Hunt-ing for a New Lens: The Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 Saga

If you remember, my last major purchase was for my Nikon d300s. I had upgraded from my faithful d60 to a professional grade body, and I couldn’t have been happier. A year and a half later, I finally saved up enough money for another massive purchase! But what to buy?

The Nikon d600, which had just been released last October, was ever so tempting. It seemed that many professional photographer friends had and they were in LOVE with it. I caught a little of the fever, thinking maybe I should buy the d600 and make that my primary body and demote the d300s to a back-up. Then I remembered my even more faithful Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 version II lens and how badly I’ve been wanting to upgrade to the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 version II. Literally dreaming about it. The price difference between the d600 and the Nikkor lens, at the time, was $400. That may not sound like a lot, but a purchase like this would put me close to broke, so I decided to shop smart by shopping in a state without sales tax.

Up in Manchester, NH is Hunt’s Photo and Video, and they had the lens I wanted. I want to clarify that driving up to New Hampshire was not a day trip but a trip planned well in advance, so scooting over to Manchester was worth the money it saved me. Without sales tax, I saved around $200. With that $200, I turned around and bought a filter to protect my lens (which I don’t regret one second) and also a much needed used monopod! The monopod is a Manfrotto 679 and came with the head attachment already in place. In the end, I still saved over $50 and walked out with more equipment.

Why the Lens instead of the d600?
This is an easy question to answer. When I first bought the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 version II almost 4 years ago, I paid about $860 after taxes. I just looked up this lens on Amazon and it is selling for about the same price but used. Sigma’s newer version of this lens costs about $1250. When I was first looking at the d600, it was selling for $2000; now it’s going for $2099 on Nikon’s website. Today, you can get it for less than $1800 on Amazon. This is only over the course of 2 months!! On top of that, Nikon has released the d610 which according to CNET.com is the d600 without the bugs (or in this case, dust and oil spots). The d610 is currently on Nikon’s website for $1999; that’s $100 cheaper than its predecessor. I’m pretty sure I dodged a bullet on this one.

The things I miss about my Sigma lens is the monopod mount on the Nikkor lens cannot be removed. Ever. I guess it shouldn’t bother me since I have a monopod that can hold the weight of the Nikon lens, but sometimes I’d rather torture myself by holding it with only my two hands. The monopod mount leaves nice bruises in my palm.

What I LOVE about my Nikon lens is the autofocus isn’t delayed in any way and is consistent all the time! My Sigma lens was starting to decide it didn’t want to focus. I’d have to turn my camera off, remove and then reattach the lens before turning it on so that maybe it would focus. This, as you might be able to figure out, was obnoxious.

If you’re a specs person (which I am admittedly not), you may enjoy this comparison of the two lenses I found. If, like me, you’re more of a visual kind of person, I thought I’d put up some photos from my old kit and compare them to my new kit. Fortunately, I have the perfect comparison, and that is my Wildwood photos from two years ago versus my Wildwood photos from this past July! I only put up one from each event because I’m going to have an entire posting dedicated to Wildwood (coming eventually!).

New Lens!

Side by Side

Bottoms Up!

Wildwood 2011

Wildwood 2013

Better Late than Never: Annie and Greg’s Wedding

Since I downloaded the free trial of Photoshop CS5.5 for Mia’s Christmas portraits, I’ve been editing the other pictures I’ve shot in RAW recently. This post is for Annie and Greg whose wedding took place back in September. They were the next set of photos to get the Photoshop treatment on my list.

One of the difficulties of shooting at this wedding, despite its absolutely picturesque location, was the lighting during the ceremony. It was heading into the late afternoon when the ceremony began. The sun was setting behind the house that was to house the reception afterwards. The ceremony took place in the front of the house, so half the wedding party was in direct sunlight while the other half was in shade. Not impossible to photograph, but I’m glad I switched right away from JPEG to RAW. That made it much easier to deal with the lighting scenario.

After the ceremony the wedding photographers took the happy couple down to the rocky shore for their wedding photos. I couldn’t resist, so I popped on my Sigma f/2.8 70-200mm lens and shot from a distance. Considering how far away I was and that the poses weren’t meant for me, I don’t think they came out half bad.

The cottage where the reception took place was beyond charming, but incredibly dark. The flash wasn’t enough for the first dance, and it was hard to get a decent view behind the rest of the bride and groom’s guests. I did my best, and once again RAW came in handy! I could lighten the photos and adjust the colors as much as necessary to bring the true scene to view. I could even dull down “noise”! 🙂

Otherwise the highlights included a fantastic view, hanging out with great friends, being carded by the wedding bar at the age of 26, and dancing! Enjoy the photos, and congrats again to Annie and Greg!

