pbraymond wrote:
Got out this morning in the fog, some nice keepers. It was a 50-135 kind of day, with a little 28mm f2,8 AIS to finish off the morning.
On of the first shots before the sun broke the horizon, 50-135.
Rafael,
That 800mm f5.6 is a beautiful lens. I am just going on my impressions over the years. The moon, being a sphere, has it's nearest center face roughly 1075 miles closer to my lens, than the outer perimeter. I seem to get images with the perimeter in focus most of the time, and nearest center part not as sharp. When I get the nearest sharp - the perimeter isn't as sharp. Ya got to admit that roughly 1100 miles DOF on any lens wide open is a lot to expect. That, and atmospheric distortions is what gave me the idea to try focus stacking. Considering it wasn't ideal conditions - I am pretty happy with what I got.
Jim
rafaelcasd wrote:
James, the moon is so far away that focus stacking may not make a difference, this is a single shot - 800mm+TC300=1600mm.
pbraymond wrote:
Got out this morning in the fog, some nice keepers. It was a 50-135 kind of day, with a little 28mm f2,8 AIS to finish off the morning.
On of the first shots before the sun broke the horizon, 50-135.
Raymond, the 50-135mm shots are so lovely. That's the Leighton lens, right? There's one at a local vintage shop, maybe I must allow temptation. I have missed some cool lenses recently. Second time I had spotted a 180mm f/2.8 in two years and the first time ever that I had spotted a 105mm f/1.8. Might never see one again. I hesitated because I had those focal lengths well-covered by AF lenses but still, seeing SOLD filled me with some regret.
Update on the weather front. So, in the end it was 4x the average rainfall for the month in two days. Too much devastation but thankfully, we are okay. Irony is we got so much water but now have no running water. There's more rain forecast for the weekend but hoping for some restraint.
Bad weather is like that drunk person spoiling the party and the next morning showing up sober with no apologies as if nothing happened. It's clear skies now.
SiMuMe wrote:
Raymond, the 50-135mm shots are so lovely. That's the Leighton lens, right? There's one at a local vintage shop, maybe I must allow temptation. I have missed some cool lenses recently. Second time I had spotted a 180mm f/2.8 in two years and the first time ever that I had spotted a 105mm f/1.8. Might never see one again. I hesitated because I had those focal lengths well-covered by AF lenses but still, seeing SOLD filled me with some regret.
I can personally vouch for the 180 and the 50-135, as can most folks on here. I actually had an AFD 180 that I sold, and kept the 180 MF. They are both optically superb but the MF was more fun to use. I say go for it.
I would never have considered focus stacking a moon shot, James. Seems like if there's anything that is at infinity (other than stars) the moon would come pretty close.
That execution of the fly is first rate George, and so is the shot. Such precision hobbies you have with such great photo potential, though reading through your setup just confirms that it's the practitioner that counts. Get together is great, there's always been threats of Leighton-fest or something like that; you would think the retiree with all the time to be bored would have made something happen by now.
I really have two main hobbies other than home ownership which is a full time hobby
Hiking/fishing/kayak count as one and photography. And being able to combine them is icing on the cake.
Maybe we can poke Leighton enough when he gets 100% and hold Nikonstock in Leightonville
pbraymond wrote:
I would never have considered focus stacking a moon shot, James. Seems like if there's anything that is at infinity (other than stars) the moon would come pretty close.
That execution of the fly is first rate George, and so is the shot. Such precision hobbies you have with such great photo potential, though reading through your setup just confirms that it's the practitioner that counts. Get together is great, there's always been threats of Leighton-fest or something like that; you would think the retiree with all the time to be bored would have made something happen by now.
I was thinking about the focus stack of the moon vs single shot; and I realized seeming proof of DOF might be in the masks that Photoshop creates when doing the stack. I say "seeming", because it could also be atmospheric distortions. IMO - it is both, but the three layers are mainly categorized by perimeter focus, mid point focus (between the crown and edge) and crown focus. Photoshop chooses which are the sharpest points, and fortunately I saved a three layer tif after auto align and blending the layers. In my stack (top to bottom in screen capture) it was mostly mid, perimeter, then crown best focus in the layers.
Edit...I just found on youtube and google that focus stacking moon images goes back to at least 2015. Guess I was late to that idea
pbraymond wrote:
I would never have considered focus stacking a moon shot, James. Seems like if there's anything that is at infinity (other than stars) the moon would come pretty close.
That execution of the fly is first rate George, and so is the shot. Such precision hobbies you have with such great photo potential, though reading through your setup just confirms that it's the practitioner that counts. Get together is great, there's always been threats of Leighton-fest or something like that; you would think the retiree with all the time to be bored would have made something happen by now.
James Markus wrote:
Rafael,
That 800mm f5.6 is a beautiful lens. I am just going on my impressions over the years. The moon, being a sphere, has it's nearest center face roughly 1075 miles closer to my lens, than the outer perimeter. I seem to get images with the perimeter in focus most of the time, and nearest center part not as sharp. When I get the nearest sharp - the perimeter isn't as sharp. Ya got to admit that roughly 1100 miles DOF on any lens wide open is a lot to expect. That, and atmospheric distortions is what gave me the idea to try focus stacking. Considering it wasn't ideal conditions - I am pretty happy with what I got.
Jim
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James, It makes intuitive sense that stacking several photos will help with slightly out of focus shots and atmospheric disturbance. but not for distance, an 800mm at 1:8 with have a hyperfocal near limit of 0.8 miles with a D850, the remaining 235,000 miles will be in focus.
SiMuMe wrote:
Update on the weather front. So, in the end it was 4x the average rainfall for the month in two days. Too much devastation but thankfully, we are okay. Irony is we got so much water but now have no running water. There's more rain forecast for the weekend but hoping for some restraint.
Bad weather is like that drunk person spoiling the party and the next morning showing up sober with no apologies as if nothing happened. It's clear skies now.
I saw this on the news, really extreme rain, glad you are fine Siphiwe.
I got closer to prize-funding a mirror-less camera body a couple days ago. Alas, as Bozo the clown famously said..."an almost winner". These are subjective decisions, but it is still fun to participate.
pbraymond wrote:
It was a 50-135 kind of day, with a little 28mm f2,8 AIS to finish off the morning.
With a good place to walk, I would say nearly every day is a 50-135 day with a side of 28/2.8 AIS. That's my very favorite combination of manual lenses to go hiking with as I don't shoot macro or wildlife.
I went for a walk in the woods today looking for morel mushrooms (aka around here as Hickory Chickens - google time)
Didn't find any, but did see a lot of wildflowers. So posting one here. This is Philadelphia Fleabane. Native. According to the USDA plant guide, the Cherokee used this in a variety of ways. From teas, snuff, poultice, incense, etc. Primarily for headaches, colds and cough. May have to give it a try
Still using the Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 Ai. At maximum aperture for this shot and camera cropped 1x1. It was very breezy and I did not take the tripod. So it could have been sharper.
Since it is slow and in keeping with the outdoor/walkabout theme on this page, I will post a couple more from yesterday.
First one is a little friend resting on a Mayapple. This guy was not much bigger than your thumbnail and was very patient with me getting this shot.
And speaking of mayapples, I read last night that they sometimes grow in clusters/colonies from a single root. The second shot below shows several colonies.
Both images shot with the Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 Ai. In the second one, you can see how the vignette starts when shooting wide open and at mid focus distance on a 44x33 sensor. I did not correct in post for this shot.
In contrast to the Carolina's, it's mostly still brown with some patches of green. I know of one spot where mayapples have been up for awhile now. The next couple of weeks should see some rapid greening.
