Lens Review: AF 50mm f/1.4 D

Lens Review: 50mm f/1.4 D

Thoughts and Opinions:

This is a magnificent lens.  As mentioned in my 50mm f/1.8 D review, I sold the f/1.8 so that I could upgrade to get the f/1.4D.  And was it ever worth it.  

The lens has a nice shallow depth of field and it is very sharp at f/1.4.  Focuses nice, fast and quietly on my D90.  I have had no major complaints with it at all.   It is nice and small so it isn't a scary lens to have on your camera for shy portraits.  Also it fits quite nicely in my camera bag.  

I like this lens because it a a great focal length for what I do.  On a D90 it is more like a 75mm which is nice for portraits but you can still get 1-3 people in the photo.  It is very good for having at an event where you need a small lens to be discrete.  It is also good for portraits for the same reason.  

It doesn't come with a lens hood which is sort of annoying but you just have to make sure no one bumps into it.  I still use my lens hoods inside so that it helps prevent people touch the front of my lens.  Which has happened before at a party.  I looked down at my lens after showing some of the photos I had taken. One of the girls in the group helped to hold my camera and left a nice finger print on the filter..  As for blocking out sun rays, I have not used it outside yet so I am not sure what the flares and ghosts are like.  If they are bad I will edit this post to discuss outside use for this lens.

Usage:

I have taken portraits with this lens as well as used it at events.  It is a good lens for being discrete as I have mentioned and it is a very sharp lens.  It is great for low light scenarios.  I used this lens at a concert and it did really well to capture the light.

Pros:

- Small

- Very sharp

- Smooth and quiet focusing

- Large aperture

- Lightweight

Cons:

- No supplied lens hood

Sample Images:

Portrait - 50mm f/1.4D

Portrait - 50mm f/1.4D

Portrait - 50mm f/1.4D

Portrait - 50mm f/1.4D



Flickr Set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomjbh/sets/72157626016219574/

Conclusions: 

All and all a very good lens.  It is a step up from the f/1.8 D however if you do not have the extra money to upgrade to the f/1.4 D, then just get/keep the f/1.8 because it is a very good lens as well.  But if you do have the extra money it is a good upgrade.  I thought it was worth it.  Also it is my only f/1.4 glass at the moment and it is very nice.  

So if you do portraits or events and need a small fast lens this is a good one.  However for the reasons I  love it are drawbacks during a large event because you will be able to take large group shots with the 50mm.  

A 50mm as most people would say is a classic lens that everyone should have.  It is a sharp, simple and fun lens to have.  You can use a 50mm for pretty much any type of photography.  


Rating: Overall 4.5/5


Portrait: 4.5/5
Low Light: 4.9/5
Overall: 4.5/5

Good News:

I have internet so I will be able to still blog up in Northern Quebec.  And to start I will toss up a photo I took on the drive up.

Waterfall, Northern Quebec.  17-55mm.

Review: Nikon ML-L3 Remote

Review: ML-L3 Remote

Thoughts and Opinions:

This will be short but I decided to write it anyways since the remote is a useful tool.  So for those of you who may not know, this is Nikon's infrared remote that is a shutter release.  Personally I have only used it for long exposure for the most part.  It is really handy because you can push it once and the shutter opens.  Once you push the again it closes the shutter.  This is nice because you don't need to hold down the button to keep the shutter open.  

This comes in handy for long exposure photography.  It is nice that it is wireless however that does mean the battery could die.  I have not drained the battery yet however I do not use it a lot.    

Usage:

I have used the remote to take self-portraits to test lighting ideas when I didn't have a model.  I have used it as I said for long exposure shots as well.  I would use it if I was doing macro shots with my tripod to make sure there is no shake however I personally rarely use my tripod for marco shots.  Not using my tripod for macro but it opens up more possibilities for me.  I will go into this more when I review my macro lens.

Pros:

- Wireless

- Small

- Useful

Cons:

- Battery operated 

Conclusions: 

If you do a lot of long exposure or need to open your shutter from a distance then this is a useful tool.  I like having it because I never know when I will need it.  I was in Alberta and there was a storm coming over the flat lands between Wetaskiwin and Ermineskin and it was handy to have.  Also if I decide to use my tripod more for macro shots then it will be useful to have.  

AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED

Lens Review: Nikkor 105mm Macro VR

Thoughts and Opinions:

Where to begin... well lens may be my favourite lens.  I just thought about it for a second there and concluded that it is my favourite lens.  I thoroughly love this lens.  Here is why:

This lens is tack sharp, hands down.  The detail it can pick up just makes you want to take pictures of everything to see what things look like at a macro level.  It is a great macro lens.  It is great at taking 1:1 photos and they look great.  I can go on about why this is a good macro lens but I would rather keep this review shorter than a novel if I can.  

If I have space to back up, I use this lens for portraits as well because it is tact sharp.  Turns out it is a wonderful portrait lens.  Personally, I want a 85mm however between a 50mm and this 105mm, a 85mm might not have it's own niche there.  I have decided that if I keep doing portraits a lot and such, I may get a 85mm but as it stands my 105mm does the trick just fine.  

One bad habit that this lens allows me to get away with is not having to lug around my tripod with me everywhere I go.  Now this is just from my personal experience and I do not suggest doing this but, the VR on this lens lets me get away without using my tripod.  Any website you find on taking macro shots will have "use a tripod" in there however I find it just limits what I can do.  Yes, I am sure I could have better shots if I use a tripod.  I agree there, but I was in Saskatchewan and I was chasing shy dragonflies around these bushes which was difficult to begin with.  It was hard to slowly sneak up on the dragonflies and would have been nearly impossible with a tripod.  Another time I was balancing myself on a branch on a muddy river bank to take photos of frogs.  Again, it was very difficult and if I had my tripod I could have ended up swimming with it in the river.  So that is just my personal view and I know it isn't the best way but it works for me.  I can't promise it would work for you but I can tell you this is an amazing lens.

The cost has dropped since I bought it but that only means it is even better for its cost performance.  Also a lens this good, which has the Nikon's pro gold ring around it, is a no brainer if you like macro or want a good sharp versatile lens.  It is pro glass and it less than $1000.  

One thing about this lens that always makes me happy is the colour rendition.  As I mentioned in my Tokina 11-16mm review, I want photos that look like what I saw with my eyes.  The closer the photo is to what I saw then the happier I am.  My examples of this is taking photos of leaves in the fall because I find with other lenses the colours get a little darker and muddier looking.  I took a photo of yellow leaves in the fall and it was exactly how I saw it.  Also I took photos of a pow wow in Saskatchewan and the colours of the all the outfits was truly amazing.  And again, the 105mm passed with flying colours with colour rendition.

Before I got this lens, I tried out my Godfather's macro lens.  He owns the Tamron 90mm.  This was a good lens and I got some nice shots with it however I had a few issues with it during the short time I had it.  The autofocus was slow and loud.  I know AF is not used for 1:1 because it is easier using manual focus but I wanted a lens for more than just macro.  A slow and loud AF wouldn't be fun for portraits other other non-macro uses.  I could be wrong but I don't believe it had any vibration reduction either.  This was also a negative because I didn't want to have to be attached to a tripod for everything I did with a macro lens.  Another feature that caused the Tamron to lose points was the lens did not have internal focusing.  The barrel extended almost half of the original length of the lens.  It was almost far enough when you are doing 1:1 you could bump into things.  Also having this large object moving towards a shy insect could be troublesome.  Because of these things, I ruled out the Tamron.

I put a lot of thought into getting the Sigma 150mm Macro.  It was a worthy contender however it did not have stabilization as well, and I know sigmas are known to be heavy.  For these two reasons I did not want to chance it if I wanted it to work well being hand held and hiking with it. 

My only bone to pick with this lens is that it actually is not a fixed aperture lens.  Depending on focusing distance, it can go up to f/4.  It is a minor detail since that is only when you are very close to something which helps most of the time because it gives you larger depth of field (DOF) which aids with macro photography.  At f/2.8 in a 1:1 photo, the DOF would be smaller than a dragonfly's head.  

Just as a side note, the lens hood for this lens is very good.  It stops the sun from coming in from bad angles for outside shots as well as protects the front element from easily being hit by anything.  

Usage:

As I have mentioned, I use this lens for macro work, portraits and anything where I want the colours to be perfect.  

