Wide angle options for Nikon FX

I had the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 when I bought my first FX D700. The main reason was Tokina 11-16mm was my best lens with Nikon D90 when I go out for landscape.

When I upgraded to D800, I questioned all my zoom lens and opened to prime lenses. Few months ago, after I had a good line up of prime: 20mm f/238, 35mm f/2.0, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4; plus the busy work and wedding shoots, I have not use 16-35mm much. I decided to sell that lens.

I since then trying to look for a new 16-35mm... And here are my reasons.

1. 20mm does not give me the wide effect I wanted in wide angle. Sometime that extra wide is what I needed.
2. Other options that I looked at :

• Zeiss 15mm: hm... Even before I look into image quality, I just cannot justify spending $2950 on a lens. Plus I depend on filter heavily while shooting landscape and I really prefer something straight out of the box to work with filter and not have to do DIY
• Nikon 14mm: again, similar to the Zeiss. Price and filter is a big no no.
• Rokinon/Samyang 14mm: Price is definitely a plus. But the sample images online didn't give me the confident on this lens also the filter compatibility is a negative. Plus I need something that can be used in landscape, wedding, and events when I want to. And this lens doesn't offer auto focus. So it's out.
• Sigma12-24mm/Tokina 16-28mm: These were at some point my top candidate. But if I have to go without filters, I'd rather pay more for the well known to landscape photographers Nikon 14-24mm.
• Nikon 14-24mm: I can totally justify the cost for such a well performance lens. But comes withe the lens cost, I looked into options for filters. All I have now are 100mm Lee and Cokin filters. I have ND 3x, GND in all different level, and a 10 stop 77mm. Going with this lens meaning all these filters almost non usable. To convert the whole setup to fit Nikon 14-24mm is what I cannot justify for the price

3. My only option left is to go back to 16-35mm. So which is better: 20mm or 16-35mm ? I looked at:

• Sharpness:  I did some simple test and it seems they are equivalent.
•  Star: I do shoot night, cityscape thus the star effect overall is important. It's kinda decision point for my wide angle option. In this category, 16-35mm won. 

 I clearly prefer the star on 16-35mm (right) over 20mm (left).

So I placed order on 16-35mm again and will soon be posting 20mm up for sale.

San Francisco view from Ina Coolbrith Park

What: San Francisco view from Ina Coolbrith Park. Just another magnificent view of San Francisco

When: I was there early Jun. There's no particular time of the year to be here. Pick the best nice partial cloudy day and you are set!

Where/How : As usual, I got here about an hour prior sunset. For this location I tried on 16-35mm lens. At 16mm, the trees around it might get in the frame. Also the buildings and Bay bridge became really small for the frame. I picked 35mm prime and shot with it
Nikon D800
f/16
2.5 sec
ISO 400
35mm

San Francisco view from Ina Coolbrith Park

Gear update again :)

My taste changed again over the last year. I've looked at picture and became more interested in long end of the business so I tried out byt getting Sigma 150-500mm

Body:
Nikon D800 as landscape main, wedding backup
Nikon D700 as wedding main, landscape backup

Lens:
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII
Nikon 20mm f/2.8
Nikon 35mm f/2.0
Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Sigma 85mm f/1.4
Sigma 105mm macro
Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3
Sigma fisheye 15mm

Flash:
Nikon SB-28DX
Nikon SB-600 x2
Nikon SB-900

Filter:
Cokin P series ND8 (0.9)
Cokin P series GND8 (0.9) soft
Cokin Z series kit U960: filter bag, holder, 121L, 121M, 121S (soft GND 1,2,3 stop respectively)
Lee ND 0.9 proglass
Lee holder (FK) with wide angle ring adapter (WAR77). I've discovered vignetting problem with Cokin holder. I'll post comparison between Cokin Z and Lee in a separate post since UPS still has my package at this point.

Other:
Radiopopper JrX trigger x2
Radiopopper JrX receiver studio x3
Radiopopper JrX receiver basic

So far I'm happy with this setup. I mainly grew into prime since it provides better quality image when shooting with D800. My next buy would be Nikon 600mm and sell my Sigma 150-500mm. GO PRIME!

Nikon 1 J1: what to expect

So I found a pretty sweet deal on Nikon J1 + 10-30mm combo. Let's say after all the buying and selling, the set end up cost me about $350.

