a nikon lens i never knew existed

[hankbeblazin]

i'm up here in horse country (clarke county va) i'm sure you maryland guys know where that is. anyways my dad, who is one of those guys who ken rockwell talks about. bought the D1h when it first came out....

turns out he has a nikon AF-S 80-200mm F/2.8

i never knew that existed did any of ya'll?

i'm going to shoot the international gold cup tomorrow with it i'll post samples when i get home sunday.

i thought the only version was the AF 80-200mm F/2.8

this is a killer lens its heavy as hell i like tha though built like a brick shit house. i'll keep ya'll updated

[photodawg]

awsome please do and take a pic of the actual lense itslef

[Rooz]

tis a great lens, very fast AF. but it's a heavy mutha. its actually heavier by some margin than the new VR version. the history of this lens is here.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/80200afs.htm

[rawpaw18]

Yep read up on that lens myself, but by the time you pay the price for that one used i figured go all in and get the one with vr.

It is the lens that was last produced before the 70-200vr and is not in production anymore, can be found on keh.com more often than ebay.

Been out to horse country before, heading to VA Friday for a job. Not a lot of horses in the city of Alexandria though.

[r3g]

That thing looks like a huge chunk of metal. Must have been murder on the wrist without a monopod.

[hankbeblazin]

Yep read up on that lens myself, but by the time you pay the price for that one used i figured go all in and get the one with vr.

It is the lens that was last produced before the 70-200vr and is not in production anymore, can be found on keh.com more often than ebay.

Been out to horse country before, heading to VA Friday for a job. Not a lot of horses in the city of Alexandria though.

we went because they were dedicating a statue to my grandfather for the horse of Saluter. i doubt any of ya'll have heard of that horse its a steeplechase horse. anyways i got alot of great pictures i'll be sure to pose them

as for the huge chunk of metal. i used it today. the lens is a f-ing beast i love it. it kind of made me horny haha. i ended up packing it in my lens back and kinda took it. my dad is VERY forgetful he wont notice its gone for 2 years he doesnt use it anymore.

it was pretty easy to use with out a monopod honestly. if you use the zoom from the belly its pretty easy to hold. i'll post the pictures when i get back home tomorrow. i took like 100 i think. i'll keep ya'll updated.

its a very rare lens i searched the internet and theres NOTHING about it. all the more reason to keep my dad in the dark that i still have it haha. the damn thing came in a leather hard-case.


btw it focus super fast i've never seen anything like this. it is amazing. i'm putting off the sigma lenses and buying all nikkor pro lenses. it was that impressive

[rawpaw18]

Hank here is a little info for you.

Since you brought him up, I thought I would post Ken's link.
Now why is Ken talking about your dad?

Steeplechase is not my type of racing, I much prefer 700hp over 1hp:D

[hankbeblazin]

no ken wasnt talking about my dad, he was talking about people like my dad.

the rich people who buy the d1h when it came out and then pro lenses just to use for travel photography or something.

[Gintaras]

Funny, if you buying some new camera and lenses because you just want make yourself a present then you automatically join the richies club? (according to some guy called ken rockwell or whomever he is.) LOL:p

[wh0128]

yep, excellent lens. I got the AF version which I'm pretty satisfied with but regret not saving the extra 600$ to buy the 70-200VR upgrade. It'll happen sometime.

And I like your horse photography:)

[hankbeblazin]

this lens was great to work with here you go, if you want the exif let me know i'll find it. i post processed them the contrast on them was not very good it was a little flat but it was easy to fix

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/1678860681_b704b1df1e_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/1678845517_103bcdc01d_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2251/1679681440_77299517a0_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/1679665892_2269628f1e_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2086/1679651970_f8126f3812_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2227/1679636774_64ffa76ba2_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/1679621148_e81539c546_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2203/1679608034_e12c58a862_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2229/1678743201_8e8d7571c8_b.jpg

[jcon]

Hank, are you open to constructive critisism? If not I'll keep my comments quiet...

[hankbeblazin]

i think i know what you might say. i keep having dead space up top. it happens on all of my photos i don't even think bout it when taking pictures. i don't know why it keeps happening....if thats not it sure go ahead

[toriaj]

Great shots! I love the 3rd from the end in particular. The horse's pose is just beautiful.

[jcon]

i think i know what you might say. i keep having dead space up top. it happens on all of my photos i don't even think bout it when taking pictures. i don't know why it keeps happening....if thats not it sure go ahead

The 2nd picture is by far my favorite of the set.

While I agree most could use some tighter cropping, that isnt what I was going to mention...

I have only taken horse pictures once, and that was on a strangers farm. With tha said, most of the ones you posted are very dark(the horses anyway). Now I know they are dark colored horses, but its very difficult to see any detail in most of the horses. I dont know what you used for metering, if you used the horse, then I dont know what the problem was...

Really, thats my only suggestion I would make. If you shot in NEF, its very easy to bring out lights and detail in these shots, and will make the horses much clearer.

Im not trying to sound harsh, just sharing what I thought when I first viewed the photos.

Edit** Here is an example, I played with this one.. added a little D-Lighting, Color Balance, and a tight crop. If you wish I remove the image, let me know...

[hankbeblazin]

hey jcon

i appreciate that. i did use the fill lighting on some of them and it helped, except it made it really flat, then i added contrast and black and it ended up making the horses dark again. i used matrix because the white balance kept changing from cloudy to super sunny and it was hard to get a shot in manual with out constantly having to change exposure so i used speed priority. which is something i rarely do because i like manual alot better but in the conditions it was very tricky lighting. i also wanted to keep some of the sky detail and when i used center weighted it would always blow out the sky. it was really tricky i had to shoot like 20 test shots before i got it all to a point where it was somewhat achievable. i did shoot raw, i always do. not to mention when it was super sunny the reflection off the horse sweat would blow out some parts of the horse so i figured i'd shoot kind of dark and fix it later so i wouldnt get blown out spots on the horses. it was pretty hard. i wasnt on the track either and the sun was 90 degrees to my right which made it harder too. the guys on the track had a perfect spot they shot with their back to the sun at a 45 degree angle to the jump. there were alot of factors but i definately appreciate the input. i'll keep that in mind next time i go to a race.

[jcon]

Dont get me wrong, I think you did very well, especially considering the conditions. I think your strategy to under expose as opposed to over expose was correct... its alot easier to brighten than to darken blown highlights.

Again, you did well. All of us learn everytime we take a picture.

[hankbeblazin]

thanks

i know i have room to work on don't get me wrong. we never stop learning