I burnt a hole in my pocket, splurging on the most advanced flash unit nikon has ever made: the SB-800. It's hell ex... at $520 (a new one costs $620) for a xenon tube people will think you are SIAO. Some time i will make my equipment pay for themselves.
I figured i will be shooting more events, and realised the weakness of the SB-600 after the previous wedding shoot. It just isn't powerful/accurate enough. I have to levels up almost every pic and ended up with a whole lot of noise. Hopefully the new flash will solve the problem.
The worst part of this purchase is... i want more stuff! I'm now awaiting the new 55-200mm VR, and eventually i should go for the tamron/tokina 16/17-50mm f2.8.... and eventually i will be begging on the streets with a sign that reads "will shoot for food"
Friday, March 23, 2007
Overseas wedding shoot
My second wedding shoot ever since i bought my d70. Taken in Kuantan, Malaysia, for my relative who isn't really particular about AD wedding pictures. I tried my best, but results aren't as good as i thought.
Biggest problem is lens changing. Taking my tokina out in the field for the first time, i sort of overused it and had much more "overview" shots compared to closeups. This is directly opposite to the first wedding shoot back in december. I also had a hard time anticipating when to change lens... i missed a lot of smiles and potentially nice portraits when my tokina was on. This is a major failing factor. (and that's why pros have 2 bodies)
Have to be thankful for the tokina though, as i couldn't possibly catch the grandeur of the wedding (held in a huge temple) without the wide FOV. I also managed to "widen up" the small room where the bride was making up, with the wide angle's optical characteristics. I'm not going to post those pics yet as i've yet to obtain permission.
To sum it all up, the shoot got all the necessary pictures, but nothing really spectacular.
A casual shot with the tokina at the beach:
Biggest problem is lens changing. Taking my tokina out in the field for the first time, i sort of overused it and had much more "overview" shots compared to closeups. This is directly opposite to the first wedding shoot back in december. I also had a hard time anticipating when to change lens... i missed a lot of smiles and potentially nice portraits when my tokina was on. This is a major failing factor. (and that's why pros have 2 bodies)
Have to be thankful for the tokina though, as i couldn't possibly catch the grandeur of the wedding (held in a huge temple) without the wide FOV. I also managed to "widen up" the small room where the bride was making up, with the wide angle's optical characteristics. I'm not going to post those pics yet as i've yet to obtain permission.
To sum it all up, the shoot got all the necessary pictures, but nothing really spectacular.
A casual shot with the tokina at the beach:
Thursday, March 1, 2007
A new member of the family
On the first day of Lunar New Year, there came a new addition to my lens lineup. It's called the tokina 12-24mm f/4. Weighed in at 570g, and setting me back by $720, it's the most expensive lens i've bought so far. (this gives you an idea how newbie i still am)
Haven't really tried it out yet, but 12mm isn't as wide as i thought. Could have gone with a sigma 10-20mm, but anyway... I post this entry without a photo, just to keep it alive.
I guess my first outing with the tokina should come this weekend, provided it doesn't rain. I should be roaming the CBD area for some HDR architecture shots. Watch this space.
Haven't really tried it out yet, but 12mm isn't as wide as i thought. Could have gone with a sigma 10-20mm, but anyway... I post this entry without a photo, just to keep it alive.
I guess my first outing with the tokina should come this weekend, provided it doesn't rain. I should be roaming the CBD area for some HDR architecture shots. Watch this space.
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