Well, I completed my kit!

[SLC Flyfishing]

I finally bought the last two lenses that I had slated for purchase. This friday I called the shop to have them pull a Nikkor AF-S VR 70-200 f/2.8 out for me and mentioned that I was on the waitlist for an AF-S 24-70 f/2.8 as well. They informed me that they had just recieved a shipment containing 24-70's that morning. This shop's wait list is more like a "notifcation" list, they'll call everyone on the list when the 24-70's show up, then the first people to arrive get them. I was dissapointed because I was at work and they said they'd recieved 10 lenses and that 5 had already sold that morning. But they said that since I was also buying the 70-200 (in other words, spending a raft full of cash in their store) they wouldn't mind setting one aside for me. A few hours later I walked out with these two fantastic lenses in my posession.

I must say that I'm thrilled with the speed, the bokeh, and the sharpness of both of these lenses. They truely are head and shoulders above anything I've ever used anywhere. The vignetting on the 70-200 is not as bad as I was expecting, and in most of the shots I took with it this weekend, it's completely imperceptible since it blends in with the rest of the shot. The 24-70 does also vignette some but it's not terrible and easily removed in Lightroom.

Anyway, here's a quick grab of my daughter that I took with the 24-70. The lens was set to extremes and still performed like a champ, nailing the focus, and sharp as a tack. I shot this at 70 mm and f/2.8, which should be one of the most challenging configurations for a lens like this, but you be the judge as to how it performed! I know I honestly couldn't be happier. I did leave the vignetting alone in this one so that you could see it. I used a D700 as the body, it probably wouldn't vignette on an APS-C body.

SLC

 

[JFreak]

Wonderful!
(your daughter, that is... the pic IMO should benefit from slightly more exposure)

 

[flosseR]

Excellent news for you I would love to have that 24-70 but that one I just CAN'T afford. First a D700

Love the pic btw.

 

[romanaz]

congrats on your purchases, I'm looking into a 70-200 myself, just need to get some money first.

now get off the forums and go take some nice pictures and bring them back! lol

 

[Kronie]

No you didn't. Its NEVER completed! There is always something you will need.........

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Wonderful!
(your daughter, that is... the pic IMO should benefit from slightly more exposure)

Yeah the Pic is a bit underexposed, but I wanted to post it untouched, notice the vignette?

I should post the PP'd version later, when I get back from work.

No you didn't. Its NEVER completed! There is always something you will need.........

Well the kit I set out to build immediately is finished, I'm sure there will be another lens or two and a battery grip coming. My wife already has her eye on the 105 f/2 DC


SLC

 

[GoCubsGo]

This is going to sound stupid, but why does the 24-70 vignette on the D700?

 

[drlunanerd]

Just interested to know why you've not waited for the new version of the 70-200? I believe one improvement is that it doesn't vignette on the D700.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

This is going to sound stupid, but why does the 24-70 vignette on the D700?

There's something about digital sensors vs film that promotes light falloff at the corners (vignetting) There's some info on the web about it, but needless to say virtually all lenses will vignette wide open on FX sensors. Apparently it's not as bad with the same lenses on 35mm film, but it is what it is. I was suprised when I saw it, I didn't do any research before and sorta took it for granted that the 24-70 was going to be lens perfection (which in many ways it is) but since I noticed the vignette, I've looked at some flickr discussion threads and it's apparently to be expected with nearly every lens. I've even checked my 85 f/1.8 and it vignettes some at larger apertures as well.

Just interested to know why you've not waited for the new version of the 70-200? I believe one improvement is that it doesn't vignette on the D700.

Well the existing 70-200 doesn't vignette half as bad as you might think it does, and I was able to pick it up for ~$600.00 less than the new one will cost once it is delivered, and the list here in SLC for getting a new 70-200 would likely put us into February or March before we'd recieve ours. I have actually noticed just as much vignetting on the 24-70 as I do on the 70-20. It's most noticable at f/2.8 (obviously) and it's gone by f/4 on both lenses.

