It’s very exciting … The D6 is coming next week and I can’t wait until it arrives at my door! I have talked to Bedford Camera and confirmed that I still want the D6, updated my ship to info and purchased those items I need so when the D6 arrives, I can start instantly. When you place your order for a new body or lens, do you have a checklist to make sure you have everything you need when the item arrives? For example with the D6, I have ProGrade 1TB & 512MB CFExpress cards coming as well as reader. I’ve gone to the D6 Specs page to see what else I might need. Extra battery, eyecup, camera strap, AC Power, all those accessories I think I need to shot from the start. If it’s a lens, I make sure I have the NC filter, polarizer, whatever I need so I’m shooting as soon as it arrives. Now just because it’s on my list doesn’t mean everything will be on the shelf when I order, so I’ve learned to take a deep breath, smile the whole time I talk with the store, and at times be patient. All good things come to those who wait and in this case, the D6 is coming! I’m ready!!!
It’s now available, the Z50 Creators Kit for making them Stay In Place and all other videos you have brewing in your imagination! Small, light, portable and totally user friendly producing great quality. Check it out today!
I received the new ProGrade Micro SD cards and readers last week and instantly installed them in my Keymissions and set them out to spy on the critters on The Ranch. I found some cool critters working up in the sage, but more importantly, discovered the amazing speed on the new ProGrade. The speed comes during upload with the combination of the cards and readers. ProGrade makes two readers, one that uses SD cards as a Micro holder and then reader and a dual-slot Micro reader. I uploaded with both and the speed was killer. Great additions to your kits!
I know, you’re tired of photography “how to kill time” ideas, well this isn’t one of those. Those of your who follow the blog continually (and thank you very much for that) know that every six months or so, I pull out the camera instruction manual and go over everything like I’ve not seen it before. First, I head to the Nikon Firmware website an make sure I’m running the current firmware and make note of the changes it brings. Then I start going through my camera like it’s brand new!
It is essential you get to know your best friend, your camera body! But how do you do that and at the same time, make it an integral part of your photographic arsenal? Well in this video I give you some ideas on just that topic from learning its functions to imputing your first settings. I mention in the video my settings, you can find them here. Yeah, I do that which includes going out and shoot to double-check that settings I’ve been using, still are the best for my photography. How do you do that, here’s one idea?
A CRITICAL thing I didn’t mention in the video (because I stopped reading my list, duh!) is to do the Teddy Bear Exercise to understand the meter, the advice your best friend provides and make the exposure yours. In this process, you find you need a particular tool, or new camera body (as that can happen), remember to head to Bedford Camera and they will ship to you instantly and when you check out, use the special discount code MOOSE.
Take care, stay safe and remember, your photograph can change the world!
Last week the new Nikkor Z20f1.8 arrived on my desk (Thanks Bedfords!). I have a real thing for fast wide angle lenses and one native to the Z really grabbed my imagination. The Z20f1.8 is a spectacular lens rivaling my old favorite 24f1.4! There are two things that grabbed my attention right away, it’s straight-line rendition and minimum focusing distance (MFD). When you have the lens, you instantly notice how much longer it is than your basic 20mm. That’s because of all this optical goodness that’s required for the blistering sharpness edge to edge and fast lens speed. I got it to shoot at just one f/stop, f1.8 and I’m telling you, I love this lens!
Mono Lake @f1.8
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Now, what’s with this silly GIF? It was my intention this past week to go out and shoot some heavenly bodies with this gorgeous lens. Up until today, we’ve had snow, snow and more snow so no clear skies. Since I couldn’t make that shot, I wanted to demonstrate the straight-line quality and MFD of the Z20f1.8. Focusing on just the cut on the tip of my finger, I held it just THREE inches in front of the lens! The cut is sharp but the front and back of the finger and the rest of the photograph is gone! You can see Mono Lake once I focus on infinity. This is a spectacular lens that is going to be really fun getting to know a whole lot better. I can wait to shoot video with it! mtc
Rocky Mtn Bighorn yearling captured by D5 / 180-400VR
I’m so delighted by all the wildlife photography questions coming in right now, it’s great! A common one at the moment is, “Do I need a fast telephoto lens?” This question has been around as long as I’ve been shooting and it makes so much sense. Originally, the question came when we were shooting film and we were basically stuck at ASA64 (ASA=ISO). And while I still prefer shooting in the basement of ISO100, most raise their ISO so now the question of lens speed is not for shutter speed, but rather DoF. Just how much f/stop do you need for the DoF you desire? Your answer might cost you some bucks so here are my thoughts.
Rocky Mtn Bighorn yearling captured by D5 / 180-400VR
My first telephoto lens was the Nikkor 400f5.6, an incredibly sharp lens. After many years, I thought I needed speed so I went deep, first getting the 300f2.8 and then 400f2.8 lenses. Gorgeous lenses but they took a bite from the budget from this struggling photographer. That’s when I went deep into DoF and how I could make it work for me without breaking the budget. That’s when I went back to f/5.6 with the EDIF 800mm. To this day, I’m at f5.6 with either the 800AFS and 180-400VR (when the 1.4x in engaged). How then am I blowing out the DoF if shooting at f5.6? It comes back to the background as these two photos of the yearling Rocky Mtn Bighorn illustrate. When it stood up, I took its photo (the top photo). But I didn’t like that busy background of the pine tree. It’s too much in focus. I simply stepped to the right and shot again. This time, the background is not right behind the yearling but rather, way off in the distance. And since it’s off in the distance, even though both photos were taken at f/5.6, there is a difference in the DoF. Then to answer the question I pose, if you can control the background then perhaps you don’t need a fast lens. If you can save yourself a few thousand dollars by watching your background, think it’s worth the price? You might just find your own answer to the question, do you need a fast lens.
On a side note, my very talented friend Carol used the 500PF at the same time which did a killer job. Right now, Bedford Camera has a couple and if you order from them, mention the Moose Discount for special pricing, free shipping and probably no sales tax.
