Falling Off the Wagon!

Well; I did it. Went off the spending diet and bought something....well actually, four somethings! I've been researching a few items for some time. Two of them have been a backup camera and a general purpose lens that can also serve as"portrait" zoom . Last week, I found them.....both of them, all in one package.....kind of..... Anyway, there was an eBay listing from Portland, Oregon that had a Nikon 18-70mm/f3.5-4.5 lens that I've been wanting combined with a D70s camera that it was originally "kitted" with; listed for $150 BIN (Buy It Now). The lens alone has been selling for more than that on a regular basis. I know; I've been tracking them. The "fly in the ointment" was that the camera has a hot pixel, which shows up in red (at times) and leaves a bit of a trail (tiny red line extending down from it). The facts on this situation (other than the worth of the lens), is that completely non-working D70/D70s' often sell for nearly $100! So the gears started turning in my head. What if I added an inexpensive working lens and packaged it together as a system with a glitch? The probability is that it would sell for what I had in the whole she-bang....thus making the lens, free (or close to it)! So, I started looking.for a lens. 5 minutes later I came up with a Tamron 28-80mm lens selling for $27 (BIN, shipping included), and in the same search I found an Tamron 28-200mm lens with an auto-focusing issue for $15.50. Then I bought a 67mm Nikon NC filter for the new lens and I had well and truly fallen off the wagon and gotten run over by it!
OK, I'm exaggerating a little bit, since the facts are the I spent around $220 for, 1 camera, 3 lenses, and 1 filter. However when I came home yesterday from an all-day certification training (that was just a poke in the eye), it all looked much worse than it was since all 4 boxes had shown up at the same time and were piled up in the hallway!
So now, on to my rationale (or rationalization). No! It's not because that guy is threatening to break my face! For those who don't recognize him, he's Mike Holmes, the "Make It Right" guy and has several TV shows on HGTV. I love his show and on it, he's often seen shooting pictures of things done wrong as he inspects the houses. Although, the camera he uses is the devil's own, Canon, he has a short zoom mounted on it which is probably just the 18-55 kit lens that's sold with the camera. As i watched him use it on a weekly basis, it struck me as being very very slick handling and balanced for inside use. The converted focal length would be equivalent to about a 28-85mm on a 35mm camera. Although my 18-200mm super-zoom covers all that, it get a little heavy and unwieldy when you just need to grab a quick shot of the kids and/or the animals.
And this is something I really don't need. Kinda like getting out the shotgun to deal with a mouse in the house. Don't get me wrong, it's a great lens and the center of my arsenal, but just not the best for what I need most of the time. I've had this in the back of my mind for a long time. Of course there is the cheap 18-55mm kit lens that Nikon started selling with the introduction of the D50 which is really a pretty good performer, but with a Nikon conversion factor of 1.5x (vs. Canon's 1.6x), it only goes 27-82mm which is a little short of the other job I had for it.....a portrait lens.

Enter the Nikon 18-70mm/f3.5-4.5. This lens came into being as a "kit" lens as well, but one with a twist. It had "mid-line" build and optical quality! At a 35mm converted focal length of 27- 105mm, it's not only a great "grab the shot", quick-handling lens, but a nice portrait lens as well. Plus it has the added benefit of having a slightly brighter and shallower depth of field f4.5 at the long end vs. the 18-200mm which is already f5.6 at that focal lenght. It's not "VR" like the 18-200, but if you can't hold 105mm steady, you have no business shooting a DSLR!

As you can see, it doesn't extend anywhere near the length of the 18-200mm! As I've already confirmed as soon as I put it on the camera, the balance and handling of my D300 has completely changed.

It doesn't even tip over when I have the MB-D10 battery grip attached, lifting the whole assembly 1.5-2 inches higher. The construction of this lens is also very impressive as you can see by the Nikon diagram below.
Here's a comparison picture so you can get a better sense of the difference between the two lenses.

This lens really is a very good deal even if I had paid the full-pop $150-170 that they sell for. Instead of the VERY plasticy feel of the 18-55mm, you get much better construction with a steel mounting plate. Although that isn't a deal breaker for me, I don't like my primary lenses that I intend on using a lot to be built that way. The price is disproportionately low due to the fact that there are so many of them out there since they were often included in a "kit" with the D70, D70s, D80 and even the D200. In my case, I got the lens for a good price, plus got the D70s essentailly thrown in for free!

