CGrindahl wrote:
Thanks Jose... it has a bit of a watercolor feel that elevates a rather ordinary photo.

I'm loving your Italy photos Jose. As much as I'd like to experience Asia I think if I take another trip internationally Italy may be a better bet. I love Italy and spending autumn in Europe would be quite a bit easier than heading to Cambodia. Your photos definitely get me thinking. I have spent five days in Rome but have not visited other parts of the south. Decisions, decisions...


Thanks Curtis,
I am a history stuff sucker, so I recommend to you a trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum (less known and smaller, but close to Pompeii and worth the visit) ruins. If you don't like tons of tourists and temperatures above 30ºC, best time is autumn or late winter.
A trip to Naples Museum is almost obligatory, since most paintings, sculptures and mosaics of these cities are there.

Before bed one more pano from the Stabian Baths:


Pompeii Stabian Baths - wall details by labecoaves, on Flickr

For best viewing wall stuccoes,this is a 3000 pixel version. Sorry for the size, but the original was 8800 !

This is a 5 vertical shots pano of a dressing room (destrictarium) in the Stabian Baths at Pompeii.

D7000 + 85mm f/1.8K ai'd & CPU'd hand held, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/800s.

THis outside wall has reasonably well preserved polychrome stuccoes.

My first trip to Europe was aboard a Greek freighter. My former wife and I spent two months in Greece, most of it rambling through ruins. I'd poured over history books and guide books, then upon my return and after enrolling in a graduate program in architecture, I gave an hour lecture on the art and architecture of Crete. So when you encourage me to visit ruins, you're talking to the right person. I loved visiting Ephesus when Rinie and I traveled in Turkey this spring. It was as though I'd completed a chapter of the history that began in Greece and extended east and north to the shores of Turkey. i imagine to a certain extent the same is true of Italy, though the Romans certainly made their own mark on the landscape with great buildings. I've explored in Venice, Ravenna, Rome, Florence and Siena. I love Italy. It would be a delight to visit again. I spent a month in Italy, traveling in October. I prefer to travel away from the heavy tourist season when temperatures are a bit milder. The trip to Greece was through November and December before a train trip to Paris, and Copenhagen with a flight to London before returning to the cold weather of the United States in time to watch my football team lose in the Super Bowl...

saph wrote:
DC was under self sequestration so Baltimore was a better option to check out photo ops today. These are from the Canton area that keeps on developing. It was a cloudy chilly day but I bet during warmer months this place is very alive.

35 f2 OC and 135 f2 AI were the only two lenses to come along. Some of those boats would be better framed with the 85 1.4, I realized.


135 f2 AI:
A lighthouse in Canton, with the landmark Legg Mason building peeking in from behind.

Georg, great helicopter a while back. Good to see my pal the 24/2 get some FF love. Like the beach shot on the 16 too.

Leighton, ouch! Glad you'll be set free soon.

Scott, love the frostscape.

Sam, beautiful daffodils, especially the first.

Curtis, great sky behind the windmills and fabulous flowers. The few we have here bloom, drop, and sprout leaves in about a day, so thanks.

Jose, thanks for the Pompeii series—will have to get there one day. I've always been fascinated by its time-capsule quality.

Ronny _Olsson wrote:
Thanks
Great shots everyone !

Had I lived in the United States, I bought it right away Tony ..
very good price .. but now if I buy from you here from the United States, it is Vat and duty
and when the price rises, unfortunately

Looks really good Curtis

Here are a few pictures from today's round with Nitro .. hoping for more pictures this weekend also

Playtime

NIKKOR 180mm f/2.8 ED AI-s by Ronny Olsson, on Flickr


Too bad about the VAT and duty taxes, I would love to sell it to someone on the thread and keep it in the family, so to speak. Great shots with Nitro, it looks like he had a lot of fun!

–Tony

Oosty wrote:
Hard to believe it's March already!

Following Curtis' lead I went out with the PN-11 and the 80-200 f4 ai-s and took these in the garden.

asiostygius wrote:
First test shots of the newly arrived 28-50mm f/3.5 ais on my preferred "test chart" at infinity, already becoming boring but at least not so boring as a real test chart

Firstly a 4 vertical shots pano at 28mm


4 vertical shots pano with Nikkor 28-50mm f/3.5 ais @28mm by labecoaves, on Flickr
4 vertical shot pano.
D600 + 28-50mm f/3.5 at 28mm, f/8 at 1/500s, ISO 100, hand held.

It would be perfectly matched with a 50-135 or 75-150 for travel light.
I definitely like your test chart the best! Excellent job on handling the distortion for this pano. Looks nice and sharp as well.

–Tony

Jose -

Been loving your images from your trip to Italy. You have been making some great images with that 16/3.5.

