Lensbaby Control Freak

And now, for something completely different! (ten points to whoever gets that reference) Right before the Boy got me my 105mm lens, I bought myself a Lensbaby Control Freak in Hong Kong. Lensbabies are lenses with a creative spin. They are advertised as being fun and different from traditional lenses. Lensbabies allow you to cut the field of focus and to be able to take photos which can have very extreme and unusual blurry areas. If you are a freak about sharpness, lensbabies are not for you. Even the sharpest point isn't as sharp as dedicated lenses are. If you are a fan of soft photos, I highly recommend getting a lensbaby.

I bought the Lensbaby Control Freak since it is advertised as being great for macro photography. Since this was before I got the 105mm and I wasn't planning on getting the 105mm since I didn't have the money, I thought the Control Freak would tide me over until I had the funds.

View from the top

With the case that holds the f-stop disks

Upon receiving the 105mm, I am afraid I don't use my Lensbaby lens very much. It is very neat and fun to play with but a little more effort than I am interested in putting forth when shooting in most situations. You can actually control the f-stop by taking out disks and replacing them with the correct number.

Looking inside

Handy little container with all the f-stops

It has a little magnet on the end

Magic! ;)

Just lightly touch and lift

Without any of the disks

Magnetic!

 The way to control the areas in focus versus out of focus is to press in and tilt the front of the lens until you get the desired effect. Then you lock it in place using some of the knobs. It is a little unwieldy and I found it difficult to snap into place. Maybe my hands are too small or I haven't spent enough time mastering the lens.

Here are the knobs. The widest ring is what you use to control depth of field by pressing down or stretching it out. On the south side there are two knobs that you click together to free the widest ring. There is another button on the northwest side that locks everything into place. The ring above the widest ring is for focus. You can see why this is so easy...

Taken with my Lensbaby Control Freak

Taken with my 105mm

If you want something different and really neat in terms of setup, go for the lensbaby. If you want a no-nonsense sharp lens, I would hold off.

Nikon 105mm Macro Lens

*Warning: A bit dry if you are not interested in lens shopping*

This is the most professional lens I own. It was gifted to me as an early birthday present from the Boy. We were in Macau, staying at Galaxy Macau. Here is the post of the trip: Galaxy Macau, House of Dancing Water, and Ice World Venetian.

That night as we were getting ready to go to sleep, I found a nicely wrapped present which contained an even more beautiful lens.

When I was an intern with Elisa B Photography, I was able to use her 105mm and instantly fell in love. It is an amazing macro lens and just has the most phenomenal detail and bokeh (the blurriness of the surrounding). It is crisp, sharp and enlarges the tiniest objects and animals. It also works very well as a telephoto lens and can get really great shots from a long ways away. However, it is around $800 and up, and so out of my price range.

Which is why I was so thrilled to have been gifted it! And it was everything I remembered and more.

Working for Elisa, I used this lens with an FX camera (full frame which is basically the digital version of a film camera). I have a DX (smaller) and I haven't noticed anything really different with how the lens handles. Here is Ken Rockwell's review of the lens, if you are interested.

Here are some shots that I have done. If you are using it as a macro, I would recommend a tripod unless the animal you are photographing doesn't really move and you have a very still hand/very great lighting. One of Ken Rockwell's complaints is that while you are focusing the shot, the image size changes which is called breathing. I noticed this a little but it wasn't a big issue for me. Here are some shots that I took with it, using it as a macro:

Those are not my fingers, I had the boy pose with the ring so you can see the star ruby clearly

I love how extreme the blurriness can be. This was me just messing around.

 I LOVE it for a telephoto. I already have a 55-200mm lens which I use as my main telephoto lens but this 105mm is sharper in its range. It doesn't zoom as far as the 200mm end, so it depends how far you want to go. I actually like both of them for different reasons and don't feel like I overlapped. I use the 105mm as a mid-range telephoto. Here are some shots I took with the 105mm. I am also posting some I took with the 55-200mm so you can see the difference:

105mm used as a telephoto

Monkey fight with the 105mm

Closer to the 55mm end of the 55mm-200mm

200mm end of the 55-200mm

If you have the money, get this lens. I am extremely happy with it. Be warned though, it is heavy.

