AF Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D ja Nikon D80 akkukahvalla vahvistettuna

Uusin digi-/kinofilmi-investointini: Nikon AF Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D -objektiivi. Sitä voi käyttää sekä digirunkojen (FX ja DX) ja filmirunkojen kanssa.  Objektiivissa on ruuvitoiminen automaattitarkennus, joten automaattitarkennus ei toimi Nikonin halvemmilla digirungoilla eikä tietenkään myöskään manuaalifilmirungoilla. Ostin objektiivin käytettynä (objektiivia valmistettiin vuosina 1998-2006) ja se on muuten hyvässä kunnossa, mutta manuaalitarkennus kuulostaa siltä kuin väärässä välissä olisi hiekkaa. Automaattitarkkennuksessa moista efektiä ei ole. Joka tapauksessa AF:llä tätä tulee käytettyä suurimmaksi osaksi. Zoomaus on myös hieman kankea, jos liikkeet ovat hitaita ja varovaisia.

Bokeh-addiktina tein nopean testin kaikilla yleisimmin käytetyillä polttoväleillä käyttäen D80-kroppikennorunkoa. Laajimmassa päässä, 28mm ja 35mm polttoväleillä bokeh ei ollut merkittävä, joten jätin ne pois alla olevasta kokoelmasta. Alla siis kokoelma ruuduista, jotka on otettu aukolla f/4.5. Kamera laski valotusajan automaattisesti. Kuvat on vain pienennetty Photoshopissa ilman muuta jälkikäsittelyä. Polttovälit testikuvissa ovat 105mm (kroppikertoimella 157,5mm), 85mm (127,5mm), 70mm (105mm) ja 50mm (75mm). Kun taustalla oleva kohde on noin 1,3 metrin päässä, bokeh on kaunis ja pyöreä pidemmilläkin polttoväleillä. Klikkaa suuremmaksi.

Bokeh-testi AF Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D-objektiivilla

AF Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D ja Nikon D80

Mamiya M645 1000s, Mamiya Sekor C 150mm f/3.5 N, loittorenkaat ja Kodak Portra 400VC

Tämänkin filmin kehitin itse Tetenal C-41 -liuoksilla. Filmi oli seitsemäs samoilla litkuilla. Kodak Portra 400VC näyttää parhaat puolensa hyvässä valossa ja näyttää pitävän Tetenal C-41-prosessista. Mamiya 150mm f/3.5 N -objektiivin bokeh on kaunis.

Taken with Nikon D80 and Porst 135mm f/2.8 M42 lens and macro bellows

This is very unusual for me, a pastel colored flower photo. I don’t really like this type of photos nor understand how to take and make them but still I ended up with this on day 64 of my project 365.

On Friday I tested my M42 mount macro bellows with M42 mount Porst 135mm f/2.8 lens (@ f/8) and Nikon D80 digital SLR camera. The colors turned out so bright that I had to tweak them in Photoshop.

An extension tube shortens the minimum focusing distance of the lens, allowing a larger magnification. With 0.4m extension tube I was able to focus up to 8-10cm from the object. Normally the closest focusing distance with Flektogon is 0.5m so the extension tube shortened that by 40cm. Extension tube also causes shallower depth of field. The down-side is that you’ll need more light than when shooting without. I measured the light with Sverdlovsk-4 exposure meter but it does not know you are using an extension tube. It was difficult to approximate the needed increase in exposure time.

Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film (120)

Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film (120)

Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film (120)

Nowadays I see bokeh everywhere. I cannot watch TV or movies or even drive a car without noticing bokeh circles all over the place. It’s a disease!

On Monday (8th of February, day 39 of my 365) I was sitting in my car in traffic lights, waiting for the green light. It was snowing and the snow flakes melted on the windshield. I stared at the red light and noticed that the melting snow flakes made nice bokeh effect when I didn’t focus on them.

So, in the evening I went to sit into my car again (the car was safely in the parking lot) and took a few photos of the windshield bokeh. The white balance is set based on the light in the car. The lamp posts outside gave the turquoise touch to the photo. I added only a hint of light in Camera RAW.

Click on the photo on the left to see it in larger size.

You can also follow my Project 365 photo stream in Flickr.

…bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.”

‘Bokeh’ can be seen in two ways: some think that bokeh is only the round shaped out-of-focus spots but some think that all out-of-focus (blurry) areas are bokeh. In this article I’m referring to the round shaped spots when I mention bokeh.

Bokeh can be good or bad. Lens’ aperture size and shape affect to the quality and look of the bokeh. Some lenses are good or great bokeh lenses while other are worse. For example, the bokeh of my modernish Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens is usually swirly and chaotic but the bokeh of my old Nikon Series E 50mm f/1.8 AI-S lens from the 1980s is usually round and pretty (or at least rounder and prettier).

Usually there are the in-focus areas and the out-of-focus areas in a photo. The more the area is out-of-focus, the stronger the blur is. Bokeh is formed if there are lighter or glowing spots in the out-of-focus area. The further away the spots are from the in-focus area, the stronger the bokeh is.

Yesterday I went for a short walk and intentionally took a few out-of-focus photos. The photos below are taken with the Nikon Series E 50mm f/1.8 AI-S lens (wide open) and they have not been post-processed in any way except for the resizing. To create effects like in the photos below you just need to manually focus to the front of the light sources. The more you focus forward, the bigger the bokeh circles are.

Christmas lights (21 / 365 of Project 365)

Colorful Christmas lights

Lights by the road