{"id":1770,"date":"2011-05-13T23:35:59","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T14:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2011-05-13\/1770"},"modified":"2011-07-19T01:03:52","modified_gmt":"2011-07-18T16:03:52","slug":"big-lens-at-the-river-focusing-on-disappointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2011-05-13\/1770","title":{"rendered":"Big Lens at the River: Focusing on Disappointment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGetting Your Feet Wet<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Having finally obtained a manual for the lens I got<\/span> last week<\/a>,\nI've learned a few<\/span> things. One, it seems that it actually has a built<\/span>-in\nslide-out lens hood in addition<\/i> to the big detachable hood I'd been\nusing. You're supposed to deploy both.<\/p>\n\n

Also, for some reason, it says that proper focus can't be achieved\nwithout a filter<\/span> installed in the filter holder. It can be<\/span> simple\noptically-inert glass, but you've got to have something. I don't<\/span> know how\nit could matter, but I'll trust the maker on this. Unfortunately, the only\nfilter holder it came with is for gelatin filters, and it was empty, so I'd\nbeen using it<\/a>\nimproperly. Nobody seems to have the normal filter holders in stock, so for\nthe time being I got<\/span> a special<\/span> polarizer<\/a> filter that\nfits, as it was both in stock and something I'd want anyway.<\/p>\n\n

So, armed with this new knowledge, I went out<\/span> this afternoon to the Kamo\nriver to give it a spin,<\/span> also using for the first time its dedicated\n1.4× teleconverter, making a 420mm<\/span> f\/2.8 manual-focus lens.<\/p>\n\n

I'm really disappointed with the results. I don't<\/span> know whether I was<\/span>\njust bad at hitting focus, or whether I need<\/span> to spend some time calibrating\nthe focus, but none of the photos — none — were well focused.<\/p>\n\n

A bunch of hawks (which I've realized is the normal word for what I've\nbeen referring to as “kites<\/a>”) were\nswarming across the river as a pair<\/span> of ladies threw hunks of bread, so I tried<\/span> shooting that. The birds<\/span> could catch bread in mid air, but unfortunately, I could<\/span> not do the same with the focus.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDrawing A Bead<\/span><\/span>\nthe bright spot immediately below the hawk's head is a chunk<\/span> of bread, soon to be lunch\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSort of Pretty<\/span>\nbut would have been better in focus\n<\/div>\n\n

I was hoping for some shots like in “Feeding Frenzy on the Kamo\nRiver<\/a>”, but these were the best I could<\/span> come up with.<\/p>\n\n

The water was quite high due to rain all week, though nowhere near where it was last year<\/a>,\nbut the stepping stones across the river (seen here<\/a> and here<\/a>) were mostly\nsubmerged...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 280 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSort of Funny<\/span>\ntwo unrelated folks build a seemingly-related scene\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSnacking on Dried Beans<\/span>\nfocused better than most, but lacking in the not-off-kilter department\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 360 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFisher of Photos<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 220 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMissed It By That<\/i> Much<\/span>\nthe white thing in the water in the lower-left is the baseball\nthat he dove to (try to) get before it rolled over the bank\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 280 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSecond Team Off the Bench<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStill Trying<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 360 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOh Well<\/span>\nthere are other things we can do besides baseball\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLike a Boss<\/span><\/span>\nhe carries himself well\nwhile she carries his camera, his camera bag, her big bag, and his shoes<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I'll need to practice.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having finally obtained a manual for the lens I got last week, I've learned a few things. One, it seems that it actually has a built-in slide-out lens hood in addition to the big detachable hood I'd been using. You're supposed to deploy both.<\/p>

Also, for some reason, it says that proper focus can't be achieved without a filter installed in the filter holder. It can be simple optically-inert glass, but you've got to have something. I don't know how it could matter, but I'll trust the maker on this. Unfortunately, the only filter holder it came with is for [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1,2,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}