I already has Panasonic TS-3 as point and shoot. BTW, it's a great little camera. Definitely worth every penny especially if you are an outdoor , water sport person.

Why J1?
1. It was a good deal.
2. I'm a Nikon fan :)
3. It's a mini DSLR like . Picture quality is ... I'd say I rather take it with me than the old D90 which I already sold.

What else can I do with it beside having it due to small/compact size?

My ultimate plan was  to have this with a really wide or fisheye lens so I can use it with my DIY panoramic tripod head and create wee planet or virtual tour without wasting shutter count on my DSLR :)
After searching and searching, to get Diagonal fisheye on J1 the lens should be about 5.5mm which is not available that I know of. If you do, leave a comment. So I cheap out and bought a Digital Concepts 0.42x fisheye lens with macro which of course you get what you pay for. It is Circular fisheye and not so useful for my application. Probably nice adapter for skater.

Nikon J1 and 10-30mm at 10mm

Nikon J1 and 10-30mm at 10mm with circular fisheye adapter.

Nikon J1 and 10-30mm at 10mm with circular fisheye adapter.

Nikon J1 and 10-30mm at 10mm with circular fisheye adapter.

So it give the fisheye effect but not to what I need.

Next is to use it with FT-1 adapter and zoom lens to use its 2.7x crop.
Downside of the FT-1:
1. Limit focus area to center only

2. Shutter cannot go slower than 1/1.3s
3. Auto focus with AF-S lens. It's quite fast when it works. Out of all my lens, it focuses with 16-35, 24-70, 70-200. Did not focus on 20mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4, Sigma 105mm, Sigma 85mm f/1.4

So for $270 it only works for some of my lens under certain condition. At the end I would still be ok and keep this purchase if I haven't already has a D800 on my hand. With D800 36MP, at the same crop down to similar resolution with J1, D800 has better detail than J1.

Left D800. Right J. Both at 400mm on 200-400mm F4 100% zoom in LR4 no edit

Left D800. Right J. Both at 400mm on 200-400mm F4 100% zoom in LR4 no edit

At the end... I decided not to keep FT-1 because what I gain compare to $17 china version was auto-focus only on 3 lenses. And the quality or what I expected is not significant if we compare the crop factor with the 36MP from D800.

Lee FK filter holder vs. Cokin Z-Pro holder

So my Christmas gift this year to myself is filter set. I've been using Cokin P filter ever since. When moved to full frame, it became a little harder as I had to hand held filters bc the P-series holder will get in the frame when I do landscape at 16mm.

I ordered:
- Cokin U960 kit: filter bag, holder, Z121L, Z121M, Z121S
- Lee ND 0.9 proglass
Then I experienced problem with Cokin holder being in the frame at 16mm. The only way to remove the vignetting and holder getting into the frame. So I ordered Lee FK holder with wide angle ring adapter WAR077.

Below is the Cokin holder and Lee holder with different configurations form worst case scenario to setting that is close to the lens' vignetting itself.

First off, the base line with no filter. Then UV screw on filter on (or polarize to some people), combination with Cokin rear and front first slot, Lee with 2 and 3 slots.

No Filter

B+W UV screw on Filter

B+W UV screw on Filter and Lee adapter ring WAR077

B+W UV screw on Filter and Lee adapter ring WAR077 and Lee FK holder with 2 slot

B+W Filter and Cokin Z-Pro adapter ring

B+W screw on Filter and Cokin Z-Pro adapter ring and holder loaded in rear slot with 3 slots in front

No Filter. Cokin Z-Pro adapter ring and holder loaded in rear slot with 3 slots in front

No Filter. Cokin Z-Pro adapter ring and holder loaded in rear slot with 3 slots in front, rotate so that holder in portrait mode

No Filter. Cokin Z-Pro adapter ring and holder loaded using first front slot. Holder only has 2 available slots for filters. Rear slot leave empty

No Filter and Lee adapter ring WAR077 and Lee FK holder with 3 slots

B+W UV Filter and Lee adapter ring WAR077 and Lee FK holder with 3 slots

Bottom line:
They are both worth every penny ... depend on what you shoot.

