800mm effective |
Don't by shy to click on the images to view them bigger - it makes the much more interesting.
I have been going through my library lately as I revamp my website. I was looking for something else entirely when I came across these images I took during the pandemic lock-down. I may have posted them on Instagram at the time - I don't recall. I just remember spending WAY more time doing this than any sane, normal, or moderately busy person would. And to make shooting tiny, fast moving and skeptical animals even more painful entertaining for myself, I shot these on the old Leitz Telyt-R 400mm f/6.8 with the APO-Extender-R 2x (with some close(er)-focus adapters thrown in) mounted to a Leica M10 with Visoflex 020. This is an insane setup that I would not recommend for anyone trying to stay out of the loony bin. I have come to terms with the fact that I have a penchant for making things exceptionally difficult on myself by using doing things like using ridiculous camera combinations. This is further evidenced by my continuation of using the Blogger platform.
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| Insanity. Leica M10 w/Visoflex 020, LR to LM adapter, APO-Extender-R 2x,
Telyt-R 400mm f/6.8. Effectively an 800mm f/13.6. All mounted to a Really Right Stuff panorama rig
as a makeshift gimbal mount on a tripod I don't recognize as my own
(meaning it was likely a gear flip purchase - another hobby of mine). |
This lens focuses like a trombone - in the photo above, you can see a circular silver button atop a small block - that is pushed down, releasing the front half of the tube to slide back and forth, gaining focus. I believe I have read that some later models of this featured a small thumb wheel for fine focusing. I haven't seen it, but I certainly would appreciate it. Trying to nail focus on a lizard's eye, through an awkwardly mounted 2.4 megapixel EVF and battling the friction of a sliding tube is not for the faint of heart.
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| All these lizards are the same species, and unless noted, all shot with the same combo as above. |
What really stuck out to me though was the variety, color and character I saw in all these guys. Raised as a free-range child, I have been chasing and catching lizards since I can remember. The majority of lizards in my home area are Western Fence Lizards, or more specifically, Coast Range Fence Lizard, which is a subset of the former. We knew them as "Blue Bellies," which I won't bother explaining. Seeing how much, if any, coloring they had underneath was always a surprise. Looking more closely as an adult, I am blown away at how much color and intricacy of patterns they have on their top sides. Who knew!?
There are ways to identify males and females and all that jazz. I don't really care. I'm more interested in the beauty and personality of the individuals. I guess that makes me woke. (Though, I did say that stuff about being insane. I'm not sure you can say "loony bin" anymore, so maybe I'm not). For me, similar to birding, I find the camera as a tool to meditate on and appreciate the intricacies of nature. I'm interested enough to look up the species and learn something new about their behaviors, but not enough to identify more boxes to put them in.
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| So shiny! Freshly molted? I am not a herpetologist, but I am curious why he's so glossy. |
According to my metadata, I did this same thing but on the Canon M3 I
had at the time. I assume that was to give myself something smaller to fumble with (and probably try to get that much closer with the crop sensor). Who knows what
I was thinking. They were strange times.
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| Canon M3 w/ Leica Telyt-R 400mm (I don't know if I used the 2x converter or not with these) |
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| Nappy time for this guy. Thinking more, I probably forwent the 2x in favor of the 1.6x crop of the M3, making it merely a 640mm effective focal length, but the same f/6.8. Smart thinking, Dayks. |
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Back to the original Leica setup. Notice his lower left... foot? Hand? Claw? Appendage.
 | | Same guy (or gal) as above. Probably had that rearranged by one of us walking over shifting lumber it was hiding under. Sorry, little buddy. |
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