Speedlights are EXPENSIVE!

I get a lot of questions where people ask me what flash I recommend for them. Now I am a Nikon shooter so I will be using their speedlight models while getting my point across to you all.

The most popular choices for Nikon shooters are the SB-600 and the SB-800 / SB-900 models. If you are a Canon shooter then many or all of these bells and whistles also differ between Canon’s 430EX and 580EX speedlights.

First, let’s address the most important thing… PRICE. The SB-600 is around $200 while the latest SB-900 comes in at around $450 and up. So far so good?

Next, the SB-600 is much smaller in both size and weight (10.6 oz. to be exact). That can be nice especially if you do not have a battery grip attached to your camera or if you have a more compact D-SLR (a la the D40, D90, etc..). The SB-900 weights in at just under a pound (14.6 oz.) and it is big! It is more solid and rugged and the hot shoe is more robust.

Now for what’s under the hood. The SB-600 does have less power but not enough to be a deal breaker. Flash power is rated in what’s called a guide number. The SB-600 rates in at 98 while the SB-900 rates in at 111.5 at ISO 100.

Since the SB-600 outputs less power, you get more shots with your AA batteries than with the SB-900. It is almost a 2 to 1 difference so it is pretty considerable!

The SB-600 is an older model so it supports both new and old TTL modes (i.e. i-TTL, D-TTL and Auto TTL) while the SB-900 supports only i-TTL. No biggie here unless you have an older camera model like the D100.

So far the SB-600 seems to be kicking some butt right? Now for where the SB-900 excels.

First, the lens coverage is pretty substantial. You can zoom your SB-900 all the way up to 200mm and that means you have yourself a nice range to do some creative lighting. I know that I have used the 200mm zoom to get more reach or to give the effect of having a snoot attached. To contrast, the SB-600 can only zoom to 85mm. This isn’t a big deal if you don’t use flashes for creative lighting or off camera flash too much.

Next, the SB-900 has the ability for the flash head to turn a complete 180 degrees left and right where the SB-600 can rotate 180 to the left but only 90 degrees to the right. This can be a pain for you bounce flash shooters like me.

You also cannot hook up an external battery pack to the SB-600 while you can use the SB-8 or 9 battery pack for more oomph and faster recycling.

In wireless TTL mode, the SB-600 can only act as a remote / slave while the SB-900 can also be a master / commander flash. If you use manual mode then you can go all the way down to 1/128 power with the SB-900 while the SB-600 only goes down to 1/64 power.

Other features that are pretty nice on the SB-900 is the ability for it to receive firmware updates, has overheat protection (which you should immediately disable), adjustable light patterns and gel filter identification.

Nikon is also nice enough to include a diffusion dome, gel filters and a built-in bounce card with the SB-900.

So what is my suggestion??? Eventually get both!

Start with the SB-600 and then keep it and get the SB-900 when you get more into advanced flash techniques. Now this suggestion goes for anyone who shoots a camera other than a flagship model like the D3s. All other models have a built in flash and many of which allow for it to act as a commander flash. D3s users do not have that built-in flash so the SB-900 is really needed simply for that commander mode feature.

So this post is more about something to watch out for.

I have a couple D700s and have had the same problem on each of my bodies with a couple Nikon SB-900 Speedlights. What ends up happening is that the speedlight flickers and misfires when any sort of movement happens. I must have gotten flashed a hundred times last week.

The D700 is an amazing camera and its low light capabilities is just stellar. However, I still use flashes A LOT and it is a real bummer that this camera can’t keep up with a heavier flash.

For the time being, I took a hammer to the hot shoe, very gently, and tapped the hot shoe flaps so they fit the speedlight tighter. I also used needle nose pliers to gently pry the metal things inside the hot shoe as well to make for a tighter fit. There is a $30 Nikon WG-AS3 flash water guard (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/570540-REG/Nikon_25393_WG_AS3_Water_Guard_for.html) which I used more to keep the flash tighter to the camera ever since this happened the first time. Unfortunately, I lost mine . A new one is on the way and hopefully that can help to further keep the D700 in working order without needing to be sent to Nikon.

Anyone else have (or had) similar problems? Comment below and share your stories.

As photographers and business owners, you have to know that your gear WILL eventually fail you. It is just a matter of WHEN will it fail…

I cannot stress the importance of having backup gear and having insurance for your equipment. I have had cameras and lenses fail on me numerous times and have always ensured that I have something to fall back on.

My general rule of thumb is to keep your old camera when you upgrade. A decent D-SLR averages around $2500 but its resale value drops considerably over time. Camera lenses on the other hand, tend to retain their value much better. I have taken huge losses on D-SLRs when selling them and upgrading. Thinking back, I would much have been much better off keeping an older camera for those “just in case” moments.

So what happens if a camera acts erratically on the job?
My Nikon D700s have been great to me. However, I have had hot shoe mount issues on two different bodies. This means that my speedlight, when mounted, sometimes misfired or doesn’t fire at all. In both these cases, I had to resort to alternative measures on the fly in order to finish the job. the first thing is to try and fix the equipment on site. This meant bending the hot shoe prongs or wedging something in between the flash and the hot shoe for a more “snug” fit. This got me through the day but afterwords it was off to Nikon for repair. I had this just happen to me on the New Year’s Eve wedding that I shot. My flash kept popping in my face and was acting up. So I ended up using my pop up flash in commander mode and shot the rest of the day with my speedlight on a light stand with the CLS system. If I had line of sight issues then I just threw some Pocket Wizards on there and I was all set to finish off the night.

Now what happens if your equipment flat out breaks, or gets stolen on the job? I have had two lenses break on me from being dropped. It wasn’t fun and I had to send them off to get repaired which can be quite costly. My most recent “oops” was my Nikkor 24-70mm which fell from about 3 feet onto carpet and literally cracked in half. It is times like this where having insurance comes into play. Because I have insurance, I now have a brand new 24-70mm sitting in front of me.

