Battery grip

My stock photos @ Alamy.com

Some time ago I ordered a Battery grip from China.  It was very cheap compared to the prices here in Estonia. In fact it was about 5x cheaper. Also the shipping was free so no extra money used with delivery. Also an IR remote came with it.

The grip sits perfectly on my camera. It's made of plastic, but it seems to be pretty strong for now. Gives my camera the ability to use IR remote and it's pretty light, so, it doesn't add much weight. The connection cord is the right length, so it's not in the way. The grip takes 2x EN-EL14 batteries, so it doubles the shots I can take in one charge. Also makes my camera a little bit bigger(which I haven't gotten used to yet). It doesn't have a rubber grip on it, but that's ok, since it sits nicely in my hands.

Overall, I think it was money well spent for now. I have had it since yesterday, but as much as I've used it, it is great.

Edit: I found that sometimes when using the grips shutter button on close objects, it makes autofocus confused(I think it's in certain light conditions). It doesn't focus as quick and searches focus from closest to infinity. I tried many times with both my cameras shutter button and the one on the grip on same object at same distance. Pressing the grips shutter, it searched for focus, but cameras found it instantly. Don't know if it was one time thing or it happens in certain conditions.

And as always some images:

This is the battery grip and connection cord

Takes 2x EN-EL batteries

 Shutter button and on/off switch

My stock photos @ Alamy.com

AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR presentation

 My stock photos @ Alamy.com

So, today I went to see a presentation for the AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR which was released some time ago. It was brought to Estonia from Sweden. This was the first one to be here. 

The presentation took place on the top floor of Radisson Blu hotel in Tallinn and we could photograph pretty much the whole city. They talked a bit about the lens and then we could try it. I have to say, it was pretty fun using a lens like that, since I haven't used a super telephoto lens before.The images it gives are just amazing. Super sharp when the weather allows it.(you'll see on the images)

The major thumbs up for this lens are that it has very little chromatic abberation and it's really light weight(for the size), since it has fluorite elements. Compared to other lenses 600mm f4 and 400mm f2.8 it weights less. It's about 4.6kg while the 600mm is 5kg. You will still get a great workout with this lens :)

Very little, if at all, vignetting. Autofocus is spot on and quick. You can add an included 1.25x teleconverter on it and you will get to 1000mm.

Now, about the price, it costs "only" $17 900 US. Soo, yeah. If you are rich or just angry at your money, you should buy it :)

They also had the AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR out. Not going to talk about it, but, it was also great fun using.

Anyway here's some photos made with my 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 VR just to show the lenses:

This is the 400mm f2.8

I don't have images made with this lens because it was on D4, and I have sdhc card, which D4 doesn't take.

 800mm f5.6

 And some images with the Nikkor 800mm f5.6 on Nikon D800 + teleconverter on last 2 images.

 

  focal length : 800mm

Shutter : 1/640

iso : 200 

f-stop : 5.6

 focal length : 800mm

Shutter : 1/640 

iso : 200 

f-stop : 5.6 

 

focal length : 800mm  

Shutter : 1/640

iso : 200 

f-stop : 9

focal length : 800mm

Shutter : 1/640

iso : 200 

f-stop : 9

Some jittering due to cold and hot air mixing

focal length : 1000mm 

Shutter : 1/400

iso : 200 

f-stop : 11

focal length : 1000mm

Shutter : 1/500

iso : 200 

f-stop : 13

My stock photos @ Alamy.com 

Photographing an event

 My stock photos @ Alamy.com

So, yesterday 10.05.2013, I decided to try and photograph a students running event for the first time.

 The weather looked like it was going to rain in the morning and I thought that I would have to pass this event because my gear can't take too much water. Luckily the weather cleared over the day and by the time of the start, it was really nice.

 I decided to take my Nikkor 50mm 1.8G and just in case my Tamron 18-200mm lens. I pretty much only used my 50mm because, it has the fastest auto focus of my lenses and it gives a great DOF. I think that I made a great choice in using this lens because, with this lens, I didn't have to mess with the focal length and focusing. I could concentrate on all the other settings. And photographing people with this lens is just superb.

 Half an hour before the event began, I headed out from my house. Since the place was near my home and I knew the area, I took a bike, so I could follow the runners through the course. It was pretty hard to keep up with the first place. I had only about 24 minutes to take pictures in different locations over the course and ride to the finish area to get the photos of the winner. The course was kinda sandy and muddy in some places and I also rode through the forest where there were no paths. I somehow managed to get to the finish just few seconds before the first place came in and I got some shots of him. It was really good workout for me and really good experience.

 I recommend anyone to try and photograph some local events if allowed. It can give you a lot of confidence in your work and you can also compare your photos to some of the professional photographers covering the event.(the photos are more than likely uploaded to some news site or some other sites)

Here are some images I took of the event:

 My stock photos @ Alamy.com

Some more photos

 My stock photos @ Alamy.com

Here's some more photos, taken with 50mm 1.8G and cropped the hell out of :P

These are very little edited apart from cropping and maybe some light adjustments

 

My stock photos @ Alamy.com

Macro photography

  My stock photos @ Alamy.com

Yesterday I was working in my greenhouse, digging old dirt out to replace it. Suddenly I saw these big spiders(big for Estonia) running around and thought I should try take some photos. 

  I have a Tamron 18-200mm (macro) lens. I got this lens while I was traveling around in Japan. I wanted to get something cheap that I could use in most of situations and this is what the customer service guy recommended.

  For the money I paid for this lens, it's pretty good. The image quality can't be compared to some of the  more expensive lenses, but it's usable in most cases. Stock photography site Alamy.com has some strict requirements for the images you can upload. With this lens I could pass all the requirements easily. 
  The autofocus is a tad slow and not the most quiet one, but I mostly use manual with this lens anyway. This lens doesn't have the VC(vibration compensation), so shooting at the longer focal lengths will be shaky and it's better to use a tripod.
  You can lock the focal length at 18mm. This way you can prevent unwanted zoom or damaging the lens. The front of this lens is kinda heavy and if not locked down, it will extend when carrying it around attached to your camera.
  It does have color fringing  and vignetting, but it's not that bad. I don't know the most extreme cases, but mostly, I can use some software to remove it.

  Overall, this lens is alright for what you pay. If you can, save for some more expensive and advanced lenses(possibly with VC to shoot in longer focal lengths). Always think what you want to use a lens for before you buy, because if you know what you want to photograph, you can choose the best lens for the money you can spend.

  This turned pretty much into a review I guess :) Anyway here are some photos I took yesterday:

My stock photos @ Alamy.com

The weather 2

 My stock photos!


I said before that the weather was clearing. It did clear for couple of hours, so I went out to shoot. Was a bit windy but it was ok. It went cloudy again at some point so I thought it would rain and came home. Now it's sunny again..

Anyway here are some shot I took(more in http://www.digitalrev.com/makimaki):

Please visit and share my stock photo site.

This weather

I have been busy with work lately so haven't had the time to do much photography or post anything.

Today I finally have a free day and it's kinda raining -_-'(the sky is clearing out a bit atm but don't know if it'll stay like that). I was planning on riding out the city on my bike and take some photos. Will see what the weather does. Really want to go!