Showing how it’s possible to do realistic looking green screen photography. Granted, the original was not shot against a green screen, but the basic concept of cutting out the background and overlaying the subject onto a new background remains. The first two pics are of the helmet cut out and the background prior to having Gaussian Blur applied in Photoshop at 122 pixels. The third pic is the original, and the fourth pic is the final product.
With some recent acquisitions—the Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR 1 and a 32″x40″ Softbox among them—I was thinking about some future items on my list when I decided to write them down. It’s really rather shocking that there are so few items, but what’s even more shocking is the grand total: less than $2500 at the top end. See below:
• iPad $499
• Eye-fi SD Card $99
• Softbox grid $40
• Einstein strobe light $500
• 50mm lens $200-$500 either f1.8 or f1.4
• 85mm lens $300-$500 either f1.8 or manual 1.4 third party
• Greenscreen software $100 to $300
Total $1738 to $2438
Surely I am forgetting something; a lot of somethings. But irregardless of those missing items, the ones listed above are the ones on my radar, and so occupy top billing. The bottom three items are variable depending on the specific model/brand I would choose. Plus there are rumors they may be releasing the iPad 3 in the coming months, and so the currently iPads will be marked down. My main motivator for an iPad is the ability, coupled with the also-listed Eye-fi SD card that transmits wirelessly, to send images directly from the camera to the iPad for viewing larger images on location instead of relying on the LCD on the back of the camera (I’m also an avid reader and so would love to have a larger screen to read than my iPhone, which itself is quite adequate for that task already).
I don’t really have a priority on any of the above; any purchases will probably be piecemeal and opportunity based (ie, sales, etc). I’m curious to see how the new forthcoming Nikon 85mm 1.8G lens performs before I decide on that, but I’m also swinging back yet again into some 50mm prime lens love. Ah, so fickle…
Ah yes. So I finally came full circle so to speak, manned up, and after selling the unsatisfactory 80-200 2.8, I got my hands on a used Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR 1 for a great price. I had rented the lens before, and some of those pics appear in the gallery below, along with some newer ones (featuring my dad’s new pup Lenny).
This is the lens I should have manned up and got in the beginning, instead of scrambling around and renting lens after lens after lens as my telezoom fill in after I sold the old Tamron 70-200 over the summer. I hate to even begin to calculate how much money I spent on rentals, as well as purchasing the 80-200 and selling it for less…sheesh, I might have been able to afford the new version of the 70-200 with that money spent. On the other hand, it gave me the opportunity to shoot with other lenses, notably some 85mm 1.4 primes and the 105mm 2.0 and 180mm 2.8, so that curiosity was satisfied.
So is this one. This lens is one of the finest lenses ever produced and even though it’s no longer made (having been replaced by said newer version), it’s a great bargain used. I got mine for less than $1300 and at most it’s got some scuffs on the body but the glass is fine. It’s a shame Nikon doesn’t (or hasn’t yet) come out with a nice affordable alternative to their top of the line 70-200 telezoom, the way Canon does with their non-IS/4.0 offerings. Yes, they do still produce the 80-200 2.8 but, yeah, see my previous post on what I feel about that lens.
So there you have it. This is a terrific lens that’s razor sharp at 2.8 zoomed all the way in to 200mm with gorgeous bokeh. And don’t forget that 3-stop VR.
