Dave Benham

Despite being a gadget person there are times when I see converging technologies built in together without proper thought. One of these, and a bugbear of mine, is video on a DSLR. Yet today news emerges of a feature film produced entirely using a Nikon D90 DSLR.

If this is true then well done guys. I’m a firm believer that you should use the right tool for the job and I’d personally use a nice 3CCD high definition camcorder. Then again I’m not a film maker so what do I know?

Reverie’s synopsis is as follows:

Set in the remote wilderness of the Illinois River Valley six years after a catastrophic fire devastated the area, a series of events draws the paths of two former friends towards intersection. Their reunion reopens the wounds of a dark past and threatens to collapse the fragile lives they have constructed since.

I bet their wounds were caused by the inclusion of HD video on DSLRs. Check out the details at IMDB.

Check out this great video from LensRentals.com comparing the different sizes of Nikon telephoto lenses. I’m never going to grumble about the size of my 70-200 f/2.8  again!

To think that wildlife shooters use a 600mm f/4 regularly as well – at least their wallet would be lighter…

Nikon D700, 24-70 AF-S @ 70mm, 1/640th at f/7.1, ISO 200

The New Forest confuses some people in that it’s not just trees. There are lots of wide open spaces to enjoy, often shared with the odd New Forest pony or twelve. A walk on Sunday took us into the forest near our home and presented an ideal opportunity for practising panning.

By panning I don’t mean criticising; there’s enough of that going on at the moment elsewhere. I was having fun with my parent’s dog, chocolate labrador Molly, and a bundle of hair apparently concealing another canine. As they approached I switched the D700 into continuous focus mode, and multiple frame advance in shutter priority mode, selecting 1/640th second. By continuing to track the dogs as they ran past I was able to get four or five sharp shots. This was my favourite, mostly because the mop is in full flight and there are little catchlights in both dogs’ eyes.

A little different from the Red Kites and cricket recently, but another technique that’s good to practice on. Watching a little of the Formula 1 racing this weekend has tweaked my interest in a little motorsport, where panning is really critical. Watch this space!

Nikon D700, 17-35mm AF-S at 17mm, 1/400th at f/8

Local hotel and restaurant Sway Manor hosted an event for the local Morgan sports car owners club last weekend. One of the most fantastic things about these cars is their individuality – no two are the same. It was a fantastic opportunity to give the AF-S 17-35mm lens a bit of a run out.

It’s the first time I’ve had a lens wider than 24mm to try on full frame, and it does quite literally open up a new raft of challenges. You’re potentially including so much more in the frame and composition needs to be careful and considered. The light will be varied across the frame so the exposure may have to be metered from several areas. And there’s the small matter of distortion – creatively intended or otherwise! (more…)

Cokin has launched a specialist X-Pro filter holder for the Nikon 14-24mm wide angle lens. The 14-24 has a bulbous front element with no filter thread so the holder attaches to the lens hood itself. The bad news is that for full frame users you’ll get vignetting if you shoot any wider than 18mm. No problem for DX shooters, but lots of D3X, D3 and D700 owners will be impacted.

This is one of the reasons that I chose the AF-S 17-35 f/2.8 over the 14-24 – I’d be paranoid about scratching the front element every time I used it. The 17-35 uses the same 77mm filters as my 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 VR. One (admittedly expensive) circular polariser will suit all three.

Oh, and it costs $624.95. But at least the shipping’s free. If you’re interested, you can order the filter holder from Adorama here.