The occasional scrivener

I’ve finally got a pro account on Flickr thanks to the incessant nattering of the #photogeeks crowd. Thanks Rasmus and Jedrek for pushing me over the edge.

Of course, now I have nothing worthwhile to post…

I just got hold of my latest Tradera purchase, a Nikon E-series 135mm f/2.8. This lens is in much better condition than the 24mm Nikkor I recently bought, thankfully.

It’s a nice compact lens with a neat little integrated hood. The E-series have been critisised for not being up to the Nikkor standard of build, but compared to today’s plastic fantastics it feels wonderful. The focusing is pretty stiff ompared to the 24, but it’s more like my old Zuiko so I can’t say I’m unused to the feel.

Some test shots are up on Flickr. Pay no attention to the exposure errors, I’m learning. I think this lens has some definite potential for indoor available light shooting if I rack up the ISO, and I’ll be happy to investigate the different perspectives available with this little telephoto.

Oh, in other news, I’ve sold my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 to someone more likely to appreciate it.

Update 2008-02-27: The rumours are true! Here’s the site for the modification. Sounds doable if you are handy with a soldering iron and don’t care squat about your camera’s warranty.

Basically you hardwire a lens chip to you camera and turn it on to fool the camera into thinking you have a chipped lens. Before exposure the chip is activated, and the camera meters.

Original post follows:

There are rumours that someone has found a way to get the Nikon D40 to meter with manual lenses. Here’s the dpreview.com post.

If this turns out to be true, and not too expensive, it will definitely be something for me. I’ve recently purchased a Nikkor 24/2.8 AI-s to try out on the D40. I don’t know if metering is such a big deal in the long run, but it’s the one thing that’s keeping me eyeing the D200.

Here’s hoping!

Update 2008-02-25: apparently the hack is both hardware and electronic (source, the daily updates on Ken Rockwell’s site, no permalink). I guess that makes it slightly more complicated than just a firmware hack, that I had naively hoped for.

Two lenses. 15mm difference in focal length, 42mm in physical, two stops, 230 grams.

Guess which one will be on my camera in the future? Autofocus is for wusses…

• Diffuser for Nikon SB-400
• Flash bracket Stroboframe Press-T

Wishlist

• Nikon D300
• Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SLII
• Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 VR

On Friday I purchased my new used lens, a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 prime.

It’s fun using a lens with such a large maximum aperture: natural light photography is possible without bumping up the ISO.

The Sigma is pretty big and heavy, a change from the featherweight 18-55 kit lens. The petal lens shade nearly doubles the length of the lens when mounted on the camera.

The angle of view for this lens is equivalent to that of a 45mm lens on a 135-format camera. This is a little wider than the “normal” 50mm and I’m not really used to it yet.

This Sigma is the fastest prime that’ll autofocus on the D40. If I’d had a Nikon with a screw-type AF I’d perhaps gone with a 35mm f/2 instead. That’s a smaller lens, but the smallest camera which has that AF is the D80 which is chunkier than my camera. Life is full of trade-offs.

Ken Rockwell has a damning-with-faint-praise review here. Some other reviewers have gotten lenses with misaligned focus. I did some improvised testing and it seems to be OK.

Here’s a pic of Viking with this lens. He looks sad, but he’s actually just thoughtful.

We hit Gröna Lund yesterday to have some fun before the summer definitely ended.

I’d borrowed a Nikkor AF 70-210mm f/4-5.6 from David. The AF doesn’t work with the D40. I liked having more reach than with my 18-55, but the short end at 70mm is pretty long.

I tried taking some action shots with it, but manually focusing is hard in a fairground.

Here’s a portrait of Viking’s oldest cousin. Shot at 70mm, the focus is good, probably because I used 1/250 as a shutter speed.

Here’s a portrait of his youngest. This time I was down to 1/80 which contributes to the blurry pic.

Here’s Viking on a ride. Nice soles!

The 70-210 is too heavy to confortably handle on the D40. Focusing was surprisingly easy though. Apparently the ground glass of modern DSLRs are optimised for slower lenses, which helps when focusing manually.

