Very few labs in the US process any of these films. I still shoot a lot of Fuji Velvia for my nature impression photography along with some Agfa Scala. I get these processed at Duggals (New York City). They are one of the best & processes reversal films are a very reasonable price.

But for the most part chromes are coming to an end. The Kodak 400BWCN, though rated consumer grade, is quite good, but will never be able to replace the situations where the Tri-X have stood its ground.

The Kodak400BWCN has its own appeal – especially if you are shooting portraits, with a soft, misty texture & a sublime lighting, but I have never been able to reproduce any impressionistic image on this film.

The Agfa Scala is the hardest to process. At its prime in 2005 we had only 4 Agfa Scala processing labs in the US & now it is reduced to 2! Agfa has not announced its plans to either continue or discontinue the Agfa Scala, though there are rumors that it would disappear any day.

I still have over 5000 slide images, mostly impressions & nature pictures, yet to be scanned & digitized. And I still have a few dozen of Velvia’s in stock. It would not be for another few months that I will start worrying about where to look for film again!

• Nikkormat EL with Vivitar 55 – 135mm
• Nikkormat EL with Nikkor 135mm

The Nikkor 43 – 86mm was in production from 1963 to 1976. It has been discontinued since. The range you may have noticed is quite unconventional & hence the interest in owning & using it.

People have reported mixed feedback on this Nikkor 43 – 86mm f/3.5 over the years. In the simple spot tests I did, I was watching more for the issues that made this lens so questionable for use.

I shot 5 rolls of Kodak 400BWCN consumer grade film & developed them for 5 bucks at the local CVS stores (they scanned them for me too). These images are not touched up or digitally manipulated in any way.

For the complete set – Click Here for the PhotoDuniya Flickr page.

• the focus was soft – quite soft for street photography but will work great for impressionistic pictures
• the camera metered perfectly under all conditions of natural light
• the camera & the Nikkor 43 – 86mm lens combination was quite heavy – close to 1.5 kg
• did not observe any distortion (as many photographers have commented earlier)
• did not observe any flares under normal shooting conditions (though I did not take any picture right into the sun!)

Overall, I do not think I will be using this lens as frequently for street photography as the 18 – 35mm f/2.8. But it will work nice for me especially in creating natural impressions. I would rather use the fantastic 135mm on the Nikkormat EL for grand portraits & street photography.

I shot over 3 rolls of Kodak 400 BW CN film with this camera & lens combination. All shots were indoor in ambient, almost even lighting, except for a few situations where the light was sharp & abrupt.

You can see all the test shots on the Flickr Set Here.

• Vivitar 55 – 135mm f/3.5 is half stop slower than the Nikkor 135 f/2.8 I tested last week
• The lens is fairly sharp – all the test shots are hand held at very low shutter speed of 60 or below which is not recommended for this lens & camera
• The lens has a tack sharp focus. I would attribute any haziness to hand shakes
• The lens + camera weighs over 600 lbs making it hard to hand hold over extended periods of time

The Vivitar 55 – 135 mm f/3.5 will work as a good portrait lens & will be very suitable for street candid pictures. The Nikkormat EL has a center weighted metering & does not have exposure compensation. As such, I would use this with films for street candids & portrait shots rather than using it with slide films.

A brief on the Nikkormat EL Manual Camera:

Since the debut of the original electronic Nikkormat EL more than 25 years ago, there were many events, happenings and changes of course in the direction and philosophy of camera design.

Come to think of it, back in those days one would imagine how a leading trend-setting manufacturer like Nikon has to play it safe to explain and lead the consumers to embrace the advantages of automation in photography while not losing identity.

The first Program AE was the FG in 1982 and the first Shutter Priority AE was the FA in 1983 and this EL was the first Nikon which provided Aperture Priority AE – in 1972.

You can view them on the Flickr Gallery here.

This involves no selling and you don’t even have to spend money on marketing. You simply show advertisements on your photos, like how Google does on YouTube videos, and you make money from ad clicks.

This is a passive way to monetize all the hundreds of pictures you may already have – each could turn into a money maker for you instantly!

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I have posted many of them here, some on Journal Image. The entire bank of the river next to the burning ghats, was lined with devotee stumps. People offer their prayers & their offerings to Kali here. The priest lives next door. So when its not the time for “puja”, he runs a small school for the street children.

This picture was taken on Nikon D200 with camera mounted fill flash on full power. Since it was noon time, & the subject was primarily white, I had to fill the subject at full power to overcome any under exposure.

