I don’t normally buy “new” camera gear because it is generally WAY too expensive for my enthusiast level photography hobby. Sometimes a company puts out camera gear that is affordably priced (loose term). Tonight I used my brand new, 85mm f/2 lens by a company named Viltrox. I decided on an 85 because it is a default portrait lens (if you’ve ever had a portrait session, it’s probably done with an 85mm), and you can stand back a bit further for street images. Tonight I took similar images as last week, but with this lens. I think I love it 🙂 .
It took a minute to realize I had to stand WAY back. This lens is fun because it is just long enough to start showing compression. That’s when you stand close to something, take a picture, and the things behind it appear closer. It is done in movies when the person stands still, and the camera zooms out and the person stays the same size but the background grows larger and closer. Also done a lot with nature photography to show a man on a peak, or animals running across the savanna or a meadow.
I want to try one of my Russian (Soviet era) Helios lenses on this camera for the Bokeh. That is just a fancy photographers term for the round blur in the background of a photo. There is a little bokeh in the next images.
Finally, my favorite part of the sidewalk. I just like the glow, and the details in the light vs the blur out of the light. Even at f/2 this lens has a comfortable depth of field. Love the lens so far, hopefully more time next week to up my shutter count.
Almost forgot, I take pictures in RAW (NEF in Nikon). The camera saves the images in RAW format, then makes a backup to the other card in jpeg. I usually post the jpegs right to Instagram, but the raw, I take home and edit up a little. This fire hydrant was in the dark. I took a picture, missed focus, but it shows you why raw is king when it comes to getting the most out of your camera. I only pulled up the brightness, no other editing. Once I saw I didn’t get the hydrant in focus, I stopped editing.
There you go, first set of images with my Nikon Zf, and my new Viltrox 85m lens. Off to get ready for work. ~me