Nikon D200 First Impressions
The Nikon D200 is a semi-pro DSLR suitable as a backup camera for a pro or the main camera for a knowledgeable enthusiast. It's been quite few years since it was introduced, but it holds up quite well if you understand its strengths and weaknesses.
In my opinion the primary strengths of the D200 are that it can matrix meter with manual focus AI and AIS lenses, and that it is built very solidly with good weather seals. If you are coming from pre-AF Nikon film cameras, your investment in manual lenses is preserved. The camera is fairly heavy, but balances well with heavy lenses. Personally, I find that heavier cameras are easier to hold steady, but your mileage may vary. The D300 shares these features with the D200, but includes a much improved sensor for shooting at high ISO's. However, the cost of a D300 is approximately 3x the cost of a good used D200. So, if you are wanting to step up to a more responsive and semi-pro level DSLR, the D200 is a bargain.
The quality of images from the D200 are very good, but require some post processing in order to achieve best results. For instance, I believe that there's a slight magenta cast that is noticeable when photographing people with light colored skin when using JPG output. For me, optimal quality is achieved when shooting in RAW and post processing in your program of choice. I find that Photoshop Elements 8 + the updated Adobe Camera Raw 6.1 works very nicely. If you are using this combo, I recommend increasing the luminance noise reduction, increasing sharpening, and increasing the masking control to apply sharpening only to high contrast transitions in the image.
Overall, I really like the D200. It is tough and provides great quality images if you are willing to work a bit. If you need better default JPG output and a lighter body, then I would recommend a new D5000 or D90 with a kit zoom lens. See below for a few examples from the D200 + a Nikkor 35mm f1.4.
Bokeh from Nikkor 35/1.4 AIS
Bokeh with Nikkor 35/1.4
SMC Pentax-A 100mm f2.8 First Impressions
The Pentax-A 100mm f2.8 is manual focus macro lens. While it is not an autofocus lens, this Pentax-A lens does offer automated aperture priority metering when used on a Pentax digital SLR body such as the K100D. Anyways, for macro shooting, autofocus is not especially useful. As a general purpose lens the 100mm macro is very versatile, if a bit long on digital. On a film body it is nearly perfect. When used as a general purpose lens the amount of turning needed to focus can make it a little slow for subjects moving around quickly. Otherwise there's little to complain about. It's sharp, out of focus rendering is smooth, and while not small, it's not an overly large lens. See below for a few samples:
Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS First Impressions
I recently lucked out in finding a Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS lens. It was in great shape. Despite the rainy and overcast weather, I had to go out and shoot a roll or two. The 24mm Nikkor is typical of all manual focus Nikkor lenses. The focus action is very smooth and it just feels like a quality piece of equipment. The technical qualities of the lens appear to be great with regard to sharpness. Out of focus character appears to be fine, but I can't say too much about it because most everything is in focus with a wide angle lens. One *really* nice aspect is that this lens focuses very closely; very handy with a wide lens. Here's a few example shots:
I'll definitely be shooting more with the Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS.
Olympus OM-4 First Impressions
In 1985 I bought my first SLR camera. It was an OM-2s with a Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm zoom lens. The OM-2s served me well, however you couldn't help but look admiringly at the OM-4. I recently had the opportunity to use the OM-4 and compare its usage to the OM-2s. Both the OM-4 and OM-2s have spot meters but differ in their usage. With the OM-2s, you change the mode to manual/spot meter, aim the spot meter at the area you want to meter and change the shutter and aperture as needed. While this works well, I found that I prefer the spot meter operation of the OM-4. With the OM-4 you aim your camera at the spot you want to meter, then push the spot meter button to lock in the exposure. You do this while in automatic aperture priority mode which makes the entire operation fast and simple while retaining fine control of exposure. In addition to the easy spot meter usage you can push the highlight or shadow button after spot metering to adjust exposure based on whether your initial spot meter measurement was on a highlight or shadow. Overall, the exposure control makes the OM-4 a nearly perfect camera for my uses. One unique feature of the OM-2s compared to the OM-4 is that the OM-2s has a program mode where both the aperture and shutter speed are automatically set by the camera. Because I nearly always want to precisely control the aperture or shutter speed, the program mode is not much use for me.
