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seeing the world through a single lens

Some time ago a fellow member at the Nikon forum ‘Nikon Cafe’ had the following idea:

“Seeing The World Through A Single Lens:

Some time ago, I came into the possession of a Nikkor 35mm f/2 AIS lens. At first, my intent was to sell the lens and put the resulting money back into my photography equipment. Upon further reflection and being inspired by the Pay it forward “US CAMERA 1955″ thread by the Nikon Cafés Coresounder, I decided to share the lens.

I was thinking that it would be kind of interesting to see how others “See Their World Through The Same Piece Of Glass”. What kind of images would it produce in the hands of another? Is the quality of an image in the equipment? Or is it in the Photographer?

I wanted to send the lens out into the world and see what images you produce with the same piece of glass. The resulting images could be priceless. So, here we go…

The lens has travelled to me, so today I went out to use it after a pre-wedding shoot before sending it on to Finland next (are you ready Peter Forsell!). I think this is a wonderful idea and using an old manual-focus Nikkor was a real treat. These old lenses cost next to nothing now, and if any photographers don’t want to chase the latest and greatest you can have a bag full of fast primes for less than the cost of a single modern f2.8 zoom. Food for thought there.


Andy and Debbie pre-wedding shoot in Winchester

Busy week this week as I ramp up towards the kick-off proper of my 2010 season (on the 19th Feb up in Birmingham). We’ve had some sad news as our 79 year-old next-door neighbour, Ken, died and we attended his funeral on Thursday. He was something of a local legend and known for his massive collection of 2,900 watering cans, which saw him known locally as ‘Watering Can Man’. Rest in peace old friend, you were a proper gent from the old school.

On a far happier note I met up with the Andy and Debbie this morning for their pre-wedding shoot and a general natter about their 20th March wedding at Careys Manor down in the New Forest. Andy suggested that we use St Cross Hospital as the venue and what a great choice that was – it’s provided sheltered accommodation since about 1130. They’re a really easy couple to get along with and I’m really looking forward to their wedding. Andy’s a photographer himself so there’s some added pressure there, although it’s always a vote of confidence to know that another photographer rates you! We managed to attract some ducks along the way as well. Quack.

It was also the first outing proper for my new Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII. I wouldn’t normally mention that but I know Andy loves his camera kit as much as I do so had to put something in. I also remain deeply jealous of Debbie’s gorgeous BMW. I covet that car. Perhaps I could do a deal with Andy on the quiet for a Nikon/BMW swap;). The lens is every bit as good as I first thought. Razor-sharp, fast and quiet auto-focus and just generally awesome.

Anyhow, with no further ado, today’s shots then. There’s one image in there from an old Nikon 35mm f2 AiS that I’ll mention in another post shortly, if you can spot it….

New Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRII in the house

I don’t normally blog about kit because it’s very dull for a lot of people, but a new lens has arrived that is just spectacular. I was using the oldr Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VR Mark I., and this was superseded by the Mark II late last year. It turned up yesterday after a wait for the price to fall away from the initial release which sold at RRP (ouch). That said, anyone buy did buy on day 1 is unlikely to regret it.

This is a spectacular lens. Just first-class. The handling is a little better for me – with the lens being shorter and fatter and less of a reach forward. The AF is noticeably faster and more confident. No question about it. It is reminiscent of the 14-24mm and 24-70mm’s in terms of colour, contrast and rendering (a good thing) and it has a clarity that the old VR1 can’t match which may well be down to the Nano coating that’s being used now. If there is a 24/1.4 coming next week it promises much. The first shot is included because this is at 200mm wide-open. Magnificent clarity. Jaw on floor. I cannot wait to use this with Andy and Debbie at their pre-wedding shoot next weekend!

You’ll also notice that the layout of the 4 images above is a little different to normal. It’s another excellent feature of the ProPhoto v3 blog tool. Clicking on each image/thumbnail will show it and you can navigate between them using the ‘PREV’ and ‘NEXT’ icons on the top edges of each image. It means you won’t have to scroll down loads of images away from the text. Lovely.

Disclaimer: Nicky is away skiing so I’m house-sitting 2 6 year-olds:D– hence the indoor subjects on another bittetly cold day. . Obviously in the first photo Jess has not had her hair brushed yet:D.

the miles are passing

A quick update on progress towards l’Etape du Tour….

Training is going well. I’ve already lost 1 stone since 1st January due to training and a radical change of diet (which has had the bonus of making me feel incredibly ‘well’). I’ve cut out the usual suspects like crisps, chocolate, cake, biscuits and so on, and switched meals away from anything that includes refined or processed foods, to wholegrains, rices, pasta, noodles, oily fish, white meat and so on. The sort of stuff you’d expect, along with Hi-5 and ZipVit training and recovery drinks. I’ve masses of energy, sleep far better and just generally feel very different. Lighter, nimbler, more agile. Like an antelope. Sort of.

Anyway, I’m plugging away on the turbo trainer 4-5 times a week, and, where possible with the continued wintry weather, get out on the road tackling hilly routes in the local area. I’m aiming to drop another stone before the July 18th epic and that should be easy enough. My max heart-rate is now 198bpm, which seems good for a 40 year old, and resting pulse sitting happily at 50bpm. I’m using specific heart-rate zones for my turbo sessions and they’re paying off.

Rob and I have today entered 2 warm-up events in May which will really give us an indication of where we are fitness-wise. Firstly, on 9th May, the Hampshire Hilly Hundred, followed by the King of the Downs Super Sportive on May 23rd. This is another hilly route, albeit over a slightly longer 113 miles. By way of reference the 9th May event climbs 2390m (7847ft) over it’s 100 miles, with the 23rd May ascending 2770m (9100ft). The former has 20 climbs with the latter having 10. l’Etape itself climbs over 4700m (15500ft+).

That’s a lot of uphill stuff.


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