My rule of thumb here is that if you cannot afford to immediately replace something then get it insured.

If your gear is stolen then that is a really bad thing and can really be a downer. Once again the show must go on so you better have backup equipment in the car to keep things going. In order to still have your client’s images at least backup your images regularly or get multiple cards that are smaller in size and keep swapping them out. The full cards can then be kept on you or in a safe spot somewhere else.

Preventative measures can be taken to prevent things from getting swiped. My personal favorite is to take a bike lock and chain up my camera bag to the DJ’s table or PA system. Not going anywhere there!

Canon and Nikon shooters have certain professional services that you have to apply for which can really help for those who need gear to be repaired in a hurry. It is a pretty long process to get yourself registered with them and they do ask for a lot of info to ensure that you are a professional photographer but it is well worth it! Your gear gets top priority and that means that they can get it back into your hands faster.

Canon has their CPS: Application Here (membership fee required)
Nikon has the NPS: www.nikonpro.com (free service)

I let my close friend and amazing photographer, Chris Zak, borrow my 600mm f/4 lens that I got on loan from NPS and he has put together an awesome review for today’s Tech Review Tuesday article. He will be more of a familiar face around the inLIGHTin’ed Workshops so be sure to comment and make him feel at home! His review is very in-depth and informative.

BTW I love the format that he created for the review… Very clean and organized. Don’t you think?

Nikkor AF-S 600mm f/4D IF-ED II Review
By Christopher Zak
August 25, 2009

Introduction:

This past weekend my family and I headed out to Cape Cod for some relaxation.   While my wife’s idea of relaxation is to settle down with a good book, I tend to enjoy a good hike or drive in quest of a great photo opportunity.   I especially was looking forward to this trip since I was able to get my hands on a Nikkor 600mm lens for the journey.  Visions of close-up wildlife ran through my head the entire drive down to the cape.  I must confess that my primary objective was to simply get some hands-on time with this lens – actually capturing wildlife images would be a secondary consideration.  With an Alaskan trip planned for next summer, I really wanted to evaluate the 600mm lens to see if rental or purchase would make sense.  I must say, what I learned will definitely affect how I approach next summer’s Alaskan journey.  Hopefully my comments will help you in your gear selection as well.

Before we move on, it is important to note that this lens is not the newer ($10,000) 600mm VR lens currently being sold by Nikon.  It is the prior generation lens that can be found on eBay for half the price of the VR version. 

Image 1 – Nikkor 600mm lens and case

Features & Specifications:

No equipment review would be complete without the requisite technical specifications.  Since the specs for this lens can be found elsewhere, I will simply outline some of the major features that I found important. 

• f/4 (the largest fixed aperture you will find on a lens with this focal length)
• Silent wave motor for quiet high-speed autofocus
• Ability to focus down to 5.6m (5.4m in manual focus)
• 9 rounded diaphragm blades that provide blur for out-of-focus elements
• M/A mode to quickly switch between autofocus and manual focus operation
• Auto-focus range limiting switch to improve auto-focusing speed
• 4,750 grams – (think heavy!)
• 430.5mm long – (think long!)
• Rotatable tripod collar (the only acceptable way to tripod mount this lens/camera combination)
• Rear slip-in filter housing (for circular polarizer filter sold separately)

A more complete list of specifications can be found at: http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/lens/af/telephoto/af-s_600mmf_4d_if_2/index.htm

First Impressions:

Before I even laid my eyes (and hands) on the lens, I was impressed with the moderately-sized Anvil-style case that housed the lens (see Image 1 above).  Even before opening the case I got an inkling that the lens was going to be impressive.  And impressive it was.  As soon as I opened the case, I blurted out a “wow” when my eyes saw this big boy.  This is one big lens, clearly not for the casual photographer.  As I lifted the lens out of the case, it immediately became apparent that this is one heavy lens.  I knew immediately that a tripod was in order.  The sheer size of the front glass element was quite impressive.  I felt as if I had a small telescope in my hands.

As quickly as I could, I connected the lens to my Nikon D700 and snapped a few photos.  Here’s what I immediately noticed:

1)      The minimum focusing distance of approximately 16 feet means you need separation between you and your subject.

2)      The bokeh, or quality of the blurred image, was incredible.  Out-of-focus background elements were rendered smoothly.

3)      Very sharp edge-to-edge images.

4)      My TC-17E teleconverter worked and looked good (providing 1020mm of focal length).

5)      Auto-focusing wasn’t the fastest, but use of the AF distance limiting switch helped.

6)      I preferred to manually focus the lens most of the time.

7)      I immediately wanted Vibration Reduction (VR).

So with my quick first impressions out of the way, it was time to take the lens out into the field to see how it performed (or should I say how I handled it).

 

Image 2 – Illustration of  bokeh
Shot with Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens with Nikon TC-17E teleconverter.  ISO 800, f/6.7, 1/1600 sec. 

Hands-on Experience:

First and foremost, I cannot imagine using this lens handheld.  Its weight and size make it difficult to hand hold effectively.  So I decided to lock it down on my tripod.  Problem number one arose – my carbon fiber tripod uses a ball head equipped with a Really Right Stuff clamp.  Although the 600mm lens included a rotatable lens collar mounting foot, it didn’t fit my RRS clamp.  So for me to use this on my tripod, I had to pull out an older style clamp and swap it out on my tripod head.  While this wasn’t the end of the world, it was a pain every time I wanted to change lenses because I needed to swap tripod clamps.  Lesson learned – remember to purchase the necessary RRS lens collar foot replacement if you buy or rent one of these lenses.  I’m glad I figured this out now rather than on my upcoming Alaska trip.

