Category Archives: gear

Tamron 18-270mm lens

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I recently had an opportunity to try out the Tamron 18-270mm zoom lens on a shoot in Louisiana (The full name of this lens is the Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD). The shot above is of downtown Baton Rouge, taken from the 27th floor observation deck of the State Capitol Building. That’s the wide end of the lens — 18mm. Now check this out:

That’s the Huey Long statue on the Capitol grounds shot from the same spot with the lens zoomed all the way to 270mm. These were taken my Nikon D7000 so, given the cropped sensor, the zoom range would be the equivalent of 27mm to a little over 400mm on a full-frame DSLR (Tamron Di II lenses are not built for full-frame sensors, however. Their Di lenses are the full-frame models). That’s pretty significant coverage. And it’s small — less than a pound and it takes 62mm filters.

To a travel photographer, the idea of having one lens that does everything while being lightweight and compact… well… that’s pretty appealing. Of course, you can’t have it all. No one lens can do everything. But this one does a lot.

There are shooting situations that require that you “go light” and not take all your gear. An example might be a day out in a kayak. You don’t have space to take a lot with you and it might be inconvenient — if not dangerous — to try and change lenses while out on the water. That’s where I see a lens like this really shining. It would get you through almost any situation you might encounter from wide shots of your companion kayakers that show the surrounding scenery, to tight telephoto shots of wildlife that might appear with little warning.

To achieve a zoom range like this and to keep the lens light, you need to give up some speed and the Tamron 18-270 is an f/3.5-6.3. Almost everything I carry is f/2.8 or faster so this might seem slow — especially if you’re hand-holding it and shooting telephoto — but the 18-270 does have very capable stabilization and — let’s face it — with today’s DSLRs it’s no longer such a big deal to crank up the ISO a little.

As another example of the Tamron’s range and the creative potential that it brings: here are two shots from the reverse view of those at the top of this post. These are taken from behind the Huey Long statue, looking back up at the Louisiana State Capitol Building (Long was instrumental in its construction, by the way, and was assassinated inside it). I took a few steps in between these two images but they are shot from more or less the same position. The shot on the left at 18mm (27mm equivalent) and the one on the right at 270mm (400+).

I shot a lot with this lens while on my Louisiana road trip and will share more images later. The Tamron 18-270 impressed me enough that it’s earned a place in my bag when I go to New Zealand next month. Then we’ll really see what she can do.

Back from Fiji

The Society of American Travel Writers Freelance Council (which I currently chair) held its Spring meeting in Fiji last week. In between business meetings, professional development sessions, and some spectacular events put on by our hosts, there were a few hours left to squeeze full of all manner of touring and photo opportunities. Caving, cruising, fire dancing — you name it. Quite a week indeed.

This was my first outing with the Nikon D7000 and my new Think Tank Photo sling bag. Both performed admirably. The sling was a bit less comfortable than my old backpack on long airport treks between gates (anyone dashed the several blocks between LAX’s terminal one and the international terminal lately?) but it more than made up for it when it came to accessing gear. It’s really nice to be able to swing it around and open it up from the top, regardless of which shoulder you’re wearing it on. Nice work Think Tank! The smaller size made it super easy to get into overhead compartments, too.

The D7000 and I had a few issues at first but we’re working them out. The focus seems a bit quirky to me but I probably just need to explore the various settings a bit more. The really odd thing to me is that I always have to refocus when shooting video. I tend to take a still first to test exposure, but when I then switch on live view it’s out of focus and requires another half-press of the shutter release — which is kind of counter-intuitive given that you have a separate button on the back for video. I don’t know what’s up with that. I also had some trouble early on getting my exposure to match my manual settings for stills but then realized there is a menu setting where you can turn on “manual movie settings”. It’s off by default, evidently. I guess I should have devoted a bit more time to reading the manual before I left. Oh, well.

Anyway… more on all of this soon. The mad rush to get these images catalogued before the next trip is on. As usual, I’ll share a few shots as I make my way through the shoot.

I like my water clear, thank you

Adjusting this photo from Saturday’s NE Kansas excursion was a little more work than it needed to be. This is the Buffalo Soldier Memorial at Fort Leavenworth and apparently someone thinks the water looks better dyed an unnatural blue/green color. That, or it’s been this way since St. Patty’s day. Maybe there is some other perfectly reasonable explanation for the water’s color, but it looked really, really strange in the falls below the sculpture. You can see for yourself in the un-fixed horizontal version below:

Note to all fountain owners — green water doesn’t look better! In Lightroom, I had to go through a whole process of selectively desaturating the aqua range of the color spectrum and painting in with the adjustment brush a combination of increased contrast and desaturation until things were looking somewhat natural again. Whew.

