david_h._hartman

September 24, 2006

David,

If you are using Adobe ImageReady to convert you TIF/TIFF(s) to

JPG(s) I recommend trying a compression value of 75 and if the

image is to large in megapixels then try 43. I find that values

between but not including 75 and 43 produces poorer quality

images. I have ideas as to why this happens but I cant

explain it correctly or completely so I wont try.

For best color on various displays: copy your image to a new file

and use Convert to profile... to convert it to sRGB.

Depending on your monitor calibration and what Photoshops (or

another programs) images are emulating you may need to

adjust the Hue and Saturation in Adobe ImageReady. If you are

using a program other than ImageReady experiment with various

compression values.

You many not get the best gamma and mid tone saturation directly

from your camera or on conversion. These can be adjusted using

the Levels and Curves pallets. To increase mid tone contrast and

saturation you can pin or drag the 1/4 tone down slightly then

drag up the 3/4 tone. This increases the mid-tone contrast at the

expense of the high light and depending, to the shadow contrast.

This is a feature of conventional wet darkroom process. Indeed a

painter must do the same on canvas. It's not possible to depict

the actual values of most subjects, particularly a hard sunlight

one on a two dimensional surface. In theory a sheet of

photographic paper can reflect no more than 100% of the light

that falls on it nor less than 0%. In practice it's more like 107%

due to optical brighteners and perhaps as low as 5% in the

shadows. These are not test values but general values.

Do NOT use Brightness and Contrast as these are lousy,

that is they cause loss of data. If you need to clip the image

some use Levels where you can control what you are doing both

visually and with the aid of the Histogram. Note that Auto Levels

and Auto Curves does some clipping.

I suggest archiving almost all images (as shot) as unmodified NEF(s).

Edit the best, that is separate them from the mediocre. Later an

image that does not seem worth saving may have more value to you.

I speak from sad experience. Saving the also ran(s) is not as

space consuming as saving apparently unneeded slides and

negatives.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 23, 2006

Jaun,

Depending on the skylight filter they are generally magenta

filters. A Nikon L1Bc is pretty close to a CC 025 M filter. Other

brands can be stronger, up to CC 05 M. Do you want to add a

magenta cast to all your images? This could easily be meaningless

with a DSLR.

Older UV filters used to be slightly yellow to combat the

Ektachrome Blues. Nikon L37c filters are colorless and do cut

some UV light. This is what I recommend.

UV, v. No filter? Proper technique is more important in daylight.

Just take the filter off for non-flash night photography. With or

without a filter always use a lens hood even with lenses that

have a recessed front element (excepting close-up and macro

lenses).

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

PS: "CC" means Color Correcting and is a filter suitable for use in

the optical path, 025 indicates a density of 0.025.

September 23, 2006

Michael,

Please forgive me but the test target and the likely test

distance are not suitable for general photography. What you need

are small individual targets that you place on a flat wall. For

general photography your test distance should be roughly 5m or 15

ft. A good brick wall isnt bad and though jokes are made

about those who photograph them very useful information is gained

from testing. The false assumption is that those who photograph

brick walls dont do anything else.

Since you camera is an auto focus camera, focus error could be the

reason you dont see a difference between the 50/1.8 and 18~70/3.5~4.5.

Another problem is by f/8.0 diffraction is starting to take the

edge off the best lenses. Many think diffraction starts at f/16

or f/22 but its there all along.

The sweet spot of a lens is where decreasing residual aberrations

meets increasing diffraction. Its typical to graph this and

a the chart shows a X as X marks the spot. The 50/1.8

will hit its sweet spot proper somewhere between f/4.0 and f/5.6.

Also the sweet spot is normally observed as a large central area

of the image. If youve seen the 12mm circle in cameras like

the Nikon F3 or F100 thats about the area that concerns me.

In careful testing Ive seen the central image area fall off

in resolution as the edge increase. The answer for this is a bit

more stopping down can be required to control residual

aberrations at the edge of the format as compared to the central

area. A lens that produces its best image quality at f/4.5 in the

broad central area might require ff/8.0 at the extreme corner. If

a lens for 35mm or DX requires f/8.0 to hit it's "sweet spot" I

do not consider that it has one. To put it another way the lens

really isn't too sweet. If you don't know a lens and want the

sharpest image shoot prime lenses at f/5.6 and zoom lenses at f/8.0. Some zooms do attain a sweet spot by f/5.6.

