Category : The Learning Center

 

2.  That he made 24″X36″ prints with ease from that camera.  I knew that was possible, but after seeing his prints up close, I was even shocked myself, they were breathtaking, and from a DX camera!!!

 

3.  His last reason was the one that shot me between the eyes!!  He said he wanted to show his students that you could do good work without spending a fortune on cameras and lenses!  I was stunned, I knew he was right, and I believe that myself, but I sure wan’t putting it into practice.

 

Here I write this blog and give advice on gear, but have been a little bit, o.k. a lot of a snob, about gear. I decided to turn over a new leaf, and this is what I plan to do;

It’s time for some New Years Resolutions about my photography:

A.  In the new year I’m going to force myself to learn some new things about the gear I own and how to use it to the best of my ability.

B.  I will designate periods of time;  trips, assignments, maybe even a few weeks or a month at a time, and use just one set of gear to discover just what is possible with it.  I plan to do a period with just a point and shoot camera, actually several different ones.  A period of time with just one body and one lens, and probably not a zoom, just a single focal length lens, (like a D600 and a 50mm f1.4 lens).  I plan to do a period of time with just an iPhone, and even a small manual focus system, and just one zoom in my autofocus system.  I’m going to devote time to just DX , and time to just FX.

C.  To keep myself honest, I will let you guys know what time period I’m doing what, and then show the results on the blog!

So the big question is, why am I doing t his?  Of course the first part is Mike has shamed me into trying to think less about the gear and more about the image.  Part two is that I truly want to be less of gear snob!!!  But lastly, and most importantly, I am entering a new stage of my life and I have decided I want to become a serious student again, and learn as much as I can.  I know that I’m surrounded by people that excel at different aspects of photography and I want to absorb as much of that knowledge and wisdom as I can.

No teacher is worth his or her salt if they are not also devoted students, so it’s back to school for this old dog!  Surely there are a few new tricks I can learn!

So it’s starts today, for the next several days I’m  using the D600 and a 50mm f 1.4 AF lens to shoot Christmas themed stuff, expect to see some results soon. One camera – one lens, hey I’m excited, I just my learn something here!!!  Thanks Mike……

Blessings,

the pilgrim

My buddy Kent Ervin sent this shot to me, thought it was appropriate for my new experiment, “suspended over the water!”   Sure hope that old dog can swim!

I got a few surprising emails after yesterday’s post, the most interesting comment was this one; “I was surprised that you seemed to favor some of the older lenses to the newest ones, are they really better?”  Let me attempt to clear that up.” it depends!”  First I own the 16-35 AF-S VR f4, the current newest super wide, modern Nikkor lens.  I also own the 24-120 AF-S VR f 4 once again, the newest, and latest lens of it’s focal length.  Nikon’s most modern lenses employ some great technology including very fast focusing speed, modern integrated coatings to reduce flare and increase contrast, and Extra Low Dispersion (ED) glass.  All this adds up tot some of the finest lenses we’ve ever seen in history.  Now, having said that, that doesn’t mean some of these same engineers didn’t design some exceptional lenses in the past!  Choosing gear is always a compromise between budget, needs, and the kind of work you do!  I will use my self as an example because I don’t know anyone else as well as I know myself.

I shoot, mostly, subjects that don’t move very much; landscapes, close-ups, old rusting cars and trucks, old historic buildings, and Americana subjects.  Therefore, I don’t need super fast focusing, and don’t need VR very much since I shoot from a tripod 90% of the time .  I also have limited funds to apply to equipment, and lastly, I’m a throwback!  I still love the feel of the old lenses, how smooth they focus with such gloriously tight fit.  So shooting with manual focus lenses is not an issue for me.  It takes more time, and you have to be very careful, however, you never miss a shot because autofocus didn’t work!!   98% of the time my autofocus lenses work just fine. The truth is, I just love shooting the way I learned to, long ago, turning the actual aperture ring, and focusing manually.  The modern Nikon DSLRs that I use the most, all have a wonderful focusing aid for manual focusing that is deadly accurate, and once you get use to it, you can do it pretty rapidly, as if I need to focus rapidly!!!

There is another reason to use some of the older glass, you can!!!  Nikon in it’s infinite wisdom has never made older glass obsolete.  The venerable F mount has never fundamentally changed, and all modern serious DSLR are set-up to take full advantage of the older lenses!  So I guess that was a long answer to your question, yes, the new lenses are great, but the older glass is still pretty spectacular as well.  It’s a matter of using what you enjoy, and what works best for  you.

