Filtering by Tag: 10-30mm

Office Back Door

Added on January 20, 2015 by John Sturr.

Shoes in the Sun

Added on July 14, 2014 by John Sturr.

My pair of Pumas in some great sun.

9th and 9th

Added on July 1, 2014 by John Sturr.

A grab shot in the 9th and 9th area of Salt Lake City. No Crop.

Street in St. Louis - 2

Added on June 7, 2014 by John Sturr.

Shot in 3pm Sun at good 'ole f8. Great contrast, clouds in the sky, and crazy sharp - with the 10-30mm. St. Louis - no crop.

Street in St. Louis

Added on June 4, 2014 by John Sturr.

One of my favorites -- as the detail on the front of this building seems to go on forever - and I couldn't imagine the cost of such ornate glazed tiles in today dollars.

This is in St. Louis where I was just shooting street. And what a great way to stop and really see the city, any city - but to walk and take the time to dissect scene after scene.

10-30mm - contrast and sharpening in ViewNX2 - no crop.

Know your settings.

Added on March 26, 2014 by John Sturr.

Every once in a while I get snapped back into reality, to check settings and slowdown.

This only happens of course when the result of failure is very, very disappointing.

The scene is the office, again, and I wanted to grab and go with the V1 and flash. This time I was sure to be on Image instead of video from the day before - humph - but because I didn’t want to really mess around with settings with flash I decided to go “P” - Program.

Program is nothing to be ashamed of - as these cameras are really smart. So I set on P, and then I set ASA on 800. I didn’t want to be on Auto ASA as exposure would be fighting the flash. So with that - I started taking photos - and then I was seeing that flash was too distracting to the subjects - so I turned it off and started shooting available light. But get this — I didn’t re-adjust any settings to what I usually shoot.

The V1 was still on P

ASA was locked into 800

I should have taken a step back and stopped, and reset to “A” Aperture and then brought ASA to Auto.

Something did appear a bit peculiar while shooting - but of course in the middle of what Vincent Versace would call the “Hair Ball” - it didn’t make sense to me, so I drove on.

I did get some decent results - but not the best results for sharpness and exposure.

I wish was at on auto ASA and I probably should have been actually shooting the 18.5mm f1.8 for better resolution and ASA.

Also, my point is that all of this stuff takes practice, and these things even happen to the most experienced.

Two Wheel Pan

Added on February 18, 2014 by John Sturr.

I don’t know where the 1 series is going — for all I know it could be Nikon’s new D2h.

When searching for a performance based system I reached for the Sony Nex-7 and once the honeymoon wore off I grew frustrated. AF was slow - color rendition was great as long as you were outside in great light - shutterspeeds were somehow pegged at 1/60, it seemed all the time in when in Aperture Pri. I guess I could have lived with everything except the color rendering and exposure.

I found myself reaching for it less and less. Paris was the last time I seriously used it - so I sold it.

But — in the mean time - on a lark I bought the Nikon P330 Coolpix. Canon’s products were rendering skin tones much too red and peachy. And I fell in love - lens was crazy sharp, it shot raw, and the colors were rich and deep and recognizably all Nikon. Hmm… I thought.

I wanted to get back into mirrorless, but funds were on the decline, Fuji wasn’t a contender as it was a slow system, lenses were getting great reports though, and i saw that the V1 system was getting better and better writeups. The $300 refurb pricing helped also.

AF is lighting fast - whoa… crazy fast - silent shutter is really trick, I use it almost exclusively, and most importantly rendering and exposure is nailed and finally the raw BW convert is crazy black.

So where does that leave me — The Fuji XT1 is attractive - bigger sensor, but raw development seems a bit challenging, irregardless of that the fans tell me it is a non-issue with LR etc. Sony’s A7 series is a bit too expensive and maybe needs to be tripod based for shooting and I just can’t see going m4/3 for some reason. So that leads me back to where I’m at - because I really love the V1.

The D3s backfills the pro work - and in the next few weeks I’ll be picking up the 30-110mm, and the 6.7-13mm where I have the 18.5mm, 10-30mm, and the flash.

So that’s my story.

In the Tsunami Zone.

Added on August 11, 2013 by John Sturr.

The V1

Added on June 15, 2013 by John Sturr.

After a few weeks - the "1" is becoming a very good above the fold, performance piece of equipment. It is small, cheap, and the color rendering is all Nikon. It impresses while at the same time being in the shadows.

The two plusses are nailing focus - and color rendering. The biggest minus is resolution on the sensor. This is like a mini D3s - sans $3200. Monochrome, as with the P330 is epic !

I just acquired the 18.5mm f1.8 - and I was going to wait on this -- but every thing I read played this up really well -- and for good reason. This thing is crazy sharp -- crazy !

V1 Street

Added on May 28, 2013 by John Sturr.

I took the train home today - an unusual event as I usually get a ride home or I'm on the bicycle.

Street shooting in Salt Lake is a bit of a challenge - population density is, well, not dense, and the city isn't that urban… ok - so it's hit or miss for street work.

The only way to get good - is to shoot - no matter what the genre, portrait, sports, street -- etc.

I knew I didn't want single point - so I switched to Area AF - and then I wanted constant focusing -- so I set that AFS -- but now as I check out that setting -- I should have set it to AFC. I've already learned something. Cool.

So - focusing on this thing is amazing -- it blows the Nex out of the water… this shot was at chest level, shot to my right 10-30mm as I was facing front. I didn't want to attract attention and loose the scene. I knew what I wanted to capture - but didn't know what I got - until after the shot.

Developed in Capture NX2 - Portrait with minimal contrast. I'm finding that Portrait is more than Neutral but less than standard.