We had thunderstorms pretty much all day long today … and I captured a few images through my kitchen window with the D7000 and the 70-300VR. The window is not super clean, but of course focusing at a distance threw much of the dirt way out of focus and post processing took care of the rest.
Some of you might remember my tree … I had it removed last year because it was dying … the Ash Beetle pretty much took care of it, as happened to many Ash trees in this city. Anyway, they ground the stump, but were in a bit of a hurry apparently, as this appeared over the last few weeks:
D7000 + 70-300VR 800 iso f/5.3 1/200
If it will remain a bush, I will happily keep it … if not, then I will need that stump ground again. Here’s the rain pounding on my car … it poured like this off and on all day.
d7000 + 70-300VR 800 iso f/5.6 1/200
I’ve got a leak in my eves trough above the porch, and I managed to freeze the leak, mostly. Kind of cool, I think.
d7000 + 70-300vr 800 iso f/5.6 1/640
A squirrel got caught in the rain and stepped up on my wood pile under the garage eves to wash his leg. I’ve never seen that behavior in a squirrel before … fairly decent for high ISO on a dull day through a dirty window :-)
d7000 + 70-300VR 3200 iso f/5.6 1/400
At this point, I went back upstairs and set up product photography stuff up again for a few fun shots. Nothing special (:-) … just dicking around.
Here is a shot of a bottle of Residual Oil Remover, or ROR. It is a superb lens cleaner and will make them look brand new. I bought this bottle from BHPhoto.com added on to another order. I think it cost me 8 bucks and I expect it to last for years.
Note the clean shadows, I have the two flashes higher and angled down a bit more steeply into the top left and right edges of the light tent. Seems ok. Also note the extreme sharpness of the 70-300VR at 145mm. It has been compared to the 70-200VR in the common range, and this is but one example to prove it.
d7000 + 70-300VR @145mm 640 iso f/9 1/250
And then there is the Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 lens, an exquisitely sharp lens that I bought for the D700 and do not have the heart to sell. I may very well trade my D7000 up to the new full frame camera … and this lens would be a superb walkabout lens, as is my 17-50 2.8 on the D7000.
d7000 + Tamron 28-75 2.8 @75mm 640 iso f/13 1/250
I was agonizing over whether or not to buy a second battery for the D7000 as I ran out of battery filming the wildlife at the local beaver lodge one evening … but Nikon have pulled a nasty Panasonic and set the camera up to only accept their batteries, which are 70 bucks a pop. So I thought I would try the alternative and buy a cheap grip that can house NiMH batteries, thus giving me infinite power.
d7000 + tamron 28-75 2.8 @75mm 640 iso f/13 1/250
It does work, giving me massive power, but the buttons do not seem to work … perhaps there is a setup I am missing somewhere. Anyway, I regret buying it, as it is too bulky and interferes somewhat with my nice new rapid strap. I also have to move the body plate when I mount it … *sigh* …
I’ve featured this next item many times on this blog. I like using it to test as it is busy, has lots of features, and has enough detail to make comparisons interesting.
In this shot, it is perfectly lit and I think it comes out very nicely.
d7000 + tamron 28-75 2.8 @75mm 640 iso f/13 1/250
Another interesting subject. Note that the camera is raised form the ground … this is because I have a spare Arca Swiss plate on the bottom. Anyway, it looks great here.
d7000 + tamron 28-75 2.8 @75mm 640 iso f/9 1/250
It’s pretty big …
d7000 + tamron 28-75 2.8 @75mm 640 iso f/9 1/250
And that is a nice segue into the F200EXR, which is still at my house.
d7000 + tamron 28-75 2.8 @75mm 640 iso f/9 1/250
And last, but definitely not least, the setup itself …
A light tent 3’ cubed from China on eBay. Adorama light stands, 12’ air damped. Inexpensive 39” white shoot through umbrellas from eBay. SB600 on the left, SB800 on the right, both set as remotes.
d7000 + tamron 28-75 2.8 @28mm 640 iso f/2.8 1/250
So there you have it. A bit of fun … I do love the D7000 now that it has come back with perfect phase detect focus. It is just a joy to shoot …
