Boreal Spring Bloom

[Øivind Tøien]

[This was originally posted May 06, 2015 12:22, here with a slightly different text edit]


It is a long time since I got the chance to capture these species. In Alaska, the undergrowth in the spring forests is dominated by horsetails opposed to Scandinavia where these were captured.


European wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa.
This first one with the 10.5mm at f/5 on D5100:
#1






Then stop all the way down f/22 for the sun burst. This is not something I do often on the DX sensor. I was
surprised how well the 10.5mm handled this:
#2



A different perspective with the 135mm f/2.8 AIS @ f/3.2 on the AW1 at ISO 200 :
#3



105mm f/2.5 at f/6.3, also on the AW1:
#4




Two-some, 10.5mm @ f/14 on D5100
#5



Again 10.5mm @ f/22:
#6



Another with the 10.5mm @ f/22:
#7



105mm f/2.5 AIS @ f/2.8 on D5100:
#8



The 105mm f/2.5 AIS @ f/5.6 on AW1:
#9



If you look closely, there are two versions of mother and child inlcuded, 10.5mm @ f/8 on D5100:
# 10:



Enough nemorosa for today - dropped by a child, 105mm f/2.5 AIS @ f/5.6 on AW1:
#11



Less abundant is the Anemone hepatica.
AW1 with kit lens has nothing to be ashamed of @ 11mm f/6.3 :
#12



No spring in these areas without Tussilago farara, Colts foot.
135mm f/2.8 AIS @ f/4 on D5100:
#13



The Norwegian name "hestehov" translates to "horse hoof" (a little wider meaning than colts foot), so a horse must be included:
135mm f/2.8 AIS at f/11:
#14



With the real horse hoof close although the image is not as orderly as I like,
135mm f/2.8 AIS @ f/5.6:
#15





Then finally a couple of other signs of spring, both 135mm f/2.8 AIS @ f/6.3 on AW1 at ISO 400 in challenging
light:
#16:



#17



---


Back to Alaska, just to show the contrast in spring forest undergrowth, here is a recent example of the horstails from a birch forest in Fairbanks
#18

[Jørgen Ramskov]

Lots of nice pictures, hard to pick a favorite.

[Erik Lund]

The back ground of the 10.5 images are a little rough looking, did you see that before PP or is a result of manipulating too much or the lens...

Foreground of the image is immaculate

The 135mm 2.8 has a huge amount of CA...

[Gary]

These are all special.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for the comments all of you.

Erik, the 10.5mm captures are pretty similar to originals, except that the shadows were lifted and a slight linear adjustment of exposure. Could the rough impression you see be the emerging leaves at long distance and large depth of field? Anyway super "out of focus" rendition is not really expected at f/22... . The strong edge compression of the 10.5 mm often gives the impression of uneven depth of field over the frame, particularly at wider apertures.

Both the 135mm f/2.8 and the beloved 105mm f/2.5 produce longitudinal fringing near the close limit and wider apertures. On the computer screen the projected sensor image is magnified roughly 2x with the small AW1 sensor format relative to a DX format image and closer to 3x relative to an FX sensor image. Thus the fringing becomes a lot more noticeable in an AW1 capture while the on-sensor absolute width of the fringing may be the same. The degree of fringing is as usual most notable in high contrast edges near full saturation of the sensor like #3, and less noticeable in #16 and 17 that were stopped down to f/6.3. Of course none of these are macro APO lenses. Considering the time they were designed, I think these lenses resolve remarkably well at the crazy pixel density of the CX sensor.

[John Geerts]

All remarkable and beautiful shots, Øivind.  Number two and seven I like particularly.

[Jakov Minić]

Øivind, very nice photos!
How do you use the f-mount lenses on the AW1?

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for the comments both of you.
Jakov, the F-mount lenses are used with the FT-1 adapter (of course). As my AI-s lenses are chipped, it is getting me EXIF info just as with an 1-type lens, and aperture is controlled by the AW-1/FT-1 adapter. AFS lenses will autofocus with the limitation that only the center focus point is available. In all cases with FT-1 the longest shutter speed available is limited by some reason to 1 second.

If an unchipped lens is mounted on the FT-1 the lens remains in stop down mode the whole time and aperture must be controlled with the aperture ring. Metering is still available, and aperture priority can be used opposed to the consumer DX bodies where only fully manual without metering is available. Anything can be mounted on the FT-1 (or it can even allow exposure without anything mounted to the FT-1, as long as the FT-1 is present).

I manual focus by  (if needed) zooming into the view with the OK button which I program to either 2x or 5x view. At a light press of the shutter button once satisfactory focus is obtained, the whole view is shown on screen and I can re-frame and expose the frame.

[Jakov Minić]

Thank you Øivind for this extensive reply.
The FT-1 adapter looks really interesting.
Giving you an opportunity to use all or most of your F-mount lenses on Nikon 1 series cameras.

I have yet to mount another lens on my AW-1 thinking that the kit lens is so good and that there is no need to risk changing lenses and increasing the vulnerability of the amphibian camera. Now I just oil the O-ring once a year, and hope that the camera will stay dry for years to come

[Øivind Tøien]

The O-ring seal for the lens should be maintained much more often, ideally from a dried state before each time one know the AW-1 is going to go underwater. Dirt gets to the o-ring even if the lens is not dismounted, and if has been used in salt water, sometimes salt deposits remains. A regular nikon 1 body cap is useful to protect the sensor shield while cleaning and re-greasing the o-ring. No grease should be used on the battery compartment gasket though, just keep it clean.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

When mounting or removing any of the AW Nikkors become tighter, sticky, or harder, re-lubricating the O-ring is long overdue.

Even with the dedicated seal protector in place as you shoot non-AW lenses on the AW1, a surprising amount of fluff, hair, and specks contaminate the O-ring after a little use of the camera. So before you go into underwater mode with the AW1, or if you take it out for shooting on a very wet and rainy day, give the O-ring a thorough inspection and if required, grease it with the supplied lubrication stuff.

The ideal configuration would be two AW1 Nikons, one of which is dedicated for underwater use only.

[Øivind Tøien]

Yes, with "dried" state above I meant when the water has dried off, not the o-ring becoming dry of grease. The increased resistance to dismounting is sometimes a bit mystical, as the lens might mount very easily again even after dismounting with high resistance and no o-ring maintenance involved in between. Perhaps there are ambient pressure changes involved. I sort of like that the lens is hard to dismount, as there is no rotational slack between the lens and the body like when the FT-1 adapter is mounted.