Nikon DSLR and Lens Rebates
As I have noted before, Nikon is currently offering rebates for customers who are buying a DSLR together with a lens. Although not all Nikon lenses are available with this offer, some of the best Nikon lenses such as Nikon 70-200mm VR, Nikon 70-300mm VR and Nikon 24-70mm are available for an instant rebate.
Nikon Lens Rebates Starting February 28th, 2010
If you have been wanting to buy a DSLR with a good lens, then wait until this Sunday. Nikon is announcing great rebates on some of the best Nikon lenses, including the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II and the outstanding Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G lens that I use primarily for my landscape photography. The recently reviewed Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens is also going to qualify for an instant rebate, as outlined below:
- Buy Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II with any DSLR and get a $400 instant rebate
- Buy Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G with any DSLR and get a $300 instant rebate
- Buy Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR lens with any DSLR and get a $200 instant rebate
- Buy Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II with any DSLR and get a $250 instant rebate
- Buy Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G VR with any DSLR and get a $200 instant rebate
These are some great incentives by Nikon and the first three are definitely great performers and Nikon's best lenses. It would have been even better if the incentives were for the lenses only, but those deals do not normally happen until around Christmas time, or when Nikon needs to clear out the shelves.
Nikon 70-300mm VR Review
This is an in-depth review of the Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR lens that was released back in August 2006 together with the Nikon D80. The lens was kindly provided by B&H - the largest photo reseller in the world that I use more than any other to buy my photography gear.
The Nikon 70-300mm VR lens is targeted towards sports, nature and wildlife photographers that need a lightweight, versatile telephoto lens with great optics and vibration reduction technology, at an affordable price. The lens works on both Nikon FX (full-frame) and DX (cropped) sensors and has an equivalent field of view of approximately 105-450mm on DX sensors, which makes the lens particularly good for reaching distant subjects. The Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ID-ED VR lens features two "ED" (extra low dispersion) glass elements that are used in all Nikon professional lenses, providing higher contrast, lower chromatic aberration and higher resolution, due to less air bubbles and glass deformities within the glass elements. In addition, the lens sports the latest vibration reduction "VR II" technology, giving up to 4 full stops of advantage over non-VR lenses at low shutter speeds. Vibration Reduction, especially the latest VR II generation, makes this lens particularly useful for hand-held shooting while hiking and traveling. Autofocus is practically silent, thanks to the Silent Wave Motor (AF-S) within the lens.
Nikon 70 300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR (image courtesy of Nikon USA)
How to Obtain Maximum Bokeh
In photography, the term bokeh represents the magical out-of-focus blur that makes it look like the subject is isolated from the background. It is visually appealing for us to see a photograph with a soft, creamy and beautiful background. It helps concentrate our eyes on a single area and creates a sense of depth and dimension on an otherwise flat-looking image.
Let me share a few tips on how you could obtain maximum bokeh from your camera setup.
1) Use a large aperture
Bokeh is not created by the camera - it is your lens and its optics that are responsible for rendering the out-of-focus areas. Therefore, the first thing you should do is set your lens aperture to its lowest value, also known as "maximum aperture". You can do this by changing your camera mode to "Aperture Priority" and setting the "f" number to the lowest value your camera will permit. On Nikon DSLR cameras, this is typically done by rotating the front dial towards the left (counter-clockwise).
Corporate Photography Tips
There are two types of corporate photography - event photography and portrait photography. Event photography means taking pictures of employees and guests in corporate events such as conferences, birthday parties, Christmas parties, receptions and sales events. Corporate portrait photography means taking formal pictures of employees for websites, magazines and other various publications. In this article, I will provide some tips on how to photograph corporate events.
Big website changes
During the last two weeks, I have been heavily working on the website, making big changes to the site layout/design, content and sections. I had no idea that the database I was running on before was so problematic...apparently I have been running it on a wrong character set all this time! It took me a while to convert the website content to the UTF8 standard encoding and even now I'm continuing to experience some problems with weird characters showing up in some posts, so please let me know if you see a bunch of weird characters showing up and I will take care of them.
