2011 proved to be a banner year in terms of the sheer number of photos I’ve taken and how I feel I’ve grown as a photographer. I shot a variety of different subjects, helped mentor and advise a great group of photographers, and helped NWMotiv establish itself as a major media player in the local automotive scene. Rather than bore everyone with a long write-up on everything, I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves, starting from the beginning of the year. Be sure to click the caption under each photo for the full gallery.

J A N U A R Y

The Mendozas

F E B R U A R Y

Philippines

Singapore

PROPS! Vitamin D and International Mo at Rock Paper Scissors

M A R C H

Nikkor 135 ƒ2 DC Lens Testing

Erica at Discovery Park

Nikkor 24mm ƒ1.4G ED Lens Testing

A P R I L

NOS Citrus Launch

Sakura Con 2011

M A Y

Fast Five Premiere

Erica for NWMotiv.com

Erica for the Subie Girls Calendar

Finegold-Pham Wedding

UW Street Fair and Gasworks Park

J U N E

Brianna

Seattle at Night

Blue Scholars Cinemetropolis Appreciation Party

Cheeky Cafe

Forum Fest 2011

Alan’s FC3S

Lee’s Triumph Daytona 675R

J U L Y

Independence Day 2011

Big NW Subaru Meet

Evergreen Drift Extreme Night

Kaylee at Coulon Park

Formula D Seattle 2011

Hoops206

KP’s Seattle Adventures

A U G U S T

XDC Seattle 2011

DeadMau5 at the Paramount

Hagen and Natalie’s Engagement

West Coast Subaru Show 13

S E P T E M B E R

San Diego Trip 2011

Wence and Jo’s Court Wedding

Matt’s Dodge Magnum for the Falken Tires 2012 SEMA Calendar

O C T O B E R

Erica Potter

N O V E M B E R

Stephanie and Travis Maternity

Wence and Jo at Volunteer Park

D E C E M B E R

NWMotiv Toy Drive and Winter Meet 2011

Since I started using my Nikon D700 last November, I hadn’t really changed my line-up of lenses.  My Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D and Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D felt right at home with the new full frame sensor, and the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G satisfied my everyday walk around lens requirement, but none of these lenses really offered anything new to me.  On top of that, my first generation Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR was proven to have some issues with the new FX format sensor, thus Nikon released a new version that fixed these issues.  However, the new version turned out to have some focus breathing problems, which left me a little hesitant to just jump right in to the new version despite its other advantages (such as improved vibration reduction).  With a dilemma as to what to do next, I figured the best thing I could do is rent a couple lenses from BorrowLenses.com that I’ve had my eye on and see what will fit best for the type of shooting I do.  DISCLAIMER: I am by no means a technical expert at lens technology, glass coatings, distortion percentage, or any of the more numbers-based aspects of lens reviewing.  The following reviews are all from a practical use perspective, and you’re more than welcome to disagree with my opinions if you have a different experience than I do with these lenses.

Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G

Since I first heard that Nikon was going to release full frame cameras, I was wishing and hoping for a wide angle, fast prime lens to give me plenty of background blur, thus I’ve been drooling over the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G since it was first announced.  Based on my practical use for this lens, I’m happy to say that it’s everything I hoped it would be.  Focusing is very fast, the bokeh is super smooth, and it’s constructed like as well as any Nikon pro-level lens I’ve used.  It feels very balanced on my D700 with grip and it’s very easy to handle.  It does have a tendency to vignette quite a bit when shooting at wide apertures, but that’s a bit to be expected and easily correctable in post-processing.  However, in practical use for photographing people and cars, which often involves a little added vignetting in post-processing, this lens’ “natural” vignetting wasn’t bothersome at all.  There’s also quite a bit of distortion, but again that can be corrected if necessary.  Here are some shots of the lens on my camera:

I really can’t speak any more highly of this lens. It’s everything I thought it was going to be, and even when I knew a photo would turn out well, it would still make me say “wow” out loud.  The sharpness even wide open at f/1.4 is quite amazing, and it gets even better as you stop down.  The Nano lens coating really did the job well against lens flare (I don’t usually shoot toward light sources though) and the blade design made it so that I didn’t notice any obvious chromatic aberration.  The 24mm focal length is definitely wide, and while it’ll definitely make for some great wedding and automotive shots, the wideness does make it a bit more of a specialized lens for my needs.  I can see myself really making use of this lens during a wedding ceremony and when covering a wedding reception, or when doing wedding couple portraits, but the wideness wouldn’t be practical for formal group shots.  To really take the most advantage from this lens’ capabilities, you really do have to get pretty close to your subject, and for weddings that’s often not a possibility.  For example, in the feature photo above of my WRX, the edge of the lens was easily only 6-12 inches from the front bumper of the car.  The distortion also prevents this lens from being good for architecture or landscapes, even if you can correct it in post-processing.  Nevertheless, I really do want my own copy of this lens, because the results you get from it are just that good.  Judge for yourself from these other examples:

