Lensbaby 3G

I picked up a used Lensbaby 3G over the Christmas break from KEH Camera (www.keh.com). I've heard great things about KEH as far as used equipment and they did not disappoint. The lens arrived in the described condition, which was like new, and shipping was pretty fast considering it went FedEx Ground. I've been playing around with it a little bit and I've been getting some great results. You can see examples on my flickr page. I'll give a more detailed post on this later, I've been trying to get ready to start the new semester at Brooks.

Bike Rides and the Nikon D40X

Recently I started riding my bike again and as one who likes to have a camera with me and not wanting to put my big expensive pro camera at risk, I decided to strap on my old Nikon D40x.

The D40x is a 10 megapixel consumer model that is about a third the size of my D3s. It doesn't have a front finger wheel to change adjustments and the colors tend to be just a bit saturated. The shutter mechanics are also very different than the D3s. It's almost like there is just a bit of a delay from the time you push the button to the time the shutter fires. Another problem is, when in manual mode you have to change the aperture by pressing a button that is in the most awkward place and then move the thumb wheel. (I usually put it in shutter or aperture priority depending on what I'm shooting because of this). It also has no internal motor so most of my lenses have to be used in manual focus, which is not a big problem for me because I tend to manually focus most shots anyway.

All that being said I've had a blast shooting with this thing. especially while going down the trail as fast as my feet can peddle and firing off a shot at a slower than normal shutter speed. I've also tried some narrow depth of field stuff. I've even shot some to convert to black and white with great results.
Here are some of my results:

I've put more pics up on flickr  and will be posting more.

Knowing your camera and it's limitations can help you get some great shots regardless of any perceived shortcomings it may have. I try to turn those shortcomings into opportunities to be creative.

Here is the link to my flickr account to check out some more of my stuff:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgainor/

Auto vs Manual

Cameras and lenses these days come with all kinds of advantages for the average photographer. I can set up my camera to all auto, put on a flash and give it to my wife and she could get some good pictures where the subjects are properly exposed and for snapshots they would be great... But as professional photographers we need to get the most out of our cameras and one way to do this is to shoot manually. Now I'm not saying that I don't use auto sometimes, but I shoot in manual mode more often than not. I learned how to shoot manually when I shot film and have carried it over to digital. 

It's not that hard it just takes practice, but once you get into the habit you'll be amazed at how fast you can be shooting manually. For one thing you'll be able to focus on what you want instead of the camera choosing. An example of this would be if your shooting a sporting event and your trying to get one player, but another player is in between you and your target player, the camera likes to focus on the closest thing. Well guess what, it's going to focus on the other player and your subject is out of focus. Another reason would be if you have a scene where the exposure is all over the place and you have several dark places and light places of different values. The camera is going to try to set that at an exposure that will average the whole thing but you only want a very bright portion exposed properly and you don't care about the rest. Setting the exposure manually can help you get that one part exposed properly.

Shooting manually gives you a level of control that auto won't. I'm not saying you won't get great pictures on auto, but if you want to really step up your photography shoot in manual modes and really control your camera, instead of letting your camera control you.

Ebay Purchases

Well I purchased some equipment on ebay and am waiting for all of it to get here.

One Item already arrived: Professional 80cm Octagon Umbrella Speedlite Softbox Reflector (80cm is a little over 30 inches). It cost me $25 with free shipping and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. It took less than 5 minutes to set up and it put out some pretty decent light. Now it's no Westcott Apollo with the rip-stop nylon and it only has one zipper opening unlike the four zipper opening of the Apollo but it's fairly deep, and you can use it with the diffusion panel taken completely off to give it some virsatility.

Another thing I purchased and I can't wait to get it is the Opteka OSC18 1/8" Universal Honeycomb Speed Grid for External Flash. They also have a 1/4 inch grid as well. This one cost me $8.95 and is an "Open Box" but Opteka stated in the description that "All open box items carry a standard return policy and will include a full manufacturer's warranty". From the reviews that I've read there are some minor issues with mounting the product, most of them state that adding another velcro strap or rubber band fixes the problem. Not so bad considering that the Honl Grids cost anywhere from $25.00 to $30.00 plus shipping. I'm really looking forward to getting this item. I love honeycomb spot grids. I have a full set for my Alien Bees and have been wanting one to put on my speedlites for a while. If this thing works out I'm probably going to purchase another one. I like to use them on my background lights with different color gels to get some really nice effects. I'll write up a full review of this after I test it out.

The third thing I purchased was a Ravelli ABS Background Stand, Again another open box item from Assiamounts out of Phoenix, AZ. My winning bid was $62.00 and at that price  it also comes with two Prism backdrops, one white, one black. I admit I was really looking for extra light stands but at that price I just couldn't pass this up especially when Amazon has this kit for $152.00. It also comes with a guarantee against defects. I should be able to use the supports as light stands if I want as well. Again I'll review this once I get it and check it out.
 