My next issue arose as soon as I locked the lens down on the tripod.  Lens movement.  As I mentioned, I have a light-weight carbon fiber tripod that I carry with me when I travel.  Simply stated, this tripod failed to provide the support that this lens requires.  Even when this lens was mounted on a more beefy tripod, there was still some movement/vibration.  This is where I found myself wishing for vibration reduction technology.  Had this lens been equipped with VR, my problem would have been solved.  Since it wasn’t, I found that I needed to wait for the lens to stop vibrating and use a high shutter speed to get crisp images.  Since even the slightest amount of wind caused some lens movement, I probably never really got this lens to stop moving.  The problem I have with using really high shutter speeds is that I like to keep my ISO settings as low as possible.  Once I put a teleconverter on the lens and sucked up two more stops of light, I pretty much was ensured of having to raise my ISO settings to be able to shoot with high shutter speeds.  While this wasn’t the end of the world (since the D700 has great high ISO capabilities), it wasn’t ideal for me.  Yes, a more stable tripod would have helped to a degree, but to me the real answer was vibration reduction.  So, needless to say, I will only consider long focal length lenses that have VR from this point forward.  And, if I’m using a lens of this size, I will bite the bullet and carry a heavier sturdier tripod with me.  Hey, if I’m going to lug this beast around, what’s another 4 pounds in tripod weight?  Oh, one last thing here, to keep the camera stead when triggering the shutter, I always used a wired remote trigger.  Whenever possible, I also engaged mirror lockup.

Image 3 – Night photo of the moon
Shot with Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens with Nikon TC-17E teleconverter.  ISO 3200, f/6.7, 1/6400 sec.

 

 

Image 5 – Same image as Image 3 above but cropped to 200%.  Notice the crater visibility.

Now I don’t want to sound too critical of the lens (it’s sweet), but I do want to share my issues.  My next problem came with locating subjects in the lens.  This of course is strictly a user operator issue and not a fault of the lens.  But, I did find myself having to search around to get the lens targeted on my subject.  The lens is so powerful (especially when coupled with a teleconverter), that it sometimes took me a few seconds to find the object I was planning on shooting.  This became problematic when I was trying to take photos of a bird that kept moving (to purposely evade my photo taking efforts).  Unfortunately, the bird’s movements were quicker than my ability to relocate and track the bird in the viewfinder.  So, ultimately, the bird won – I gave up – he didn’t get photographed.  So what lesson did I learn?  Well two.  First, more work with the lens would make me better at using it.  Second, that I would typically use this lens for photographing less robust creatures.  For example, I can see locking this lens down on a tripod aimed at a bird house.  Then, I could simply click the shutter when a bird entered the frame.  Similarly, it would work well for photographing slow-moving or stationary bears eating salmon out of a river.  I can’t envision me using this to shoot Nascar races or football games.  At least not without some serious practice time.  Oh, by the way, it takes some time to un-box the lens, attach the lens hood, mount it to your camera and tripod, and find and focus on your shooting subject.  So consider this if you are planning on doing some run-and-gun photography.  You might be better served with a 70-200mm or 200-400mm lens that is more suitable to handholding or monopod mounting.  

Image 6 – Shot from a distance of approx. 3700 feet away.
Shot with Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens with Nikon TC-17E teleconverter.  ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/4000 sec. 

 
Because this lens is an AF-S style lens, it accepts any of the Nikon teleconverters (1.4x, 1.7x and 2.0x).  Only the 1.4x will preserve the ability to autofocus the lens since the 1.7x and 2.0x suck up too much light and exceed the f/5.6 aperture required for the autofocus to be effective.  This didn’t turn out to be much of a problem for me since I preferred to manually focus any way.  But, the autofocus did work well when given adequate light and time.  I guess I can’t really call the autofocus slow, but the range limiting focus switch did improve focusing speed when used.  Hey, it’s 600mm – I’m not expecting lighting fast focusing.  
 

Image 7  – Image of an osprey atop a utility pole shot from ground level approx. 100 ft. away.
Shot with Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens with Nikon TC-17E teleconverter.  ISO 800, f/11, 1/500 sec.

 

Image 8  – Cropped Image of an osprey atop a utility pole shot from ground level approx. 100 ft. away.
Shot with Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens with Nikon TC-17E teleconverter.  ISO 800, f/11, 1/500 sec. 

If you plan to travel with this lens, you really need to consider its size and weight.  Most airlines will probably nail you with an additional bag charge if you send it through with the baggage.  This lens simply won’t fit in most camera bags/back packs.  The lens and case weighed in at 24 lbs.  I personally would consider shipping it to my destination via UPS or FedEx.  Also, once on location, you need to remember that you need to transport the lens out to your shooting location.  If you’re alone, it’s probably going to be an issue on long hikes.  Personally, I found carrying all my gear and this lens to be acceptable for short distances, but  not too desirable when I had to hike a distance.  Keep this in mind before setting out on a hike through the desert!  Working out of the back of your car shouldn’t be an issue.

Things I liked.  Well, the lens is really sharp.  Especially for a 600mm.  In optics, you get what you pay for, and with this lens you’re getting top-notch clarity.  The build quality of the lens was also substantial.  The lens felt solid and not cheap.  Even the case it comes in is well built.  Autofocus switches were large, well marked, and conveniently located.  The lens hood was easy to secure with a single screw and flipped around nicely for packaging.    The way out-of-focus backgrounds were rendered was outstanding.  It is easy to get object-to-background separation with this lens.  Aside from the addition of VR, there’s not much more I would want from this lens. 

 

Image 9  – Image of a water lilly
Shot with Nikkor 600mm f/4 lens with Nikon TC-17E teleconverter.  ISO 800, f/6.7, 1/1250 sec.
 