Im not dumping on AF cameras here as I own three of these.

My preferred focus method is probably manual but sometimes, PJ

style flash photography for example, I rely exclusively on auto

focus. I also rely on an aperture of about f/5.6 to cover for AF

focus errors.

There are so many factors to control in lens testing. I use a

camera with a 6x, high magnification waist level viewfinder and

focus by the light of a 1,000 watt quarts halogen flood light to

nail the focus. If the camera itself is out of specs this wont

give the desired results. I make the exposure by electronic flash

in total darkness using electronic flash. Camera alignment must

be meticulous or its all for nothing, etc.

With modern AF cameras focusing a lens that is faster than f/2.0

requires a lot of skill or worse is just a crap shot. A lot

depends on your camera. Even a Nikon D2X or D2H is less than

ideal for fast lenses. I think with less than a 6x finder

critical focus with a lens faster than f/2.0 is not assured. At

any rate a Nikon F2 or F3 with the old coarse focus screens are

preferred for truly fast lenses and critical focus.

To sum this up I recommend that you not place too much importance

on this test. Proper lens testing is very difficult.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 18, 2006

My question: Should I go ahead and convert this

lens, or would it be better to keep it intact to retain whatever

collector's value it might have. I'd rate it's condition about 8

on a scale of 1-10. -- Jeff Moag

Is your lens a 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor-P Auto lens from 1968 to 1977?

per Roland Vinks website? ...

<a

href="http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html#55%20micro"

target="_new">http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html#55%20micro</a>

...if so you can have it converted but its not the lens

Bjorn Rorslett prefers. To be sure focus the lens to 1:2. Look at

the internal aperture control. Is the grove straight? Its not

a compensating aperture lens. Is it slanted? It is a compensating

aperture lens. This is the acid test.

Is your lens a 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor Auto lens from 1963 to 1969

per Roland Vinks website? ...

<a

href="http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html#55%20micro"

target="_new">http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html#55%20micro</a>

Look at the side of the barrel in the photograph at lower left.

Do you see light blue markings on chrome? ...

<a href="http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/a5535d.jpg"

target="_new">http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/a5535d.jpg</a>

...If so its a compensating aperture version...

ABSOLUTELY NOT: the typical non-Nikon AI conversion will NOT

remove the Compensating Aperture Feature so when used on ANY AI

type camera including the Nikon F100, F5, F6, D200, D2H(s) and D2X(s)

the partly and incorrectly covered lens will give you erroneous

meter readings. Depending on the focus rings position you can

have up to one full f/stop of over-exposure. If you are shooting

slides or digital this will cause lost images. With a Nikon F3/F3HP

or F4 you can disable AI and use stop down metering for accurate

metering. Cameras such as the F100, D200, D2H(s) and D2X(s) do

not allow traditional Nikon stop-down metering via the DOF

preview button.

If your lens qualifies and if you can find a genuine Nikon AI

conversion kit specific to it conversion is possible. Look for a

replacement piece for the part of the aperture control linkage

that has a straight grove rather than a slanted grove found in

the original part. This piece is probably about 60mm long and 25mm

wide and curved to fit in the barrel of the lens. Its the

part that actually manipulates the iris of the lens.

Another consideration is you camera does not meter with this lens

even if converted so the compensating aperture feature is

valuable to you if you use either the histogram or an external

meter for exposure measurement. The compensating aperture feature

is also valuable if you use non-TTL flash such as a studio strobe

system.

My recommendation is buy a used Nikon PK-11a extension tube and

remove the meter coupling linkage. If you save the parts they can

be reinstalled (with difficulty). There are six tiny ball bearing

that will easily be lost. Take the tube apart in a shallow box so

they cant roll away. If you never install an AF lens on the

tube you can use a PK-11 tube which should be cheaper.

