I am a scientist by training (Eckerd College, BSc; Caltech, Ph.D.). I worked for 27 years as a Chemist in the Pharmaceutical Industry developing processes to manufacture medicines for human and animal health. I now spend my time as a photographer and world traveler. My interests include the natural world, wildlife, landscapes, sky, and seascapes, travel, and astrophotography. I look for unique ways of viewing the world and presenting my images. I have traveled to over 55 countries in six continents, often on Semester at Sea voyages. While at home in New Jersey, I spend time on home renovation and expansion of a wildflower garden/meadow.
After being up all night for some night sky images, it looked like there could be some color at dawn. I took the chance and drove to the bridge over the Delaware river between Lambertville, NJ and New Hope, PA. The first image is a panorama of 5 images taken with the Nikon 1 V1 and 10 mm f/2.8 lens using Kolor AutoPano Giga Pro. The next two images are HDR composites using Nik HDR Efex Pro from images taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens. Bottom line, the Nikon 1 V1 may be good, but I am not giving up my Nikon D3x anytime soon.
Pano of the Delaware River from the Lambertville – New Hope Bridge at Dawn. Composite of 5 images taken with a Nikon 1 V1 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens using Kolor AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)Dawn from the Lambertville – New Hope Bridge over the Delaware River. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16). HDR composite from 5 images using Nik HDR Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)Dawn from the Lambertville – New Hope Bridge over the Delaware River. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens. (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16). HDR composite from 5 images using Nik HDR Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)
Late Autumn Night Sky over New Jersey: Meteor Trails and Time-lapse Video.
I wanted to see how the new Nikon 1 V1 camera performs doing night sky photography. I set up the camera with the 10 mm f/2.8 lens, and the following settings: ISO 100, manual exposure, 30 second exposure, f/2.8, focus infinity (Long exposure NR = off). I used the interval timer, but found that I needed to set the interval to 40 seconds because it takes ~10 seconds to transfer the image from the buffer to the memory card. This is unfortunate, since it would leave a gap if I tried to create stacked star trails (using the Star Trails program). I did manage to catch an image of a meteor trail early (5:28 AM) in the morning. The late night and early morning images were combined to make a Night Sky time-lapse video.
Meteor Trail captured with a Nikon 1 V1 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 10 mm, f/2.8, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Carol and Laurin from across the street invited me to their annual Thanksgiving celebration dinner. This year Carol used some Bittersweet vines from my yard for decorations. I took a number of images with my new Nikon 1 V1 camera, with a 10 mm f/2.8 lens. I was trying to see what I can do with a small camera without a flash. I have 28 images to share as a slide show.
Laurin and Carol’s Thanksgiving Dinner Celebration 2011 in Skillman, New Jersey. Images taken with a Nikon 1 V1 camera and 10 mm lens. (David J Mathre)
Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.
Autumn in Pennsylvania: New Mirrorless Camera (Nikon 1 V1).
I got up early this morning to see how the new Nikon 1 V1 mirrorless digital camera performs. I spent the night reading the manual to get an idea of how to use the camera. As with anything new, you have to use it to really understand its capabilities. I drove to the Lambertville – New Hope bridge for some early dawn images. The Delaware river was up a little over 4 feet in the last day due to all of the rain we got on Tuesday and Wednesday. Still below flood stage but up more than usual. The following image is an old building in New Hope along the Delaware river, taken from across the river in the Lambertville Station parking lot. The Raw image was converted to jpg using Adobe Lightroom 3.6 RC with no additional processing. Note that I had to upgrade from Lightroom 3.5 to the 3.6 Release Candidate in order to be able to see and process the image with Lightroom. More images to follow, and I need to check out if my other Raw image processing programs are able to handle images from this new camera.
Later in the afternoon, I had a great Thanksgiving dinner with neighbors across the street. (Images next post). Right now the camera is outside to see how it performs capturing Night Sky images.
New Hope from Lambertville across the Delaware River. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 10-100 mm Lens (ISO 110, 100 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec) (David J Mathre)
It is 4 years ago today that I got my Nikon D300 while returning from a photography workshop with Thom Hogan in Hawaii (23-November-2007). Coincidentally, I received the new Nikon 1 V1 today from B&H. I was surprised that it was heavier than my Leica X1, but a lot lighter and smaller than a Nikon D700 or D3. Lots to learn. I like the Leica X1 because it has dials on the top for both aperture and shutter speed (designed for a photographer). These are missing on the Nikon V1 (have to use buttons/dials on the back). I got all four available Nikon 1 lenses 10 mm (27 mm equiv), 10-30 mm (27-81 mm equiv), 30-110 mm (81-297 mm equiv), and 10-100 mm (27-270 mm equiv). The 10-100 mm (VR) lens is larger and heavier than the camera for this evaluation. The Nikon V1 does have an electronic view finder (100%). Missing is the adapter for Nikon F-mount lenses (which I really want so I can have a mirrorless camera on my Questar telescopes). Reading the manual there seems to be some interesting video options. Lots to learn over the next 4 days.
