Kristian, nice set! I really like the first one of the spider. It looks as if it is just floating in mid-air.
Peter, beautiful Milky Way photos, as always. I shot my first Milky Way photo a couple of weeks ago during a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. I'm going to have to make an attempt now that I'm home, but we have so much noise pollution, it will be much harder.
Glen, excellent photos! How do you like the focal reducer? I've been thinking about picking one up, but not sure about it.
spoupard wrote:
Kristian, nice set! I really like the first one of the spider. It looks as if it is just floating in mid-air.
Peter, beautiful Milky Way photos, as always. I shot my first Milky Way photo a couple of weeks ago during a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. I'm going to have to make an attempt now that I'm home, but we have so much noise pollution, it will be much harder.
Glen, excellent photos! How do you like the focal reducer? I've been thinking about picking one up, but not sure about it.
Today I´ve been working my way through a bunch of shots I took while out hammock camping again (keeping a few hundred shots at rest for a while. I brought only one lens this time because fishing was in main focus this time. I did not bring this lens to Indonesia. I went totally bananas with it, fully open....
We took the canoe out to on the lake to set up camp on a little island. The lake is full of big pikeperch, perch and pike. There is also a some monstrous catfish in there...
Peter - the more you explain the panning technique the harder it sounds - 90 degrees, long pans before taking the shots?? sheesh! But those night sky shots are glorious.
Ken - talk about daring pp!! those peaches pulse in iridescent red!
Glen - I too will be very interested in your focus reducer experiments.
ben
Hope everyone is having or had a good weekend. We had a nice break in the weather with lower temperatures and low humidity (for here) so enjoyed some nice time on the back deck this afternoon and evening. Until the mosquitos came out that is.
There have been very few monarch butterflies around here this year, so it was a pleasant surprise to see one on our butterfly bush today. At first we thought it may have been a Viceroy but are pretty sure it is a Monarch.
Posting a few shots below with two lenses I have not had out in quite a while. Breezy afternoon and was a challenge to keep them in frame and in focus.
First two shots are of the Monarch taken with the Df and the Nikkor ED 400mm f/5.6 Ai Non-IF, taken mid-afternoon.
Third shot of a Black swallowtail taken later in the day with Zoom-Nikkor Auto 85-250mm f/4 with the 82mm close focus filter/close up lens that came with that lens. Factory AI'd. EXIF shows 100mm. I just use that for the zoom since I don't have any other lenses in that focal length and 250mm is not an option in the camera lens settings.
spoupard wrote:
Glen, excellent photos! How do you like the focal reducer? I've been thinking about picking one up, but not sure about it.
bruni wrote:
Glen - I too will be very interested in your focus reducer experiments.
ben
I would be very happy to oblige, though I am far from a technically savvy reviewer of gear. The Lens Turbo II is not larger and is only a bit heavier than the Fotodiox adapter I've been using up to now (and will continue to use for telephoto reach). The lens mount (female) end of the reducer is a tight fit, but not a problem. It has quite a sporty look due to the silver aperture ring (for 'G' Nikkors that lack their own such ring), which needs to be kept wide open for MFNG, but this hasn't been a problem either. I greatly enjoy the wide angle of view that my lenses regain with the reducer, though it is not quite mathematically equal to full FX.
Here are a couple more shots from the Hole in the Wall, both from the 28 f/2 N on the Lens Turbo II. I'll keep you updated with more images as I take them, and any news worthy of mention about the focal reducer. Please let me know if you have any specific questions about it.
That's the Space Shuttle Discovery. It made it out to numerous missions, including the ones to deploy the Hubble telescope and then fix it. We continue to reap the rewards of amazing photos from deep space from that telescope.
GroWeb wrote:
I would be very happy to oblige, though I am far from a technically savvy reviewer of gear. The Lens Turbo II is not larger and is only a bit heavier than the Fotodiox adapter I've been using up to now (and will continue to use for telephoto reach). The lens mount (female) end of the reducer is a tight fit, but not a problem. It has quite a sporty look due to the silver aperture ring (for 'G' Nikkors that lack their own such ring), which needs to be kept wide open for MFNG, but this hasn't been a problem either. I greatly enjoy the wide angle of view that my lenses regain with the reducer, though it is not quite mathematically equal to full FX.
Here are a couple more shots from the Hole in the Wall, both from the 28 f/2 N on the Lens Turbo II. I'll keep you updated with more images as I take them, and any news worthy of mention about the focal reducer. Please let me know if you have any specific questions about it....Show more →
Thanks for the response, Glen. Do you find any loss of image quality using the Lens Turbo vs using a regular adapter, especially in the corners and edges?
The Blackbird was an amazing innovation during the Cold War. At Mach 3.2+ and 80,000 feet altitude, it simply outran missiles of those days. Only about 32 of the planes were built, primarily used for high altitude reconnaissance.
The Blackbird was an amazing innovation during the Cold War. At Mach 3.2+ and 80,000 feet altitude, it simply outran missiles of those days. Only about 32 of the planes were built, primarily used for high altitude reconnaissance.
Best ever favourite plane ! Smoked everything in the Top Trumps Planes pack (you guys did have Top Trumps didn't you ?)
Yes Samy, I have a T piece adapter, not easy for tracking though with a 1200mm focal length f/9.4 !!! I'm hoping to get a shorter scope with wider aperture for doing astrophotography, in the meantime mounting the D800 plus lens on the mount instead of the scope. I'll post a pic of that arrangement soon.
bobbelbob wrote:
Today I´ve been working my way through a bunch of shots I took while out hammock camping again (keeping a few hundred shots at rest for a while. I brought only one lens this time because fishing was in main focus this time. I did not bring this lens to Indonesia. I went totally bananas with it, fully open....
We took the canoe out to on the lake to set up camp on a little island. The lake is full of big pikeperch, perch and pike. There is also a some monstrous catfish in there...
The Milky Way, M8 (Lagoon Nebula), M20 (Trifid Nebula)
Made up of 38 x 1 min exposures
ISO 1600
Nikon Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 Ai-s ED lens @ f/2.8
Nikon D800
The Lagoon Nebula (M8) was first spotted by Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna in 1654.
It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius about 5000 light years from Earth, classed as an "Emission Nebula" it is made up of hydrogen and measures 50 x 110 light years across !
The Trifid Nebula (M20) nearby was discovered by Charles Messier (that's what the M stands for btw) in 1764, named due to the splitting of the main nebula into 3 lobes, not cos it looks like some kind of man eating plant !
The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars; an emission nebula (the lower, split portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' within the emission nebula that cause the trifurcated appearance.
The nebula is a star forming nebula in the Scutum arm of the Milky Way, and the main star is HD 164492A, which has a mass 2oo times greater than our sun and is surrounded by 3100 young stars.
Also in the shot (see if you can spot them) in the middle of the Milky Way cloud is the Dead Man's Chest star cluster (NGC 6520) and the Tom Thumb cluster (NGC 6451)
That's the Space Shuttle Discovery. It made it out to numerous missions, including the ones to deploy the Hubble telescope and then fix it. We continue to reap the rewards of amazing photos from deep space from that telescope.
Samy, great shot of the business end of the space shuttle. Nice composition.
spoupard wrote:
Thanks for the response, Glen. Do you find any loss of image quality using the Lens Turbo vs using a regular adapter, especially in the corners and edges?
As I make further use of the focal reducer, I'll make a point of checking this out, Scott. The online discussions I have read have suggested that a focal reducer is more likely to enhance, rather than degrade IQ, due to the concentration of the incoming light into the smaller area of the cropped sensor. But that may be truer in theory than in practical application, so I'll let you know what I discover.
Here are a few broad landscape shots from three different locations on Vancouver Island, all done in full political correctness and no polymorphicity with NIKON CAMERA, NIKON LENS. The first was taken with the 50 f/1.2 Ai-s at Moorecroft Regional Park; the second with the 200 f/4 Q at a roadside stop on the Malahat, which is the high mountain road between Nanaimo and Victoria (I believe that is Mount Baker in the background); and the third and fourth images are from, respectively, the 35 f/1.4 N and the 105 f/2.5 P from a hilltop on the outskirts of Nanaimo.
gbohannon wrote:
Kristian - in my mind I am right there Thanks for posting these, look great!
Can't wait for nice fall weather here for some weekends in the woods. Already have a couple trips planned.
George
Thanks George! I just wanna get out again soon. It´s such a nice feeling to wake up in the morning to make some coffee and look out on the lake dreaming of what´s lurking beneath the surface. Hope you´ll be able to get out some time soon.
saph wrote:
George, great to see butterflies on that bush!
Kristian, like the leaf bokeh and the inviting canoe. How's spruce needle tea taste?
Thanks so much Samy. Spruce needle tea has a very sweet and citrusy taste when the spruces are picked when taking the fresh shoots. The longer the season goes the more bitter it gets. But even in september or october it´s quite good. They say the fresh spruces are packed with c-vitamin and was a common help against scurvy back in the days...
Btw, love your recent shots. The Blackbird looks so futuristic, thanks for sharing.