The PK-11(a) tube will yield an image scale of 0.15x to 0.65x

with your 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor Auto. There is no real advantage to

shooting at infinity with this lens as its a dog at

infinity anyway. For image scales of 0.5x to 1.0x you can use the

M Tube, a supplied (no extra cost) accessory for this lens. If

you do not have and cant find an M Tube you can use an M2

tube which is identical excepting the lack of a secondary

aperture scale. These tubes will fit every AI type Nikon body

with a fix aperture coupling lever that Ive tested

including the FE2, FM2n, F100, F5 and D2H.

Here is what is happening. The simple aperture coupling lever and

ridge system has no way of knowing that the lens is an aperture

compensating lens. The aperture coupling feature does not work

correctly unless the lens is stopped down one full stop. The

meter will measure the light through the maximum aperture of f/3.5.

As the lens is focused closer the effective maximum aperture

falls up to 1.0~1.17 stops. The meter will compensate for the

loss of effective aperture. When photograph is taken at a setting

of f/5.0 or less the compensating aperture feature will also

compensate and you will get double compensation and over-exposure.

In between f/3.5 and f/5.0 you will get a varying degree of error.

I hope this helps.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

PS: unless the lens is absolutely mint I would not worry about

collector value. Sorry I dont have time to proof this so

you many find cut & paste/word use/grammar errors. The

message is still the same: if your lens is a CAV lens dont

do it.

September 18, 2006

Blaine,

I had a problem with a Nikon FE2 and MD-12. I cleaned the

contacts with regent grade methyl alcohol. The MD-12 still failed

so I opened it up. I dont recommend this but Ive done

some lens repair on AIS Nikkors and thought this would be fairly

simple. I got information off the main circuit board and called a

camera repairman friend and asked if he would order me a part.

His reply was, Did you clean the contacts. I said,

Yes but Ill do it again.

The second time around I burnished the contact with Q-Tip cotton

swabs very lightly moistened with methanol. I changed the Q-Tips

several times. Incidentally I cleaned both the camera and the

body both times as either side could cause the problem. The motor

drive worked perfectly after this and has ever since. There was

no viable sign of a contaminant on either set of contacts.

My best guess is there was some kind of wax on the contacts.

Alcohols are not the best solvents of wax but they dry pretty

clean and are quite safe in this use. Regent grade methyl is the

solvent Nikon recommends for cleaning its professional

large format lenses which is why I have it on hand. Some care is

required of the raised contacts on the MD-12. The cameras

contacts are flat.

I DO NOT recommend the use of ANY ABRASIVE including pencil

erasers. Im pretty sure pencil erasers use Pumice. If the

extremely thin gold plating is removed from the contact the brass

below will corrode, often in just a few days, and one will have

constant problems.

Its doubtful that the problem is with your Nikon FE unless

its the FEs contacts. Make sure the MD-12 is turned

off when ever you install or remove it. I recommend that you

inspect the contacts on the MD-12 under magnification to see if

the plating is worn away. Those contacts may need replacement.

The MD-12 must have recently been discontinued as the Nikon FM3a

was recently discontinued. Parts should be available if needed.

Good luck,

Dave Hartman.

September 18, 2006

Yeah, that's the thread, thanks. For some reason I

couldn't 'find' it in my own posting history (I think it was

older than I thought, and I didn't look far enough back).

--Todd Peach

Finding this one was easy though most arent. I searched

backwards in your posting history for Sigma.

Fortunately the focal length and aperture ratio were in the

thread title as well as Sigma. Ive spend 10 minutes or a

little more and given up looking for a few of my posts in my

history. Luck can play a major part, in this case the title of

the thread was very helpful. After several weeks or few months I

find Google almost useless.

---

An 18/2.0G ED-IF AF-S DX with acceptable barrel distortion, no

compound or mustache distortion, is a reasonable request. If

there is any truth to the smaller, lighter, less expensive, line

about DX lenses this should no more difficult now than the 28/2.0

Nikkor-N Auto was to design back in the sixties.

The original 28/2.0 Nikkor-N Auto had the same basic nine

elements in eight groups as the late 28/2.0 AIS with SIC coating.

