From time to time I will have a number of items that are away (loaned out or sent away for service) so if you are interested check here to see where everything is.….more
Items that are not present at the moment
Nikon D300 @ Nikon Australia – service, LCD screen
Nikon FM2n @Camera Service Center – AI ring replacement
AF-S Zoom Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR On Loan – Mr E. Noga
AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D On Loan – Mr JOD
Would it be me not to bring a camera to the Seven Bridges Walk, an event that sees participants cover 25km’s crossing seven bridges in a circuit around Sydney Harbour??? With so much gear out of action, I really welcomed the return of my newest toy, the Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye, and this was coupled with my Nikon D60 to provide a lightweight and fun kit for the day.
They say that you will go through a phase where you will fisheye EVERYTHING when you first buy a fisheye, and this feels rather true. But at the same time I am starting to get a feel for what should be fisheyed and what should not.
Rather than to bore you all with more talk here are some pictures….
I had a sudden realisation….a lot of my gear is away at the moment. Just in case you were interested, and just a bit of me thinking out loud, what is away and where is it?
Nikon D300 – with Nikon Australia for service on LCD issue (Grrrr fix it and stop giving me excuses)
Nikon F80 – on extended loan to a friend for a Photography course (should be coming back soon)
Nikon FM2n – with Camera Service Clinic for service
Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye - loan to a friend (should be back soon)
Nikkor AF-D 50mm f/1.8 – just about to be loaned to a friend
Now that I have put it down…it seems that I am very light on camera bodies at the moment but looking alright for glass, so the situation is not as dire as first thought.
I have to apologise for the long time between posts. I have just become very time poor recently and have only just managed to find the time to process some photos from last weekend’s trip up to the Blue Mountains for a Sublime Point dawn shoot. Other than that, there has been a fair bit of other stuff happening…with more cameras going out to service.
Today I dropped off my treasured FM2n to get the aperture indexing ring replaced, having discovered that it was modified by its previous owner (to use non AI lenses) and ordered a new focus screen for my S5 Pro. This means two of my five cameras are currently away for service (the D300 is back at Nikon but I will be checking on it tomorrow, and now the FM2n is away as well) and a third still away on extended loan (I should be getting the F80D back soon though). This leaves me with the S5 Pro and the D60 until the others come back.
Now that I have expressed the sad state of affairs in terms of camera bodies, I should show you some of the work that the two remaining cameras have been doing recently…..
First up lets have a look at the trip up to the Blue Mountains. Dawn at Sublime Point is great to watch, even when the conditions are not great for photography. I was pretty disappointed to find that the S5 Pro had picked up a few dust bunnies on the sensor and in the viewfinder (I actually damaged the focus screen trying to get the viewfinder clean) so you will actually be able to see some dust bunnies on some of my shots.
As a bonus I have decided to post a few images from the Long Table Laneway Dinner (14th Oct 2009) taken with my D60. A lot of these images were taken at high ISO with slow shutter speeds but I figured that having a few images was better than having none. However there is a bit of FishEye fun in this album.
As with most people, there are a number of items that I lust for, and another set of items that simply dont exist but I would love to see. SO I thought I would share my wish list with you all…..more
Hey guys,
Just wanted to let you all know that the Sydney Camera Markets are around again.
On the Sunday 18 October the Sydney Camera Market will be held at the Ultimo Community Centre. 10am – 3pm
It is an opportunity to grab a photographic bargain!
Near new digital cameras can be found alongside old box Brownies. Classic Leica Rangefinders, a favorite with artists and press photographers since the 1930′s can be bought at reasonable prices.
Run since 1997 this hall full of photographic bargains is also an excellent museum of all the very best and worst image capture devices made. What is a Daguerotype, Polaroid instant film process, Holga or Diana F photography? A pin hole camera?
Note that we have been running the markets since 1997 and they have been at the Ultimo Community Centre since 1998. We do it for the fun as we are interested in photographic images and photographic technology. We only have three markets per year and this is the last one for 2009.
For those who have missed out, Nikon has announced the D3s and the AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR. The D3s improves on the D3 by adding sensor cleaning, increased buffer size, dedicated Liveview and Info buttons, increased ISO range, and the ability to shoot 720p video. The new lens is a cheaper alternative to the Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR for DX users that should also double as a good portrait lens.
Today I paid Taronga Zoo another visit, the second visit on my Zoo Friends pass, this time I actually picked up my proper membership card so I didnt have to use my invoice again. However, since my D300 is out of action (and in the hands of Nikon Australia) once again (still the LCD issue) the Fuji S5 Pro came out to play once more.
Like the last time, I found that the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR proved to be worth its weight in gold. Despite the heft, and the heft of the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 which was also in my trusty Lowepro Fastpack 350, I managed to see a lot of the zoo and snap off a few pictures. I was also carrying my new Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye, which proved to be versatile, providing a uniquely different macro.
Without further fluff I will share a few images, please accept my apologies as the files themselves have remained quite large (something about the S5 Pro I guess).
Click through for more images.
As mentioned before (here, here and here) I have finally gotten around to taking a few pictures of my new toys, the AI Nikkor 135mm f/2.8 and the Tokina AT-X DX 107 AF 10-17mm Fisheye. Since my Nikon D300 is away (yet again…refer here) so the Fuji S5 Pro has been pressed into service. The gear used?
I got carried away and did some more images of my other lenses as well.
After a long period of debate (refer here) I have finally added a fisheye to my kit bag. It has not been smooth sailing, with the process of obtaining this lens having been a bit of a rollercoaster ride in itself (with a DOA lens and a bit of wait before a replacement lens could be sourced), however I am glad to be able to say that I am very happy with my purchase and have to send a huge thank you the folks at HK Supplies who have made what could have been a stressful situation somewhat easiser.
As the title suggest, I am now the proud owner of a Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fisheye…the only zoom fisheye available (the Pentax 10-17mm is essentially the same lens in a different shell). This lens gets me out of trouble with my film/DX digital kit as it is fishy on both formats.
I just wanted to share some of my first pictures with this lens, taken a few days ago, along with a few from the Sony Cybershot Twilight Cruise event, where the TX-1 and the WX-1 was introduced to retailers in the Sydney region. Unfortunately I do not have any sample images from these cameras.
I have spent some time revisiting my latest HDR efforts trying to get a bit more out of the image. The previous version has a bit of strange colouring on the rocks (if you look closely you will notice) so these reworks were aimed at fixing this.
To get a bit more out of the image I have tried a Black and White conversion.
Just for fun…here is the middle shot (the proper exposure) of the 9 frame bracket that was taken for this HDR.
