Monday, February 02, 2009

Something wicked this way comes...

Hello new friend...

a wicked huge lens that's what! (sorry - Boston photographer Doug Levy is having an influence on me) This thing is nuts! It's bigger & heavier than my Rat Terrier (Seriously!). I had the opportunity to purchase a Nikon 300mm 2.8 AF-I ED that I managed to find on Craigslist of all places on Saturday. I cruise Craigslist for photography related listings on occassion but usually dont' find anything of real consequence, well that changed really fast at the end of last week when I found it. I definitely had the goal of upgrading my kit to have this lens as a part of it but due to the expense I didn't think that it would be a reality this soon! It is really grreat for 2 reasons - 1. it is a 300mm prime f/2.8 lens (duh!) and 2. it works with my nikon 1.7x teleconverter which will allow me to shoot at around 510mm at f/4.8 - that is a lot of reach which will help in wildlife and other shooting situations - the price of a 500mm lens is astronomical compared to this - so it is allowing me to do something that I simply couldn't have done withotu this opportunity. After some negotiation and planning the price was right and I was actually able to make it happen thanks to some savings that I had and thanks to some generous graduation gifts. Thanks everyone! You know you're dealing with some serious gear when the thing has it's own hard case! Whoa! The lens is a slightly older model but it is autofocus but other than that the focus speed and everything else is really comparable with the newer (and much more expensive) lens. After getting the lens I had a chance to bring it home and take some test shots and unfortunately I ddin't have any really intreaguing wildlife around, but I dealt with what I had at the moment. A couple of the test shots are below:

0901300 2.8 Test028-29

0901300 2.8 Test028-31

0901300 2.8 Test028-52

The sharpness at 2.8 and in pretty low light is just astounding. All that I expected in the lens and MORE - man I'm so excited. The only bummer about this whole thing is I really don't have time to really get out and work with it because I'm stuck spending most of my days studying! I imagine all of this will be worth it in the end and I'll have plenty of time to shoot with the new monsta (sorry Doug again) soon!

Moving on to study concerns (if anyone is really concerned). Mark Sunday (2/1) night/and Monday (2/2) morning was my lowest of the low as far as bar prep/schooling is concerned. It hasn't even been a full day since I felt this way, but it will be the last. I was just completely defeated. I let my mind and the test (at least for the moment) defeat me. It kept me from sleeping. I was done. Got up in the morning I was tired and I was done. Started class and finally realized that this is the exact thing that I can't let happen to be successful. With some calls from home and practical tips and other encouragement I was back on track and realized that I can only do what I am physically capable of doing from this day on. One day at a time, do your best, and thats all I can ask of myself. That's it - put your head down and go and look up when it is over. It's a new day, I'm feeling good and I will be ready! :-)

2 comments:

Velvet said...

Oh no! He's gotten to you with the accent thing too?? Ha! That new lens is pissah, bro, pissah. :-P

Unknown said...

Dude, pally, pissah, that's a wicked sweet lens. Let's go to the bah and get some beeyahs.