Zodiac Tournament 2011: What’s Your Sign?

An Ultimate tournament not to be missed by players everywhere is the Zodiac Tournament. It is held in Rochester, NY (GRADA) and Toronto, Canada (Toronto Ultimate) on alternating years. I had wanted to attend last year but the trip to Canada was too much for me, so I waited until the tournament returned to Rochester in 2011 and I can most certainly say that it was worth the wait. Unlike other tournaments, each team is built around one of the twelve Zodiac signs. Your sign determines your team as long as there is space. To compensate for the tournament’s growing popularity, two additional teams were created: Sun and Moon. I managed to grab a spot on my sign, Gemini.

Photographing with the sun behind your subject, especially on a sunny day, isn’t the best idea. I say this because what you end up with in your photograph is a stark contrast between your subject and your background. Your subject isn’t lit by the strongest light source in the area and therefore the colors will be dark and the features will be blurry/”noisy”. On top of that, your background is washed out, and your sky will more than likely come out as white rather than its true blue hue (I love unintentional rhymes). I’m going to blame my inability to make this distinction on the field on my lack of sleep. It took 8.5 hours to drive from Long Island to Rochester the night/morning before the tournament. If you can afford it, fly to tournaments. Your body will thank you.

Although it has little to do with photography, I needed to share how to remove temporary tattoos. Why? Because after this tournament I had four of them (two inches by four inches) on my arms and a wedding to attend the following weekend. There were a few websites that claimed olive oil was the answer, so I put it to the test. I applied the olive oil to a piece of paper towel and also to my arm and started rubbing. At first, it didn’t look like anything was happening, but that soon changed. I had one of the tattoos removed in under five minutes with little to no redness left behind. If you’re still sporting your Zodiac temp tattoo and don’t know what to do, I suggest you break out the oil.

For more on all things Ultimate and details about Zodiac 2011, check out HighReleaseHandler’s Blog!

p.s. If you weren’t aware, I’m now on Facebook! Like “Photography by aVocebehindtheLens” and stay updated about posts, pictures, and the like 🙂

SU2C, Star Wars, and the Seventh Inning Stretch

When you’re a Mets fan, it’s easy to forget that the baseball season doesn’t end in July. A friend of mine reminded me by offering field level seats at a very reasonable price. Having yet to be lower than the nosebleed section of Citi Field with my Nikon d60 and Sigma f/2.8 70-200mm lens, I couldn’t resist!

The first thing I noticed getting off the 7 local was the white Volkswagon Passat TDI parked in front of the stadium. Normally, cars don’t make me drool but this one may have caused an increase in saliva production. It was covered in drawings of all six Star Wars movies. I made sure to photograph all six movies plus the front of the car for all of you to bask in its glory. The drawings were done by Ken Lashley, a well-known comic book artist. I had to ask the representative standing by, “How can I get behind the wheel of this car?” She explained to me that the car was up for auction on eBay, and that all of the proceeds would go to the Stand Up To Cancer Foundation (more on that later). The car was the brainchild of Lucasfilm (hence the Star Wars drawings). As part of the September release of Star Wars The Complete Saga, Lucasfilm collaborated with Stand Up to Cancer in order to “use the Force for good”. I took a look at the people walking into the stadium and noticed more than a dozen kids with light sabers or dressed in the costume of their favorite Star Wars character. This was shaping up to be a better Mets’ game than I had anticipated!

Before heading into the stadium, I stopped into McFadden’s to meet my other friends. There wasn’t the usual hustle and bustle what with the season winding down, but I did find more Star Wars themed items in the form of Darren and The 7 Line. Darren was sporting a black t-shirt with a portrait of R.A. Dickey. The thing about the t-shirt that caught my eye was that Dickey was sporting not a Mets cap but the Darth Vader helmet. Beneath the portrait was the words “The Dickey Strikes Back”. The same drawing was on a giant piece of poster board, along with a second poster that said “Use the Force”. I asked Darren if I could photograph his posters, and then if I could photograph him with the poster itself. I asked him more about the drawing, and that’s when he handed me his card and explained his story. R.A. Dickey, self-professed “Star Wars Nerd” and pitcher for the New York Mets, will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro during the off-season to raise awareness and money for Red Light District Outreach Mumbai, which is part of the Bombay Teen Challenge and looks to rescue “girls from enslavement in the sex trade and fights human trafficking”. A portion of the t-shirt sale will go towards the cause. If you’d like to read more about Darren’s work with The 7 Line and R.A. Dickey, check out this link. For more information on Dickey’s plans to hike Kilimanjaro, read this NYTimes article.