It was releases in the summer of 1970 about the time I started

serious photography. Something I never noticed before is that

Roland Vink notes that the original 28/2.0 had multi-coating and

the photos at his site give credence.

I realize some folks do not understand the use of fast primes and

other dont need them as they use flash more often. My MO

for candid photography requires fast prime lenses as surely as

MacHeath needed his jackknife. This is why I say with all

certainty that Nikon does not have a full system of lenses for

the DX format.

Id think there is a greater problem with a 13/2.8 DX which

would stand in for the 20/2.8 in the DX format. Again if there is

any truth to the DX lens line of advertising such a lens should

be no more difficult than a 12~24/4.0G ED-IF DX.

There is also a need for a new 58/1.2 Noct and 70/1.4. The

matting crowd many not need these but discriminating

photographers do. Flash is often not acceptable as it alters

sharply the behavior of the subject, there being noting subtle

about a stab of bright light in the eye. This is aside from the

esthetics of the flash. Flash is also banned in many places and

those using tourist cameras are often ignored where

one with a professional looking camera gets unwanted attention.

Im sure Ill get flamed all over the place for this

buy those who do not understand and by those who just want to be

contentious. If Nikon wants to be credible as a professional

camera manufacture they need a full system of lenses for DX, that

or they need to release a Nikon F6D.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

September 17, 2006

Ted,

How about a 12~24/4.0G ED-IF DX, 35/1.4 AIS, 50/1.8 AF and 105/2.8G

ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor.

The 105/2.8 with VR gives you some close-up capability with out

the need for a tripod and gives a medium telephoto with enough

speed to control motion and VR lets you hand hold where a tripod

would otherwise be needed. Im thinking details between 0.10x

and 0.33x and more distant shots as a medium telephoto. I think detail

shots either telephoto or close-up add to a general view considerably,

the detail shown just after the general view. It's like the viewer

gets to explore, not just look at a post card.

The weight of the 35/2.0D AF and 50/1.8 AF are so low they almost

dont count. If the budget can stand it what about a 17~55/2.8G

ED-IF AF-S DX and 35/2.0D AF instead of the 35/1.4 AIS and 50/1.8

AF?

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 17, 2006

The most likely target customer for the Nikon F6 is wedding

photographers as they sorely need the dynamic range of negative

film. Discriminating amateur photographers who shoot to

professional standards are probably the bulk of the customers now.

Im going to agree with Jan Van Laethems complete post.

Please read it a second time as though it follows here...

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 17, 2006

I would guess it is a poorly designed switch or it

is getting some exposure to the elements and oxidizing the

contacts. A common problem from my readings. -- Ron Ries

Might this be more common with cameras that have been used in the

rain? I know many modern AF SLR(s) and DSLR(s) have significant

environmental sealing but I dont trust these to rain.

It seems that I read about a photographer who was shooting with a

Nikon F100 and got drenched by heavy salt spray. He was at the

bow of a boat photographing whales. The camera died on the spot.

I read this on a professional photographers forum.

I have not seen this problem with my F100 but I used my F5 and FE2

more often than the F100.

The switch may use a gold plated brass contact. If the gold is

missing through wear the brass will corrode fairly quickly.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

PS: I though of recommending exercising the switch. Ive had

both cameras and pocket calculators that use S-76 batteries fail

to function with good batteries. Taken out the batteries and

burnished them on my blue jeans, put the batteries back in and

had no problems for a significant time, maybe a few months, maybe

a year. The pocket calculator gets hand-me-down batteries from my

FE2(s) so the calculator is more prone to the problem.

September 17, 2006

Oops! The D80 uses a 420-pixel RGB sensor for auto white

balance while the D70(s), D2H(s), D2X(s) and D200 use a 1,005 pixels

RGB sensor. My apologies, I forgot. The D2H(s) and D2X(s) also

use a sensor in the forehead to measure ambient light temperature.

Dave.

September 17, 2006

Todd,

Is this the thread...

<a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Ha19"

target="_new">http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Ha19</a>

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 17, 2006

S.,

The only time Ive seen irregular frame spacing was when one

of my FE2(s) developed a loose take-up sprocket spool, set screw.

