Bokeh Comparison - Primes vs Zoom

After I wrote Full Frame vs Crop sensor Depth of field comparison (DoF) I started wondering whether a zoom lens can match the bokeh of a prime lens. So I did a little test where I compared the Nikon 18-200mm VR II with the Nikon 85mm f1.8D and 35mm f1.8G. Before I started the test I realized I needed to use a real world example because those lab test don't always show you what to expect out there in the real world.

First I set up my tripod with the Nikon D300 & Nikon 85mm f1.8D attached. I then took photos at f1.8 through to f5.6. Next I attached the Nikon 18-200mm VR II and tried to find 85mm on the lens which by the way doesn't exist. I only managed to find 82mm and 90mm. So I decided to match the view instead of the focal length which the camera showed as 90mm.

Here are the first batch of photos straight out of the camera. Click to enlarge

It's obvious the 85mm f1.8 wins when it comes to rendering a more beautiful background because of the large aperture. But how does it compare to a consumer zoom lens being shot wide open at the same focal length. That was the question. From the above photos we can see that the zoom actually has more contrast. Whether that is a good thing is actually debatable. Less contrast in my opinion makes for a more harmonious background which focus the viewers attention more to the actual subject. If we remove the contrast we still have two very different backgrounds with the 85mm f1.8D creating a better image in the end.

In the next test we still have the Nikon 18-200mm VRII but against the new Nikon 35mm f1.8G lens. I  expected the 35mm to have superior contrast to the 85mm f1.8 because of all the new technology and that was in fact the case. The 35mm has less contrast when shot wide open but when you stop it down to f4 it actually has better contrast than the 18-200mm VR and still renders a more pleasant background.

I know you can't call this a fair test because these lenses all have different uses. There are however many people who use a zoom as their primary lens and eventually want to experiment with something different. I actually carry my 18-200mm VR everywhere with me but I also have these two primes when I see a really special photo opportunity that need excellent sharpness or very shallow depth of field.

Happy Shooting!

Nikon 85mm f1.8 D review

Most people use the Nikon 85mm prime lenses for portraits because 85mm to 135mm is generally accepted as the portrait focal lengths. I'm not that much into portraiture lately and prefer shooting what mother nature provides me with.

I sold my first copy of this lens a few years back in favor of the Nikon 105mm VR Macro lens. My biggest gripe with the 85mm f1.8 D was that it was constantly hunting for focus in the studio when using any of the outer points. It worked better with the center point but that meant I had to focus and re-frame the shot which lead to other focus problems when working with shallow depth of field.



The other thing that annoyed me was the minimum focus distance of 85cm. This meant cropping a lot of my photos or having to switch to another lens when working with children. That is why I opted to go with the 105mm VR Macro lens.

To cut a long story short I bought another Nikon 85mm f1.8 the other day because I missed the images it produced so much. It is an excellent lens but does not come without flaws. To some those flaws are actually blessings.

The build quality is excellent and feels much more sturdy than the Nikon 50mm f1.8. It also balances better on most cameras and there is ample room to support the lens without getting in the way of the focus ring. The lens does not have a full time manual focus override so you have to keep your hands off the focus ring when it is focusing otherwise you will strip the focus gears. This can take quite some time to get use to if you are use to using newer AFS lenses.

The biggest reason people get this lens is because it can throw just about any background out of focus and turn a good photo into a great photo. There is however a trade off to be made and that is sharpness and contrast suffer very much when you shoot at f1.8 not to mention the Chromatic Aberrations. Stopping the lens down to f2.2 sharpness increases significantly and contrast is also much better. f2.8 completely eliminates Chromatic Aberrations and increases the contrast even more.

Here is three images shot at f1.8, f2.2 and f2.8

As you can see the f1.8 image definitely has the most pleasing background. f2.2 also produces a nice background whereas the f2.8 image looks very busy. On it's own the f2.8 looks really good but it really can't compete with the other two images.

Now lets take a look at some 100% crops from the above Images. Click for the full size

At f1.8 it almost looks like the Image has a soft focus filter applied. f2.2 looks much better contrast and sharpness wise. By f2.8 the difference is really small and you would probably have a better image shooting at f2.2 and getting that beautiful bokeh.