I also used a graduated 3.0 ND filter to shadow the sky. The picture is only cropped for easy viewing over the internet.

Pipes & Cigars put on a very sombre make up & coupled with un-brushed shoulder length hair, could provide a very promising model.

In this image, Ed, who happens to be an extremely good photographer himself, posed for the club’s “hands on” night. It was the evening where we all had to try different images with all available models & props.

Ed, to put on a more realistic look of a medieval scholar used a pipe, but on hindsight, a cigar would have gone well along too.

Cigars have a been the prime prop of many of the interesting shot of Hollywood & French movies, but setting up a model with a smoking cigar isn’t easy.

The smoke has to be right, the light has to be positioned right so as not to reflect too much & the wind should be mild enough to provide a smooth wave instead of a blur.

Use of reflectors & dark background slides for these types of shots are essential. The white smoke show better on a dark background. In similar lines, a black & white image turns out better instead of color.

This one is taken with a medium lens on Nikon F-100 film camera. The original shot was on Fujichrome & later desaturated in Photoshop.

The picture is taken on hand held Nikon D200 with fill flash and a wide angle lens.

The picture is taken on hand held Nikon D200 with a wide angle lens.

The picture is taken on Nikon D200 with a wide angle lens on Lexar Pro media.

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There is off course a prize, not apparent if you are new to this environment. It is the satisfaction of an afternoon well spent outdoor in the company of people who love nothing but playing chess!

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We hope to present candid street pictures, stories, techniques and documentaries from New York City, San Francisco, Boston & Chicago among other cities & metros of US. As in the past, we will also run street projects including street artists, street musicians, body art, street fairs & portraits on journalimage.com..

Please update your bookmark with journalimage.com. The feeds are available on http://journalimage.com/feed/

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The Joubert family has settled in Botswan to film and photograph the African Wildlife in it’s natural environment. Giving up a luxurious city life, they have been working for the National Geographic for over 15 years now. And they have produced some marvelous films over the time.

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Stalking the big cats on their jeep and following the faint sounds that could only be picked up by an expert, they have captured primitive hunts and predatory behaviors. Derreck mans the movie camera while Beverly works the sounds. And while she is not on her usual role, she captures the moments in her still camera.

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While each of these videos will show the passion and compassion of the film makers, it will also be an immense tutorial on various aspects of wildlife photography for all.

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Taking pictures while driving at high speeds is very similar to taking the picture of a deer running very fast from where you are standing. I have used three techniques for all those pictures.

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1) For pictures where I did not have something in front of me to lock-focus, I set the focus manually at infinity, and set the shutter speed at over 100 for most of them.

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2) For pictures where I had an object in front of me, like a vehicle or a sign post or a high land, I locked-focus and took the picture.

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3) For pictures of landscapes, I again set the focus at infinity and shot through the wind shield.

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All the pictures are taken through the windshield, with the camera held up high enough to avoid the bonnet. Note that none of those pictures have been cropped (they have been re-sized for sharing over the internet). So did I miss any shot? Yes, certainly. There is a certain amount of unpredictability with taking these sort of pictures. But since I have been doing it for long, I could get 8 or more good pictures from 10 gates.

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The camera was Nikon D200 and I had used a wide angle lenses from 17 mm all though 120 mm. The higher the focal length, the better the composition and lesser chance of getting your car’s bonnet in the frame. But that also increases the chances of camera shake. You got to do the balance somewhere in between.

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Since they were all taken from behind the windscreen, I did not use any flashlight. The ISO was held between 100 & 200 so as to get sufficient resolution in case I needed to crop.

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You could read the new blog here and email me your suggestions and questions.

Note:
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We are now integrated with our website, photoduniya.com. We have moved over to http://www.photoduniya.com/photography-blog/. Although we shall keep this blog up and running, most of the future posts will be on the Photoduniya Blog.

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Please take a moment to view the new site and let us know your feedback.

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Nikon had announced the launch of the Telephoto VR lenses late last year. The Nikon 600 mm f/4 AF-VR (estimated street price USD 9,500) and the Nikon 500 mm f/4 AF-VR (estimated street price USD 7,900) were announced late last year by Nikon and are yet to hit the market. It had always been a question as to whether one needs a VR with these long lenses for an additional price of between USD 500 to USD 700 and an increased weight of the lens. But looking into the way Nikon is trying to get into the Canon sports market, probably the thought is that many of these “nature” & “field” lenses would now be used in the sports arena easily.

