I like this one best because of the wicked color shift in the background on that railing or fence or whatever it is.
It gives the picture even more of a '3D effect' in a loose sense....like it might be designed to be viewed in 3D.

What kind of camera, lens setup did you end up going with?


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Used a D7000 with a 50mm 1.8 lens.I was playing around with settings the night before shooting f/11 at a 1/60th shutter speed and it seemed to work out. That's what I ended up doing here basically panning the camera at the same speed as the riders which gave a nice even blur effect to the background while freezing the subject. Timing was a b*tch tho
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Gotta love blur!

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Timing ought to be less of a ***** if you get that shutter speed up around 250.
You still have to pan, but you get a different shot. But at 60, if that's the only
spot you get that wicked color band, ehh, trade-offs abound. Plus I like that thin
line between the non-moving part of your subject being in focus, and the legs are
shown in a blur....nice combo.
I am glad you got a D7000. A D90 is a great camera, but for your usage plan,
the D7000 is better all around, and only about $150 more used.
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I think I out-thunk myself, which ain't hard given my capacity. I bought my nephew a 75 dollar Olympus E-330 a few years back,
not the least bit capable for the kind of shooting that I DO, but for him, it suits his needs and his college kid need to be different.
Or hip, or to go against the grain. But the lenses for it are fairly slow, and so I bought a Nippon Kogaku 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor S lens.
I then picked up an adapter ring for it to mount to his Olympus. But in the end, I might have been thinking a little too Nikon.

The Olympus DSLRs are created to a "Four Thirds" system spec, a small sensor even compared to a APS-C sensor.
So while on a Nikon, it would throw a massive circle of light onto the sensor in Full frame, and a little spillover on a crop
sensor, on a 4/3 spec sensor, there is going to be fully half of that big glass light hitting interior parts and NOT the sensor.
I imagine it will perform better in low light than the 4/3 system lenses, and NEVER, EVER vignette, lol, but I don't think I turned
him into a cavern shooter in one fell swoop or anything. But he will enjoy the precision, the bokeh, the reduced DOF zone,
and whatever other benefits he gets. And it was free to him, so if he complains, I'll smack him.
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The more I think about it, though, the sweetest spot on the lens is going to be feeding that sensor photons,
so it won't be bad at all. Wish the RINGS had come with the cameras, but the rings were new, the cameras used.
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Another festival with some live music this weekend, but the hot weather and large crowds made it a PITA to be there. I did see Night Ranger last night, but they were strict about the no professional type camera policy. Too bad, because I was right in front of the stage... In any case, these youngsters did put on a great show:

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Got to meet a nice gentleman this morning, Roy Harper, who was playing old Jimmie Rodgers type tunes.
And he was a true singing brakeman, besides. Wonderfully smooth and talented. 50 years in music and railroading.
Honey-smooth voice of a gracious, Tennessee gentleman. Couldn't have been more pleased by the 15 minutes
I spent listening to him. Shot a few in tough light, but it came out OK, enough to please me. He IS yodeling here
for a typical Jimmie Rodgers chorus, by the way. He is not kissing at someone.

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Hats Off to Roy Harper! Wasn't that a Led Zeppelin song? :-)
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And since were blurring things:

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I am a Nikon person, but I have been known to buy almost anything that makes an image electronically
and I can buy for a low enough price. I bought my nephew an Olympus E-330 which is a pretty old,
low-spec'ed model from the early 2000s. I wanted to upgrade him to something at least twice as capable
in low light. I picked up a cheap Olympus E-510, which niftily includes in-body image stabilization as an
even larger upgrade to his lower light capabilities. And you'd be pleasantly surprised at the image quality
out of ANY Olympus digital SLR. They create a very pleasing image. blablabla.

Out of the corner of my mind crept a thought. I spotted a Nikkor P 50mm f/1.4 lens for $33 that was pre-AI and
I can't use it on any of my good bodies. Although I do have a D40 that it will not damage in mounting.
But I picked up an adapter ring to mount any Nikkor F-mount lens to a Olympus Four Thirds body. Not Micro,
but the original 4/3 spec. This combination of upgraded model, in body IS, and this blazing fast lens is
really an upgrade! I got carried away in my morning walk in pushing the depth of field to ridiculous limits, but
it was still a little overcast and I got away with f/1.4. Its dreamy there, but the separation is good and
for portraits I am sure it is dazzling. I did not try to stop it down much on this trip because there were
flowers about, but I am sure it is biting. Anyway, blablabla, here will be a series of pics from that walk.

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Taken a couple of weeks ago in Chicago..... I usually use a Nikon D600, picked up a little Sony a5000 for this trip......

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Nice....
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Sorry to mess up the vibe of the page with my glaring "this image no longer exists...."
I Uploaded two folders, on hi-res and one low, and deleted the wrong
one, I guess. Ehh who cares, tomorrow it will be a new page to look at.

Here I am testing out that self-same mix and match Camerastein, this time a little different.
I bought the nephew a Olympus E-510 and myself a E-420. I don't GET stuff for people unless
I also get something for me. Like I NEED anything, sheesh. But I really don't OWN any
cameras, I am just using them all prior to sale, haha. Half-funny, half-true. I just mean that
sooner or later, that Olympus is gonna get sold. Maybe.

But I put the adapter on it and snapped on a Series E Nikon 50mm f/1.8. And it worked
REALLY well, owing to the small size of the camera. Its a lethal combination of small and heavy.
(I think the adapter is what makes it feel heavy, neither the camera or lens really ARE.
The adapter is solid stainless steel. And the lil 5hi+ is so fast. Its such a peppy little camera,
and its not too bad an imager.

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You can see how small the thing is, that chapstick ain't no size queen.
Its TOO small to hold comfortably for ME, a strap is what I need, but a person with
small hands would love this model. The E-510 is much more normally sized and shaped.
Both are great little cameras. I was surprised when my nephew basically ignored a free
Nikon D50 and a couple of lenses in order to keep on using his Olympus. And his E-330s
are NOT great models at all for the way kids shoot today. blabla.

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Back in the saddle again! I like those really old cars:

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Stanley Steamer. A steam powered car, being driven no less. How cool is that?

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