nextelbuddy wrote:
i've had a new muse lately with my car project. been building my version of a 4 door m3 it started back in November 2016 and finally completed last month.
Did a proper photoshoot immediately.
Sexy! Man, that style body was my dream years and years ago in my late teens... I really wanted the 330Ci though. M3 was way out of my league...
Nevertheless, I ended up buying the Audi A6 'coz like always, Audi's are cheaper
Ok, this thread finally cost me and made me bite the bullet and get this lens. Received it today and took a few quick shots of the kids in our front yard. From this short experience, I would say that its sharpness and rendering come pretty close to my Zeiss 135 f/2 and my 200/2 but the latter lenses still have a noticeable edge, IMHO. That said, given the AF (compared with 135/2) and the smaller size/weight (compared with 200/2), I expect I will likely end up using this one more often than the other two.
nextelbuddy wrote:
so for 6 min exposure you dont even do a dark frame and subtract for noise reduction? or do you let the camera do in camera NR on long exposures?
Yeah, no dark frames, no noise reduction. In Fort Davis overnight during these exposures, it was in the low 40s and quite cool therefore the sensor in the camera did not get too hot and did not generate any noise. Sometimes I will let the camera do the noise reduction, especially in the summertime. Other than that I don't do any noise reduction at all whatsoever or dark frames. For some good reason, the Nikon D810 does really well with long exposures and if I shoot to the right, or slightly over expose the image I get a lot more data that way and lower the exposure in processing by a stop or two to get a good noise free image.
For example, I took this image with the sigma 135 mm F/1.8 @ F/2.5 for a total of six minutes at ISO 640
Todd wrote:
Guided on my AstroTrac for 6 minutes, single exposure. No stacks.
Cool I kind of thought it would be an astro trac. I'd like to have one of them sometime.
I could piggy back something on the top of my Meade AR-6 refractor, but its huge and heavy and takes a fair amount of time to set up/align and tear down.
Monday I'll be sending my Nikon 105mm f/1.4E in for Nikon service (cleaning) for excessive dust behind the front element. I'm ready to get that lens cleaned. I was told it was "normal" all lenses have dust.... well maybe, but not like this. I showed the lens to two Nikon reps today, they suggested I send it in, not normal. Dust isn't random, it's scattered all across the back of the front lens element.
Todd wrote:
Monday I'll be sending my Nikon 105mm f/1.4E in for Nikon service (cleaning) for excessive dust behind the front element. I'm ready to get that lens cleaned. I was told it was "normal" all lenses have dust.... well maybe, but not like this. I showed the lens to two Nikon reps today, they suggested I send it in, not normal. Dust isn't random, it's scattered all across the back of the front lens element.
I actually have the same problem and I assume most (if not all) 105E owners have this dust issue. There has been multiple mentions of this issue.
I've had dust in my lens for about half a year now but I didn't do anything about it because 1) dust never bothered me, I always shoot wide open, maybe f/2 closed down at most and 2) it's still under warranty. Once warranty is about to expire, I'll send the lens in for a cleanup.
Elijah wrote:
I actually have the same problem and I assume most (if not all) 105E owners have this dust issue. There has been multiple mentions of this issue.
I've had dust in my lens for about half a year now but I didn't do anything about it because 1) dust never bothered me, I always shoot wide open, maybe f/2 closed down at most and 2) it's still under warranty. Once warranty is about to expire, I'll send the lens in for a cleanup.
But it's disappointing for a caliber of this lens, have this type of issue, i just hope that the new 28mm 1.4E does not suffer from the the same problem.