Mashup: Lenses, Music and World Nomads

This post will concern a variety of topics, heads up! Fair warning: I will talk about lenses, music, and vulnerability.

First up are lenses: I want a macro. I want a macro lens SO badly. However, they are ridiculously expensive and so I must pine for now. I have my eye on the Nikon 105mm. Since I have a large interest in macro photography, I feel like I need to go for the best of the best rather than settle for an off-brand.

Nikon 105mm

The only alternative I'm considering until I can afford the 105 is going for the lens babies:

LensBaby

To be fair, I kinda want to try them out for funsies anyways since they have such cool range of lenses! The whole tilt thing and the ability to cut the field of focus is pretty neat and I would love to play. The control freak is the one that I have my eye on:

Control Freak

This is less than half the price of the 105 and therefore much more in my range! It also just seems like a really neat concept. If you bother to check out the site, be sure to look at the gallery since I think that the images are well worth seeing. Although I keep going back and forth since I feel like maybe I should just save up and buy the 105 that I really want instead of just spending money on something I kinda want... As you can probably tell, I'm pretty indecisive especially when such a large amount of money is involved. I just hate trying to close in on something with my 18-55, 50, or even my telephoto. It's just not the same as being able to get right up close and really get sharp detail!

Anyway, I know I didn't mention this in my list but I just wanted to say that I am officially a stock investor! I feel so grown up... I've been dithering for about 2 years and so finally, I just went ahead and plunged right in. It's a scary feeling but I hope that I've made the best possible decisions...

Music:

The way I operate is that I get obsessed with certain songs and play them over and over and over and over again (times about a thousand). I then move on and forget about them. Lately (as in the last year), I've been trying to create playlists on youtube that will allow me to remember and replay old favourites. For those who are curious about my spelling, when I was little in India, I used to spell everything with 'u', e.g. harbour, colour, etc, and then I moved the states and took away the 'u' and now that I'm working in Hong Kong the 'u' has returned since I don't want to mess the little kiddies up! (I work as an English tutor for those that didn't know)

The thing about the music that I love is that they always strike a chord with me. They can bring back memories of specific moments, the singers' voices can be powerful, or the background can really impact me. I listen to everything and so the songs that stick can be really random. Here are three songs that I have played on repeat for the past few weeks:

Someone Like You

Rolling in the Deep

Sanctuary

The first two are both songs by Adele. For those who haven't heard of her, I hope that you have just had your mind blown. I agree with the commentator for her song "Someone like you" because she has such an amazing voice that she doesn't need theatrics to be able to hold a crowd. For "Rolling in the Deep" I really hope that someday I will be able to play in a room full of flour... The third song is a trance song that really picks up around 1:14 and again at 2:00. The girl is throwaway for me, it's the background beat and song that are phenomenal. Gareth Emery is amazing, right up there with Tiesto and Armin. When songs hit me, I really feel like I can do anything. I know this sounds cheesy but whenever I have been in a time crunch for studying for exams or completely stuck on something to write, if I have a good tune on, all of the obstacles seem to melt away. I don't know if other people experience music like this, but it's how I feel.

Recently, my dad started sending me these emails from a friend of my grandma's whose son was dying of cancer. I know it's not my place to post this but I feel that I am making it anonymous and that it should be shared because of how powerful it is. Here is a letter from the father to the son who was a musician:

For sometime now, as I have aged, I have considered, what legacy do we leave behind?

 

     You had a friend, who at a very young age was struck down by a lightning bolt. He, in his short life, left but a small imprint except on his few friends and family and little works. 

     I , when I was very young had a playmate, Donald who lived but two blocks away and later for a few years were class mates.  He was a brilliant boy and, so judged by the authorities, was advanced  to the next class, however since we were still neighbors we remained close.  We started a newspaper when in the third grade as co editors.  I was in production and made a gelatin based ditto plate for printing and supplied my father’s typewriter to do the copy stencil.  We both wrote the news of the two grades and drew the cartoons and Don made up the quizzes, the winner of which would receive a free paper the next week.

     By the time we were in High School, Don moved on to Lincoln   but we didn’t loose track.  When the war began, he had already entered the University,   and we both envisioned a marvelous career for him whatever course it took.  He could have gone to officer’s school but insisted on joining the Air Corps as a tail gunner, at the air center   in Omaha.  He went on to fly and was shot down over Fogia in the invasion of Italy.  He is remembered now, only by me and the remainder of his family who are now dead, and perhaps the girl friend he left behind  in Lincoln , if she is still alive.

