Jan 6, 2010 | Field Reports
Lexar's new 32GB 300x CF Card
Lexar has announced and is shipping their new 300x 32GB CF Card. I’ve been shooting one for awhile and rely on it as my Slot 2 card in the D3s. What’s a Slot 2 card? In the D3s, you can assign all video clips be stored in one particular slot. With the Lexar 32GB card in Slot 2, where I have it assigned, I can store as many as 16, 5min clips. It works great and I love the speed. I have no doubt that someone will post a speed performance review shortly, it just won’t be me. Just the size makes it great for my shooting needs. What’s in Slot 1 you wonder? I have the Lexar 16GB 600x in slot one for all my still shooting. I remember getting excited when the 128MB card came out in 2000 and now I have 48GB loaded in the camera….Wow! But wait, there’s more!
Lexar's 64GB Echo backup
Lexar’s 64GB Echo ZE Backup is so small, I think I’ll loose it but I know it won’t loose the data. How small is it, click here to see just how small I’m talkin. I’m told this will be available in a couple of months. Not soon enough for me. Oh, did you go check out just how small it is, isn’t that bloody amazing! And to top off this Lexar feast, I want to remind you of my favorite PCIe slot reader.
Lexar PCIe 2.5Gpbs reader
You can order all these goodies (and a lot more) from my bud Jeff Snyder (at Adorama). Keep in mind the Echo 64GB isn’t available yet but I bet you can order it and be the first on your block to receive it! And on the note of full disclosure, I am not paid for any of this. I receive early product as a beta tester and have the ability to purchase cards first which sadly, I do with reckless abandon! Why? I know that Lexar stands behind their product. If something goes wrong, you can count on them.
Jan 5, 2010 | Field Reports
“How do You (as in Moose) select images for a submission?” This is a very common question. This is a great question and the answer applies to images being sent to a photo buyer to the blog to the slideshow but not to your wall. What’s the difference? Those images you select that go to the photo buyer or the blog/website have a specific purpose, mostly to grab the viewers attention and make them stop to read the text accompanying the photograph. The photograph has the added weight in this use of filling in the blanks, making up for words not written either because of space or because the right words do not come to excite the imagination.
And the photo on the wall? That’s all yours, that’s where your heart, your experiences and your soul are the text. The technical requirements that are part of the business word don’t have to apply to the photo on the wall. Love is blind. The emotional attachment you have for the images on the wall should not be the ruler you measure images heading out to the photo buyer. How do I get passed that to make the successful submission (because Moose’s have feeling too)?
My system is pretty simple. I go to the folder in DigitalPro where I’m going to select the images. Based on the need, I select those that are going out. These images are then finished to fit the requirements of the photo buyer. These finished images are then put into a newly created folder on the drive and the images viewed in Bridge CS4. Here I look at the overall selection and ask myself, “Do these image fill the requirements put forth by the photo buyer?” With that a couple of images are deleted. These are copies so deleting them is no big deal. I then ask myself, “How do these images represent me as a photographer?” That is very important, you always want to put your best foot forward. I few more images get deleted. Lastly, are the images selected all strong photographs? Your submission is only as strong as the weakest image. The last, wrong images are in the trash. You now have a solid submission.
Why use Bridge? It’s a great portal into Photoshop. Why is that important? The Match Print which needs to head out to the photo buyer is best produced using Photoshop IMHO. Now some of these terms, ideas and processes might be foreign to you. Base Camp is a five day business class, it takes that long to explain all of this so there is no way I can do it in just a blog posting. The bottom line is this. In the business world, we have to take a step back (not run away from) our emotional attachment to a photo to be successful. In our own home, I think we should embrace our emotional attachment so we go out the next day and shoot. Hopefully this brief answer to a complicated question gives you a direction in your own submissions.
And what you see here, part of a submission that just went out.
Jan 4, 2010 | Field Reports
D3s & D3x photos courtesy Nikon
I’ve received a couple of emails and even a call asking about my posting of a couple days back and reference I made to the D3 and D3x. I made the reference that “I switched from the D3 and its 9fps, big buffer to the D3x and its 1.8FPS and smaller buffer.” It is a little confusing and perhaps a body attribute that photographers don’t take into consideration, so let me try to explain what I’m talking about and how I employ it.
When photographing action such as warbirds screaming around a pylon at Reno Air Races, the goal is to capture the shot showing the action in a still image while having critical elements tack sharp. You could translate this to photographing birds in flight where you must have the eye(s) sharp. Using important techniques such as panning and making the most of your AF system, one can approach the problem by simply blasting away, letting the camera rip and in that process knowing that one of the 30 some odd images, the perfect action and sharpness will be captured. With this strategy you want a camera that cranks the FPS (frames per second) and has the large buffer. The D3s fits the bill perfectly (formerly the D3 with buffer upgrade)!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR17934.swf, 498, 656 [/swf]
The other old tried and true method is the much more technically challenging technique of Peak of Action. Peak of Action is best described by a bouncing ball. When the ball is bouncing, it travels down, stops for less than a heartbeat and then bounces back up and then stops for less than a heartbeat before traveling back down again. Those moments when the ball stops for less than a heartbeat, that’s Peak of Action. The goal then is while you’re panning with your subject and making sure its in focus, when you see that Peak of Action, you make the one click. When using this technique, the 1.8FPS of the D3x works perfectly. You only need the one frame to make the image.
