365.115 …what I did all morning…

is less exciting and far less useful than the 40 seconds that this crazy reflected light shone on the wall.

Luckily, I dropped what I was doing, whipped out the camera, and fired off half a dozen shots in AP mode at various -EV settings, otherwise I would be cursing myself and wondering what to shoot for the 365 today…

So what did I do all day? Well, I’ve been wanting a more compact camera to carry around, and to try out street shooting with, as the D7000 is rather large and loud and bulky for general use, and the iPhone4 seems a bit dinky. So I researched small point-and-shoot type cameras all morning, looking for a pocketable (or slightly larger) version of the D7000. [In case you’re wondering, such a beast does not exist: the sensors in pocket cameras are too small to offer the dynamic range, bokeh, or anything else of even the crop sensor in the D7000.]

Barring that, I was looking for a compact point-and-shoot with easily accessible manual controls, decent image quality, a wide aperture, and practical focal length(s) for general walkaround purposes, i.e. something offering a range like that of the the 36-72mm E-Series or the 35-200mm Tokina (both of which would blow away any lenses on any point-and-shoot cameras, despite their age). [My current favorite lens on the D7000 is the 24mm f/2.8, which offers a field of view similar to that of a 36mm lens on a 35mm camera, and I’d like to be able to go from that to ~150 or ~200 on occasion.]

When all was accounted for (price in the $300-$600 range; image quality; ease-of-use; relative size), I found that there are roughly two cameras out there that fit my desires: the recent-ish Canon s100 and the 2-year-old Panasonic Lumix lx5, neither of which seem like they’d get used more or be more inconspicuous than the iPhone.

Good news: I saved myself ~$500 and a trip to Arlington.

Bad news: I stared blankly at a computer screen for 7.5 hours instead of finishing up my weekend chores, taking myself to breakfast, and going to a photography meetup at the Renaissance Faire.

But at least I had the presence of mind to grab this shot, so that’s a check in the win column I suppose.

D7000. Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 AI. ISO100, 1/80, f/2.8, -2EV, rather heavily processed when compared to my usual post-work of late: +1.6 to Exposure, Black Point; +.14 to Brightness; +.4 to Saturation; +.1 to Vibrancy.

365.114 for lack of a better shot…

As promised, I took the Kiron-made Vivitar 20-210mm f/3.5 Series 1 (version 1) to try and test its bee-shooting performance against the Zomb-E Series and the Tokina AT-X 35-200mm f/3.5-4.5. Of course, it is about 20 degrees colder in Dallas today than yesterday, and the bees are all napping, so that will have to wait for another day.

I did walk around for about 30 minutes with the Vivitar, though, took or made 115 shots, and got a great workout to the arms: that Vivi is a beast of a lens, another 2″ longer than the Tokina, and about twice as big overall as the Zomb-E.

In other words, the Series 1 is definitely not a walkaround lens.

One thing that is fun, though, is the brilliant operation of this real beauty of a lens.

The closest focus distance—in normal operations—is just shy of 2 meters at all focal lengths. Pull it all the way in, press a little button, spin the ring, and you’re in macro mode, with the circle of confusion about 2 meters away. Zoom out, and the circle of confusion moves towards you. At the 70mm position, you’re at ~1:2 at about 4 inches.

So the lens offers continuous focus from 4″ to infinity, albeit with a slight hiccough at the 2 meter mark, and zooms from 1:2 to 210mm.

Brilliant.

I know I’m grossly oversimplifying the mechanics here, but it’s still quite the performer: among the sharpest lenses I own, for sure, with great saturation and contrast, and creamy-dreamy bokeh.

I’ll need to do some intensive strength training if I want to take this lens on any half-day photowalks… Or I could just keep taking it on half hour afternoon jaunts, and I’ll have some serious guns in no time!

Nice. And yet another great bargain at ~$35.

D7000. Vivitar 70-210mm f/3.5 Series 1 (Kiron version). ISO800 (to contend with the overcast afternoon), 1/250, f/8.

365.113 Tokina & The Bee

I decided to take the Tokina out for this afternoon’s walk. We didn’t make it very far, as I wasn’t really feeling it, but I did get to play around with the Tokina’s close focus feature.