 

Image 10  – Same as image 9 above but cropped to 100%

 

Image 11  – Same as image 9 above but cropped to 200%
 

Summary:

So, would I buy this lens? No.  I wouldn’t consider this (or any other super telephoto) lens without integrated vibration reduction (VR) now that it exists.  That said, if cash wasn’t a consideration, I would absolutely buy the newer VR version of this lens for those once-in-a-while shots.  The one problem that I continued to notice while using this lens was that even the slightest movements (caused by the wind) required me to use high shutter speeds to get the sharpness I wanted.  VR would certainly have helped in this area.  Since VR technology exists, and works well, I absolutely would spend the money to purchase a lens so equipped. 

Now, since cash is obviously a consideration for me, and since I am not a professional nature (or bird) photographer, I would probably opt for a VR-equipped high power zoom lens (that I can occasionally handhold) instead.  I think the versatility of variable focal length, combined with reasonable long reach capability would serve me better.  Couple this with the fact that a lens like the Nikkor 200-400mm f/4 VR is 1475 grams lighter than the 600mm, it would probably make a better traveling companion for me and would work better on a monopod.  While I would sacrifice some focal distance, I feel that the other gains in flexibility and cost savings will be beneficial for my shooting style (think my kids sporting events and nature photography).  Since I plan to use my Nikon teleconverters, I will of course need to stay with an AF-S lens (since they don’t work with other lenses).  For those few times where I will really need the reach of the 600mm, I will rent a lens.  I can’t imagine this happening too often.

So in summary a great lens (especially if VR equipped), sharp with great bokeh, big and heavy, expensive, and tripod-dependent.

Hello everyone. Today I want to talk about Aperture Priority (Av for short) Mode on your cameras. I think this setting will really help you to get the images you want without fiddling too much with your camera settings.

Please refer to your camera’s manual to see how to change your camera’s shooting modes. Every camera is different so the four different modes (M, Av, Tv, P) could appear on a knob that turns, it could require your to hold down a button and move a command dial or none of the above. While you have that user’s manual open, it might be helpful to give it a read…

So let’s do a quick review of the camera modes before we go any further.
Manual Mode (M): Enabling this requires that you the photographer has to set the shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Basically, you have full control over the camera in order to have the most creative control over your exposure.
Aperture Priority Mode (Av): This setting is a lot like Manual Mode, BUT you only have to set the Aperture and ISO. The camera takes those two settings and then goes ahead and computes the proper Shutter Speed for an average exposure. But what happens when we want the CORRECT exposure? We’ll dive into that a little later.
Shutter Priority Mode (Tv): This setting is the opposite of Aperture Priority mode. We set the Shutter Speed and ISO while the camera figures out the proper Aperture. The camera also computes an average exposure for you that sometimes needs to be overridden. The Tv in the abbreviation there stands for Time by the way. I can safely say that I have NEVER used this setting EVER!
Program Mode (P): This setting is used by many people when they first get their cameras and are still learning. Program Mode is the “safe” setting. It figures out the Shutter Speed and Aperture for you all the time to once again to compute a “safe” setting so your photo comes out fairly decent. All you have to worry about is the ISO… If you don’t even want to mess with the ISO then there is a full auto mode. On Canon camera’s, it is represented as a green square. Basically, that is the mode you set it to when you give it to your grandmother so she can take a picture for you. haha.

Now, I posed a question earlier about the Av, Tv and P camera modes and how the camera decides upon a middle of the road setting for Shutter Speed and Aperture. More often than not, the setting the camera chooses is not correct. For example, if you are photographing something that is mostly white, then the image will be kinda gray and under-exposed and vice versa for black. There you have a black subject but it will over-expose the image so it appears gray. Don’t worry there are ways to get around this… Want to know how? Glad you asked.

There is a little something called EXPOSURE COMPENSATION and the button looks like this:

Exposure Compensation works for Av, Tv and P modes. You can set it in Manual mode but it will not affect the image. It will however, affect your flash if in TTL (At least Nikon works this way). So Exposure Compensation is the tool we need to tell the camera that it is giving us the wrong exposures (thus images are too light or too dark) and that we want more (by setting a + number) or less (by setting a – number) light to enter the camera. See the camera is nothing but a computer. All it knows is ones and zeros. Therefore, it doesn’t know that you are photographing a landscape at sunset or sparklers on the Fourth of July. All it does is take a light meter reading and gives us a safe set of settings. The camera can, and more often than not, gets fooled. All we have to do is hold down that exposure compensation button and use our command dial to set it to a plus or minus value. In this digital age, we can simply take a photo and physically see how the exposure looks. We have Highlight Warning to tell if we blew out our highlight, we have our Histogram to tell where all the pixels in our image are falling within the limits or not and we have the actual image for us to critique with our own eyes. So take a test picture and make your adjustments as needed. It is always important to adjust the Exposure Compensation and then check every once in a while to make sure your lighting didn’t change!

Also, make sure to zero out your Exposure Compensation settings before you are done shooting. You may have had a +2 for a backlit condition but when you pick up the camera again you may not remember that you had it set to that high of a value. Zeroing it out gives you one less possible thing to troubleshoot.

Now, I use Av mode a ton during weddings. The wedding is a fast paced event at times so I need a setting that will keep up. I also use Av sometimes for portraits, when outside and under varying lighting. I love being able to adjust my aperture and control my depth of field and then have the camera set the shutter speed for me. Of course I know how to set my Shutter Speed, but sometimes I miss “the moment” because I am moving my camera to the proper Shutter Speed. In Av mode, the camera sets the Shutter Speed to what I would have set it to, just faster!

Thanks for reading and I will talk to you again real soon!

What better time to review the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VR when a new one has been announced right?