The other aspect of the OM-4 and OM-2s that I tested was flash photography. I used a T-32 flash which is a compact but powerful unit which has the ability to operate in a fully automatic mode on both cameras. That's a super convenient feature which can't be underestimated. For instance, with this flash/camera combo, you can use bounce flash or use multiple flashes without changing any settings. It's nearly foolproof.
I decided to shoot with one lens on the OM-4 for my first roll. Based on my strong liking of the Canon FL 85mm f1.8 lens, I shot the entire roll with the Zuiko 85mm f2 lens. It was a real pleasure to shoot with this lens. It's a super compact lens and allows for fairly tight shots without getting too close to the subject. In addition, the focal length is not so long that that you can't use it as a general purpose lens. The combination of the OM-4, 85mm lens, and T-32 flash was nearly perfect and very compact. You couldn't ask for a better combo. I've copied some photos below from my first roll. The scans are fairly low quality Walgreens scans. I hope to replace these scans with better ones in the near future.
Fujica MPF105Xn and EBC X-Fujinon 50mm f1.2 DM
I just finished up replacing the light seals on a Fujica MPF105Xn. While the MPF105Xn is nothing special, it's definitely a nice little manual exposure camera. There's very little information on the Internet about the MPF105Xn; likely due to Fujica getting out of the SLR business a few years after its introduction. The main reason for acquiring and refurbishing the MPF105Xn was to attach a mint condition EBC X-Fujinon 50mm f1.2 DM lens. It's not often you run into a fast lens such as this one, so I definitely want to shoot a roll or two to compare results to a Canon FD 50mm f1.2 lens. In contrast to their camera bodies, Fujica EBC Fujinon lenses were quite competitive in their day and compared favorably to the big names in 35mm gear such as Nikon, Canon, and Minolta. The internet archive wayback machine has some basic information about Fujica M42 and X-mount equipment.
Nikon F3 — First Impressions
I've never before owned a professional grade Nikon camera. The closest I've come is the Nikon F100. Recently though, via Craigslist, I came upon an F3HP body which was in nearly perfect condition. It was hardly used or the owner took very good care of it. So, now I have a professional grade (for the 1980's) Nikon camera.
The first thing that is very noticeable about the F3HP is that the body has a very solid feel. Although the F3HP was the first electronically controlled F series camera from Nikon, there is no sense of cheapness or plastic feel. The HP viewfinder is great. While the magnification is nothing special, it has a 100% view where you can see the whole frame and more without any trouble. This is especially nice for someone who wears glasses.
The film advance is very smooth, although not much more so than the already smooth action of the FM2, FE2, or FA. Still, it helps with giving the impression of a very high quality instrument. One thing I like better about the F3 film advance action compared to the FM2/FE2/FA is that it doesn't click as it advances. This is an advantage in quiet environments.
The depth of field preview button is very convenient and easy to activate. This is in contrast to some older cameras where the DOF preview can be inconvenient or difficult to activate.
The meter is heavily weighted 80/20 toward a small portion at the center of the screen. It's sort of like a large spot meter or a small average meter. I haven't yet had a chance to evaluate how well this works for me, but it certainly will require a little more thought when taking a meter reading.
Other nice things about the F3 include the ability to use non AI lenses. Non AI lenses are fairly cheap compared to the AI and AIS lenses which can be used on modern digital bodies. Given the good luck I've had with old lenses, I think there's a KEH lens order in the near future. Here are some recent photos from my first roll through the F3. I was shooting with a Micro Nikkor 55mm f2.8 lens.