I did a lot of testing before I bought this lens (70-200) and I found it to be well within my tolerances. My wife is a portraitist, she adds a lot of vignettes after the fact anyway. Still, IMO the vignetting issue on FX bodies is blown way out of proportion, it's not bad at all.

 

[compuwar]

Yeah the Pic is a bit underexposed, but I wanted to post it untouched, notice the vignette?

I should post the PP'd version later, when I get back from work.

Being able to adjust exposure after you shoot isn't as good as doing it when you shoot. Center-weighted metering would probably have been the way to go here, or at least chimping the histogram after the shot- just hit the play arrow to view the image on the LCD and tap the directional pad to get to the histogram.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Being able to adjust exposure after you shoot isn't as good as doing it when you shoot. Center-weighted metering would probably have been the way to go here, or at least chimping the histogram after the shot- just hit the play arrow to view the image on the LCD and tap the directional pad to get to the histogram.

No doubt, and I agree. But this was just a situation where I wanted to go out and try the lens out, I wasn't worried about composition, finely tuned exposure, or anything else. I just wanted to see how fast the lens focused, and how accurate it was. Of course I'm shooting for bang on exposure when it counts, that just wasn't the case here.

SLC

 

[compuwar]

Of course I'm shooting for bang on exposure when it counts, that just wasn't the case here.

SLC

What an interesting concept. I may not always nail exposure, but I try to get it right every time I shoot.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

What an interesting concept. I may not always nail exposure, but I try to get it right every time I shoot.

You never just "point and shoot"?

Sometimes I do, I'm not always interested in printing, or even keeping all my shots. Especially when I'm just trying new stuff out.

SLC

 

[compuwar]

You never just "point and shoot"?

Sometimes I do, I'm not always interested in printing, or even keeping all my shots. Especially when I'm just trying new stuff out.

SLC

I find that the longer I've done photography the less I take shots that aren't worth shooting- hiking 3 hours with 45lbs of gear, then not taking a shot because it's too hazy doesn't bother me as much as it used to.

When I'm testing a new lens, I want to know how it's going to perform when I need the shot- I'll bracket like hell, but I'll want to know how it and the camera perform in the situations I'm going to shoot in, so I'll switch metering modes, change compensation values and bracket- but I'll still shoot things that I think I'll want to keep- I might end up re-shooting or tossing a shot away because I'm not familiar with the equipment, or I didn't get something quite right- but I'm always striving to make the highest quality image I can. I'd just use a P&S if I was going to P&S, but I don't even own one.

I guess it's a philosophical difference- the world would be boring if we all did the same things.

 

[pprior]

You never just "point and shoot"?

Sometimes I do, I'm not always interested in printing, or even keeping all my shots. Especially when I'm just trying new stuff out.

SLC

Nope.

Digital breeds laziness. Laziness kills creativity. We must be diligent to avoid this.

Every shot should be special. The best photographers master lighting and composition so it becomes intuitive to them, and then they can place their "focus" on the image. Work on every shot to make it exposed correctly. Learn spot metering and exposure adjustments and know how to quickly use them on YOUR camera without futzing around. Once they become second nature, you will find your photography has improved dramatically.

One of the main hallmarks of P&S photography is unbalanced lighting and incorrect exposure. Cameras are getting better, but a good photographer still can improve results in difficult lighting situations. The first step to such improvement is to be actively thinking about it before you press the shutter release.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Nope.

Digital breeds laziness. Laziness kills creativity. We must be diligent to avoid this.

Every shot should be special. The best photographers master lighting and composition so it becomes intuitive to them, and then they can place their "focus" on the image. Work on every shot to make it exposed correctly. Learn spot metering and exposure adjustments and know how to quickly use them on YOUR camera without futzing around. Once they become second nature, you will find your photography has improved dramatically.

One of the main hallmarks of P&S photography is unbalanced lighting and incorrect exposure. Cameras are getting better, but a good photographer still can improve results in difficult lighting situations. The first step to such improvement is to be actively thinking about it before you press the shutter release.