Nikkor 135mm f/2D

Deciding which one of these lenses I liked better was not easy, because despite the different uses for each of these lenses, the 135mm f/2D proved to be just as good as the 24mm f/1.4G for many of the same reasons.  I was definitely interested in the capabilities of this lens as a replacement for my 70-200mm, so in many ways I was a bit more critical.  Although it’s an older lens, the old school Nikon crinkle texture and hefty metal construction is really quite timeless.  From this feel alone, this made the lens feel really solid and definitely at pro-level.  Compared to the plastic construction of my 50mm and 85mm, this lens definitely felt like it meant serious business.  Unlike most lenses, which have a bit of a bezel around the actual glass on the front element, this lens barely had any, which really made it seem like the glass was bold and in your face.  The lens uses a rather irregular 72mm filter size and has a built-in hood that slides outward.  On the camera, it definitely feels on the heavy side and while I don’t have the exact numbers, it feels heavier than my 24-70mm.  This weight could be a problem in some usage, but more on that later.  Here are photos of this lens on my D700:

It really isn’t that tall for a telephoto (especially compared to the 70-200mm), but the weight, range, and lack of VR actually proved to be a bit problematic for me in practical use.  To get a nice, in-focus, hand-held photo indoors or in relatively low light (such as right after the sun goes down), I often had to raise the ISO up pretty high (ISO 800+) to get a fast enough shutter speed.  While I’m quite happy with how my D700 handles noise, I typically shoot with my D300 for telephoto during weddings and motorsports events, so having to really crank up the ISO on it is usually something I try to avoid (that isn’t to say that the D300 is bad at noise handling, just isn’t anywhere as good as the D700).  However, when there’s plenty of light, this lens truly shines.  The special Defocus Control of the lens was fun to play around with, but unfortunately I didn’t get to do much experimenting with it.  Even without adjusting the Defocus Control, this lens produce silky smooth bokeh and some of the sharpest portrait shots I’ve ever taken.  It’s so sharp in fact that I honestly don’t believe my venerable 85mm f/1.8 could produce the same sharpness, and I even once said that my 85mm would have to be pried from my dying hands!  This lens is really that sharp.  See for yourself in these examples:

After all this testing, is the 135mm a viable replacement for my 70-200mm? In terms of sharpness and bokeh, I’d say the 135mm wins, for certain.  However, the lack of VR is probably going to make low-light and indoor shoots troublesome, especially if I want to use longer shutter speeds and lower ISO settings.  I also noticed in testing that the 135mm creates a lot of chromatic aberration at wide apertures, and while this is again quite fixable in post-processing, it’s still something that I’d rather not have to deal with.  Finally, regardless of the new 70-200mm VR-II’s focus breathing issues, I did find that the 135mm was still a bit too short to shoot with full frame, although it probably would be fine on my D300′s crop sensor.  Given these criticisms, I believe that the 135mm might be a better replacement for my 85mm rather than my 70-200mm.  I very well may just end up with the new version of the 70-200 to suit my specific needs, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to have the 135mm in my arsenal as well.  If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.  Special thanks again to BorrowLenses.com for the rental and their excellent service!

At first, I wanted to get another Lowepro, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the designs of the alternative bags to my CompuTrekker Plus. I then looked over the Tamrac bags, but none of those really caught my eye. I finally ended up looking at the Kata bags and just about every one impressed me. After going back and forth, I finally decided on the Kata R-103, thanks to its rave written and video reviews. Behold!

My apologies for the photo quality of this and the next few photos, since they were taken on my Samsung Memoir T929 and I really didn’t bother trying to make them look uber pretty. Anyway, there it is, with the tripod attachment on the right. The main thing I liked about this bag was the quick and easy access I had to my camera. I don’t have to open the bag all the way to reveal all the lenses. Instead, I can just open up the center section and pull out my camera:

As you can see, I can pull out my camera very fast, and I have access to filters and compact flash cards in the zipper pocket on the left. Here’s how it is with the bag fully open:

As you can see, everything fits, including my flash and Lightsphere. The big yellow section on the left actually consists of more pockets to store stuff, which is where I put my remote trigger and lens cleaning wipes. It’s definitely densely-packed, but everything zips up just fine and doesn’t feel any heavier than when all of this stuff was in my old bag. Like my old bag, the laptop compartment is on the side:

My Macbook Pro 15.4″ is a nice and snug fit, and the compartment seems better padded than my old bag’s. Oh, and remember the tripod attachment I mentioned earlier? Here’s how the bag looks with my tripod mounted:

Since my tripod only weighs about 3 pounds, the bag feels just fine with the tripod mounted and doesn’t feel like it’s leaning to the side at all. On this front shot, you can easily notice these “ribs” that are found on the bottom and back of the bag as well:

These “ribs” are Kata’s “Thermo Shield Technology,” which Kata describes as

“a state of the art solution that provides the perfect protection level for digital equipment while creating an extremely lightweight product. It is featured on the important areas of the bag that are subject to shock.”