By the way, I was also putting a new camera bag through its paces on Saturday. For my upcoming Fiji trip in just a few days, I picked up a new Think Tank Sling-O-Matic. Here’s a photo of it from their site:

I had originally planned on getting the smaller Sling-O-Matic 10 but it wasn’t in stock locally and upon seeing the size of the 20, thought it might better fit my gear. This bag is slightly smaller than my Think Tank Airport Ultralight and is a sling-bag instead of a full backpack. While I’ll miss the distribution of the weight across both shoulders, I welcome the ability to swing the bag around to access lenses without taking the bag off.

The bag worked great on Sunday and I look forward to seeing how it does on a longer trip. My Ultralight fit nearly every overhead compartment I encountered although it was a bit tight in some. This one should slide right in, but the laptop will have to be carried separately in its own sleeve. There is a side pocket that will take the laptop on the Sling, but an inch or so sticks out and I’d be a little nervous that it might work its way out while out of my view on my back (the way the pockets work is that they’re top-opening when you sling the bag ’round front, but are side-opening when worn on the back).

I’ll report back after the Sling has logged a few air miles.

So long, old friends

I’m saying goodbye to two fine traveling companions — my Nikon D200 and D300. They’ve served me well and we’ve had a great many adventures together.


Easter Island, shot with the Nikon D200 in 2006.

I picked up the D200 in 2006 just prior to a trip to Chile and Easter Island. What a way to start. It was almost literally like going to the ends of the earth. The D200 was my main body for a couple of years and never gave me a bit of trouble. In 2008, I borrowed my brother’s D300 for a back-up body when a trip to China suddenly came up. Upon returning home, I bought it from him.


A low-light shot from China, taken with the Nikon D300 in 2008.

The two traveled well together but the D200 was semi-retired in early 2009 when I added a D700 to once again have a full-frame body. I like to carry two bodies both for back-up purposes and to have two lens options quickly available at all times, but carrying three is too much for me. Still, I hung onto the D200, thinking that I might convert it to infrared. It was tempting but I never got around to it — partly because I didn’t know how much use I’d get out of it and I didn’t want to have the extra weight in the bag at all times. If it’s not with you, you won’t use it, right? So… it never happened.

The D300 and D700 have accompanied me to Egypt, Canada, Dubai, Thailand, Jamaica, Germany and other exotic and not-so-exotic places but the time has come to make a change in the lineup again. I’ve been feeling the need to add more video capabilities and the new DSLRs that shoot video would allow me to do that without carrying much extra gear. So, I’ve ordered a Nikon D7000 to become the new traveling companion for my D700. I’ll fill you in more when it arrives.

Decade in review: 2003

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Continuing my review of the the past decade…

2003 marked the year that I moved solidly to digital. I still had my F100 and shot film on assignment for publications that hadn’t themselves transitioned to digital yet, but for my stock work — and especially international travel — I was 100% digital.

The images in this post come from a trip to Greece and Turkey in May and June of 2003. I had a Nikon D100 and traveled with a Mindstor portable storage device and a 12″ Powerbook for back-up. I remember it was startling how easy it was to pass my entire camera bag and laptop through the airport x-ray equipment without a worry of images being fogged. I was done flying with film and I’ve never looked back.

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I loved Greece and only wish I’d had more time there. With just a few days in Athens and Delphi, then a short cruise to the islands of Crete, Patmos, Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, and a quick stop at Ephesus in Turkey, it was a lot packed into a short time and there was never time to wait for good light. I took what I could get and considered it to be a great scouting opportunity. One day I’ll go back and spend a few days each in one or two places but I now have a much better idea of where I’d like to spend that time.

Of the Greek islands, I think the Cyclades were my favorite. Mykonos and Santorini belonged to this group of rough and rocky islands and I found them to be endlessly photogenic with their whitewashed jumbles of blocky houses and shops.

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These two are from Mykonos. My research had told me that there were a row of windmills on the far side of town from the docks so I made my way immediately in that direction to catch sunset. There’s no direct route to anywhere on Mykonos but wandering the narrow streets was half the fun. The shot looking up through the balconies was taken on the walk back to the boat.

