Wedding Shots with the D600 (et al)

This wedding I have been gearing up for ended up going well.  As I wasn't the main photographer, it gives me lots of latitude to experiment and have some fun.  My main responsibility was to get some shots of the guys getting ready, so not too difficult.

As usual, the way I used my gear at the wedding didn't really go according to plan.  I took the Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4 AF-D, the Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF, Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-D and the Nikon 20mm f4 Ai; but only the zoom got used.  The space ended up being quite tight inside the house where they were getting ready, so most of the time I kept it on the wide end of the zoom.  This changed to mostly long end for a few shots I took inside the church.

Groom to be checking his bow tie   Nikon D600 with Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4 AF-D abd Nikon SB800 flash

Bride about to walk down the aisle - Nikon D600 with Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4 AF-D abd Nikon SB800 flash

What got a lot of use was the NEX5n.  I took both the two old Leica lenses (50mm f3.5 Elmar and the 50mm f2 Summitar) and also threw in the Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar as a last minute thought.

Groomsmen  - Sony NEX 5n with Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar

Due to the tight confines of the house, I ended up attaching the Voigtlander 15mm, setting the camera to Black and White with some added contrast, and snapped away. As this lens is wide and slow, scale focusing is easy.  Setting the focus at 1.5m when wide open will get everything in focus from 0.8m to just short of infinity, very useful for this short of shooting.

Groomsmen in mirror  - Sony NEX 5n with Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar

In the church I continued to use the NEX, and attached the Leica 50mm Summitar.  This lens is really quite capable, and adding a little sharpness and contrast to the camera settings cures a lot of the lens's softness when wide open.  The Elmar wasn't used in the end.  The Hawks Factory adapter actually proved to be a pain in the butt.  It would move off position when focusing and my LTM to M adapter is very difficult to get off it.

Bridal party and parents at the church - Sony NEX 5n with Leica 50mm Summitar

The Happy couple with friends - Sony NEX 5n with Leica 50mm Summitar

At the reception, I dumped all the above gear and just took the Fuji X100.  My wife wanted me around as a date, so I wanted something small and unobtrusive for a few shots here and there.  I needed good low light performance and the Fuji's excellent auto white balance and fill in flash performance is great for this environment.  This generally worked well, and there were some great shots for some memories.

With bridesmaids at the reception - Fuji X100

Tomorrow's wedding

Reader's would have noted from a previous post that I will be shooting a wedding tomorrow, and I decided to run with my idea for the Nikon lenses, being the Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4, the Nikon 85mm f1.8 and the 50mm f1.4.  I am still undecided with the 20mm.

However I have decided to do an experiment.  I will bring along the NEX 5n with the Sigma 30mm f2.8 for use later on at the reception, and also bring one of the old Leica lenses, either the 50mm f3.5 Elmar or the 50mm f2 Summitar for an 'old' look to the photos.  Once before I brought along just the NEX3 and the 50mm Summicron, and that proved to be a bit of a disaster as I could focus on anything quick enough.  The Sigma will fix this problem, and the old lens will get some use on still subjects.

Wedding Weekend

Occasionally I get asked to shoot weddings, or parts of weddings.  I don't like being the main photographer, and usually refuse the job, but I am quite happy to do some support work, as is the case this weekend.  My main role is to shoot the groom and his groomsmen getting ready, so mostly indoor work, with possible candid shots later.  I doubt I'll do too much after as my wife will complain she won't have a date at the wedding!

Which brings me to what gear I should use.  I will take the D600, SB800 and a couple lenses; most likely the Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4, the Nikon 85mm f1.8 and probably the 50mm f1.4.  This should be enough.  I could take the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8, but it is heavy and I don't want to take too much gear.  I might also be feasible to take the Nikon 20mm f4 as it is so small, but we'll see.

It will be fun getting ready with a new camera, and I am looking forward to giving it a go!

The pick of the Nikon Manual Focus lenses

As mentioned in recent posts, the great thing about the Nikon D200, D300 and D7000 is that they meter with all Nikon mount Ai and Ai-S manual focus lenses.  The D700 also meters, and these lenses are just superb on full frame.

