An evening by the sea.

[Arne Hvaring]

We're having some great midsummer evenings this time of the year, so I took my new D3 and some lenses to a nearby shore. Here are a few shots.

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Last two.

 

[etrigan63]

Lovely images Arne. What lenses did you use?

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Thank you, Carlos! As for lenses used, in order of appearance:
3,5/24 mm PC-E
3,5/24 mm PC-E
VR 70-300 G
3,5/24 mm PC-E
2,8/180 AF
2,8/180 AF
3,5/24 mm PC-E

As you can see I've used the new tilt/shift lens a bit. It will not win any sharpness contest at infinity (at least mine won't) but it's very sharp in the near field, right down to minimum focusing at 21 cm.

 

[helenhill]

Absolutely Breathtaking Arne.......Tres Fab

Best- h

 

[woodyspedden]

Arne

I love images that show flowers or plants emerging from sheer rock. I took similar images which I called "clinging to life" that showed this phenomenon. Probably just me but it conjures up the larger meaning which is that life will continue regardless of difficulties of circumstance.

Great stuff my friend and, as always, perfectly shot. You should do a workshop for those of us who long to capture these images.

Best

Woody

 

[robmac]

very nice Arne. Love the tones & color in #s 2 and 7 especially. That PCE looks really nice in the near field as you say.

Any progress on a determined best practices re: D3 resolution extraction in PP (per a post in your initial thread)?

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Arne, all are good, but I really like number 3. Almost makes me homesick

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Absolutely Breathtaking Arne.......Tres Fab[/SI
Best- h

Thank you Helen!

Arne

I love images that show flowers or plants emerging from sheer rock. I took similar images which I called "clinging to life" that showed this phenomenon. Probably just me but it conjures up the larger meaning which is that life will continue regardless of difficulties of circumstance.

Great stuff my friend and, as always, perfectly shot. You should do a workshop for those of us who long to capture these images.

Best

Woody

Perceptive and generous as always, thank you Woody!

very nice Arne. Love the tones & color in #s 2 and 7 especially. That PCE looks really nice in the near field as you say.

Any progress on a determined best practices re: D3 resolution extraction in PP (per a post in your initial thread)?

Thanks Rob, yes #2 I worked a bit, not sure it's finished yet.
I can now print D3 files (uncropped) to about A3 size to my satisfaction, still experimenting. I've found NX to be a great RAW converter and a complex and fascinating SW. The D3/NX combo seems to differentiate subtle midrange nuances better than any DSLR I've used. In film terms it would be the midrange of FP4 vs (say) Plus-X.

Arne, all are good, but I really like number 3. Almost makes me homesick

Thank you Jorgen. Well, some of your images make me wish to go East, so that's only fair

 

[robmac]

have always found NX does the best job on NEF files, but it isn't the most painless software around to use.

 

[jonoslack]

HI Arne
the first shot and the plants are fine - there's nothing quite like sea pinks at this time of year. I'm off to West Cornwall in search of them in a few weeks.
Where are you?

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Hi Jono, thanks for the comments. The combination of freshly sprung vegetation and evening light is magical and a challenge to capture. Good luck in W Cornwall, we'll see the results in due course I hope.
I reside in southern Norway (where the present photographs are from), but I'm soon off for France for the summer, bringing the D3, lenses and stuff along. BTW I've been considering the new 2,8/24-70 Nikkor as a walk around lens and I think you have posted highly positive comments about it. But in recent posts you seem to revert to (or to consider) primes again. Are you having second thouhgts about this lens? I'm somewhat concerned re weight and bulk of the combination.

 

[jonoslack]

Hi Jono, thanks for the comments. The combination of freshly sprung vegetation and evening light is magical and a challenge to capture. Good luck in W Cornwall, we'll see the results in due course I hope.
I reside in southern Norway (where the present photographs are from), but I'm soon off for France for the summer, bringing the D3, lenses and stuff along. BTW I've been considering the new 2,8/24-70 Nikkor as a walk around lens and I think you have posted highly positive comments about it. But in recent posts you seem to revert to (or to consider) primes again. Are you having second thouhgts about this lens? I'm somewhat concerned re weight and bulk of the combination.

Hi Arne
Evening light and new vegetation is really one of the staples around here - since Robert pointed out that one should switch off AWB and use daylight for everything on the D3, I've found that to be a much easier proposition (AWB on Nikons makes for some nasty yellows in evening light).

Although I'd love to, I've never visited Norway - we are going to see some friends in Finland later this summer . . . . but I guess that's like you saying you're going to Italy!

I was brought up in Cornwall, and we have a house near Lands End - much more beautiful than here, but I've learned to love photographing simple things (I don't like competing with beautiful landscapes so much ). There is quite a lot of Cornish stuff on my website.

I certainly haven't gone off the 24-70 - it's a great lens, and certainly my most used lens on the D3; it also focuses fairly close, which you would appreciate as much as I do. For nature, I find that mostly I'm using from 24-50 mm, which made both the 17-35 and the 28-70 rather a pain; (one wasn't long enough, and the other not wide enough).

