Category Archives: arts and letters

f/8 and be where?

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I was reading Tim Barribeau’s excellent article on µ4:3 lenses, when I was taken aback:

The oft repeated creed of the photojournalist is “f/8 and be there.” You can set this lens to infinite focal length, and anything more than 6 feet away will be in focus, making it great for candid shots.

This goes against my instinct. A 4:3 sensor with a wide-angle field of view, should do better than f/8.

Being anal, I had to check DoFMaster. Inputs: (E-P3, E-P2, E-P1), Focal length: 15mm 30mm equiv), f-stop: f/8, subject distance: 6.2feet

Hyperfocal distance: 6.2ft
Near limit: 3.1ft
Far Limit: Infinity

Translation: If you set this lens correctly (to six feet, not infinity), then everything from 3 feet to infinity will be in focus to within the ability of the sensor to resolve (any m4/3 sensor: at f/8 we’re at the diffraction limit of them all).

Now this bodycap doesn’t really have focus or a focus scale, so it is conceivable that the article statement is technically correct. But since this thing only has a focus lock in two positions — .3m and infinity — I have a hard time believing that the infinity focus is actually locked at infinity and not the hyper focal distance, giving it an extra 3 feet of focus room. If it is really set at infinity, then there should be a click stop somewhere at the hyperfocal distance.

I don’t have this lens so I can’t verify. But if the infinity lock doesn’t lock focus at 6 feet (focus down to 3 feet), I’d be surprised. (If it actually is an infinity lock, then I guess the recommendation is to lock at infinity and pull back a bit.)

grass
wheat… grass, really China Camp State Park, Marin, California Nikon D3, Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D. Canon 500D, handheld 1/250 sec @ f/8, iso200, 85mm One of the dangers of “f/8 and be there” is that depth of field is very dependent on distance. When doing macro photography, even f/8 can not be enough. (Unless buttery bokeh is the effect you are intending, like in this photo.

Sunrise over Jefferson

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Sunrise over Jefferson
Sunrise over Jefferson National Mall, Washington, District of Columbia Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G 9 exposures (+1 to -8ev) @ ƒ5.6, ISO200, 70mm

Erik finally wore me down. I decided to start contributing my images to Wikimedia Commons because, you know, I like work here on features and stuff. (Download or link the above image on Wikimedia Commons here.)

The license is mostly compatible with the way I currently release images as an amateur phtoographer. But since I prefer people contact me for derivatives or commercial work, I down sampled to 1024px JPEGs as a head nod to the more liberal Creative Commons license that Wikimedia uses.

As I start taking photos again, I’ll release more images to commons… I promise! :-) (Oh yeah, they’ll be 2048px images in the future, so that PediaPress can use them.)

Continue reading about this image after the jump→

The Washington Monument (and me)

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From my Uncle Francis:

Hello Terry,

Your birthday is coming soon (6/9/12). Happy birthday to you, Terry.

We hope for your & Marie’s continued success & happyness.

I am sorry for not communicating with you. I am still OK but have to do many medical checkup and others.

I have been looking at old photos in an album was sent by my + your mom’s mom after we lost our home by fire in 1991. I found a photo of you, Ken, & your mom at the Washington Monument, all in smile. What a happy time that was! I often wish that your mom is still here. She would have be mighty happy and proud of you and Kenny becoming so successful.

Uncle Francis & Auntie Clara

PS: I am a novice at Photoshop to retouch, hence, sorry for the photo being a kind of old faint yellowish look. A higher resolution (but without retouch) picture is attached.

Terry, Mom, and Ken at Washington D.C. (1973)
Me, Mom, and Ken at Washington D.C. (1973) National Mall, Washington D.C. Pentax K

(Of course, I retouched it in Aperture.)

Here are two stories inspired by the photo, I’ll share with you on my birthday. Continue reading Washington Monument stories after the jump→

Emma (and DxO Optics Pro 7/FilmPack 3)

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It’s time to stop recharging my batteries and start blogging and photographing again.

The first long slog will be starting to bring my Aperture Library up-to-date, but when I started, I got distracted that DxO Optics Pro was upgraded to version 7. I decided to spring for an update for it and the FilmPack.

I dug up an unprocessed photo of Kara’s daughter, Emma and took tested my two new toys (via Catapult):

Emma
Emma The Richmond, San Francisco, California Olympus E-PL3, Lumix G 20/F1.7 1/60sec @ ƒ1.7, ISO200, 20mm (40mm)

You can mouseover to see the original image. Even at thumbnail size you can see the distortion fixes an that DxO recovered actually recovered some extra data. The color and saturation improvements are mostly due to picking the right film stock to emulate.

