When is a parade not a parade?

When you don't have the time to attend a parade (because there's another event at the same time), you can just go to the location where the parade attendants are staging themselves before the parade. The St. Patrick's Day Parade happened to coincide with the Brides of March event a few weekends ago, so I ended up having enough time to take shots up to the point where the parade goers began to march.

 

The atmosphere is a little different. The kids are restless (as kids tend to be when they're forced to wait). The parade vehicles are being made up, and some people are practicing their routines.

 

It's also been some time since I've used the D3. The optical viewfinder is a thing of beauty after months of using an EVF. The 70-200mm VR remains one of the best lenses I've used, and it's unmatched for parades. It looks like my left forearm is OK as it didn't hurt at the end of the day (the major reason I switched to the V1). The right elbow is another story!

 


Complete set of photos are here.

Hit rate: 66/243, or 27%

FX on CX

Time to put the 85mm f/1.8G on the V1. With the CX crop factor, this works out to a telephoto lens on a Nikon 1 series body.

It's not too heavy a combination, even with the FT-1. AF is limited to the center sensor, but it is snappy and accurate. There is chromatic aberration wide open, and it goes away by about f/3.5. This lens has very good contrast, with colors that are pretty vibrant. The included hood is a bit too shallow, especially on CX.

This is probably not a combination that I'll use often, but it's something to keep in mind if I need a tele with good low light capabilities.

Generic C-mount and the V1

One of the attractions of the V1 is the ability to use non-CX lenses, ranging from F-mount, C-mount, Canon, Minolta, Fujica, M42 and many more through the use of adapters. Other than with AF F-mount lenses, you will lose AF, all autoexposure modes, and won't record any EXIF information. There is no AF peaking, so focusing can be difficult as the AF confirmation dot isn't very accurate.

I got a generic C-mount adapter and a generic 35mm f/1.2 C-mount lens (branded 'Fotasy') on eBay. It's a challenging lens, with a non-uniform field plane of focus. OOF can get swirly (apparently common to C-mount lenses). But it is sharp when you nail the focus.

I used this lens a few times, but the results have been less than optimal. It hasn't found a regular place in my bag. I was considering other C-mount lenses, but that plan has been put on the backburner after buying the 18.5mm and the FT-1.

 More samples here

The cheap system that wasn't

Nearly a year has passed since my last post. I blame time for passing. What follows was sitting in the drafts folder for six months.

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It's been almost a year since I got the V1. Since then, I've added an SB-5 (since the camera has no flash), the FT-1 F-mount adapter (since I want to use my Nikon lenses with autoexposure and AF), the 18.5mm f/1.8 (since it's the cheaper lens with the largest aperture that I can afford), and the 10mm f/2.8 (since it was less for a refurb than for a craigslist  one). I also added a 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX because of a $100 discount from dpreview (thank you!).

Adding it all up, I've spent over $1k on what was supposed to be an under $400 replacement for a p&s. Yikes!

Welcome to my friend, feature creep. The SB-5 is needed as the V1 doesn't do too well at high ISO's, and I didn't have the 18.5mm f/1.8. The 18.5mm is needed so I can get some sort of subject isolation, and still use lower ISO's (see above on the SB-5). The FT-1 is needed because it was a good price, and I want to see how well this camera does with actual AF on the Sigma 500mm (MF doesn't work too well for surfing shots). The 10mm is needed so I can have a small kit for my upcoming trip. The 35mm is needed for portraits because the 32mm f/1.2 is just plain expensive.

 

What's next? The GP-N100 would remove the inconvenience of syncing GPX files from my phone. I have yet to upgrade the firmware for the FT-1 as I'm worried my Sigma lenses may not AF. I should send the Sigmas in to Sigma to have them upgraded. I haven't decided on whether I need a grip or not.

Decisions, decisions :-)

I've also been working through my backlog of photos. I didn't realize that I had some images from two years ago that I had yet to process (again, because life!). I'm now up to April of this year, which is quite a bit of progress. I should have some images up tonight, or in the next few days.

Yet another new toy, the Nikon V1

Welcome the Nikon V1. Getting old is not fun, and the D3 is starting to strain my shoulder. I've been looking at the interchangeable lens compacts, and settled on the V1 as a compromise between price and features.

Why the V1? A viewfinder is a must-have (refer to my post on the Olympus E-P1). It's a plus that there's an available adapter for AF-S lenses, but it's out of my budget for now. AF is very fast in bright daylight, slower in dim light. The viewfinder is bright and the refresh rate is high. I tried an OM-D and the viewfinder showed noticeable flickering. There's a slight lag before the viewfinder turns on, but this can be fixed with a little tape.

The camera has a 10mp sensor that's on the small side. With some PS retouching, I was able to make a clean 13x19 print. 

The rear LCD screen is the same as that in D3, but without the fogging issue (so far). I do enjoy the rotating rear controller, which makes it easy to go through the menu items (spin quickly instead of clicking or holding a button). So far the mode dial hasn't slipped, but the detents are on the loose side.

Now for the drawbacks of the V1. Noise is always present, even at the base ISO100. Very noticeable in blue skies and in shadows. Higher ISO's are a problem, limiting the usefulness of the camera. Battery life is also dismal, giving 160 shots with 20% left on one of my outings with the camera. That works out to about 200 shots maximum, much less than the 350 rating for the battery. It's the price you pay for an electronic viewfinder that's always on.

Selecting simple things like exposure mode, ISO, AF settings, and other basic features are hidden in the menu system. The V1 is targeted at the p&s user, and the novice user to be specific, hence the simplified controls. It's not likely that Nikon's going to change the firmware, so this is just something that I'll have to accept.

The lens selection is limited for now, and given the small sensor, it's doubtful that buying a lens for isolation is going to be cheap. Third-party lenses are non-existent, although there several adapters available for other mounts.

Surprisingly, it's not that hard to manually focus. I've tried the 50mm f/1.8E and 75-150 f/3.5E, and it's easy to get accurate focus with either lens. They also perform decently on the camera. Metering doesn't work with these lenses, so it's back to the sunny 16 rule and guesstimating.

I considered the OM-D, Nexus 6 and 7, but they're all more expensive than the V1. The Panasonic G3 is now a steal at $300 with the kit lens, but the AF isn't up to the V1's speed. I also looked at the Nikon D3200, but the price is a bit high, and it's not as small or as light.

The V1 is not a D3 replacement, but then again at $350 for the body and kit 10-30mm lens, it's definitely a bargain.

Things to order: a second battery, a handgrip, a lens hood, and a strap.

Hit rate: 59/162, or 36%. Click here for more photos.

Addendum on 12/02/13: B&H is now offering the V1 for $300. Definitely a bargain. Now, do I take the savings and buy the 30-110mm, or the FT-1....