Year end musings 2021 edition

Oops. just found this in the Drafts folder!

2021 has moved along faster than expected. By my count, I've taken ~20k photos. Unfortunately, most of them will just sit on a hard drive, along with all the other ones taken from the last several years. Part of the blame lies with having a laptop at my current location that's several generations old, and struggles with processing 45mp files. The other blame lies with my lack of desire to work on the photos; I continue to spend more time enjoying the outdoors instead of spending time in front of a monitor.

On the hardware side, I added four lenses to the kit, and sold four, for a net of zero. Not bad, but the total lens count remains at 42. The ones that I let go were the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G SE (lovely cosmetics, average performance), Nikon 35mm f/1.8 ED (replaced by the Tamron 35mm f/1.4 I purchased last year), Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 (wonderful optics, slow autofocus) and 50-230mm f/4.5~6.7 (an OK kit lens) as I divest myself of my Fuji kit.

The newcomers are a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S (a bargain I couldn't resist), 24-70mm f/2.8S (replacement for the aging 28-70mm f/2.8 AF-S that I have yet to sell), 85mm f/1.8S (now I need to sell the F-mount G version), and a petite Canon 55mm f/1.2 FL. I haven't had many opportunities to use the newcomers, and have just added to the pile of testing that I need to do.

I remain sorely tempted by the updated version of my Sigma 500mm f/4.5 that Sigma assures me will focus with the Z7, unlike my older version whose firmware Sigma said can't be upgraded. The Nikon 200-500mm continues to be my lens for surfing photos, but there are times when its AF and IQ with the TC-14E disappoint me. I do still manage to get some good shots though.

What's in store for 2022: A Nikon Z9 ;-D

Year end musings 2020 edition

A whole year without a post. Life remains a time suck, and working remotely hasn't helped. I've regained two hours a day by not having to commute, but I'm spending more time working, and spending more time being active outdoors. The latter is great, the former not so. 

On to photography. I added just one lens this year, the Tamron 35mm f/1.4. I haven't managed to get the hang of the lens yet as my shooting opportunities have been very limited since I got the lens. So far the IQ has been very good: sharp wide open, with good contrast and smooth bokeh. Vignetting is more than I'm used to though, even with the ACR profile applied. Don't think about using this lens for astrophotography because of that. It's a solidly built lens, and is probably too big and heavy for the Z7. I'm unsure that it's going to be a walkabout lens that I thought it would be. 

I sold the Sigma 12-24 f/4.5~5.6 HSM, for a net of zero lenses. This is a lens that didn't get that much use. It definitely suffered from messy corners, surprisingly even on the D5200. The Nikon 14-30mm is light years ahead of it, even if it doesn't go as wide. One lens that won't bring back fond memories. 

I managed to get Gallery 3 Revival working, but unfortunately I haven't figured out how to import my old galleries. I don't think I want to re-create them from scratch as that is a tedious process. Plus since Gallery 2 won't run under PHP 7, I'm not even sure what photos I had posted.

What's in store for 2021? I'm not sure at this stage. There is a Zeiss 50mm f/1.5 that's caught my eye, but I really, really don't need yet another normal lens. The Z7 should still be good for another two years or so, which means no Z7 II for me. Maybe a Z9, if the AF is as good as a D6 out of the box. Price will most likely put a stop to that upgrade though. And some of the lenses I purchased last year didn't get much use this year, so 2021 will be busy with getting to know them.

 Here's to a quick end to 2020, and the desperate wish that 2021 won't be worse.

Updates:

1. Thanks to the very helpful gurus of the Gallery 3 group, looks like I have to get my host service to downgrade my PHP in order to run the older gallery version and then upgrade. Something to try next year.

2. I've put four lenses on Craigslist, and so far I've only sold one.

3. I bought a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 S. Quite a hefty lens, and given that I had a hard time finding sample images from my 50mm f/1.8G, I doubt it'll get much use. But I just had to see what all the fuss is about hehe.

4. I also picked up a Lenovo P32-u10 monitor. Having a 32" and a 24" is getting to be a bit of a pain when I move windows around. I'll need more desk space though.