Archive for August, 2007
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While being bitten by tiny nearly invisible bugs on my scalp, neck and arms, I took a few shots of the beach, scenery and wildlife as the sun came to view over the mountain and treetops. The "golden" moment was over so quickly before I even realized it!
This osprey was very vocal so I went over and took a couple of shots of him before we left while he eats which looks like a bird (?!) since I think I saw feathers on it.
I couldn’t tolerate the bugbites which prompt me to leave earlier than I would want.
This image was shot with the Bigma with a Tamron SP 2x tele-converter. I had to manual focus which I find next to impossible at 1000mm especially since half of my concentration is on trying to ignore the bugbites! lol!
View On Black
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, originally uploaded by psilver.
These bird images were taken months before I got hooked to birding. This year is special to me because I was able to get a taste of different aspects of photography and I also met a lot of cool friends that I know will last a long time.
If I only knew I was capturing beauty, I would have been doing this since spring! Enjoy life folks, it’s not always about the money. lol!
I first thought that shooting birds only requires a long lens. I now realized that there is more to it than that. There are the settings and skills involved which one has to learn to do in time. These shots were mostly taken at ISO 1600 handheld. I would probably use a lower ISO as much as possible in the future and rely on the flash and flash x-tender for very low light shots since the Bigma is not a fast lens. I would also use the tripod more often especially beyond 300mm.
For more notes, info and bird images, please visit my Flickr site by clicking on the photo.
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More info at http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d300.htm
Photo Copyright 2007 Nikon Inc.
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I was intrigued by the patterns caused by the foxtails especially this single one in the foreground. I initially wanted to isolate it from the rest by using wide aperture but I later found out that it would be more interesting to show the repeating patterns of the thousands of foxtails in the area.
In order to create a single subject yet still show the repeating patterns of the foxtails, I narrowed the aperture to the point where the background foxtails are still show yet the single foxtail in the foreground are still in emphasis. I had to take a couple of shots using different apertures and chose one to get this result.
I further reduced the clutter of the image by making a square crop and split-toned the image. By reducing the number of colors, the audience’ eyes are concentrated more on the patterns more than anything else.
– Brian
brian@silverph.com
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Bigma’s ain’t that big at all.. in size anyway.
The Sigma 50-500 f/4-6.3 EX DG HSN lens arrived today. As I have not seen this actual product prior to buying it, I did not have a clue on the real size. It turned out smaller than I expected. Yes, heavy, but not as big as those expensive lenses.
The main reason why I bought this lens is to have 500mm capability at an affordable price. This lens is NOT tack sharp or contrasty like my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. However, for the price and focal length range, I would say it is worth the purchase. I guess you just have to judge it on my future shots with this lens.
The body is solidly built and the zoom ring is tight. The focus is fast and quiet , similar to Nikon’s AF-S.
I initially planned to use my existing Tamron 1.4x and 2.0x Pro Tele-converters (TC) but I had problems with it that I was skeptic if they were even compatible.
UPDATE: I tested the both TCs on all my lenses and found out that it works erratically on my AF-S/HSM lenses and not on the screw type focus. I have no idea if the electronics of the TCs are toast or my D50 has something to do with it. I contacted Tamron through email for this but I might have to bring it over to them since Tamron service center is just a few miles away.
<b> UPDATE OF AN UPDATE! I couldn’t sleep so I did more tests. The TCs are fine! It turns out, the TCs only work on slow lenses on manual focus! Duh! They worked just fine on my slow lenses using manual focus. My fast lens however, worked flawlessly on auto focus. In fact, Sigma mentioned this on their website, stating that you can only use tele-converters on manual focus.
I thought I can sleep now that I figured that one out but now my excitement keeps me awake! 2x TC on the 500mm is an awesome 1000mm! I’ll find out this weekend if that’s even practical. 
</b>
Going back to the lens, I do highly recommend it unless you have a couple more thousand dollars to spare!
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Regardless on how good my lens was (nikon 70-200mm VR 2.8), combining it with a 2x pro teleconverter significantly degraded the quality of my images hence my decision to buy a longer lens.
This was taken with a 400mm close to 10 feet and using a flash (at full power) as fill light but I think it didn’t have enough reach (SB-600) but still it did improve it a bit. I bought a “better beamer” flash extender and see if that makes a difference.