One other lesson learned on this trip: it was during this time that Athens was gearing up for the Olympics and that meant that everything was under construction or renovation. Probably not the best time to visit a place for stock photography. There was scaffolding everywhere. The construction also meant that many images would be dated almost immediately. Still, there’s so much to see in Athens that I wasn’t short of things to photograph. The highway construction that was going on between the city and the airport did make for some nervous moments before catching the flight home, though.

Another Saturday Morning

lawrence farmers market

Yesterday morning I was supposed to photograph an encampment of Civil War re-enactors but it was cancelled. I guess the guys couldn’t make it. So, what do you do when you throw a war and nobody comes? Have a good, hearty breakfast. So — as has become this summer’s tradition — it was off to the farmer’s market and ingredient for a blueberry waffle (thanks for the recommendation, Doug!).

I’m continuing to play around with the Lensbaby Composer. Yesterday I popped on the wide angle attachment and the f/5.6 aperture ring. I’m looking for that sweet spot of enough distortion that it looks purposeful while not so much distortion that it renders the image totally abstract. It’s a little fidgety to change out the aperture rings, especially when you’re using the wide angle attachment, so I want to find the right combo and pretty much leave it. I think this is getting pretty close. One of my main uses for this lens is quick food shots in restaurants where the background can’t be free of clutter. The waffle shot is pretty much what I’m looking for.

Update: Here’s a photo of the setup — a Nikon D300 with a Lensbaby Composer and the wide angle attachment (that weird, flared, trumpet-like bit at the end of the lens).

Nikon D300 and Lensbaby

Forces of progress

Shanghai financial district

I still have a few more photos from China that I want to share before my next trip begins on the 1st of February. This is a shot of two of the tallest buildings in China — part of Shanghai’s Pudong new development area. This area has sprung up from nothing in the last two decades and is now a symbol of both Shanghai and a changing China. Such a symbol that my main goal for this trip was to get a good, iconic skyline shot from across the river with the futuristic Pearl Tower and these other giant skyscrapers. More on that effort in the days to come but I’ll use this shot to talk about the shelf-life of Shanghai skyline photos.

In the guidebook I purchased just prior to my trip (published in 2005) photos of this area showed only the 88-story Jin Mao on the left. It was then the tallest building in China. The building on the right has since popped up — taller — and is now the tallest building in China. Great time to get some new, updated skyline shots, right? Surely that guidebook publisher is looking for new images when they go to reprint. But wait. Construction is already underway just blocks away for another new building that will eclipse both of these towers. Looks like my shots will be stale in a few months time, too.

Just as well. Even though it looks like a beautiful day in this shot, haze made getting a distant skyline shot difficult during my two days in Shanghai. I’ll post a few shots that I did manage to get during that time over the next couple of weeks but that twilight shot of sparkling towers reflected in the river just never came together for me. Flexibility is the name of the game, though. There’s always something to shoot.

Progress has also been affecting my life in other ways lately. I’ve recently updated all of my Adobe software to the CS4 versions. That would include Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Lightroom, Contribute… you get the picture. It’s always a little unnerving to update so much software all at one time — especially software that you depend on daily for your livelihood — and there have been a few hiccups but nothing insurmountable. It’s just that darned learning curve again.

Don’t get me wrong — I love to learn new things and I thrive on change — but there’s just a whole lot at once right now. Beyond the software, I’m still sorting out my new travel kit and the new D700 and D300 bodies. I finally decided it was time for a new bag, so I ordered a Think Tank Photo Airport Ultralight.

think tank bagThis bag weighs in at just over 2 pounds when empty so it adds very little to the carrying weight which is a major concern of mine, especially when getting through airports. The dimensions look good for the overhead bin and it has a very sleek outer surface that should avoid snagging as it gets stuffed in. I’ll typically still pack a small bag in my checked luggage that I can use on the street. Backpacks are great for getting all of your gear to a location, but they’re not so convenient when you’re trying to get to a lens fast on a busy Shanghai street. So far, I’m very impressed with this as a travel bag and look forward to putting it and all the other new stuff through their paces next month.

Seventeen days and counting until my 2009 travel year begins. I’d better start going through that 400+ page D700 manual.