Basically, I just wanted to let you know that this lens is still going to be used by myself and I do not have immediate plans to upgrade to the new 70-200mm with VRII…

Here are the differences real quick between the old model and the new one:
1.) Price! I paid around $1,800 last year from my 70-200mm while the new one appears that it will be going for around $2,400.
2.)VR vs. VR II: You basically get an extra stop of light with this newer version VR. The old one states that you can handhold the lens and get an additional three stops out of it while the new one is rated for four stops.
3.) Lens Coating & Design: The new VRII lens has the nano-crystal coating and sports a new design to boot.
4.) Minimum focusing distance has been dropped from 5 feet to 4.5 feet or so.
5.) The VRII lens is about a quarter inch shorter than its predecessor. However, it is approx. 2.5 oz. heavier.
6.) Sharpness: The new VRII is supposed to have better edge to edge sharpness on the new VRII lens.
7.) AF: Faster focusing with the A/M, M/A and M options.

So if you think that the extra $600 will help out your photography then put an order in for one of the new VRII versions… Otherwise, wait it out and continue to rock it’s predecessor.

I personally love my current lens. The important things are that it is fast to acquire focus, it is sharp (even at f/2.8) and it is comfortable in the hands. Need I say more? This lens has some amazing bokeh (that is the term given to the aesthetic quality of the blurred out background in your image when using a shallow depth of field)

I chose to do this review actually because I have been using this lens for more and more of my work as the days go on. My full frame D700 rocks with this lens. I did find that DX crop cameras give me a little too much zoom (approx. 105-300mm focal lengths after considering the crop factor) for my wedding and portrait needs. This lens coupled with a 2x teleconverter on my D300 DX camera gives me an effective 600mm f/5.6 (you lose a stop of light with each x in the teleconverter so my f/2.8 bumps up to f/5.6) Not too shabby! So all in all, I can use this lens with either a DX or FX body and for various photography assignments.

The image quality of this lens really excels when shooting wide open. Here are some sample pics from a job that I just did where the 70-200mm was used at f/2.8:

 

This lens is a staple for Nikon shooters. There are a couple other “necessary” lenses in Nikon’s lineup that you should have with you. The 24-70mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4 would have to be the other two that I can come up with. Enjoy and check back tomorrow for some awesome workflow techniques!

Thanks for stopping by.

I have been a photographer for over 12 years now. To some, that’s how long they have been shooting film alone! However, even though I am only 26 years old, I’ve made my way through the ranks and have been blessed to actually have shot with film, developed it in the darkroom and even wound my own film! With that being said, I’ve used and acquired a lot of camera equipment. And by a lot, I mean A LOT!

Technology is changing so fast that it can be easy to get caught in this “age of obsolescence” where new tech comes out every month. Combine that with forums and internet chatter about the new gear just in case you weren’t enticed enough to get it already. In all honesty, itt is like “keeping up with the Jonses” except on a national level.

So where am I going with this? Photography is expensive… But good news! Today’s cameras are allowing your money to go further. How so? Easy…

Way back in 2001, I had a Nikon D100. This camera was a workhorse. BUT, it sucked at low light. AF acquisition was okay and good luck with noise after ISO 800… Nothing like today’s cameras. So way back in 2001, that D100 ran me a good $1600 or so. I paired that up with a Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 variable aperture zoom lens and that was my setup for quite some time… As you can imagine, I needed a speedlight for a lot of my work in order to have enough light since the lens was definitely not the fastest in Nikon’s fleet.

I managed but it was tough! All in all, that was my gear for 2-3 years. A Nikon D100, SB-800 Speedlight and a 28-105mm zoom lens. All that totaled about $3000 back in 2001. So what can we get for $3000 today?

The money is the same but the features and equipment of today far surpasses what I had to use back then!

Basically all D-SLRs allow you to take control of the following: Shutter speed, aperture and ISO controls. These three items are the basis for photography. The shutter speed and aperture hasn’t changed. However, recent ISO improvements in the current array of cameras have been huge for photographers! My Nikon D700 (D3 too) can get me to ISO 26,500!!! That is madness. Remember me complaining about files coming out of my D100 that were taken at ISO 800? I can now handhold my camera in darker conditions, without a flash I might add, and get superior images than before. What does this mean for today’s photographers? First off, we can save a boat load of money by choosing those slower, variable aperture lenses!

Here are two lenses:
The first is my Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 and the other is my old Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5.

Images courtesy of www.KenRockwell.com

So that 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 ran me around $350 back in the day. What is the price of the 24-70mm f/2.8?? About $1800! That is quite the difference in price… What could you do with that $1500 in savings?

Now let me first start off this comparison by saying that the 24-70mm is one of my favorite lenses. It is sharp at every aperture and could be my one and only lens. I love it! If you have the money to pick one up then I would highly suggest making it your first lens purchase! This article is written for those just starting out or who may be wanting to take the jump to digital so keep that in mind as you are reading this!

So the main difference in specs is the fast fixed f/2.8 vs. the slower, variable aperture f/3.5-f/4.5 lens.

f/2.8 to f/4 is a reduction of 1 stop of light… This is a fact. The difference between the two lenses is a loss of 1.3 stops of light. Long story shot… Big friggen’ deal! 1.3 stops of light is nothing in this day and age. Another big perk is that a lot of these cheaper “kit lenses” as they are also called is the fact that they are now coming with VR built in. Canon calls this IS and others have their own unique name. VR stands for Vibration Reduction. Essentially, there is a floating element inside the lens that moves when enabled and helps correct for camera shake at slower shutter speeds. VR lenses essentially can give you three to four extra stops of light by being able to shoot at slower shutter speeds. Pretty cool huh? Just make a mental note that VR capabilities fix camera shake that is caused on the photographer’s end. It helps correct shake from hand holding the camera and shaking or a wobbly tripod. If you are shooting at 1/25″ second then don’t expect your moving SUBJECT to be still… The camera will still pick up blur from your subjects moving so keep that in mind!

