Fun Pictures with Nikon

[wayne_s]

Here's a bit of water too. Different kind, but wet all the same

D80 with 85mm f/1.8 @ f/2.5

I really like this one, nice capture. Great contrasts between the motorcycle and the bike, the helmut and the witch-like rain hat. Their focused expressions in the driving rain. Good job keeping your lens dry.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I really like this one, nice capture. Great contrasts between the motorcycle and the bike, the helmut and the witch-like rain hat. Their focused expressions in the driving rain. Good job keeping your lens dry.

Thank you for your kind words.

Dry lens? No, it wasn't dry. When it rains, it rains, and the camera and lens are as wet as I am. Which is one of the reasons why I consider Pentax. They don't have a weather sealed 85mm though. Nobody have that

 

[wayne_s]

Thank you for your kind words.

Dry lens? No, it wasn't dry. When it rains, it rains, and the camera and lens are as wet as I am. Which is one of the reasons why I consider Pentax. They don't have a weather sealed 85mm though. Nobody have that

I expect all this rainy weather to stop on time in mid october, so that it is dry for the trip I am planning right now to visit Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia in late october. I am told that the rainy season ends by mid october.

BTW, I always like your B&W conversions, what software do you use?

 

[kweide]

Oly has a sealed 50mm

 

[AlexLF]

Just went today in a mall, so here's shopping results

D3x, DC 135/2 (the first one is not very sharp though, I'll go there again anyway :

 

[Chris Barrett]

Took the D3 on vacation with me to St Maarten...

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Oly has a sealed 50mm

You are right, and it's a dilemma. I already own the excellent, weather sealed 11-22mm, and if they could get their act together and launched the long awaited, probably weather sealed, 100mm prime, and a smaller weather sealed body (I've tried to like the E-3, but alas...), I would probably prefer Olympus over Pentax. I have been an Olympus user for 35 years, and I've always looked upon Nikon plus Olympus as a nice combination.

 

[ddk]

You are right, and it's a dilemma. I already own the excellent, weather sealed 11-22mm, and if they could get their act together and launched the long awaited, probably weather sealed, 100mm prime, and a smaller weather sealed body (I've tried to like the E-3, but alas...), I would probably prefer Olympus over Pentax. I have been an Olympus user for 35 years, and I've always looked upon Nikon plus Olympus as a nice combination.

I'm not sure if you know this or not Jorgen, but there's also an industrial version of the Zeiss ZF lenses that are sealed, if you can deal with mf they could work for you with the S5. Then again I'm not sure if anything outside of an underwater housing could withstand one of those famous BKK monsoon showers.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I expect all this rainy weather to stop on time in mid october, so that it is dry for the trip I am planning right now to visit Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia in late october. I am told that the rainy season ends by mid october.

BTW, I always like your B&W conversions, what software do you use?

Hi Wayne,
I use PSCS3, the standard b&w conversion, but there's always some tweaking during and after the conversion. The yellow and red conversions are important, and usually have to be adjusted individually. I do curves and sharpness after the conversion. Sharpness is very critical to get right with b&w, since the photo consists entirely of lines and contrasts.

I was told that the rainy season didn't really start until August :ROTFL:, but this year, we've had a complete season in May as well. It's not over until it's over, and even the first week of November can be a bit wet sometimes. Never trust the weather :lecture:

But hey, it's only water, and November is the best month here; everything is green, temperatures are reasonable and the tourists haven't arrived yet (most of them anyway)

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I'm not sure if you know this or not Jorgen, but there's also an industrial version of the Zeiss ZF lenses that are sealed, if you can deal with mf they could work for you with the S5. Then again I'm not sure if anything outside of an underwater housing could withstand one of those famous BKK monsoon showers.

Thank you for that, David. I didn't know that they were sealed. They have a focus lock as well, don't they? I'll pay a visit to their website. I just need to have a drink ready before I read the prices :shocked:

Nothing, possibly except an E-1, will withstand the heaviest showers of course, but when it rains that much, very few photos would show anything but rain, unless taken with a wide-angle lens. This is one of the reasons why I've kept the Zuiko 11-22. I just need a smaller weather sealed body than the E-3.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Love the chairs, Alex. Great photo. How would it look in b&w?

 

[ddk]

Jorgen, I decided to bring your questions from the other thread here, I didn't want to dilute that one, besides its more relevant to this forum.

Up to 50mm, it look's ok. It's above that I get into trouble, and I do wish the S5 was D80-sized. The difference is considerable, and the Zeiss lenses won't even meter with the D80 (This is the most negative thing I have to say about Nikon, a designed lack of backwards compatibility. All Pentax and Olympus cameras meter with legacy lenses, in addition to adding IS. Heck, Olympus even meters with Nikon and Pentax lenses. Unfortunately, only the E30 and E-3 have viewfinders that are suited for manual focusing.).

I didn't know that you could use f-mounts with Olys, is it stop down or wide open metering?

I consider buying a 135mm f/2.8 AIS btw., to get a compact telephoto lens for the S5. Any experience with that one? 17-50, 85 and 135mm would be a great "coverall set".

I'm not familiar with the 135 Ais but I can tell you that imo the 135 DC is one of the most wonderful 35mm portrait lenses ever made, including the current ZFs and the 200/2.0 VR, you wont go wrong if the 135 Ais is of the same cloth. One caveat, I don't really see it as a great general purpose lens if that's what you're after, its still very good but nothing particularly special for me. You don't really see any of its beautiful drawing or what's unique about this lens until you start shooting some intimate portraits, then you want to kiss the designer.

