well the post processing is done and I got lots of very beautiful shots out of it and think Kim is going to be very happy.
It also gave me the chance to test some new methods of post processing

1. overexposed by two stops to archive this classic pin up high contrast look.
   


2. This picture was just beautiful composition wise but totally out of focus, well 15 minutes of work transform it into a classic piece of art :)
   


3. Kim was trying to reach for her daughter (which tried to knock over my light stands) and I really like the dynamic of this composition (sadly the framing is a bit off)
   
   


4. just a beautiful mum and daughter picture
   
   


5. Well I went a little bit nut's with the lightning, contrast and exposure brush but boy it looks cool!
   
   


6. slightly out of focus but after all a very nice composition with some simple post processing
   
   


7. well simple black and white and just looks nice
   
   


8. it feels nice to look sexy
   
   


9. and last but not least, it's always sunny in davis...
   
   

all the post processing was done using only adobe lightroom, which shows the power of this program quite well. And I had a lot of fun :)

The rest of this set can be found under zenfolio

all the pictures where taken using a Nikon D80, available light and a nikon 35mm F/2 or Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8

And really the last picture,

Just using the sun and the shade in some trees without any post processing.

well today I received my new bag pack, which I had to order because my old bag pack is to large as carry on these days and boy it's beautiful in a strange way....

Basically it's an ugly sand colored cotton bag which looks like a 15$ yard sale bag and just needs to get really really dirty and some NRA*,Colt,"Shoot first ask later" stickers to become perfect.

Why?

Because it doesn't look like a camera bag, is very small and has enough space for 2 - 3 lenses, a camera and a tiny laptop in the bag.

For example it fits my travel setup:

1 x Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 without hood
1 x Nikon D80 with 35mm F/2 attached
1 x IBM X60 Laptop and power supply (no love for the mac book, it's to big)
1 x small Lens X - maybe the sigma 10-20, did not test it yet or a small mono pod at the bottom


That's the one


*NRA = national rifle association

Today I did some potrait shots with my two flashes, umbrellas, couple of gels and my nikon 35mm F/2 and Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8

so far I really like the new Tamron 70-200 F/2.8 lens.

And only 2 More days till the TC 1.4 and mono pod arrives so watch out you evil chipmunks!

Pictures are both taken handheld at 1/60s and 1/100s, iso800, boosted 1 stop in post processing to 1600 and slight contrast enhancements.

The first picture was taken at F/3.5 and the second at F/2.8

around 9 am this morning I heard a big clunk, and tap tap tap outside my door. So I start to investigate and see, the ups driver dropped... my package in front of my door and left again. Without even knocking. Normally I don't mind if they do this, but in case of a 700$ pacakge, well I expected more.

Anyway my tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 arrived and my first impression are:

• boy this thing is huge
• damn it's heavy
• darn I need a new bag for this thing
• i like it

So it seems all to be good and I went to work.

more comes as soon as I got some pictures done and got used to this lens.

well it seems that my little photo set is more or less complete after 2.5 years and I'm only missing a 300mm prime, like the nikon 300mm F/4 to take wildlife pictures (which won't happen this year)

after my trading frenzy last month I ended with the nearly perfect set which is more or less future proof, since there will be a FX camera for under 1000$ in the next 4 years.

• 1 x Nikon D80
  
• 2 x SB-600 flashes
• 1 x Nikon 50mm F/1.8
  
• 1 x Nikon 35mm F/2
  
• 1 x Tamron 90mm F/2.8
• 1 x Tamron 80-200mm F/2.8
• 1 x Tamron 1.4 TC
  
• 1 x Sigma 10-20
• 2 x lighstand + umbrella + swivel
• 1 x Bogen Tripod with head
• 1 x Bogen Monopod with head

several bags, filters and other stuff

Stuff which I had, sold, traded

• Nikon 80-200mm F/2.8 push pull
• Nikon 17-55mm F/2.8
• Nikon 70-300mm VR
• Nikon D50
• Nikon 70-300mm NON VR
• Nikon 28-80mm
• Tamron 200-400
• Tokina 19-35mm (still for sale)
• 1 x Nikon MB-D80 battery grip (still up for sale, just barley use it)

Money spend after all this trading and shifting of stuff, 900$ which was 300$ more than I planned too. Yes I really wanted to have the 35m F/2 for my upcoming berlin trip...

