Just ordered

[Burgerman]

a Nikon Z 100-400S VR lens from HK. Been saving for a year!

https://www.nikon.co.uk/en_GB/product/l ... 5-5.6-vr-s


Its currently in kowloon bay, and now in the fedex facility at lantou island. Heading for the hk airport.
tracking https://www.fedex.com/fedextrack/?trknb ... 3288167~FX

Because I wanted it. Why? You seldom lose money on lenses, and sat in a chair restricts where you can get. This brings you close enough. You need wide. Normal, and I have those. This is long. You can count the pimples on a teenager at 100 yards.

[martin007]

2,400 pounds?

[Burgerman]

No from HK 1800. Yes still not cheap. But not 2500 either.

[martin007]

200 pounds?

[Burgerman]

No from HK 1800. Yes still not cheap. But not 2500 either. Good glass isnt cheap.

Thats why it makes me laugh when people tell me mobile phones take good pictures. With a microscopic sensor, and a flec of plastic for a lens...

[martin007]

In pounds?

[Burgerman]

Yes.

How about a f2.8 version? I cant afford that!
https://www.nikon.co.uk/en_GB/product/l ... .8-tc-vr-s

Heres the cheaper HK shop!
https://gadgetward.co.uk/products/nikon ... -vr-s-lens Thats what I just baught and not at 2500 either! Its around 3 or so hundred cheaper than the best price in he UK. And while it says 4 to 5 working days, the camera, and 2 previous lenses all arrived inside 48 hours from HK! So ts at least as fast as buying in the UK.

[martin007]

That's a professional tool.
That's why it has that price.

[Burgerman]

See 2nd bit above.

[martin007]

https://gadgetward.co.uk/products/nikon ... -vr-s-lens


Also it's a profesional tool.

[Burgerman]

They are all professional tools. At least most nikon full frame S line lenses. The reason it costs 14k is because its using huge super high quality glass elements and coatings etc and all f2.8 lenses are bigger, heavier, and harder to make.

My camera has sensor stabilisation inside the body. The lens I ordered also has it. The two systems work together to give 5.5 stops of stability. That kind of stuff costs too. It means I can hand hold a long lens at really slow shutter speeds and get pin sharp results even at 47 million pixels at 100 percent on screen. This stuff matters to a guy doing say a wedding in a dark church. Or someone working for a motorcycle magazine. Or even someone doing holiday documentaries. It works during hand held filming at super high resolution and noise free movies. Most people dont care. But I havebeen doing photography using film from being 10 years old. I enjoy it! So pro tools allow me to get a lower noise, sharper cleaner better exposed image. Does it make you a better photographer? Nope! No more than a fancy pen writes a nicer letter. But it can allow me to do stuff I cant do with a phone! And get a better result too. If you set everything to "auto" which it can do, its no better than a phone (much). Most people are happy if they can see who it is in a photo! They wouldnt "see" the difference. Wheras I can choose which girls eyelash to focus on, and have a completely blurred background with a very shallow depth of feild... I see these things.

[martin007]

Wheras I can choose which girls eyelash to focus on, and have a completely blurred background with a very shallow depth of feild...

Something like this was told to me by an acquaintance who had dedicated himself to photography.

[Burgerman]

You have to remember that as a wheelchair user its very hard to do much of the things that the ABs take for granted.

Photography is one of the hobbies that I can still do. And always did from an early age. And you only live once. So as I see it, its worth the outlay. Lenses after all seldom fall much in value. I have sold dozens over the years on eBay and got almost all the money I paid back. So its not so much an expence as a sort of savings account you can have fun with!

Yes pro tools. But I can take real photos rather than mobile phone throwaway junk. Prroper landscapes, street photography, night photography, time lapse. movies all that are great quality. So if I want to print one 3 meters wide you can still see every microscopic detail. Not noise and halo "sharpening" algos...

So I think the expense is justified.

[martin007]

I haven't said that it is an expensive or unnecessary tool.
It's a good tool and hence the price.

There is a strong market for second-hand products in Spain.
You can get to find almost new products at a laughable price.