There’s a little silver button down near the aperture ring: you push it in, give the lens barrel a twist, and the rear element pulls up inside of the lens about an inch or so… lemme measure it right quick… about 8 or 10mm. (The Vivitar also has this feature, though all of the movement is internal to the lens: I’ll try to fetch a comparison shot tomorrow.) At this point, the focusing ring is of marginal utility, seeming to allow focusing from 5 feet down to 1 feet or so, and most of the focus happens with the zoom. Markings on the underside of the barrel give depth of field scales for 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, and 1:7 at 5.25 feet/1.6 meters.

BTW: Depth of field scales are brilliant, and are one of the reasons I love the small collection of old manual lenses sitting in front of me.

The close-focus thing is rather handy, but it doesn’t go very close.

So sorry, Tokina, but a Bee at 1:4 is not nearly as impressive as a bee at 1:1.5.

But composition with a healthy-ish lens is much easier than with a Zomb-E Series, and a lens that goes from 35-200 with decent contrast and saturation (under many circumstances) while also allowing 1:4 reproduction with this level of clarity seems rather fancy.

Of course, I think the 18-200 DX lens does about this well, without any fancy twisty bits, so I suppose the Tokina is not particularly impressive in this regard, and it doesn’t go to 18mm either.

Oh well: still a great buy for $35, for sure.

D7000. Tokina AT-X 35-200mm f/3.5-4.5, set for 4:1 close focusing, from a foot or two. ISO400, 1/6400th, f/3.5 (ignore the EXIF), -1EV, slight processing in Aperture, but nothing too fancy or drastic.

365.112 Zomb-E Bee

After work, I strapped on the Zomb-E and headed straight for Bee Alley. I took around 40 shots, and this was the only one that had the whole bee in focus…

I wasn’t sure about anything (I rarely chimp, and focus is impossible to see clearly on the back of the camera in bright sun), so I walked around and shot flowers for awhile, and then came across another bee that practically posed for me… Out of 10 shots of that guy, 8 were tack sharp, but I liked this one better.

Today’s route: out the Annex side to the Bee Alley (a long stretch of Idon’tknowwhat vine/bush/whatever), down Swiss to Carroll, up Carroll to Sycamore, down to Fitzhugh to Swiss and back in the Grigsby side. All told, about 40 minutes.

I’m really glad that it’s cool enough to walk right after work. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep these up, but I’ll try. Walking after dinner is on my list of things to try doing, as sitting on the sofa and staring blankly at screens for an hour or two is sorta getting dull.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO400, 1/1000 (AP mode), f/8, -1EV. Mild post-processing: Exposure, Blacks +.25; Contrast, Saturation, Definition +.1.

365.111 Return of the Zomb-E Series…

Since I gave the Tokina such a nice long walk yesterday, I decided to treat the Zomb-E to walk around the near side of the rich part of old East Dallas, quite a bit farther than yesterday: up Swiss from Grigsby to Munger, back down Swiss to Annex, and back into the apartments via the other side. This was about a 35 minute walk, and distance-wise the farthest I’ve ventured away from home without a compelling reason or a buddy in many a long year.

I hope to go even further tomorrow.

Anyway…

Nearing home, I encountered a bunch of bees, and try as I might I couldn’t get a well-focused photo of one, largely due to how difficult it is to zone-focus by hand in ~3mm increments… Ditto with the squirrel I tried to capture, this time due to the difficulties associated with zone-focusing in 3mm increments at a distance of 20 feet…

The Zomb-E is not easy to work with, unless your subject stays relatively still, or you don’t mind soft focus.

Luckily, there are lots of flowers and trees in this part of town, and quite a variety of them as well.

This shot was a quick grab, with no real conscious composition or anything. I liked the multiple types of foliage going on, the various shades of green, and the bright blue sky, so I grabbed a single frame, and it ended up being the best non-flower picture I made today, and quite a bit prettier than many of those.

So it was win all the way around, and I know where to go for bees and will try them again tomorrow if the weather holds.

D7000. Zomb-E Series. IS0400, 1/2500, f/3.5, -1EV (pretty much necessary with the Zomb-E, otherwise it’s overexposure city). By the way, this is straight out of the camera, with only whatever RAW conversion Aperture performs by default: also win in my book.

