Nikon Rumors

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D lens review

By [NR] admin | Published: December 16, 2017

This Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D lens review is by Neo Vincent (Instagram) – you can check the pricing and availability of this lens at B&H, Adorama, Amazon and eBay:

I have been a reader to NikonRumors for many years, and after seeing much visitor posts, I wanted to give it a try. After months of wanting to do so, I finally have time for the review.

The lens in focus today (no pun intended) is the Nikon AF Micro 60mm 2.8D. This lens was introduced all the way back in the 90s, making it the predecessor of the Nikon AF-S Micro 60mm 2.8G. As a result, do expect loud autofocus noises, no weather sealing, no autofocus on cheaper bodies (such as D3xxx, D5xxx), along with a classic design (which I like). While old, this lens is still in production up till this day, apparently.

This review may seem odd or weird to many, as many people are probably interested in newer lenses only. However, don’t you think it’s good to look back sometimes, and see how wonderful older lenses are? Plus, there aren’t all that much reviews out there anyways.

My main purpose of getting the lens was for nature stuff mostly plants, including flowers. Though most people on the internet did not recommend this lens for macro work, I was lured by its lower price, smaller size, and the benefit of FX, in case I switch to FX next time (I use a D7200). As I know I won’t be doing 1:1 most of the time, and am fine with going close to my subject, I decided to bite the bullet and get the lens.

I first got my copy, back in March of 2016, and have since used it a lot (I do not know how much but still a lot). It wasn’t an easy find, even though I got it new. After multiple queries from many local camera stores, only one store located in Singapore had its stock. This review will be all about my personal experiences with this lens (after 1 year of use, of course).

Posted in Nikon Lenses| Tagged Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D lens review, [NR] Guest Posts| 121 Comments

The making of the official Nikon D850 time-lapse ‘Hercules Rising’

By [NR] admin | Published: December 15, 2017

The making of the official Nikon D850 time-lapse ‘Hercules Rising’

Introduction

Late 2016 I got a phone call from Japan asking whether I would be interested in shooting a night time-lapse video for the global introduction campaign of the new Nikon D850. It’s not every day that projects like this come along, so to say that I was excited would be an understatement. This article is about the making of the time-lapse video Hercules Rising and about my experiences with the D850 in the field.

Hercules Rising (click on the icon in the lower right corner to watch full screen).

The locations

As my wife Daniella and I plan our photo tours two years ahead, it was a challenge to wiggle it into our schedule. By picking locations that were very close to where we would be, we minimised travel time and made it work. After giving it some thought, I decided to pick three different types of trees as the main subjects: camel thorn trees, quiver trees, and baobabs. Every year in May/June we are in Namibia for our Namibia Untamed photo tour, and that’s where two of our three shooting locations were – the camel thorn trees and the quiver trees. For the baobabs, we picked a remote location in the Botswana desert. If you’re not familiar with these countries, here’s where they are on the African continent:

Namibia and Botswana are located in Southern Africa.

The Gear

Over a period of several months, I had weekly Skype calls with Tokyo to discuss the new features of the D850 and how I would be able to use them. We had a limited amount of time for the entire project, so I asked for five D850 bodies: two to put on motion sliders, two for tripods, and one for shooting behind the scenes video. At the time there were only eight prototypes in the world, yet Nikon decided to give me four of them. They also sent me a 24/1.4, a 20/1.8, a 24/1.8, an extra 24-70/2.8 and two extra 14-24/2.8 lenses. Add to that vertical grips for all D850 bodies, my own D5, D500, 80-400 and 200-400, and you end up with a nice cabin luggage challenge.

Chargers, batteries, D850 (4x), D5, D500, battery grips, 14-24 (3x), 24-70 (2x), 70-200, 80-400, 200-400, 20/1.8, 24/1.8, cards, and the remote cords I didn’t use.

Posted in Nikon D850| Tagged Hercules Rising, Marsel van Oosten, [NR] Guest Posts| 79 Comments

Nikon D850 focus stacking tutorials

By [NR] admin | Published: December 14, 2017

Slow news day, here are a few Nikon D850 focus stacking tutorials (more information available here and here):

Posted in Nikon D850| 9 Comments

Deal of the day: Luminar 2018 and Aurora HDR (coupon code included)

By [NR] admin | Published: December 12, 2017

The Luminar 2018 Holiday offer is now live (until December 31):

Current Luminar users can upgrade for $39 with coupon code NIKONRUMORS
New users can buy Luminar 2018 for $59 with coupon code NIKONRUMORS

A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase: The Shootkit ebook, Preset pack: 20 Festive Texture Presets, 500+ Sky overlays for Sky replacement, Video tutorial “How to replace Sky in Luminar” and “Capture: Adventures in Photography” ebook by Simon & Lisa Thomas, the world’s foremost adventure motorcyclists.

Luminar 2018 has added support for the Nikon D850 camera.

The Aurora HDR special offer is also now available (until December 31):

Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade for $29 with coupon code NIKONRUMORS
New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 for $69 with coupon code NIKONRUMORS

A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase: Deep Dive video tutorial from Trey Ratcliff, “How to create realistic HDR images” Ebook, and 2 Preset Packs – 40 presets! Preset Pack 1 – Winter Vibes. Preset Pack 2 – Wonderland.

Posted in Deals| Tagged Aurora HDR, Luminar| 35 Comments

Adobe announced the December update to Lightroom (with Nikon D850 tethering support)

By [NR] admin | Published: December 12, 2017

Some updates from Adobe:

Today Adobe announced the December update to Lightroom.
Lightroom Classic CC now supports tethered capture with the Nikon D850 DSLR camera (additional information available here).
A new version of Camera Raw was also released.

An update to Lightroom 6 for perpetual licensed customers for new camera support will be available on December 19th. This will probably be the final LR standalone release. At that point, it is probably a good idea to download a copy of the latest Lightroom standalone version from this page and keep it for your records as a backup because I am pretty sure that Adobe will remove the download from their website at some point. They have already been trying to “hide” the download link for a while now.

The current Adobe CC plan rates can be found here. You can get a free Lightroom CC trial on this page (no credit card required).

Posted in Nikon D850| Tagged Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Lightroom 6, tethering| 26 Comments

Zeiss SLR Classic lenses are now discontinued

By [NR] admin | Published: December 11, 2017

Cosina Japan officially announced that the following Zeiss SLR Classic series lenses have been discontinued: 2.8/15, 3.5/18, 2/25, 2/28, 1.4/35, 2/135. Some of the Zeiss Classic lenses for Nikon F-mount are still available for sale in the US.

Back in 2015, Zeiss replaced their SLR classic lens series with the new Milvus line of lenses specifically designed for digital cameras (DSLRs). Currently, a total of 11 Zeiss Milvus lenses have already been announced.