New lenses

So this is a little backwards, but as I said in the last post, I was excited to process photo from my trip to the suburbs so this took a back-seat.  While still in Egypt I started to grow dissatisfied with my zoom lens due to a number of factors.  I had started to notice the sharpness I wanted wasnt always there, and I realized that whenever I was using my zoom, I was either shooting at 17mm or 50mm, nothing in-between.  Since the project had Nikon lenses I got a chance to try out some primes for the first time in my life and I found what I had been looking for.  I returned home and decided to off-load my flash unit that I never used and my zoom lens (which I still very much liked mind you) for 3 new lenses; a 20mm 1:2.8, a 55mm 1:3.5 micro(macro, Nikon is weird), and a 50mm 1:1.4.  Thus far I have recieved and used my 20mm (see last post), my 55mm, and my 50mm is on its way in the mail as we speak.

The greatest thing hands down about primes I believe is that it makes you a better photographer by limiting you to a certain focal length, which makes you deal with distance to the subject on a whole different level.  If you can't get close/far enough you either have to abandon the shot, or are forced to find a new way to make it work, something that zoom lenses don't really hold you to.

The quality and sharpness is really amazing too.  As long as you are mindful of the effects of diffraction fixed-focal-length name-brand lenses made by the camera companies are the way to go.  while third-party lenses can introduce AF problems, ones produced by Nikon for use on a Nikon body work wonders, and the less glass and distance the light has to travel through really make for a better image IMO.

Here are some images I shot fairly soon (often the very day) upon receiving my 55mm and then my 20mm lenses.

55mm 1:3.5 Micro

My trusted 17-50...you will be missed....

20mm 1:2.8