Lens testing, lens testing, lens testing - again!

If you wonder, why it's (again) a little slow on my blog:
I've been testing the new Nikon AF-S DX Micro-Nikkor 40mm f/2.8G lens, the Nikon AF-S DX Micro-Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR, and the Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR for Camera Labs. Plus finally drawing up a big comparison of those results.
Pretty interesting stuff for myself as it is the first time ever that I used a DIY test-target captured on 24x36 mm ISO 50 black&white negative film Ilford Pan F plus for testing the lenses at magnifications of 1:2.6
You can easily jump to all my lens reviews and comparisons through this page.

And now that Nikon has announced the new AF-S 85/1.8G lens I'll sure be doing some further lens-testing soon...

Nikon 35mm madness

Having had the chance to test all three current 35mm Nikon primes on a D300 and a D700 did throw quite a spanner in any other photographic work I would have liked to pursue. I'm still not through with writing up all the results from the various tests, raking up almost 900 shots in the course of the action! But I can now at least show you some concise comparison of those three lenses. Have a look, you're in for some surprising results!
As 35mm is sort of an universal focal length that comparison was pretty important for me. It confirmed that my choice was excellent, and I'm looking forward to putting the new gear to good use - after I've written up the rest of my findings...
If you're interested in all my lens-reviews, have a look here.

For gear head over here

I've finally collected all my lens reviews on an extra page in my blog from where you can easily head over to the respective Camera Labs thread. There you can read about my findings and the comments from others, post questions or participate in discussions.

Imagination vs. Reality

"Photography is the expression of imagination, not the duplication of reality."

This is a quote from an article by Ken Rockwell dubbed "The pen and your signature". He brings home the message that the photographer is much more important than the camera, a point Ken has made many times before. And he is right!
This is the reason why I refrain from doing gear-talk on my blog, although I'm a gear-head myself and indulge in scrutinizing every review of photographic gear - even doing reviews by myself. But that is a totally different hobby from actually shooting images. But if you're actually interested in some of the gear I use or have tested, here's a list of reviews I did over at the friendly Camera Labs forum.

As you can see from some of the reviews I really struggled with some lenses and I'm still not sure whether I simply got a "lemon" (like the 85/1.8) or really have discovered something that others have overlooked. That makes testing a real nuisance and I limit it to lenses I actually intend to buy.

When I'm shooting I really like the gear to be "transparent", i.e. not to show up in the image unless I want it to. That's not because I want to duplicate reality. It's because I want to express my imagination and not expose the limitations of my gear!

Lenses, Reviews

Yeah, hardware is what makes a photo, right?
Well - at least lenses are necessary*. But not sufficient to take good photos.
That's why I'll delve no deeper into this subject here than to direct you to some of my reviews at Camera Labs:
Nikon lenses
Sigma lenses
Tamron lenses
Tokina AT-XD 80-400mm 4.5-5.6 review

So if you ever wonder what I think of the lenses I use and those lenses I gave back/sold, have a look over there...

----
* unless you take photos without a lens

Let's get started!

Well now, here we go: 1st entry on my 1st blog.
Who am I and why did I start it?
I came back to serious (and not so serious) photography in 2006 when getting my first DSLR. "Serious" not meaning that I'm a pro but that I seriously tried to improve my skill and devote some time and effort into this hobby.

I've since joined Camera Labs as moderator and very much enjoyed this super-friendly forum. I will stay at this forum and post e.g. all my reviews (like of the latest Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII) there and answer the questions of posters etc.

But all my thoughts and ideas get distributed all over the forum so I decided to have a blog collecting some of the things I find interesting in photography. And one of those things is a more kind of "abstract" photography, where you paint with the light from your subject, smear the photons all over the sensor and use a variety of techniques to produce images where form and colors are not defined by ultra-sharp, highest-resolution reproduction of your subject. Or where the resulting images have an abstract quality despite being sharply defined.

This will certainly have to be explained in greater detail. And some images should be posted to make my point. But all in due time!

So stay tuned if you're interested in this topic and other tidbits about photography and feel free to comment either in English or German. Ah, and the secret behind my blog's name will also be revealed...

Btw.: I shoot mostly nature and like the work of Bjørn Rørslett. But more on that in a later post...