I’ve left the city again for the week including a bag so full of gear I could barely lift it. This morning I took my D200 out with the jack of all trades 18–200 f/3.5–5.6 VR (all trades except being fast).
D200, 18–200mm f/3.5–5.6
D200, 18–200mm f/3.5–5.6
I use pretty small thumbnail sizes on this site, which works decently for most of my photography as I tend to aim for strong subject matter with simple composition. Photos that are busier really need to be viewed at a larger size to get the correct effect which I think is true of this image.
D200, 18–200mm f/3.5–5.6
D700, Nikkor-S·C 50mm f/1.4 reversed with K1–5 rings and BR-2
This flower shot is a bit more abstract than I normally go for. I used a reversed 50mm lens mounted on the front of an extension tube. The minimal depth of field and the soft nature of the 50mm lens wide open give it some nice bloom. The magnification is greater than 2x, but I’m not sure exactly how much.
35mm f/1.8 DX — taken with D700, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D
In other news, my friend was recently convinced by a certain someone to purchase a new Nikon D5000 and 35mm f/1.8 DX. I may just have to take the opportunity to steal the lens and give it a little review treatment.
D5000 & 35mm f/1.8 DX — taken with D700, 50mm f/1.4 AF-D
The difference at ISO 25,600 is astounding. I wish there were full sized comparisons in the ISO 2,500 range though.
http://photoscala.de/Artikel/Nikons-D3s-schwelgt-in-hoechsten-ISO-Dimensionen
via 1001 Noisy Cameras
Okay, so this is not the type of pool I normally think of when I hear the phrase “pool party” but then again it’s a bit cold in New York for that. Here’s some decent high ISO D700 samples for sensor-philes, and as always full sized images for the lens lovers. The lens in question is the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D
, and the review is coming.
1/160s, ISO2500 @f/2
For those of you out there who care about subject matter rather than gear — and I assure you such people exist — a pool hall has some really interesting lighting. The bright focused light sources make for interesting shadows and really makes the subject matter pop. The big problem with the lighting is the same as always with light from above: not enough gets into the eyes. There’s a number of photos I wish I had taken, but alas I was there for more than just shooting.
1/125s, ISO2500 @f/2
1/200s, ISO2500 @f/1.8
Several months ago In my review of the Nikkor·C 500mm f/8 Mirror Lens, I predicted that “once I upgrade my camera body to something with ISO performance like the D3/D700 this lens will be given new life.” This Morning, with D700 in hand, I took a very cold — and hence short — walk with the lens. Freed from lower ISO constraints, the mirror lens performs. It’s low contrast and slow, but reasonably sharp and free of chromatic aberration. The most difficult thing is getting perfect focus.
Sparrow — D700, ISO400 1/800s
If you look at it at 100% it seems soft, but I was slightly off focus. The lens requires minute adjustment and would benefit from a viewfinder of higher magnification than the D700’s. Where’s my .95x (or 1x) magnification viewfinder, Nikon? In the end it doesn’t really matter. The photo looks great, even when blown up significantly.
Here the focus was just about perfect. Two score after it was designed, there’s still plenty of resolution for a new camera.
It’s been quiet here on the blog for the last week or so, but that doesn’t mean my life has been, too. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been up to.
Feeding the Squirrels — Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D
There’s a man in Battery Park whose been feeding the squirrels for the last decade or two. He has them trained to come up from a particular side and knows which squirrels like which nuts.
Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AI-S
Nikon 28mm f/2 AI-S, 1.0s @f/22
I would have been able to get much better photos had I had a tripod and ND filter with me at this stream, but alas, I had neither.
Nikon 24mm f/2 AI-S
Finally, I’ve added this fairly bland photo as an example of full frame image quality of the 24mm f/2. The center is brilliant (which is all that matters for DX, anyway) but the edges could use work.
All content © Tai Shimizu unless otherwise indicated.
