James Markus wrote:
The preliminary test shots look grood. The light here today was dark overcast, with some light rain. D800 + TC-16a-mod 960mm EFL ISO 500 - Rocky the Squirrel
Congrats! I've been trying to decide between this and the Ai-P 500/4. I also have not been terribly impressed with the samples I've seen from the 600 when searching online. What do you think of the bokeh in the close to mid-distance shots with the bare lens?
Brad,
I haven't had the lens long enough (about 30 hours) to test much. The bokeh looks good on the approximately 200 shots I have taken. The 500 ai-p is virtually the same size, little fatter, and a bit heavier. If I can get some better weather I can form a better informed opinion. My initial opinion is very favorable.
Jim
freaklikeme wrote:
Congrats! I've been trying to decide between this and the Ai-P 500/4. I also have not been terribly impressed with the samples I've seen from the 600 when searching online. What do you think of the bokeh in the close to mid-distance shots with the bare lens?
I should've paid more attention to the timing of your posts. I think I just got excited to see it being used by someone who knows what they're doing. I'm also curious to know how critical you find the hood extension on the earlier version, but I will lurk patiently until you've had time and the right weather to suss things out.
Thanks.
Brad
James Markus wrote:
Brad,
I haven't had the lens long enough (about 30 hours) to test much. The bokeh looks good on the approximately 200 shots I have taken. The 500 ai-p is virtually the same size, little fatter, and a bit heavier. If I can get some better weather I can form a better informed opinion. My initial opinion is very favorable.
Jim
James Markus wrote:
leighton,
I thought it was a bargain at $590. It is a frustrating lens to find much published information. I wanted the newest ais version (1986-2005) for a handful of reasons. The closer 16 foot MFD, weight (2800 grams), permanently installed front optical UV filter, builtin and secondary hood, and the seeming consensus that it was sharp. To be honest - the online sample shots were nothing to write home about, but I assumed whoever was using the lens was using poor technique. The very first thing I noticed was the stronger contrast of the images compared to the 2500 gram 300mm f2.8 ais, and It is sharper as well. I use to own the 500mm f4 afs - a great 3800 gram lens. - Ah prattling on, sorry.
Jim
...Show more →
No apologies needed. Thanks for the info.
Still overcast yesterday, but medium instead of dark overcast. These look brighter than what my eye saw due to my processing. ISO is still higher than I want, shutter speed is still slower than optimal, and again not the lighting I want...But, I can see this is a very sharp lens with excellent image quality. Oh, and insane thing is than using the D7200 + TC-16A with the 600mm f5.6 ais(N) makes for a monster 1440mm EFL. I tried stacking TCs before, and never got these good of results. These are all near MFD which may explain the busy bokeh (longer shots don't have it) - I expect to improve on these in the coming days. It's a keeper.
I started out my SLR career in 1977 with a used Nikkormat FTN that came with a 50mm f2 non-AI. I added a 24mm f2.8 and a lightweight Slik tripod. At some point around 1980 I added a cheap 35 mm f2.8 K model and that was my backpacking "kit" for several years.
About 2 and a half months ago, Peter posted some photos of Yosemite from 1988. I mentioned I'd be back with some of my own. This last month I have been scanning some older slides from 1978-1981 period. Here is the first offering from Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado from 1979 and 1980. Dream Lake with the angular Hallett's Peak behind is one of those iconic images of RMNP.
I don't know what it's like now (haven't been there since 1981), it this was a reasonably easy hike back then, even in snowshoes. It was rare to see anyone there during the winter/spring months. That's why the Park Service was rather ambivalent about where you could camp. Based on what I have seen on Instagram, I don't think that is the case anymore.
Without EXIF data, one is left to one's imperfect memory about these images. The one below (April, 1980) I think was Kodachrome 64, 50mm (I think) at f5.6 or 8 (probably). Back then I was more concerned with getting the subject in focus, rather than the separation with blurring the background.
For those that may not know much about California champagne, Kornell had a very dramatic life. He was a German immigrant who came to the US after spending time in a German concentration camp. He built up his champagne business in almost storybook fashion, but ultimately went out of business in the early 1990s as a result of some unfortunate business decisions. He passed away in 1994. His daughter, Paula, still carries on the family tradition with her own winery. His life is worthy of a film.
This second image is actually from the year before (March, 1979), again for context. I don't often post photos of people (except above), and much less so myself. It just goes to show, no pack is too heavy for a dumb 25 year old!
It is a bit soft and I can see my tripod on my pack, so my friend must have taken this. Hiking with a pack may have introduced a bit more shake in the image.
Good backstory and always good to hear how people started out in photography.