It’ll nice to get back out into the world again. :-)

Nikon D7000 availability

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When will the d7000 be availible in stores again cant find one anywhere?

The Nikon D7000 is produced in the superfactory in Thailand. This means that production was halted because of the flood in Thailand last year. The supply channel has emptied out during the holidays. Production should be back online this month and you’ll find availability you should find the stores will all have availability by March at the latest.

Try to get onto a waiting list at your local camera store. Due to the way Nikon is regulating prices, other than sales tax, the price should be the same as online. It will be much lower than trying to purchase on eBay today.

Will my D40 lenses fit the D5100 or D7000

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More fun on NikonUSA

Will my D40 lenses fit the D5100 or D7000?

Subject says it all–will my D40 lenses fit the D5100 or D7000? And how, in general, can one tell which lenses will fit which cameras?

The short answer is: Yes, all lenses that “fit” your D40 will fit the D5100 D7000 and later Nikon dSLRs with an F-mount (that’s currently all Nikons dSLRs).

The only Nikon F mount lenses that will not fit on these cameras are some that were designed to operate with the mirror up and had different box dimensions. These mounts would crash the reflex mirror. Fortunately there are very few of these lenses around and most are collectors items so you won’t run into it. A quick google will warn you if this is the case.

But what you are really asking is do they mount and work the same? The answer is still: Yes, but with one exception. Nikon lenses with a “G” designation but not an “AF-S” one will not auto-focus on the D5100 or D7000, but will on the D40. Fortunately, there are very few lenses that qualify for that, and those that do are low-end lenses that have since been replaced by better/cheaper models—the only time you have to worry is when someone is trying to pawn off a dud second-hand.

Note that any old AF lenses you purchase for the D40 will now auto-focus on the D7000. Whereas before they didn’t at all because the latter has an in-body motor while the former does not. You do lose matrix metering capability vs. the D40, but most people will take AF over the matrix meter.

As for understanding the smorgasbord of compatibility, Nikonians has a friendly chart. (There may be a slight error. I don’t believe the D5100 has an AF motor in it.)

Another thing to note is that where the Nikonians chart has a big “No!” for pre-AI lenses, you can use a John White’s conversion service to “upgrade” the pre-1977 lenses to an AI lens so that the aperture functions correctly when the shutter is pressed. (These lenses, with the exception mentioned above will mount, but they the aperture controls won’t be automatic.)

This is one of the strengths and pitfalls of the Nikon system. Nikon has decided to ensure mount compatibility for the F mount since its inception (it predates Pentax and Canon). But advances in technology need to be incorporated into the lenses also. Other companies either break backward compatibility across the line or are slow to implement new features to ensure body/lens compatibility at the right price. Nikon splits this difference with deciding how much of the old lens suite to build in the camera based on the price point/budget and usage scenario (size/weight) of its typical shooters.

Monitor cover for Nikon D5000/D5100?

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Sometimes I get bored and answer questions on the Nikon USA forum:

Is there a monitor cover which will work with the D5100? I am thinking of a cover similar to the BM-8 that came with my D70.

The 5100 has a flip out LCD, so there is no need for a monitor cover. Instead, just flip out the LCD, rotate it, and flip it back in.

There are third party sites that make “screen protectors” which are thin films designed to protect the LCD from scratching. I don’t know how effective or useful they are since the glass or plastic used to protect the Nikon LCDs has improved over the years and quality varies from model-to-model. Plus, it is simply not very likely that a dSLR camera LCD will get scratched—dSLRs just aren’t often found in your pocket along with your keys a la iPhone ;-)

For instance, my Nikon D3 with a glass screen and no plastic protector doesn’t have a scratch even though I’m and outdoor shooter and have tens of thousands of shutter clicks. Similarly, my GF’s Nikon D5000 doesn’t have a scratch because it is easy to rotate the display to a safe position for storage and transportation.

BTW, avoid most “anti-glare” thin film protectors unless you are sure you know what you are doing. They work by frosting the film to scatter the reflection. However the material used in the frosting may be too close to the size of the pixels in the high-density monitors of a camera LCD. When that happens you end up being able to see the individual red, green and blue pixels in the display making it annoying. :-)