Whoops, my bad. Guess I shouldn't have posted this example then eh?

It's crazy how pretentious some people are.

SLC

 

[maeman]

Whoops, my bad. Guess I shouldn't have posted this example then eh?

It's crazy how pretentious some people are.

SLC

I was about to say something along those lines... it's just a quick snapshot, I don't think you were going for a work of art here, and it shouldn't be received as such. Oh well.

Congrats on assembling your kit, hope you get some great shots and come back to share!

 

[compuwar]

Whoops, my bad. Guess I shouldn't have posted this example then eh?

It's crazy how pretentious some people are.

SLC

I wasn't aiming for pretentious, I thought

Center-weighted metering would probably have been the way to go here, or at least chimping the histogram after the shot- just hit the play arrow to view the image on the LCD and tap the directional pad to get to the histogram.

might actually be helpful since you haven't had the body that long, and I wasn't being sarcastic when I said:

What an interesting concept.

or

I guess it's a philosophical difference- the world would be boring if we all did the same things.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Don't worry compuwar I wasn't referring to you at all. I knew what you meant.

SLC

 

[compuwar]

Don't worry compuwar I wasn't referring to you at all. I knew what you meant.

SLC

Well, I'm so used to being the bad guy here I had to make sure...

Paul

 

[dubels]

Nope.

Digital breeds laziness. Laziness kills creativity. We must be diligent to avoid this.

Every shot should be special. The best photographers master lighting and composition so it becomes intuitive to them, and then they can place their "focus" on the image. Work on every shot to make it exposed correctly. Learn spot metering and exposure adjustments and know how to quickly use them on YOUR camera without futzing around. Once they become second nature, you will find your photography has improved dramatically.

One of the main hallmarks of P&S photography is unbalanced lighting and incorrect exposure. Cameras are getting better, but a good photographer still can improve results in difficult lighting situations. The first step to such improvement is to be actively thinking about it before you press the shutter release.

So you can't have a second to slowly learn a new camera + lens system...

 

[JFreak]

Yeah the Pic is a bit underexposed, but I wanted to post it untouched, notice the vignette?

Yep. But hard to judge the "untouched" pic because you need to severely reduce resolution to be able to post it here. Anyway, here's my (very) quick PP of your pic, this is roughly how I'd like to see it:

 

[peskaa]

Tad overcooked, no? My effort:

Personally, the vignetting is hardly noticeable when pushed a little.

 

[pprior]

Whoops, my bad. Guess I shouldn't have posted this example then eh?

It's crazy how pretentious some people are.

SLC

Whoa now, I wasn't speaking directly to your picture but rather to the process.
If you took it personally then my post was not clear enough - I apologize.

The digital laziness is something we ALL have to work to avoid - myself very much included. So I'm not being pretentious - I'm as guilty as anyone else.

I was actually reflecting on this very thing last weekend when I was shooting a soccer match and realize how many hundreds of shots I come home with and thinking back to when a 36 roll was a large amount. Back then every shot had to count, and so discipline was higher.

again, my apologies if my reply offended. It was intended to inspire a bit of self reflection, apparently it failed.

Edit: Oh, and by they way, the kit will never truly be completed. There are still a lot of fast primes to explore....

 

[pprior]

So you can't have a second to slowly learn a new camera + lens system...

Well look at it this way - that is a beautiful girl, with a beautiful smile. If I was her dad, I'd be really bummed I'd missed the shot. All it would have taken was a second to think about metering. If you can't do it then, then what makes you think you'll do it under pressure when it counts?

My point was we (MYSELF INCLUDED!) need to make sure we have good habits which include thinking about metering and exposure, BEFORE pressing the shutter.

And as far as I read, this was a new LENS, not a new camera. So no excuse for not knowing where the spot meter or exposure adjustment button/knob/toggle is (actually it needs some fill flash to brighten her eyes, but that's a different topic...)

Strive for excellence, we have enough mediocrity in the world already. That little girl deserves it.