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Looking Up


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7 replies to this topic

#1
Nikon Shooter

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4033%20XD.jpg



#2
krag96

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I seem to find myself doing the same a lot these days.



#3
Nikon Shooter

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If one walks with a camera,
one should look everywhere!  :P



#4
krag96

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Of course.  Here lately though I find myself looking for beauty in the sky, cloud formations, stars, the moon, and just wait until Orion's Nebulous comes into view!  Of course there are the sun stars we find bouncing off polished metal on the ground and those which can be seen through tree branches.  The trick is to capture these with little or, (hopefully) no ghosting.  For brilliant sun stars one needs an older Nikkor lens with the straight bladed diaphragm, the newer rounded blades just don't do it.



#5
Nikon Shooter

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… "straight bladed diaphragm" you say?

I shall investigate that!



#6
krag96

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Yes, usually 9 blades, straight.  Looking into the lens from back is best,the diaphragm looks sort of octagon and with the right light and angle produce magnificent 18 pointed stars under the right conditions, like on spots of light on polished surfaces where the sun bounces off, (a polished car in sunlight, or an image like yours but with the sun itself peeking through the branches).  The newer rounded blade diaphragm lenses just give an orb of light, no brilliant burst. 

 

Lenses I have with straight diaphragms are my Nikkor 20-35mm f/2.8 D, Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 D  ED, and my old Nikkor 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF.  These are all screw drive lenses  requiring a camera with an internal motor for auto focus.  I don't know when they discontinued the straight blades and went to round, but I suspect about any pre-G lens will have the straight diaphragm in it.

 

Here's an example of an image I took through a maple tree of the sun setting.  There's some ghosting, but expect that in some images.  A small aperture setting is best.  Sun stars do add a certain ''panache'' to things at times, like photos of a classic car, or the sun through a tree or bush. 

 

ReSlmGe.jpg

 

 

ritz.gif



#7
Merco_61

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The rounded aperture blades are more or less standard on any lens introduced after the third quarter 1998. Before that, they were only in specialty lenses like the 85/1.4 and the DC-s.

 

krag96, you mean nonagon, not octagon as 9 blades make for 9 sides, not 8.

 

Rounded apertures can render beautiful sunstars in the right conditions as seen here:

gallery_1251_613_838995.jpg

 

gallery_1251_613_349728.jpg

 

The lens here is an AF-S 24/1.8 closed down to f/16. The aperture has 7 rounded blades.

The subject is some scum floating on the surface of the Fyris river.



#8
krag96

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Yes, that's what I meant, Peter.  I simply couldn't think of what a nine pointed shape was! :P  I'll have to try and remember, ''nonagon''.  

 

I think we're overstepping or even hijacking this thread, so I believe I'll start a ''sun star'' thread and hope Peter joins in with his knowledge and experience.  Maybe I'll learn how to lessen or prevent ghosting in my sun star images! :D