PSA – Spring Forward Tonight!
New 80-400VR3 and Coolpix A
photo courtesy Nikon
The 80-400 is long been a popular lens. The old version while very sharp was, very slow focusing. The new 80-400 promises not only the same amazing sharpness (if not a biut better) but amazing AF performance. I have not shot with one yet but the FX lens might just be the lens for the wildlife, aviation photographer! So, I’ve put in an order for one because even at the price, it just might be the perfect tool especially for the traveling photographer.
photo courtesy Nikon
Now here’s a P&C that has my attention. While I really like the V2, it’s still to large a package for what I’m looking for in a P&C. The new Coolpix A has a number of big features in a small package. First, is has a AP-C size sensor, it captures Raw, 1080p stereo video, 18f2.8 lens (love that focal length) and a whole bunch more. I have also put my name on one of these, might just be the P&C camera I’ve been looking for the last couple of years.
BTJ vol16.2 – Special Content!
We’ve had a few inquires when the next issue of the BT Journal would be released. Well, we were waiting for the announcement of the D7100 and then permission to tell my story. It came today so I’m madly working on it. The story on the D7100 will include a full users report along with the stories behind shooting the campaign for the D7100. Sorry for the delay but we think this expanded coverage (longer than normal digital version) and special content will make up for it.
The D7100 is HERE!!!
Nikon has announced the amazing D7100 today, the top in their DX family. It is much more than an upgrade to the D7000 and I know this first hand. I had the great honor and huge photographic challenge to be part of the team to produce the images for the announcement of the D7100. Along with the amazing Nikon Team, Sharon & I spent two weeks deep in the Costa Rican rainforest in January shooting with the D7100 (simply an amazing experience!). I really can’t describe in words the D7100 performance, but I think the nearly 13k stills and video I brought back from those two weeks do!
I really like this camera!!! This 24MP, high dynamic range, 7FPS (in HSC mode) with Custom Setting e4 monster produced for me whether shooting deep in the forest, bouncing offshore in a boat, from kayak to high over head to on the beach. A great example is the photo of the poison dart frog. After parking, we walked deep into the forest following a small creek in being followed by Spider Monkeys. All of us had eyes on the muddy ground looking for the dark blue / black form of a frog the size of a quarter. Armed with the D7100 with 60macro, we kept walking. We stopped to work with a Vine Snake as Jason continued up the creek. In a little while we heard the prey had be discovered. Our amazing guide Gary wrangled the poisonous critter so for 90min, stooped over this tiny subject, the D7100 captured the black body on the green leaf with the highlight in the water, not missing a pixel! Simply amazing!
The process of shooting this project for Nikon with the D7100 is nothing like you might think. Nothin! There is a lot more to it than just taking purty pictures. I now have a whole new level of respect for the photographers who have come before me shooting these campaigns. At the same time, I have a whole new level of respect and awe for what goes into the production of these bodies. You can read the specs for the D7100 here but I can honestly tell you, they don’t do justice to the capabilities of the D7100!
There is one helluva of a lot more to share with you about the D7100 and I will in time, the project and the amazing Costa Rican rainforest and our host for two weeks, Luna Lodge. But right now you just wanna know two things. The specs of the D7100 and what Moose thinks about the body. Moose thinks the D7100 is a freakin great body that is a slam dank, gotta have!
(Note: all photos shot with D7100, files direct from camera, Jpegs with all metadata removed. Lenses: 500f4, 10.5, 70-200f4, 60micro)
HUGE – HUGE Nikon Glass Sale!!!
What you see here doesn’t EVEN scratch the surface of all the lenses On Sale for just the next two weeks! Click on the photo or link to see all the lenses for sale at pricing we’ve not seen in years and might not again for some time.
Rewards of Chasing the Light
I’m often asked how I approach a location such as Death Valley. The basic scenario is one has just a couple of days to make the photos, the clock is tickin as soon as your feet hit the ground. How do you make the most of that time? The first issue with this is the pressure to produce. How many photos do you need to have from a locale to say simply in your photos, “It was gorgeous?” Do you need 1000, 100, 10? I would contend you need only that 10 if that many. Think about it, when you show off images to your friends about a location you were just at, don’t you grab your smartphone, bring up that one image that exemplifies all that you were saying about that location? If that’s the case, then how many images do you need from a trip to really say, it was gorgeous? One?
With that in mind, when I go out to shoot, it’s just that one image that I’m looking for. That means chasing the light is just that, a chase for that one image. In this example, we left the Furnace Creek Inn and pulled out to Hwy190 and I looked right, I looked left and based on what I saw in the clouds, we headed south (turned right). I was looking for just that one shot, the one with the light that would simply say, gorgeous. Now in this pursuit we don’t always succeed but there are benefits going on this chase with this goal in mind. When you’re looking for the handful of images rather than the cards full, the pressure is off, the spending time looking at crappy pictures in post is gone, the guilt of trying to make those crappy pictures that you took that you feel you need to fix since you have them, is gone. At the same time, the failure rate it higher since you’re going on an all stakes adventure.
We had some clouds and more importantly, some sky. It had socked in all around us and there is nothing worse than that. So we turned up Artist Drive and hiked up the ridge and sat. Ya, sitting is a favorite shooting technique of mine, watching life unfold. In this case, watching the light paint across the landscape waiting for that one little beam to light up or not light up the foreground. So we went out for the afternoon and put all our cards in making the photo into this one location, this one time. And this time, the photo Gods rewarded us with a couple of photos that simply said, “It was a gorgeous afternoon.” So perhaps the next time you head out if you’re looking for a path, focus in on the light and making just that one solid, clean, romantic click. You might just experience the rewards of chasing the light.