The Nikon 85mm f1.8 D lens can't be beat in terms of value for money and it has so many uses once you actually try to find something to shoot with it. Yes I know the Nikon 50mm f1.8 is much cheaper but I'm sure once you have used the 85mm you will be back for more. Earlier in this article I said this lens has some flaws which is actually blessings. The blessing comes when shooting from f1.8 - f2.2 The lack of contrast will actually make your background appear less busy and create a much more appealing photo. Here is one such example showing just how much a difference there is between f1.8 and f2.2.

 

Nikon 85mm f1.8D Specifications

• Mount Type
  Nikon F-Bayonet
• Focal Length
  85mm
• Maximum Aperture
  f/1.8
• Minimum Aperture
  f/16
• Format
  FX/35mm
• Maximum Angle of View (DX-format)
  18°50'
• Maximum Angle of View (FX-format)
  28°30'
• Maximum Reproduction Ratio
  0.11x
• Lens Elements
  6
• Lens Groups
  6
• Compatible Format(s)
  FX
  DX
  FX in DX Crop Mode
  35mm Film
• Diaphragm Blades
  9
• Distance Information
  Yes
• Super Integrated Coating
  Yes
• Autofocus
  Yes
• Minimum Focus Distance
  2.8ft.(0.85m)
• Focus Mode
  Auto
  Manual
• Rear Focusing
  Yes
• Filter Size
  62mm
• Accepts Filter Type
  Screw-on
• Dimensions
  (Approx.)2.8x2.3 in. (Diameter x Length)
  71.5x58.5mm (Diameter x Length)
• Weight
  (Approx.)13.4 oz. (380g)
• Supplied Accessories
  • HN-23 hood
  • 62mm lens cap
  • Rear lens cap

Capture NX2 speed and reliability tips

If you own a Nikon camera you probably know that this is Nikon's professional software for image editing. Capture NX2 can edit Nikon Raw files as well as JPG and Tiff files. So if you own a Pentax, Canon, Sony or any point and shoot camera and shoot only in JPG this software may also interest you. Capture NX2 provides the best image quality on the market for converting Nikon RAW files. Capture NX2 does have some small problems and with this post I will try to help you find some workarounds which will save you hours of frustration.

Let me start by saying that when I shot Canon a few years back I mainly used their software for converting my images from Raw. Then I started experimenting with other software on the market and found DXO Optics pro to be the best converter for me. DXO Optics pro was SLOW. Image previews sometimes took 20 seconds to load after just changing the white balance and this made it a real pain to use. What DXO Optics did well, was processing files automatically. You could literally just tell it which files you wanted and put it on autopilot. The results were excellent as they required very little to no extra processing in photoshop after conversion.

Then came the big switch over to Nikon. Lucky for me Nikon gave away free copies with the D300 when it was released. I immediately fell in Love with Capture NX. It was easy and quick to make adjustments. The only problem was the speed. It was still miles ahead of DXO Optics but now you had to make the changes to files yourself.

No matter how great Capture NX2 is it has some very big problems that can get annoying and eventually make you switch over to another RAW converter.

My biggest problem with it is when I get an error saying can't save file. This usually happens after editing about 10 files and having multiple adjustment layers applied to an Image. It took me almost 10 Minutes to get the photo just like I wanted it and now Capture NX2 tells you that it can't save your file? Well after turning red in the face dozens of times I found a way to cheat my way around it. What you need to do is select all adjustments and then right click. Click Save adjustments, give the adjustments a name and press ok. Now close your image without saving it and restart Capture NX2. Open your Image again then go to Batch -> Load adjustments and select the adjustment you just saved. VIOLA! All your settings are back and you can save your Image! I hope this tip saves you some time.

The other problem I was having with Capture NX2 was editing large Panoramas merged with Auto Pano pro. See the Taking Panoramic Photos part 1 and Taking Panoramic Photos part 2 as well as the 100+ Megapixel Golf GTI post.

The first thing you will notice when Importing a Tiff file created by Auto Pano pro is that Capture NX2 says it cannot load file. The sollution to this is to open the Tiff File in Photoshop and go to the channels tab and delete the channel Auto Pano Pro created.