What I did at the Reno Air Races is go back to the “old” way of making the image in order to get the amazing image quality of the D3x to produce one of a kind aviation 24×30 prints. I sacrificed the ease of blasting away to make the shot to the stressful one click get the shot method. Neither method and neither body is right or wrong, they are both valid techniques and valid bodies. I simply wanted to make amazing prints so switched bodies. I hope this helps explain it all better.
Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 1, 2010 | Field Reports
02.15.10
This is one sexy lens! This is one wickedly sharp lens! This is a lens who many might not think is needed with the release of the 70-200VR2. The only problem with that thought, the 200f2 is f2 and the 70-200f2.8 is f2.8 and that extra stop at 200mm makes all the difference in the world. The 200f2 is a specialty lens, it’s not one you have with you all the time (most photographers). It is large and heavy compared to any other 200mm lens and just doesn’t slip into a should bag easily.
Why do I have this lens in my bag? It’s always with me when out shooting big game. When I want to make that big critter pop from its background while still including it, you jsut can’t beat f2. There are times in low light situations when that f2 is the only cure (I’m not a “crank up the ISO” kinda shooter). I also use this lens a lot shooting landscapes because on the D3x, it just delivers stunning images. Lastly, I still love photographing folks and this lens just brings a whole new feel and look to portraits.
The 200f2 works fabulously with the TC-14e, TC-17e and TC-20e. Personally, I use the TC-14e on the 200f2 while the other converters hardly, that’s just a personally taste for working focal length. You’ll notice the 200VR is wearing a LensCoat, this is for protection. You’ll notice though it’s not wearing all the pieces that are made for it. You’ll also notice the tripod foot has been swapped out by the one made by RRS, their LCF-15. When the shade is reversed for storage, the lens foot goes inside the shade. If you add a plate to the tripod foot that comes with the 200f2, the shade won’t reverse, it will hit the plate. If you use a quick release system, your option is either this replacement foot or never reversing your shade.
Jan 1, 2010 | Field Reports
06.04.10
Since its introduction in 2004, the 200-400VR has become “the” lens for wildlife photographers and for very good reasons. The main ones being it’s sharp, light, focuses close and is one sexy lens! I consider this my big game lens and use it in that way one helluva lot and mostly handheld. Now there is the VRII model which takes this legend a little further down the road. IMHO, the VRI is a tad better than the VR. It just rocks!
Does the VR work? Well, the instruction book states that when using the 200-400VR on a tripod, the VR should be turned on. In the beginning, I wasn’t really excited about using the VR, I didn’t see any better image quality when shooting at 1/20th. Using standard long lens technique did a fine job in delivering sharp images. That was until a few days later when I was shooting in an awful wind. Long lenses were chattering something fierce. The VR really proved itself then producing very sharp results at slow shutter speeds. But in general day to day shooting, if the lens on a tripod (yes VR stays on with this lens when on a tripod unless shooting video) or your hand holding technique is solid, the VR doesn’t get you sharper images. The one thing that bugs me about the VR though is how the image “jumps” in the viewfinder at times when the VR activates. On a few occasions the image jumped enough to force me to recompose. I couldn’t find a pattern in this so as to prevent it, I just had to mentally be prepared for it possibly happening.
The 200-400VR resurrects an old long lens feature, the Memory Set. Long ago in the old EDIF telephoto, a manual Memory Set was part of the lens. The Memory Set permits you to focus the lens at a specific distance. Obviously the distance is where you think the subject will be. With the old manual focus EDIF lenses (and some of the first AF lenses), this is the classic example of how you would use the Memory Set. You’re shooting a baseball game from behind home plate. Getting ready for a potential steal at 2nd base, you prefocus on 2nd and use the Memory Set to create a focus preset. You photograph the game and then when the time comes, you turn the focus until the focus ring clicks into place at the Memory Set. You’ve got a sharp image of the steal at 2nd. The 200-400VR has an electronic Memory Set and it works really slick. Focus on the point you want to set the focus point and then simply depress the Memory Set button. To have the lens focus back at that point you selected, depress either the AF-L or AF-ON or one of the four AF buttons on the lens barrel. The lens snaps into focus at the preset point. It’s really sweet to have Memory Set back!
For over a decade, Nikon long lenses have had a filter built into the front. For some reason, for the first time Nikon enclosed a case for this filter. The case is empty inside the lens case for the 200-400 because the filter is where it belongs, on the front of the lens. While I’ve not experienced it myself, there is a possibility that this filter might create a hallo or ghost when shooting a bright subject. If this happens, you have a case to place the filter in.
When it comes to image quality, the lens is tack sharp! You can focus from 6.6′ to infinity in a snap knowing the lens will deliver. The zoom is a twist-turn (would have liked push-pull) and is a true zoom. The 200-400VR works flawlessly with the TC-14e, TC-17e and TC-20e3 but not a system I would use. When used on the D3x, D3s or D3 with current firmware, AF operation with the TC-20e3 is slow at best. Sorry, I don’t know how it performs on other bodies, I’ve not shot with them.
You notice the 200-400VR is sporting a LensCoat. This is great protection but note I don’t use every piece of the LensCoat that comes for the 200-400. That’s a personal preference. It also has the replace tripod foot, the RRS LCF-14.
Jan 1, 2010 | Field Reports
02.15.10
Though who have shot with me know I’m not a huge cable release fan, in fact, I never use them. Almost never. When Do I use them? The only time is doing star trails when I need to use the timer of the MC-36. If that’s the case, why is the MC-36 and MC-DC2 (attaches to GP-1) in my camera bag all the time? Because you just never know when you might need a cable release. While I rarely use them, they are always with me just in case.