Here are the links the manufacture's or seller's web sites so you can check this stuff out.  As with all things you purchase on ebay, make sure you can return it for defects, check on customer reviews (I found most of this stuff reviewed on Youtube), and try to get it for the lowest price you can.

http://www.cowboystudio.com/product_p/8080%20octagon%20umbrella%20softbox.htm

http://opteka.com/osc18.aspx

http://ravelliphoto.com/ravelli-abs.html 

July Quick Tip: Super Clamps

My quick tip for July is really not a tip but some equipment advice. I've been playing around with some different lighting setups and found one piece of equipment invaluable, the Super Clamp. They're manufactured by several different companies but all of them operate about the same. Here's a link to Manfotto's version at Adorama: http://www.adorama.com/BG2900.html. The price for one of these is anywhere from $17 up to $50. I was lucky and found mine at a surplus store for $5 a piece (I bought three of them and would have bought more if I had more money) but mine are white instead of black but, mine also came with spring clamps that attach to the stud.

These things are so versatile it's unbelievable. I took one and turned two light stands into a boom stand. Now I wouldn't attach a heavy mono light to it but a small speed light did just fine. I also use them with my 6ft diffusion panel. I put two of them on a light stand and attach two speed lights to it then clamp the diffusion panel to another light stand and I have a nice diffused strip light. Need to hold a bounce card in a difficult spot? With a spring clamp on one of these super clamps your good to go.

There is an unlimited amount of accessories that you can purchase to use with these things as well but you can do so much with just a clamp and a stud.

Next to gaffer tape these things are a must in your bag.

Vintage Lenses

I've been purchasing some vintage Nikon lenses on ebay and shopgoodwill.com and I've mentioned a few of them in my previous posts. I wanted to give everyone some heads up before you go out and buy some of these lenses. I know these lenses don't cost a lot of money. Most of them can be had for a fraction of their modern counterparts. You will however be giving up on some modern conveniences when you use these lenses.

For example: most lenses that I've been buying are manual focus only, so if you're not comfortable using your fingers to focus your camera forget about it. I've relied on my manual focus skills for the  27 years. I very seldom put my camera on auto focus unless I'm shooting a sporting event and even then I switch back and forth depending on the sport that I'm shooting.

Another issue with these lenses is metering. On some of the lower grade cameras you will not get any metering at all with the older lenses so you'll have to rely on a handheld meter. You should own one of these any way and you should know how to use it. They come in real handy when your setting up lighting. With the higher end camera's you'll need to set up non-cpu lenses in your menu, I'm not going to tell you how to do this, you'll have to break out your manual and read it. Who knows, while looking for this you might find some other neat things that your camera does that you didn't know about.

The final thing you may run into is setting your aperture. On older lenses before AF D models you'll need to use the aperture ring on the lens, If you set the lens up properly in the non-cpu lens settings it should show you the proper aperture in your view finder and on your lcd screen unless your using a lower end model camera.

Nikon has a page devoted to compatibility issues with your camera and older lenses in your manual. If you can't find it you can also go to the site below and select your camera model. On that page there will be a tab called "Lens Compatibility".

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/

Check it out before you go buying that inexpensive Vintage Micro Nikkor Lens on ebay so you know what your getting yourself in for.

I'm also going to put this up in my Links pages on the right over there so you can refer to this from time to time.

Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 AI-s Lens

Finally received my Nikon, Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI-s lens from ebay yesterday and am looking forward to using it today. It's going to be my main portrait lens. Did some preliminary tests with it out on the patio and man this thing is sharp. The depth of field fall off is fantastic as well.

I'll be out shooting with a friend of mine today, we're gearing up for a wedding in a couple of weeks. I'll be handling second shooter duties and helping with lights.

It's been a while since we shot together so we're going to pull out all the equipment and do some practicing today. If we get anything good I'll post it up here for everyone to look at. We'll be setting up some lighting ratios inside and trying some different things with ambient and fill light outside. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Nikon Series E 50mm f/1.8

Went down to the Oregon District in Dayton and did some shooting with my Nikon Series E Lens on my D3S. This lens has surprised the hell out of me. I got it from Goodwill attached to a Nikon FG camera for about $40.00.
For a manual lens this thing is great. I can't believe how sharp it is. I've been shooting with it for about a week now and it has not let me down. I've noticed that I've had to slow down my shooting to make sure that I have my setting right. I usually go out and burn off a hundred or so images but with this thing today I came back home with 36 images, some were duplicates because my settings were off. Out of those I uploaded the best 3 to my flickr account. You can check them out here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgainor/8629282072/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgainor/8629282552/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgainor/8628173615/in/photostream/

Another thing I'd like to point out is, I don't believe in the golden hour for shooting outside. These were shot at 1:00 pm. You can tell by the shadows that it was early afternoon. It's ok to shoot at this hour if you take into account the position of the sun and use it to your advantage.