Mostly Harmless

Mostly about my amusement

Category: Photo (page 4 of 5)

August 26, 2010

Going on a trip? Plan ahead for photos

Wednesday August 25th the family and I went to the Statue of Liberty.  The trip was planned weeks in advance and we took the Huntington Station line at 6:15 Am to get there nice and early before the crowds.

It was raining cats and dogs the whole time we were there.

I had expected to take lots of outdoor photos so I only packed my 18-200mm lens.  Since it was raining, we went into the museum. For museum photos, I consistently use my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens with a circular polarizer attached. When I do, I get photos like these.

You can see more from that set on my Flickr page.

With the 18-200mm the results are OK but not inspiring. Here’s a sample.

This was an OK picture but the ISO got bumped up to 3200 and the photos lacked a lot of sharpness. Also without the circular polarizing filter, reflections off the glass was a pain.

With the 30mm I get a nice prime lens that opens wide. With the circular polarizer I can dial out most of the reflections off of the display cases.

Next time I’ll plan better. We still had a good time, but I want to take better photos.

April 18, 2010

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G samples

I’ve been playing with my new 50mm. If you liked the f/1.8D version, then you’ll have no complaints with this f/1.4.G new model.

Dim Sum cart

It’s a fun lens and as long as you can move around, you’ll get good shots. Here’s some samples I took today.

We ate at the Jade Asian Restaurant. There are probably some people who could get away with taking photos of strangers in a restaurant, but I’m not one of them. I took shots of my family and the dim sum carts.

I process most of my photos with DxO Optics Pro 6. Anyone who wants to do as little work doing color correction, noise, and distortion adjustments should order this software. With DxO I converted these from Nikon .NEF into Adobe .DNG format, but only because I like to play with the color temperature and blacks. Some quick cropping in PSE and I’m usually fine after that.

I’m a fan of DxO and eventually I’ll just go from RAW to straight JPEG. The software is very fire-and-forget.

March 25, 2010

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G

New 50mm

After using my brother’s Nikon 50mm f/1.8D lens for a few weeks, I broke down and picked up a new AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens. From all the reviews I’ve read, it’s an improvement over the older f/1.4D version being more sharper while still having a good DOF.

Here are some samples of what I took with the older f/1.8D lens. I like 50mm on my camera because I can get good photos without being in people’s faces.

I’ve really enjoyed using the 50mm f/1.8D and have taken some good photos with it.  But it is on loan and I wanted my own. The new one is a better and more modern lens so getting that version should work out for me.

My initial test shots with the 50mm f/1.4G lens shows that the depth of field is really good.  The object I focused on is sharp but the background is nice and soft.

This weekend I’ll use it a lot and post some of the results.

January 3, 2010

More off camera flash

In September I fooled around with the off camera flash. Since then I have not really taken advantage of it so yesterday I intentionally used it like crazy.

The Nikon family of cameras from the D80 and up support off camera flash using CLS.  This takes your pop-up flash and lets it be in commander mode.  This way the pop-up flash is not used to light the scene, instead it’s used to tell the nearby flash in remote mode to go off.

The results can be fun and you get a more naturally lit photo. The above shot was taken using the ceiling as my reflector.  It’s not a good example as I probably could have gotten the same results just pointing SB-800 straight up while attached to my camera but you get the idea.

During this get together I just left the flash on the table and pointed it up at the ceiling. I’m hoping with some more practice I can get better and have more fun. Lucky for me my friends and family are tolerant of the nut with the camera; I took almost a 100 pictures alone last night.

November 8, 2009

DPReview’s Canon 7D review

I purchased my Nikon D300s for a simple reason: I was sold on the D300 and I’m a stickler for getting the current model. I’ve been very satisfied with it.

Now Canon has come out with the 7D which lines up directly against the D300s. DPReview has a really good in-depth write-up of the Canon 7D. Look at this page for a comparison of the 7D, D300s, and the Pentax K-7. No surprises there, but what I found interesting is that the K-7 is much cheaper and yet competes with the two big boys.

I’ve invested in Nikon and unless they suddenly go out of business, I’m not getting a new DSLR system.  But for new buyers Pentax might be a workable option.

September 27, 2009

Off camera flash

off-camera

I’m playing with my new camera and got to a feature that does not exist on my D60: off camera flash. It’s easy to set up the D300s to use the built in flash solely for commander mode.

