Recently in Lenses Category
By Martin Joergensen | December 15, 2008 1:54 PM | Permalink
A few years back I stumbled over a weird contraption called the Lens Baby. A primitive lens construction – no offense, it really is – consisting of a single lens, a bellows and a Nikon mount. No aperture, no focus ring, no electronics, no nuttin'. Just a lens, which you can bend and squeeze to almost any position. The samples I saw shot with this little thing and its price made me order one right away. It's not often you get a lens at less than 100 USD.
It was fun, but not an easy lens to master. I ran around for a couple of weeks and bent and squeezed I did land a few lucky punches, but never really got the effects, which I thought I would, and the lens spent more time in its small plastic bag than on my camera. The loose aperture rings, my inconsistent results, the dark viewfinder. No, I didn't find that easy at all.
But that has changed now!
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Yeah Baby!.
By Martin Joergensen | September 22, 2008 7:33 PM | Permalink
Well, its there! The first and long awaited bright AF-S prime from Nikon.
I have just seen it behind glass at Nikon's booth at Photokina, but expect to hear more about it as the show opens tomorrow and events progress.
At first glance it looks like a classical Nikkor - plain, sturdy, well built. And it will most likely be of a good optical quality matching if not bettering existing Nikon "normal" lenses. I hope to be back with more such as expected price, delivery etc. PS: it should be ready in December at under 450.- USD according to what I hear.
By Martin Joergensen | August 24, 2008 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 3)
I went shooting in the rain yesterday- recording an "On Location" podcast about shooting in the rain. And of course it rained... that was the whole idea. Now, rain and cameras probably isn't the best combo, but you can get some really nice pictures when the weather is rough, and there is only one way to get them: get out there!
So I did. Went out in the worst rain we've had all August, and apart from having a fun day shooting, I got some decent pictures - and a wet camera. I shot with my D200 and my 70-200mm f2.8.
Both have "dust and moisture countermeasures" as Nikon puts it, and I'm sure that has saved me lots of times. I usually don't bother much about rain and dirt, and my philosophy is to get that camera out and shoot some images - no matter the weather or the conditions. OK, it has cost me a few point&shoot cameras but (knock on wood) I still haven't sacrificed an SLR to the gods of the elements.
I went shooting again today with the same combination of gear - in great weather by the way - and it all worked like a charm.
By Martin Joergensen | August 15, 2008 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2)
As the Olympics roll over the arenas of Beijing and the screens of the world, I have been following a lot of photographer's blogs. I have noticed two things that has made me a happier photographer:
1) An increasing number of professional photographers share their experiences and knowledge through blogs, picture galleries and articles in their respective media. This is a very positive development in the photographic community, where more and more see the value and importance of sharing and the positive effects of telling people what you know.
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Canon:Nikon - 1:2.
By Martin Joergensen | August 11, 2008 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1)
I was together with my family this weekend and had a great time with nice weather and a barbecue. The morning after our dinner it was raining and everything was covered in soft light and raindrops.
So I dug out my 85mm f1.8 and started shooting the remains of the night before as well as other things around me. I oftentimes use this lens at full open and shoot with a very shallow depth of field. I love the way it renders out-of-focus areas - AKA bokeh - really soft. The way this lens registers things, you can imagine how the even more praised 85mm f1.4 works. Creamy! But the price difference is huge. I got my f1.8 lens for about 300 US$ or 200 Euros used, which is cheap here. It's listed at US$ 650.- from new in Danish shops! You get it for 400 US$ as new in the US shops, while the 1.4 version is 1000 US$, so a significant difference.
The images came out with a lot of variation in color saturation, so I converted them to B/W using a simple Channel Mixer with varying filter settings.
PS: People subscribing through RSS - remember to visit the page to see the slideshow.
By Martin Joergensen | August 3, 2008 2:17 AM | Permalink
Well, I don't want one so much that I'd go out and pay the dizzying 5,000 US$ it costs - not to mention the current Danish price of some 34,000 DKK, which translates into approximately 7,100 US dollars! Yikes.
My budgets don't stretch that long, and my income from photography don't soar so high - unfortunately. Not to mention the fact that two of the three lenses I use most are DX lenses, and I'd just have to add a 14-24 and 24-70 to the list. Ouch, ouch and triple ouch!
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I want a D3!.
By Martin Joergensen | July 9, 2008 11:21 AM | Permalink
So you want to shoot like McNally? Well, here's step one: gear up. Renowned Nikon shooter Joe McNally's assistant Brad Moore has compiled a list of the gear the the McNally crew uses.
Whoa!
I did a head count of my gear recently to have a list for the insurance in case something happened and was actually pretty satisfied with what I saw. But my list is about one tenth of this one in length and probably about one third in quality. OK they do list each gel color separately. If I did that I could add a few items to my list. But it's still not quite the same. I know when Brad writes D3 it should say D3's (three at least) and when he writes D700 and SB-900 it also most likely to be more than one of each. Products which aren't even in the shops yet.
What can I say? Galloping NAS once again. More like a NAS stampede...
Sigh!
By Martin Joergensen | July 2, 2008 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1)
Scott Bourne, one of the hosts of the excellent
podcast TWIP (This Week In Photography) is selling his Canon gear and
buying Nikon in stead.
Now this is no "great, another convert!" sermon, but rather a comment on some of the reflections Scott made before the change - and quite a lot of envy over Scott's shopping list....
He is obviously a serious shooter. His Canon gear has consisted of high-end Canon bodies with a recent acquisition of the flagship EOS1DS Mk. III (Yup, Canon likes long names).
His lenses have been what Canonians refer to as "L-glass". In the Nikon world that would be similar to the lenses with gold rings - even though that will not quite cover it. The 85mm f1.8 has no gold ring... but I digress.
Continue reading From Canon to Nikon.By Martin Joergensen | June 26, 2008 11:11 PM | Permalink
...or is it?
The rumor smiths are now totally boiling over with confirmations of the existence of a new full frame Nikon body. Online announcements, price lists, spy pics of catalog prints, even pictures of the camera itself. The number of indications seem almost overwhelming. The specs are very precise and seem legit to such an extent that it really is plausible that Nikon is launching a new D300-like FX-body any day now.
Continue reading D700 is happening....