For Cokin:
If your lens from 20mm and up, you should be ok with Cokin filter 3 slots. If you shoot at 16mm, the best way is to use first front slot which then only leave you with 2 available slots for filter. But then the first front slot is not usable anyway to my opinion. This first front slot has bigger gap (for polarize?) and the 3 pins in the way so if you load a 4"x4" filter in this slot, it will most likely be scratched and doesn't hold in place well. So Cokin holder is great if you use 20mm and up or with polarize filter with 2 slots setup, so basically you only left with 1 slot open after polarize is in place. I've read online that Cokin works better holding the polarize filter. 
COKIN PIC SLOT FRONT REAR

Cokin 77mm adapter ring in original rear slot as it suppose to

Cokin 77mm adapter ring in first front slot and leave only 2 available slots for filters

Cokin first front slot seem to have bigger gap than the other 2. Not recommend to use with slide in filter

For Lee:
It's clear from frame with 3 slots and all 3 slots are usable. The only time you'd have problem is if you use screw on filter and 3 slots. and Lee, to some people doesn't work well with polarize filter.

Design:

I have both filter holders on Nikon 16-35mm. Standing ruler starting from plastic ring next to front element.
Lee holder is about 13/16 in high while Cokin is about 1 and 1/16 inch thus it does get in the frame a little. With certain setting the screw of Cokin does get in frame as well. So the convenient of thumb screw has its price. While the less convenient screw from Lee is completely flush.

Lee holder hight

Cokin holder height

Cokin (Left) compare to Lee (right). This is one single slot taken out.

 Material wise, Cokin did a great job with their molding process, Lee holder slots has some over molding debris left over

Lee's slot edge

Cokin's slot edge

Lee's slot edge front view

Cokin's slot edge front view

For me, I don't use polarize, and I use ND 0.9 with GND 0.9 most of the time with sometime another GND0.6. So Lee holder works best.

Other review:

http://www.2filter.com/Leefilters/CokinZvsLeeFilters.html
http://darwinwiggett.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/lee-holder-vs-cokin-z-pro-holder/

Where to buy:
I was lucky enough to be able to order what I needed when I needed them without on waiting list. These suppliers are fast and reasonable on shipping charge and timing.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
and
http://www.2filter.com/

DIY Panoramic Tripod Head ver 2.0

From my last post I did on Panoramic tripod head here I made some change to the material choice. Last version was built and used with Nikon D90 and Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 . Since then I upgraded to Nikon D700 and Nikon 16-35mm f/4. This kit out weights the last panoramic tripod head. The standing up arm wobble a lot with this setup.

This ver2.0 I used 1/4" AL plate. Similar dimension as last time. Instead of bending to L plate, I was able to find scrap material to fit perfectly. Everything is assembly with 1/4" 20 screw.

Front view

Front angle view

Top connecting arm to swing plate

Swing plate at 90

Swing plate channel. I got a hold of a really old mill machine and did an not so good job on this. But works

Bottom plate with L bracket

L bracket with 1/4" 20 screw

If you have any questions, feel free to leave comment. I'll try to check more often and reply.

I'm back with gear update

It's been a year and time flies faster than I though. 2011 was a busy year and I completely drop the ball on this blog, yet many visitors stopped by. Thank you all for browsing through my posts. Especially the DIY for panoramic tripod head. I have ver2.0 of this head. I'll follow up with separate post.

Let's get back on track with my gear update so if you follow my post knows what I shoot with.

Body:
Nikon D700 as main
Nikon D90 as backup

Lens:
Nikon 16-35mm f/4
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRI
Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 (doing nothing but collecting dust)
Sigma 105mm macro
Opteka 6.5mm f/3.5 (fun little lens)


Flash:
Nikon SB-28DX
Nikon SB-600 x2
Nikon SB-900

Filter:
Cokin P series ND8 (0.9)
Cokin P series GND8 (0.9) soft
Cokin Z series kit U960: filter bag, holder, 121L, 121M, 121S (soft GND 1,2,3 stop respectively)
Lee ND 0.9 proglass
Lee holder (FK) with wide angle ring adapter (WAR77). I've discovered vignetting problem with Cokin holder. I'll post comparison between Cokin Z and Lee in a separate post since UPS still has my package at this point.

Other:
Radiopopper JrX trigger x2
Radiopopper JrX receiver studio x3
Radiopopper JrX receiver basic

The reason my gear setup at this point is that in 2011, I started getting into wedding photography and started my website http://www.kissesoflife.com/ . This is why I have to have 24-70, 70-200, flashes and the radiopopper set which I would never need for my landscape.

The Cokin Z filter set and Lee glass just arrived yesterday. The Lee holder is still on its way. I'll do a comparison as soon as I have both on hand.