Blessing others…….

As we continue to think about the new year we are just beginning, let me offer another suggestions for making it the best year ever for yourself and those around you. Commit to spending this year blessing others. The wonderful book, “The Purpose Driven Life” the opening paragraph says it all;

It All Starts with God
It’s not about you.
The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of
mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your
wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you
must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

God created you for a higher purpose than what you’ve considered your life to be all about. He created you to accept His love and forgiveness and then share it with others. If you don’t accept His love, then you are lost. If you do accept His love then He will prepare you to share it and to bring it to others. God does not desire us to be comfortable, He desires us to be effective.

I have lived long enough to have learned one very important life lesson, I gain far more joy when God uses me to bring a blessing to others than when I bring a joy to myself. There simply is no great joy than to see others come to know Him and give their lives to Him. In my career I’ve been honored many times, with wonderful awards, and that is nice, but it doesn’t even begin to compare to the joy of seeing someone find the Way. All the accolades, nice comments and awards will someday fade away, seeing someone that was lost be found will last forever……..

the pilgrim

Photo Note: D700 – 17-35 AFS lens f18 @ 1/2 second.

Yesterday we talked about lenses and in an effort to stay completely up front and honest with you I made some major changes to my carry system and I wanted to share that with you. For some time now I’ve made my standard three lens package for FX bodies (D700 & D3s) the following: My wide angle zoom has been the 17-35 AFS f2.8 lens. My mid-range zoom has been the 24-70 AFS f2.8 lens and my long lens in the walk around system has been the 70-300 AFS VR f4.5-5.6 lens.

Yesterday I went to a new system for my first two zooms lenses. I will now be using the new 16-35 AFS VR f4 wide angle zoom and for my mid range zoom the new 24-120 AFS VR f4 lens. Illustrated below:

Images courtesy of Ken Rockwell www.kenrockwell.com/

Why the change? After exhaustive testing and lots of consideration I feel these two lenses will better serve me in the field. Let’s start with the 16-35 AFS VR. This lens is the sharpest wide angle zoom ever made by anyone, ever. The 17-35 was an extremely sharp lens, but this one clearly betters it! I lost one f stop going from an f2.8 in the 17-35 to an f4 in the 16-35, but with VR II I can shoot at much lower speeds when I must hand hold, and get sharper results. The new lens is lighter, but not as compact, the bottom line is still sharpness, every image I’ve seen from the new 16-35 has blown me away.

Giving up the 24-70 AFS F2.8 was a harder choice, but in the end I know it will be the right decision. First the 24-70 is clearly the sharpest mid-range zoom Nikon has ever made, no question about that. However having 50mm more range on the long end in a lens, that is very nearly as sharp (very, very close in sharpness), will mean less lens changing in the field. When things are happening rapidly that can mean whether you get the shot or not. Loosing one f stop of speed is more than offset by VR II. One really big bonus is the close focusing of the new 24-120. Because it focuses to less than 18 inches and takes 77mm filters I can use my Canon 500D close-up diopter for really great close-up performance, nearly a 1:1 ratio and the images are exceedingly sharp, all this means that in most situations I don’t have to carry a Micro lens (more weight savings). Why do I not use a Nikon close-up diopter? We stopped making the highly praised 52mm and 62mm diopters (3T-4T-5T-6T), and Nikon never made a 77mm diopter.

One last point on the loss of one f stop of speed on these two new lenses. Because our modern cameras,
D7000, D700, and D3s all have extremely low noise even at very high ISOs, the loss of one f stop is not a big deal anymore. Since I shoot from a tripod 90% of the time and when I don’t the lenses have the latest VR II, I should never miss that one stop. I did some pretty serious testing confirmed all the assumptions stated here. Below is a very revealing shot from the test, it was the one that sold me on this move.

Another consideration is how this affects my DX system as well. I was planning to get the 16-85 AFS VR
for DX (D7000) but now the 24-120 will serve as a nice 36-180 for the DX cameras. I had already added the 12-24 for my wide angle zoom for that DX system anyway, so now with the lenses below will give the effective range, illustrated.

12-24 AFS f4 will be an effective 18-36
24-120 AFS VR f4 will be an effective 36-180
70-300 AFS VR f4-5.6 an effective 105-450

18-450 coverage in three lenses with no gaps! Plus exceptional close-up performance.

For FX

16-35 AFS f4
24-120 AFS VR f4
70-300 AFS VR f4-5.6

16-300 coverage in three lenses with no gaps! Same great close-up abilities.

As you can see my long range zoom remains the 70-300 AFS VR f4.5-5.6. This lens continues to amaze me with it’s incredible sharpness and ease of use. It is starting to develop a very large following, everyone that tries it, ends up owning one. It’s much smaller and lighter than the four times more expensive 70-200 AFS VRII f2.8. If you need the speed, the 70-200 is certainly the ticket, if not the 70-300 is one of the screaming bargains in photography today……

I’ve already be asked why not the new 28-300 AFS VR f3.5-5.6 instead of the 24-120 which is actually a little less money with a much broader range? For a very strange reason I admit, if I had the 28-300 which I’ve shot and love, I would be tempted to just carry a two lens system and eliminate the 70-300. I can hearing you saying what’s so bad about that?????!!!! What if you go on a big trip, say to Alaska, and you carry two lenses the 16-35 and a 28-300. What if you drop and break the 28-300 on the first day??!!
Can you shoot the next two weeks with just a 16-35? If you broke your 24-120, you would still have a
70-300! I know it’s weird, but since I taught workshops for over three decades, I’ve seen every kind of
camera accident you can imagine. One of my greatest fears is to be in a great location and not have the glass to make the images……… I’ll just carry three lenses, just to be on the safe side. Honestly one other factor comes in, I have made so many wonderful images with 70-300 I couldn’t tell a great old friend like that they are going to have to stay home while I’m out having a great time. I’m just that kind of guy, my father always said, “If you can’t be handsome, be handy – and faithful………”

So, come spring, it’s back into the field with a new set of lenses to keep company with my old friend, and enjoy the good times!

the pilgrim