Gallery of
pictures taken with Nikon/Nikkor lenses and Nikon cameras
12 years ago I
noticed that I needed photo equipment capable of handling my demands.
The question of which brand should I get came along too; This has to
be a careful decision moreover when was going to invest a few
thou$ands for a system. This is the moment when everyone should do
the proper research, and based on their needs, decide which
system better
works for him or her. And
why Nikon? Well, after carefully studying the pros and cons from
both systems (from the other major brand), especially from the
consumer point of view. Nikon prevailed, while the other brand is
great at marketing their products. Nikon is commited to produce photo
equipment of high quality that will be working for decades. This
equipment is capable of working from a studio and/or harsh weather
conditions. Perhaps my grandchildren (which I don't have at this
moment) will get to use their grandpa's cameras. With its bayonet
lens mount, I'm able to use over 50 different lenses from Nikon's
catalog as well as lenses that were made in the Disco era. Definetely
you can not do that with the other brands. Inspired by our pictures
and Nikon's reputation, we know plenty of colleagues who have made
the switch with no regrets. On top of all this, Nikon's line of
lenses are bright, well constructed and the overall sharpness of
Nikon lenses is a photographer's dream. Nikon's ED lenses are
emulated by the other companies, so instead of being with the
emulators, we rather be with the originators. Under heavy rain and
humidity, we've been able to produce fabulous pictures in our
National Rain Forest.
Did we mention Nikon's
ergonomics? They fit in our hands like a glove. Every control button
is where it should be.
Yes, Nikon
is at the heart of the ímages™ of this site.
*The images depicting photo
equipment is just a portion of what's involved to create the pictures
of Puerto Rico you love so much. However, tripods, support, lighting
systems,filters and other accessories are not shown here. This is
part of the logistics involved during a shooting lets say in El
Yunque. While the digital advent has been embraced by many
photographers including us, we are among a small group who have not
given up film, especially slide film.
Nikon lenses bearing these ASP
letters are lenses with aspherical elements within the lens groups.
The first Nikon lenses with ASP glass showed up back in 1968. This
glass virtually eliminates aberrations like color fringing and
'coma', this is usually present on wide angle lenses especially when
used at wide apertures. For example, pictures depicting night scenes
with street lights, might look like 'comas' instead of dots.
Nikon lenses with CRC
are those with Close Range
Correction System. But what it
does? There is a floating element on these lenses wherein each group
that moves independently. This translates to incredible picture
quality when shooting at short distances. The CRC systmem is used on
our lovely fisheyes, micros (macros) and wide-angle lenses.
No other other lenses on the
market features the beauty of DC (Defocus
Control) This allow portrait
photographers to control the amount spherical aberration, thus
creating a beatifuland natural out of focus areas either on the
foreground or background. We definetly love our 105
F/2 DC.
The letter D
on Nikon lenses, stands for Distance
information. D lenses play fair
and square especially when used with Nikon flash guns by sending
distance information, a must to get the best out of 3D Matrix
Metering and 3D Multi Sensor balanced flash. Many new comers to the
Nikon system, associate the D designation with the D
mount. G mount lenses are also
designated as D.
DX
lenses feature a smaller image circle and are specially designed and
optimized for all Nikon digital SRL cameras. Due to the
smaller image circle, DX lenses should
not be used with 24x36 sized film or digital sensor cameras.
Vignetting will occur due to the small image circle especially on
wide angle lenses.
Nikon developed ED
glass (Extra-low Dispersion)
for superior color sharpness. Telephotos and ultra-telephoto lenses
are less prone to color aberration or color dispersion thanks to
Nikon's achievement on this area. This unique glass eliminates the
need for 'fluorite' elements. Flourite is very brittle, subject to
cracking and also sensible to changes in temperature. This adversely
affect focusing by altering the lens refraction index. Canon lenses
are still made with fluorite and to remedy this issues, they have a
light/gray almost white finish.
When it comes to space and NASA,
Nikon is the lens of choice.
IF
stands for Internal Focusing.
This technology allows to zoom a lens without changing its physical
size. All optical movement is limited to the interior of the
non-extended lens barrel. This allows a more compact lens unit as
well as closer focusing distance, not too mention auto focus speed is
improved significantly. This system is employed in most Nikon
telephoto and zoom lenses.
M/A stand
for Manual
& Auto
focus. This is an exclusive feature in Nikon AFS (SWM
see below) lenses. The M/A switch allows photographers to switch from
manual focus to auto focus or viceversa, with virtually no time lag
and without having to resort to the camera button. This can even be
changed during AF servo operation. A great feature on my Nikon 17-55
AFS F/2.8.
Subtle
nuances that professionals depend on. SWM
stands for Silent
Wave Motor,
also known in Nikon's glossary as AF-S.
Needless to say, Nikon lenses featuring SWM
will focus faster and much more accurate under most tricky
situations. Theses motor converts traveling waves into rotational
energy to move the optics inside the lens barrel. Did I mention they
are literally noise free when focusing?
Nikon lenses
with the letter N,
are featuring a lens coating named Nano
Crystal Coating. This coating is usually used on the rear lens
element and virtually eliminates internal element reflections accross
a wide range of wavelenghts. It is a multi layer coating which
features ultra fine crystalized particles of nano size. This equals
one millionth of a mm. Nikon is the leader on this technology making
it available for consumer optical products. The fruit of Nikon's
development of semiconductor manufacturing devices.
Nikon lenses
with RF,
refers to Rear
Focusing.
With this system, all lens elements are divided in specific groups.
Only the rear lens group moves making auto focus operation smoother
and better yet, faster. Lenses in our bag with Rear Focusing feature, Nikkor
85mm F/1.8, Nikkor 105 F/2 DC.
VR
stands for Vibration
Reduction,
this feature increase the chances of sharp pictures when shooting
hand held in low light or with slow shutters speeds by 3 stops (eight
times faster). It also automatically detects and compensate for
'panning' with no special mode required. This is a nice feature, but
often misinterpreted. VR compensates for camera movement, but not for
a moving subject on a still enviroment.
No ED
elements on your lens? Don't worry, they are coated also with Nikon's SIC, Super
Integrated
Coating.
This coatings is applied exclusively by multi layers. They help by
reducing ghostings and flare to a more aceptable and negligible
levels. This coating is applied to each element carefully calculated
to match the lens type and glass used. Nikkor lenses with this
coatings are better balanced in terms of color and reproduction.
Another reason to consider Nikkor lenses.