Now we can open our 40+ Megapixel file in Capture NX2 only to realize it is almost unbearably slow to try and make any edits to it. So the first thing we need to do is to adjust the Images size to lets say 3000 pixels on the longest end and save it as a jpg. This file can now be edited much more easily by Capture NX2. You can do all editing on this smaller file except for cropping! When you are happy with the edits you have made simply select the adjustments and Save them. Now open the original 40+ Megapixel file and load the adjustments from the batch menu.

The 100+ Megapixel VW Golf GTI

If Your first thought is that this massive image was shot with a high end Hasselblad then you are wrong. It was shot with a Nikon D300 and Nikon 85mm f1.8 lens. Then how do we go from 12 Megapixels to 100+ megapixels? That’s easy! We shoot the same way we shoot a panoramic photo and then just stitch it later in Auto Pano Pro (Taking Panoramic Photos Part 1 Taking Panoramic Photos Part 2). The size isn’t what makes the image special. It is the effect a fast prime like the Nikon 85mm f1.8 offers us when working at such close distance. We used the Nikon 85mm f1.8 because it is fast and it has almost no distortion which makes stitching the final image a breeze.

The front image of the car consists of 32 photos taken at f1.8 with the focus locked on to the GTI badge. It is important to focus on the point you want and then set your focus to manual to make sure the focus doesn’t change. You also have to lock the exposure otherwise it will cause some very ugly blotches on the merged image. We start by taking a photo of the area we focused on and work our way outward. Remember that you need to leave alot of space around the car to allow for cropping after wards.

The back of the car consists of 50 images and that is because I actually got a bit closer to the car to lessen the depth of field and enhance the effect while also making it look like it was shot with a very wide angle lens. The back is unfortunately not as clean as the front and subtracts quite a bit from the image.

The front image was 130 Megapixels and the back image was a whopping 160 Megapixels after they were merged. I try to avoid photoshop whenever I can and prefer editing my images in Capture NX 2. This however caused some very interesting problems because Capture NX 2 isn’t know for being fast or stable but more on this in another post later this week.

Here are the final images in a very nice wallpaper size for everyone! click to download the full size image.

Happy Shooting!

Nikon 18-200mm VR I

The Jack of all trades but master of none. With this lens there is an exception to be made. Yes I know it can't be used for professional portraits or shooting sports but most people who buy a DSLR aren't professionals. The Nikon 18-200mm VR is one of my all time favorite lenses simply because it is so versatile. I always recommend it to someone who wants to buy a camera and they have always been happy with their pictures.

It is relatively small compared to most lenses on the market and is light enough to carry around all day. It is unfortunately not very sharp wide open and doesn't have great contrast but that can be fixed in post processing.

VR is probably one of the most usefull inventions in modern day photography. For people who are new to photography this is a must have since it will save them from many blurred pictures. It also allows you to capture scenes that would previously not have been possible without a tripod.

The only real downside to the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens is that you won't want to take it off your camera and experiment with other lenses which is really a must if you wish to learn more about photography.


Here are some Images taken with my 18-200mm VR. Click to enlarge

 

     

Full Frame vs Crop sensor Depth of field comparison (DoF)

We've all been hearing about the differences between 35mm Full Frame cameras and the very popular crop sensor (Aps-c) cameras . The thing that interests me however is the depth of field. Unfortunately this topic doesn't get covered very often and it makes a huge difference in my opinion.

With 35mm Sensors you get the actual focal length of your lens. With aps-c sensors you get a narrower view through the same lens because the sensor is smaller. So with a 50mm lens you actually have a view similar to that of a 75mm lens on a Nikon Crop body. Please note that the focal length does not change it just gives you an enlarged area in the middle.

What this basically means is that you need to get closer to your subject with a full frame camera. We all know that getting closer to our subject decreases the depth of field. So in theory full frame cameras should have the advantage if you want to isolate your subject from the background.


We can also then determine that with a crop sensors you will get more depth of field because you have more working room. This doesn't seem to make much of a difference to most professionals as they can always get everything in perfect focus with landscape photography. What you can't however do is get less depth of field. Unless of course you can afford a Tilt Shift lens.

So in my search of this topic I stumbled across this page by Bjorn which is very informative.
http://www.naturfotograf.com/D3/D3_rev06.html

As you can see from his test there is about a 1 stop difference between the backgrounds. As stated by Bjorn the differences are there but very small.

