Scout Images

I had an interesting day photographically. This morning I headed over to a friends place to have my widened by the many different coffee’s available. Being an occasional coffee drinker, I knew there were different types of coffees but didnt realise how different they are.

Much later this evening I shot my friends car. This car has been his pride and joy for the last 18months slowly being converted from a stock standard Peugeot 206 to a mean little show car with a bark and a bite that he has dubbed the “GTX”. However he is moving on and will be selling the car to finance something a bit larger and more practical to his changing needs. For these photos I used a variety of lenses (AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8, AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VR, Tokina 10-17mm fisheye) on my Nikon D300. Lighting was provided by my trusty Wolfeyes Defender 260 and my SB-800 and SB-600 speedlights.

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.

It is great to have a good excuse to go and take some photos, tonight I will be going to snap away for a group of friends performance at a local pub/hotel. It will be indoors, lighting will be questionable and I am not sure what to the stage setup will be like. Due to the short notice I have not had the opportunity to scout out the venue. My solution:

• Nikon D300 + MB-D10 – my workhorse, good at higher ISOs, great all rounder
• Fujifilm Finepix S5 Pro – my backup, good at high ISOs, unrivalled for colour
• Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 – fast and reliable it will cover me for anything that is shorter
• Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm F/2.8 VR – fast and reliable it will give me the reach that I will possibly need
• Nikkor AF-D 85mm f/1.8 – just incase I need that extra light gathering ability (thanks Brian for lending this to me on such short notice)
• Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 – fast, light and most importantly wider than my 24-70 this lens will come out if I need something wider.
• Nikon SB-800 – for when I need that extra light
• Nikon SB-600 – for when I need that extra light
• Manfrotto 680B + 234RC – if I need some extra stability

All carried in my Vertex 200AW, not the best event bag, but it lets me carry everything securely and comfortably.

Fingers crossed all goes well and photos will come up in the next few days.

Just an example of what I have done with a simliar kit.