How do you make the worlds sexiest camera even sexier???

Add the 250D closeup lense, of course! lol

I thought she was a beauty before, but she's down right impressive with this close up lens on. I'm going Nero style with it and leaving it on all the time. The lack of macro was the only drawback when moving up from my G11, but with the 250D I actually prefer the macro ability of the G1X to the G11, mainly becuase of the awesome bokeh which the G11 can't do. I prefer wide angle macro for the type of shooting I do, so I'm really stoked to now have that ability with the G1X.

I hope you enjoy the included images taken with the 250D. The first is of course the impressive G1X, followed by a few of my favorite crystals and then one of a leaf at maximum magnification.

The first of the crystal images is a 12 inch naturally formed Quartz crystal of the variety they call Lemurian Seed Crystals. There's a nice Dragon Eye in the upper left corner in the background. I didn't even notice that until I got home.

The second crystal is a cut and polished piece of water clear Brazilian Quartz, with a formation inside called a phantom. Phantoms are formed when the crystals growth is interupted, and minerals collect on its outer surface. When the crystal resumes growth what was once the surface of the crystal becomes a phantom, where you can see the crystals form as it was at a previous time in history. The crystal was cut and polished by Ray Pinto, however the cut was originally developed by Marcel Vogel, who was an IBM research scientist for 27 years. The crystal is cut with an interior angel of 51 degrees, 51 minutes, and 51 seconds , which is the angle of the Giza pyramids.

Mr. Vogel says: "The crystal is a neutral object whose inner structure exhibits a state of perfection and balance. When it's cut to the proper form and when the human mind enters into relationship with its structural perfection, the crystal emits a vibration which extends and amplifies the power of the user's mind. Like a laser, it radiates energy in a coherent, highly concentrated form, and this energy may be transmitted into objects or people at will."

The beautiful blue heart is carved from a mineral called Chrysocolla, which is perhaps my favorite mineral as I'm a big fan of vivid blue and green. I found it a little spot to hang out on a tree, and it seemed to enjoy that. lol

The final image was a 3000x2000 crop at maximum magnification before I downsized it. I was expecting sharpness to be reduced with the closeup lens, but so far I've not had any problems with soft images, although if shooting at less than f/5.6 the images can be a little soft, however when stopping down it seems to maintain the same great sharpness all the way to f/16.

All of the images are JPEGs right out of the camera, with only a click of contrast and color in Lightroom. RAWs processed in Lightroom have better per pixel detail, but I find the overall presentation is better with the JPEGs the camera produces, especially when bumping up the ISO.

Oh and I don't have monitor calibration equipment, so if my exposures are off feel free to let me know. lol

Hope you enjoy.