Those of us that have this lens should find some way to all get together and have a 16/3.5 shooting fest!

John

Some brilliant brilliant photos in the last few pages

Georg, ahhh sun on the beach is highly evocative of a summer holiday. I could have sworn it was impossible to control the highlights the way you did!

Curtis, the image with the pink flowers is awesome. The pink oof background is perfect, must have been one heckuva blossom

Leighton, I love the tiny shoots in the boxes neatly in rows. Would you consider trying to shoot them from above straight down; looking at it as if in a grid? Ooh does that mean you start working on Friday?

Nancy, I love how you replicated the 2006 shot. The cat stayed the same size too

And I'm sorry, for the many others I've neglected to mention, there's just too many It was slow awhile back, but it seemed to have exploded over the weekend!

Oh yes John, i thought your film adventure was over?

Zichar wrote:
Oh yes John, i thought your film adventure was over?

Nope, not yet. I still have a brick of 100 ISO Provia. My FE2 needed an overhaul before I could use it again and it took some time to get that done. What started out as a do-it-yourself mirror bumper replacement ended up being almost a complete rebuild - new seals all around, mounting flange adjustment (it was way out of whack), AF screen adjustment, plus all the other checks.

Now I just want to run through the rest of the Provia and I'm done.

jhinkey wrote:
Need to keep this thread going:

Nikkor 16/3.5 AI'd on my D300. ISO 400, f/16, 1/1600 sec. Some PP, but no sharpening.

mp356 wrote:
MarkdV wrote:
Some love for a lens that doesn't get much use from me, the 75-150mm Series E. A versatile range of focal lengths covered but a couple of peculiarities the stop it becoming a firm favorite like the vignetting on the FX sensor and the zoom creep I haven't quite eliminated yet.
However I think it gives a very nice colour rendition and can make some very pleasing images.



Mark, I like your work with the 75-150. I had one of these and parted with it. I now have the 50-135. They are both nice and both (in my case) had/have zoom creep. How are you trying to stop your zoom creep?
Scott

Well I keep meaning to do the job properly as per the excellent instructions that were kindly posted here by I think it was Ray (Apologies if I go that wrong) but time has not been kind so I have gone with Curtis' backup suggestion of black tape around the barrel, although in my case it's Green/yellow striped tape (Protected Earth).
It's worked well but made it slightly hard to focus at any focal length other than the extreme ends.

Cheers,
Mark.

CGrindahl wrote:
My first trip to Europe was aboard a Greek freighter. My former wife and I spent two months in Greece, most of it rambling through ruins. I'd poured over history books and guide books, then upon my return and after enrolling in a graduate program in architecture, I gave an hour lecture on the art and architecture of Crete. So when you encourage me to visit ruins, you're talking to the right person. I loved visiting Ephesus when Rinie and I traveled in Turkey this spring. It was as though I'd completed a chapter of the history that began in Greece and extended east and north to the shores of Turkey. i imagine to a certain extent the same is true of Italy, though the Romans certainly made their own mark on the landscape with great buildings. I've explored in Venice, Ravenna, Rome, Florence and Siena. I love Italy. It would be a delight to visit again. I spent a month in Italy, traveling in October. I prefer to travel away from the heavy tourist season when temperatures are a bit milder. The trip to Greece was through November and December before a train trip to Paris, and Copenhagen with a flight to London before returning to the cold weather of the United States in time to watch my football team lose in the Super Bowl...

Another great place is Tunisia. Loads of amazing Roman and Carthaginian ruins to visit. Stunning scenery if you go in April when the poppies are in bloom and plenty of more modern arabic style medieval towns as well. The mosaics museum in Tunis is worth the visit alone. Of course maybe wait till the political situation has calmed down a bit first.

A couple of a kiwifruit using the 55mm micro and some tubes, mucking about while hoping for inspiration for the weekly challenge.
The 55mm is really a nice lens, so versatile.

waysaz wrote:
Today is the 7th anniversary of my D200's arrival, so I looked for my first MF shots to post. Didn't take me long—I broke out the 135/2 the next day and tested a few of Zoe in her favorite keep-an-eye-on-the-humans spot, which gets nice light in the afternoon.

This shot looks oddly familiar, and might to you too.

Not much changes around here!
LOVE IT!

Zichar wrote:

Leighton, I love the tiny shoots in the boxes neatly in rows. Would you consider trying to shoot them from above straight down; looking at it as if in a grid? Ooh does that mean you start working on Friday?



Chin, is this what you mean? And yes, back to work on Friday! Looks like I'll be cleaning up from a snowstorm.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Perfect!

>>

45PCE, stacked 10-stop filter with polarizer
It was *that* sunny

listless (CKC_9315) by Zichar, on Flickr

I like it Chin, were you in a boat? What would it look like if you took out the stuff on the horizon?