[Plamadude30k]

It seems to me that the highest vote getter may be a nonstarter in the sense that the voting level isn’t even across all contests. I have photos with 35 votes that one contests, and photos with 60+ that were fifth. My thinking was more that we should look at each other’s entries, and say “That’s the essential lokisbong pic or that screams orionid to me.

Something like that. We should decide what’s iconic to us, not of our own pix, but to see what we see in others.

Does that make any sense?

I really like that idea.

[Plamadude30k]

Eastern Sierra trip? I remember the set you posted in the gallery had a lot of mountains and rock formations.

You know me so well. I might substitute one pic from my time here at Mauna Kea just to add a little variety, but the entries I have now are all from the Alabama Hills in the Sierra Foothills near Lone Pine.

[Plamadude30k]

I really like the canyon stuff, though I will say I have always been a sucker for those kinds of photos. 🙂

[Plamadude30k]

The 410 geared head is on my list for my astrophoto equipment. It’s good to hear that you like it, Yoyo. My tripod right now is the Manfrotto 190XPROB with the 496RC2 ball head, and I have to say, it was WELL worth the money. I love it to death, it’s like night and day with my last tripod. It’s actually outside right now, doing a 30 minute star trail shot, and even though it’s a little windy, I’m sure it’ll be rock solid.

Long story short-I agree with that Thom Hogan article-I got really annoyed with cheap tripods, and now that I have a good one, I won’t need to get another for quite a while, and hopefully I’ll end up spending much less in the long run.

[Plamadude30k]

I’ve had my entries picked out for this one for months now-ever since it went into the hopper. They all happen to be from the same day, actually. It was a very rocky kind of day.

[Plamadude30k]

Best I could find on B&H:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/667187-REG/Davis_Sanford_VOYAGERLTB_Voyager_Lite_with_BHQ8.html
It actually has a ball head, and it’s less than $50. Who knows how good it is, but it looks interesting.

[Plamadude30k]

This. I learned 90% of what I know by asking questions here and observing how others who do well composed their shots (and inquiring when I couldn’t figure it out on my own.)

Welcome!!

Agreed. Between farktography and reading a few excellent books, I’d say I’ve been able to make some fairly nice images (that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to capture) in the past year or two. I’m always glad to see more people join the forums here, welcome!

[Plamadude30k]

Man, I almost forgot to post today. Working at 14,000′ makes me a total idiot.

Good stuff out there this week, everybody!

[Plamadude30k]

You have a gift for vivid storytelling, staplermofo :).

[Plamadude30k]

Okay, here’s an example of what I mean when I say my 50mm f/1.8 has crap optics:

This is only slightly cropped from full (just trimmed the corners a bit). You can clearly see coma in the bright stars. I did a whole series going from f/1.8 to f/3.5, and it actually gets okay by f/2.2, and is even fairly decent by f/2.8. You can see this series here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Darth.Java/Random?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKfRyKjBpuzgVg&feat=directlink

For pretty much anything without bright point sources that are in focus, though, it’s good. I used it extensively on my halloween Waikiki photowalk, and I enjoyed it, so it has it’s uses. I guess I just got one of the bad ones? I imagine it happens.

[Plamadude30k]

My glass collection; an overview:
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 (kit lens, damn good for what it is)
Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VR (refurbished–GREAT price, works and looks like new).
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D (crap optics, super cheap used if you keep a look out, good for low light)
Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 (manual focus, actually made by Tokina, cheapest lens I own. One of my favorites too)
Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro (I use this for both macro and portraits. Nice lens, far cheaper than the similar Nikkor)

The LAST lens for my kit (meaning that I feel it’s now complete, and I won’t get more glass for quite a while) is the one I just got for my birthday (plus christmas too), and I haven’t received yet:
Rokkor 14mm f/2.8. Reports of the quality vary WILDLY from “Amazing, as good as the Nikkor 14-24mm” to “Middling at best, soft, bad distortion.” I expect the second to be true, but at the price, It’ll have to be really bad for me to be disappointed. I can let you know if you’re interested, but it looks unlikely to arrive before my next Mauna Kea trip, so it’ll be a couple weeks.

Okay, so recommendations? Ebay, used camera stores, and the B&H used section above all else. I afforded this on a grad student’s salary (well, plus parental and relative donations at christmas/birthday time). REAL recommendations: if you can find the Vivitar 28mm f/2.5, get it. There’s slightly different versions made by different companies for Vivitar, too. Mine is apparently a middle-quality run, the really top-notch ones are supposedly amazing. They come in pretty much every mount out there, and I think mine can actually switch. I’m also quite enamored of my 90mm Tamron Macro, which is good in a lot of situations, and the 70-300, which has very good optics from what I can tell. I find my kit lens quite useful for all sorts of situations, and about 1/3 of my photos these days are taken with it. The only lens I don’t love is my 50mm f/1.8D, which has really disappointing optics. Works fine for everything but stars, which is a big reason I wanted such a fast lens. Bah.

[Plamadude30k]

Okay, here’s some examples:

Tamron:

ISO: 2500, Exposure: 1/125 sec, Aperture: 3.2, Focal Length: 90mm

ISO: 2500, Exposure: 1/125 sec, Aperture: 2.8, Focal Length: 90mm

ISO: 100, Exposure: 1/160 sec, Aperture: 2.8, Focal Length: 90mm

And the Nikkor 18-105:

ISO: 800, Exposure: 1/50 sec, Aperture: 5.6, Focal Length: 92mm

ISO: 100, Exposure: 1/800 sec, Aperture: 5.6, Focal Length: 92mm

ISO: 4000, Exposure: 1/13 sec, Aperture: 13.0, Focal Length: 98mm

I don’t think CA, distortion, or optical flaws are a major problem in either lens. I do like the bokeh from the Tamron better, but I will admit it is a bit more difficult to focus (both manual and auto, where it’s sometimes slow). So there’s that.

[Plamadude30k]

I got nuthin. I’m out.

So, the result of my alcohol-fueled bacon rampage? About fifteen motion-blured, rather uninspired, somewhat-bacon-filled photos. I’m with you, big-O. Some awesome stuff so far, though.

[Plamadude30k]

If you’re getting good results with what you’ve got (and the examples I see seem to corroborate that conclusion), then keep on keepin’ on. To be completely, perfectly honest, my absolute favorite portrait lens is my cheapo 28mm f/2.5, which a lot of people have said is kinda wacky. Whatever works, right?

[Plamadude30k]

Admittedly, I don’t know much about portraiture, but what I have heard is that quite a few people prefer mild telephoto glass to 50mm primes for portraits because of the differences in distortion. In my own experience, I can only say that I prefer the portraits taken on my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 to those taken on my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D. I can’t say, however, that I particularly *dislike* the shots with my 50mm. I just like the 90 more. Take this advice with as large a grain salt as you so desire.

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