Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees

[knb]

I have many times tried (a bit casually) to catch bees or bumblebees in flight with micro-nikkors. But it mostly fails, as their speed is quite high compared to the distance from the camera. This day I tried again, with a 105 f/2.5 late pre-AI lens. Nowhere near a macro lens, and it probably lacks the resolution of macro lenses at the near limit. But it forced me to get a bit further away from my target, and that actually helped getting something that perhaps can be called keepers.

Edit: I have corrected the lens version, it has not even been AI-converted so I do not really understand why I originally wrote just "AI".

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Apparently you have got on speaking terms with the pollinators of the Echinacea. Nice close-ups and colour combinations, by the way. The 105 f/2.5 never fails to deliver.

[knb]

Thanks Bjørn. I found the green background pleasing both for the Echinacea and the bumblebee. Your opinion about the 105 f/2.5 is shared by me, it is after all my default walk around lens.

For some strange reason I have misinformed about the version of the lens, it is actually a late (K) pre-AI.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Thus with the "Gauss" design and multicoating, both features which contributed to even better performance of this old classic.

[Bent Hjarbo]

Apparently you have got on speaking terms with the pollinators of the Echinacea. Nice close-ups and colour combinations, by the way. The 105 f/2.5 never fails to deliver.

+1
Well done, not that easy with an MF lens, I must try as well, I have the AiS version, and also the Sonnar design.

[Anthony]

Star shots, especially §1.

[DNSJR]

wonderful shots; much appreciated, thanks for posting

[Jakov Minić]

The colors and the bokeh are just stunning!
Well done

[Frank Fremerey]

Love these shots. One of my favourite topics. Bees in flight. Wonderful colours and precision.

[Akira]

These are all stunning shots.  I'm thrilled by the rivalry tension between these two guys!  Thanks for sharing!

[knb]

Thanks a lot guys, glad you liked it.

Bjørn: Indeed. I guess that the optics/coatings are the same on the K and the Ai, mechanically they differ of course.

Bent: Actually, I do not think AF would have helped me much here. I needed to pre-focus to be sure I had both the (bumble)bee and the flower in focus, not 100% successful in all pictures I'm afraid. All were hand-held for the flexibility of changing target, a tripod would have helped in other aspects though. Do you see any real-world difference between the results from the Sonnar and the Gauss by the way? Thank you for your comment.

Anthony: Thanks. In the first one I do like the framing of the background flowers, which makes it more tidy than the second one.

DNSJR: Thank you. I have seen that you have contributed with bees as well, you have some of them almost drowning in pollen. Pretty extreme.

Jakov: Thanks a lot. I also feel that the colours work. This lens is nice for bokeh believers of course (I am one of them). All are taken at f/4, I stopped down a bit to have some DOF for my subjects.

Frank: Thanks to a fellow bee photographer. I know you did a series of this topic earlier, pursuing the in-flight picture. It is actually a bit harder than it seems (which you know), you have a lot more experience than me by now.

Akira: Thank you. I also enjoyed the interaction between the species. There were no real confrontations though, as they were all too concentrated with their work.