My future equipments

Hi,
After thinking for a while, I have decided what camera and lens I'm gonna get next time or my dream set!

Cameras:
D700 for light travel

D3 for my kids' sports

D3x for serious landscape/portrait

Lenses:
Nikon 14mm-24mm f/2.8 for ultra-wide angle zoom

Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8 for convenient wide angle coverage

Nikon 24mm-70mm f/2.8 for normal zoom

Nikon 70mm-200mm f/2.8 for mid telephoto soom

Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 for convenient telephoto zoom when on travel

Nikon 50mm f/1.4 for low light (I hope Nikon would have a f/1.2 lens . Canon has it already!)

Nikon 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6 for macro on homegrounds

Nikon 105mm f/2.8 for macro when I am travelling

Nikon 135mm f/2 DC for serious portraits (DC stands for defocus control)

Nikon 200mm f/2 for indoor sports and ultra-fast focusing

Nikon 400mm f/2.8 for outdoor sports

Teleconverters:
Nikon 1.4x converter
Nikon 2x converter

Why I chose these?
Cameras
I would want a light and good FX camera when I am travelling so I would get the D700. It produces fantastic images with its full-frame CCD sensor yet is lighter than the D3.

For my kids' sports (I hope my children will join sports CCAs), I would want a camera that can run fast. Thus I chose the Nikon D3. It runs at 9 frames per second on its full frame sensor.

Lastly, I would also do serious landscape work. For that, I am too lazy to get a Tachira so I would choose the D3x. Though it is not the perfect body for digital landscape photography, at least it produces superb high-quality images and another body to put behind my lenses.

Lenses
For ultra-wide angle for serious landscape, I want the super low distortion, super sharp Nikon 14mm-24mm f2.8. It is one of the best professional ultra-wide lens Nikon makes. '

What if I want a wide-angle when I am travelling? I would get this 17mm-35mm f/2.8 lens. It gives me a good coverage.

Next, for family gatherings or new year events, I would like the 24mm-70mm f/2.8. It is a pretty versatile lens and has a large aperture for low light.

When I want to photograph in a theatre, I would want the 70mm-200mm f/2.8 lens for its large and bright aperture, zoom range and size. I wouldn't want to be hauling a rocket launcher sized lens along the aisle!

To travel light yet covering a long zoom range, I want the 80mm-400mm because it is not very large and its usability due to its 5x optical zoom. With this, I do not have to change lens every now and then.

I also want a 50mm f/1.4 for low light and as a normal lens I fix on my cameras. Its super small, super light and focuses fast! I own a 50mm f/1.8 and I like it so much. I bet the 50mm f/1.4 would be even better!

For studio work or serious macro works, I would use this versatile 70mm-180mm macro lens for its zoom. I can easily zoom in or out from my subject without moving my tripod.

But when I am travelling, I want a smaller and lighter macro lens. Thus I would choose the 105mm f/2.8 macro lens.

Portrait work is also one that I want to focus on. So, I would get the 135mm f/2 DC for bokeh optimisation. Which means I can blur the background even more and give my subject or object my prominence.

If my son is in basketball, I would like to photograph him with this ultra-fast 200mm f/2 lens. I would be able to capture every motion and action on the indoor courts.

What if I want to shoot more action outdoors? I am getting the 400mm f/2.8. With this, I can easily capture outdoor action or even wildlife photography. Birds or simply a safari trip.

Teleconverters
I am getting the 1.4x converter because I can easily convert my 200mm f/2 lens into a 280mm f/2.8 lens. Pretty close to 300mm. I can also convert my 400mmf/2.8 lens into a 600mm f/4 lens!

I wouldn't want to stop at 600mm only. So, I am getting the 2x teleconverter beacuse I can convert my 400mm f/2.8 into a 800mm f/5.6!

What would be in my camera bag when I travel?
In my camera bag, I would have:
D700
24mm-70mm f/2.8
80mm-400mm f/4.5-5.6
105mm f/2.8 micro
50mmf/1.4

In my luggage, I would have these:
135mm f/2 DC
17mm-35mm f/2.8

What would be in my camera bag when I am shooting sports or wildlife?
For indoors:
D3
70mm-200mmf/2.8
200mm f/2
14mm-24mm f/2.8
50mmf/1.4
2x converter
1.4x converter

For outdoors:
D3
17mm-35mm f/2.8
70mm-200mm f/2.8
400mmf/2.8
50mmf/1.4
2x converter
1.4x converter

What would I have in my camera bag if I am shooting serious landscape or portraits?
D3x
14mm-24mm f/2.8
135mmf/2 DC

What would I have in my camera bag when I am shooting on a family outing?
D700
17mm-35mm f/2.8
135mm f/2 DC
50mm f/1.4

Thanks for reading suck a long post. Bye,
Tyy

I'm wowed

Look at this:

Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 M Mount Lens

I'm so tempted to buy this. It cost even less than a tokina 12-24 DX that. When you convert the tokina 12-24 to 35mm focal length, the widest it could go is 18mm. But this lens is 15mm!!

The price: US$540 S$800

Sadly, there's no point for me to buy cos first, I don't have a 35mm camera. Second, it can't mount on any nikon or canon unless I get a converter which I doubt anybody makes them.

I still remembered when my dad almost bought a Leica lens when I reminded him that we do not have a Leica!

That's all for now. Bye,

Tyy

Some unusual stuff

Hi,

I had a little convo with Jeremy over msn about some lenses and I realise that beginners like him don't really know of some stuff. I shall just put it up here.

There are three types of format for cameras:

DX

Full Frame/FX

Medium Format

Large Format

Superb lens/camera brand that are better than NIKON/CANON:

(Most of them are film)

Leica

Zeiss

Voigtländer

And one last thing:

Do you know Nikon and Canon make lenses called tilt shaft lens?

Bye,

Tyy

New equipment

Hi,
Here's just a list of what I'm gonna buy this year to add to my camera equipment.

Tokina 12mm-24mm lens $800
Think Tank camera bag $150
MB-D200 battery grip $270
SB-400 $150

If possible:
A Tamron macro lens
Nikon D5000

All these would be possible as long as I get super good results. Gonna mug now.
bye(:
Tyy

What are wide-angle lens?

Hi,
Jeremy asked so I post. His question
What kind of lens are wide-angle lens?
I going to explain crop factor. I will try to put it as simple as possible.
For cameras that you see in stalls now.
Crop Factor
Nikon DX: 1.5x
Nikon Full Frame: 1x

Canon DX: 1.6x
Canon Full Frame: 1x

So, what kind of lens fall under wide-angle?
Every lens have a focal length e.g. Nikon and Canon kit lens are 18-55
So, you take the focal length multiply by the crop factor.
If the number falls below 28mm, it should be a wide-angle lens.

Next, there are also ultra wide-angle lens. I'm not sure for the range for ultra wide-angle lens but an example is the Nikon DX 12mm-24mm. When mounted on a DX camera say the D90, u multiply 12 and 1.5. Do some simple calculation and you get 18mm. Which is very wide!
To go even wider...
Mount the Nikon's ultra-rare 13mm f/5.6 manual focus lens on an FX camera. That's wide! If you want to get the same focal length on DX, it would have to be a 8.6 lens!

Just a side note, Nikon have made only about a few hundred of this 13mm f/5.6 over the years. If you can get one now under $10000, you have just picked up a super deal. The average price is about $30000 +... Too expensive for me.
At least now.

Tyy