Now let’s talk money.  Let’s start with bodies.  I don’t write about any other brands of gear here except Nikon, because I’m simply not as familiar with other brands.  My advise would be to buy the most current cameras available, as the technology continue to speed ahead.   The latest bodies, especially the D7000, D600, D800 and D4 are all marvelous examples of the camera makers craft.  I personally use the D7000, the D600, and D800 the most, once again just don’t need the speed of the D4, though it is a marvelous camera!

The reason for writing this is I meet a lot of folks that really want to shoot great images, but simply don’t have the budget for the latest most expensive gear.  Truthfully, I’m proud to work for Nikon, because it is obvious that their philosophy makes allowances for those that may have to find an alternative way to still be a serious shooter.  With a reasonable budget you can own a great camera body and until you can come up with the cash to buy the latest gear, you have a wealth of older lenses to choose from!!  I’m currently using the D600 a lot with some of the older, less expensive, manual focus glass and it is a tremendous marriage of the old and the new!!!!

In no area is budget cutting more successful than in close-up shooting, the image below was made with a used 70-210 AF Nikkor lens I picked up for $130., with addition of a Nikon 5T close-up diopter that is long discontinued but can sometimes be found used for around $100!!!!  Automatic extension tubes (around $195.) also work great!!!

Do a little research!  My favorite books on older glass were done by my buddy Moose Peterson, they are still available;

Magic Lantern Guides: NIKON Lenses by B. Peterson (Jun 30, 2000)

These should be available as e books (hint, hint Moose!!)

Also feel free to email me with any questions, I love to talk old glass, and have been studying them for over 40 years!

The bottom line is that photography can be an immensely satisfying hobby or passion, and it doesn’t have to break the bank!  Enjoy!

In Him,

the pilgrim

Photo Note: Top shot?  D700 (12 mega-pixels) and the Nikon 200 Micro Nikkor, had it for twenty years!

When I got home last night from pro calls in Knoxville, I found a box from the UPS guy!  It was the long awaited new Nikon 70-200 AF-S VR f4 lens (above far right).   I’ve really been interested in the lens because it would complete my f4 series of Nikon’s top zooms of that speed range.   I wanted to wring it out and had a bunch of other lenses I wanted to compare it to.  So I took the following lenses and shot one of my favorite Christmas decorations our on the back deck.

First why do this????!!!  I was not worried about Nikon making a bad lens, and I wasn’t expecting any surprises but I have a personal philosophy that goes like this, Test your cameras and lenses and once you know they  are capable of making well exposed, tack sharp images, with accurate color, you will know when that’s not what you are getting, who is at fault!!!!  If I know my gear is capable, the only thing left to do, is make sure my technique is a good as my gear!!  The way to improve is to set standards and then work hard to meet them.  If you are wondering if it’s the lens or camera, how will you know when you’re getting your act together!?

So I tested the following lenses on a D600, set at ISO 800, and tripod mounted with the VR turned off for those lenses that had VR.  I used a remote release, the wireless Nikon ML-L3.

80-200 AF f 2.8 (the old push pull model from the 90’s)

70-200 f4  Manual Focus ( Last of the great MF push pull zooms from Nikon)

70-300 AF-S VR G f 4.5-5.6  (Current model)

80-200 Manual Focus f4.5 (the classic 1960’s and 70’s lens)

70-150 f3.5 Series E (made famous by the late Galen Rowell.  His Rainbow over the temple shot was made with this lens)

70-210 f4-5.6 AF

50-135 f3.5 Manual Focus

105 f 2.5  Manual Focus (Classic portrait lens from the 70’s)

70-300 AF f4.5-5.6 (older push pull model)

105 Micro Nikkor Manual focus f 2.8 (Set the standard for Micro lenses along with the 55 Micro Nikkor f 2.8)

24-120 AF-S VR G f4 (current and best 24-120 zoom)

This was the target

I could pull samples from each lens and publish them here,  but,  A. On the web you couldn’t see the difference between them (no lens was bad), and B.  You would strain your eyes terribly trying!!!!

Trust me, I just did, so let me tell you how I scored them!  (purely subjective by the way…..)

Best all around:  (Ease of use, overall sharpness, speed of focus, quality of construction, and price, plus effectiveness of VR, if it had it).

