Cardinal

Full-frame Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens Face-off: Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 versus the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G Lens

Submitted by David Cardinal on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 10:41

I really enjoyed shooting with the Nikon 14-24mm AF-S f/2.8G ED lens which was released as part of Nikon’s foray into full-frame cameras along with the D3. It takes incredible images and was a pleasure to use. But for most of us it has several drawbacks which make it a difficult acquisition. First is price. At $1800 for the US version it is a large investment for a lens that typically gets used a lot less than a mid-range zoom. Second, it is large and heavy. If you lug your gear with you the 2.2 lb. weight and 4”x5” size create quite an impact on your photo pack. Finally the “domed” front makes it difficult and expensive to use filters with it (an expensive add-on adapter is needed).

Grand Prismatic, Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
Nikon D700, Sigma 12-24mm Lens at 12mm, f/22@1/250s, ISO 800
Going ultra-wide is the only way to get the full scene, as the moving steam rules out a pano

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Puffins: Comedians of the Sky

Submitted by David Cardinal on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 12:18

I’m sure Puffins don’t think of themselves as funny, but it is difficult to watch them when in breeding plumage and not imagine that they are wearing a clown suit and make up. …

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Creating A New Look For Old Bears

Submitted by David Cardinal on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 18:49

After eleven summers photographing Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears (also known as “Grizzly Bears”) I’ve come up with quite a few nice shots and tried a lot of different ideas for creating compelling portraits of them. So this year I decided to try something new to give some of my favorite mammals a new look…

Alaskan Brown Bear, Nikon D70 Lifepixel Infrared
Nikon 200-400mm f/4 lens.

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Breakthrough Teleconverter for Consumer Lenses: Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 DGX 1.4x

Submitted by David Cardinal on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 16:02

Few questions from safari participants make me cringe as much as the one about using a Teleconverter with their consumer or prosumer lenses. Both Nikon and Canon have worked hard on excellent Teleconverters for their high-end pro Telephoto lenses, but for some good reasons have orphaned their other lenses in that regard. Solutions were all ugly, involving a loss of Auto-Focus and often physical modifications to lenses. But now all that has changed with the introduction of the …

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You’re Never Too Old for a Ghost Town!

Submitted by David Cardinal on Sat, 07/03/2010 - 15:29

After our very disappointing experience in Deadwood—former ghost town turned into the worst of Vegas—we were apprehensive about the final stop on our tour of the West—Bodie. Bodie is known as something of the grand-daddy of all ghost towns in the American West, with over 200 standing structures, many of them in excellent repair. But we saddled up and headed down the dirt road to the State Park, with the literature assuring us that the town had been kept in a stat of “arrested decay” since it became a California State Park in 1962. We were blown away…