Accessories/Equipment « ChanRaymond dot net

July 31, 2009

The Wheel of Perth – Part 2

Filed under: Accessories/Equipment, General, Night, Photography, Places — Tags: ferris wheel, i30, new car, Night Photography, Nikon D60, perth wheel, places, tamron, wheel of perth — Raymond Chan @ 5:05 am

UPDATE: I went to a BankWest branch earlier today with the registration papers hoping to get my cheque, only to be told that they do not have my records there because I did my application via the Internet/Phone, meaning everything is by mail!

I’m now waiting for the contract to arrive via snail mail, which will probably arrive Monday, then I’ll have to sign it, then courier it back. When they receive it THEN they’ll send me a cheque, by mail! I’ve already contacted the dealer and postponed the car pick up until next week. Unbelievable.

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I’m having a sleepless night from the excitement of having a new car! My car is ready to be picked up tomorrow evening, after a few hiccups and all I can say to potential Hyundai new car buyers in Perth is to stay the hell away from John Hughes Hyundai unless you have no other options available. To date, my experience with them has not been a pleasant one I will make sure I do my servicing elsewhere once I get my car tomorrow!

I was on a shopping spree (online) for some photographic accessories which I have been wanting to get for a while now but never got the chance to buy them. I ended up $50 poorer after buying:

a foldable flash reflector with a hole in the middle (to fit lens through). I’m not sure how it works to be honest but it looked like a decent buy for close portraits and outdoor macro (not that I do macros).
a 67mm UV filter (Massa branded, or should I say non-branded) for my Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. Finally a little protection for my lens
a Chinese rip-off version of the SC-28 TTL cable (which is the most expensive item in the list!). Need this one for off the camera flash where the D60 cannot act as a “commander” to trigger wireless flash
a dual lens cleaning pen. Can come in handy.

After surfing around, my next item to get is probably the Cactus V2/V4 transmitter, which will allow the flash to fire wirelessly from the transmitter/receiver. Then again I may not be needing them after all, since I have already bought the SC-28 which can extend up to 2.7m (apparently).

Anyway, here are more pictures from my last shoot at the Wheel of Perth (click to enlarge):

It took a great deal of effort and it was also freezing cold when I took these shots, hence some poorly framed shots and some were not really straight/even due to the surface and lack of time for me to compose the shot (and myself ). Then again I’m happy with 10% of the shots and they’re the ones that made it here!

Well, time for me to take a nap because I need to go to the dealer first thing later to get the registration papers which should have been ready and posted to me earlier this week but the salesman said he will not receive it until this morning. I think that’s plain BS to cover his ass, but I won’t pursue it. After getting the papers from him, I would then go to the bank to show them the final document needed in order to get my cheque, then wait until 4pm to pick up my i30 SX. This tedious process could have been eliminated if he had the papers done and sent it to me earlier this week, where I can just fax the papers to the bank and receive my cheque in my mail.

I’m really hoping there will be no problems with the car or any more delays after this. I’ve waited one whole month for this!

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May 20, 2009

Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 Shots

Filed under: Accessories/Equipment, Photography, Street — Tags: 17-50mm, 17mm, equipment, f2.8, Photography, Street, tamron, test shots — Raymond Chan @ 9:19 pm

All three shots taken at the wider end on the evening I acquired my Tammy lens. Unfortunately, I haven’t really utilised it since then, but will definitely try to once uni is over on Monday.

Unedited shot

Have a good weekend to all!

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May 15, 2009

Which Vertical Grip to Buy for Nikon D40/x/60?

Filed under: Accessories/Equipment, Photography, Review, Thoughts — Tags: battery grip, equipments, Nikon D60, Photography, Review, Thoughts, vertical grip — Raymond Chan @ 2:12 am

I bought myself a vertical/battery grip from eBay for my Nikon D60 today. After having sore fingers from long shoots which involved horizontal and vertical shots, I admit that the D60 body is indeed a little too small for my hands. Its shape is perfectly fine except for the fact that my pinky doesn’t have a place to rest itself and the finger next to the pinky (ring finger?) often finds itself rubbing against the edge of the camera, causing discomfort halfway through an event, and at the end of the event I’ll often see the poor finger going red and almost bruised-like.

Only costing ~AUD65, the third party (Nikon does/will not produce one for D40/x/60) vertical grip will be my hope to not just improve the comfort whilst handling the D60, but at the same time increase battery life with an additional slot for a spare battery, and in situation where both batteries have depleted, there is also an alternative of using 6AA batteries to power up the camera. Increasing weight for the body, this also means that it will be easier to carry heavier lenses as the weight from the additional vertical grip will in a way stabilise the weight of the lens, hence helping with stabilisation of the camera whilst shooting.

