Photography by Peppy Doggett
Meadow Brown Butterfly at the MIP Gardens
Photographed on 31 August 2025
Camera: ILCE-7RM3a Sony A7RM3a
Lens: Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD
Settings: f/4.5, 1/6400 sec., ISO-800
About the butterfly:
Code: R3250831
Mésange Bleue on an Olive Tree by the Villa Ndio pool, 29 August 2025
Camera: ILCE-7RM3 Sony A7R3
Lens: Sony DT 55-300mm F4.5-5.6 SAM
Settings: 1/1000 sec., f/5.8, ISO-800
Code: R3250829
About this bird:
Silver-washed Fritillary in Flight
Photographed on 15 August 2025 in Villa Ndio’s “Butterfly Alley”
Camera: Sony A7R3a — ILCE-7RM3a
Lens: Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD
Settings: f/6.3, 1/1600 sec., ISO-1000
About the butterfly:
Code: R3250815
Great lens! Affordable, sharp, well constructed, and light. Good for portraits and general use. I got some of my best portrait shots with this lens, as well as some favorite bird and butterfly shots. Dyxum users give the lens a 4.78 (out of 5) rating overall, and a 4.91 rating for sharpness.
Here is Sony’s promotional blurb:
There’s nothing like the sharpness and smooth bokeh of a well-designed mid-range telephoto prime lens for portraiture, and the SEL85F18 is a standout choice.
Reviews:
Sample images:
My high school — the International School of Bangkok Thailand — where I graduated in 1968, has an all classes reunion every other year in different cities all across the USA. This year it was in Scottsdale Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. I was asked to do photography work at the reunion, including organizing and shooting this group shot in the grounds of the hotel we stayed at. I also did all of the class photos for indiviual classes and class groups, and over 150 candid shots that were posted on the ISB Network’s Facebook page. It was fun an d rewarding work, aknd it is good to be back home!
I am pleased with how this group shot turned out. I used my Sony A7R3 camera with my Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 lens.
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD
This lens is amazing. I have the Sony 24-70mm f4 and I thought it was a bit under-rated given my experience with the lens, which gave excellent results. More recently I got this Tamron lens, which really blows the Sony out of the water. The Tamrom is an inch longer than the Sony un-extended, as one might expect given the larger maximum aperature of the former. But in all other rpspects — build, performance and value — the Tamrom 28-75mm f2,8 is a superior lens.
Phillip Reeve says “The Tamron 2.8/28-75 Di III RXD is the first Tamron lens for mirrorless full frame cameras. The specs of the lens look spectacular and this holds true for the real lens. It is a f2.8 standard zoom lens that handles like the usual f4 counterparts.”
Professional reviews
Sample images
This wide angle lens has two optional adaptors, both of which I have in my collection. One is an ultra-wide angle converter and the other is a fish-eye converter. The first increases the angle to 21mm and the second increases the angle to 16mm.
I want to say I have been a bit underwhelmed by this kit. That said I have gotten some interesting results (see samples below). The 2/28mm gets a 4.22 overall rating on Dyxum, with 4.68 for sharpness. But the lens gives too much distortion yielding a rating of 3.46 in this category.
It is easy enough to snap on the ultra wide angle or fish eye adaptors. These provide for some unique shots suitable for creative photography.
Here is Sony’s promotional blurb:
An excellent choice as a second lens to supplement a basic lens kit, featuring a bright F2.0 maximum aperture and outstanding overall optical performance.
Professional reviews:
Sample images:
Sony SEL24F14GM FE 24 mm f/1.4 GM
This is one of Sony’s very best full-frrame lenses. It ranks at or near the top of the list in all categories — overall, sharpness, color, build, distortion and flare control. Dyxum user ratings give it a five out of five in all these categories.
Sony’s blurb:
Unsparing application of leading-edge technology achieves refined G Master performance with consistently high resolution and soft, natural bokeh even at the widest F1.4 aperture setting.
See this lens at
Professional Reviews
Sample images
Scarce Swallowtail
Photographed 6 July 2025 in the Villa Ndio garden
Camera: Sony ILCE-7RM3 A7rm3a
Lens: Tamron 50-400mm
About this butterfly:
Sony SLT-A77V
I have had this excellent Single Lens Translucent crop-framed camera since 2014. It has served me well with both native Sony lens and high-end Minolta glass. I have used it for all kinds of photography modes — street, landscape, portrait, wildlife and macro photography. Some of my best shots have been taken with this camera paired with my Sony 55-300mm zoom lens, and Minolta 200mm f2.8 APO lens and my Minolta Smooth Trans Focus 135mm f2.8 (4.5) lens.
Professional Reviews
Sample images