1.  The venerable 70-300 AF-S VR G f4.5-5.6.  Slightly less sharp than some of the others, but plenty sharp for almost any use.  Focuses fast, has very good VR ,(not up to the new 70-200 AF-S VR f4 though, it’s simply insane), Current Holiday price of a little under $400. makes it a steal!!!  Compact easy to carry, it’s a winner.

2. The new 70-200 AF-S VR f4  (killer VR, very sharp, almost as good as the sharpest lens tested, very fast focus, very well made, but lost some points on price, but worth it, if you need to shoot handheld and want all the rest!!)  Slightly bigger than the 70-300 AF-S VR.

3.  The 80-200 f 4.5 & 80-200 f4 manual focus classics (the sharpest lenses tested excluding the 105 Micro Nikkor which was our comparison lens.  Cheap (around $150. for mint ones), still readily available, but no VR, no auto focus, slow to work with, but they render superlative results if you are careful and patient, not so hot for action work.)

4.  The 70-210 f4-5.6 AF was the killer bargain of the bunch, still very available for around $120. to $150 bucks and tack sharp (among the three or four sharpest lenses tested!).  Auto focus is slow but it will focus very close and is made very well!  No VR.  If you happen to own Nikon 5T and 6T diopters they work great with it, and the MF 80-200 f4 as well.

The 24-120 was just thrown in to see how well it held up, it did very well, but is slightly less sharp than the sharpest lenses tested, but not enough to keep me from using it all the time!  It is still a very, very sharp lens.  Remember the comparisons were made at 100% crops

The 105 f 2.5 is still one of the best portrait lenses ever made and the 105 Micro Nikkor still will be my 105 Micro lens in the future.  The 50-135 and the 70-150 Series E are both tack sharp, and very useful when you want to carry a small manual focus lens, they held up to their sterling reputations without even sweating.  They also were tested among the upper half of sharpest lenses.  I’m very partial to the 50-135 since I used it to shoot much of my first America From 500 Feet book!  The print show form that book were 24X36 prints!!

Believe it or not the old 80-200 f 2.8 AF (not the new current III) was the weakest of them all.  Why did I not throw in the current 70-200 AF-S VR f 2.8 III?????  I am sure it would have tested right up at the top with the best lenses, but for me, it’s just to big and heavy to carry around. It is still the preferred lens for photojournalists and sports shooters who need fast focus and f 2.8 speed, and VR,  that’s just not me.

The good news is if you have the budget there are some astounding lenses out there to consider, and if you don’t, there are still great used lenses that perform very well too!!  Not getting super sharp telephoto shots??  It’s not the lens!

Blessings,

the pilgrim

I had to run over to Knoxville Tennessee today to call on a client before everyone disappears for the Thanksgiving weekend.   I knew that in part of the older part of town there were some killer old painted brick walls that I love to use as test targets.  I am really enjoying using some of the classic old Nikkor manual focus lenses from the 70’s and early 8o’s for my fun shooting.  It is great to get back to the slower pace of manual focus, and actually turning an aperture ring like in the old days!  I’m not suggesting that you should dump all your modern auto focus glass, but there are a number of reasons that shooting with manual focus is productive for some kinds of work!

1. For Video the smooth and long manual focus throws can give magical results!

2. Using the focusing aid in the D800 and other pro cameras can help you get very precise focusing.

3.  The Live View function really comes into its own when you use a magnified view to check critical focus.

4.  The lenses that I’ve selected are all part of a list I like ot call “Legendary Nikkor Glass”  Each and everyone is spectacular in sharpness and color fidelity.

5.  Many of these old manual lenses are available at bargain prices if you do a little searching.  One of my favorite past times is hitting the used cabinet in camera stores, and finding these gems that others have passed by!!

The shot above was hand held with a D800 and the old classic 50-135 f 3.5 Nikkor zoom.  Below is a section of the top image at 100%  Wow, is this fun!  Just for the record my set of manual glass is as follows:

Nikkor 24mm f 2.8 AIS   –    25-50 f4 AIS Nikkor zoom  –   55mm Micro Nikkor f 2.8   –   50-135 f 3.5 AIS  Nikkor zoom   –   105mm f 2.5 AI’d   –   105mm Micro Nikkor f 2.8   

80-200 f4 (and f4.5) AIS Nikkor zooms lenses   –   300mm f4.5 IF-ED Telephoto Nikkor   –   400mm f3.5 IF-ED AIS Telephoto Nikkor

If you own any of the modern Nikon bodies that allow the use of the older lenses, pick up one and give it a try…….  I think you’ll love it!

blessings,

the pilgrim