But it's too dark now to be stalking damsels

If my internet sources are correctly interpreted this is the female Banded Demimoiselle (from just over a week ago):



Female Banded Demoiselle damselfly? by Analyst 1, on Flickr

The K100d has quite a weak hot filter (the one in front of the sensor) It's not difficult to get shutter speeds that can be hand held even with the kit lens. (Playing around last week I took an indoor 720nm IR portrait at 0.7s f5.6 200ASA that was reasonably exposed - slight camera shake, but that would have been fine at 800ASA)
Getting them properly in focus is more of a problem, as IR focuses at a different point then visible light. This difference varies considerably from lens to lens

My dominant eye has change around over the years.
About 20 years ago (with prescription glasses) I found at a fair my shooting was MUCH better with my left eye. (Despite the awkward sighting being right handed)

For most of the last 5 years (without glasses), my right eye was the one for distance views whilst the left worked well for close up. I found with both open I could chose which eye to use depending on what I was viewing. (My options claimed glasses to correct my eyes to work together would have too much difference & give me headaches.)

Now my left eye has been sorted, and is again the better of the two for distance work. Both are now rated at 6/6 (20/20 in Imperial) but the right has slight keratoconus (noticeable only with pinpoint lights - stars etc). Unfortunately for reading both now struggle

Indeed, & a male, the female being metallic green without the bands on the wings.

Cracking photos

Assuming your tripod has a standard 3/8 screw (or a 1/4-20 screw) then yes other heads will fit OK. As far as I know all tripods with removable heads use one of these threads.

My Manfrotto came with a reasonable pan head but I found it too fiddly for long lenses & switched to a video head. (Pan & tilt in 2 dimensions with an adjustable drag control) A gimbal head may have suited me better but I find the prices excessive.
On the Uniloc tripod I find a decent ball head works well. (Cheap ball heads are IMHO even less use than cheap tripods!)

The only panning head I use is built into my lightweight budget tripod - not suitable for even remotely demanding shots - so I don't feel qualified to advise on them.

I like No 1. In a quirky way I think the eye looking out, together with the heads tilting towards each other, works despite breaking the usual rules.
Personally I think I'd prefer no 2 at the 17mm end of the zoom, making the people clearer and doing without the pillars. I'm not convinced that the fish-eye framing helps this shot, perhaps only because it is off-set, whilst the distortion (& DOF) works brilliantly in the first one.

The TC used here is only a budget 3x macro focusing model, but it still proves useful occasionally. This uncropped shot is of a a tiny spiderling only about 2-3 mm long, which my 100mm macro struggled with on it's own.




I these situations I usually add a reversed 50mm as a close up lens, but for a change I tried out the macro TC (Having just tried it out with the 600mm reflex)

The additional focusing power of this TC gets in significantly closer. (Its designed to be used to get to 1:1 with a 50mm prime.)

Great set, though I'd prefer them without the dramatic tilts - Can't understand why that is fashionable!

PM sent in case Oriel doesn't buy it.
I've been cursing the A setting of mine for a while!

My first two accepted were an owl & a par of butterflies, so it's not just winged creatures - more like the usual random factor...