Now, if I can get what I hope for out of the D70s (with a hot pixel) and the Tamron lenses, I might even end up with a profit on my hands and possibly partially paying for my true target for a backup camera. The lighter and more compact, D50!

The Plastic-Fantastic!

In my last post, I touched on a "back-up" camera to the D300 (Holy Grail) that I bought last year, and have continued to give the idea more serious thought as well as quite a bit more research. I had also come to the conclusion that the best fit for me out of the cast of characters (Nikon D70, D70s, D50, D40), and the D50 had kind of "won out".
In this post, let me elaborate on this choice as well as another thought......a lens......go figure, right!?! Basically without slipping into "review" territory, let me just start with the important attributes about this particular Nikon model that has somehow separated it from the pack. First of all, it's significantly smaller than the D70/D70s bodies. The last post has an image of it right behind a D70 and it's quite marked. Below is a picture from the top which shows how much narrower it is.
I'm not saying that it's "pocketable", but when combined with the right lens (more on that later), this could present quite a bit less mass. So my search for something that's not as intimidating as my full on D300 rig with MB-D10 battery grip and 18-200mm super-zoom, for "street" photography could come to fruition. So, let's see; smaller, lighter, uses the same battery, can focus the same lenses. With the exception of it using the incompatible SD memory cards, this camera could be "IT"! After reading lots of reviews, I became even more convinced that this should probably be my target. One professional photographer/reviewer became so enamored of it, that he dubbed it the "Plastic-Fantastic"! The consensus of all the reviews was that although this camera was made of plastic, it didn't feel "plasticy", unlike the rival small Canons.

So, what has led me in this direction and away from the Olympus E-330 that I had discussed in previous posts? Here's the thing: most ALL advanced photographic systems are all about the glass. Ultimately, the vast majority of photographers who shoot SLRs (of any kind) will have more invested in their lenses then their camera bodies. And with the advent of the modern electronic-centric digital-SLR, this trend is even more pronounced. Quite often you'll even see high-end cameras displaced in the product line in as little as two years! It's simply not possible to constantly replace all of a collection of lenses. So, from a pragmatic standpoint, even if I bought an E-330 at a great price, then assembling enough lenses to make use of it would impede the acquisition of comparable Nikon glass that'd be useable in my main system as well. That just doesn't make good economic sense and I do teach that subject! Now, that doesn't mean I don't love the design of both the Olympus E-330 and Panasonic DMC GF-1 that I talked about in previous posts and won't at some future date try to pick one or both up when their prices have dropped more......but just not now. Yes, I know; it's a sad thing that we can't have everything that we want, but such is life!

So....how exactly does one turn a (relatively) compact DSLR like the D50 into some facsimile of a "street-shooter".....small, light, with some focal length flexibility? ....with the "plastic-fantastic" lens of course! As you can see from the picture above; that's not much of a lens. From it's plastic mount to it's plastic filter ring, it only measures 2.5". It weighs in at just a hair under 7oz. There's no aperture ring, so if you don't have a camera that's capable of electronically controlling the f-stops, then you're out of luck! It's actually a simplified version of the already cheap, 28-80mm/f3.5-5.6 kit lens that Nikon created to match their early low-end AF cameras (6 elements in 6 groups) which included a (then new) Hybrid aspherical element by bonding a polycarbonate (plastic) element with one of the glass ones. At the time, it was considered to be an adequate optical performer, but a pariah to traditional Nikonians for all the cost-cutting measures. However, this didn't deter the legions of consumers who now bought Nikon's inexpensive auto-focus cameras on which this lens was included as part of the "kit". The estimates of units produced vary, but it's most probably in the high- hundreds of thousands or millions, so finding one cheap is not much of a challenge!
The "undropped-shoes" on this is that, with modern, DX sized sensor digital camera, this lens is an amazing performer all out of proportion with it's size and cost (typically under $50)! When combined with the equally nice performing for the price (~ $150) D50, it makes a great inexpensive/compact combo, that would perform not only as a "street-shooter", take anywhere camera, but as a backup to my system as well. I know that the D40 is significantly smaller than the D50, but it doesn't have a screw-drive motor and uses a different battery as well.
As you can see from the above image, it's pretty darned compact and lightweight (26oz total) rig. My D300 with battery, but without lens weighs 32oz, by itself! That lens give a converted angle of view on a 35mm camera of roughly 42-120mm, giving it a nice "normal" to "portrait"-short telephoto range. All for a less than $200 with a little bit of judicious shopping!

