Such a surprise was my encounter with a dramatically colored red eft. This is the immature land phase of the red-spotted newt, a salamander of the East Coast. I had spotted this beauty on the trail in Frozen Head State Park in eastern Tennessee after a rain. Since these little critters have a toxic skin for most predators, it’s not unusual to see them out after a rain.

I got out the Sigma 150, which, on my Canon Digital Rebel XT, offered an equivalent angle of view of a 240mm lens on a 35mm film camera. That gave a great magnification of the eft without having to be right on top of it, a real advantage of a telephoto macro lens. They’re diminutive creatures and not particularly fond of a big photographer leaning in too close. The lightweight, compact size of the 150mm macro and XT was a joy to use, as you had to hold the camera at the ready while finding and shooting different compositions of the newt.

I was pleased with the way this lens handled and performed under pressure. It has a speedy Hyper Sonic Motor for autofocus as well as a full-time manual focus override, which all worked well on this subject. The large ƒ/2.8 maximum aperture made focusing easier on a bright viewfinder screen, plus it gave more than enough speed and depth-of-field options for a whole range of shooting. The lens includes two special low-dispersion (SLD) glass elements for high color correction (hence the APO designation), and I found the images sharp and crisp, from bee close-ups to setting-sun landscapes.

The lens is available for Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts. Estimated Street Price: $625.

Contact: Sigma, (800) 896-6858, www.sigma-photo.com.