Photography Thread

[CigarGuy88]

On that note... a couple pics

[OLS]

There are some really sharp lenses in there. The 35-70 is supposed to be great, though I have always
stopped short of picking one up. 70-210 is way under-rated for a value item. Now if you want to supplement
your stash, which is fairly complete range-wise, you might consider one of the two MF lenses that Nikon
killed the competition with, the 105 f/2.5 AI or the 85mm F/2 AI. Your choice is about $120-$150

Originally Posted by CigarGuy88

D*mn it Brad! I go from having a cr*ppy little point and shoot, see your sale thread and now this is the list!

Bodies
Nikon D7000
Nikon D300S (gripped)

Lenses
18-55 VR
55-200 VR
50 f1.8
135 f2.8 MF
35-70 f2.8 AF
70-210 f4 AF
and growing....
Now if only I had time to use it all

[OLS]

Cool shots Esteban.

[GWN]

Anyone ever shot with the Nikon 105DC lens? Looks pretty cool.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/105mm-f2-dc.htm

[OLS]

I wanted one on several occasions, but the extra expense never justified it for me. I desire great bokeh like most people,
but I am not really willing to pay more FOR IT. I will buy the cheapest, used, manual focus, 1960 Nikkor I can find for a
decent price. People who know how to use it properly seem to really like it. I would love to have one for myself, but not to
the tune of 700-800 bucks. However in my next post you can get some advice on bargain lenses....

[OLS]

Now, onto the surprising buy of 2014 for me.

I have a 85mm F/2 that I LOVE. When I use it it is usually fast enough for me and the bokeh is beautiful.
But like any shooter that has aspirations of taking better and better shots the more they grow in skill and in
learned-from mistakes, I let my eye wander.

Enter a used ROKINON 85mm f/1.4. I wanted it. It was "cheap". I knew that Rokinon was just one of half a dozen brands
that stuck nameplates on these cheap Korean lenses. What could have been a disaster turned out to be awesome.
No one knows what you will get out of one of these. if the lens is PERFECT, you still can have issues with true
focus depending on tolerances on your camera body in relation to the lens. I was prepared for the worst.

But it was the best under-$200 I've spent on a lens so far. Its not that its SHARP, it is BRIGHT. I am OLD, and
almost all of my best lenses for 'working' are manual focus only. When its DARK in any venue, I can't SEE to focus.
I can't find the POP as lines come into sharpness and back out again. I get by, but only because I am persistent.
This lens POPS. Again, your mileage with any lens may vary, because this same lens on your camera might not
be the same distance to the mirror or sensor as mine and it can affect a person's impression of "the lens"
to the point where its all the lenses fault. For anyone that needs a couple of good portrait lenses, this 85mm f1.4
from Rokinon (Samyang, Vivitar, Bower, etc) is AWESOME. Even I, worst eyes east of the Pecos, was able to
easily manually find the sharpest focus at 1.4 and 1.8. I can hardly do that with my 50 f/1.4.

[GWN]

Originally Posted by OLS

Now, onto the surprising buy of 2014 for me.

I have a 85mm F/2 that I LOVE. When I use it it is usually fast enough for me and the bokeh is beautiful.
But like any shooter that has aspirations of taking better and better shots the more they grow in skill and in
learned-from mistakes, I let my eye wander.

Enter a used ROKINON 85mm f/1.4. I wanted it. It was "cheap". I knew that Rokinon was just one of half a dozen brands
that stuck nameplates on these cheap Korean lenses. What could have been a disaster turned out to be awesome.
No one knows what you will get out of one of these. if the lens is PERFECT, you still can have issues with true
focus depending on tolerances on your camera body in relation to the lens. I was prepared for the worst.

But it was the best under-$200 I've spent on a lens so far. Its not that its SHARP, it is BRIGHT. I am OLD, and
almost all of my best lenses for 'working' are manual focus only. When its DARK in any venue, I can't SEE to focus.
I can't find the POP as lines come into sharpness and back out again. I get by, but only because I am persistent.
This lens POPS. Again, your mileage with any lens may vary, because this same lens on your camera might not
be the same distance to the mirror or sensor as mine and it can affect a person's impression of "the lens"
to the point where its all the lenses fault. For anyone that needs a couple of good portrait lenses, this 85mm f1.4
from Rokinon (Samyang, Vivitar, Bower, etc) is AWESOME. Even I, worst eyes east of the Pecos, was able to
easily manually find the sharpest focus at 1.4 and 1.8. I can hardly do that with my 50 f/1.4.