Some of you might be wondering how this fits in with my "build quality" philosophy that I often point to? Of course, I still think and will probably always think that it's important, but it's also a relative concept of course. First of all; it's relative to what you can afford! Secondly, and I think, most importantly, the concept should be applied relative to the expected function of the product. More specifically; any "front-line" product that you'd expect to use regularly or in a high-leverage environment must be "top-notch". However, any device or product that's rarely used (like a back-up camera) must simply be functional. A good example is a home mechanic that only occasionally uses his tools: why would he run out and buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of professional grade Snap-On tools? In the case of this camera; it just needs to work at a decent level, be small enough to give me some functionality that the D300 does not.

Plastic-Fantastic indeed!

It's tough to be Frugal

It’s rough, but it's gotta be done. These days, I’m in a partially self-imposed austerity program. This is of course partially due to a lack of liquid assets, and partially due to just plain having too much stuff! However, that doesn’t mean I’m not on Craig’s List and eBay. In order to “stay in the game”, even when you aren't buying, you can’t afford to let knowledge about the market to slip. The other important factor is that the key of being frugal, is long-range planning! For me, that planning includes the growth in all three of my hobby areas. Today, I’ll discuss my photography “roadmap”.

I have for some time decided that I’d really like to develop in a several areas of photography. The first being in portraiture. To this end, I’d like to add one or more remotely controllable strobes, as well as the adapters, light stands, and modifiers necessary give me project flexibility. Ideally, that would be at least one more Speedlight which would give me a portable and powerful flash that’s compatible with the Nikon CLS system that I use. This would give me great flexibility in being able to set up multiple light sources in virtually any location at any time. In the same vein, I’d really like to have a relatively short zoom that would make a good balanced match on my D300. When shooting portraiture, I rarely if ever need the 18-200mm “do everything” super-zoom, and I just think that a smaller range lens is a better physical fit on my camera, especially when I’m not using it without the battery grip. Another eventual photographic target would be a “super-wide”, which would be something in the 24mm (35mm equivelant) range, that would give me the ability to set up and shoot interiors. I’ve been interested in lighting and shooting architectural interiors for some time. Maybe I might even be able to turn that into a business opportunity with real estate at some point in the future. Which brings up another item that would probably become a “need” down the road. For my own needs, not having a backup isn’t an issue, but when you are being paid by others for a specific job, non-performance due to equipment failure isn’t really acceptable, which means that there’ll probably need to be a “backup” camera at some point in the future.

This time of budgetary frugality where I’m just planning and not buying anything can be critical in helping me get the equipment that I need/want without make costly mistakes. So let’s look at the areas of future need and what I might want to keep tabs on now.

Lenses: Basically, I need something in the medium, norm-short telephoto range for a primary portraiture lens. Of course the most obvious would be to get into something with a nice wide aperture like f2.8, however after looking into it, I found that you can get more than adequate background blur by using f4 which bring the much more common f3.5 maximum aperture lenses into play. This one change alters the cost landscape by dropping the price by $200 or more. Typically the most flattering focal length used for this type of photography runs in the 75-105mm range which for a DX camera like mine comes out to be 50-70mm after the 1.5x conversion factor. In that case, there are a number of nice old Nikon lenses which are generally pretty inexpensive. In this group there is of course the 28-80mm that Nikon began producing in mass almost as soon as they started making auto-focus film cameras. There are of course others such as the 35-70/35-80mm range as well. These are full-on consumer lens, while-functionally and optically adequate, are often lacking somewhat in build quality, typically having lightweight plastic barrels as well as mounts. That being said, they can often be had for a song…down to the sub-$50 range. One factor for me though, is that I find myself increasingly using the wider focal lengths while shooting portraits and those lenses have ranges that translate to having starting points of 42mm and 52mm converted focal length respectively. Which brings us to the 18-70mm Nikon AF-S. This lens converts to a neat 27-105mm focal length that covers what I’d want to do very well. Plus this lens is considered to be optically very good, a mid-line lens with a metal mount AND was made in relatively large numbers since it was a “kit” lens often included with the D70, D70s and some D200s. This brings the typical price to be somewhere in the palatable $135-150 range. So why not theinexpensive and optically decent 18-55mm? Not much cheaper at around $100, plus hate the “cheap” feel of the build and on top of that, the 18-70mm is thought to be significantly superior on the optical front.