Now the 28-105mm lens seems to be extinct but there are other amazing lenses out there that are ripe for the taking. Many of these newer lenses have the VR option too which is pretty sweet. As a matter of fact, I wrote this article and it encouraged me to pick up the Nikkor 80-400mm f/4-5.6D VR lens. But more on that later…

So here are some Nikon lenses that are in the $300 price range and rock.
Nikon 50mm f/1.8D Prime Lens: $130 (Look maw, f/1.8! Wow. This really means hello low light photography!)
Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6 IF AF-S DX VR: $219
Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED: $360
Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6 ED AF-S DX: $170

What do all those letters mean in the lens name?
ED = Extra-low Dispersion. This came about around 1960-1975′ish and it is a better quality glass that is used for the lens elements. It is harder and helps correct for chromatic aberration (green and magenta color fringes around the edges of your subject).
IF = Internal Focusing. This means that when the auto-focus is activated, the glass elements move inside the lens. This means that the lenses have a shorter focusing distance and can help the lens focus quicker.
DX = the short hand name for the sensor in crop cameras like the D40, D90 and D300 DSLRs (to name a few). When a lens has this in it’s name that means that it is optimized for crop cameras. This is because the lenses have smaller image circles to pair up with the smaller sensors. If you were to put a DX lens on an FX body then the result would be a big loss in resolution. Don’t get me wrong, FX camera bodies would work with these lenses. It is just that my 12mp full frame D700 would end up giving me 6mp images and would basically do the DX cropping for me.
FX = the short hand name for full frame sensors like the ones found in the D700, D3 and D3x DSLRs. Lenses do not have this in their name. It is more of a camera abbreviation.
PC = Perspective Control. This is another name for tilt-shift lenses. These are specialty lenses designed primarily for architectural photography.
Older lenses may have the abbreviations: NIC, SIC or RF to them. I wouldn’t get too caught up with these. If you are buying new equipment, then stick with the newer tech.

So we covered lenses, now it’s time to dive into camera bodies. I would suggest a Nikon D300 ($1500) or the newly announced D300s ($1800). Typically, camera’s that have an ‘X’ appended to their name (i.e. the Nikon D40 vs. the D40x and the Nikon D3 vs the D3x) means that there is a resolution improvement. The D40 was around 6mp while the D40x was in the 10mp range and the D3 is a 12mp camera while the D3x is a whopping 24mp! When you see an ‘S’ appended to the model then that more or less means that the camera has feature upgrades. (i.e. the Nikon D2X vs. D2Xs and the Nikon D300 vs. the D300s)This includes, adding more menu options, video mode, screen size and other various bells and whistles of the like. When a camera has a DX format sensor, that means that it is not the same size as 35mm film. Instead, the sensor is smaller. It is cheaper to make (due to less silicon) and has something called a crop factor (aka lens multiplier) to it. Think about it… If you drew a picture on a large piece of paper and then put smaller tracking paper over it and copied whatever you could then you would only be able to trace a portion of the drawing. The tracing would appear to be A ZOOMED IN version of your original drawing. So if you have a 50mm lens on both a DX and FX camera… The image coming out of the DX camera would appear to be zoomed in. Nikon and other camera companies do the conversion math for you and came up with like 1.3, 1.5 or 1.6x crop factors. All you need to know is that when you throw a lens on your DX camera, just multiply whatever your current focal length is by the crop factor. Let’s do one for an example: I have my D300 with a 1.5x crop factor and mount a Nikkor 70-200mm lens on it. What zoom range do I REALLY have?

70mm X 1.5x = 105mm
200mm X 1.5x = 300mm

So I get more zoom out of that lens with my D300 than I would with my full frame D700. Got it? Good. Back to the topic at hand now…

The D300 has the ability to shoot at ISO 6400… If you wanted to spend more money and drop $2500 on a D700, not only will you get a full frame sensor, but the ability to shoot up to ISO 25,600! If you think back to my D100 which got up to ISO 1600 (without looking like complete garbage) then the D300 will give you an extra 2 stops of light (while the low noise in the image still looking good) or up to 4 stops of light with the D700. Worse case scenario, throw your image into a software plug-in like Neat Image or Noise Ninja to fix the noise in the pics.

In conclusion, you don’t have to drop $30k on slew of camera equipment. You can if you want but you can still have fun and take great pics with a $3,000 setup. Can you purchase cameras that are cheaper? Sure… There are DSLRs in the $500 price range. In my experience though, I found that if you spend that little bit extra and get yourself into the $1500 price range then you will have yourself a very nice camera that won’t be missing an important feature or two and will last you a lot longer. I found that people who start off with the $500 camera’s end up moving up to the $1500 cameras and then take a loss when trying to sell their old one… Just spend the extra money because it will come back and bite you in the butt later on. Lenses; You can get away with a $300-$500 lens no sweat.

So this article was really inspiring to me. Inspiring to cost me money at least. I recently purchased the Nikon D300 (non S version) and paired it up with that 80-400mm VR lens I mentioned earlier. This combo is just killer and can do a lot of damage (in a good way)! This camera/lens combo ran me about $3,000. The perfectionist/snob in me required myself to pick up a MB-10 battery grip for the D300 and RRS (Really Right Stuff) brackets and mounts for the camera and lens. For me, I like having the battery pack and the RRS stuff makes tripod shooting super steady and tight and gives me the sharpest images possible.

