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COVID has struck our adventure again. We are delaying the Nepal Photo Adventure until March of 2022. Exact dates will be provided soon. COVID has caused a significant shutdown in Kathmandu and coupled with the recent heavy flooding (caused by monsoon rains) the city is too difficult to navigate. New restrictions on quarantine prior to entering the Khumbu means a lot of hotel time in Kathmandu.

With any luck Nepal will have a higher rate of vaccination by March (many villages in the Khumbu are vaccinated) and the weather will be better!

Stand by for the dates and the itinerary which is shaping up to be absolutely fantastic!

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Adventure links posted!

We have an all star cast assembled for this adventure photo experience in Nepal for October/November 2021. If you are a travel, adventure, landscape, portrait or aspiring to any of those genre photographer you will love this trip. Three of the most accomplished high altitude Sherpa. One National Geographic, Outside & Climb magazine photographer. One Sony portrait of the year and Internationally published photographer. And one sports, fine art, adventure photographer and former Olympic Alpine ski coach. Oh and our team leader summited Mt. Everest in 2013 and completed 6 of the 7 summits. Go to the workshop link or www.igpixltrips.com to check it out!

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Join ASMP

If you are a professional photographer or an aspiring professional you owe it to yourself to join ASMP now. The weekly town hall presentations that ASMP is hosting every Friday are invaluable for navigating the legal and government issues surrounding COVID-19. On Wednesday ASMP hosts an on line Zoom call covering topics that are important to photographers and keeping your business alive.

Local chapters are doing their own webinars that range from just hanging out for morning coffee and exchanging ideas to presentations by marketing reps, editors, directors, producers and so on. They run the gamut to get the creative juices flowing and spend some social time together.

www.asmp.org

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Nikon 500mm f5.6PFE

Been shooting with the new 500mm f5.6 since it was released as NPS delivered days after they became available. While the Z series cameras were getting all the attention I found the 500 f5.6 to be the real gem. For a photographer that has to travel to events and have a huge amount of flexibility this lens is a no brainer. It’s a fantastic performer on the D5, D850 and D500. On the D850 the resolving power is impressive. Check out the first image below and see the eyes inside the goggles. (Those are all full frame images that are unedited except for b&w conversion). Flying with the 500 f5.6, as I have done over the last two months, is life changing. One camera bag, no extra cases, and no negotiating with crew to store a lens in the garment closet.

I was initially concerned with focus speed and the ability to pick up fast moving subjects. Photographing alpine ski racing is super challenging due to the high contrast, busy field of play and the speed of the athletes. Getting the lens to lock on to an athlete going 40-50mph with a lot of quick direction changes and movement is not easy. The 500mm f5.6 worked as well as the 500/600mm f4. 

There is a bit of funkiness shooting strongly backlit subjects, as I mentioned in my first article, but it’s fairly easy to work around and control once you get the hang of it. You can actually use that funkiness to your advantage. See the b&w images below. Here are some recent alpine ski racing photos from Copper Mountain, Colorado. You can also see some great surfing images shot with the 500 f5.6 PFE lens on my Instagram feed #pixlproject 

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Tux photographed with the New Nikon 500mm f5.6 PF lens. Shot on the D850 wide open at 5.6, iso 800.

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Nikon 500mm f5.6 PF lens

Just shot some test photos with a brand new Nikon 500mm 5.6 PF lens. (Thank you Camera West in Rancho Mirage, CA www.camerawest.com) In a nutshell this thing is amazing. It is just slightly longer than the Nikon 70-200 2.8 and weighs about the same. The images are razor sharp, yes visibly more so than the Nikkor 200-500 5.6, and the color and contrast are fantastic. 

I’ve not shot in a stadium yet but there will certainly be a bit more depth of field than an f4 500mm. Whether or not that is a problem we’ll have to see. (keep in mind this lens is $6000 less than the f4 version) Lots of times shooting an f4 lens at 5.6 is common as it give you just a smidgen more room for focus error or getting that 2nd athlete in an image sharp. And with the high ISO capability of the D5, D500 and D850 bumping the ISO to 1250 is not a problem vs ISO 800. (If you shoot any of the pro body Nikon or Canon cameras you know that ISO 6400-10000 is amazingly usable.)

There are some initial limitations, the most significant being that glare and low contrast is quite significant when shooting into a backlit object. Being aware of this is very necessary as the images are not good at all. Using the lens hood and paying attention to the angle of the light in the image is critical. My understanding is that this is a limitation of the Phase Fresnel lens. It will be interesting to shoot some backlit surfing with this lens to see how it handles the spectral reflection of the water and color. On another note the 95mm diameter front element means a whole new set of filters which is kind of irritating. Being able to drop in a 52mm like the “professional” 200, 400, 500, 600 & 800mm lenses would have been nice.

