D70 in the studio with G lenses

I'm probably the last to know this, but thought I'd post anyway (in case
someone else has been
dwelling in a cave). This last weekend is the first I've tried using my D70
with my studio flashes
(and I did break down and buy a "G" series lens, something I thought I'd
never do but the lens I
needed ONLY came in that series) and found the lens/camera to be much more
studio flash friendly
than I'd anticipated. What has bugged me for a long time and has gotten me
to keep many older
and many expensive zoom lenses has been the constant aperture throughout the
zoom range. Well,
the digital readout of the actual aperture on the D70 is ALMOST as handy as
not having the aperture
shift in the first place (it is a minor distraction when initially
composing). Add to that, the rather hefty
maximum sync voltage and I'd say Nikon made a pretty studio-friendly camera
at a reasonable price.
Just thought anyone who didn't know this, might be interested...

George

George wrote:

What has bugged me for a long time and has gotten me to keep many older
and many expensive zoom lenses has been the constant aperture throughout the
zoom range.

You know that variable apertures aren't what "G" means, right? That is,
there are constant-aperture G zoom lenses too. G just means there's no
aperture ring, so the lens won't work on older cameras that can't control
the aperture electronically.

Well, the digital readout of the actual aperture on the D70 is ALMOST as
handy as not having the aperture shift in the first place (it is a minor
distraction when initially composing).

But if you use an aperture that's actually possible through the whole zoom
range, it doesn't change while zooming. I just tried it with the 18-70 to
confirm; if I set f/5.6, it stays there through the whole range. I hadn't
actually used that lens before in a (studio) situation where it would matter,
and it's the only variable aperture lens I've got, but I didn't think I was
crazy.

--
Jeremy |

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm Jeremy Nixon wrote:
: George wrote:

: What has bugged me for a long time and has gotten me to keep many older
: and many expensive zoom lenses has been the constant aperture throughout the
: zoom range.

: You know that variable apertures aren't what "G" means, right? That is,
: there are constant-aperture G zoom lenses too. G just means there's no
: aperture ring, so the lens won't work on older cameras that can't control
: the aperture electronically.

: Well, the digital readout of the actual aperture on the D70 is ALMOST as
: handy as not having the aperture shift in the first place (it is a minor
: distraction when initially composing).

: But if you use an aperture that's actually possible through the whole zoom
: range, it doesn't change while zooming. I just tried it with the 18-70 to
: confirm; if I set f/5.6, it stays there through the whole range. I hadn't
: actually used that lens before in a (studio) situation where it would matter,
: and it's the only variable aperture lens I've got, but I didn't think I was
: crazy.

: --
: Jeremy |

And the aperture stays constant when you go into the macro range too, which
can be a good or a bad thing. It's good if you are using a non-ttl flash,
but it does require a change in shooting habits.

For older lenses on older Nikon cameras, I got into the habit of stopping
the lens down to f/16 when I was shooting at magnifications near 1:1. At
1:1, the effective aperture was f/32. Well, the first time I used a new
macro lens on my D100, I did the same thing and noticed I was getting very
little depth of field. Then I got to thinking. Since the D100 holds the new
lens at the f/16 I had set it to, even at 1:1, the physical size of the
aperature actually opened up to what would be f/8 at infinity, and that
wider physical aperture decreases the DOF.

So, having the camera hold the aperture constant is a good thing, but you
may have to modify the techniques you learned with older cameras and lenses.

Ray

--
E. Ray Lemar

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 16:51:09 -0400, George had this to say:

I'm probably the last to know this, but thought I'd post anyway (in case
someone else has been
dwelling in a cave). This last weekend is the first I've tried using my
D70 with my studio flashes
(and I did break down and buy a "G" series lens, something I thought I'd
never do but the lens I
needed ONLY came in that series) and found the lens/camera to be much more
studio flash friendly
than I'd anticipated. What has bugged me for a long time and has gotten
me to keep many older
and many expensive zoom lenses has been the constant aperture throughout
the zoom range. Well,
the digital readout of the actual aperture on the D70 is ALMOST as handy
as not having the aperture
shift in the first place (it is a minor distraction when initially
composing). Add to that, the rather hefty maximum sync voltage and I'd
say Nikon made a pretty studio-friendly camera at a reasonable price.
Just thought anyone who didn't know this, might be interested...

George

How are you firing your strobes? I use the pop-up flash set to M mode at
1/16th power to set off the built in optical slaves on my Bowens Esprit
units. I find this to be one of the best features in the D70 because it
totally frees me up from those confounded synch cables!

--
DD™
"And that's all I got to say about that" ~ FG

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 16:51:09 -0400, George had this to say:

I'm probably the last to know this, but thought I'd post anyway (in case
someone else has been
dwelling in a cave). This last weekend is the first I've tried using my
D70 with my studio flashes
(and I did break down and buy a "G" series lens, something I thought I'd
never do but the lens I
needed ONLY came in that series) and found the lens/camera to be much more
studio flash friendly
than I'd anticipated. What has bugged me for a long time and has gotten
me to keep many older
and many expensive zoom lenses has been the constant aperture throughout
the zoom range. Well,
the digital readout of the actual aperture on the D70 is ALMOST as handy
as not having the aperture
shift in the first place (it is a minor distraction when initially
composing). Add to that, the rather hefty maximum sync voltage and I'd
say Nikon made a pretty studio-friendly camera at a reasonable price.
Just thought anyone who didn't know this, might be interested...

