Having lived there for over a decade I don't really like the city, but it's great for shopping. In between credit card swipes I was able to snap a few frames. Uninitiated tourists visit Macy's and succumb to ADA level pricing. The intrepid shopper follows the yello brick road to the discount/imperfect shops like Marshall's or D & D's. Ralph Lauren Polo shirts (all of which are made in Bangladesh) can be had for as low as £12 equivalent. Any photo bug visiting NYC should check out B & H Photo at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 33rd Street (near the Empire State). It occupies an entire block.
A friend picked up a D40 Kit with 18-55 DX lens. This is a nice upgrade from compacts to SLR. Highly recommended. At the very widest zoom setting there is vignetting if multiple filters are employed, but is otherwise solid.
Rockefeller Center has a lot more flags than I remembered. The wind cooperated.
The skating rink was being redone for a concert so had to crop out quite a bit here.
Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral I was able to sneak a few flash shots. I think this is an infant's baptismal urn.
Anyone for a Michalangelo knockoff?
Since the City isn't my thing, I bailed out to upstate NY (Steely Dan territory) and and beyond to check out the falls. This is taken from the 41st floor of the hotel on the Canadian side with the cheapest Nikon lens known to mankind; The plastic 70-300G bought from B & H for a mere £60 equivalent. The optics are very near lenses costing 10X as much. What you don't get for this price is metal parts/mounts, image stabilization (VR in Nikon lingo), wide max aperture, and you don't get complete immunity to purple fringing at the wider apertures and longer focal lengths. This lens also doesn't autofocus on a D40 but metering still works. All these things conspire to generate fuzziness in images which have nothing to with the actual sharpness of the glass. If you stay away from the extreme long end and the widest aperture, the lens is almost as sharp as it's more expensive brethren and the £500 you save will buy you a trip to New York where you can then take the picture. This shot was taken through the 1 inch thick hotel room glass at the 70mm setting and at f8.
Of course I immediately ignored my own advice and used the longer zoom setting, 240mm:
This is at the limit 300mm:
Here you can see a bit of pin cushioning at 240mm if you look along the roof line.
This is a shot looking down at the tour boat using the more sophisticated 18-200 VR DX lens.
These are taken from on the boat while desperately trying to keep the hunk of VR glass water free.
These poor saps are viewing the smaller of the falls on the American side from the aft side of the fall. I think there were some scenes from a Marylyn Monroe film shot there some time ago so that may explain the tours popularity. getting doused while dressed like a banana is not my scene. I'll just wait for the DVD.
Cheers,
A friend picked up a D40 Kit with 18-55 DX lens. This is a nice upgrade from compacts to SLR. Highly recommended. At the very widest zoom setting there is vignetting if multiple filters are employed, but is otherwise solid.
Rockefeller Center has a lot more flags than I remembered. The wind cooperated.
The skating rink was being redone for a concert so had to crop out quite a bit here.
Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral I was able to sneak a few flash shots. I think this is an infant's baptismal urn.
Anyone for a Michalangelo knockoff?
Since the City isn't my thing, I bailed out to upstate NY (Steely Dan territory) and and beyond to check out the falls. This is taken from the 41st floor of the hotel on the Canadian side with the cheapest Nikon lens known to mankind; The plastic 70-300G bought from B & H for a mere £60 equivalent. The optics are very near lenses costing 10X as much. What you don't get for this price is metal parts/mounts, image stabilization (VR in Nikon lingo), wide max aperture, and you don't get complete immunity to purple fringing at the wider apertures and longer focal lengths. This lens also doesn't autofocus on a D40 but metering still works. All these things conspire to generate fuzziness in images which have nothing to with the actual sharpness of the glass. If you stay away from the extreme long end and the widest aperture, the lens is almost as sharp as it's more expensive brethren and the £500 you save will buy you a trip to New York where you can then take the picture. This shot was taken through the 1 inch thick hotel room glass at the 70mm setting and at f8.
Of course I immediately ignored my own advice and used the longer zoom setting, 240mm:
This is at the limit 300mm:
Here you can see a bit of pin cushioning at 240mm if you look along the roof line.
This is a shot looking down at the tour boat using the more sophisticated 18-200 VR DX lens.
These are taken from on the boat while desperately trying to keep the hunk of VR glass water free.
These poor saps are viewing the smaller of the falls on the American side from the aft side of the fall. I think there were some scenes from a Marylyn Monroe film shot there some time ago so that may explain the tours popularity. getting doused while dressed like a banana is not my scene. I'll just wait for the DVD.
Cheers,