Now lets look at the Nikon 85mm f1.8 lens and compare it to the 85mm f1.4 lens. There is a difference of only two thirds of a stop. But the 85mm f1.4 lens is used by the worlds best portrait photographers. It costs three times as much and it isn't even as sharp as the f1.8 version. They pay that money solely to get a smoother background.

Do you think 1 stop makes a difference?

Well that depends really on the lens. If you are shooting with a cheap lens the Bokeh isn't very pleasing to begin with but if you are shooting something like a f1.4 I think you might just benefit a great deal from a full frame camera.

Happy Shooting!


   

Portable storage devices for your photos

Portable storage devices for backing up photos have been with us for quite a few years. Early 2006 I bought my first unit which was a PD70x with an 80gb Hard drive. It was poewered by 4x AA batteries and could even charge battries with the wall socket. It served me well for 3 years when I realised I needed something faster and with more space. The PD70x was very fast in it’s day and was capable of transfering 1Gb in under 2 minutes flat!

The problem came with the advances of technology. By the time I was ready to upgrade I was shooting with 4 and 8Gb cards. Who has 16 minutes to copy a memory card?

So the search began for a new portable photo storage device. What I really wanted was something that was faster and improved battery life. If you have looked into these devices in the past you probably would have noticed that Epson pretty much dominates this market with extremely over priced units that don’t really offer much space to begin with.

After some research I stumbled upon the Colorspace UDMA drive. I was very skeptical at first because of the low price and large amount of storage it provided. Luckly my local camera shop had one in stock and I knew should there be a problem I could return it without any hassle.

Here are a few things I like about this drive.
Full or Incremental backup
Data recovery from accidentally erased memory cards
Battery life is amazing
Speed
Backing up of USB flash drives
Charging via mini usb when plugged into the computer.

In the end it is a very capable unit for a very attractive price. If you don’t have a portable storage sollution this should be high on your list!


 

Black & White Conversion

I’m sure most of you remember at least one old black and white film photograph that still stands out from the rest. Those old black and white photographs just had a magical look to them and you have probably tried recreating that look without any success. Don’t worry many people have been in your shoes.

Converting to black and white seems like a very simple task which in fact it is. The hard part is converting it the right way so that it looks WOW.

We have almost unlimited options when it comes to converting our photos to black and white. Today we will be looking how to achieve excellent results with a plug in for photoshop.

First off we have our normal color photo as seen here.

In this example we have a very basic black and white image done in photoshop by removing the saturation. As you can see it lacks contrast and just isn’t impressive at all.

Now this Images look better doesn’t it? This is because we converted it with the black and white tool in Photoshop CS4. This is the best result I managed to get with this tool but it looks almost surreal now in a way.

Lastly we have used Silver Efex Pro by NIK software. This software has been nothing but amazing since I got it back in 2008. There are many presets for you to choose from and also allows you to add grain and film effects to your photos to give them that real authentic feel. In my humble opinion there is no better software for black and white conversions

Photography review sites

Sometimes we all see what we think is a bargain in the classifieds section somewhere and we think it is just too great to pass up. The problem lies with not having any experience with the piece of equipment we just saw for sale.
These sites will hopefully help you determine whether it is worth the money or not.

www.photozone.de

This site has an excellent and very extensive review section for most lenses. I personally use them very often because of their consistent review methods. They list all the relevant information in very easy to understand charts and also include some full size sample images so you can see what to expect.

www.slrgear.com

slrgear is a great resource for finding specifications on lenses. Whether you want to know the dimensions or closest focus distance of a certain lens. They also review equipment and have a very nice interactive chart for showing the sharpness of every lens they test at most apertures and focal lengths

www.pixel-peeper.com

This is a very handy site that lets you choose the camera and lens to search for images taken with that specific combination. Other search features include the ISO , shutter speed and even the aperture. The only problem with this site is that all those images are from users you don’t know. So be sure to look at multiple samples before making a conclusions.

www.dpreview.com

Digital Photography Review is a site that reviews cameras in great depth from the controls and menu system right up to the image quality. If you are considering buying a new camera this should be your first stop

There are many more sites out there that review photography equipment but I feel these are very user friendly and offer the best advice. If you have a few sites you would like to share please do so in the comments section.

Happy shooting!