Winter

frozen pond

If anyone suffered retinal damage from the two previous, intensely-colorful posts, I’ll offer a couple of soothing, nearly-colorless images today. We’ve been getting some snow lately and yesterday morning there was also a light fog so I thought it might be a good time to get out and do some testing of the new equipment. The shot above was made with the full-frame Nikon D700 and the Nikkor 17-35 at 35mm. I’ll try not to keep saying this but it is soooo nice to have that lens back as it was intended. The cropped factor of the previous Nikon bodies reduced the 17mm end to the equivalent of a 25 — not nearly as fun and a real loss when it came to interior work.

trees in snow

This shot is from the D300 with the 24-120 kit lens that came with the 700. This will be my first lens with vibration reduction so it will be interesting to see how it fares. The image above was made at the long end of the zoom at 120mm, roughly equivalent to 180mm since it was on the cropped-sensor body. I’m looking forward to having a full-frame and cropped-sensor body as it really expands the range of the lenses I carry. I imagine I’ll keep a wide on the D700 most of the time and take advantage of the crop factor on the D300 to get that extra telephoto reach.

More glorious yellow

Zhenjiang, China

Three monks at the Buddhist temple in Zhenjiang, China. Great faces, great color. How can you go wrong?

The packages I mentioned in my last post have arrived. Unfortunately, I’ve had little time for anything other than unpacking them. First among the new arrivals is a shiny new Nikon D700. I’ve waited a long time for a full-frame digital body from Nikon and the first thing I did was introduce her to my Nikkor 17-35mm. This had been a favorite lens of mine on my old film bodies and it’s good to have the wide end back. I think these two will be nearly inseparable.

An odd circumstance of pricing made it cheaper to buy the D700 with the 24-120 lens than without. It wouldn’t have been my first choice in a mid-range zoom but since it was basically free I could hardly say no. I’ll put it through its paces and see how it does. On the D300 it will be a crop factor similar to a 36-180 so if I carry it along with the 17-35 on the D700 I’d have most bases covered.

Part of my reasoning of going with the D300 and D700 is that their controls are arranged very similarly. When I was shooting with the D200 and D300 in China, I was constantly hitting the menu button on the 300 when meaning to hit the preview button (Nikon — stop moving buttons, please!). This would typically bring up the menu with “format card” highlighted which was particularly disconcerting. Anyway, while the two new bodies aren’t exactly the same, more similarity will help. As will their both having much better high ISO performance. I’ll post images and more thoughts when I get the chance to get these cameras into the field.

I should also mention that I added a Lensbaby Composer to the order. I borrowed a 2nd generation Lensbaby from my friend, Doug, when I went to the Gaspe last summer and had a ton of fun with it. The Composer is a little more rigid and controllable than the older models but I hope it will still be as enjoyable. I have to say my initial reaction was mixed. The build seems a little rough and the swivel clicks loudly when you first shift it from its current position. Maybe that will loosen up with use or I’ll get used to it. We’ll see.

The other major addition to the ol’ camera bag is a new iPhone. I’ve been nursing an ancient old cell phone for years but finally made the move to join the rest of the 21st century and now have a phone that can actually receive a text message! First reaction to this piece of gear is sheer joy. I can’t believe how sweet this piece of technology is. I’ve already hit the app store for a sunrise-sunset calculator called Focalware, too. I had something similar on an old Palm device and found it very useful. Nice to have that info handy again.

So much to experiment with in the coming days. Sure would be nice if the weather would cooperate with a nice day for shooting this week but it looks like it will be luxurious if it gets above freezing. Maybe we’ll get a good snow…

Tianning Temple

Tianning temple

I spotted this round window and incredible yellow wall at Tianning Temple in Changzhou, China, and waited for someone to walk by. No one did. I waited longer. Still no one. There were plenty of other things in the area to shoot so I walked on but kept my eye on the round window. Finally, I noticed a monk headed in the right direction and I literally ran back to my spot with just enough time to fire off this one shot. It’s not perfect, but I’ll take it given the circumstances.

I’ve neglected to mention that our old house sold. In fact, it was one month and three days from our first meeting with the realtor to closing and receiving the check. I think that’s pretty amazing. Not only is our workload now reduced by only having to care for one property in one town, but we’re also finally able to do some much needed upgrading of our business equipment. Some new hard drives arrived today and I also completed the adoption of my brother’s Nikon D300 that accompanied me to China last month (In fact, I shot this photo with it). More is arriving tomorrow. Stay tuned.