     In some , life is short with little or no legacy.  In others, the only legacy is genetic in offspring or the family name; where, to be  passed down, requires a family unity and storytelling or a written history.  Memory, only is a short term, and most fortunes are usually gone  in a generation.  My legacy of family name will go, except for Alosha, who is adopted.

My work as a physician will be remembered only briefly. Most of the patients I saved or lives made better, are dead now, and their children who remember me, will soon be.

     My written work, The Chronicles, will never be read in its entirety, and only in reference by a few, perhaps 200 over the years.  

     Yet, with this miniscule product, I am satisfied with what I have produced. During my time here, I have pretty much accomplished more than what I had envisioned.

     Now we come to you, and your present predicament.           

     I recognize that you had just hit your peak, not in financial reward, nor professional acclaim, but in creative and performance ability.  If it advances no further, I feel that your legacy is far greater and longer lasting than mine, and possibly the rest of our family and your classmates.  Your songs will live on and there will continue to be others to sing and play them.

     You are, and always will be a success, with an enviable legacy.

     You are loved.

     Dad

This brings me to the final point: vulnerability. As I mentioned in my last post, I have lately become quite obsessed with this one girl's 365 day photography project. As I have seen more and more of her images, I have asked myself: why? Why is she so fascinating to watch?

I think I have finally figured it out. True artists really put something of themselves out "there", into the world. They don't hold back and they aren't afraid of what others think or if they are, they are able to push that fear away. She isn't afraid of being "soulful" or letting complete strangers into her life in an uncontrolled medium. Yes, she is dictating what goes up on the site but there are many of her photos that are untouched by post-production and that are mundane. I am a very open and friendly person, but I am this way IN PERSON. Not online. Up until this point, this blog has been pretty stale in terms of emotion. Plenty of pictures, plenty of little stories, PLENTY of lens and camera talk, but that's it. I feel like for me to be able to advance as a photographer, as a writer, I need to be willing to open up. I think this will be a belated new year's resolution: put myself out on the limb more.

This is especially the case with photography since I am petrified of asking people if I can take their picture or if I can take a picture of their surroundings. I absolutely hate confrontation so I usually stay in the fringes and sneak photos whenever I can. If I am caught, I feign innocence and quickly aim elsewhere. I need to get over this and I have already begun trying. Just today I actually asked this old man if I could take pictures of these dried flying lizard things outside of his shop and he said yes! Here is a photo:

Apparently these are good for coughs?

Also, I submitted an application for a travel writing scholarship and here is the link for anyone who wants to read it:

World Nomads Writing Scholarship

I was a bit trigger happy on this one and submitted it way early! The competition doesn't actually end til tomorrow and then I have to wait until April 28 to find out if my life will change... I am not a patient person and the waiting is killing me!

Well, that's it for now! Sorry this is so long, I promise the next one will have more photos =)

Telephoto Time: Nikon 55-200mm

So I've once again lapsed in my output of blog posts... But now my internship is over for all intents and purposes (is it bad that I wanted to write all intensive purposes?) and all I have is one more session of housekeeping, so hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more often... Well, I promised a review of my 55-200mm zoom and here it is! 

I'll be completely honest, I was a little disappointed with it. It's autofocus is a bit slow and takes awhile to figure out what you want. It can be blurry when hand held unless you take extra care to keep completely still. Also, important to keep in mind is that you have to be at least 2 or 3 ft away from the subject for it to work... I kept making the mistake of stepping up really close to whatever I was trying to photograph and becoming extremely frustrated that it wouldn't take the picture! With that said, when it does work, it works very well. The pictures are crisp and the zoom is GREAT! You probably wouldn't need to go to a much higher-end mm, and for the price of $179, I'm not really complaining. Here are some shots I took with it when out by the lake!

These dragonflies were extremely good-natured and didn't mind a strange girl trying to get closer to them. This was the huge benefit of this lens. I realized my issue was that I was trying to use the lens as a macro-lens (a lens which can really magnify the subject from close up) and that instead, I should have focused on the fact that this is a really good zoom and can get close to subjects that might be a bit more antsy were I try to get right next to them. 

