Iron_Dreamer

Dammit, Jacob!

An 11mm rectilinear prime would be fun! This new lens seems a bit over the top, and the 11mm setting doesn't quite seem with the sacrifices of a stop of aperture, larger size and weight, and a huge price increase over the Nikon 14-24.

Keep those hatches battoned down!

Well, sounds like homeowners may help pull my bacon out of the fire. At least a claim is going, hopefully it will help dampen the blow of that crap.

Loving those sunstars from the 20/1.8 Jeff!

Geico told me that their comprehensive only covers the car, and items permanently attached. I will see what my parents' homeowners does, that's my last hope.

Also posted this on FB So, file this one under crummy days. I returned from a hike near Sedona this afternoon to find my laptop bag and a couple of other items missing from my car. Local authorities told me there had been another theft reported at the same trailhead today. Argh. On the bright side, I had all my primary photo gear with me, and my camping gear and clothes were left untouched, and my car wasn't damaged or stolen itself. Unfortunately, I lost my laptop, hard drives and memory cards, backup camera gear, personal audio gear, and some other bits and pieces. What a tough blow, especially considering the fact that I had not displayed any of this stuff conspicuously, and the car was locked. I'm going to press on with this trip, but this is definitely one more setback and curveball I really didn't need right now.

Happy birthday, Mike, I'm sure you and Deb have had a great time!

It's the beard talking!

Nothing like the look of uncorrected spherical aberration in the background!

Ah, that makes more sense. The Zeiss 18 isn't really one of their best, most people go for the 21/2.8 which is fairly legendary. But at this point, I wouldn't bother, give that it retails for about 3x the Nikon 20. I really liked the Sigma 50 when I demoed it in store, and if anything it was even more brilliant than their 35/1.4, but I just don't use that focal length enough to justify the size/weight/cost, when the Nikon 50/1.8G is probably 80% the performer, for 15% the cost (used) and 20% the weight. 85 vs 135 again is a decent difference in focal length, and while they're both "portrait" lenses, they definitely result in a different look, and I wouldn't really consider one to be a substitute for the other. I had a good copy of the Rokinon 35/1.4 on the first stab years ago, their 12/2.0 for the Fuji system, not so much on the first try, and didn't feel like staying on the merry go round.

You're not? I sure as hell would / will (the want for that lens is pretty strong for me). Having the pop of some shallow DOF at wide angles really adds to event/reportage stuff, and then there's the usefulness of another stop for astrophotography! I wasn't aware the Zeiss 15 was available that cheaply used, I thought it was about $3k new! 15mm and 20mm are hugely different focal lengths. I use 14mm quite a lot on my 14-24, and there are even times where it doesn't feel quite wide enough, and there are plenty of times where 19-21mm is the sweet spot. It's the difference between quite wide, and insanely wide. One's still somewhat realistic, the other quite fantastic. I've considered getting the Wonderpana filter system for my 14-24, but I'm thinking I might just prefer to get the 20/1.8 for a similar cost, and just deal with the lack of zoom for filtered shots, and have the option of f/1.8 when needed, and a lighter lens for backpacking trips.

Hope it's been a great one, Grahame!

Have you considered the new Nikon 20/1.8? It's relatively small, light, and affordable, with really nice performance. I used it a bit at CES, and discuss it in my blog post: http://www.pbjames.com/blog/2015/1/ces-2015-report-a-photographers-perspective

Get a good copy and it's a great bargain. On a D800 for a filterable ultra wide. I wouldn't use it on a 36MP body, but it worked well for me ok n the 700.

I imagine I should be able to try this stuff out next week at CES, will report back!

Hope you had a fabulous birthday, Ric!

For any who didn't see my FB post on this, here was our attempt at doing Richard Blais' Spicy Chorizo Burger from this video: We'd made a first attempt the day before, and decided to try fries instead of griddled potatoes, and sliced cheese instead of shaved, both of which helped the flavor consistency from bite to bite:

Are you referring to the Nikon 85 1.8 D or G? I have the latter, and while it's not a Sigma Art lens, it's far from useless under f/4, and I've had no real qualms about shooting it wide open, apart from a bit of bokeh fringing. That said, an 85 Art is at the top of my wish list. I've loved the 35 Art so far, and tried the 50, which seemed even a bit better, however, it's just too huge to justify in my bag, being that I use 35 and 85 more often, and the Nikon 50 1.8G is tiny, cheap, and far from a dog.

While it's awful this had to happen at all, thank goodness both of you made it through. It sounds like a rough road ahead, but never stop being thankful for it. I'm sure that with time and effort, you can get to a place of contentment again. I'm pulling for both of you!

Prices are only ridiculous if nobody will pay them, and based on JH's popularity in China, I suspect they will have no trouble selling tons of them there. Beyond that, it may not even matter, but of course there are always customers who equate most expensive with must have.

Definitely another fun idea, John. There are some nice hiking spots in Riverside and SD counties, and I don't have to tell you about the beer!

Ho jeez!

Many nights of wet, never getting close to or below freezing? I'd probably just get synthetic and not worry about it. For how not-that-low the temps would be, you really just need minimal extra warmth, especially if you don't mind sleeping in a few layers. The quality on the WM bags is just great. My "summer" sleeping bag is this Mountain Hardwear, which is about as warm as it gets for only 1lb (used it down to 20ish with a few layers at 12,500ft). Pretty narrow cut, though: http://www.mountainhardwear.com/mtn-speed-32-regular-OU8519.html

Where're we going? It's a nice time of year in Death Valley That's all I was really saying. It's never going to be what it once was, but at least we can enjoy the memories. The new scene is fine, but there are a lot of agendas floating around out there.