Free photography

So I decided that I will do an experiment.  I will offer a few free photography shoots in my area for small events.  I will see if the quality of photos I produce is good enough to go semi-professional.  I have enough gears to cover most types of events (except for sports for which I still need a 70-200mm f/2.8) indoors and outdoors.  I do not have light modifiers or an assistant so whatever I have on the camera body and attachments will have to be it.  Well, we will see if anyone takes up on the offer and in a few months, I might decide to charge for the work. :)

70-200mm f/2.8 or not?

After selling the Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 that I purchased just one weekend ago, I was on the search for a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8.  The VR I and VR II versions are superb lenses from what I have read, but definitely not for the hobbyist like myself.  I cannot justify to spend $2200 on a lens that I will use a few times a year (the VR I lens might go for $1600 but I cannot find it anywhere, new.)  I then started looking at the Sigma alternative, the new 70-200mm OS.  New, that costs about $1500.  Not cheap.  So then I started looking at the Sigma 70-200mm Macro II (without OS).  I can purchase a used copy for $730 or so today, but should I?

Last night, I was at one of my nieces' birthday party and decided to bring just the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens.  I figured my brothers would bring their DSLRs along so there is no need for a flash unit or the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 DC lens.  Well, the Nikkor 50mm is more like a 75mm in DX format.  I had difficulties using it.

For portraits, I could stand about a metre away from the subject and get a nice head shot.  A couple of metres away, I could take a fuller body.  A few metres more away, I could compose a scene with maybe five people in it but that was about it.  I did not have the luxury of the longer length of the room to shoot.  The Tamron 17-50mm would have worked much better than the 50mm.

What does it then mean for the 70-200mm lens (i.e. 105-300mm in DX format)?  If I was having so much problems with the 50mm, a 70mm will be a lot tougher to work with in an indoor environment.  A studio environment would be fine for it but not in an indoor party environment where you have little space and little control of the setup.  Therefore, a 70-200mm is pretty useless to me, indoors--it could work for wedding banquets though.  Having said that, I could use the 200mm focal length for outdoors photography or for sports events.  I thought I could use an f/2.8 aperture for a faster shutter speed to capture flitting hummingbirds, but if I really want a nice shot, I will have to use a fairly large depth of field and will have to use a flash gun too, so f/2.8 will not be useful in that scenario.

Therefore, I am going to purge this itch to purchase a 70-200mm lens for now.  If I have a wedding to shoot or get invited to a sports event, I will get one then.

D7000 back-focus problem

Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED AF-D

I have been using the D7000 for over a year and never thought of this problem.  After purchasing a Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 AF-D, I realized the D7000 has been reported to have back-focus problems with this lens when shot with AF between 135-200mm through the viewfinder within a short distance from the subject.  The lens deliver tack sharp pictures and a nice bokeh.  Focus is spot on when focus is performed manually or through the D7000 live view--just not through the viewfinder.  Apparently, when live view is used, focus is performed using a contrast algorithm whereas when the viewfinder is used, focus is performed using some phase detection algorithm.  The D7000 has an AF Fine Tune control to correct these problems, but it does not help in the case of the 80-200mm lens however.  I set it to -20, the maximum setting for correcting back-focus problems, but it is not sufficient for the correction--see the picture below.  Rats.  Now, I wonder if I should sell it or just use it in manual mode or use live view.  The pictures do come out tack sharp!

Back-focus problem of D7000 with Nikkor 80-200mm:
"Hiding" is supposed to be the centre of focus.

Now, while I was already playing with the back-focus problem, I decided to test all my other lenses.  It looks like the Nikkor 18-200mm lens has a slight back-focus problem too.  It needs some AF Fine Tune adjustment of -8 or so on my D7000.

One too many gears?

Every now and then I like playing with everything I've bought.  I think I've gone crazy with lenses.  My list of lenses now includes:

• Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC HSM
• Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D
• Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 OS AF
• Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 AFD
• Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR ED AFS
• Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED AFD
• Tokina 80-400mm f/4.5 AF
• Nikkor 500mm f/8

I also have a Tokina 80-200mm f/4.5 that is permanently paired with a Nikon EM camera I purchased a couple of years ago in a 50mm f/1.8 bundle.  This Tokina will probably never see light through its lenses.

I should think about making money from my hobby now to recuperate the money I've invested so far.  I had an idea of doing vacation photography.  I wonder if anyone would buy me a ticket to travel with them and just enjoy their vacation while I build a photo story of their precious moments together.

Sound trigger for high speed flash photography, part 9

Some experiments with water filled balloons (about 100mL of water).  My niece was popping the balloons for me this time.  The SB-25 flash gun was set at 1/32 power.  The camera was set to f/10, ISO 200.

I am out of balloons now.  The dollar store is just down the street, but before I take any more balloon shots, I need to think about a different backdrop.

Balloon placed slightly on the side.  Notice the crown of water formed at the bottom.