nextelbuddy wrote:
beautiful! can you please explain the last one with the Andromeda Galaxy? how is that even achieved and also with just 105mm?
Well first off, that galaxy is huge. It can be seen with the naked eye. A 50mm lens will record it. A good pair of binoculars (10x50) or bird watching binos will aid you in seeing it. It is a fall/winter object and it comes up high around midnight.
Here it is with my 500mm f/8 Nikon mirror lens:
^ had no idea you could get shots of Andromeda like that with just a regular lens. Always thought you had to have a telescope. BRB taking the 200mm f2 out to get some galaxy pics...
Todd wrote:
Well first off, that galaxy is huge. It can be seen with the naked eye. A 50mm lens will record it. A good pair of binoculars (10x50) or bird watching binos will aid you in seeing it. It is a fall/winter object and it comes up high around midnight.
Here it is with my 500mm f/8 Nikon mirror lens:
So is there any stacking required? or can I just locate it first at the proper location and time and then use a tripod with high ISO, remote release, mirror lock up, build in Noise Reduction/dark frame option and get a decent shot of it?
david debalko wrote:
very nice photos, I'm wondering why Nikon decided not to put VR on this $2000 lens,
If they did, the price would probably be $2700 give or take. Also I think that most people are going to be using this lens wide open all the time and so there's always a pretty quick shutter speed there so vibration reduction probably is not needed.
nextelbuddy wrote:
So is there any stacking required? or can I just locate it first at the proper location and time and then use a tripod with high ISO, remote release, mirror lock up, build in Noise Reduction/dark frame option and get a decent shot of it?
You could get it that way. Use a tripod and high ISO to get the image. However with 105 mm, you're going to get Star trails pretty quickly within, five seconds. So in order to get something good with per se a 50 mm or something of that, you could easily get it within 10 seconds or so. But I used my AstroTrac to track the stars so that the Earth's rotation wont distort or trail my image.
You could stack. But for short higher ISO image may not have to. Unless you used a alternate stacking program on your computer then you could easily do that. I stacked these images in the camera to achieve better dynamic range and less noise but like I said, I was tracking so the stars lined up
Took the 105 to a small family function and snapped shots of various people. I liked the look of this one. The 105 does some amazing things to candid shots.
Surfnsun wrote:
Can you please share how you achieved that first closeup picture of the galaxy!?! Absolutely incredible!
Sure... Thanks for the compliment.
I used a device called the AstroTrac and its purpose is to track the stars and back in 2013, there was a big discussion thread on the AstroTrac and it is found here: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1192050/0
As for my image of the andromeda galaxy shot, I was in Big Bend national park where the skies are really dark (no moon) and I had my D800 and used 500mm f/8 (bought it for $200) setup on my AstroTrac. I made sure my AstroTrac was polar aligned as precisely as possible and let the exposure go for 8 minutes. ISO 2000 was used. At full size, the image was grainy with nose by the time it was processed. I was just relieved when I saw that the AstoTrac had tracked perfectly on the galaxy for 8 minutes especially at this magnification.
That's pretty much it, here is a photo of my setup:
Joseph. wrote:
Maybe it's just NAS but I woke up today thinking about a D810 I picked up my Df with 105 1.4E attached and it just felt... awkward. The lens is too heavy with this body. Anyone else with a Df and 105 1.4E?
Just for the record, it does feel unbalanced on my D810 as well. Haven't tried with a battery grip, but just with the camera, it is awkward: too heavy to hold as with small lenses, too short to hold as with telephoto lenses.
I only shoot it with a battery grip on my D810. I think it's a heavy for the overall size of it, which makes it a bit difficult to balance without the grip.
Brought the lens to a Night Zoo.
The place was real dark.
Combined with D3S, it allowed me to handhold shots at 1/125 105mm f1.4, iso12800 on a slow moving tram to capture the animals. Some were still under-exposed and had to be lifted in LR.
The 105 did work tonight. Loving the sharpness and just obliterated background it gives. The focal length does something special to my flow during a shoot too.
xgrewellx wrote:
The 105 did work tonight. Loving the sharpness and just obliterated background it gives. The focal length does something special to my flow during a shoot too.
Nice portrait and photography work. However, to be the spoiler. I don't think that eye is as sharp as it could be. Is it the lens or were you just off on the focus. I only say this because people rave about this len. but for 2200 I would expect razor razor sharp. Im not talking about rendering, bokeh color etc ... just sharpness. Overall I think its a wonderful lens.
I picked up my Df with 105 1.4E attached and it just felt... awkward. The lens is too heavy with this body. Anyone else with a Df and 105 1.4E? 
