photo courtesy Nikon
Just as announced, Nikon started shipping the D4s with many stores receiving them today. B&H once again rocked it, just notifying me mine was shipped and will arrive at my office tomorrow. That can only mean one thing … unboxing video comin! Thanks B&H!!!!
Got a gear question you want answered? I want to help and answer it. Send your gear questions to me at Gear Questions and I’ll do my best every Wednesday to answer as many questions as I can. Keep in mind the answers are just my $.02 worth and you have to take what works for you and your photography and embrace it and ignore the rest. So here’s this weeks questions ….
What’s the Right One?
Will the nikon 24-70 work for me. I use a D800 & D4 ,I shoot a lot in the Mountains, do panorama, wildlife and aircraft. I have a lot of lens but would like to try something new. I have the old 70 -200 ,would the new one be better for me than getting the 24-70.
DALLAS
Dallas, you ask a question that has been asked of me a thousands of times before. And the problem is, it’s a question I can’t answer for anyone because I don’t know them, their style or abilities. The lens is the tool that tells the story our way. Just as we all tell stories slightly differently, we all select a slightly different lens to tell the story. I wish I knew when you say you have the “old 70-200” which that is since Nikon has made a few. When it comes to the genre of landscape, wildlife and aircraft, both of these lenses do a killer job and in my experience, I needed them both at the same time. I’m personally a HUGE fan of the 70-200f4 lens. Light, super sharp, not as expensive and closes down to f/32 makes it a great lens in my book. And the 24-70f2.8, is simply a legendary lens that continues to make me a ton of money. I wish I could answer your question directly but I can’t. In the perfect world, I would go with the two I mention. If you need to select just one, I’m of just no use to ya.
I Need Sound
Moose, thanks for making this opportunity available to us! I truly appreciate your taking your free time to freely answer what must seem like simple and dumb questions. My question is pretty simple, I own a D7100 and have started to play with video. You’re right, sound is everything, so, how do I get the best sound with my D7100?
Thanks so much
Davey
Davey, thanks for the kind words! Oh man, you’ve opened up Pandora’s box with this question. And I have to be totally honest with you, I don’t have ~all~ the answers for sound yet myself. Here’s what I do know. You have an excellent body to do video in the D7100. The first mic I would recommend to you to get started is either the Nikon ME-1 or Rode VideoMic GO. These are simple hot shoe mics and a great place to start learning sound. You will then probably move up to Sennheiser ew 112-p G3 Wireless Lavalier and than perhaps the Rode NTG-2 Shotgun Microphone which requires phantom power (and that’s a whole other bag of trouble). This is one those questions where the answer is scarier sounding (pun intended) than it really is. Start simple and you will find the right options for you.
The Big One!
Moose, I got to hear it from you. Which camera brand is the best? Hope you tackle this question.
Thanks
Brett
At the start of any photographers career, this does seem like the “Big Question” but I don’t really think it is. The fast answer from me is, NO one brand is the best! But …. there is more than likely ONE BEST BRAND for you! What’s the difference? Cameras and lenses are serious tools enabling a craftsman to tell their visual story effectively, efficiently, consistently and passionately. It’s true, there are many internet wars over which is best but what a waste of time (though there are certain friends of mine who shoot Canon I love to tease and you know who you are :-). And there is no doubt that for my photography, that THE best brand is Nikon and the format is FX. This might or might not be the right one for you and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. While gear is a very important component in photography, it is not the component. THE component that is THE most important is the heart and with that in place, you can find the brand that is the best for you.
Nikon has released the Beta of their vastly updated Nikon Capture NX-D. Personally just learned about it yesterday and installed it last night. I’ll have a video about it shortly but wanted to make you aware of it now. The download is free right now, so give it a spin and send in your feedback!
The Best Deal Ever for Photography Enthusiasts to Pros 
I wanted to remind you that the Photoshop Photography Plan is still available. It includes access to Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5, plus feature updates and upgrades, 20GB of storage, and a Behance ProSite.
The plan is just US $9.99/month when customers sign up for a one-year plan.
The next back issue is now available, it’s all about Storm Chasing and one of my favorite issues. This is a back issue, it’s not part of your subscription. Brent & I have mapped out a real aggressive production schedule this year. The next issue in the subscription will be out in about 45 days, the end of March. This includes getting it out for the Andriod which is still in progress. Enjoy!
Remember, 13.1 was released quite a while ago so it is actually at the bottom of the page in the BT Journal app!
Have a look at the Digital BT Journal with a free premiere issue available now!
On our K&M Adventure to Moab, we made the mandatory stop at the Hole N” the Rock. This is a great place to spend highnoon when the light is hot and the contrast sever. This unique collection of western legend and lore was a marvelous place to take the new 35f1.8AFS for a serious spin (on the Df of course), shooting just at f1.8 to see what it could do.
I should start by saying I was shooting with the Nikon 77mm Circular Polarizer II Filter to remove the blue reflection caused by the sky and thus, bringing out the warmth of the red rock environment and in some part, softening the contrast. This comet art was the perfect place to start as I was just inches away from the front of it when I made the shot. The edge to edge sharpness of the 35f1.8 in combination with its shallow DoF at f1.8 really go hand in hand to produce a gorgeous file. While technically not noted as a flat field lens, I found the 35f1.8AFS to perform as such and used that to my advantage. Understanding how the plane of focus operates, simply minuscule twist of the body can throw the DoF.
I used that basic technique in photographing this artistic statue of a jeep. Made of all sorts of parts like wrenches, nuts, saw blades an the like were welded to make this really cool jeep. Twisting the body just so, I could throw the DoF and if you stare at the photo long enough, it almost looks like a “miniature.” The quality of the 35mm makes this all happen which is kinda of exciting because the price of the lens in modern day camera terms is really inexpensive!
There is only a couple of nits I have about the lens. The filter size is that 58mm which just doesn’t fit a thing in my bag. Had to borrow a 58mm polarizer for example. While I shot the entire time in AF mode, there we a couple of times when I would fine tune manually. The manual focus is very responsive but it just tighter than I’m use to. Finally, it’s just not the sexiest lens in the bag. But what matters is its performance and that is simply, outstanding! This is a great lens that will serve you very well.