Compact teles, if you're up for mf, both the Voigtlander 90/3.5 and the 180/4 are excellent and don't cost a lot. There's also a little known gem from Zeiss Jena, in the form of a very compact f-mount 70-210 zoom that you can pick up for next to nothing on e-bay. Its a tad slow at f4-5.6, but its the size of an average 35mm with a skinny shade, and it renders like a Zeiss!

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Jorgen, I decided to bring your questions from the other thread here, I didn't want to dilute that one, besides its more relevant to this forum.

Good idea

I didn't know that you could use f-mounts with Olys, is it stop down or wide open metering?

It's stop down metering, same as with the Zuikos. I've used the 105 Micro with great success, and even tried the 80-200 once.

I'm not familiar with the 135 Ais but I can tell you that imo the 135 DC is one of the most wonderful 35mm portrait lenses ever made, including the current ZFs and the 200/2.0 VR, you wont go wrong if the 135 Ais is of the same cloth. One caveat, I don't really see it as a great general purpose lens if that's what you're after, its still very good but nothing particularly special for me. You don't really see any of its beautiful drawing or what's unique about this lens until you start shooting some intimate portraits, then you want to kiss the designer.

I think I'll try the 135/2.8. It's available for prices between 100 and 200 dollars. It's at least better than using the 85mm with a TC, which I sometimes do when I travel nowadays. I would love to try the 135/2.0 AF, but it's expensive, and the one that I tried disappeared right under my nose

Compact teles, if you're up for mf, both the Voigtlander 90/3.5 and the 180/4 are excellent and don't cost a lot. There's also a little known gem from Zeiss Jena, in the form of a very compact f-mount 70-210 zoom that you can pick up for next to nothing on e-bay. Its a tad slow at f4-5.6, but its the size of an average 35mm with a skinny shade, and it renders like a Zeiss!

Unfortunately, finding the Voigtländers here would be a result of pure luck. The old lenses were never distributed officially in Thailand, and the current distributor only takes in the 20, 40 and 58 in addition to the M-mount lenses. A trip to Hong Kong would probably do it though.

There's still a Nikkor 105/1.8 AIS in the pipeline for me somewhere, but it can take anything from a couple of weeks to forever to get it here

With all these balls in the air, it looks like I'm "stuck" with Fuji and Nikon for a while. Not the worst situation to be in, so I'll survive
Have you tried a Katzeye screen on the S5? I'm looking for ways of making focusing simpler, and a split screen is what I used for 35 years... wow, I'm getting old

 

[ddk]

Good idea
Have you tried a Katzeye screen on the S5? I'm looking for ways of making focusing simpler, and a split screen is what I used for 35 years... wow, I'm getting old

I had a Katzeye screen in my S3, but didn't need one for the S5, I might just get one of their matt screens which is supposed to have higher contrast than the stock one, don't like using split screens, I always used a microprism in the past. Katzeye is a very good company.

What I found really helps me with mf was adapting the DK-17m eyepiece to all my cameras, even when using a split screen. You're going to need a DK-22 and an adapter kit to mount it on the S5. The kits can be ordered as a complete set or just the adapter on-line here;

http://www.ircube.jp/main/product/mea/eng.html

If you get it, I recommend getting the dk-19 eyecup too, specially for bkk, just make sure to super glue it to the eyepiece or you're going to lose it with first use. Also tighten down the adapter parts well.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/352124-REG/Nikon_4787_DK_19_Rubber_Eyecup_for.html

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I had a Katzeye screen in my S3, but didn't need one for the S5, I might just get one of their matt screens which is supposed to have higher contrast than the stock one, don't like using split screens, I always used a microprism in the past. Katzeye is a very good company.

What I found really helps me with mf was adapting the DK-17m eyepiece to all my cameras, even when using a split screen. You're going to need a DK-22 and an adapter kit to mount it on the S5. The kits can be ordered as a complete set or just the adapter on-line here;

http://www.ircube.jp/main/product/mea/eng.html

If you get it, I recommend getting the dk-19 eyecup too, specially for bkk, just make sure to super glue it to the eyepiece or you're going to lose it with first use. Also tighten down the adapter parts well.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/352124-REG/Nikon_4787_DK_19_Rubber_Eyecup_for.html

Am I right in assuming that the DK-19 will be instead of the DK-17m?

Good news: I'm finally going to check out the 105mm f/1.8 tomorrow or Tuesday That make the focusing aids even more relevant.

 

[ddk]

Am I right in assuming that the DK-19 will be instead of the DK-17m?

No, the DK-19 is only a rubber eye cup that gets attached to the DK-17m.
DK17-m is the actual magnifying glass. You could do without the eyecup but but I like using one.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...sp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=submit

Good news: I'm finally going to check out the 105mm f/1.8 tomorrow or Tuesday That make the focusing aids even more relevant.

That's great.

 

[Lloyd]

From a local triathlon yesterday. This kid is only 15, but finished 4th overall against a very tough field.

D300; 200-400/f4, wide open, hand held:

 

[Leica 77]

From a local triathlon yesterday. This kid is only 15, but finished 4th overall against a very tough field.

D300; 200-400/f4, wide open, hand held:

Hello Lloyd,
It is a beautiful image. The runner is in sharp focus and the background/foreground bokeh is very nice. Best regards, Leica 77

 

[leif e]

Hey - Trondheim is my old home town - looking forward to your version!
leif e

 

[AlexLF]

Love the chairs, Alex. Great photo. How would it look in b&w?

Thanks, Jorgen. I'll try to make it B&W but that's just unknown territory for me now. I guess I'm not ready for real black and white yet.