Spider on the back deck taken with 105 mm Macro lens on Nikon D750 camera

Earlier this summer Nikon announced the D810 digital SLR as a follow on to their D800.  This camera lists for $3300 and is second on the Nikon product line behind the D4S that costs almost twice as much.

Early test picture. 105mm Macro @ ISO 12,800

Color Original. 50mm at f5.0 ISO 800

The changes made to the 810 over the 800 were not enough to wow me at that price point and I figured I was in for another long wait for a full frame camera from Nikon that I was willing buy to replace my D300 with Dx crop sensor.  To my surprise, rumors started to come out in mid-August of a new full frame DSLR from Nikon that would sit between the D610 and the new D810 and would be announced at Photokina (a photography trade show in Cologne Germany that I'm only too familiar with due to work).  Sure enough, the  Nikon D750 was announced and with the minor exception of not offering built-in GPS (it doesn't look like Nikon is ever going to add this to their high end DSLRs) it had everything I was looking for and the early word on the internet about the camera was all extremely positive.  The camera went on sale on September 23 and our local Best Buy had them in stock so I picked one up on Thursday.

High key B&W

Now, going from a DX cropped camera to a full frame camera has a lot of benefits but one draw back could be in the lenses you've accumulated over the years for your DX camera body.  I always knew that some day I would get a full frame camera and tried to take this into consideration when purchasing lenses.  I did, however, make a couple of significant lens choices that are DX only lenses. My Nikkor 17-55 mm zoom that I keep on my D300 almost all the time is a key example and the Tokina 12-24 wide angle zoom (my only non-Nikon lens) is another.  So the wide to normal range is where my current zoom lenses are DX only.  What this situation has prompted me to do is to revisit a couple of prime lenses that I've owned for over 10 years but have hardly ever used.  One is a 50 mm f1.8 lens I bought for a trip to NY City with my sister Becky in November of 2003.  I was hoping to use it for some night time city shots with my then
new D100.  The other is a  24 mm f2.8 lens that I obtained through a unique set of circumstances that I won't go into but the cost to me for this lens was nothing.  So with a relatively wide prime, a normal prime and the full frame capable 105mm macro lens I obtained recently (see my second post in this blog), I decide to go sans-zoom for a while to see how things work out.  Besides, the two full frame zoom lenses I have my eyes on to round out my full frame lens collection, the Nikkor 17-35 and the Nikkor 24-70, are both quite expensive and my credit card needs to cool a bit after getting the camera itself.

Taken in NY City Nov 26, 2003.
50mm 1/80 sec @ f5.0 ISO 400 Nikon D100

So onto this week's pictures that were (mostly) taken with my new Nikon D750 and a prime lens of one sort or another.  Each picture is captioned with the lens used.  One of the promises of a newer camera (I've had the D300 since January 2008) is the advances in technology and one such advancement is in the ability to shoot at high ISO with less noise.  The D750 boasts an in camera ISO upper end of 12,800 and will allow you to set it for two stops above this for an effective ISO of 51,200.  So once I charged the battery and put it into the camera and attached the 50mm f1.8 lens to it I took a couple shots of a medallion I had on my desk.  I quickly learned that I could not get as close as I wanted to with the 50 mm so I put on the 105 mm macro and took the shot here at ISO 12,800.

On Friday night I drove to Hamlin Beach state park to try and shoot some star pictures with the 24 mm lens.  I arrived at the park shortly after sunset and while I waited for it to get dark I took some shots of these trees growing on a short peninsula.  For some reason I can't explain I thought they might look good as a B&W conversion.  I settled on a high key conversion that I think looks pretty neat but in second thought I think the color original is more compelling.  What do you think?

Big Dipper over lake Ontario.  24mm 8 sec, f2.8 ISO 200

The star shots did not turn out so good.  I think the lens did not stay focused at infinity and things are just a little soft and the stars themselves ended up being little ringlets of light and not spots of light (a sure sign that focus was off).  I'll have to return and try again.  I am sharing one shot here of the Big Dipper with some light painting to bring in the trees.  Too bad it is slightly out of focus.

