Quick Nikon 28mm distortion test

The old Nikon Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 Ai-s is regarded as one of Nikon's sharpest lenses ever with zero distortion. Here is a quick comparison with the AF-S Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8 at 28mm. The photo below was taken with the manual focus 28mm f/28 Ai-S. Roll over the image to see the photo taken with the 17-35mm f/2.8 at 28mm and notice the visible barrel distortion in the zoom lens.



Here is the classic 28mm f/2.8 Ai-s that we at IDIC photo use for situations where a wide-angle with zero distortion and extreme close focus is desired.

2-year old photoshoot in Washington D.C.

Some shots from IDIC Photo's photoshoot of a 2-year old in Washington D.C. from last weekend. It was a beautiful day and early fall was in the air -- you can almost see some leaves turning color. We shot in the family's home, the child's room with his fave toys, in a nearby park (he loved the swings!) and in their backyard.

Fatima and Scott: Traditional Pakistani Wedding in Richmond, Virginia

IDIC Photo covered Fatima and Scott's traditional Pakistani wedding a few weeks ago in Richmond, Virginia. Their 'mehendi' (Henna) ceremony was a colorful, joyous affair full of dancing, singing and traditions. The regal and elegant reception was held the following day. For the bride and groom portraits we were able to utilize some excellent outdoors lighting as well as our cool-flo studio lights. Here are some shots from the two days.

Gear and glass used:

• Nikon D300
• Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8
• Nikon 50mm f/1.8
• Nikon 18-200mm VR f/3.5-5.6
• SB-600
• Britek "Cool Flo" Daylight Balanced continuous flourescent lights

IDIC Photo covers celebrity baker Warren Brown's 'Cakelove' book-signing event

This afternoon IDIC Photo had the opportunity to cover the book-signing event of Warren Brown's new book - 'Cakelove' at the Barnes and Noble in Tyson's Corner Virginia. Warren Brown is a lawyer-turned-baker and has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and now has his own Food Network show - Sugar Rush. Warren gave a humorous and informative talk about his passion for baking cakes and the entrepreneurial challenges encountered along the way.

Here are some shots from our coverage of the event. Lighting was quite bad but the D300 with the 50mm f/18 produced some excellent shots:

Nikon D40 and D300 High ISO Comparison

We at IDIC Photo are very happy with the performance of the Nikon D300 -- its tone, color rendition and the 51-point auto-focus are second to none. And while it does not have the unbelievable low-noise performance of the full-frame D3 or the new D700 or the Canon 5D, it does a pretty decent job upto ISO 1600 to 3200. What surprised us is that Nikon's entry-level D40 is no slouch either when it comes to low-light high ISO performance! There are several high-ISO shootouts already posted around the web including Ken Rockwell's comparison. Posted below are some test shots we took with the D40 and D300 at ISO1600 and 3200 that re-affirm the findings.

All shots were taken with very low tungsten light source in the room and in manual mode at f/2.8 and 1/30 sec using the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

ISO1600 - D40 image on the left; D300 on the right



Crop from the image:

D300 image on the left; D40 on the right (Note the doll's head is larger in the D300 image due to the higher resolution but it appears to lose some details due to the D300's built-in noise reduction)




ISO3200 - D40 image on the left; D300 on the right

IDIC Photo participates in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk - Aug 23, 2008

I got the chance to join in the D.C. morning Photowalk as part of Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk. Over 200 cities (including Dubai, Karachi, Islamabad, Delhi, Mumbai) around the world hosted photowalks today with over 7,500 photographers signed-up to participate! Per Scott Kelby's advice on gear for the walk, I decided to travel light and just brought the Nikon D300 with 18-200mm VR lens (Scott was walking with the exact same setup).

The D.C. walk was led by Jeff Revell and he was actually gracioius enough to lead two walks (morning and afternoon) due to great interest in the D.C. area. To be clear, the walk was actually NOT in D.C. but Old Town Alexandria -- we started off at Founder's park and weaved our way through streets, waterfront and parks to the Torpedo Factory. The weather was perfect in the morning -- around 72F and mostly cloudy for very soft lighting.

The best part about photowalks is getting to meet other photographers in the area. I noticed that Jeff was shooting with the D3 so I quickly bounced some thoughts off him about the D3 vs the new D700 (both full frame). I had to leave early but I understand that the group got some brunch and coffee at the end while engaging in some vigorous
chimping!

Here are some Flickr groups for D.C. and other cities:

• D.C. (Old Town Alexandria)
• NYC
  
• Islamabad
  
• Dubai
  

Some of my shots from the morning: