pburke wrote:
Ah, stay home. It is totally overrated and getting really crowded
I am actually holding back some of what I think are the better shots of the trip - will post them over the coming weeks to have a few of them make it into Flickr Explore (you only get one every 8 days I think, and I am still in that blackout phase from the last one that was featured there).
Also, the majority of the images this year were taken with the AF 24-85mm, so companion thread stuff, especially almost all the stitched panos. The 16mm is just not very easy to use in Photomerge. Even with massive overlap, I have a lot of panos that just won't stitch in Photomerge.
gbohannon wrote:
Thanks Serge. Yes the Nikkor LTM lenses have really gone up the last couple years. You really have to search for bargains and then roll the dice on condition if you can't inspect them in person. I have taken a chance on a few of them but in each case have been able to CLA them to great shape. The best finds so far have come from a local camera store and a thrift shop. They either get traded in or donated thinking they are no longer relevant equipment and most camera store employees do not have much background on the old stuff. I went into one shop that had a huge selection of used equipment and asked about Nikkor rangefinder lenses... The sales person said they thought they had something "in the junk room". I watched him go to a cluttered room and pulled out a cardboard box from a filing cabinet. We went through it and there were a couple lenses in there. Covered in years of dust. I got one of them and it cleaned up to near mint condition.
So they are out there, but definitely hard to find at bargain prices. Buy low, sell high. Not a knock against KEH, but saw a few on their site. Using the 5cm 1.4 as an example... They will purchase one in BGN condition for $131, but had one listed for sale on their site in BGN condition for $468 Quite the mark up.
You definitely have to be more discerning finding these lenses than F mount.
Thus far, have limited my search to the usual outlets but will add thrift shops to the mix. I have found that in building a vintage lens collection, the hunt can be lot of the fun.
pbraymond wrote:
Love the double bug, Serge. Made me do a double take, well executed bu the artist.
Thanks, pbraymond.
I had to do a double take as well when initially spotted the double bugs. It was very creative.
At the time, was walking around with only the 105/2.5 and it was a tight squeeze to acceptably frame the artist's creation. I returned with the 28/2.8 AIs but unfortunately, the trailer had moved on.
Marshal Press and Ektachrome 100G. Off to the right of the setting sun in the distance is the Pilgrim Memorial tower at Provincetown in Cape Cod. The Ektachrome is expired for about 4 years. Looking forward to the new one coming out in a few weeks, although only in 35mm.
Tatyana McFadden, at a Disability Rights Maryland event yesterday. Tatyana is a top paralympic athlete. She fought discrimination in Maryland and paved the way for disabled athletes in the state.
I get away with 16mm panos on my DX IR modded camera. Depends on the scene though.
Looking forward to the shots you are holding back. Your present ones are amazing enough.
Colin
DX crop may be easier to piece together. It is the corners and edges that get crazy distorted on FX and there is no profile for the lens to load in Camera Raw (or is there?). so the stitching logic only knows 16mm, while the lens is far wider than a 14mm. I bet that is what throws off the software.
Samy & Dave - love your waterscapes.
Philippe, stunning image as always!
Ladies and gentlemen, I took the plunge. I preordered Z6+FTZ+24-70/4. It seems that you will continue to see me for a while
Now some images, three with 85/2 AI-P and last with 135/2.8 - all on D750. I enjoy more and more that 85... it seem that I have a very good copy.
pburke wrote:
DX crop may be easier to piece together. It is the corners and edges that get crazy distorted on FX and there is no profile for the lens to load in Camera Raw (or is there?). so the stitching logic only knows 16mm, while the lens is far wider than a 14mm. I bet that is what throws off the software.
Peter, I've used the Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm f2.8D profile that's part of Lightroom 5.7 with the manual focus 16/3.5 fisheye. Sometimes dialing back the distortion correction to 80%-90% gives adequate reduction of the fisheye projection without stretching and muddying the edges so much. That might make it possible to stitch panos taken with the 16mm. Worth a try!
PTgui does an awesome job of making panos with fisheye lenses including the 16mm 3.5
Ballard wrote:
Peter, I've used the Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm f2.8D profile that's part of Lightroom 5.7 with the manual focus 16/3.5 fisheye. Sometimes dialing back the distortion correction to 80%-90% gives adequate reduction of the fisheye projection without stretching and muddying the edges so much. That might make it possible to stitch panos taken with the 16mm. Worth a try!
Quite the mark up. 
