Well, sort of. This is just an example of what can be done under duress. I found this dragonfly in the field while walking my dog late this afternoon, but it was very skittish, so after following it from bush to bush I slowly extended the Oly E-300 (with 50mm macro) to arm's length while keeping the dragonfly centered in the viewfinder and periodically updating the focus. I was able to still see the dragonfly (or its head, rather) in the vf when I had the camera fully extended to arm's length, and I started shooting. If you try this, hold the camera so the neck strap is stretched taut against your neck to help stabilize camera movement.


Olympus E-300 + ZD 50mm f2.0 macro, 1/100s @ f3.2, ISO 100, Silkypix. Slightly cropped, resized and sharpened in PS7

Beautiful picture Norm.
And that's an interesting technique. I am going to give that a try.
Thanks for sharing this.

Thanks, Hagar. The trick is to get the subject in focus in the vf, then move the camera slowly away from your eye while keeping the subject centered in the retreating vf. If you lose it, you often have to bring the camera back to the eye to recompose.

Here's a couple more from the side, also shot with extended arms.

Fantastic shots - better than I have got with the viewfinder to my eye!!



Must try this technique



Darren

Thanks, Darren. Luck plays a pretty big role.