Scout Images

You may have noticed that I have been very busy and have not been posting much over the last fortnight (until last night that is) so I thought I would apologise once more and share with you images of my recent travels.

Firstly, I headed off to Kanangra Boyd National Park (beyond the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves) with members of my old lab group from USYD. This was not a photographic expedition, but rather a scientific field trip to collect lizards to continue the work on the evolution of viviparity (live birth) – yes this was the broad subject for my honours year. As it was not a photographic trip, I restricted myself to bringing only my Fuji S5 Pro (the D300 was still with Nikon Australia), Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 and Phottix Geo One.

Soon afterwards (literally a two day break) I headed off to Kiama with some friends for an overnight getaway. However, the weather was not quite smiling down upon me so I did not get a lot of good photos. With me on this trip I brought along my Nikon D60, Nikon F80 (shooting Velvia 50), SB-400, Phottix Duo Cord, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 as well as the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye.

Then after a single day at home, I headed down to Hobart for a four day trip. This trip was meant to be pretty photo intensive, so between myself and my younger sister we had the entire kitchen sink bringing the, Fuji S5 Pro + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, Sigma 180mm Macro, Nikon D60, Nikon F80 (shooting Velvia 50 and Superia 200), Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8VR, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, as well as the Phottix Duo Cord, Phottix Geo One and my trusty Nikon SB-400. This four day trip can be roughly split between four events:

Mt Wellington – standing behind Hobart, this landmark provides some great views of the city and surrounds

Cascade Brewery – Australia’s oldest continuously operating brewery, a great tour and some great drinks, I really enjoyed their Mercury Cider and the Cascade Lager (only available in TAS).

Bruny Island – untouched wilderness, some animal encounters and a hell of a ride in a 1400Bhp, 14m boat.

Salamanca Markets – a must see, a mix of craft and food and a great way to spend a day

I have only posted digital images taken with the D60 (as my younger sister was using the S5 Pro) with film images from the Superia 200 and the Velvia 50 to come if I have time.

Lastly, I thought I would share a few images from today’s bittersweet adventure where I welcomed back my trusty D300 but my good friend lost her D80.

Today was in many ways meant to be a great day, I was finally picking up my D300 from it’s latest (and very lengthy) visit to Nikon Australia (see here) and then I spent the day with a very good friend. Also on the list of things to do was to deal with some of the issues that have cropped up whilst I was away in Hobart last week (trip report + pictures to come soon).

The day started well, with picking up my poor D300 at Foto Riesel Camera House (who have been great). I dropped off the Velvia 50 (slide film shot on my F80 whilst in Hobart) for processing as well as grabbing a replacement Nikon LC-52 lens cap (I lost one off my 50mm f/1.8 whilst in Hobart). Unfortunately I did not get anywhere with a replacement Tamron DA09 lenshood (for the Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 – mine picked up a large crack in Hobart).

But the bitterness really struck when a filthy, no good lowlife stole my friends treasured D80 from her bag at the end of the day whilst on the ferry back from Manly. The camera was at the top of my friend bag, which was sitting next to my bag on the seat opposite to us on the ferry. We must have both drifted off for a few minutes when it happened, but that is often all it takes.

For me it is a shock, I have often been very trusting, leaving gear in plain sight etc, but this event really shakes my belief that people are inherently good, maybe it is not so. How do you walk up to someone’s bag and take out a large camera in broad daylight and then walk away with it? Surely, even on a quiet ferry there are enough people around to keep an eye out for such occurrences. I know I was tired but I was drifting in and out of sleep on the ferry ride back, how gutsy would it have been to risk being caught??

Take heed, and ensure all your belongings are close by and any valuables hidden from prying eyes whenever you are out.

PS. that D80 has been reported to the Police and a serial number has been provided…so if it goes through a 2nd hand shop, chances are it will be found. We live in hope……slim hope

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.

Just wanted to let you all know that I have decided to take up an offer to change systems. I have traded the majority of my Nikon gear for a Sony Alpha A900 and some good Carl Zeiss glass.

Pretty soon I will be shooting with the CZ 16-35mm f/2.8, CZ 24-70mm f/2.8, CZ 85mm f/1.4, CZ 135mm f/1.8,  Sony 100mm f/2.8 macro and the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8G. This is an exciting time for me and hopefully I will be brining photos soon.

I have retained the Fujifilm S5Pro, Nikon F80D, Nikon FM2n, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and my SB-800.

Fingers crossed that this is a good call.

Like many before me I have been bitten by the urge for something wide and whacky…enter the fisheye.

Ever since being loaned an Olympus E-510 and a whole bunch of quality Olympus lenses I have been attracted to fisheyes. As a photographer who likes landscape a wide lens is a no brainer, but a fisheye is not just a wide angle, it is a wide angle that has large amounts of uncorrected barrel distortion and a huge viewing angle.

The 8mm Olympus fisheye on the E-510

The problem with this unique type of lens is that they do not transcend the DX/FX (crop/full frame) barrier as nicely as even a normal wide angle lens does. You buy a fisheye for the ‘fishy’ effect. But when you have a mixed film/digital kit like myself you quickly find yourself in a bit of strife when shopping for a fisheye.

My workhorse D300 and S5 Pro have the DX sensor which means the conventional fisheyes (Nikkor 16mm, Zenitar 16mm) will not be ‘fishy’ as they would be on my F80 and FM2n (and any FX camera). So there is a desire to go out and purchase a DX fisheye like the Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 DX or the Tokina 10-17mm but then these lenses are useless for film and FX bodies.

This is even before the ever important justification for such a lens. I want one, I cant justify one though. I would use it, but what happens when the novelty wears off? If I get a FX fisheye then it would be useless on my DX bodies and vice versa (I will not be taking a hack saw to an expensive lens). Nor can I afford a fisheye at the present.

The fact the my trusty Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is still away makes me yearn even harder for a fisheye (to help plug the temporary gap in the wide end of my kit). But I must fight the temptation.

Donations anyone?

My reviews and thoughts on the Nikon F80D and FM2n are now up.

The Nikon F80 is one of the best compromises between price and features…more

The light weight, and reliable FM2/FM2n series cameras are commonly found …more

I was making a new avatar and got a little carried away so I ended up making a larger version. What is it is an animated gif created using Photoshop.

My new avatar!

For the larger version please click on one of the following links:

500×400 BEWARE ~4mb