shoot during the rumour golden hours?

CY i want to follow you Thai Trip Car Autoshow. do u have iternary already?

First off, i wanted to ask you, if maybe you would know. Is the "dust problem" with the D600 solved/fixed already in newer batches? and how to know whether new batches or not? I'm asking about this because I read about it online and it's quite a problem especially if you are a landscape shooter (using small apertures). I thought "OK THIS IS JUST A SMALL PROBLEM" but it happened to my close friend who bought it maybe 4 months ago (not sure exactly when) and it was a big problem as shooting at even f/5.6 already shows the problematic dust bunnies on your images. Wonder what will happen at f8 or f16... and for some reason after he send it for cleaning the AF just stopped working and need to send it again for a 2nd time (the AF thing was maybe a fluke, not sure)

Secondly, I had the AFS 28 1.8G Nano for about 2 months. Read about the reviews online before buying. The good thing - the price is good and it's very light. Now to the bad thing - Basically the main problem most people are talking about the lens is that it has focus shift problems (you can read about it online for more details). Some say the problem is really pronounced and some say it just doesn't exist and it the cameraman's fault.

I used the 28G on mostly on a D3s and sometimes on a D7000. I used the 28G for several wedding shoots. This is what happened :

1. When shooting and viewing it on the camera's LCD it is okay and has good bokeh and colors.
2. When I got back home and checked in on my Adobe Camera Raw I was like "what daaafuuuu~~" The focus shift that some people are talking about really exist and it's not my fault! I do understand that with big apertures I need to be aware & careful of my focusing, but the thing is - my wide open shots at f/1.8 was fine and my f/4 & especially f/5.6 shots was making me crazy mad and worried to use the lens ever again!!!

3. The problem with this lens is focus shift, which most primes have to a certain extend but the thing that makes this lens especially heartbreaking is that is has a FOCUS SHIFT + FIELD CURVATURE. Double the trouble!

At f/1.8 and f/2 the focus is nice and the field curvature problem is not pronounced and most of the time you dont even know it has it. Going down to f4 and f5.6 you get serious problems here, the focus shift + field curvature problem is very pronounced.

EXAMPLE 1 : I was shooting a bride & groom next to each on a malay pelamin (bridal bed) and the background was the flower decoration. Guess what? The bride & groom is sometimes in focus (not sharpest) and sometimes not in focus but the weird thing is that the decoration at the back has perfectly sharp focus like I was purposely focusing at the decoration. At first I thought I wrongly focused at the back OR the lens has backfocus problems but it turns out that ONLY at f/1.8 shots were fine and the focus field was as I would expect.

EXAMPLE 2 : I was taking a picture of a bride & groom sitting by each other on a bed. I was kneeling straight 90 degrees towards them and using f/2.8 at around 1 meter from the couple. Yes their faces are really close like 10cm from each other & it was a wide shot & NOT a tight close up shot.Guess what? The focus on the bride is just barely okay and the groom just beside her is just like @#%^&! it's not in focus. People might think the lens is not sharp but the thing is that the bed/decoration behind the groom is really sharp and in perfect focus.. i was like WTH? THE SOLUTION : I SOLD THE LENS AND GOT A 16-35 VR. IT WORKS!

This is what i mean:



I had the D700 for quite some time and was satisfied by the performance. I tested out the D600 and was disappointed. The focus speed of d300/d700 was faster and more so in lowlight. 1/4000s on d600? Yeah.. that's why the initial price d600 was the same as the last price of d700 which is around 6k. The initial price of the d700 was 8-9k if im not mistaken. Again this is your choice if you are okay with the D600. I am not okay with it personally.

I had the 28G and really really really hated it because of that focus shift problem. It does not show (at least in my testing it) on DX but it does show this particular problem on FX. It would be a great lens with the Nano coating, decent price, colour, image quality and lightweight but it's not because of what I experienced. I say this : For environmental portraits (only one subject) shooting wide open (f1.8 or f2) this lens is really great and you don't notice the problem. For couple/group/family shots, basically if you have more than one subject and shoot at this aperture "f2.8-f5.6" forget this lens.

The other options like the AFD 20mm, 24mm & 28mm (all f/2.8) does not have the wide open sharpness & colour rendition of the 28G but these lenses work. FORGET the sigma equivalent it's much worse.

If you are on a limited budget I recommend this :

D600 + AFD 28 or AFD 35 + SB900

eh, i was thinking of the same thing too. except that i won't be using my d90 and will use my d200 instead...
check this out:

infrared filter for camera

pic spam
some recent photos


IMG_4020 by Song laa, on Flickr


IMG_4013 by Song laa, on Flickr

erm i got question regarding sd card , is there any partiular brand i should buy , or i just aim for the cheapest with high speed like a sandisk 32gb with 10 speed ? i am curious because i bought my panasonic 8gb 6 speed quite expensive than the sandisk . please help .

I had the 50 1.8D and now got the 50 1.8G

The D has the same speed as the G in normal conditions. In lowlight I would say the G is a little bit better.

If the D is used on stronger motorized bodies like D300/D700 or D3/D4 which has an AF screw which is faster than d90 etc..., maybe the 50 1.8D focuses faster... but definitely the 50 1.4D focuses faster on stronger motorized slr/dslr bodies.

50 1.4G is slow on whatever body because it depends on the motor in the lens.

I would have to agree with that.. and both 50 1.4G & 1.8G have more accurate focus lock compared to their D versions.

A tribute to old D lenses.. durable indeed. Still can go on and on.. if only they could put weather sealing on those D lenses like the tank-like 85 1.4D

Tried the sigma 50 1.4... i can say that the lens locks on faster than nikon's 50 1.4G.. the only downside is that it's heavy and big for a 50.

How about the Malaysia one? Will they inform the D600 users when there is such a fix offered here?

Yeah.. i was wondering. What was the fix for all the D800 left AF problem? is it hardware and/or software issue?

What camera model is that ar? Rangefinder ar? Ada DX logo summore.. suppose like the "FX for point & shoot" ? hehe

one for tonight


IMG_4121 by Song laa, on Flickr

C&C welcome 

I'm just curious, what happens when one actually hits the suggested shutter count and noticed the deterioration in terms of shutter performance?
Can just replace some parts and it'll be like new again?
Thanks in advance for the reply   

not the typical 18-55 range on crop
and oso the 2470.

16-35 is a wide

bokeh of 105mm end of kitlens.

Maybe nikon used NANO coating on the optical viewfinder.. LOL 

if he is young boy, he got this mind that worrying that actually is good haha, not like me...

when first time get DSLR D70s in hand

"HOLY FUCUK, I LOOK SO PRO!" 
i even can remember the first DSLR shot was in with friends...