BEST COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA MACRO

Insecta: Lepidoptera
Gelechiidae, Dichomeridinae
Dichomeris zonata Li & Wang, 1997

Shek Kong, Yuen Long, Hong Kong
This species is known from two specimens collect in Yunnan Province (Simao and Menglun) and is common at several localities in Hong Kong.

Photo notes
I was pushing the limits of the coolpix5000 here. This moth is just 7mm long, so there is minimal depth of field and I couldn't get totally square on to the moth (hence the apical ends of the wings not being in focus). This is the old CP5000 model, 5mpix and only a x2 optical zoom, with a x4 digital zoom that is very pixelated above x3; on this photo I used the digital at x2, giving an effective macro ratio of about 3:1. The lighting is natural - early morning light, so no significant shadow; downside of this was the slow shutter speed (1/20 second) - so I had to rest the camera on the side of the moth trap to give stability for a long exposure as I didn't have my minitripod (a Slik compact) to hand. I set (as is my normal practice) the camera to aperture priority, to maximum (normally f7.something - it varies according to the zoom magnification in use; though the EXIF info says f6 in this case!) to make best use of depth of field.
Moth notes
This species illustrates several features of the genus Dichomeris and the family Gelechiidae in general. The most important point is the labial palps, which are a somewhat extreme example here, but the point is valid in general - note the heavily scaled 1st and 2nd segments, which jut out in front of the head, then the naked third segment which is long, slender, recurved and looks as it it's been stuck on perpendicular to the second segment.

All you need is a crappy compact digital camera and a decent magnifying glass. The best thing to use is a 50mm prime film SLR lens.