Having said that, the 2 other lenses that automatically come into the discussion are the Nikon 400 mm f/2.8 AF (street price of USD 7,000) and the Sigma 500 mm f/4.5 AF (street price of USD 4,200). Nikon would definitely discontinue the non-VR versions of all the lenses that are already made with VR. The Nikon 500 mm f/4 (non-VR) had been a favorite of most of the nature photographers and had performed superbly for ages would be gone in a few months of time.

Personally, since I do not do sports, I have not much use of the VR in these tele lenses. That leaves the proposition for the Sigma 500 mm f/4.5 AF extremely enticing, especially if I weigh the positive price and the weight factors to the only negative brand factor. But a difference of USD 4,000 does a lot of justification for a small time photographer like me! The reviews had been excellent over years together. And apart from the Service related cribbing that many people reported as a pain point with Sigma, there have been no complaints on the quality or the operations of this lens.

The other brand lens that appears very enticing at least from the price point of view now is the Nikon 200 – 400 mm f/4 G-AFS which comes with a VR for a price of USD 5,100. I have recently sold my very favorite Nikon FM 3A and probably would not have much need of the “D” versions anyway. The Nikon F5 and the Nikon D200 works superbly with the Nikon 200 – 400 mm f/4 G-AFS VR. The zooming ability of this lens, for my needs, out-weighs the benefits of the 500 mm prime.

I have thought of the Sigmonster (Sigma 300 – 800 mm f/5.6) for over a year now. It is probably an excellent value for the money (for a price of USD 7,000) but since I have started doing a lot of streets now, I have to finally get this lens off my mind for good!

Pennsylvania landscape on I-80 @ photoduniya.com

The images on this journey are taken mostly while driving on hand held Nikon D200. More on the trip will come up later on the Travel section of photoduniya.com.

Day 8 was planned to be a rest day as well as to see the city of Chicago. Fortunately, and quite by luck, we found an affordable hotel right on Michigan, about a block’s walk from the Millennium Park. The day had been cloudy with mild wind and temperatures hovering around the thirties.

Millennium Park in Chicago, IL @ photoduniya.com

We spent our day and the evening at Shedd Aquarium, Grant Park and walking along Michigan in downtown Chicago. In the evening the Sears Park, also known as McCormick Tribune Ice Rink, lights up with the decorations from the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations and fills up with eager skaters of all ages.

McCormick Tribune Ice Rink in Chicago, IL @ photoduniya.com

Our day ended at about 9:00 PM CST. Tomorrow we head off east from Chicago and drive through Ohio as close to Pennsylvania.  More on the trip will come up later on the Travel section of photoduniya.com.

We have covered close to 2700 miles now and reached Chicago, IL where we want to rest for 2 nights before heading eastwards again. In the map below, you will see the deviation from I-80 (in pink) where we traveled northwards on I-88 East to Chicago, IL.

Today’s drive had been mostly through Iowa, starting from Council Bluffs in the western end through Des Moines into Illinois. The drive had been strenuous mostly due to the strong surface winds which blew northward at speeds of about 25 mph on an average. It is very hard to keep high driving speeds in such strong cross winds, but we covered the 650 miles in about 8 hours of drive-time.

Iowa landscape @ photoduniya.com

The landscape through the drive was quite monotonous, with wide snow covered land areas lying on either side of the highway. The drive suddenly changed when I-88 East neared Chicago, IL with very high traffic – mostly the office-time drivers. We touched Chicago, IL at about 8:30 PM Central Time. It is about 15 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill close to 2 degrees. I spent an hour and a half outside with my camera in the city hoping to find some interesting stories.

Night scene in Chicago, IL @ photoduniya.com

The images were done with hand held Nikon D200 with no flash. I shall update the Travel section of photoduniya.com with the more details on the cross country drive from California to New York.

We have covered almost 2100 miles by the end of Day 6 on this cross country drive. That leaves us another 1200 miles to cover before we could reach New York.

The drive through Nebraska had been very nice. The bright sunshine with low cross winds and the almost flat drive across Nebraska made it a very comfortable drive. We were able to maintain an average speed of between 85 mph to 90 mph for most of the time. I-80 however had road work for about 10 miles at the eastern end of Nebraska close to Omaha which slowed us down to about 50 mph for a short while.

Sand Desert in Nebraska @ photoduniya.com

This image was taken on hand held Nikon D200 while driving. I shall post more on the trip and images on the Travel section of photoduniya.com.