If I’d get a telezoom I’d probably go for the cheap-n-nasty 55-200 AF-S VR.

I got a call from FotoVideo saying I could pick up my D40 today. It has been in repair for exactly a month.

There was no documentation about what had been done with the camera, but the built-in flash worked, so that was obviously fixed.

I had a look at the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, which feels like a sweet piece of glass. I’m planning on buying it as soon as summer’s over.

I turned in the Nikon for repairs today. It could take more than a month before I get it back. I’m seriously considering shelling out for a compact to tide me over.

I could also get the OM-1 out of the locked closet and shoot some film.

I don’t know how it happened, but sometime during last night’s office party the built-in flash on the D40 stopped working. Right after that, darkness descended, and I couldn’t get evidence of the shocking things happening around me. Better luck next year, when I hope I’ll get the SB400 Nikon promised me when I bought the camera.

The Nikon D40 and D40X will mount a lot of Nikon lenses.

Autofocus is only available with AF-S and AF-I lenses (the ones with internal motors).

Metering is available with AF and AI-P lenses (“CPU lenses”).

AI-s and AI lenses will mount, but won’t meter.

See this page for a good overview of the alphabet soup that is Nikon lenses.

The following lenses will bust your camera and/or lens, according to my D40 manual:

• TC-16A AF teleconverter
• non-AI lenses
• lenses that need the AU-1 focusing unit (400mm f/4.5, 600mm f/5.6, 800mm f/8, 1200mm f/11)
• fisheye lenses (6mm f/5.6, 7.5mm f/5.6, 8mm f/8, OP 10mm f/5.6)
• Old-model 21mm f/4
• K2 rings
• ED 180-600mm f/8 (serial numbers 174041-174180)
• ED 360-1200mm f/11 (serial numbers 174031-174127)
• 200-600mm f/9.5 (serial numbers 120001-300490)
• lenses for F3AF (80mm f/2.8, 200mm f/3.5, TC-16 teleconverter)
• PC 28mm f/4 (serial numbers 180900 or lower)
• PC 35mm f/2.8 (serial numbers 851001-906200)
• Old-model PC 35mm f/3.5
• Old-model 1000mm f/6.3 Reflex
• 1000mm f/11 Reflex (serial numbers 142361-143000)
• 2000mm f/11 Reflex (serial numbers 200111-200310)

If you want more autofocus functionality, get the Nikon D80. If you want more metering, get the D200.

I installed Gallery v.2.2 today.

So it’s been a week since I bought my D40 and so far I’m satisfied. I’ve tried photographing as much as possible, taking the camera with me whenever possible. Having a big SLR is pretty unusual, and seems to lable you as a “photographer”. I try to keep it discreet, but I’d like a smaller, faster lens. The light weight of the camera is really appreciated.

(As an aside, people who borrow the camera invariably try to use the rear LCD as a viewer when taking pics. How quickly things change.)

I love the ease of use, the previews on the rear LCD rock, and the auto-ISO feature is really helpful. It’s still a miracle to me to just twiddle a wheel and see the shutter speed and aperture change magically.

The built in flash is great for fill-in lighting, less so for lighting up people in dark rooms.

Unfortunately, the D40 is not compatible with many older Nikkor lenses. I knew this when I bought it, and I still can’t decide whether this is an issue for me. A lot of Nikkor lenses are only available in manual focus, and the focusing screen is optimised for autofocus (i.e., no split level rangefinder or microprisms).

I need another battery pack. I was excited about trying it out in a “real world” situation, a show the kids at Viking’s daycare were putting on, but I just got a few photos in before the camera dies on me. Apparently the power indicator showing a third of a battery left means “change batteries now!”, and not that you have a third of a battery to shoot with.

Of course, a new battery costs about 10% of the camera’s original price. Welcome to the SLR money pit.

I’m considering getting a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens, for available light shooting. It’s pretty large, and is reporting to have focus issues (really important with the shallow depth of field) but I still think it’s the next lens for me.

I also need a better strap, and a bag… looking forward to a trip to a camera store, credit card in hand.

I’m researching online photo galleries, and will look into using the Gimp for photo editing.