Focus is as fast and accurate as the Nikon 200-400 f4. For a test I shot our black lab “Tux” in shadow with a strong backlight. The focus on the D850 was a bit slow to find him (continuous focus at 9 and 25 point were tested) but once locked on it tracked him accurately as he was running towards me until he was too close. I’ll post a sample image and you’ll see the focus point was on his nose and the depth of field is quite shallow as his eyes fall off pretty quickly. It is nice and progressive though and I like the focus fall off. I’ll be shooting soccer later in the week which  will be a good test of the continuous focus on moving objects.

I’ll continue to shoot test images but if the image quality holds up, and I cannot see how it wouldn't, this is the action, adventure, travel photographers dream lens. Pack this with a 70-200 2.8 and you are ready for almost anything. Using the DX crop on the D850 or using a D500 and you have a 750mm 5.6. 

One significant gripe is the crappy, sorry no other way to state it, tripod foot. (It is so light and compact that hand holding it is a no brainer but when the light gets low, critical sharpness is necessary or doing long exposure pans is required you’ll want this on a tripod.) Nikon makes the worst tripod foot in the history of mankind for it’s telephoto lenses and they are constantly berated for it. You would think spending this kind of money, or $10,000 for the 500 f4, they could put a nice Arca Swiss compatible foot on the lens. But no. You get this pop metal garbage foot which means going out and buying a $100+ RRS or Kirk foot to replace it. Hello Nikon marketing... anyone home?

My expectations were very high having shot the Nikkor 500 f4 quite a bit as that lens is the gold standard. While I can see the 500 PF lens having some challenges, back lit and low light / heavy shadows (regarding focus speed), the $6000 difference will certainly motivate me to figure out how to compensate for those situations!

Happy Saturday.

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Keyhole on the basket. #camerawest #leicas006 #leicastreet #pixlproject #leicastorela #streetscene #coloradosprings (at Urban Peak Colorado Springs) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnfX6EXH0MX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1n9el3us9cwan

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Photokina around the corner

Heading to Cologne, Germany soon to be overwhelmed by Photokina. This will be the last “big” Photokina which has taken place every two years. Starting next year it will be an annual event which frankly seems to ruin shows like this. Photokina is an experience and companies geared up for the two year extravaganza and release cycle. Now, on a yearly schedule I think it will force companies to either forego the show altogether due to expense or do their own shows and announcements. This is what Canon and Sony are doing with new camera launches. They fly in social media wonks and thought makers to events so the marketing and buzz gets out to the masses. Canon recently flew podcasters and bloggers to Hawaii for the launch of their new mirrorless camera. Photokina every year or Hawaii?

At any rate we are looking forward to an exciting time in Cologne with the new product announcements by Nikon, Fuji and Canon. Personally looking forward to the rumored new Leica S medium format announcement. This is an amazing camera system and often overlooked except by those in the know. Nothing touches the S series glass from any manufacturer and I love the form factor and the signature look for shooting sports and portraits.

After the show it is off to Italy for our PixlTrips Prosecco / Dolomites workshop. We’ll be spending an amazing 5 days in the Prosecco region of Italy. Visiting wineries, cheese manufacturers, small towns and villages and with luck all during peak harvest season. Stay tuned for images!

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More Nagano memories from the Men’s Olympic Giant Slalom. Someone in the crowd, which was massive, threw me a headband and the finish area went nuts when I put it on. #olympicmemories #naganoolympics #winterolympics #usskiteam #gousa (at Shiga Kogen)

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20 years ago we were in Japan for the 1998 Winter Olympics. The “Baumer” in action with the US men’s alpine team. #pixlproject #olympics #winterolympics #teamusa #ussa #usst #usskiteam (at Nagano Prefecture, Japan)

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Super moon eclipse photos. Very cloudy this morning so it was difficult to get a good perspective. #pixlproject #nikonlove #nikon100 #supermoon2018 #d850 #astrophotography #lunareclipse #lunareclipse2018 (at Colorado Springs, Colorado)

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Blood moon and Super moon. Wing lights to the right of the moon or UFO? You decide! #pixlproject #nikonlove #nikon100years #supermoon2018 #redmoon ##d850 #astrophotography (at Colorado Springs, Colorado)

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Teton sunset. #pixlproject #tetons #jennylake #lakesunset #leicas #leica006 #camerawest #leicastorela #leicastoresf (at Grand Teton National Park)

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Teton reflections continue. #pixlproject #tetons #tetonreflections #leicas #leica006 #camerawest #leicastoresf #leicastorela #mountainsunrise (at Oxbow Bend, GTNP)

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Winter is coming. #jacksonhole #tetons #tetonsunrise #pixlproject #mountainreflections #leicas #leicaphotos #mountainscape #leica (at Oxbow Bend, GTNP)

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Here’s to new horizons in 2018. #pixlproject #surfinglife #newyear2018 #leicam10 #leicacam #oceanbeach (at OCEAN BEACH in The City)

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Merry Christmas humans! #pixlproject #zubiethewonderdog #tuxerdog #dogsinhats #christmaspets #englishlabs (at Colorado Springs, Colorado)