Rodney Campbell's Blog

Week 42

Some first shots with the new lens this week – the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR

Pink

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm, 1/800 sec at f/2.8, ISO 100

Banjo Man

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm, 1/160 sec at f/2.8, ISO 200

Invited to another very early morning seascape session – this time at Bungan Head at Newport on Sydney’s northern beaches.

The walk down to the beach was a steep concrete driveway but once down it was an easy walk to the nearby rocks to setup. There were a few interesting locations on the rocks, the weather was very mild (no need for warm jumpers, etc) and all was looking good. The clouds however weren’t going to play ball and as the sun rose the sky just got gradually brighter with no real cloud action or colour in the sky. It wasn’t till well after sunrise that we got a few breaks in the clouds and we had an interesting show of god rays coming down through the clouds.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

This first is a pre dawn long exposure in the darkness

Feeling Blue

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 20 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

Lacking inspiration for the usual flowing water seascape – possibly the grey conditions set the mood – so I’ve only included one of these

Out to Sea

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 1.6 sec at f/11, ISO 100 + 0.9GND

Since I had just acquired my new pride and joy (a Nikon 70-200/2.8) I also tried for some compressed detail telephoto landscapes with it – including a closeup of the god rays on show

Heavens Rays

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, 1/10 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Finally once the show was over and we were back to overcast gray I swapped back to the ultrawide and the 10 stop ND for a different view – I only took five long exposures but I was pretty happy with all of them and this is my favourite from the day

Purple Meets Green

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 14 mm, 20 sec at f/8, ISO 100 + ND3.0

and possibly the most interesting find of the day – an inquisitive octopus stranded in one of the small rock pools

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8 @ 98 mm, 1/60 sec at f/5, ISO 2200

Week 41

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Eggs

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 13 mm, 1/60 sec at f/5, ISO 800

My girls were part of an annual performing arts night at our local school on friday night.

As luck would have it I also finally purchased a lens I had been lusting after for some 18 months, earlier the same day – the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8. The new VRII model has a RRP of $3500 here in Australia but I managed to snag a second hand VR1 model for a great price and I gave it it’s first test that night shooting the entire evening with the lens wide open and hand held mostly from the back of the hall (and boy were my arms tired holding up that beast of a lens :)).

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8 @ 130 mm, 1/125 sec at f/2.8, ISO 250

.

NIKON D7000 + 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8 @ 150 mm, 1/160 sec at f/2.8, ISO 1400

Week 40

Continuing the ten stop ND theme…

Threads

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 60 sec at f/16, ISO 100 + ND3.0

Strands of Light

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 60 sec at f/16, ISO 100 + ND3.0