Photography Thread

[OLS]

Thank you very much.....


ARRGGGGJHHHHHhhhhh.
I ordered a bad Ultra wide angle lens from B&H and had to send it back.
Then I ordered one from Adorama and it was not the Nikon mount I though I'd ordered.
So I sent IT BACK today.
Now I have TWO returns for a thousand bucks in progress, and NO ULTRAWIDE LENS!

ARGHHhhhhh. Me want shooty UW.

[Steve]

Which ultra wide Brad? I had a Nikkor 24mm, and a Tamron 18.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by Steve

Which ultra wide Brad? I had a Nikkor 24mm, and a Tamron 18.

This was a Sigma 10-20 F/4-5.6 With my DX sensor, I need my ultrawide to be ultrawide, lol.

The first one I ordered was REALLY wide, it was a Sigma 8-16mm. But it was squirrelly and would
not meter properly. Focused maybe one time in 10 attempts. Had a big ol' parking lot DING in the
aluminum lens hood, a nice dent and gouge. I sent it back as being not properly graded and being
a POS. Even with the ding, had it focused and metered properly, I was gonna keep it.

[emopunker2004]

Tripod and remote/timer came in. Sunrise shots in the am if the weather holds

[shark]

[emopunker2004]

Nice one Ron!

[OLS]

I especially like shots of money, Shark. Old, metal money anyway. More please.
hehe


I bought a lens that came in today, too. It is one of the old dust-pumper Nikkor 70-210
4-5.6 that was trading at large online company A well below what another major online dealer
wanted for what I gauged likely to be an 'equal' product. For 60 bucks I think I found my sharpest
zoom lens. I could just be lucky on this one, or I could have been at a perfect aperture for an
otherwise messed up lens, It might be just the equally surprising great D100 body it is shooting on,
which was also dirt cheap. Either way, I have been dragging around D70s hoping to get anything
this sharp. Until now, I hadn't gotten these kinds of crisp and detailed photos, more soft and lacking
in contrast. But it tests pretty well on a D70 too, although a bit late in the day to be shooting such
a tube.





These are just lens tests, but this lens is pretty decent at the short end and is mostly forgiving at the long end.
If I take some real pictures with it, we'll see. It is pretty long and tight with that dang 1.5x crop factor. So at least
I am not stuck with 2 burned out D70s, they just needed something either sharper, or better tuned to they're own
quirks to get the proper results. If you've been following, I have been mortified by the test shots I have shot with
the two bodies. But when it really counted, as it did with the bar shots I posted earlier, I was able to salvage some
good shots from an otherwise difficult night of learning. But learn I did. But in the end, I am just glad that I got a lens
that was being too cheap for its own good and people must have not trusted. Its a fine lens. I mean, for far shi+, lol.
Although it shoots decent at 4.5-5 feet for uncomfortable closeups.

[emopunker2004]

Very nice Brad!

Well, bed time. Waking up at 0530 to head out to get some sunrise beach shots.

[emopunker2004]

Teaser pic from this morning



IMG_1779 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

[OLS]

Ah, the beach. I miss the beach. Not all the time, but some times.

I strapped my iffiest lens on today and will try to figure out if I just can't SEE straight or it has serious issues
at all apertures. I mean to really work it out. Its another old bargain lens, the Nikkor 24-50mm 3.3-4.5. Not
expecting anything great out of it, we'll see how it works out. It took some fading light pics the other night
that I thought were passable.

[emopunker2004]

Word. I used the kit lens for that pic. 18-135 lens. 4sec exposure, iso 100, f/32

[OLS]

Saw something that interested me yesterday. There was a thread somewhere in Flickr in the D70 group about
"how many shutter activations does your D70 have?" Well that's what everyone wants to know, right,
how long their used DSLR is gonna last? Or how many photos have been taken on that camera you have had
forever. Different programs read EXIF data differently, and other programs mess with your data when you
save a file inside their environment. But the SURE way to find out was interesting. Take a photo straight out
of the camera and upload it to Flickr. Then read the EXIF data. And for the D70 at least, it gives you the
shutter count to date on your camera. It did NOT work with my "new" D100. Or I wasn't paying attention.
The EXIF data is part of the "actions" menu for individual photos in Flickr.

[emopunker2004]

Yep knew that. Worked when I had a d90 but not with my canon.

[OLS]

This was a lower light photo I took with this iffy 24-50mm lens. With a tripod I might have been able to coax
a few nice pics out of this evening, but I had to go to check out the bar where the girls were playing. For
now I am judging ALL of my gear hand-held. I have a few tripods and a monopod, but if I can't shoot a decent
photo hand-held with a lens, it won't likely ever find its way to a tripod with me. But this shot shows the
weird plane this lens is in....not crispy, but not terribly soft anywhere. Hand held at the limits of the light
for the aperture and shutter speed. Most people would say "if you don't like the sharpness, why even post
it up? I like trains? I like the warmth. I am bored at work. OH BTW, Justin, my two D70s, ~9700 and 1700
shutter clicks repectively. I think they at least one must have been someone's problem child. I could SEE
9700 activations from a rarely motivated photog who later sold the camera, but 1700 sounds like someone
got rid of this camera early on and it keeps getting passed around, lol. Either way, this is their last stop.
I will shoot them into the ground.

[emopunker2004]

Looks good from what i can tell on my iphone

[emopunker2004]

More.


IMG_1802 by emopunker2004, on Flickr


IMG_1797 by emopunker2004, on Flickr


IMG_1795 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

[emopunker2004]

IMG_1784 by emopunker2004, on Flickr


IMG_1762 by emopunker2004, on Flickr


IMG_1742 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

[OLS]

Was it worth getting UP??
I like the 2nd pic in the first 3pic post.

I got to work with this camera I want to do a lens test with and it looks like the battery is failing, lol.
I might still get a test walk in. MUST see if there is ANY sharpness in this lens or it is getting
'stocking-ed" at Christmas.

[emopunker2004]

Yeh it was worth it. Need a ND filter so I can get longer exposure time.

[OLS]

I sure hope it was SHARK....I had a $60 Nikon D100 in my kart at Adorama, it had an "overly sensitive mode dial"
that I figured I could hot glue into the Program mode. Went to check out and it had been fore-snatched out
from under me. I had PMed Shark about it, maybe he got it. For ME, no loss, I didn't need another Nikon, much
less a D100, but SIXTY BUCKS, come on, what was I to do? Let someone ELSE get it? Let's hope it was Shark and
he has a hot glue gun.