Ive owned most of Nikons better cameras including the

Nikon F, F2(s), F3, F4, F5, Nikkormat FTn, FT2, FT3, Nikon EL2,

FE (family member), FM2(s), FE2(s) and FM2n(s). This could be as

simple as a loose set screw or it could be something more serious.

Have it checked out.

Not only should the frame spacing be regular but the sprocket

holes in the film should not fall between the frames. Its a

royal pain to handle film when this happens. I've seen one

Nikkormat FTn with this problem. It belonged to a customer. This

is easy to check with negative strips.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

September 16, 2006

I'd play with the switch many time and nothing

changes so there is nothing I can do short of sparying contact

cleaner around the switch but not sure if that is a good idea?

--Frank Yang

I would not spray contact cleaner around the switch. If the

camera is still properly sealed you will be wasting your time. If

not you will introduce alcohol which as an affinity for water

inside the camera. Chances are low that the contact cleaner with

find its mark even if it gets in side. Send the camera to Nikon

or a Nikon Authorized repair station. Check, everyone who claims

to be a Nikon authorized repair station many not be one.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

September 16, 2006

"...and it never had these odd outbursts of horrible

white balance. --M Coyle

The Fuji E550 uses the complete CCD for color balance so it has

an advantage in this area when creating in camera JPG(s). I own (or

owned, havent seen it for about 6 weeks) a Fuji E550. I

know pretty much what you are seeing as my DSLR is a Nikon D2H. I

find the use of user custom white balance (strangely called

preset WB) or a Minolta Color Meter II gives much better results

without post processing. This can save a lot of time later.

If possible get the WB right in the camera. If not shoot NEF and

make your corrections in software.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 16, 2006

While comparing the files side by side, the raw

files were consistently underexposed compared to the jpeg files.

At first I thought it was due to the larger raw file size and

added data but now I'm not comfortable with that conclusion. Some

of the raw files are significantly underexposed compared to the

jpeg file. --Dave Dube

Your NEF files are probably not under exposed but rather suffer

from inappropriate gamma, something that is easily corrected in

software. A curve to raise the gamma is likely part of the in

camera processing of your JPG images.

Look at the histogram. Is there clipping of the shadow area in

your NEF images? If not they are not under exposed. Is there

clipping in the highlights? If not your images are not over

exposed. This is general, if the image values are bunched up at

the low or high end though not clipped you could have a problem.

Otherwise the mid-tone values are too low (as probable in your

case) or too high. This is correctable with levels and curves.

Do Not Use brightness and contrast to correct gamma problems.

These are lousy meaning they cause clipping and loss of data. If

you need to do some clipping use Levels where you have a

histogram and proper control.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 16, 2006

I keep reading the same statement; The lens is more

important than the camera! --Tim Knight

This may or may not be true depending on what you photograph.

When you lock the lens in place the camera and lens are one unit.

They do not function independent of one another. I have always

bought the best camera I could afford and then built a lens

system around it. I get ridiculed for this but it works fine for

many. I dare say most Leica M owners start with one body and one

lens.

Ive started two Nikon 35mm systems. Both times I started

with a 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor then added a 105/2.5 and 24/2.8. As

you can see there are no fast lenses here. The lack of a fast

prime did cause problems so with my second system I added then

deleted a 50/1.4 AI. The 50/1.4 was a dog, quite possibly a

marginal sample. I replaced it with an excellent 50/1.8 AI. One

of my favorite lenses now for film is the 28/2.0 AIS. Its a

great lens for candid photos of people.

I do not know the lenses you are asking about. Ive seen

very nice sample photos from the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM. Its

gets a lot of compliments around here. Id love to own one.

I recommend that you look into this lens as a start.

I agree that Nikon is sorely lacking in fast, quality, prime

lenses for their DSLR(s). They are concentrating on slow consumer

zooms with VR because they are cash cows. There are a number of

fast professional zooms but fast for a zoom is f/2.8 and this is

not fast as a prime. I mix and match zooms, primes, auto focus

and manual focus lenses. Im disappointed that Nikon is

apparently paying no attention to prime lenses.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

PS: Canon owners I know have some complaints here also.

