Nikon 10-100 VR in the forest

Today the day was 5 hours and 22 minutes long. So I had plenty of time to take two shots with my newest zoom: 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 VR  :)

Summary from the last 6 months of using Nikon 1 system

I have been lazy, I know it.
I haven't been shooting much for the last six months, but I did find couple images which could be presented here.

I have used the Nikon 1 system much more than my D800. I even had a one weeks trip to Spain where I didn't bring my D800 at all. It was the correct decision. There wasn't even one occasion where I wanted to have my D800 with me.

I have also started to practise shooting video with these little cameras and I am hoping to get something small to publish by the end of the February 2014. Biggest problem has been getting small enough accessories. Everything is designed for big DSLR cameras.

The Nikon 6.7-13mm wide angle lens hasn't found a way to my bag yet, but I did buy the new 10-100 superzoom when it came to a quite reasonable offer of just 399€. I haven't had time to test it in daylight, but in the end of this post the last shot is with that lens. I have a feeling that in future that lens might be attached quite much to my V1.
 

 

Nikon 18.5mm/f1.8 ( quite close! )

 

Handheld panorama from five images

 Nikon 10-100mm/f4.5-5.6

Summer photography with Nikon 1, 10-30 VR, AF-S 60mm macro and 30-110 VR

I studied and trained with several different styles and lenses on my vacation. Firstly I "glued" the Hoya HD circular polarizer on 10-30 VR lens. I haven't removed for over a month. It works great on it. I have a step-up ring for it, so I can also use better designed Nikon 52mm lens cap on it.

Nikon 60mm macro showed it's potential as a macro for Nikon 1 system. Especially after FT-1 v.1.10 firmware update. The butterfly and the fly are shot with the macro lens. Beautiful Demoiselle and birds are shot with 30-110 VR. 

The Lesser Black-backed Gull is shot with Nikon 1 systems great Smart Photo Selector-mode. There is no change for getting that kind of picture with a first try without it. Smart Photo Selector can select images before the shutter is pressed so it enables to shoot images which happened before triggering the shutter :)

Holiday shooting with Nikon V1

Some pics from this week. First four are shot with 70-200/4. Macros are with 60/2.8 AF-S and the last one with 10-30 VR.

Shooting a dam with Nikon J1

One quick pic about the set which I had and one image from the results.

Does Nikon V1 fit for bird photography? Part 2.

On Tuesday Nikon announced an update for Nikon 1 system. The biggest change ( for me ) was the long waited AF-C functionality when FT-1 adapter was used. I did already shoot some birds on Monday with Nikon V1 with 30-110 and 70-200/4, but really focused on testing the updated FT-1 on Wednesday.

I was on a trip to Turku and didn't know much places to shoot birds. I did found couple adequite locations where I mostly found Seaguls and Common Terns. Anyway my main focus wason testing the system not shooting new species.
For the last year I have mostly focused on landscape photography but it was fun to test this small system for birding. It wasn't as frustrating as it was when I had D90 and 70-300 VR. My hitrate was much better with Nikon 1-system. 70-200/4 can be shot wide open all the time and when using f5.6 it really shines with V1. My images are shot mostly wide open.

Bottom line about the new FT-1 update: GREAT!
Smaller subjects are as difficult as before, because the AF-rectancle is so big, but the AF-C mode really works. I think it also tracks the subject after keeping it in rectancle for a second or two. Then the rectancle disappears and it feels like it tries to track. Anyway, the hardest part is to trying to keep the focusing area on a bird. EVF does flicker quite badly when shooting, so mostly I was able to keep the subject in the picture only for a five images or so.

Here are some shots:

Nikon 1 for macro photography

I actually bought FT-1 adapter for macro photography. It just took 6 months to get a macro which I could use on it :)
Then finally a month ago I found a used Nikon 60mm f/2.8 AF-S macro lens from a local store. Nice lens on FX and it is still usable on Nikon 1 cameras with 2.7x focal length multiplier.

Actually 18.5mm f/1.8 lens works quite well for flower photography. Here is one.

Today I shot some photographs with Nikon V1, FT-1 and 60mm f/2.8 AF-S. I used a Sirui tripod and Markings ballhead. Not something to tell stories, but look at them as examples. Even when the sensor is so small as in Nikon 1 cameras the DOF is still mostly too short.

 

Sunset, again!?

Sunset is a problematic scene for a photographer. Every sunset is different, but still every photographer has seen too much sunset pictures. I like sunsets, every time, but I rarely photograph those. I have so many sunset pictures that I should not have a need to photograph those anymore.
But I do and I like it. This time I luckily had J1+18.5mm with me.

Normal beautiful sunset.

Nikon 1 in Scotland, Part 2

In the first part I just demonstrated a little bit possibilities of a RAW image. Here I will show some more images, a lot more.

I didn't use much the 10-30mm lens. I have got used to use prime lenses on D800 so I like to use those on Nikon 1 cameras also. I think if I would have used the zoom more, images could have been better on some cases.
Most of the time I had 10mm or 18.5mm lens on J1 and 30-110 telezoom on V1. Telezoom was on V1 because it is much easier to use with viewfinder.