I think I would recommend this lens with the caveat that you shouldn't expect too much from it. It thrives best in the outdoors and can get some terrific action shots. 

I just got a wide-angle, a sigma 11-20mm lens so I'll put that up next! Hope you enjoyed the update =)

Lens Playtime: Pro-Optic 8mm Fish-Eye Lens

I hope I'm keeping you on your toes about when I'm going to post next. Now that I've got some new lenses, I figure that I might as well demonstrate what they can do! As a refresher, I have purchased a refurbished Nikon 55-200mm 1.4-5.6 f and a Pro-Optic 8mm fish eye lens (I also picked up a new carrying pack as well as a flash!).

I might as well start with the fish eye because it's so much fun! I have to admit when I first received it, I was a tad bit disappointed... I forgot that it only works on manual setting with my D5000 DX camera (I've heard that it works fine with the full-frame FX cameras like the D700). I was panicking because with every single setting, e.g. S (shutter priority), A (aperture priority), the no flash, the auto, etc, my very intelligent and fickle machine calmly informed me that there was no lens attached to its body. It was blinking at me that the very real and tangible lens that was supposedly locked in place was really a figment of my foolish imagination. Needless to say, I was disconcerted. However, in my frantic switching of settings, I finally saw that when it was on the M (complete manual) the coded message ceased its relentless blinking. Finally I was able to snap a photo! Unfortunately, I was unaware that at night, the interior of the apartment resembles a dark cave to the lens. No matter how much I fiddled with increasing the ISO and the exposure compensation, the camera obstinately refused to lighten the scene. This is the second problem with the fish eye. In my shame as a failed photographer, I deleted the incriminating dark photos so I am unable to present them for your viewing pleasure.

After this horrendous night, I was almost positive that I had just thrown $289 right down the toilet and that the only thing to do was to return the confounded object from Hades. However, I decided to give the beast a second chance (luckily for me) and try again in the daylight. IT. IS AMAZING. Despite its limitations, it is so much fun and without anything to distort it in the foreground, it works more as a ridiculously awesome wide angle. I've found that at times I actually have to work at distorting the world! Here are some takes from the camera on my wilderness romp today.

You can actually adjust the f-stops and the amount of light entering the photo with a handy little adjustment ring. Look at the difference between the picture above and the one below:

This was actually really difficult to get because it wouldn't focus and even though I was literally standing about 6 inches from the flowers, this was the view through the lens

The car shot worked a little better but there's ghosting in this shot and I heard that was a problem with this lens so I had to be very careful whenever the sun was around (which was a lot of the time, the way I found around it is just to keep aiming down).

Again, difficult to focus on the foreground when it's too close...

Doesn't the pond look a little like the actual lens?

Since it's after midnight and I have to get up early (well for me at least) tomorrow morning to drive to DC for father's day, I'll just finish up my telephoto 55-200mm tomorrow evening!

Lens Shopping! *Warning, a bit dry if you're not interested in this*

So, I lied. The whole one-a-day didn't happen this week. I'm going to go ahead and blame the photography internship! Time well-spent and fun but not conducive to dedicating time to the blog... But I am currently chock-full of new information regarding lens shopping for my D5000. Awesome AWESOME camera although it doesn't pair with some lenses because it doesn't have an auto-focus (AF) motor in the actual body and so in order for auto focus to work, it needs to have a lens that has an AF motor built into the lens. This has been a pain trying to figure out, it'd be nice if people just stated it clearly rather than requiring me to wade through a ton of useless and unclear articles...

I do have a godsend though: Ken Rockwell D5000. Ken Rockwell is amazing. The only drawback is that since he reviews so much, he can't cover EVERYTHING and so there's still quite a bit of independent research to be done. So the goals I had this week were to find a super wide angle (wide angle appears to only be 18mm to 30-ish mm and I definitely wanted to go wider which means have a lower mm), a telephoto (not quite sure where the mm of the telephoto begins but I'm guessing 55mm and up), and a standard 35mm portrait lens. I have thus far purchased the telephoto and a fisheye (it just kinda crept into my shopping cart...). With limited funds, I have found the 35mm and will wait to purchase it until later, when I actually have money. This likewise applies to the super wide angle which is surprisingly pricey.