Here’s my pick of the must have Manual Focus lenses:

1.       Nikkor 20mm f4 –Classic tiny wide angle with great performance (about $250)

2.       Nikkor 24mm f2 – Until recently Nikon’s fastest ever 24mm (about $350)

3.       Nikkor 50mm f1.2 – Ultra wide aperture standard lens with super thin depth of field (about $450)

4.       Nikkor 55mm f2.8 Macro – Unbelievably sharp Macro lens.  Does 1:1 with an adapter (about $200)

5.       Nikkor 85mm f2 – Fabulous telephoto portrait lens – small, sharp, excellent (about $230)

6.       Nikon 100mm f2.8 Series E – Extremely compact and sharp tele lens and a bargain (about ($100)

7.       Nikkor 105mm f2.5 – Another great classic portrait lens ($160-$230)

8.       Nikkor 135mm f2 – Fast, sharp and reasonably priced (about $300)


9.       Tamron 90mm f2.5 Adaptall Macro – Lovely, sharp Macro. Does 1:1 with an adapter (about $170)

Nikon D2X with Nikon 135mm f2 Ai-S lens, shot at f2.8

There's some lenses not on this list that many will say are worthy, but in tomorrow's post you'll see why they have been left off....

Keepin’ the Show on the Road

I’ve recently done some changes to my blog so you can enjoy it even more!  I now have a special page for guest submissions called "Guest Page -> Your Work". The first shots are two prize winners, taken by my father.  If you would like to submit a photo, let me know.

As my photographic journey is one of discovery, I am often buying new gear to try out, hence my new "For Sale and Wanted" page.   Once I’m done with it I’ll sell it off to buy something new.  If you see something you might like, or have something I might like; please email me.

Lastly I’ve updated a lot of the places where the shots were taken in order to give you additional information.

This shot on Dundas West in Toronto was a quick one while waiting at the lights.  I shot it with my Nikon FE2 and I think it had the Nikon 20mm f4 on it at the time.

The 20mm lens comparison

I have two very different 20mm prime lenses in my collection.  

The first is a Nikon 20mm f4 manual focus lens.  This lens is known as the “Galen Rowell” lens as it was a favourite of the noted landscape and wilderness photographer of the same name.  The best thing about this lens is that it is absolutely tiny.  From lens mount flange to the front of the barrel it is only 36mm long – less than an inch and a half – and looks dwarfish on a D700.  How I wish my D90 would meter with manual focus lenses because, if it did, it would live on there permanently.

My particular lens is a ‘K’ type non-Ai lens, made around 1976, that was later converted to Ai.

Lens performance is solid.  At f4 its sharp across the board with little light fall off.  This is unusual for a wide angle, but probably due to its conservative f4 maximum aperture.  Sharpness gets better stopped down, with peak performance at f8 and f11.  

Nikon D700 with Nikon 20mm f4 at f4, and at 30cm minimum focus distance

The other 20mm lens I have is a Sigma 20mm f1.8.  This is one of the fastest wide angle lenses you can buy and allows you to hand hold in extremely low light levels.  However, it is big, about the same length of my Nikon 18-135mm DX zoom, but a bit wider around the barrel, then protruding out to take huge 82mm filters.  Some reviewers haven’t given this lens a spectacular write up, with soft corner performance (true), BUT  it does have one very distinct ace up its sleeve, and that’s close focusing.  It can focus to less than 20cm away from the film/sensor plane, which means at the closest focus point, objects are only 7cm away from the front of the lens.  With f1.8 and fast aperture, this can give spectacular results with out of focus blur for a wide angle, which certainly cannot be repeated with the Nikon.

Nikon D700 with Sigma 20mm f1.8 at f1.8, and at 20cm minimum focus distance

So, I decided to do a side by side comparison test, both at maximum aperture and minimum focus distance on my D700.  The differences are stark.  The Nikon lens is not particularly close to the subject, but with the Sigma you’re right on top of it.  In fact, this shot wasn’t quite at minimum focus distance as the petals were already about to touch the lens.  Sure the bokeh isn’t creamy smooth, but it’s not an 85mm f1.4 either.  Worth noting though that the centre of the flower centre is still sharp.

So, for these reasons, both have a safe home in my lens drawer, even if it might look like I’m doubling up.