Georg, super horse pic with the 180.

Alan, very nice light trails. I can enjoy cold weather photography, not sure if I'd hike a half mile in the cold each way though unless I have a specific image in my mind, which you obviously did and executed beautifully.

Reagan, I don't have the heart to throw out too many slides. One of these day's I'll set up a DSLR scanner since my very old scanner has a SCSI interface, and I'm already two computers away from having a SCSI interface. Sometimes I want to just go back and revisit the areas to shoot again instead of scanning. I have a 55 micro and tube to go 1:1, just need a good setup and a return of a lightbox that I've loaned out for over 2 years now :-)

A couple from a quick hit Alberta clipper snow event this evening.

D700, 75-150 "Tree Line and Snow", single frame cropped into a wide horizontal shot. I liked the contrasting shades of the foreground trees and background trees due to the snowfall.
*EDIT* just changed the crop a little, decided that it made for a stronger image.

D700, 55 f2.8 AIS "Truck" shot. Slight crop, I liked the subtle tones and just a hint of color from the truck.

georgms wrote:
Adam, very nice light-trails! What shutter-speed did you use? It looks like more than 30 sec.

It was 30 seconds at F/8. There was a lot of people going north (white head lights), and a handful going south (red lights). I looked over my shoulder and waited until I saw a large grouping going south and started the shot right as they were driving under the bridge I was standing on in an attempt to get a full streak of the red lights.

I liked this shot because of the full streaks, and the odd aberration of the white spots on the bottom left from where a car bounced and the lights hit the road.

I had tried a couple at F/2, but the foreground wasn't as out of focus as I wanted, essentially it was the same as F/8, but a tad softer and with shorter light streaks. ISO 100 would have bumped the time up from 4 seconds to 8 seconds, but I would have needed to take a bunch of photos to get one with nice streaks. I did have a 10 stop filter along, to more fully test out the F/2 option, but once the cop came, I figured it was time to call it quits for the evening.

The F/2 shot does clean up a bit with some work in Capture NX2. 2 layers of Unsharp, one focusing on the clarity (4, 97, 0), next on sharpening (19, 20, 10), then a third Highpass sharpening layer (1.91, overlay, 45%).

Good to know how our lenses perform, and how to get the most from them.

Adam, that is very nice!

Many more comments coming hopefully tomorrow on all the great images that have shown up.

In celebration of hitting a quarter of a century today, I have decided to finally make the jump to shooting some 6x7 analog goodness (I have never fully bonded with the 645's ergonomics... probably would have helped to have a hand grip). In anticipation of acquiring a Pentax 67 (the BEAST), 105/2.4 and 165/4 LS lens, I'm going to send my Mamiya 645 kit to a new home... naturally, I used my trusty 105/2.5 and a few of my K-rings for the product shot inside of a little light box that I built. Here is the rear element of my 80/1.9C:

A lot has changed for us in the last year... shooting with MFNG has been one of the few constants!


After a year, our little Eli is quite fun, and loves his mom (and me too!)


It is fortunate that he really likes other babies too, as we're going to be welcoming another late this July:


Although the little one is rather unaware, Nikki and I are very excited to see our family growing and I'm sure I'll be flooding the boards with pictures of another cute baby soon!

georgms wrote:
Scott, thank you! I like the graphic nature of your construction-shot. The highlights are really lively and suit my personal taste just fine. The iron-benders (reinforcement benders) have for sure the hardest job on a construction site.

Love the shot as well Scott, but I bring a bit of history and experience to this subject. When I was a teen, a neighbor who worked for the Minnesota Highway Department was arranging summer jobs for everyone when they turned 16. Over the years I spent every summer and even two full winters working at a wide variety of tasks. I learned enough that I got a job with a testing agency and began inspecting construction projects. Although I was studying American history, politics and philosophy at the university, I was working as a testing technician and inspector on every imaginable construction site. By the time I moved to Seattle, I had the skills that permitted me to inspect concrete pours on high rise buildings, which meant that I would go through structural plans and inspect all the reinforcing steel in place before they could pour the concrete. Then I'd examine the concrete to make certain it was acceptable before it could be poured.

I even applied for a job as a civil engineer with my liberal arts degree and was invited for the test. I didn't finally apply, but my experience with construction enabled me to manage construction projects for the redevelopment agency I eventually worked at, including a four year project from design development through completion of a new city hall. I remain fascinated by construction projects like this, though I really have no interest in climbing to the top of concrete truck to look at the mix before it is poured, as I did as a youth. Now I would do as you did, and simply take a photo...

