Hello stranger! I'm a vision scientist and photographer interested in imaging and how our eyes see the world. This website is serendipitous collection of things - from photography and optics through Stoicism and Zen to vintage cars. I hope you enjoy any of it!
Egrets are beautiful and elegant aquatic birds, about half the size of a swan. You can often find them in the shallows as they slowly brood in the water looking for fish and aquarians. They are very shy and will fly away as soon as they spot you, which they are able to do from very far away. It pays to be patient because they are likely to return to the same spot after a while.
The photos you see here were shot at dusk with a Nikon D780 and 200-500 f/5.6 with the TC-14E teleconverter. I learned that although the continuous autofocus (AF-C) works, the 3d focus tracking is not available on this camera due to the aperture being too small (the teleconverter turns the f/5.6 into a f/8 aperture). This makes focusing very accurately challenging, especially at the long end of the lens (700 mm) because the depth of field is very narrow. Surely a D500 or D850, which have better autofocus modules, would be better in this situation.
On the other hand the low noise at high ISO on the D780 enables shooting these fast-moving birds possible at dusk. It is better to use a high ISO such as 6400 and get a good exposure then try to avoid noise by keeping the ISO low and underexposing. This allows for high shutter speeds in the 1/500 – 1/1000s range. On the other hand the image stabilization (VR) on the 200-500 lens is beyond excellent. It is entirely possible to use shutter speeds as much as 4 – 5 EV lower than what would be required without VR. It is entirely possible use a shutter speed of e.g. 1/100s at 700 mm with this lens with a little technique and practice.
I learned that one of the most important needs to shoot surf photos is reach. All of the photos below were shot with the Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6 lens with the TC-14EIII teleconverter, fully zoomed in (making it a 700 mm f/8). The camera was a 24 MP Nikon D780 and most of the photos were cropped by a factor of approximately 2.0. This still leaves photos that are 4000 px wide.
The shutter speed I settled on was mostly in the 1/500 to 1/1000 range which freezes the surfers and waves and droplets giving a sharp image. Shooting surf is not unlike shooting dance photos. After a while you learn the flow of the sport (wait for the wave, turn around, get up to speed rowing, stand up, ride the wave, try some tricks, fall spectacularly, all of which are similar to different sequences of a dance) and it is possible to prepare and anticipate the next shot.
The lens and teleconverter fit and work great together (both made by Nikon) and compared to some other TC’s I used they do feel made for each other, fitting very snug and tight. Both include rubber seals in their mounts which helps around salty water. That said, one thing I had to discover for myself is that the 3d tracking continuous autofocus (AF-C) stops working on the 200-500 f/5.6 when the teleconverter is mounted. This is probably due to the fact that the camera’s autofocus sensor struggles to detect contrast with small apertures (f/8 with the TC). This is reflected in the viewfinder where the focus point loses the small dot in the middle and stops moving around to track the subject. The AF keeps doing a good job in good light, but the loss of 3d tracking is good to keep in mind.
Today I was experimenting with Nikon’s venerable SU800 wireless (infrared) commander and two tiny SB-R200 strobes (Nikon calls them speedlights) that came together inside the R1C1 kit.
Closeup of a beautiful magnolia flower shot with a Nikon R1C1 wireless macro flash system on a Nikon D780. This is a 1:1 crop straight out of the camera, with a little sharpening applied.
I was skeptical about the R1C1 kit that’s been sitting in my drawer ever since I “re-appropriated” it from the lab where I work (nobody was using it anyway). The main reasons were:
The strobes and the commander use pretty rare CR123A Li-ion cells. The ones I got from Amazon were 1300 mAh (which is not a lot) and are not rechargeable. I don’t expect the strobes to go on for very long on these cells, and even if they were rechargeable, it’s another piece of equipment, unique to this kit to travel with.
The system is wireless, but it’s infrared. Modern strobes (I use the Godox X-pro system) use a high frequency radio system, which is much more robust, allows for a high shutter speed sync, and more range, and less delay.