George

How are you firing your strobes? I use the pop-up flash set to M mode at
1/16th power to set off the built in optical slaves on my Bowens Esprit
units. I find this to be one of the best features in the D70 because it
totally frees me up from those confounded synch cables!

--
DD™
"And that's all I got to say about that" ~ FG

Dallas wrote:


How are you firing your strobes? I use the pop-up flash set to M mode at
1/16th power to set off the built in optical slaves on my Bowens Esprit
units. I find this to be one of the best features in the D70 because it
totally frees me up from those confounded synch cables!

Get a strip of developed slide film leader that is black. Tape over the flash.
You'll still trigger the strobes and not have the undesirable highlight from
the camera flash (although at 1/16 there prob. isn't much anyway). I prefer to
mount an accesssory flash and point it at the ceiling at 1/32. Works fine even
though my ceilings are high up and medium dark wood. Doesn't waste the camera
batteries either and I have NiMH's in the flash accessory.

Cheers,
Alan



--
-- rec.photo.equipment.35mm user resource:
-- http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

"Dallas" wrote in message:
How are you firing your strobes? I use the pop-up flash set to M mode at
1/16th power to set off the built in optical slaves on my Bowens Esprit
units. I find this to be one of the best features in the D70 because it
totally frees me up from those confounded synch cables!

If positioning of the lights permit, I use an SB-30 with the
black screen raised. Otherwise, I use a sync cord. Insert
an appropriate "syncing in the rain" joke here.

--
Michael Benveniste --
Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $419. Use this email
address only to submit mail for evaluation.

"Dallas" wrote in message:
How are you firing your strobes? I use the pop-up flash set to M mode at
1/16th power to set off the built in optical slaves on my Bowens Esprit
units. I find this to be one of the best features in the D70 because it
totally frees me up from those confounded synch cables!

If positioning of the lights permit, I use an SB-30 with the
black screen raised. Otherwise, I use a sync cord. Insert
an appropriate "syncing in the rain" joke here.

--
Michael Benveniste --
Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $419. Use this email
address only to submit mail for evaluation.

"Jeremy Nixon" wrote in message
...
George wrote:

What has bugged me for a long time and has gotten me to keep many older
and many expensive zoom lenses has been the constant aperture throughout
the
zoom range.

You know that variable apertures aren't what "G" means, right? That is,
there are constant-aperture G zoom lenses too. G just means there's no
aperture ring, so the lens won't work on older cameras that can't control
the aperture electronically.

No, I know that (and thought about that AFTER I'd posted). I only chose the
"G" series lens as it is the ONLY lens I own that isn't useful on any of my
film
cameras (both because of being DX AND because it is G and all my film bodies
will not set the aperture on a G lens)

Well, the digital readout of the actual aperture on the D70 is ALMOST as
handy as not having the aperture shift in the first place (it is a minor
distraction when initially composing).

But if you use an aperture that's actually possible through the whole zoom
range, it doesn't change while zooming. I just tried it with the 18-70 to
confirm; if I set f/5.6, it stays there through the whole range. I hadn't
actually used that lens before in a (studio) situation where it would
matter,
and it's the only variable aperture lens I've got, but I didn't think I
was
crazy.


I didn't try that...thanks for the info.
--
Jeremy |

"Dallas" wrote in message
newsan.2004.10.06.16.05.10.117000@realphoto...
On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 16:51:09 -0400, George had this to say:

I'm probably the last to know this, but thought I'd post anyway (in case
someone else has been
dwelling in a cave). This last weekend is the first I've tried using my
D70 with my studio flashes
(and I did break down and buy a "G" series lens, something I thought I'd
never do but the lens I
needed ONLY came in that series) and found the lens/camera to be much
more
studio flash friendly
than I'd anticipated. What has bugged me for a long time and has gotten
me to keep many older
and many expensive zoom lenses has been the constant aperture throughout
the zoom range. Well,
the digital readout of the actual aperture on the D70 is ALMOST as handy
as not having the aperture
shift in the first place (it is a minor distraction when initially
composing). Add to that, the rather hefty maximum sync voltage and I'd
say Nikon made a pretty studio-friendly camera at a reasonable price.
Just thought anyone who didn't know this, might be interested...

George

How are you firing your strobes? I use the pop-up flash set to M mode at
1/16th power to set off the built in optical slaves on my Bowens Esprit
units. I find this to be one of the best features in the D70 because it
totally frees me up from those confounded synch cables!

--
DD™
"And that's all I got to say about that" ~ FG

I'm using Bowens Prolites (100 -- qty 4). The one and only time I've done
this so far with my D70 I used a sync cable...I didn't want any more "stray"
light to overpower (the sun was going down and streaming through a transom
window on my set). Normally, I don't like any light (no matter how little)
that
isn't what I want, so if I had the $$ right now I'd get either a radio sync
or IR
sync.

George