Also love that high tech external frame backpack. You could challenge a pack mule with that
George
graytrekker wrote:
I started out my SLR career in 1977 with a used Nikkormat FTN that came with a 50mm f2 non-AI. I added a 24mm f2.8 and a lightweight Slik tripod. At some point around 1980 I added a cheap 35 mm f2.8 K model and that was my backpacking "kit" for several years.
About 2 and a half months ago, Peter posted some photos of Yosemite from 1988. I mentioned I'd be back with some of my own. This last month I have been scanning some older slides from 1978-1981 period. Here is the first offering from Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado from 1979 and 1980. Dream Lake with the angular Hallett's Peak behind is one of those iconic images of RMNP.
I don't know what it's like now (haven't been there since 1981), it this was a reasonably easy hike back then, even in snowshoes. It was rare to see anyone there during the winter/spring months. That's why the Park Service was rather ambivalent about where you could camp. Based on what I have seen on Instagram, I don't think that is the case anymore.
Without EXIF data, one is left to one's imperfect memory about these images. The one below (April, 1980) I think was Kodachrome 64, 50mm (I think) at f5.6 or 8 (probably). Back then I was more concerned with getting the subject in focus, rather than the separation with blurring the background.
For those that may not know much about California champagne, Kornell had a very dramatic life. He was a German immigrant who came to the US after spending time in a German concentration camp. He built up his champagne business in almost storybook fashion, but ultimately went out of business in the early 1990s as a result of some unfortunate business decisions. He passed away in 1994. His daughter, Paula, still carries on the family tradition with her own winery. His life is worthy of a film.
This second image is actually from the year before (March, 1979), again for context. I don't often post photos of people (except above), and much less so myself. It just goes to show, no pack is too heavy for a dumb 25 year old!
It is a bit soft and I can see my tripod on my pack, so my friend must have taken this. Hiking with a pack may have introduced a bit more shake in the image.
Hey, the sun came out! I was mounting the 5DS-R onto the 600 + 1.6 combo when it happened. So that is what we have here 960mm EFL. Roughly 40% more pixels than the D800 leaving almost 14 million extra dots to draw the frame. Most at iso 320, but the Robin is at iso 200. I'm sure the closer to iso 100 I can get is the last bit of image quality improvement to be gained. The Robin is the best IQ of these four frames, but Squirrel at iso 320 isn't bad. I love the last Squirrel frame. I believe this is a fifth Squirrel that has just discovered my yard, and he was nervously looking left and right as he fed. Plus, he is much thinner than the other four Squirrels.
GeorgeBo wrote:
Also love that high tech external frame backpack. You could challenge a pack mule with that
George:
Haha!! I still have that and another external frame pack that I still use when I take too much for my ultralight pack (such as camera gear).
A few years ago I was backpacking in Glacier with my other external. I passed a twenty-something year old and I overheard him say "Nice, retro, dude!"
Things were made to last back then - rather like Nikon cameras and lenses from back then.
Doug
James Markus wrote:
Hey, the sun came out! I was mounting the 5DS-R onto the 600 + 1.6 combo when it happened. So that is what we have here 960mm EFL. Roughly 40% more pixels than the D800 leaving almost 14 million extra dots to draw the frame. Most at iso 320, but the Robin is at iso 200. I'm sure the closer to iso 100 I can get is the last bit of image quality improvement to be gained. The Robin is the best IQ of these four frames, but Squirrel at iso 320 isn't bad. I love the last Squirrel frame. I believe this is a fifth Squirrel that has just discovered my yard, and he was nervously looking left and right as he fed. Plus, he is much thinner than the other four Squirrels.
Now if you pack up Samy's large format film gear on that frame, they will be calling you Ansel.
graytrekker wrote:
George:
Haha!! I still have that and another external frame pack that I still use when I take too much for my ultralight pack (such as camera gear).
A few years ago I was backpacking in Glacier with my other external. I passed a twenty-something year old and I overheard him say "Nice, retro, dude!"
Things were made to last back then - rather like Nikon cameras and lenses from back then.
Doug
rafaelcasd wrote:
Great photo of very nice landscape, does that gardener work southern Califonia? The front of my house is badly in need of helo and my green thumb only works for trees.
Thank you. It comes with the climate. We get plenty of water. You said Southern California doesn't. That would be a steep challenge for this gardener.
_Cardinal-6529.jpg)
_Cardinal-6536.jpg)
_Cardinal-6521.jpg)
_Cardinal-6523.jpg)
_Cardinal-6523_100percent.jpg)
_Robin-5453.jpg)
_Squirrel-4.jpg)
_Squirrel-5.jpg)
_Squirrel-7.jpg)
_Squirrel-7_100percent.jpg)
