Insane D800

The D800 broke many barriers when it was released - at the time of release/review DxO Mark awarded it the highest score in it's history (indepth analysis here); Mike Johnston at TOP made the following glowing statement following his own personal review:

For 25 years I've deliberately made it a point to experience a wide variety of cameras of most types: I've tested dozens of cameras, owned dozens of cameras, and seen and handled literally hundreds more.
[..]
Cutting to the chase: all things considered, the Nikon D800E and Nikkor AF-S 35mm ƒ/1.4G lens is the best overall photographic device of any description I have used thus far in my life.

High praise indeed although it hasn't been all positive news.

105mm f/2.5 AI-S: Another old school Classic

The Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 coupled with a Nikon FM2, was reportedly the combination used to capture one of the most recognised portraits of recent times: Steve McCurry's "Afghan Girl". But how does this lens perform when not in McCurry's hands?

Minolta Flash Meter III: Too Square to be Cool?

The Minolta Flash Meter III was released in the early 1980s and feels very much like it's time but how is it for basic metering?

Mega JS Mama's Twin: cloned at 50"

Mama's got a brand new bag twin - a Chinese made 120cm x 120cm umbrella framed softbox.

CNX2 WB Correction Confusions

^{[ These are notes for my WB hacking with CNX2 - it's not meant to be a WB tutorial ]}

Still trying to get to grips with CNX2 white balancing for skin tones. I understand that skin tones should result in R>G>B, with a ratio of [ 1 | 0.85 | 0.75 ] being 'reasonable'.


^{red top | blue bottom | neutral third left}

However, most skin tone tutorials refer to corrections in CYMK but CNX2 gives us RAW development corrections with red-blue values only, although it does give us colour balance corrections with CYMK in the adjustment section.

What are the problems with performing development WB corrections with red and blue only?

Single/Double/Close In Diffuse Action

Lighting shiny products and options: bounce-style softbox (Westcott Apollo) vs straight through softbox (Ezybox)




Vanilla modifier vs extra diffusion vs vanilla modifier close in.

Manfrotto 498rc4 - Not quite like a 486

Manfrotto's ballheads are reasonably priced items that will last a lifetime. I had a 486rc2 compact ballhead that served me well but wanted something that was a little bigger.



Step in the 498rc4 midi ballhead.

Cumulative Key and Fill

^{fill only | key only | key and fill}

Maths seems to rule the world and normally in a complex way. These are notes to allow us to approximate the final exposure based on an overlapping key and fill light.

Wet Spring Cleaning

As with most things commercial, there are a million different products claiming to be the ultimate solution. However it is difficult to narrow these down without recommendations and worse (if you are in the UK) then once you have decided to follow a recommendation, you are likely to find that what you want isn't readily/easily available.

Reaching for Another 50mm: 50mm f/1.4 AI-S

The 50mm 'standard' lens was the 'kit' lens of yesteryear but that didn't mean that they were poor quality. In recent times, the 'basic' Nikkor 50mm was the very affordable and highly competent 1.8D but how does this compare to it's older uncle, the 50mm f/1.4 AI-S?

Going Old School

Who said all design in the 1980s was bad?