Another interesting thing is how many pictures I took with all this stuff and actualy kept

• Nikon D50, 15000 pictures taken
• Nikon D80, 9000 pictures taken

Of these 24000 pictures I kept 2000 pictures on my harddrive, without a backup which I really have to change and uploaded 360 pictures.

If I would have taken these pictures with classical analog film and had it developed (no prints!) it would had been 11000$ developement cost for the negatives.

Now my photo equipment cost roughly 3000$ and has a resale value of ca 2500$ (better than my car!), which translates into 16c per picture, which is not to bad.

why do I do this calculation? To convince myself to stop spending money on camera gear and actually travel more. I'm also really bored right now and sleep deprived.

...but hey I spend 1800$ on beds so far, which have a resale value of maybe 100 - 200$...

well sometimes things are going well and sometimes everything just goes wrong...

Originally I found a very nice deal on a 80-200 F/2.8 and promptly ordered it. At the same time I sold my 70-300mm VR to pay for this new lens.

so far it's simple. Now it turned out that they send me the wrong order and my original order was send to another customer. Which is very annoying, since it causes me all kinds of trouble. Now a smart person would had said, ok shit happens now wait it out...

...well I'm not smart and do stupid things when I frustrated. Basically I start shopping to make me happy again, which in this turn resulted in a 17-55mm F/2.8 lens from nikon which will force me to save the next two month. At least parts of the lens are covered by the money I got for the 70-300mm VR and If I need money I can always sell it for like 90 - 95% of it's value.

But it was defiantly not the smartest thing todo, speciall since I got now lenses to cover:

• 10 - 20 mm
• 17 - 55 mm
• 50 mm
• 90 mm
• 19-35 mm

which means the 19-35mm has togo and I have no lens over 90mm anymore. Well maybe I get me something nice for my birthday and use the time to recover my finances.

But hey my new banking software tells me I live well in my limits and related to the expenses I had this year, well it suprises me quite alot

(ikea, more ikea, apple toys, tv, dentist, car trouble)


...at least I did not spend that on shoes! (you know who I'm talking too....)

Mhm now the big question is why did I not buy the sigma or tamron version? Basically I love my sigma 10-20 and hate it since it's so god damn unsharp and the reports for the 18-50mm Sigma are pretty bad (very soft till F/4, so defeats the purpose of F/2.8). If I ever have the possibilty to sell my 10-20, I'm most likley going todo this in an instant, if the price is right.

Now the tamron is supposed to be as good as the Nikon 17-55 F/2.8, If you get a copy which is able to focus. Everybody reports that they have issues to lock the focus, which makes it also useless.

And last but not least I can use the nikon in dust/rain since it's weather sealed. (Ok my camera is not, but it's easier to wrap a plastic bag around a camera than around a lens...)

Guess I will be busy at the weekend taking lots of pictures.

...ah and I also keep fighting with grails and I'm not winning here, which is another reason I'm frustrated...

same picture but without noise reduction.

Accidentally applied to much to the picture before and lost lots of details.



After I read just another review I'm very certain that I will order the Tamron instead of the Nikon. it's 450$ instead of 1200$ online an supposed to be optically equal.

And last but not least, this price difference is a nice vacation.

ok whats new,

1. booked flight's for paris

so now it's official, we will be over christmas in germany and paris

2. got addicted to my xbox360 again

i made the mistake and bought an xbox live membership and halo 3, it's amaizing how addicting it is. Only thing I don't like that it tracks everything what I'm doing in this game online

3. now that we are going to Paris i got into a minor problem, I don't got any lens which can work as walk arround lens. So I'm looking right now at 2 lenses,

the Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 and the Nikon 17-55 F/2.8. The tamron is cheaper and lighter, the nikon heavier, more robust, weathersealed (paris = rain) and last but not least cost double what the tamron cost.

So it seems that I'm going with the tamron, except that there are problems with the quality control and it's supported to be very bad arround the corners of the lens. Related to it's curved front element.

But 500$ vs 1000$ is a damn good argument to go with the tamron. I actually doubt I get the cash together anyway, i just don't want to be as disappointed with a lens like I am with the sigma 10-20 I have. The pictures still don't seem sharp to me. So maybe I convince myself one day and drop the lens on craigslist. I should be able to sell it for 80 - 90% what I paid for it.