On the other hand, what’s nice about the system is that it includes a mounting ring, which screws onto the lens (different adapters are provided) and allows a comfortable 360 degree rotation of the strobes that are attached to it. Alternatively, strobe stands with tripod screws are provided. I’m not sure how well this would work with the limited infrared signal from the SU800 commander. I expect it to work well indoors (e.g. for product shots) but poorly outdoors in bright light as soon as the tiny SB-S200 strobes are separated.
Closeup of a beautiful tulip flower shot with a Nikon R1C1 wireless macro flash system on a Nikon D780. This is a 1:1 crop straight out of the camera, with a little sharpening applied.
I mounted the kit onto the fantastic Nikkor AF-D 35 mm f/2 with a +2.0 D macro filter attached to it. What a macro filter does is it makes the lens “myopic” by shifting its entire focusing range closer by +2.0 diopters. This means that the far end, which was at infinity is now at 1/2.0 = 0.5 meters, and the near end which was at 25 cm (which is 1 / 0.25 = 4.0 D) is now at 6 diopters (4.0 + 2.0 = 6), which is (you guessed it) at 16.6 cm. This lens has a magnificent and smooth bokeh and is very sharp even at F/11, which is what you need to expand the depth of field which is razor thin in macro photography.
As soon as I started shooting I realized that the communication between the commander and the strobes was a hit or miss. Without having read the manual I couldn’t figure out whether it was good for them to blink green, red, or both. The strobes would just turn off at whim and refuse to fire at random. Sometimes it was necessary to remove the commander from the camera and attach it again. Yet other times it was enough to fire a test flash for the system to start talking to itself correctly.
Closeup of a beautiful tulip flower shot with a Nikon R1C1 wireless macro flash system on a Nikon D780. This is a 1:1 crop straight out of the camera, with a little sharpening applied.
In spite of all the abovementioned inconveniences and reservations I have to say that when the kit chooses to work, the results are wonderful. I used the additional tiny diffusers on both the strobes which makes the tiny setup (flower, camera, and the two strobes) behave similarly as a studio shot with a model. Everything is just scaled down. Tiny subject, tiny diffuse lights, and the camera working at the very near end of the focus range. I shot at ISO400, using 1/4 flash power at F/11 and 1/160 second exposure time (this thing does not have high speed sync). The tiny diffused strobes can be precisely pointed at the subject, and freely rotated around the ring, casting delightful soft shadows on the petals. They are more than strong enough to overpower the sun and provide crisp and contrasty shots. As long as you’re not in a hurry and willing to look past the very obvious limitations of this quite vintage macro setup, you should absolutely give it a chance and spend a day or two with it in a garden.
I’m excited to have been given the opportunity to talk at SUNY School of Optometry about “Digital Image Processing in Modern Optics Research”. The talk was about neural networks, machine learning, their use in face detection in an effort to understand and prevent myopia progression and was part of a series of colloquia by the Schnurmacher Institute.
As promised, I am sharing the presentation and two demo apps that were featured in the talk:
Demo Android App showing how to use the Google Vision API face detection to detect facial landmarks, and determine if a person is smiling or blinking. This is almost entirely based on the fantastic work by Ezequiel Adrian. It is especially valuable because it contains both Camera 1 and Camera 2 API implementations: Demo Android App for Face Detection
The classic boxster is a light, nimble and beautiful car, which debuted in 1993 at the Detroid Auto Show and was launched in 1996, reportedly saving Porsche from bankruptcy. While you’ll often hear that the car, designed by Harm Lagaay, was reminiscent of the 550 Spyder, the fact of the matter is that it was equally inspired by the modest but groundbreaking Mazda Miata, which debuted in 1989 and single-handedly (erm, four-wheeledly?) revived the market of two-seat roadsters. Below you’ll find some wallpaper-size photos of one gorgeous 986 Porsche Boxster in “Guard Red” shot on the banks of Lake Monroe in Indiana. Further down I’ve compiled a brief history of the model along with links and quality photos. I hope you enjoy it!
Brief History of the Porsche Boxster
Given Porsche’s high-flying success today, it’s easy to forget the company was on the verge of bankruptcy back in the early 1990s.[1] In fact, Porsche’s annual sales had fallen from over 50,000 units in 1986 to 14,000 in 1993, and only 3000 of those sales were in the U.S.[2]
