OK, so I still bleed Canon — just look at my receipts over the last five years! — but Nikon really does some cool things to promote their brand, the ease of use of DSLRs in general and to advance some pretty unusual photography. Take the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition, for example.

This has got to be one of the coolest photo galleries I’ve seen. The images are microphotography done well, and the colors and symmetry nature has provided for the subjects are breathtaking. The cool thing is that, from all appearances, both scientists and artists are welcome to enter. And while using Nikon gear doesn’t appear to be a requirement, the contest pays awards as Nikon vouchers, so if you win, you get some exposure, and so does Nikon. Guess that makes sense.

I gotta tell ya, I’m inspired to play with this. Obviously, a microscope is pretty much a requirement — and one that I can’t currently fulfill — as would be some plumbing to attach my 40D to the ‘scope. It’s probably not all that different from the plumbing needed for astrophotography, although the observational gear is quite a bit different.

I haven’t yet put the 40D on the C8 to see what they’ll do together. I still contend that the live view functionality on the 40D is just about the best thing to come along for macrophotography, astrophotography, or anything else where critical focusing is key. If I can get a clear sky tonight, the Andromeda galaxy is high in the sky, and that might be a good target for the evening. Unfortunately, there’s no planetary objects up until much later in the night, with Mars, Venus and Saturn up when I go to work in the morning. If things are quiet next weekend, maybe I’ll try some shots of them from the mountain while I’m visiting.

Watch this space!!! 🙂