So, to begin. The telephoto was almost the easiest to decide on. I ended up opting for the 55-200mm Nikon lens because the lens that the D5000 comes with is 18-55mm and so I thought that it might make a better coverage. The sites that I've gone for have been: B&H Photo Video, Cameta Camera, Newegg.com, Amazon.com, and Adorama.com. Cameta and Newegg aren't that helpful. I bought mine refurbished by Nikon so I'm not too worried and it was cheaper! Always to be appreciated.

B&H Photo Video Nikon 55-200mm

There was a 70-300mm that was tempting me but from the reviews that Ken Rockwell gave, it wasn't entirely necessary. Eventually I'll upgrade to the 300mm but the 200mm is ample for now! The tip that I had to figure out after some research is that the D5000 is a DX camera meaning it is not a full-frame FX camera (these are the high end pro Nikon cameras and the film cameras).  Also, with a telephoto, vibration reduction (VR) is extremely important because with such a high zoom, it is noticeable when the camera is not held completely still. I don't have a tripod, so it will all be hand held shooting for me! 

Now, after doing preliminary research on the super/ultra wide angle, I found it too confusing and too depressing with the high prices sooooo I started looking up fisheyes! Fisheye lenses are awesome and fun, and while others may say they can be difficult or get boring easily, I beg to differ. Here is an example:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4456330924_96568f7a21.jpg

The Nikon AF DX Fisheye-NIKKOR 10.5mm f/2.8G ED is the really expensive one. It goes for around $650 to $750. I don't have the funds for that soooo, I have opted for my first non-Nikon brand lens! Now this was, not to put too fine a point on it, a pain in the @$$. There are so many off-brands and it's hard to compare them. Also, having grown up overseas, I have an extreme paranoia of knockoff items (fine for clothes, not so fine for electronics). After hours upon hours of research I finally narrowed my choice down to the Pro-Optic 8mm fisheye ($289.99) and the Rokinon 8mm fisheye ($284.85):

Pro-Optic 8mm f3.5 Fish-Eye lens

Rokinon Aspherical Fisheye

I finally figured out that the Rokinon brand is the same as Bower, Opteka, and Samyang. The Pro-Optic is a version of this exact same lens although apparently it is the Adorama house brand. I went for the Pro-Optic because Ken Rockwell gave an exact review of it and there didn't seem to be a difference. Both don't autofocus or meter (this has something to do with exposure) with my D5000, the only ones that do are the pricier models. I sucked it up since it's not such a big deal with a fish eye since the photos taken with this lens are for long distance and don't need as much fine tuning.

They look almost exactly the same don't they? The difference between the two seem to be that the Pro-Optic takes more of a wide angle view as opposed the more extreme distortion of a traditional fisheye.

Okay, so now that I finally figured out two of these lenses, I finally turned my attention back to the ultra/super wide angle lens. Again, after hours of searching I think I've decided on getting the Sigma 10mm-20mm ($479)! It is one of the cheapest out there and is pretty good quality:

Sigma 10-20mm f4.5

I was torn between the Tokina 11mm-16mm, the Tamron 11mm-18mm, and this Sigma. The Nikon 12mm-24mm DX was right out ($900 and up). While Ken Rockwell gives a favorable review of the Tokina, it isn't autofocus compatible with the D5000:

Ken Rockwell Wide Zooms Comparison

Plus, the Sigma is 1mm less, which probably isn't THAT important but it makes me feel better =) Here is an example of what this kind of ultra/super wide angle can do:

http://cache.foxsaver.com/thumbnails/2008/04/10/392993651l.jpg

As a helpful guide to what is compatible with the D5000, here is a great site:

Nikonians Compatibility

None of the photos are mine since I haven't received the new lenses and I haven't really gotten to shoot my own pictures recently but soon soon soon!

Ohhh! Here is something cool that I finally figured out: people kept referring to ghosts in the photos and I had no idea what that meant but now I do =) When you point the camera at a bright light or there is a strong light source nearby, small little circles can appear on the screen and those are ghosts:

http://www.angelsghosts.com/images/lens_flare_ghost_picture_112008a.jpg

That's it for now! I'll be sure to post what these lenses can actually do when I receive them =)