24mm @f5.0 ISO 100

I intended to get up early on Saturday and drive to an area along the canal a few miles from my house to see if I can get low fog on the water with early morning light.  Unfortunately I over slept and did not get to the location until after 8:00 AM.  I still used the opportunity to check out these prime lenses some more and shot the calm waters with reflected trees.  I'll have to return here soon as the leaves continue to change in our area.
In the afternoon, while cooking some chicken in the smoker for dinner, I decided to try and get a good picture of this spider we've been watching for almost 2 weeks.  I ended up moving some stuff around on the deck so that I could get to the other side of his (or is it her?) web in order to get the top side of the spider and, more importantly, get the green of the trees as background instead of our grey house.  The results were pretty decent (and a bit scary) and is this week's featured picture.

Links to discussions on prime lenses vs zoom lenses
http://digital-photography-school.com/prime-vs-zoom-lenses-which-are-best/
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fixed-lenses-take-better-pictures.htm
http://photographylife.com/prime-vs-zoom-lenses
http://www.colesclassroom.com/prime-vs-zoom-lenses-top-7-reasons-to-use-primes/

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Amy and I took a bike ride on Saturday and decided to try a trail that we had not done before.   We drove to Basil Marella Park in Greece, NY and started riding on the Lake Ontario State Park trail (LOSP).  We headed north with the goal of riding to Charlotte Beach.  When we got to the parkway we were a bit confused as to how to get onto the trail that was on the other side of the divided highway.
After 2 attempts that ended up putting us on the parkway (a place we definitely did not want to be riding) we decided to follow a group of bikers that passed by and looked like they knew where they were going.  This strategy worked and we soon found ourselves back on the trail that we knew would take us into Charlotte.
We stopped as soon as we made it on this trail to take pictures around the little pond that was there and allow the group that we followed to get ahead of us.   This pond was very picturesque and would have lent itself to more compelling photos had it not been so windy and the surface had been smooth. This shot of the shore line under the shade of the trees isn't too bad.
The ride from the pond into Charlotte was quite pleasant and when we arrived at the beach there was a walk for ALS fund raiser going on and the large pavilion was full of people.  We did walk our bikes to the boardwalk and looked out over the lake.  I was taking some pictures of the sailboats out on the water when a large flock of seagulls took off and gave me a nice opportunity for a classic photo.

Low angle shot of the boardwalk

High angle shot of the boardwalk

We returned to our bikes and wanted to get an ice cream at Abbotts but they weren't opened yet so we decided to check out the Genesee Riverway Trail that heads south towards the city along the river.  We rode along the trail for a few miles and at one point the multi-use trail turns into a boardwalk that juts out into the river for a short distance.  This was a very neat experience as we rode our bikes on a wooden pathway over the Genesee River.  At one point this portion of the trail is long and straight and I took several pictures down the boardwalk at different angles.  These two posted here were my two favorites but I cannot decide which is better, the low angle or the high angle.  If you would like to offer your opinion on which one you like better, please leave a comment below and let me know.
As we worked our way back to the village of Charlotte to get our Abbott's ice cream cone we stopped to take a couple of pictures of the bridge that crosses the river here.  Even though the ice cream stand didn't officially open until 12:00, the young lady working inside and preparing to open had already started serving folks so we were able to enjoy our cones on this warm (upper 70's) late September day.

On the ride back I mentioned to Amy that I had seen a potentially nice photo opportunity on the way into Charlotte and wanted to stop on the way back to see.  It was on a bridge over a small stream that cut through the field north of the trail.  I intended to take several shots from a variety of angles to see which one I would like best.  I took the shot at the top of this weeks post and looked around for a better angle and didn't really find one that really seemed any better and this turned out to be a good thing.  Even though I didn't think subsequent angles were any better I still tried to take a couple more shots only to find out that my memory card was full and I couldn't take any more without spending time cleaning out space.  I really didn't want to take the time to do that and thought to myself, "well, the first one will have to do".  

If you are serious about taking pictures when you are traveling about, you should always keep spare memory cards on hand as well as a spare battery for the camera.

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Along the canal path during our Sunday bike ride.