You can definitely feel the rigidity in the bag at these points, which really gives me confidence that my gear is well-protected. Finally, here’s a size comparison between my new bag and my old bag:

The difference is pretty noticeable, especially in the height, which isn’t pictured here. This results in a bag that’s not only easier to carry around, but also comfortable at the same time. The bag also has a cool camera strap that allows me to quickly connect the camera to the bag straps instead of my neck strap, but I didn’t really have a good way to take photos of it here. Overall, this bag is looking pretty good and I definitely don’t have any bad things to say about it thus far.

For more information on the Kata R-103, please visit their flash and video-powered presentation here: http://www.kata-bags.com/productFRM2HS.asp?p_Id=275&Version=Photo#p7GPc1_4

Here’s how the phone looks outside of the case. The touchscreen is very bright and pretty responsive. It’s not quite as responsive or as accurate as the iPhone, but it’s also not pretending to be an iPhone either. The side bar on the left are widgets that you can customize to your liking. Obviously, you can see that I customized the wallpaper too.

Here’s the camera business side of the phone. It features a Xenon flash that’s very bright and effective, better than even most dedicated point-and-shoot cameras. The only drawback is that you can’t use it as a flashlight, which is one feature I miss from my old phone. The lens cover stays shut whenever the phone is not in camera mode, but then snaps open once camera mode is enabled.

The main menu is very straight-forward, and you can get to each feature very fast. It plays MP3s fairly well, but navigating through some of the files can be a little cumbersome.

The phone features 3G internet access, but the preloaded browser isn’t the greatest. It sometimes even croaks on websites that it calls “too large.” It does get the job done for the most part though, and I typically don’t have any problems finding what I need to. The browser doesn’t support Flash, but it does allow for secure connections, so checking my online banking is simple and easy. You can also download Java-powered apps and games, but they have to be unsigned. On top of that, the QWERTY keyboard can be a pain to enable on Java apps such as Opera Mini.

And now we get to the whole reason why I purchased this phone: the 8 MP camera. The camera has more features than I’ve ever seen on any other camera phone, including zoom, multiple scene and shooting modes, countdown timer, white balance adjustment, ISO sensitivity, custom metering, contrast/saturation/sharpness adjustment, guidelines, and even GPS embedding. Here’s how one of the photos looks on the photo review.

The camera definitely lacks shutter and aperture adjustment, but really wasn’t expecting that either, since I’m sure allowing for that would make the lens and mechanicals much more expensive.
Also, since the flash is very close to the lens, red eye can be an (albeit fixable) issue. Video is pretty high quality, however I find the microphone to be much too sensitive, so recording audio at live concerts and the like doesn’t even come out at all. Hopefully, this might be an easy firmware fix sometime in the future. The phone uses a MicroSD card and supports up to 16 GB. I’ve got an 8 GB card in mine right now, so I have no problem holding hundreds of photos, music, and video as well. Here’s a few sample photos taken with this camera, each of which have had a small amount of post-processing to make them look a little better. For a camera phone, I think these photos came out extremely nice.

Overall, I definitely wouldn’t replace a good, dedicated point-and-shoot camera with this phone, but if you’re out at the club or away from your big DSLR, this phone works great as a “just-in-case” or emergency camera.  To sum it up, here’s a list of my pros and cons:

Pros

• 8 MP camera is pretty damn good
• Text messaging and standard phone functions are great
• Good volume and speakerphone
• Responsive touchscreen
• 3G secure web browsing
• Decent battery life when using all the different functions
• Plays MP3s and videos, and can be configured as ringtones for contacts

Cons

• No shutter speed or aperture adjustment on camera
• Microphone for video too sensitive
• Can only run unsigned Java apps and lacks good apps overall
• No WiFi
• Touchscreen not quite as responsive or accurate as iPhone
• Samsung doesn’t sync contacts or calendar with Mac
• Smugmug not included in bundled photo upload services
• File browsing a little cumbersome

In short, you really do buy this phone for the camera and basic phone and text functions.  It’s definitely a very good backup/just-in-case camera.  If you’re thinking that this is a smartphone, you’re lying to yourself, and it’s definitely no iPhone killer either.  It really does get the job done and does it well for my tastes.  The only thing I really do miss from my old phone is the Mac contact and calendar syncing, but just about everything else is a vast improvement.