Great post Brad. To me, an 85/2.8 is a perfect DSLR portrait lens. Back in the film days, I still shot Nikon but inherited a bag of MF Pentax stuff. The body was crap, but there was a Pentax 100/2.8 lens in the bag that proved to be amazing glass. Don't have an equivalent in my bag these days, which is why the 105DC interested me. Saw it on Kijiji for $600CND, which I though was a decent deal.

[shark]

Interesting that I was looking at a particular display in a museum, and something other than the display itself catches my eye:

[shark]

Originally Posted by OLS

Now, onto the surprising buy of 2014 for me.

I have a 85mm F/2 that I LOVE. When I use it it is usually fast enough for me and the bokeh is beautiful.
But like any shooter that has aspirations of taking better and better shots the more they grow in skill and in
learned-from mistakes, I let my eye wander.

Enter a used ROKINON 85mm f/1.4. I wanted it. It was "cheap". I knew that Rokinon was just one of half a dozen brands
that stuck nameplates on these cheap Korean lenses. What could have been a disaster turned out to be awesome.
No one knows what you will get out of one of these. if the lens is PERFECT, you still can have issues with true
focus depending on tolerances on your camera body in relation to the lens. I was prepared for the worst.

But it was the best under-$200 I've spent on a lens so far. Its not that its SHARP, it is BRIGHT. I am OLD, and
almost all of my best lenses for 'working' are manual focus only. When its DARK in any venue, I can't SEE to focus.
I can't find the POP as lines come into sharpness and back out again. I get by, but only because I am persistent.
This lens POPS. Again, your mileage with any lens may vary, because this same lens on your camera might not
be the same distance to the mirror or sensor as mine and it can affect a person's impression of "the lens"
to the point where its all the lenses fault. For anyone that needs a couple of good portrait lenses, this 85mm f1.4
from Rokinon (Samyang, Vivitar, Bower, etc) is AWESOME. Even I, worst eyes east of the Pecos, was able to
easily manually find the sharpest focus at 1.4 and 1.8. I can hardly do that with my 50 f/1.4.

Nice work there! I got a new monitor, and I notice that ALL of the photos here look much sharper.

[shark]

[shark]

A trip to a natural history museum:

[shark]

[shark]

[shark]

[azar]

Ok well it's that time of year when the boy deer's only have 2 things on there mind 1 is fighting and the other is girls!
fighting

and girls


Sorry about this one it was a quick shot but he was worth putting it up.

[Dave128]

Beautiful deer!

[OLS]

Love the wildlife shots, and Ron, for some reason I am drawn to nice light fixtures. I have one I shot in NOLA that was completely unique...gaudy, but unique. I sent you a PM, too, btw.

[OLS]

Mack, put that focus zone indicator RIGHT on that line between dark deer head and white space behind it
and you will get a better result. Easy to say from HERE, you admit it was a snapshot, but the camera is dumb,
it wants to focus on that ridge behind the deer. You have to force it to focus on the CONTRAST of light
and dark and be good enough in vision (I'm not) to determine if it DID IT or not.

OR you could do like I do (badly) and simply manually focus everything. I have to make myself use
AF when I can, I just forget, as most of my good lenses are MF only. But the more you shoot, the more you
mess up, succeed, learn, etc. I am digging the slice of life you are sharing with us.

[OLS]

I just love that harem shot on that blanket of snow. Deer are fascinating, infuriating creatures.

[OLS]

OH, by the way, the reason I popped in today was to share this...
http://www.adorama.com/US%20%20%20%20674874.html
we all know I hate these guys, lol, but now and again they just put up something useful and tempting.
This is a GREAT camera for someone who doesn't need to shoot inside, because the flaw that has it
discounted is a burnt out built-in flash. You can buy a cheap hot shoe flash if you have to have flash.
Forty bucks is a great price for what this body can do in good light. Its a great vacation camera, a great
camera for the trunk of your car. You can pick up a cheap zoom for it for about $20-$30. But don't try to
put a compact flash memory card over 2GB in it, it won't work. Old tech.