Pete Carr's Blog » Gear http://www.petecarr.net/blog Things that I do Wed, 05 May 2010 20:37:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Quick thoughts on the Nikon 14-24 http://www.petecarr.net/blog/2008/12/19/quick-thoughts-on-the-nikon-14-24/ http://www.petecarr.net/blog/2008/12/19/quick-thoughts-on-the-nikon-14-24/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:17:06 +0000 Pete http://www.petecarr.net/blog/?p=70 I finally got a chance to use the 14-24 yesterday on a shoot.  It was for Liverpool University’s Material Discovery lab.  Excellent place to shoot.  Very clean, lots of white panels reflecting nice white light.  I was using ISO 2000 for most of it and the shots are so clean.  I was also amazed by the 14-24.  Its incredibly sharp.  The fact that its f/2.8 is amazing too.  I could focus on one person with the rest of the lab out of focus.

Below is a 100% crop from the 14-24 at 24mm.  Its insane.

Nikon 14-24 100% crop

Nikon 14-24 @ 24

]]> http://www.petecarr.net/blog/2008/12/19/quick-thoughts-on-the-nikon-14-24/feed/ 1 Going Nikon http://www.petecarr.net/blog/2008/12/13/going-nikon/ http://www.petecarr.net/blog/2008/12/13/going-nikon/#comments Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:48:04 +0000 Pete http://petecarr.net/blog/?p=15 So this week I went Nikon.  Ya, crazy eh. But why? How? Why? For the love of god why?! I hear someone cry from the back of the room who doesn’t know whats going on but wanted to join in. Well a week ago my 30D’s shutter died. £200 to fix. I was left with a 10D, 24-70, 10-20, 70-200 and a 50mm. I pre-ordered a 5dm2 back in September and that was meant to ship at the beginning of December, it didn’t. It was then updated and meant to ship on the 11th and who knows if it would. So I thought to myself, to get back up and running I would need to spend £2200. 5d2 and 30D shutter. I needed the 30D for a shoot next week so I’d would have needed it fixed, £200. In an odd moment of clarity on Monday it hit me. D700 + 24-70 was around £2500. Only an extra £300.

Now I really liked the look of the 5d2. Brilliant camera. But 3.9fps was always going to be slower than the 5fps I was use to on the 30D. I could get used to it and planned to. But in my heart I wanted a “Canon D700″ and I have done for months. Everything was just so right, just what I wanted in a camera. So in a way the 30D breaking was liberating. If I had gone with the 5d2 I would have needed a new grip, batterys, and wide angle lens. Just as I would on the D700. It seemed like a no brainer. Spend a bit more money now and get that awesome kit. Sell Canon gear and its not that expensive really.

I’m now the proud owner of a D700. A 24-70. A 50mm f/1.8 and a 14-24! If I had stuck with Canon I was going to get the 17-40, a great lens but its no 14-24 and I do love wide angle stuff. The 14-24 is an amazing lens and I can’t wait to play with that. A whole 2mm wider than my 10-20 on the 30D and at the wide end thats a lot. Plus 2.8, should be interesting.

Oh the other good thing is that the D700 works with Lightroom right now. 5D2 doesn’t yet which would have been annoying in some respect. Plus the file sizes aren’t stupidly large.

Observations so far.

+ Awesome viewfinder.
+ The eye cover thing isn’t going to fall off like my Canon ones have, sooooo nice.
+ Lens hoods lock better.
+ I keep breaking the lenses when taking them off because they come off the other way to Canon.
+ Shutter sound is very cool
+ Love the customization stuff
+ B&W in live view!
+ Settings available from the rear display not just on top, awesome
+ ISO25,600! Grainy, but fun
+ Auto ISO. Brilliant stuff. Set the lowest shutter speed, highest ISO.
+ AEB does 9 photos!

- AEB only goes up to 1 stop either way, not 2 unless you take 5 photos. Thats going to take a bit of getting used to and hopefully it won’t cost me any possible HDRs. When I get the grip it’ll go up to 8fps and should be fine.

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