Archive for the 'Camera Gear' CategoryPosts about my camera gear
A couple of months ago I posted about basics of reverse-lens Macro photography, where I showed some items photographed with some magnification that is considered fairly extreme by macro-photography standards. I threw around "true but misleading" big numbers like "45,000 ×" in jest, but in the normal nomenclature of macro photography where magnification is represented [...]
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I love my Nikon D200, but yesterday added a new woe to the "Dead Battery Syndrome" I experienced a couple of months ago: "Black Frame Syndrome" Yesterday, Kyoto was a cold and heavily overcast, with sporadic misty rain. Occasionally and all too briefly, the sun would poke out in brilliant fashion to set the foliage [...]
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Lighting a scene to photograph in a pleasing way is either a matter of luck, or the combination of two skills: knowing the physics of light (that is, knowing the results you'll get from lighting decisions), and having the creative sense to use that knowledge toward an aesthetically-pleasing end. For my part, I generally go [...]
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Today was "Sports Day" at Anthony's preschool, which is a fun event full of play, silliness, and dance. Like last year's Sports Day, it was very hot -- 90s in the shade, but the entire event was in the sun -- but this year I think the heat was worse for my camera than for [...]
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(Note: this post will be of interest only to camera geeks) My previous post contained a superficial listing of considerations for building a tripod, and left off wondering how to test the effect of various ways to use a tripod. For example, how detrimental is it to add a center column? How beneficial is mirror [...]
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I recently wrote about the really nice tripod that I put together, but I didn't talk much about how I arrived at the mix of components I got, nor about how I'll use them. What to Buy? Deciding on components is a balance among a lot of things, including: Size (how easy is it to [...]
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I recently wrote about the pro-caliber tripod I put together with components from Gitzo and Really Right Stuff. This time I'm writing about a monopod that I put together at the same time. However, unlike the tripod, it took two tries to get a good monopod solution, and at that, I'm still not 100% happy [...]
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(Note: this post will be of interest only to camera geeks) Continuing in the series on the camera toys I've picked up on this trip to The States (other entries: GPS unit, tripod), this post is about the Katz Eye Focusing Screen that I picked up for my Nikon D200. An SLR's focusing screen is [...]
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(Note: this post will be of interest only to camera geeks) Among the camera toys I picked up recently are the components needed to make a really great tripod. The components, from top to bottom, are: Clamp -- Really Right Stuff PLC-1 Head -- Really Right Stuff BH-55 Column -- Gitzo GS3510S Legs -- Gitzo [...]
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I'm ostensibly spending the summer here in The States for Anthony's English development, but the real reason is to load up on camera toys. I do get things in Japan, but I prefer to buy some things here because of price, availability, ease, or just mental comfort. It's been a while since I treated myself [...]
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Last November, I posted about the then-new 70-200 zoom I'd just received, and about how it had focus problems. I actually got two lenses that day; here are some test shots I took with my at-the-time new Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8, after having headed back to the playground with Anthony. This lens, officially the 17-55mm f/2.8G [...]
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During the three-month ordeal of autofocus problems with my Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 zoom, between suspecting a problem and finally having it fixed by Nikon, I learned a lot about SLR autofocus -- how it works, and how best to test it. There are plenty of autofocus test charts available on the web, but all of [...]
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I recently bought three new lenses for my Nikon D200. In my previous post, I told of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 that had such horrible focus problems that I had to return and reorder it. Today I write about the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G IF AF-S VR that I finally received on Saturday. I should mention [...]
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As I recently wrote, I love my Nikon 18-200 zoom except that it's a bit "slow", optically speaking: at f/3.5-5.6, the lens diameter is too small to allow enough light for reasonable shutter speeds in low-light situations. So, two weeks ago, I finally picked up a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 prime lens. At f/1.4, it's 3 [...]
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The only lens I own for my Nikon D200 is a Nikon "AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor ED 18-200m F3.5-5.6G(IF)," also known as "the 18-200mm." I really love it as a fantastic all-around lens, but at f/3.5-5.6, I find that it is sometimes a bit slow (that is, it doesn't let in enough light for me [...]
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Oh, what a fun day. Too many toys! But not for Anthony.... for me! I try to be prudent with our funds, so I don't buy a lot of "toys" for myself. Last year I got an iPod. The previous year I got Photoshop and other Adobe "Creative Suite" software (although at a nice discount, [...]
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This post details some speed tests I did with my Nikon D200 and a Transcend brand 80x 4 GB compact flash card. It's mostly a writeup for Digital Photography Review, and likely of little interest to the regular reader (is there more than one?) of my blog. I'm sure that Digital Photography Review will do [...]
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I got a wonderful surprise today when I got a call from my friend Katsunori Shimada. We'd talked earlier in the day (after our workout -- we do the elliptical trainer and weight training a few times a week at a local club) about how there's a worldwide shortage of Nikon's new digital SLR. I'd [...]
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