Nikon D800e & 35mm f1.4: Old Shell Fuel Depot at Danshui

In the old days, I hoped I would have a Leica, but what I had was a Cannon rangefinder with a 35mm lens from my father.  I should not complain since some of the greatest photographs were made with this type of camera.  Now, come 2012 in the digital age, one would hope to have a Leica M9, but a real dream combination for the old timer is Nikon D800e, the highest resolution DSLR, with the new version of Nikon legendary 35mm f1.4 lens.  

After several weeks of gloomy weather over Taipei, we finally had a beautiful day with the temperature in the 20s'.  I took the camera and had a short walking trip to the old Shell Fuel Depot at Danshui harbor.  The Fuel Depot was built by Shell in the late 19th century and recently completely renovated.  After carrying D4 with 16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm, D800e with a simple 35mm lens is a revelation. A lot of composition and the use depth-of-field have to be re-practiced.  It was just a different shooting experience, but I am still way behind those old masters that running around the battle field or Paris street with a simple Leica.

Technically, everyone will ask how the pictures from D800e compare to the ones from D4.  They have slightly different feel.  The sensor of D4 was made by Nikon and D800e was made by SONY.  The image from D4 actually requires less sharpening than D800e, which is a surprise.  One would expect the opposite as D800e does not have the anti-alias filter.  As the RAW image straight from the camera and viewed in NX2, I do not get any feeling that the D800e image is sharper.  

D4 is doubled the price of D800e, somehow it shows, both in how I feel the camera and how I fell the image.  D800e is great and the image can be as good as D4, and of cause when you really blow the image up (100%), the image of D800e can really be very big.  Photography is an art of discipline.  A fixed-focus 35mm lens demand a different type of discipline from me and this lens can be very versatile.  I can see myself in certain days and situation carry the D4 with 70-200mm and D800e with 24-70mm and in other days carry a single D800e with the 35mm f1.4 and a 105mm VR Micro lenses in my coat pocket.  The photographs I made with these two different set of equipment will be very different in style.

PC-E NIKKOR 24mm f/3.5D ED: Tilt

This series of images using the "Tilt" function of the lens with the technique that I described here without tripod.  

The camera was hold in perfect level at portrait position using viewfinder virtual horizon.  The aperture was set at 8 and focus at 5 meter.  The lens was tilted downward about 1.5 - 2 degree.  We can see the POF (Plan Of Focus) is almost right alone the flower bed going upward.  The leaves on the top of the plant closest to the camera is little bit soft for the reason that I described earlier.

I then turned the camera to the landscape position and now the lens was tilt toward left.  The WWII memorial is in focus all the way through.  You may find the stone wall a bit soft, which is caused by the special effect of the Color Efex Pro filters.  For this shot, I actually used tilt and shift at the same time.  I kept the camera in perfect level using viewfinder virtual horizon then shift the lens upward to get the composition.

In this image, I tilted the lens downwards with the camera in perfect level at landscape position, everything close and far are in perfect focus.

In this image, the flower hedge is at my waist level, I made sure that my lens was tilt enough (3-4 degree) that the POF started from my foot up to the distance will cover the flowers closest to me.  I managed to get everything in focus again.  To compensate the downward tilt of the lens, I might have pointed the camera slightly upward to adjust for the prospective change and kept all the vertical line straight.

PC-E NIKKOR 24mm f/3.5D ED: Shift (Chiang Kai-shek Memorial)

Using the shift function of the PC-E NIKKOR 24mm f/3.5D ED is actually very easy.  I will set the aperture at f8 and set the focus at 5 meter.  I leave the camera to automatic adjust the speed and ISO.  I use the viewfinder virtual horizon to make sure the D4 is perfectly level.  I then move the shift nob to move the lens up and down to get perfect composition.  All the vertical line of the image is now all vertically parallel.  There is no need of tripod to use this lens at all!

 Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Hall, named by the Nationalist government to a public assembly building built by Japanese in 1932 on the original site of Ching Dynasty China's Law Office in Taipei.

World War II memorial in memory of the return of Taiwan to China. 

National Concert Hall 

 National Concert Hall

National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 

National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 

Canoeing in the Mangrove Reserve

It is the first time I saw people canoeing in the Mangrove Reserve below our condo.

三芝小豬

We had breakfast this morning at this very interesting cafe located at 三芝.  It is in the mountain at the back of our condo.

Color Efex Pro: Monday Morning Filter

 This image was taken with Nikon V1 with FT1 adapter, 70-200mm VRII lens and TC-14EII telecoverter at 472mm (35mm equivalent), f/5.6, 1/25, ISO100.  I noticed the reflection of the very strong sun light to the macaque hidden under the rock and try to capture the feeling.  The straight out rendering of the RAW file from Capture NX2 is good and proper, but seems does not have the mood that I was seeking.

I then applied the Monday Morning filter of the Color Efex Pro and played around it a bit.  The final image is much more like what I envisioned in mind when I took the picture.  Actually I feel it is more real.

北投文物館

Some images were taken with D4, a fantastic camera, some were taken with V1, Can you tell?  The first four.  V1 keeps on surprise me on how it can deliver very good images!

日月潭

日月行館