After scanning my ticket at the gate, I searched around for whatever give away was available – a backpack, hat, bottle holder, baseball card – but the usual cardboard boxes weren’t out. Instead, there was a table with a woman standing behind it. She was handing out SU2C t-shirts to anyone that had a t-shirt voucher from the necessary $15 donation. Unfortunately, I didn’t have $15 to spare then but am looking at buying one now. The goal of SU2C is to work collaboratively to fight cancer rather than compete, and the proceeds from the donation and the Star Wars car out front would go directly to the charity’s mission.

As for photographing a baseball game at night, I can’t stress enough my needing a d300s. I shot at ISO 400 but still found my pictures to be very gritty looking despite how close I was to the field. It also has a lot to do with the file size my camera creates. The largest file size a d60 can create is 10.0 MB. Professional grade cameras and even a lot of the newer point-and-shoots are at least 12.0 MB. After a bit of editing, the size of the photograph can really be cut down.

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Down By the Cove

This summer, I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend out east with a few friends in Greenport, NY. If you’re not sure where it is, it’s on the North Fork of Long Island. The vibe of the town as a whole is very laid back and easy-going. It doesn’t draw the same crowd the Hamptons get, and the stores/restaurants are a bit more manageable on your wallet. One of the mornings we were there, I happened to wake up at 7:30 a.m. (isn’t it weird how as soon as you’re on vacation, you sleep like you have work?). Rather than wake everyone up, I took a walk down to Pipes Cove with my camera. I found rocks, shells, boats, birds… You know, beach-type things! I managed to bring three lenses with me: Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, and my Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8. The Nikkor lenses I used for photographing the seashells and views of the water. The Sigma was for the birds.

When the ospreys flew in, I was so excited! A chance to photograph birds of prey! One immediately went to the nest (I’m assuming it was mommy-bird) while the other circled for a very, very long time. While it was circling, it kept coming lower and lower, closer and closer. I couldn’t help but think, “This is the best shot I’ll take. Wait, this one is closer. Hold up, this one is even better!” I managed to narrow it down to three for this post, but I definitely wanted to do a few others 🙂 Best advice I can give? Take the extra picture! Better to delete it while you’re sitting in front of your computer than kick yourself for not taking the opportunity.

Enjoy!

Flash! A-ah!

(Background Music, click at your own discretion)

Yes, I finally own an external flash for my camera! For my birthday, I received a Sigma EF-610 DG Super. It’s Sigma’s top of the line flash, and I am loving it!

There are a few reasons you’d want to purchase an external flash. Two of my top reasons are no more red-eye and a less harsh light source. The reason you don’t have red-eye with an external flash is because of where the light source is located. The pop-up flash on your camera and your lens are close together, which means that light is traveling in a straight line from the flash to the back of the person’s eye where the retina is located. The retina works like a mirror, bouncing the light back towards your camera. The red is the eye’s capillaries being lit up like the sky on Independence Day (speaking of which, I hope you’re enjoying your barbeques!). With an external flash, the light source will be farther away from the lens making the angle larger. If you’re not quite following my explanation, check out the gallery below for two diagrams I drew up. (FYI: I used Paintbrush for Mac to draw up the pictures).

Part of the reason the light from the external flash isn’t as harsh as it is from a pop-up flash is an external flash has the ability to swivel. The light from a pop-up, unless you buy some fancy DIY gadgetry, only goes in one direction at one intensity. An external flash’s light can move 90 degrees (from straight forward to pointing skyward) and rotate 90 degrees to the right or 180 degrees to the left. The flash itself also comes with a built-in diffuser and a white card piece that you can bounce the light off (usually used when your flash is pointing straight up). For more on how to properly take advantage of indirect light, check out this video. It made me laugh, and taught me a thing or two 🙂

The third reason I’m enjoying my external flash is the compliments I’ve been getting: “That’s a nice camera you’ve got there.” “That’s quite the professional pieces of equipment you’re sporting.” I hesitate to say, “It’s just a Nikon d60,” as I am trying to look and be more professional. Who knew that an external flash could do so much for your image and self-esteem?

Next step: a DIY soft-box. The diffuser that comes with the camera is nice to have, but doesn’t do much to prevent the intensity of the light coming from the flash. So stay tuned! And as always, enjoy! 🙂