Live Music Concert- Scott Miller at Jammin' Java - Shot With the Nikon Df

Last Sunday (July 19, 2015), I went to a live music show at one of my favorite venues, Jammin' Java, in Vienna. (Click Here) to check out Jammin' Java. They have a very full schedule of interesting shows. Most importantly for this evening, Jammin' Java is indoors. It was still in the 90s and very humid outside, even after sunset.

 

 

Scott is a very interesting guy - professional musician and Virginia cattle farmer. (Click Here) to check out his website.

 

Once again, my Nikon Df is the master of darkness. Shooting with my favorite prime lenses (28mm f1.8 AF-S, 50mm f1.4 AF-D, and 85mm f1.8 AF-D), I was able to shoot at either 1/125 or 1/250 of a second and still have enough depth of field to be useful. This meant iso values of 3200 or even 6400 - no problem at all for the Df. I love this camera.

 

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So, Which of My Lenses Are Best on the Nikon D810?

 

Image Source: http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/AF-S-NIKKOR-28mm-f%252F1.8G.html#close

 

The advent of the D810, and its predecessors the D800 and D800E, caused many photographers to find the limits of their lenses. It used to be rare that the sensor was good enough to have the lens be the limiting factor in image quality, or acuity. Now, it's not rare at all.

 

So, which lenses from my (rather extensive) kit of Nikkors will work well on the D810 that's on its way to me in the mail?

 

I found a nice list on the DxO page, which lists the top choices for prime and zoom lenses for the D810. Testing over 100 lenses on the D810, they've compiled a list of the ones they found most suited to the new super-sensor. (Click Here) to read the full list.

 

As expected, my new 28mm f1.8 AF-S G lens, my most modern lens, makes the list. Importantly, so does the AF-S 200-400mm VR, though they tested the version 2 of this lens; mine is version 1. As the 200-400 is likely to be my most-used lens on this new camera, that's important to me. Another modern lens in my kit, the 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR zoom made it on the list. That's good.

 

Then there were a couple of surprise entries from my older lens selection: the 85mm f1.8 AF-D and the 50mm f1.4 AF-D (which I use all the time). Great to see those there, as well.

 

So, I feel that in addition to the 200-400, which will be my nature workhorse, I've got a full set of wide (28mm), normal (50mm), short telephoto (85mm), and long compact zoom (70-300) to choose from with this camera. I'll certainly use other Nikkors on the D810, but with these, I know that I can expect the very best results.

 

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River and Roots Festival - Great for Kids of All Ages!

I love music festivals. But, size matters. The huge ones can be a bit much. My two favorite festivals, ever, are held every year at the same place - Watermelon Park in Berryville, VA.

 

River and Roots Fun, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 28mm f1.8 AF-S G Lens

iso 1000, f2, 1/125 sec.

 

The Watermelon Park Fest, held every September, is the larger of the two. (Click Here) to read more about it.

 

I made the photo above at the River and Roots Festival in June, also held at Watermelon Park. This one's smaller, but so much fun. Large enough to attract major acts (the headliner this year was David "Dawg" Grisman), R&R is small enough that there's no stress or hurry to be anywhere. Wonderful. This year, I only made it out for the first day of the festival, going home in time to miss the deluge of rain, yet also missing Dawg and many other great musical performances.

I shot with my Nikon Df, and enjoyed trying out my new 28mm f1.8 AF-S lens. In the shot above, it allowed me to capture enough of the scene to share how it felt, but still shows the emotion and wonder on the little girl's face. I had to get pretty close to pull this off, but not uncomfortably so.

 

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Ice Cream, Anyone?

 

Ice Cream, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 28mm f1.8 AF-S G Lens

iso 500, f2, 1/125 sec.

 

I shot this at a recent live music festival. My new, latest-technology Nikkor 28mm lens is pretty nice. At f2, focused on the ice cream cone, and this close to my subject, the nice lady serving me is slightly out of focus. Honestly, my attention was fully on the ice cream, and that's where the emphasis is in the picture.

 

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Summer Leaves

There's something about trees. They have this incredible range of dimension, from the microscopic detail of leaf structure, to the sometimes impressively large structure of the trunk and root system. There's a lot going on inside this one living organism, and even more just outside.

 

Photographers, including me, love to shoot the autumn leaves. I found this tree, which happens to be at its peak summer health, equally interesting

 

Summer Leaves, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 28mm f1.8 AF-S G Lens

iso 3200, f5.6, 1/125 sec.

 

I spot metered a point on the gray tree bark to get this exposure. Of course, that meant blowing out the highlights in the white sky around the leaves, but that's okay.

 

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Songwriter's Tribute to Bob Dylan's 74th Birthday

Whatever you may think of Bob Dylan, you have to admit the man's a creative genius. Possibly not the most polished vocal tones in history, his songs will be with us for a long time, maybe as long as humans listen to music.

 

I attended a celebration of Dylan's 74th birthday, led by three songwriters (left to right) Todd Wright, Luke Brindley, and Anthony Fiacco.

The event was held at Jammin' Java, a really nice live music venue in Vienna, Virginia. (Click Here) to check out Jammin' Java. They have a full schedule of live music, and the place is well set up for listening.

 

I shot with the Nikon Df, new 28mm f1.8 AF-S, 50mm f1.4 D, and 85mm f1.8 D lenses. Here are some more shots from the show.

 

 

These images are pretty much straight from the camera.

 

I am hoping that the 28mm will be a useful lens for my live music shooting. I am pretty pleased with the results from this first trial.

 

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