Wonderful set of images Alan. Yes, a momentous year for you and your family. But you're not resting on your laurels it appears... Another so soon?! I am impressed. Clearly, the two of you are naturals at this and judging from Eli's expression parenthood is working for everyone. Congratulations!

CGrindahl wrote:
Wonderful set of images Alan. Yes, a momentous year for you and your family. But you're not resting on your laurels it appears... Another so soon?! I am impressed. Clearly, the two of you are naturals at this and judging from Eli's expression parenthood is working for everyone. Congratulations!

As my wife and I like to say Curtis, we only have so many years to have children so we'll have them while we can! It will be good for Eli to have a playmate so soon!

John - nioce start with Nicky esp the pano

Ray - lovley pics with the 300. Are they handheld?

Jose - the flower is very nice and the woodpecker is excellent. So like African woodpeckers.

Georg - love the cowboy

Scott - really narrow DOF with that lens - interesting

Raymond - stay indoors! I shiver just looking at those two.

Alan - good news and a nice series

A couple with the 28-45 which due to non CPU lens clash I've called 25mm on my camera menu

georgms wrote:
A recent shot with the 180/2.8 ED:

"Time for a cig" - D3s, ISO1600, 180/2.8ED at f/4, 1/1000sec.
I'm not happy with the framing, but at least I've managed to nail the focus on this snapshot.

Not too often you see cowboys with earrings!

mp356 wrote:
Getting ready to pour concrete. Taken with the 28-50 ais wide open. Thanks for looking.
Scott

I like it Scott, good to see someone else using this lens.

pbraymond wrote:
A couple from a quick hit Alberta clipper snow event this evening.

D700, 75-150 "Tree Line and Snow", single frame cropped into a wide horizontal shot. I liked the contrasting shades of the foreground trees and background trees due to the snowfall.
*EDIT* just changed the crop a little, decided that it made for a stronger image.

D700, 55 f2.8 AIS "Truck" shot. Slight crop, I liked the subtle tones and just a hint of color from the truck.

I like the first one Ray with the truck positioned in the frame that way. Well seen.

huddy wrote:
CGrindahl wrote:
Wonderful set of images Alan. Yes, a momentous year for you and your family. But you're not resting on your laurels it appears... Another so soon?! I am impressed. Clearly, the two of you are naturals at this and judging from Eli's expression parenthood is working for everyone. Congratulations!

As my wife and I like to say Curtis, we only have so many years to have children so we'll have them while we can! It will be good for Eli to have a playmate so soon!

You know what they say..."you got to make hay while the sun shines" ! Love the shots, I like the socks the best.

Oosty wrote:
A couple with the 28-45 which due to non CPU lens clash I've called 25mm on my camera menu

The second one does it for me Peter! Nice image.

Alan, Congrats to you and Nikki

Reagan

Ray, I like the mood of the truck-shot. The framing is very nice, the low contrast and blueish cast make the cold palpable.

Alan, congrats to Nikki and you! The pictures illustrating the news are beautiful - and the clothes-line-image funny too.
I've never used the legendary Pentax 67 nor the Mamiya 645 - I hope to find some of your pictures taken with the 67 over at the alternate corner soon;-)

Peter, that's a beautiful set! My personal fav is the second shot - very nice and almost classical B&W.

Adam, thanks for sharing the informations about the trail-lights-shot. During similar shoots I've had police- or ambulance-cars in the traffic - the blue lights left strange pulsating trails ;-)

Reagan, Leighton, Peter and Ray - I'm glad you guys liked the "Cowboy next to his horse"!

Speaking of horses and the 180/2.8ED - here are two shots from today:

Heimat LIII von georgsfoto auf Flickr
fresh, wet snow on a thatched roof - D700, 180/2.8ED at f/4


/ von georgsfoto auf Flickr
...and the back of the roof ;-)

Thanks for the input guys! I am going to try for a very clean D700. Second up would be a new D300s. Staying away from the D600, due to highly publicized issues, etc.

Got the Canon stuff in the mail to the buyer, so this will go down next week.

BTW, what is the MF zoom lens of preference here? I see a lot of images with zooms. Just short to mid focal reange, for me, in the case of a walk around lens (hate that cliche).

Ray, I also like the "Truck" one the best
Alan, love the socks on the line
Peter, I like the first 2 the best
and Georg I never had given any thought that there might be Cowboys in Germany But our Cowboys don't were earrings

Reagan