dav.d photography

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15th July 2010

What’s inthe Camera Bag – Day 315 of 365

written by dav.d

With the repair of my Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens my gear is complete (for now). Yes, I have some more gear I am saving up for and yes I still am going to be photographing with Canon and Nikon gear. Both have their strengths and both have their weaknesses. So here are my two main camera bags (I like using Think Tank Camera bags).

But, to the gear heads, here you can check out my collection. Although I should have photographed my medium format film camera. Yeah, I’ll admit it, I’m a slacker.

What's in my camera bag? Canon edition

What's in my camera bag? Canon edition

What's in my camera bag? Nikon edition

What's in my camera bag? Nikon edition

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26th May 2010

Bought My Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS Lens

written by dav.d

I just had to take a few photos of my new lens. This lens is going to rock! I had rented it earlier and was sold on the lens. Canon does have a version 2 of this lens, however, it is another $600 more. It is supposed to be sharper and have better image stabilization. But I think I can save that money and buy a macro lens or a backup camera for my Canon. Anyone want a photo shoot?

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS Lens

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS Lens

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS Lens

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS Lens

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26th May 2010

Scooter – Day 265 of 365

written by dav.d

One hundred days left in my 365 Project – wow has time flew buy. 100 days left and then I won’t have to photograph ever again. And to celebrate my brand new Canon lens arrived via UPS today. I bought the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS lens (this is version 1 – I don’t know if version 2 warrants the $600 price increase). This will be a workhorse lens for me when I am shooting Canon.

Scooter

Scooter

I originally wasn’t planning on buying this lens – I was going to buy only a few lenses for my Canon and rely on my Nikon zooms. Well, in all practicality sometimes I can’t carry every lens from two camera systems. So I figured I would get this lens and I am now saving up for a macro lens for my Canon line up. Always something on my wish list.

And this lens has Image Stabilization which is always important when you have a really long lens. And since my Nikon 70-200mm has spent 3 trips to the repair shop this will be an excellent back up lens.

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17th May 2010

Canon vs. Nikon – Day 256 of 365

written by dav.d

I got my Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens back from the shop. I will be testing the lens out to see if Nikon did in fact fix the dang thing. While it has been in the shop I have been renting the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS lens from borrowlenses.com and I have been loving that lens and loving that lens on the Canon 5D2.

Tomorrow the Canon lens goes back :( and I am saving my dinero so I can purchase my own lens. Renting lenses is cool but sometimes you just need to own it. And the 70-200mm is a workhorse lens for most photographers. Portrait and wedding photographers need that lens (Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc). And hopefully soon I will own the Canon and Nikon versions – always good to have a back up system.

Canon 70-200mm vs Nikon 70-200mm

Canon 70-200mm vs Nikon 70-200mm

The above photograph was heavily edited in Photoshop. I wanted something really contrasty so there are two curves layers, a duplicated layer that suffered a lot of high pass filter to give it an over sharpened look and then I put a black and white adjustment layer on top with the blend mode set to overlay and 5% opacity. The black levels were too dark so I used the Shadow/Highlights adjustment to bring back detail in the shadows. I wonder how this would look on a person.

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13th May 2010

Testing the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS – Day 252 of 365

written by dav.d

Yes, I am renting yet another lens this week. Borrowlenses.com makes it so easy – and this weekend I needed a 70-200mm lens with f/2.8 (my Nikon version is back in the repair shop). So I am renting the Canon version to use on my Canon 5DII. And I am liking the lens a lot. For any wedding or portrait photographer the 70-200mm is a workhorse lens. It often will be on the camera a big percentage of the time. Although myself I do like to work in my prime lenses.

These are some sample shots – the red leafs were higher up in the tree and the 200mm really helps to reach them. Being a full frame sensor though I don’t get quite the reach as a digital crop sensor. However, I do get the more artistic shallow depth of field and really creamy blurred backgrounds called bokeh by the nerdy photographers. So I will be saving up my nickels and dimes to I can buy the lens.

Red and Orange Leafs

Red and Orange Leafs

And the longer the lens the nicer it is to have the image stabilization on the lens. I have been tempted to get a 200mm prime lens but it has no IS and it doesn’t zoom. So many lenses so little time. At least I have lunch break to try out the camera gear and get some practice.

Tree with flower buds

Tree with flower buds

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Posted in Daily Photograph Project, Nature Photography, camera gear | Tags: , ,

29th April 2010

Selling My Nikon Gear

written by dav.d

I have had a change of heart – I was going through my equipment and realizing that some of the Nikon gear that I own is just amazing and I am stupid to give it up.  And so I am going to continue using both Nikon and Canon gear.  I want to enjoy the best of both camera systems even if that means I have to buy 2 camera bags to hold things.

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29th April 2010

Testing the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens – Day 238 of 365

written by dav.d

I am renting the new Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS macro lens and it is pretty nice. I am liking the quality of the images. I will try the lens out for a week to make sure it is a lens that I want to ultimately buy. I have loved the Nikon version for quite sometime. The image stabilization really helps compared to regular lenses. True macro photography is often with a tripod but quite often if I am at an event or such then the IS or the VR becomes very important.

There were two sample shots of some Star Wars action figures on my desk. I will be testing out the lens for the next week – I may have missed the spring blossoms, however, it is here in time for the spring snow storms. Ugh, will this weather ever clear up?

Jango Fett action figure

Jango Fett action figure

This is a full macro shot of Darth Maul. The Jango Fett wasn’t much of a macro shot. Macro is fun but I don’t find the need for macro very much. I think this lens will be great for product photography though – if that is something I ever do.

Darth Maul action figure

Darth Maul action figure

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19th April 2010

My Dream Lens is Real! – Day 228 of 365

written by dav.d

I finally bought my dream lens. Ok, I admit, I have a lot of dream lenses. However, this one has been at the top of my wish list for a number of years. In fact it is one reason I bought a Canon brand camera (I have been photographing with Nikon for about 5-6 years). And Nikon is unable to or unwilling to make this kind of lens.

I am an aperture snob – give me wide aperture over any other feature including VR or IS. It is the f/1.2 that will create the creamy blurry backgrounds called “bokeh.” I can’t wait to use this on some people. I was playing with this lens at the office and the lens is sharp! Much sharper than my Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens. However, if you have to pick between the 50mm or the 85mm? I would recommend the 50mm since it is more versatile. But for me when I am give an either or choice – I say get both!

Canon 85mm f/1.2 L series lens

Canon 85mm f/1.2 L series lens

And I was expecting to buy this lens next month – for my birthday – however my tax refund showed up earlier than expected so “Happy Monday to me, happy Monday to me, happy Monday dear dav.d, happy Monday to me!”

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