Lens envy and the 55-300mm Nikkor AF-S DX

Disappointment set in as I started to investigate my new purchase, a Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR lens, largely because I couldn't make the autofocus lock on to anything in less than 5 seconds, but also because it had a tacky under built feel to it. It occurred to me that the too good to be true price of £228 (rrp £395) was just that. Fighting back the lump in my throat I reasoned that I could just send it back, however, that meant not having a telephoto lens for the weekend and therefore cancelling my planned trip to Barnes Wetland Centre. Not an option. Switching to manual focus mode I then realised that the lens did not have internal focusing and that the manual focus ring, the existence of which I should consider a bonus, felt very loose. What a disaster.

The first use of the lens in daylight was a much more enjoyable experience; I used continuous autofocus all day and, on the whole, got sharp results of moving subjects. The initial autofocus issues were due to “low” light conditions in my bedroom, so if you were planning on buying this lens for use in low light I would definitely NOT recommend it. A comparison between the 55-300mm and my kit 18-55mm lens (rrp £195) saw the 18-55mm come up trumps every time with autofocus consistently locking on in under a second, a very poor show for the 55-300mm.

Although my trip to Barnes was enjoyable I only took three pictures that I actually liked out of about two hundred: very poor success to failure ratio. On top of that, those three required post production and lots of pixel wasting cropping! My trip also nearly hospitalised me with a serious bout of lens envy, this reached its pinnacle when I saw a man, sitting on a chair in the café, viewing his camera’s display by resting the camera on the lens on the floor. See the picture below for pretty much the exact set up he had:



Back to the modest 55-300mm AF-S: if you only occasionally require focal length in the 200-300mm range and aren’t super fussy about quality then the 55-300mm AF-S will serve you just fine. The second generation vibration reduction (VRII) works very well and you can use the lens handheld, in good light, at 300mm with no problems. However, if you intend to use this focal range a lot, as I do, then I would recommend that you save up for longer and opt for a more expensive option, as I will. Having done more research into lenses I would also consider buying lenses compatible with Nikon’s full frame cameras (FX Format not DX Format), especially if you are looking to upgrade to full frame in the future.

Below is an image taken with the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR lens:



Nikon D3000; 260mm; f/5.6; 1/25 sec; ISO 200; Handheld; VR ON; AF-C.

And here is an image with the lens at 300mm to give you an idea of the quality:



Nikon D3000; 300mm; f/5.6; 1/320 sec; ISO 400; Handheld; VR ON; AF-C.

Please feel free to differ in opinion in the comments section below. I will try to reply to any technical questions you may have or, if they are too difficult, point you towards a good source of information on the subject. /JH

Barnes Wetland Centre and Virginia Water

Some pictures from my recent trip to Barnes Wetland Centre and Virginia Water:

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Pick of the bunch from the last two weeks

As promised here are 5+ photos from the last two weeks:


Apple: This image was taken on the spur of the moment; I included it because I particularly like the bokeh (blur) of the background, especially as it was achieved with a cheap lens!

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Water film: I have always found the patterns created when water scatters off a curved object fascinating. I like this image but I don't feel as though it really captures the allure of the effect, expect better attempt soon.

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Velux sky: The way the picture is framed by underexposed trees on both sides leads the viewer to the beautiful colours of the sky while the angled Velux adds an interest factor to the image.

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Epsom Grandstand: This photo was taken on the spur of the moment as I drove home after completing the job that paid for my camera. I pulled in to the car park on a whim and experimented with how to hold the camera still with no tripod; after wedging it in my electric window and resting it on the car I finally settled on resting the camera on a post and using the 2s shutter delay so that could get this 1 second exposure with no camera shake...time for a tripod me thinks.

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Coming in to land: A slow shutter speed allowed me to get a blurred background and wings, lending a sense of movement to the image, whilst panning with the bird meant the head and tail feathers remained sharp. Shame it's a pigeon really.

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Golden morning: This is the spectacular sight that often greets me when I get in to work.




Comments and criticisms always welcome here /JH

To be (on the left) or not to be

The Expert Critique section in the October issue of Digital DSLR Photography gave a rather harsh review to what was, in fairness, a rather boring image. One of the more interesting criticisms of the image, from Lee Frost, was that the subject had been placed on the left hand side of the frame which, as many photographers will know, is 'wrong' in the loosest sense of the word. The reason for this is that people will tend to scan the image from left to right and it is better for the eye to have something to aim for rather than scan a boring expanse after briefly looking at the subject. There are many exceptions to this rule but for a basic still life it makes sense to follow it.

This led me to thinking about the reason we view images from left to right and after mulling it over for a couple of days it occurred to me that we read from left to right! Eureka! Okay so that occurred to me in a couple of seconds and is not particularly interesting at all...so far so boring. However, what did strike me as interesting is that only the some of the world read from left to right; Arabic, Hebrew and a variety of Asian languages are not read from left to right but from right to left or even top to bottom, therefore, it is worth thinking about who will be viewing/buying your images when you compose them so that you strike a chord with your audience.

There are surprisingly few articles that make a big deal about this so I may research it further and add it as a separate post. Above I have added an example of an example of an image where I wish I had composed it with the subject on the left as I think it looks better for the squirrel to be running "into the frame". I also wish I had focused it a bit better...oh well.

Welcome to prime-exposure

Welcome to my new blog at www.prime-exposure.blogger.com - I will display the best of my photographic work here and on flikr until my website, prime-exposure.co.uk, is up and running. The site will feature a blog section, galleries of my work, guest contributions and possibly the odd interview or two. I started work on the site on 10th October 2011 with the aim to have the first live version available by 20th December 2011. I look forward to seeing you there soon!

This photo, called Dangerous Liaison, was taken in Battersea Park, London. Click the image to see a larger version (not full quality). Stats: Nikon D3000; 18-55mm lens @55mm; ISO 200; f/5.6; 1/320 sec.

I will load a more comprehensive collection of photos soon, feel free to leave comments/questions.