365.110 Tokina vs. Squirrel

After a coin toss (Heads, Zomb-E Series; Tails, Tokina), I took the Tokina out for another stroll around the neighborhood. Together, we stalked this squirrel for a couple of minutes, and then shot a bunch of trees and flowers, and a bit of spray paint…

I don’t know about you, but it looks to me like the Tokina won… This shot is not straight out of camera, but all I did was bump the Contrast up by .05 and add back the stop of exposure that I lost due to the -1EV that was erroneously set from whoknowswhen.

In the original, the whiskers on this rather mean looking squirrel are sharp and well defined, and the hair is well modeled, though things begin to fall apart at 100%, due to the 1600ISO that was leftover from shooting rotting flowers in the fountain (dark flowers in dirty water on an overcast day requires a high ISO with a 200mm lens, as you might imagine, and I’m bad about reseting things, as you likely know if you’ve been following my progress on this journey).

The saturation and contrast are acceptable, and the corner sharpness is decent on the D7000s APS-C sensor.

And just peep the bokeh. Nice and pleasing, methinks.

(I’m getting closer to a full review… but not yet. Question: do I need to shoot lens test charts for a decent lens review? Or will real-life shooting situations like this and (maybe) a brick wall work?)

Anyways, I give this round to the Tokina.*

D7000. Tokina AT-X 35-200mm f/3.5-4.5 @200. ISO1600 (see above), 1/4000th, f/4.5 (f/3.5 reported on the EXIF, but I guess the D7000 can’t see the shrinkage since it doesn’t realize that this is a zoom lens…), -1EV later corrected in post.

*And not only that, I managed to wander farther away from home than I ever have before (without a buddy, and without intending to go somewhere specific for some specific purpose). It’s still just baby steps: I went past the alley to the nearest residential street, down two blocks, up an unfamiliar block to the nearest major road, and back up that road—with all its cars, but only a scant few pedestrians—to here, and I didn’t get chased, or asked for money, or stared at (that I noticed), and the police didn’t stop me and ask me what I was doing, and I didn’t go to jail for not having an answer. So I will continue to battle this agoraphobia, because I’m sure that it’s *mostly* all in my head.

365.109 A bit past its prime, perhaps, but still beautiful

It was cloudy all day, except for a brief bit where the sun peeked its head out from behind the clouds and said hello.

I saw it waving, and quickly hooked up the Tokina 35-200 and ran outside for a mostly cloudy neighborhood photowalk and Tokina test.

Of course, by the time I found a composition and got it in focus, the sun was gone again.

Oh well.

I did remember about changing the ISO, but only after burning a dozen shots on a squirrel, busily barking at me from on high, and too dark to shoot handheld at ISO100 and f/anything.

So I shot at 400 from then on.

The Tokina performed fairly well. The zoom on my copy is a bit sticky, and the travel is not particularly smooth: it seems to stutter at about 100mm and again at about 130mm. Plus, both zoom and focus are backwards: you push the lens out to zoom in, and pull it in to zoom out; and infinity is on the right, rather than on the left as with all Nikkor lenses.

I suppose I’m just used to the E Series (and, incidentally, the Kiron-made Vivitar 20-210 f/3.5 Series 1), and maybe zoom lenses have been rejiggered since 1984. I don’t know. The only contemporary zoom I have is the Nikkor 10-24, but that zoom zooms via a twist ring, and is not a push-pull affair.

Also, the saturation and contrast were not what I was expecting from my previous walk around with this lens, though there was bright sun and a mostly sunny sky on that day.

So after two trips out with the Tokina, I’m less happy with it than I was originally, but still way pleased, given the ~$35 I paid for it…

This particular shot was made in the close focus mode, and at full 1:4 magnification (which meant I had to rock back and forth to focus: fun, sort of, and probably decent exercise too, maybe). This mode is quite useful, allowing 1:4 reproductions at ~6 inches, but it’s no Zomb-E Series for sure.

A full review will come one day, but that day is not today.

D7000. Tokina AT-X 35-200mm f/3.5-4.5, close focus 1:4 mode. ISO400, 1/160 (AP Mode), f/3.5, and some mystery +1 EV—not sure where that came from, so lemme go fix up the camera settings right quick…