---

Perhaps they don't make them is because there is not

much demand for them. Or perhaps not much need. Considering the

difference from 2.8 to 1.4 exposure wise is minimal and that the

d200 produces noise free images at ISO 400 on my d200, there is

really not much need for a 1.4 aperture. --Elliot Bernstein

There is clearly demand but there is more profit in slow zooms

held together with clear cellophane tape (not a joke). There is

more demand for these lenses among convenience motivated buyers.

An f/1.4 lens lets in four times as much light so there is

significant difference exposure wise. This is not a whim. DX

cameras in practical use yield more DOF and less background

blurring so faster lenses are sorely needed.

Nikon does not make a full system of lenses for their DX cameras.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

September 16, 2006

I remembered and now Ive double checked my 55/2.8 AIS

Micro. I compared it to my 55/3.5 AI Micro. The aperture stop

down lever in the 55/2.8 AIS Micro is not spring loaded and

therefor can rattle since it floats freely on dry ball bearings.

There is spring loading deeper in the lens to close the aperture

blades. The function of the aperture stop down lever is to hold

the lens aperture open until an exposure or the DOF preview

button is pushed. The name seems reversed considering its

function but this is name give at Photography in Malaysia. Its

probably official Nikon terminology. In the case of the 55/3.5

the spring loading that stops down the aperture is applied to the

aperture stop down lever itself (OK, that makes more sense) so

the lens, like most other Nikkor lenses doesnt have an

apparent rattle like that of the 55/2.8 AIS Micro.

All is well that end well, yes? I do hope this makes sense as Im

really tired. Anyway I checked and the 55/2.8 AIS rattles as I was

sure it would. You get to ignoring this when you uses the lens. The

55/2.8 is one of my favorite lenses.

I'm a fool for these lenses. I own four 55mm Micro-Nikkors and a

60/2.8 AF Micro-Nikkor among other Micro-Nikkors.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

NAS is not evil; NAS is good (sm).

September 15, 2006

The point of the Mirror Up Mode is you raise the mirror, let

the vibrations dissipate then, then take the photograph. This

feature is for high magnification photography such as Astral,

Macro and Super Telephoto photography. The mirror dampening

should be great in a D200 so you would not benefit much from

using it for general photography.

If you want to photograph a precise moment you raise the mirror

then view the subject directly, not through the camera. The

second press of the release should result in an exposure in less

than 50ms with the D200. I use a Nikon MC-12A electronic release

with an MC-25, 2-Pin to 10-Pin adapter on my Nikon D2H. This

allows very precise exposure timing when needed.

Most of the advice in my first post does not apply to Mirror Up

Mode but please consider it as it may be useful to you when not

using MUP mode. I'm not sure what I was thinking about but I

responded to quickly.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 15, 2006

If you have an SB-800 check out the [GN] or Distance Priority mode. You might find it helpful. See your Nikon SB-800 manual or download a copy free from Nikon.

Dave.

September 15, 2006

Clive,

The mirror lag time for the D200 as published at <a

href="http://www.lightningtrigger.com" target="_new">http://www.lightningtrigger.com</a>

is 50ms. Lightning trigger may get this information from the

manufacturer. I suggest that you use Aperture Preferred or Manual

exposure modes and if using i-TTL flash try using the FV Lock

function. You might also try using auto flash with a speedlight

like the SB-800 and if using multiple flash try using slaves with

an SU-4 or in their SU-4 mode. Note that the SB-600 offers

neither Auto Flash nor an SU-4 mode.

Why a Mirror Up Shooting Mode rather than Mirror lockup? To have

TTL flash with a Nikon i-TTL DSLR the reflex mirror must be down

so the sub-mirror can redirect the preflash to the Five-Segment

TTL Multi Sensor in the base of the mirror box. With current

Nikon DSLR(s) flash exposure is determined before the mirror goes

up and the shutter opens in a similar fashion to ambient light

exposure. Balanced flash uses both metering arrays, the five-Segment

TTL multi-sensor and the 1,005 pixel color CCD sensor.