Of course, all good things have their flaws. These third party grips, although having a vertical shutter in the portrait orientation does not have the half-press shutter which allows AF before taking the shot. Notwithstanding that, in order to use the vertical shutter, one must change the settings in the camera to “remote release” and pull the infrared hatch from the grip which will send its signals to the camera’s infrared in order to take a shot. This means every time I want to switch from using the normal shutter to the vertical one, I would have to:

Change the menu settings to remote release.
Pop up the infrared hatch from the grip so it’ll send the signals to the camera.
Press the shutter halfway only to see that it doesn’t support half-press shutter.

There are a couple of sellers claiming that their version of the grip supports half-press, but as far as my research went (in Google) and according to one of the sellers who claims such function, no 3rd party grips for D40/x/60 will support half-press shutter nor will the shutter be able to function without changing the shooting mode and popping up the hatch for the infrared. So don’t waste your money on the expensive ones which claims that the grip will do this or that. Just get a cheap one since all of them are made in China anyway. But as a rule of thumb, look for the one with similar texture of the camera, don’t get the ones that look completely smooth and plasticky because it will not complement the body.

Photos when I receive my grip in a couple of weeks (hopefully)

And oh, did I mention that with the additional grip, my D60 will look more professional too? lol

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May 10, 2009

Nikon SB-400 Speedlight For Sale – SOLD

Filed under: Accessories/Equipment, Announcement, Photography — Tags: advertisement, flash, for sale, nikon, Photography, sb400, Speedlight — Raymond Chan @ 5:23 pm

I’ve got a used Nikon SB-400 Speedlight for sale. I’m no longer using it, so I’m going to let it go so someone else can utilise the flash. I’ve probably done at least a thousand shots with this, never failed on me.

It’s a simple, decent flash, definitely more power than your built-in flash which will suit photographers who needs the extra flash which is light and powerful.

It’s capable of bouncing light upwards, so it’ll provide natural lighting indoors whilst working as a fill flash outdoors.

Use it with a SB-400 DIY diffuser and you’ll be able to bounce light when taking photos vertically.

The marks are visible here. Enlarge to see it.

It’ll come with the box and soft carrying case. If needed, I’ll look for the manual too. Only a little mark on the top due to the DIY diffuser, nothing that will reduce its performance.

I’ll let it go for AUD$140 o.n.o. SOLD on 28 May, will deliver if you’re located in Perth.

Email me at ray@chanraymond.net if you’re interested.

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May 8, 2009

Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

Filed under: Accessories/Equipment, Photography, Review, Thoughts — Tags: 17-50mm, 18-55mm VR, advertisement, equipment, f2.8, nikon, Photography, Review, tamron — Raymond Chan @ 11:02 am

I got my almost-new (1 month old) Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 a couple of days ago to replace my Nikon 18-55mm VR.

All I can say so far is that it is one sweet lens. I’ve had it stopped functioning once, where it would just stop focussing and I could not take any shot at all. I had to turn my D60 off and back on but that happened only once out of about 200 shots. Build-wise, it’s similar to the Nikon 18-55mm, just bigger (67mm vs 52mm) and heavier. I might need a vertical grip if I plan to use this for an event because I have trouble trying not to hurt my fingers while holding the camera for a long period of time.

Anyway, focussing is mostly hit but there are misses. I’m still doubtful of the speed of focussing as well because it varies on the lighting. It takes a little more effort than my Nikon 18-55mm VR to focus in darker lighting, but I think I will just have to adapt to that. Wide open shots are soft, but f4 and onwards they’re decent. The hood is not as strong as my Nikon one (55-200mm VR), but I guess I can live with that.

I’m putting this Nikon 18-55mm VR for sale. As you can see it’s still in a pretty good condition. I think I would have done about 2,000 shots with the Nikon since it’s fairly new after the break-in to my car last year.

No scratches or marks, just a little bit of dust here and there. I’ll part with it say, AUD$160.

Email me at ray@chanraymond.net if you’re interested. I’m also selling my Nikon Sb400 Speedlight if you’re interested.

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October 27, 2008

Dragonfly

Filed under: Accessories/Equipment, Announcement, Other, Photography, Rough Times — Tags: dragonfly, Nikon D60, Photography, sb600 — Raymond Chan @ 5:01 am

L caught the dragonfly at my backyard. Shot taken with Nikon D60 with 18-55mm ED lens and SB600. The insurance company got the wrong non-VR lenses, so I’m using them temporarily until I send them back for a swap.

Six hours until my assignment is due, 1300 words to go.

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