The Little owl of Greece

OK, something different for Nikonglass! I wrote this a few years ago for publication and has been sitting on my computer ever since. I thought it would be nice for my blog readers to see some of my other work - enjoy!

Limnos, Greece - August 2003
It’s been three weeks since I’ve been observing and recording this striking bird. The sun is about to set as I scout the barn’s roof for any sign of the Little Owl. Uniformly placed on top of the roof-tiles are large stones, which have been placed there to keep the tiles in place when the northerlies are blowing strong. The Little Owl knows that the stones are similar to it, both in size and colour, explaining why it often sits still on the roof without drawing attention during the morning and evening hours when the sun is still low on the horizon. But I have yet to see any sign of the owl until suddenly a shadow flies from the rooftop towards the ground in front of me. The Little Owl has just landed on its first meal of the night. Its wings are spread across the ground for support as it grips hard on its victim with its talons. It swivels its head left and right to make sure the coast is clear, swallows its meal and then flies back to its spot on the roof in wait for its next victim. The light is getting low, so I decide to pack up my gear and call it a day. Tomorrow will be my last day in pursuit of the Little Owl.

Nikon D4

Nikon D4 - Evolutionary for photographers, revolutionary for videographers

First impressions and thoughts

The D4 has arrived and its very impressive indeed! But its not the image quality, nor the ISO performance that grabbed my attention, but the speed, the tracking and the accuracy of the much improved AF system. Just this subsystem of the new camera is what sports and wildlife photographers have been waiting for! Its performance is impressive and I cant wait to get a production model to test out in the field! 

Before continuing, I should point out that I'm not a videographer so most of this "first impression" article has to do with the photography aspects of the new camera. So if you are interested in the video qualities of the Nikon D4, you may want to look elsewhere as well for any good commentary on the new and exciting video capabilities of the D4.

Nikon AFS 35mm f/1.8G DX

This is the new (as of 2009) standard lens for DX format cameras. It produces a similar perspective as the standard 50mm on the FX format cameras. More precisely, when mounted on a DX body the lens offers a focal length of nearly 53mm which is a nice focal length for portraits and general shots of people. Even though this lens is designed for the DX cameras, you can mount it on the larger sensor FX cameras and use it with great success, though there are some limitations you need to be aware of. Read on to found out!

The Nikon F5 power consumption issue:

Note: This article was first published in the late 90's and then rewritten for my old website in 2002. I'm reposting it here for posterity.

Back in 1988, when owning an F4 was a dream my then editor advised me that such a machine would be expensive to run and that mechanical camera’s were here to stay. Well he was partly right, the F3 and FM2 are still in production to this day(2002). With the introduction of CPU’s and their complicated algorithms for multi-pattern metering systems and predictive auto focusing, combined with the coreless motors cameras became heavy power-hungry beasts.

AFS 17-35mm f/2.8D

Intro

The AFS 17-35mm f/2.8D was and still is a great lens! At the time of its reign, users from all over the world would flood the various photography forums praising the capability of this lens to finally make prime lenses redundant! Even Bjørn Rørslett elevated this lens to Legendary status with his in depth review. Given both the high praise and high cost, one would think that the lens must be a worthy investment for the professional photographer. But 10 years on, and a quick search reveals that a lot of users are screaming foul. It may only feel like yesterday when this lens hit the streets, but its been over a decade, so has something changed in the mean time or was this lens overrated from the start. Read on to found out!

AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4D IF-ED

INTRO

For the amateur photographer on a budget, the choices for an affordable telephoto from Nikon are very little. I have written about the AFS 70-300mm VR zoom, but its a bit too slow for some of the more demanding kids sports and weekend wildlife adventures, then there is the AF 80-400mm VR, but its also slow and a bit too expensive. Some people opt for the AFS 70-200mm VR coupled to a tele-converter, but its still an expensive option. Its also a shame that Nikon didn't introduce an AF version of their very popular Ais 400mm f/5.6 ED back in the late eighties when the change to autofocus was happening. Thankfully though, we got the 300mm f/4.