Monday December 14
 
11:07
 
Scaredy Cat

Not the best photos, but I do like the last one. Nikon D90 with Tamrom 17-50 F2.8 VC, early evening in the streets of Tokyo.

Really I should PP these to adjust for the different warmths of light – it’s caused by the first two including the lamp in the frame and the last two just pointing into the shadows.

Friday December 11
 
17:13
 
Nostalgia: Sony DSC-F707

The Sony F707 was the first consumer 5 megapixel camera. Not only that but it came with an F2-2.4 5x zoom lens, hologram laser focus assist, and IR NightShot. It was my main camera for years, and I loved it.

I still have it. Occasionally I pick it up and have a play, because with that fast lens, laser focus, IR NightShot, and a powerful flash with IR framing, it’s a good camera in low light. It’s even possible to get some nice bokeh:

I can’t help but seeing a matchstick figure and head in that leaf photo. What would a psychiatrist make of that?

Apart from wishing the camera was a bit less sluggish during image review and supported memorysticks greater than 128MB, the main thing that stops me using the camera more these days is the “halo effect”. At the time it was a resolution class leader, but now I find the sharpening just too aggressive. I guess I did at the time also, but then there was very little alternative.

It’s not too extreme in the leaf photo, but at times it can be overwhelming:

When I look back at photos, I do wish I could get rid of that. Sure, it doesn’t affect the photos too much at 4×6, but it can become noticeable and it prevents cropping.

Still, it was a camera that created many great memories for me. I’m sure that while it still has life in it, every year or so I’ll return to it and play with nostalgia.

Friday December 4
 
11:10
 
Tamron F2.8 VC – Purple Fringing & Chromatic Aberration

This has to be the ultimate torture photo for any lens:

From the center:

The top right looks very funky:

These were shot on a D90 in JPEG mode. This is a difficult photo for a number of reasons:

1. Depth of field: At F2.8 there’s going to be a lot of out of focus leaves. I’ve deliberately picked areas in the crops where some of the leaves are in focus.
2. Tricky exposure: The camera has exposed for the tree, to give leaf detail. This blows out the sky which results in excess light between the leaves.

In fact, the first shot of this scene the whole image was out of focus – obviously the camera found it challenging.

How does the Tamron compare to my other lenses? My non-scientific impression is that it’s smack between my Nikon 18-200 and my Sigma F1.4.

While the Nikon 18-200 (old model, not VR II) is definitely more controlled wide open at F3.5 than the Tamron is at F2.8 in the corners, the center is similar and so I notice CA and fringing about the same amount in everyday photos.

In contrast, the Sigma 30mm F1.4 is a purple monster when used wide at F1.4 – any spec of bright light being causing purple. And it’s not just at the corners – it’s the whole frame. That really stops me using the Sigma. Yes, it gets better if I use a smaller aperture, but I didn’t buy an F1.4 to shoot at F5.6.

Thursday December 3
 
11:18
 
Weird Korean Tattoo

균형. Photo taken in Hawaii. No surprise that she’s not Korean.

Thursday November 26
 
10:41
 
Dog-eye lens?

The Tokina 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 for Nikon – or “Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 AT-X DX AF Fisheye Super Wide-Angle Lens for Nikon Digital SLR” as Amazon calls it! - is a really fun lens. I posted my Shibuya image here before, as well as a field of view comparison with the Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm F4 wide angle lens on the G1, but the other day in the park I found myself a doggy model:

I love that photo so much. The distortion is fantastic! Here are some more samples:

There wasn’t much light available so it was quite hard to get shots. You can see just how slow the shutter speed was here:

I didn’t expect to use the fisheye much, but it’s really enjoyable – and the great thing about the Tokina 10-17mm is that not only does it have a zoom making it more flexible to me than the Nikon 10.5mm (although the Nikon is f2.8), but it can apparently be used on full frame sensors also, which means I can continue to use the lens if/when I upgrade from the D90.

Ok, so on a full frame sensor only the end of the zoom range covers the whole sensor, but think about it: 10mm on a DX Nikon is 15mm. The lens of the zoom range 15-17mm works on a full frame sensor, which means I’ll get exactly the same wide angle of view. Cool.

Sorry, I’m not linking to full size samples of these images – I don’t want them to be reused elsewhere. Remember, these images are copyright.