joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Brick walls are of an endless variety - and endlessly photogenic

RetCapt Loc: NorCal mountains

I have the early non-VR version of this lens. It is mounted on my Nikon D700.

I bought the body only and then this lens it as it seemed to be ideal for the type of photography shown here.

I still have the D700 with this lens on it. In today's world, the 12mp of the D700 seems very low. That is not and never has been a problem for me. My only photographic product is the print I make. The maximum size my printer will put out is 13X19", so not really a challenge to this body/lens combination.

I have never updated the D700. I like it too much to ever get rid of it. It was my second digital camera, the first being a 'tough' compact.

This image was from my first time out with this rig. My bride was seated nearby while I photographed this cruise. After about 30 minutes of taking pictures I walked over to her and told her this was the best camera I had ever picked up. That was not only the quality of images I was getting, but the heft and overall feel of the camera. It rivals my film first generation Leicaflex and bullseye Contarex film cameras. That admittedly subjective impression has never left me.

How would this lens or body/lens fare tested against a brick wall? Don't know. Don't care. The real world test for me is whether or not the body/lens combination is giving me the images I want.

This system does.

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Favorable bright light. No need for VR !

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Such a beautifully shot, dazzling vehicle 🎈🎈🎈

RetCapt Loc: NorCal mountains

True, the light made it.

This was late afternoon. I was standing near the intersection with a street which created a opening for the very low sun to come through off my right shoulder and spotlight vehicles as they hit just the right spot. That was very brief, but it made the photograph.

Lot of nostalgia in that one for me. I was in high school when these Fords were made (57). My girlfriend's family had one just like this and we cruised in it. So this photo takes me back. We went our separate ways when we graduated high school and I left for college. But that car.....

Given the light gods were most generous, but since that was my initial result from this camera/lens combination, I think it is understandable why I am so attached to this rig.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

great light and beautiful color!

I see pics from the early DSLRs and the color was great, rich beautiful tones!

Manuf have added more pixels since then but what has that done to the color of the image?

RetCapt Loc: NorCal mountains

Thank you.

The only way to know if it was the camera or just the unique nature of that light would have been to have another, different, camera and lens right beside it at the time.

I have only had light like that, warm and extremely low, about to drop beyond the horizon, one other time, when the Grand Canyon Rail Road was making its afternoon arrival in Williams, AZ. I got similarly spectacular results from a much more modest camera. On that one I converted to black and white, and it looks great. The common thread was the light.

Great light is that elusive lightning in a bottle.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

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Maybe youre a fan of CCD sensors without actually knowing much about them ?

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I dont shoot sunsets. Around sunset youll see the best looking scenes by looking eastward.

RetCapt Loc: NorCal mountains

The photograph of the Ford was taken facing east. As I said, the sun was coming in over my right shoulder. I was pointed in the direction of where the photograph was.

But, unlike you, I do sunsets. Here is one from Carmel, CA, end of 2023.

In this instance I was facing west, because that was where the photograph was.

I don't believe in restrictive generalizations about which way to face. I face in whatever direction the image I want is located.

All that matters is the photograph.

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Lovely sunset clouds.

RetCapt Loc: NorCal mountains

Thank you photophile. We have family in Carmel, and we stayed there over Christmas.

We had several days where the fog/marine deck was so thick that there was no sunset. Our last afternoon there it looked like there would be a sunset, so I want down to the beach.

That one sunset was enough to make the trip worth it, from a photographic standpoint.

RetCapt Loc: NorCal mountains

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You were patient and you won out. Acoarst I might have been viewing those beach goers with the sun at my back. Cool pix of orange faces with squinting eyes !

Ive attached examples below of what I spoke of earlier.
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Looking Eastward

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Looking Eastward

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Looking Northward

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Looking Southward

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Northeastward with complicated reflections

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Reflections again

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