On my SB-800 flash, I held down the SEL button for two seconds to get to the next menu.  There I was able to set up the flash as a remote. On the camera I set the flash to commander mode without also using it as a TTL flash (you can use it as TTL flash and commander at the same time).

The results were really good.  I put the flash on its stand and pointed it 45 degrees at a wall. Resting it on the floor worried me because of the kids running around. Bouncing off of the wall filled up the room nicely without making the light harsh at all.

This feature exists on most of the Nikon cameras such as on the D70 and above. It’s an old feature that is part of Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS). But for me it’s all new and very cool.

September 26, 2009

The Nikon D300s came in

nikon-d300s-2

So after months of waiting, I finally got a Nikon D300s with the updated 18-200mm VR lens.

I was originally planning on getting a Nikon D90 which would have been a fine upgrade from my existing D60.  But Lily intervened and pointed out that getting a D90 now and possibly repeating this in a year in a half might not really be a good idea.  A new D300s would almost certainly keep me entertained for a couple of years.

The conversation went like this:

Me: I’d like to replace my D60 with a D90.

Lily: No. Get the next model up, that makes more sense.

Me: Oh, okay. But only because you are twisting my arm and forcing me.

That conversation was in May. I waited for the D300s because I knew that the D300 was at the end of its for sale life and I like to get the latest and greatest versions. The D300 is an amazing camera but the controls are updated on the D300s and for fun Nikon added video. The video is more of a novelty for me, I just like how fast my new camera focuses and handles low light.

Right after I got it I updated my Adobe raw converter to version 5.5 and downloaded the latest PTLens version. My Photoshop Elements work flow is to fix the white balance, adjust for lens distortion, and crop. Not complicated but having the updated software helps.

Today I took over 200 photos of a 5 year old’s birthday party.  Compared to the D60, the D300s felt heavier but not unwieldy. The autofocus is fast and accurate.  Low light bounces the ISO up to >1600 but that works out on this camera.

I’m playing around with it like crazy and I’m hoping that I get a chance to take some memorable pictures soon.

August 19, 2009

Washington DC trip

dome-painting.jpg

Going to Washington DC this year was quite an experience. Here’s what I learned.

1. The Acela is more expensive and only saves about 30 minutes. But it’s worth it, the Acela is roomier and more comfortable. We took the Acela on the way there, but on the way home we took the regional. Not really a good idea with kids; that additional space counts.

2. Charge your camera battery before the trip. My camera battery ran dry and I ended up taking photos on the Botanical Garden Museum with my iPhone.

3. Don’t worry about high ISO when in a museum. See the above picture? I like how it and others came out. That’s part of the The Apotheosis of Washington fresco I shot using my Nikon D60 with a AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED lens and these setting:

  • 1/25 second exposure
  • F/5.3
  • 75mm focal length
  • 1600 ISO (auto selected by the camera, I started at 200)
  • Auto ISO turned on with a maximum sensitivity to 1600
  • Active D-Lighting turned on
  • Noise Reduction turned on

Normally I frown at taking pictures with such a high ISO and less than 1/30 shutter speed.  I took 600+ photos on the trip and shared on Flickr over 170. The one’s that were set to ISO >1000 came out really good too. You can see the results at this link here.

Here’s some of my favorite high ISO shots.

4. Plan out where you want to eat. We planned the hotel, the places we wanted to go to, and the travel arrangements. We did not plan out to well where to eat.  The first night we ate at the hotel’s restaurant which had steak, some steak, and more steak.  Not a lot of variety although the steak was good though and Lily had a bowl of clam chowder. The next day we ate at the Union Station.  If you have ever been to Roosevelt Field’s food level or even Pier 17’s food court then you’ve had the same experience. Not a bad thing but the same.

5. I still want a better camera. Even though the Nikon D60 performed well, I am still jealous of low noise at 3200 ISO.  The 18-200mm lens is on loan from Stefan but it’s way too useful to not include in my kit. It’s a good walkabout lens.

In September I hope to order my new kit. In the meanwhile I’ll keep abusing my Nikon D60.

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Jan Dembowski

Jan Dembowski

I am a software enthusiast who is easily amused and definitely mostly harmless.

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