lajolla_photofan

<p>Never thought of lens hood as a safety device before my recent travel to Grand Teton NP. One fine morning I had joined a large group of photographers at Schwabacher Landing. There was a big group of photographers who probably came for some kind of work shop and every one had fancy cameras and lenses. I was very curious to see that all of them had their lens hood on. Please do note that we are shooting the reflection of the sun on mountain not the sun. Then I thought aha tonight was full moon and the moon is still setting over the mountain and these guys are smart.<br /> There was another guy who was shooting beside me sitting on the bank of the river probably with more beat up equipments than I had just could not resist himself to ask the question. The instructor's reply was classic, " I don't want their lenses/camera get damaged if they tip over their tripod" !! No more questions, we put on our hoods too; as we were hand holding our cameras and we had a bigger chance of dropping them.</p>

Fireworks at La Jolla Shores.<div></div>

I used Nikkor 70-210 f/4 quite extensively but it is not quite lightweight. If you want something that can be carried everywhere then you should look for 75-150 E though it is MF.

70-210 is not very sharp wide open, you need to stop down to around f8-11 to get decent results. Due to its close focussing, you can add a 6T to do almost lifesize macro.

My apologies, I don't have any idea why it points to Microsoft's website. The current link is

<a href="http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html">Bjorn Rorslett</a>

I would also second Bjorn Rorslett's site.

<a href="http://http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html/">Lens Survey and Subjective Evaluation</a>

I have found his review in most cases spot on and very informative compared to Ken Rockwell.

I would like to add my 2 cents on this topic. I have a FE-10 like Johnson, and it has survived quite heavy use over last 5 years and has survived admirably. It may not feel very solid but unless you drop your camera or bang it against a wall, it will survive all your adventures. Another positive of this camera is the light weight. When I travel with a light pack weight, I always prefer FE10 over F801s which is built like a tank. As you are new to photography, is there any particular reason that you want to buy a MF camera ?

If you are looking for a tripod that you can carry everywhere(including airlines overhead bin) with decent performance, I would suggest Velbon EFL-4A. With 4 section legs it looks little unstable, but I have used it on Himalayas with high wind with great results. You may hack the lower column to add a hook where you can hang some weight. Bogen 3011 is 2.9 Kgs compared to 1.45 Kgs for Velbon.

Remember that you should be able to carry the tripod everywhere.

You may dig up a link on Tripod comparison done by someone at B&H stores few months back in the archives.

I found La Mauricie National Park north of Laurentians, a beautiful place for landscape photography. It is located between Montreal and Quebec near Trois-Riviers. Explore the lake regions. Lake Wapizagonke(?) is stunning. Hike on Les Deux-Criques Trail and Du-Viex(?) Trail. They have great views of the lake and the mountains. I believe the place is more photogenic in fall than summer.

There are couple of parks near Quebec too, that have lot of photo-ops. I don't remember their name right now, can get back to you later.

Nikkor 70-210 f4 AF zoom may be a good option. It is cheap around $150 used and decent optics. It is also one of the closest focussing zoom lens. If you plan to do macro later on , you can use it with 5T or 6T diopter. The filter diameter is 62mm though.

Mail me at mainak_bu at yahoo dot com . I will post the file online.

It is around 4-5 MB , can't email.

 

Mainak