Hope this helps,

Dave Hartman.

PS: when automation gets to the point that it hiders rather than

helps take control by swiching to manual operation.

September 14, 2006

When asking a question like this you need to supply

information about your camera and lens.

What format? This is a Nikon forum so you are probably shooting

16x24mm (DX) or 24x36mm (Film). The format makes a fairly big

difference.

What lens? The focal length is very important. You state that

your lowest aperture is 5.6. I think you mean your

largest aperture is f/5.6. The number, 5.6 is the aperture ratio;

the R value in the formula f/R=D where f is the focal

length of any lens, R is the aperture ratio and

D is the diameter of the aperture. Note that this is

a fraction. The larger the devisor the smaller the quotient so a

large R value means the diameter and more importantly the area of

the lens aperture will be small in comparison to the focal length.

If you are really hungry you want the whole pizza, 1/1 not a

single slice. If you are with a friend 1/2 would be good. ;)

To give an idea of the importance of knowing the focal length I

own a 15mm f/5.6 AI Nikkor (an ultra wide lens on 24x36mm) and a

400/5.6 ED AI (a super telephoto). To get anything noticeably out

of focus with the 15mm lens requires focusing the lens to

infinity then moving in very close to an object. At normal

distance and focus everything tends to be in focus. The DOF with

the 400mm lens can be quite shallow even wide open if the subject

distance is 5 meters.

If your object is to get shallow DOF and significant blurring of

foreground and background objects with a Nikon DSLR your best bet

is to use fast lenses that are 85mm and longer. A 50/1.8 wont

do much here, nor will a 70/2.8. An 85/1.8D AF Nikkor will probably

please. This lens is a bit long for a head and shoulders portrait

but it not bad and the best we have right now at an attractive

price.

Please come back and supply more information.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

PS: when referring to the aperture of a lens I suggest not

using the term f-number but rather f/stop and to say large or

small aperture rather than high or low. A "Fast Lens"

is well understood as one with a large aperture and "slow"

as one with a small aperture. The word aperture means opening:

the window in your living room is an aperture, so is your front

door.

September 14, 2006

NewEgg is located in the City of Industry, in So. California (USA). They offer links to Nikon USA is several places. The product number shown at NewEgg and Nikon USA for the D200 Kit (Body Only) is 25235. Chances are excellent that the D200 from NewEgg has a Nikon USA warranty but the best way to check is call Nikon USA.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

September 14, 2006

I am able to get the foreground in focus and subject/background

out of focus. --Bryan Danielson

Auto focus? Closest-subject priority? This is what the camera is

suppose to do if this is the case. You need to study your manual

to learn how to use the auto focus system and its various modes

effectively.

Best,

Dave Hartman.

September 14, 2006

Jung-Kook,

Ill double check later today but Im totally sure this

is normal. I cant think what to call it but the device

making the noise rides on 6 dry ball bearings. It needs to be

loose to function in a motor driven camera at 8 fps. Its

part of the aperture control linkage. I've owned a 55/2.8 AIS

Micro-Nikkor since its introduction.

Regards,

Dave Hartman.

September 14, 2006

I hope the following fills in the gap Frank Skomials

explanation which is otherwise quite complete and accurate...

The light for i-TTL flash measurement goes through a semi-silvered

area in the reflex mirror and is redirected downwards by a sub-mirror

to a five sensor array in the base of the mirror box of current

Nikon DSLR(s). This five sensor array statement applies to the D2H(s),

D2X and D200. Im quite sure this also applies to the D70(s)

and likely the D50 and D80. Anyway they all use a multi-pattern

array. The i-TTL system also uses information about the ambient

light from the 1,005 pixel CCD color meter sensor for Balanced i-TTL

flash. This applies to all current Nikon DSLR(s). If available,

fairly crude distance information is supplied by AF-D type lenses.

AF-S and G type lenses include the AF-D feature. This all take

place before the actual exposure in the form of a preflash

that is said to be imperceptible.

...Its late here, well early, so Ill return you to

Franks post.

Best.

Dave Hartman.

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