The reason for the 25 f2.8 zeiss, is to try and make up a 'minimalist' kit with the D3, which, currently will be: 105 nikkor, 58 voigtlander and 25 zeiss. I sometimes like the discipline of using a fixed focal length lens.

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Hi Jono,
thank you for the elucidation. As for setting the WB to daylight, I think that's sound advice. I've been doing that for a long time with all my digital cameras, even P&S. Then I know where I am colour-wise and can do the appropriate corrections if needed in PP.
I am also drawn towards high-quality primes and since Nikon seems to concentrate on zooms these days (apparently SOTA by all accounts) I've been looking into the Zeiss ZF-line. The 25mm & 35mm Biogons are my mostly used lenses on the M8 and although the Distagons are different designs I suppose (hope) there will be a family resemblance AFA colour and resolution is concerned. Actually I just ordered the 2/35 mm ZF Distagon for a start. We might well compare notes in a short while

Yeah, Finland and Norway are indeed very different. Been to England a few times, but not really had the time to explore much. Went down to Stonehenge back in the naive days when it was open and freely accessible for everyone, even hired a boat and went up the Thames. That was amusing, particularly the locks
But it's on my (long) list, so many places, so little time...

 

[woodyspedden]

Hi Jono,
thank you for the elucidation. As for setting the WB to daylight, I think that's sound advice. I've been doing that for a long time with all my digital cameras, even P&S. Then I know where I am colour-wise and can do the appropriate corrections if needed in PP.
I am also drawn towards high-quality primes and since Nikon seems to concentrate on zooms these days (apparently SOTA by all accounts) I've been looking into the Zeiss ZF-line. The 25mm & 35mm Biogons are my mostly used lenses on the M8 and although the Distagons are different designs I suppose (hope) there will be a family resemblance AFA colour and resolution is concerned. Actually I just ordered the 2/35 mm ZF Distagon for a start. We might well compare notes in a short while

Yeah, Finland and Norway are indeed very different. Been to England a few times, but not really had the time to explore much. Went down to Stonehenge back in the naive days when it was open and freely accessible for everyone, even hired a boat and went up the Thames. That was amusing, particularly the locks
But it's on my (long) list, so many places, so little time...

Arne

While I have sold my D3 (really reluctantly by the way) to finance a 39Mpx MFDB system I can tell you that the IQ you get from the 24-70 absolutely rivals the primes. Obviously when you get to the extremes of focal lengths you start to get some distortion issues but nothing serious enough to worry about unless you are shooting architecture.

I would personally have no problems going out with the 24-70 and the 14-24 and if you need it the 70-200 zoom kits. You can certainly get an equivalent prime set of three which will be lighter than the three zooms but also fail to give you all the advantages of the zooms. I have no idea how Nikon has managed to produce WA zooms with this quality level but all the better for us. Not cheap of course but compared to the alternatives............No contest

Hope this helps somewhat

Woody

 

[Jack]

Awesome series, my compliments!

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Woody, good points, and I agree that the new Nikon zooms are impressive, particularly the 14-24, it seems no one has anything even approaching the quality of this lens. Besides it can be used (with the proper adapter) on my 1DsIII to take full advantage of its resolving power. As for the 24-70, in these FLs, there are of course a number of excellent primes to choose from, but for convenience (disregarding weight!) the zoom is hard to beat. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Awesome series, my compliments!

Jack, thank you! Btw, glad to see that the workshop in Provence is still on the agenda. I hope I can attend even without a MF system, although by 2010, who knows?

 

[jonoslack]

HI Arne

Hi Jono,
thank you for the elucidation. As for setting the WB to daylight, I think that's sound advice. I've been doing that for a long time with all my digital cameras, even P&S. Then I know where I am colour-wise and can do the appropriate corrections if needed in PP.

I'm rather horrified at how long it's taken me to get to this rather obvious conclusion . . . .and how few other people seem to have got there!

I am also drawn towards high-quality primes and since Nikon seems to concentrate on zooms these days (apparently SOTA by all accounts) I've been looking into the Zeiss ZF-line. The 25mm & 35mm Biogons are my mostly used lenses on the M8 and although the Distagons are different designs I suppose (hope) there will be a family resemblance AFA colour and resolution is concerned. Actually I just ordered the 2/35 mm ZF Distagon for a start. We might well compare notes in a short while

Certainly - I'm pleased with the 25, but it's a 'character' lens rather like my (much loved) f1.5 50mm sonnar on the M8.

Yeah, Finland and Norway are indeed very different. Been to England a few times, but not really had the time to explore much. Went down to Stonehenge back in the naive days when it was open and freely accessible for everyone, even hired a boat and went up the Thames. That was amusing, particularly the locks
But it's on my (long) list, so many places, so little time...

Oh yes (so many places). I have the added complication that I like to revisit places to get a different angle - and I don't think I ever get great pictures on the first trip.

Norway is definitely high on my list - I love grand seascapes, Cornwall is lovely (on a smaller scale), we're always dithering as to whether to go and live there or stay in the flatlands of the east!

 

[Cindy Flood]

Beautiful series, Arne. You really took advantage of the beautiful evening light.