Speaking of light painting, just remember this shot did during Earth Hour 2010 with my friends

Don't remember how long the shutter was, about 10 seconds or more if not mistaken .

Jump ship , or for sensor cleaning wait until those fairs which provides free service.

In that case... then store the Nikon in an air tight container, confirm no dust!

Vignetting on the edges o_O, did you stack filters?

Btw where is this? Penang?

Haha same condition as me, when I went to Penang I stack my CPL with my UV and didn't realized there's tiny vignetting like yours

D5100 kit lens is 18-55, so if you looking something better it is best you state your budget.

Roughly this is what you can consider,

Nikkor 18-105 for more range,
Nikkor 16-85 for better optics,
Tamron 17-50 VC for f/2.8 (faster) and also optics,

More budget?
The DX king, Nikkor 17-55!

If budget about 500-600, then your only choice is a second hand 18-105 VR. Got no other choice, second hand 17-50 or 16-85 way more than your budget already.

I sold mine to fabian, below RM700... I think 600+... condition superb since I seldom use it LOL!

From your budget, the 18-55 is sufficient

Back then when I was deciding between Nikon or Phottix or Meike for my D90, the Meike seems to have better quality over the Phottix.

Functionality the same, I took the Nikon anyways in the end lol.

Which is the gold ring are you referring to? 105 VR?

As far as I know the high end ones all made in Japan.

That's the only gold ring I know made in China instead of Japan... cause last time people were making a big fuss out of it haha! Luckily it isn't Thailand! Or maybe Thailand has better QC than Japan...

My made in Japan 70200 VRII AF also kopak before 1 year time ._. that also I didn't really stress the lens LOL.

Nikon BTS said my unit is the first they received, and when I asked for pricing they didn't know. But they did say for 17-55 it cost about RM600-700.

For mine, I think they changed barrel. Cause my zoom ring, initially my rubber piece starting to peel, so I did a little DIY using superglue but it was a little messy lol. So got a bit of stains, but when I got it back it was stain free!

Oh yeah, the rubber grips is only attached to the lens with a double sided tape below ._.

I don't use it often... my friend uses his more often than mine but his still ok argh.

But good thing about mine now is, its clean inside. No dust, brand new . Last time wah seh damn a lot particle.

Handheld, I don't have a monopod

Yeah did that before for Super GT LOL. Morning to late evening .

Even more shaky -.- VR also can't help lol.

Nope, what I have is sharp enough for my usage . of course my 70200 can't do macro as compared to 105 VR.

Besides, the 105 VR focuses really slow unlike the 70200 VR2.

Don't need a macro lens to get sharp images


Kyra by CY Pixels, on Flickr