Dear People,
this is my forst post in the luminous landscape. I was doubting if I had to post it in the beginners-forum or over here. Anyway, thought I used terms sophisticated enough to mask absolute beginnings, so:
2 years ago I made my choice. I finally had saved enough money to buy a nikon d200. A lot of weighting and measuring accompanied that choice, my wife calls it “the real consumers sufferings”.
Somewhere, in a bygone age, I owned a nikon fm with a 2. standard, a 3.5 28 wide angle and a 2.5 105 for the tele-things, all ais. I think I bought it in 1977. Later, much later I bought a second hand 4.5 300 mm and a panagor macro-convertor. I was quite satisfied with this arrangement and never felt envious to people with more sophisticated gear. As an always an “budget” going artist I wasn't rich and I could do my thing perfectly with it.
Wear and tear made an end to the life of the fm. It started to leak light and the bayonet made a wobbling affair with the attached lens. So, right before the real set-off of the digital age I purchased a second hand F4. I opted for an F3, but this came as an offer I could not refuse on my way.
Suddenly I felt a bit as a pro with this thing in my hand. People automatically respond with a bit more of respect to you with such an impressive, if not intimidating camera in your hand, just as they do when you are diving a bigger car: you get more space and consideration.
The love-affair with the f4 didn't last very long; first it gave me a rsi-arm, then came a digital Lumix fz 20 with an excellent 12 times 2.8 leica-zoom to take all attention.
The Lumix was light, versatile, delivered good images. And what more, no costs whatever for film. So, finally I could live out my photographer's heart. I hadn't realised there was so much to learn, so much experience to be gained in photography. But the Lumix had some severe draw-backs. It had not a sturdy body, it wasn't a durable apparatus, there was a short but serious shutter-lag and with it's small sensor I could not play with sharp-unsharp as I used to to with the 35mm slr.
I did not complain about af and high iso, because, well, I never had af in my life before and 400 iso film didn't look much worse then 400 iso with a lumix fz 20.
Trying the d200 at home was so different. Photography suddenly felt so serious, it lacked the fun I felt with taking up the lumix.
The old lenses appeared to work perfectly, the new tamrom 2.8 17-50 performed above expectations. Things I did on 800 iso for testing were amazing in my eyes, light-measuring and jpg were from an unmatched quality.
I had a lot of catching up to do in photography, things had changed since 1980. On the www I met some people who criticised my work seriously, I learned a lot about sharp und unsharp, pixels, noise and equipment. I learned a lot of studying my work on 100% on a good monitor and organizing everything in lightroom. Most of all I learned that photography ain't easy at all, you just have to know about the technical side and cannot rely on creativity alone. The artist has to know the tool very well to master it.
I choose the d200 because it was the cheapest camera on which the old “before af” gear could be mounted. In my mind it was ridiculous not to use the old lenses and buy new ones. I did not realise I was only partly right. The venerable 2.5 105 ai is very good indeed, but with contra-light and high contrast the chromatic aberrations, both axial and lateral, become awesome, even so much that it can't be corrected with modern software. That was a large draw-back, because I like to use the lens in extreme light.
The 4.5 300mm was even worse. Compositions with splashing waters in contra-light give disco effects in magenta and greens, the morning-dew in grass becomes like the lights in a kitsch christmas-tree.
At the other hand, I made some very good series with the 2. 50mm and the panagor-macro-convertor, in “normal” light the 105 delivers it's venerable thing and I realised that the 300mm can do nice within it's limits.
For more of my work please visit
www.bertdalmolen.comsome exemples made with the 2.5 105:
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