> https://es.wallapop.com/item/objetivos- ... -965002536
> https://es.wallapop.com/item/obiettivo- ... -964152785

[Burgerman]

Yes but tthat lens is cheap for a big bunch of reasons. 1 being that it doesent work on full frame sensors so is consumer market only. 2 it is generally low quality.

Going back to focus...

Something like this was told to me by an acquaintance who had dedicated himself to photography.

With a large sensor size, a lens with a wide aperture the depth of feild or the part of a photo that is in focus may b 1mm deep. Everthing else is blured. With good glass is a smooth silky blur so that nothing in the background is distracting.

Here the photographer has used shallow depth of feild and focussed on the pupil. So most of the lashes are not in focus. The point is that YOU decide. On the depth of feild, why or if it should be shallow or deep, and so on.

[Burgerman]

Theres other reasons.
To get rid of distracting backgrounds, to pick out the subject, to make you look in the right place. To make a more interesting photo!

[Burgerman]

To do this WELL you need low number large aperture lenses (like that 14k one!) And large sensors. Thats the problem. So I have a non zoom 85mm f1.8 portrait lens.

[martin007]

And a reflex camera...

[Burgerman]

And its now gone to Chek Lap Kok which sounds rude but is where the airport buildings and runways are. Soon will be airborn.

[Burgerman]

And now its in paris 300 miles away:

Arrived at FedEx location
ROISSY CHARLES DE GAULLE CEDEX FR
15/12/2023 2:23 PM

[slomobile]

Other than being artsy fartsy I don't understand intentionally making something blurry. It sounds like a made up thing to cover for taking a bad photo. Maybe I just can't appreciate it because farsightedness makes most things blurry and a constant struggle to get anything in focus.

[Burgerman]

People spend many thousands on large aperture lenses and epecially for portraits, weddings, to isolate the subject from he background. And you think its an excuse for bad photos?

[Burgerman]

For say a product photo, like the camera pic further up this thread you dont want that. You want the opposite. And so you purposely choose a small aperture, and careful lighting so that the whole damned thing is in focus. Thats the opposite case. Its generally one or the other that you aim for.

[Burgerman]

2 examples.

SHALLOW depth of field used to hide the scruffy council housing estate/car clutter behind the bird.
Partly because long lenses tend to do this anyway, but here f2.8 was chosen to also help make that background vanish.

And the chain and the bridge need huge depth of feild. So f22. And a slow shutter speed to smooth the water... Not mine.

Opposite extremes.

Other than being artsy fartsy I don't understand intentionally making something blurry. It sounds like a made up thing to cover for taking a bad photo. Maybe I just can't appreciate it because farsightedness makes most things blurry and a constant struggle to get anything in focus.

[Burgerman]

Forgot...
New lens arrived promptly monday morning! Thats 3 working days. That HK place never fails. Now I am bankrupt for a few months! Cant help it I like goot tools. Be it conventional tools, computers, or cameras. Only the best will do.

Why? Because if you buy something that isnt as good as you wanted you but twice. Eventually. So go for it...

[martin007]

You owe us some photographs...

[Burgerman]

Well right now I dont have a camera body...
I am in the process of selling my Nikon Z 7ii and will be getting around 1800 for it from a UK camera shop. In the meantime I just ordered a Nikon Z8 which is even better. From the same camera shop in HK and it will be here in 2 w£orking days. But because on zmas that means it wont ship till wed...
Also got a bit of discount from them too. So I didnt pay quite this much. So not too much extra total. And its xmas!



Then I will post a few!

Here: https://gadgetward.co.uk/collections/mi ... on-z8-body
In the UK they sel for £3699 to £3999. Thats about 1.15k+ less han I paid.. But this means no UK warranty. Do I care? Nope! I have had nikon cameras all my life and never had any with a fault. Same with lenses.

[martin007]

And a photograph of the lens while we wait?

[Burgerman]

I will photograph all my lenses. As soon as tjhe camera gets here in late december or jan. Because until then I dont have any camera body here!

[martin007]

Sorry.