This article hit me when I had the Nikon 600mm f/4 lens arrive at my doorstep. I am a NPS member and had one shipped to me as a loaner. It was heavy, bulky and costs upwards of $10,000!!! Sure it was sharper than sharp and was extremely cool to use but good luck taking it with you on an airplane or for hikes. Heck anywhere outside of your house for that matter

I have been eyeing up a crop camera for some time. The D300 is a staple and is a very nice camera so I went with that. I was toying with the 80-400mm f/4-5.6 lens and the 200-400mm f/4 lens (about a $5,000 price difference) when it hit me… GET THE D300 AND 80-400mm LENS AND SAVE $2,000!!!

With the D300 and the 80-400mm, my effective focal lengths are 120-600mm f/4-5.6! Not too shabby. The VR will help with camera shake at those effective focal lengths which is a huge help. I saved myself (and my back) probably 20lbs of camera gear and I have the same focal length… Sure I can’t use teleconverters and I lose a stop of light being at f/5.6 and all but who thought there wouldn’t be a catch somewhere in this?

I knew that going into the purchase. For me, $3,000 is worth the expense for how often I go out shooting birds and wildlife while not taking a huge $10,000 hit for a lens that will REALLY see no use…

I am not dogging the 600mm lens in any way. I am just being realistic with my shooting and weighing in the pros and cons to both. I would say that the 200-40mm f/4 lens is probably the best option for travel, quality and price over the 600mm lens.

Hopefully this article will at least open your eyes up and maybe even save you a few dollars in the process.
Thanks for reading and check out my new articles next week!

The inner wildlife photographer in me loves the work of Moose Peterson. Moose is an amazing nature and wildlife photographer and I will definitely be attending one of his DLWS worshops one of these days.

So where was I… Oh yeah, Lens Coat. So one of the products Moose uses are Lens Coats. They are basically neoprene covers for your lenses that help prevent them from dings, bumps, scratches and even against the elements, like rain and cold temperatures. So I am very hard on my gear and decided to pick a couple up. I grabbed one for my Nikon 70-200mm and my 24-70mm. I chose plain black over the various camouflage colors because I am shooting weddings more than wildlife (sometimes it would be nice to switch that around though).

The inner 5 year old in me needs stuff asap so I had the Lens Coats come with expedited shipping. The packaging was very simple yet professional. I opened them up and started going to town. The instructions were very clear cut and the neoprene sleeves fit around the lenses both accurately and snugly. So far so good!

There are plastic “windows” that display the important lens information and switches. That can be good and bad. I can say that these covers are crafted to accurately fit over each lens perfectly!

My only gripe is that the neoprene sleeve that covers the lens hoods could have some sort of adhesive to it. I found the lens hood covers to fit over the hood okay. It was easy for the sleeve to slide back and flower away from the plastic hood. Some adhesive like double sided tape will have to get put on there.

So the lens coat is comfy in the hands and offers you with added security while looking very nice and professional. I wouldn’t recommend getting these for your smaller lenses. Stick to getting these for your 70-200mm and up lenses because there is a lot more to those lenses than on say the 24-70. That arrived with a lens hood cover and two small bracelet sized neoprene circles for it. So what really would get protected and how well will it do it you know?

All in all I would give them an 8 out of 10. I would rate it higher if only I shot more nature and wildlife and less weddings and portraits. I am not in need of the lens coat for those kinds of shoots so it can get in the way. However, if you are all about being outdoors and want that extra protection when your expensive lenses are out of the bag then these are right up you alley!

So check out www.LensCoat.com and see if they may be right for you.

Digital SLR cameras allow you to toggle between using a couple of different file types for your images. Most camera models actually allow you to record both file types simultaneously. However, I get asked what these different file types are a lot! So first things first, lets cover what they are…

JPEG: JPEG files is a very common file type (probably because it was agreed upon by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee back in like 1994 or so, and the initials make up the file name). A JPEG is basically a method of compressing an image. This compression can be adjusted for size and image quality constraints. This means that these files can vary greatly. If you opt for better image quality over file size then it will take up more space on your memory card, hard drive and whatnot. Keeping the file size down and sacrificing in quality (shrunk for the web and for download purposes) could also be important given your specific needs. In your camera menu, you can choose between various JPEG settings. There is compressed/uncompressed, JPEG Fine, Normal and Basic, or something along those lines. My Nikon’s for example ask me for Size Priority (which is default) or Optimal Quality. I always set my camera’s to the latter option. My JPEG file size is always set to JPEG Fine for the best quality possible. I get the largest JPEG files under these circumstances but also the best image. JPEG Normal and Basic give you smaller files with lesser detail and will not produce an optimal image. The problem with JPEGs is that it is a compressed format. You can notice it in the files too… Take a look at the blocks that start to appear in the file with different levels of compression. The first file is the largest in size while the last one is the smallest. This is due to sacrificing image detail.

The cool thing about JPEG is that you can instantly do SOMETHING with the images that you just took. First off, you can set the sharpness, saturation and contrast of your images in camera and the JPEG will take those settings into affect. That means your images can look good and edited at time of capture. No the file can’t do skin retouching or whatnot so Photoshop ‘may’ still be needed. However, for all intents and purposes shooting in JPEG is very convenient. That means you can run over to a photo lab and start printing right then and there. You could also go back home and push those images to Flickr, Facebook, MySpace or even blog about the pics. Not so easy with RAW!

Now, I only shoot JPEG when shooting sports. That is it! Why? Well because of a little something called RAW! JPEGs are good for sports because it allows me to store more files on my memory card and so I can take more photos in burst when ramping up to the apex of the play. This ensures me that I get the shot. Now let’s talk about RAW.