On top of that, I decided to get rid of the "www" in front of our domain. I have always been using "www" in front of all of my domains and this year I changed my mind and decided to make the domain shorter. It was a painful decision, because it will affect search engine links and rankings, whether I like it or not.
I also decided to get rid of the old gallery and start over with a brand new one. Instead of putting junk into the gallery like I was doing before, I will only be uploading the best pictures that are worth staying in the gallery. Initially, I was going to reuse the same gallery software, but I decided to try a new one this time, which should be more integrated to our blog. So far, I like the results and I will be posting the first gallery in a couple of days, if everything works out as planned.
I'm sure you have already noticed the top of the main page where it says "Last Two Recipes from Lola". It took me a while to figure it all out and I had to write custom code for that, but the top part will now automatically pull the latest two recipe images from Lola's Recipes page. She has been busy with other projects lately, but promised to put up more recipes very soon!
Oh, and the new Nikon 70-200mm VR II is soo good!
Lola took this shot wide open at f/2.8, 1/5000th of a second. Simply incredible, one of the Nikon's sharpest lenses ever!
Nikon 70-200mm VR II 100% Crop
Bald Eagle
Captured this guy a couple of days ago on the way to Barr Lake State Park:
I was told that there is a big number of bald eagles near Barr Lake this year. I'm planning to drive there this weekend and take a long hike, with the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens.
Nikon 70-200mm VR II Review
This is an in-depth review of the new professional Nikon AF-S 70-200mm F/2.8G ED VR II lens that was released earlier this year.
The Nikon 70-200mm lens is a professional-grade lens that was introduced by Nikon in early 80's in a shape of 80-200mm f/2.8 constant aperture lens for professional news, sports, wildlife and portrait photographers. Since then, Nikon has been enhancing and redesigning the lens every 4-5 years, making it faster, sharper and more versatile by enhancing the optics and introducing new features.
AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8G ED VR II (image courtesy of Nikon USA)
The latest generation of the 70-200mm lens is no exception - Nikon completely redesigned the lens, adding more "ED" (Extra-Low Dispersion) optical elements, making this lens sharper than the previous version. Nikon also added the new "N" (Nano Crystal Coating) to this lens, which is supposed to minimize ghosting and lens flare. Other new features include a brand new "VR II" vibration reduction system, which provides a four stop benefit over non-VR systems and a new "A/M" focus mode for auto-focus priority.
Nikon 300mm F2.8 G ED VR II and AF-S TC-20E III
Nikon has just released an update to the superb Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lens, along with an update to the TC-20E teleconverter. The new lens is now called "AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II" and the TC is "Nikon AF-S TC-20E III". Both are targeted for professional sports, nature and wildlife photographers that need the best of the class. The Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lenses have always been the sharpest lenses in Nikon's arsenal - that's why Nikon calls them the "pinnacle of image quality". There is a big reason why the teleconverter was released together with the 300mm f/2.8 lens, because normally 2x teleconverters substantially degrade image quality on most lenses, but not this one. The 300mm line is known to work best with all teleconverters, including the 2x TC.
Continue reading 'Nikon 300mm F2.8 G ED VR II and AF-S TC-20E III'
How to photograph moon
If you own a DSLR or a point and shoot with an optical zoom, I'm sure that every once in a while you see a beautiful moon and you think about taking a picture of it, especially when the moon is full and beautiful. There are other times when you spot a news announcement about a Lunar Eclipse and you think about capturing the moment, but do not know how to do it right. Or you want to capture the moon together with a foreground object such as a house or a lone tree, but the picture is not coming out right because the moon is much smaller and looks like a white blob. If you had any of these situations or simply want to find out how to take a picture of the moon with a digital camera, then this guide is for you.
