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AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 E PF ED VR
24-Mar-2025
It has been a long time coming. I have finally decided to get something longer than a 300mm. My first telephoto prime lens was an AF-S 300mm f/4 D lens that I picked up used, and I sure got a lot of use out of that. I later upgraded to the 300mm f/4 PF lens which I have been using for quite awhile now and it is a great lens especially when paired with the TC-14E III teleconverter.
I wanted something a bit longer, I have been torn between the 500mm pf and a 500mm or 600mm f/4 but the weight and cost of those setups persuaded me to go with the PF. It's a compact lens for a 500mm, it's slightly larger than a 70-200mm f/2.8, although it is bigger than the 300mm f/4 pf.
Pi-Day Blood Moon
24-Mar-2025
On March 13th 2025 I decided to stay up all night and photograph the Total Lunar Eclipse. It started at 23:57 with the penumbral eclipse, and the partial eclipse began at 01:09 on the 14th. Ms Willow stayed up all night with me, following me in and out. It was a cold night! Starting from the left and going clockwise, here are the times for each image:
23:58, 01:10, 01:44, 01:59, 02:29, 02:41, 02:58 (peak), 03:23, 03:30, 03:59, 04:18, 04:37
The partial eclipse ended at 04:47 and the penumbral eclipse ended at 06:00.
The Nikon "Holy Trinity"
This is the Nikon "Holy Trinity"
The most ideal set of 3 F-mount zoom lens from Nikkor. This set covers all focal lengths from 14mm all the way to 200mm with no gaps at a fixed maximum aperture of f/2.8.
The first lens is the super-wide 14-24mm f/2.8G ED,
the second is the standard zoom 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR,
and lastly the telephoto zoom 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR.
After purchasing the D850 I decided to slowly amass this trinity. I was able to pick up all 3 of these in excellent condition on the secondary market. With so many people going mirrorless, there has never been a better time to pickup premium F-mount glass.
Upgraded.
Upgraded.
On April 6th 2024 I purchased an upgrade to my beloved D7100. I decided that mirrorless is still not for me so I settled on the best DSLR ever made, the D850. This is a big change for me to go from a crop sensor D7100 to a full frame D850. I will continue to use my D7100 as a backup and when longer focal lengths are desired.
I purchased my D7100 on October 6th 2013 and it has been my main camera until now. It has never failed me, I have never lost an image and it has never let me down. My D7100 now has well over 82,000 shutter actuation's.