Friday September 5th saw temperatures in the low 90's.  Ever since then we have been on a steady and rapid decline to the point where this morning's outside temperature was a chilly 40 degrees as we prepared for a lengthy bike ride with our friends Brian and Cindy Westrich.  Another sign that summer has come to a close is the fact that my golf league held its end of season tournament on Tuesday and golf is now officially over.  I brought my Nikon P7800 point and shoot camera that Amy got me for Christmas this past year to the tournament and on the bike ride today.  All the photographs in this weeks post came from that camera.

The 10th hole Par 3 At Mill Creek

The golf tournament was a lot of fun as we played 18 holes with 3 different Ryder Cup formats of 6 holes each.  2 man scramble, best ball and alternating shot.  My partner and I came in third place for the tournament and were happy with our results.  Besides, like they say, a bad day of golf beats a good day at work every time.  I hoped to get some interesting golf shots (with the camera not with the clubs - although that would have been nice too) because it was promised to be a nice day.  We did not get any rain like we did most of the summer but the clouds did roll in and some of the late afternoon and evening light I was hoping for never transpired.  I do have a couple here for you to enjoy.  For those of you interested we play at Mill Creek golf course which is very nice and you may notice the sand traps on the course - I tend to find those most of the time.

Genesee Valley Greenway near Lehigh Valley Trail

The crew at Bushnell's Basin

The bike ride produced more photo opportunities and here are a few to share as well.  We started the ride in Scottsville and went south on the Genesee Valley Greenway for a couple miles before reaching the intersection with the Lehigh Valley Trail where we met up with Brian and Cindy.  We then headed east on the trail into Mendon and a bit beyond before we had to do some road riding that included a few too many hills for my now sore thighs.  I will say, however, that the downside of those hills were a lot of fun.  We joined the canal path in Bushnell's Basin and headed back west towards Pittsford and Schoen Place where we ate lunch at the Village Coal Tower and followed that up with Ice Cream at Pittsford Farms Dairy where they make their own Ice Cream on the premises.
Once we finished refueling (thats what you call eating Ice Cream when you're out on a long bike ride) we resumed the ride on the canal path to Genesee Valley Park where the trail meets up with the northern end of the Greenway.  We took the Greenway back into Scottsville to complete our 42 mile loop.

On the canal trail near Bushnell's Basin

Both Amy and Cindy are avid sports fans and once we left Pittsford after lunch we needed to stop frequently to pull out my iPhone and check the scores of the Patriots game and Red Sox game for Amy and the Bills game and Indians game for Cindy.  I tried to convince them that all we need to care about now is the football scores because neither the Indians nor the Red Sox are going be playing for much longer.  That argument did not go over too well.

As Amy said after we got back home, with the return of the cool weather and all that exercise today, we should sleep well tonight.

Entering the woods on the Genesee Valley Greenway.

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Strawberries.  Yum yum

This week's post is less about artistic presentation and careful photographic setup and more about capturing the moment.  Amy and I hosted an end of summer dinner party

Best way to light charcoal

jalapeño poppers pre-grilling

with some friends and I've decided to share some pictures of the afternoon/evening.   The day started out a bit iffy in terms of the weather.  We wanted to take a walk before starting the day and given the way the skies looked we decided to just do laps around the neighborhood and before we made it around for the second time the rains came heavy and our plans for the day looked in jeopardy.  We had 3 racks of baby back ribs that needed to get into the smoker by noon and I was a bit worried about keeping the temperature of the smoking chamber where it needed to be while it rained.   The rained stopped and it was touch and go for a while but by the time the guests arrived and the festivities started the rain had stopped and did not return.
We had a wonderful time sharing food and wine and lively conversations with our friends.  The hors d'oeuvres, the snacks, the baked beans and corn that Dan O. brought and, yes, the ribs were all delicious.
Amy prepared some jalapeño poppers for a pre meal treat that were a hit last time we had this crew over for a similar event.  Don't mess with a good thing.

Dan Olean grabbed my camera and took this shot of
Amy telling me how to grill the chicken.

Once the meal was complete we desert soon followed and we had chocolate zucchini cake that Amy put together and Jeannine's famous dream desert.  We then moved to the fire pit on the lower level of the deck to finish off the evening.  We had a great time and feel blessed to have such wonderful friends.

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