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RAW: A RAW file is the closest thing to a Film Negative. That is why RAW files are quite often called digital negatives. Mind you, I can get well over 1000+ images on a 16gb memory card when shooting JPEG and only 800 when shooting RAW. That means you will get less shots per memory card but it is WELL worth it! Each camera provider has their own type of RAW file. That means if you shoot Canon, your file extensions will be a *.CR2, Nikon will be a *.NEF and so on for every other camera company. With a RAW file, the in-camera sharpness, saturation and contrast settings are thrown away and it is up to you to set all those things when editing the photos. This is good and bad… The good is that you can fine tune every image. The bad is that you HAVE to edit every image. You also need special RAW processing software to do so enter Photoshop Camera RAW, Lightroom, Aperture, Capture One and various others. A plus is that your camera should come with their own software to edit their RAW images with as well to save some cash. The big perk with having to edit all your files is that you can always add or remove sharpness, contrast, saturation or whatever else. A lot of the software handles RAW images in a non-destructive manor so you can always get back to square one if you mess things up. Good luck trying to lessen those effects in a JPEG! Once you set them in camera then you are pretty much married to them unless you want to do massive Photoshop work to correct.

So another perk about RAW files is the fact that you have more flexibility. If you blow out highlights in a JPEG image then you can do very little to get the data in the white area back. RAW files have a lot more flexibility and have brought images back to usable conditions that were 2-3 stops under/over exposed. There is even highlight recovery sliders that will bring back highlight detail for you. So this is good especially if you are new to photography, maybe new to Manual mode and doing the settings on your own or whatever… By having the flexibility you can play with your settings and know that you sort of have that “fail safe” of being able to have that added recovery mechanism if need be. This also means one can start getting careless and to start relying on software to fix their images. Remember, garbage in = garbage out! It is always best to start with a well exposed image for the most flexibility with your images. End of story! Another great feature is the white balance correction. With RAW, you can click on a gray, black or white point and instantly get a better (and more accurate) color rendition of your image. JPEG requires a lot more clickity clicking to fix in Photoshop.

Something else that is a HUGE help with RAW images is that you can do something called batch processing in the RAW software. That means you can edit one image and apply the same setting to as many other images as you want. Take a look at my little article and video on batch processing HERE. This can REALLY save you time.

Now for the cons to RAW… You cannot go to a photo kiosk and get your recent pics printed until you go to a computer and work on them and then export them to a JPEG. Another con are the file sizes and storage situations. You need bigger memory cards, hard drive space and quite often find yourself having to save both the RAW and JPEG file on your computer… That means pay up for external hard drives! Another thing with the computers is that the RAW processing does take a toll on the processor and memory so you should have a fairly well decked out computer with like 2-4gb RAM and a decent processor. This will ultimately help you save time and so you can spend less time waiting for your computer to chug away on various actions.

All in all, the cons are nothing to me compared to the pros of shooting in RAW. Back in the day it was a toss-up between JPEG and RAW but nowadays, the technology of both the hardware and software have made RAW the best file type to use for photographers.

I would love to hear your thoughts so comment below. Thanks for reading and check back for a Master Class Monday article.

The Nikon 105mm VR macro lens is a relatively new addition to my camera bag. It is a very sharp specialty lens that really deserves to be recognized. The 105mm is a macro lens and the way to use it is really different from how we work with conventional lenses. I have to admit, when I put this lens on I thought it was broken. See, I put the lens on and tried stopping down to f/2.8 but couldn’t. Instead, I had a very odd aperture that it was stuck at. I put two and two together and started working the manual focus ring and then figured it out and that it is just how the lens works. Being a macro lens, it is used because it provides you with a close focusing distance as well as the ability to produce 1:1, 1:2 (and so on) reproductions of your subject. This is great for flower photography, insects and stuff of that nature because you can do your cropping in camera and have the subject take up the entire frame if you so choose.

This lens can also be used as a portrait lens since it is very sharp and it is at a focal length that is flattering to your subject without any real lens distortion occurring.

There are two cons to this lens that pose a problem. The first is sort of the nature of the beast and deals with a shallow DOF (depth of field) even at higher apertures. I noticed it when I first got the lens. I started off at like f/5.6 or f/8 with flowers but noticed that the foreground leaves were still out of focus. Sure the part of the flower I focused on was 100% sharp but the DOF fell off way too soon IMHO. To combat this and get the photo that I wanted (i.e. ALL petals in focus) I had to set the aperture to f/11 or f/16… That is great and all but you need a boat load of light at times in order to get these shots. I worked my way around that by using my speedlight to compensate for the loss of light. f/11 is totally doable with a speedlight if it is very, very close to your subject. This is also where the VR (vibration reduction) comes in handy to achieve sharp images even at slower shutter speeds.

The second issue I had with the lens is that it is slow to auto focus. This lens works best when you set your focusing distance and physically move yourself and the camera back and forward until you achieve the sharpest focus. I noticed that this was a pain with a tripod!

Now imagine the trouble I had to go through to get this photo:

These bats were all huddled up and hanging on the wood rafter in a historical building in the Smokey Mountains. There was no light whatsoever. I had to have my associate hold up my iPhone to give me something, anything to illuminate these little critters. That gave my camera enough light to detect the contrast necessary to acquire focus. I had my SB-900 speedlight mounted on my camera and it was pointed directly behind me so it would hit the wall behind me and lit up the little guys… I got a couple good snaps off before I looked down and checked out that bat guano that I was stepping in. lol. Anything for the shot right?

So back to the reivew. The 105mm VR is a very nice (and ridiculously sharp) lens. Remember that photo above? Well here is a 100% crop of the little bat off to the bottom right of the frame.

Yeah THAT’S sharp!

Is is necessary for 99% of the work people do? No… Well unless you photograph flowers and bugs for a living then consider yourself in the 1% range. I personally do not use this lens for portraits often. I bring it out for weddings and baby portraits to capture details. Wedding ring shots work great with the 105mm and I can get those little baby details with this lens as well. Little ears, hands and feet. The other times this lens comes out is when I do the flowers and bug photography.

It is a great lens and I would definitely recommend it.