lens » jawsnap

New Toy Alert: Circular Polarizing Filter

Oct 292011

Circular polarizing filters are great for saturating colors and preventing unwanted reflections. At least that’s what the internet says but it’s no substitute for discovering on my own, so I spent $150 on a 77mm Promaster filter down at Tuttle Cameras when they were having a big sale. Check out the dramatic difference in these unedited photos:

Minimum polarization...

Maximum polarization!

I mean, wow. Right?

I wanted to share a couple of first impressions. First, there’s a light loss of about 2 stops. That’s like shooting at 1/60 instead of 1/250 or f/5.6 instead of f/2.8. Or just setting your camera to -2 EV. In a more practical sense, it means you might need to use a tripod when you wouldn’t normally have to, like after sunrise or before sunset. Continue reading »

New Toy Alert: AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

Gear, Photography No Responses »

Jul 102011

Yikes, what an official name. If you want to know what AF-S, VR and IF-ED means, head to Ken Rockwell’s page about it. I’m going to go ahead and call it the Nikon 70-300mm, because that’s what a normal person would call it.

70-300 w/lens hood on my D80

I bought the lens from Adorama – a factory-refurbished model at an additional discount, so it was a great deal. It came with only a 90-day warranty and no fancy packaging, but I’ll live. As you may have read in my previous post, I was planning on renting a fixed 300mm f/4 for an upcoming Africa trip, but it was simply too heavy. The 70-300mm is one stop slower (f/5.6 instead of f/4) and in general lower quality, but it has vibration reduction and it’s half the weight! And half the price!

Size Comparison

You can see from the photo above that it’s by far my biggest lens, although it’s only 6 ounces (170g) heavier than the 18-200mm. I plan on taking both of those zoom lenses to Africa and leaving the macro and f/1.4 lenses behind.

: A little close – you can’t zoom out with the 300mm f/4

Zooming is a big plus! In theory I like the idea of using a high-quality fixed lens and moving myself to ‘zoom’ in and out, but I won’t have that luxury on the safari since I’ll be in a Land Rover 99% of the time. Looking at other folks’ photos from Kruger outings, we’ll almost certainly see animals close to the road, and I don’t want to be stuck at 300mm if that happens.

Regarding the photo at right, however, God help us if we are ever that close to a hippo. But hopefully you see my point.

My Weekend with the Nikon 300mm f/4

Musings, Photography 3 Responses »

Jun 222011

I have a big trip planned, worthy of a big lens.

Sharing

Later this year I’ll be in Kruger National Park in South Africa, where there be many animals. Of course I’m struggling with what lenses to bring, and I want to share what I’ve learned so far, a bunch of photos, and why I won’t actually be taking this lens.

In the past I’ve rented a massive Sigma zoom and an ultra-wide Tokina lens and haven’t been particularly impressed, so I wanted to stick with Nikkor this time around. I wanted a long lens (obviously) but wanted the superior quality of a fixed focal length, rather than a zoom lens. I looked around – mostly at Nikon’s website – and settled on the 300mm f/4, which is the equivalent of 450mm on my Nikon D80′s DX sensor. Continue reading »

Adventures in Long Glass

Photography 1 Response »

Oct 172010

I recently went to San Diego and spent an entire day at the zoo (see photos). Since it was for my birthday, I was entitled to take as many photos as I wanted, and I decided it was worthy of a lens rental. I decided to go big – really big! I used LensProToGo to rent the massive Sigma 150-500mm, which is effectively about 225-750mm on my DX-format Nikon D80. It zooms in real nice!

Read on to see what I did with it..

Zebra legs at the San Diego Zoo