Now the "wide" lens. A long-standing buggaboo for DX cameras due to the smaller than 35mm sensor creates a 1.5x conversion factor often turning a very nice and wide optical formula into something "mid-range"! My widest lens goes down to 18mm (27mm converted) which isn't very wide to start with and at that setting comes with a VERY complex "mustache" shaped distortion as well. What I'd really like to be able to have to shoot indoors or covering large groups is something in the old 24mm range as related to 35mm film cameras. This is fairly wide without introducing a lot of distortion. Nikon makes such a lens, however it sells for a hefty $1000 + or -, used! Luckily, this is an area that all the independent manufacturers out there have had a lot of experience designing in and there are lots of choices. After quite a bit of internet research, I've found that all of the "big three" (Sigma, Tamron & Tokina) have well thought of lenses in this category, and the best balance of optical quality, cost and build is generally acknowledged to be the Tokina 12-24mm/f4. They tend to sell in the $325 to 425 range, but sometimes can be had for slightly less.

Most of the lens research is done and all that really needs to happen is for me to monitor it over time so I can detect trends and be able to differentiate any anomalies. Next on the agenda is the flash. Nikon has 4 flashes that are compatible with their Creative Lighting System (CLS): the current SB-900, SB-700 and the older SB-800, SB-600. They are all great and love the SB-600 that I've had for a couple of years now. Although, I have an old SB-26 with the built-in optical trigger, it's not CLS capable and therefore not directly controllable from the master. And although, the SB-600 has been a revelation, it can't be a "master", nor is it as powerful as the 800/900 strobes. Obviously, since the SB-900 is the newest and biggest, it's also the most expensive. Which leave the SB-800. This is one powerful and flexible flash! If you have any doubts; do yourself a favor, go over to YouTube and watch some of the Joe McNally videos on what can be done with these things. I've found that they routinely sell for $300+, so clearly I'm going to need to find a "deal" or save lots of money!

Which brings us to the last item: the back-up camera. As a back-up, there are certain criteria that it needs to meet. The main one that causes a difficult decision is whether or not you want it to be part your "system". I've decided the answer is YES and in my case, that's Nikon, CLS, and possibly "screw-drive" capability so it can function with the older non-AF-S Nikon lenses (of which I have 2). Of course ideally, a "back-up" should be identical or as much like your primary camera as possible. But obviously, I'm not in a position to buy another D300, or even a D200, nor could I see myself being able to rationalize it in my wildest dreams! This leaves the D70s, D70, D50 and D40. You guys that read this blog on a regular basis already know that I've owned both the D70 and D70s and liked them a lot, so those could be considered no brainers, especially given that they can take the same lenses (screw-drive), flashes (CLS), batteries as well as memory cards as the D300. Unfortunately, there's a downside to them......in that they are virtually identical in size to the D300.....although quite a bit lighter. Of all the candidates, the D40, is by far the smallest, lightest, and the newest (read: most advanced). There are downsides though: that small size and light weight comes at a price, which is the missing screw-drive motor and by extension an inability to focus older lenses. It also takes a different battery as well as SD memory cards instead of the CF cards of the D70/D200/D300. Then there's the D50. Essentially, it's a slightly more modern (but de-featured) D70, which is both smaller and ligthter, but as a consequence, uses the SD memory card as well. On the plus side though, it does have the screw-drive focusing motor and will take the EN-EL3e that the D300 uses. My research has shown that it typically sells in a similar range as the D70 so there's not much to give there. This price point seems to run in the $150 to 200 area so it's a good candidate from a budgetary standpoint.

My reality is that, at the moment, I can't spend much money, but I can plan, plot and watch. So when the time comes, I can pounce!