Charging...

Preparations for tomorrow's photography session. Got those high capasity (around 2500mAh) Eneloops (as seen in the the top of picture) recently. Should have about 25% higher capasity than regular Eneloops. However, they can be only charged around 500 times (compared to 1500 with older Eneloops).

I am switching little by little to low self-discharge NiMh AA batteries. More convenient to use as you don't need to constantly recharge them.

Post apocalyptic talk show

This time Hellmet hosting the post apocalyptic talk show

Nikon 1 J1 & Digiexpo

Nikon J1 with 10-30mm from Digiexpo. I have mixed opinions about Digiexpo. This year it felt to be even more filled with people. Lots of companies not represented there at all but in the other hand some good discounts, interesting guest speakers and possibility to see & test new toys.

Quickly checked the Nikon 1 J1 & V1 cameras. Not sure if they are suitable for what I need from cameras, but would like to test one with more time to get proper opinion about them. Pink lenses for this system might become collector items :)

Heli

Stala & So.

Promo photos & EP cover photos for Stala & So. band. Setup: Pro-7B with 3x4' softbox camera right. Taken about 2 stops from maximum power to allow overpowering partially the ambient and give almost instant recycle times. Which helps when taking group photos. You don't want to miss moments of good expressions.

AF-S 300mm f/2.8G VR II

Quickly tested this beast lens.  Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II is primarily meant for sports, wildlife and paparazzi shooters. Rugged build, fast focusing, great IQ wide open, latest VR technology and weather sealings makes this pro grade lens.

This lens should also handle teleconverters well, even the TC20, but I didn't test those. Weighting almost three kilos, lens can be still used some times even handheld but monopod/tripod is recommended.

This is intimidating looking big piece of glass if used by portrait photographers (unless you are paparazzi and need the distance).

Best thing to test heavy telezooms like this. Once you switch back to your normal zoom/prime lens, camera feels lightweight :)


Padded case (CL-L1) comes with the lens. 300mm/f2.8 is quite compact when lens hood is attached to it reversed way. 24-70 next to case for size comparison. Sure, the case is still bigger than smallest DSRL camera bags.


As there wasn't any live wild animals available, stuffed weasel worked as test subject for testing 300mm/F2.8 VRII. VRII works great, this was taken handheld at 1/50 shutter speed.

Body painting

Quick visit to health, beauty, fashion etc. fair. One photo from body painting Finnish championship 2011 competition. This was the winning work.