Pros:

- Sharpness

- VR

- Relatively fast and quiet focusing

- Internal focus

- Good for macro, portraits and vibrant coloured photos

- Cost for performance 

- Pro glass

- Not too heavy

- Built like a tank

- Focus range switch

- Nice lens hood

- FX lens

Cons:

- Aperture changes with distance, but that helps increase depth of field which is nice for macro shots

Sample Images:

Portrait of Hayleigh - 105mm (Portraiture) 

Frog - 105mm (Macro work)

Fall Leaves - 105mm (Colour rendition)

Conclusions: 

As I am sure I you’ve noticed, I think very highly of this lens.  The Nikkor 105mm Macro VR is a very good lens.  I highly recommend it for macro use as well as portrait or nature shots.  It doesn’t have a lot of reach with this lens for only being 105mm however for my purposes I find 105mm is perfect.  Also on the D90 it is more around 150mm because of the crop factor.  Anyways, this is a very solid and sharp lens.  For the price and the versatility of the lens it would be a little silly not to own.  Haha, but that is just my opinion.  So in conclusion this is my favourite lens, and I am very happy with it so far.  If you are thinking about purchasing this lens, I would, but if my word is not good enough I would keep reading reviews of it and you’ll find nine times out of ten this is the lens people pick for macro work.  I did a good month of research into macro lenses and that is what I found.  Hope this helps if you are sitting on the fence.

I would definitely give this a near perfect score if I had a rating system.  


If you have any questions please don't hesitate to e-mail me at tomhoustphotography@gmail.com.  Also if you are interested in visiting my photography website to see my top work, please visit it here: www.tomhoustonphotography.ca.


Rating: Overall 4.5/5


Macro Photography: 4.9/5
Portrait: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5


Lastly, I have started doing video instead of writing my long blog posts.  I started up a Youtube channel and I will be re-reviewing all my gear there in a video so here is my one for the 105mm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfbknCpkio0

Hope that helps!

Review: SB-600

Review: Nikon SB-600 Flash

Thoughts and Opinions:

This is a useful tool that I have used with my photography.  It is not the fanciest flash but I personally find that it does the trick quite nicely.  I use it with the Nikon CLS system most of the time so I can have the flash off my camera.  The flash is fairly easy to use however it is not that user friendly.  But I don't have enough money to justify buying a new flash just so that it is easier to use.  

The flash pumps out enough power for my use but I am not doing anything too crazy with it.  The ability for the head to swivel and tilt up is useful.  However I believe that usually comes standard with flashes of that level of flash.  

The SB-600 is no longer being manufactured sadly, however it was a great starting flash.  I personally do not do enough flash work that I have a need for a SB-700/800/900 yet.  For my flash work I just want the ability to have good lighting that I can control however I have not tackled anything to large that I need more than just my one SB-600.  

Usage:

I use the most basic Opus lighting system with a light stand, adaptor and umbrella.  I also have a simple diffuser for it as well.  This is how I help create a larger light source to create better lighting for my portraits.  


The flash comes out for all my portraits now for the most part.  Any portraits inside I will have my umbrella setup out.  I use my flash for events as well which gives nice lighting if the venue doesn't have good light.  


Also having a flash around is nice because then you can stop down a little to get more depth of field which is nice.  A group shot is a good example when it is nice to use a flash. It is good to gain more depth of field so that people are not out of focus in the shot.  


It is nice to use rechargeable batteries for the flash.  I have 2 sets of 4 AA's with a charger for them.  I just swap out the batteries with charged ones.  Usually a good idea to have back up batteries.


Pros:


- Not too expensive
- Simple
- Good build
- Reliable (I've had no issues with it)

Cons:

- Controls are not that user friendly 
- Doesn't have much of a range for focusing the light (zoom)
- Not being made anymore


Sample Images:

Portrait, SB-600

Portrait, SB-600

Conclusions: 


The SB-600 is a very useful tool I have found for my photography that I do.  I would suggest investing in a flash if you do a lot of portraits and you want to control your lighting more.  Also I would suggest a flash instead of going all out with continuous lighting with studio lights.  Personally I like the versatility of a off camera flash.  It is small, light weight and you don't have to lug around the studio lights and batteries around.  Also the off camera flashes fit into camera bags easily.  


All and all if you have the money it is a useful tool if you think you will use it.