Canon FD 35-105mm f3.5
I've had excellent luck with BGN (Bargain) rated photographic equipment from KEH (www.keh.com). Everything that I've ordered in BGN condition has exceeded my expectations. So, wanting to experiment a bit, I saw an FD 35-105mm f3.5 zoom in UG (Ugly) condition for less than $20 USD and ordered it from KEH. I was expecting some dings and perhaps some marks on the glass. I received the lens today and to my pleasant surprise, the lens was in better than expected condition. The glass had a little dust, the filter ring edge of the lens had a few small dings and there was a little wear and tear on the body. However, I certainly would have rated this lens in good condition rather than ugly. I'll reserve final judgement after I've shot a few rolls, but I'm very impressed this far.
Nikon FA — First Impressions
I recently had the opportunity to purchase a nearly mint condition Nikon FA SLR. The Nikon FA is credited with being the first matrix meter camera. While that is true, it's also true that Minolta had an earlier CLC system that attempted to overcome exposure problems in high contrast situations. However, Nikon's matrix system was far more sophisticated,and really, a much different beast.
The look and feel of the FA is very similar to the FM2n (which I own), or the FE2 (which I don't own). The FA differs in its looks in that it has a small grip on the right side of the body. It really doesn't make much difference in my opinion. The film advance is very smooth, much the same as the FM2n. The viewfinder is smaller than that of the FM2n. I'm a fan of large viewfinders, so it's a slight step down in comparison to the FM2n.
My first roll with the FA consisted mainly of indoor shots using available light and flash. The purpose of the first roll was to test that the FA was functional and didn't have defects. I also wanted to test the SB-15 flash that came with my purchase. There's not much to say about first roll, the meter appeared to be correct, and the SB-15 and TTL flash worked as expected. I will say that I liked the SB-15, but it's bounce flash capability is fairly weak.
My second roll with the FA was more informative. This time, the photos were taken outdoors under mostly overcast conditions. The goal was to test the matrix meter in conditions where center weighted metering might fail. A few of the photos were taken with bright spots in one corner or the other. Normally this will cause a center weighted meter to slightly underexpose. Happily the matrix meter passed with flying colors. I did not encounter a single over or under exposed shot. I hope to shoot my next roll in sunnier conditions with more challenging high contrast situations. Anyways, here's a link to some of the FA shots. I've copied a couple of photos below:
Matthew behind a mask
Kids throwing leaves
Canon FL 85mm f1.8 Part 2
I had a chance to shoot a roll of film through my recently acquired Canon FL 85mm f1.8. In actual use, it was everything I could have hoped for. The great thing about a short telephoto with an f1.8 max aperture is that the viewfinder is bright, even indoors. This is a big deal when trying to manually focus in fairly dim light. The other nice thing about a short telephoto is that you can get fairly tight shots of people without crowding them. With a 50mm, you have to get fairly close, which isn't always comfortable. The 85mm f1.8 is pretty small; not much larger than a 50mm f1.4. I would say that the only drawback of the FL on an A-1 is that it can be easy to accidentally release the stop down meter button. Hmm, maybe I'll get an FD version of this lens. The following are a few photos with the FL:
Chinese Magic Lanterns
Chinese Writing
Metering on a Canon A-1 with an FL lens
I lucked upon an old Canon FL 85mm f1.8 lens on Craigslist for only $20 USD. The body shows some brassing from use, but the glass is perfect and the aperture isn't sticky. I was initially reluctant to acquire the lens because I thought the metering would be cumbersome. I was wrong. With the A-1, the only thing you have to remember is to push the stop down metering button after you've mounted the lens. The A-1 will then automatically set the shutter speed. No problem. I already have an FD 80-200L which covers the focal length of this new lens, but FL 85mm is much more compact and has a two stop advantage. I'm sure both lenses will be used on a regular basis. Hopefully I'll have time to shoot a roll with the new lens in the coming weeks.