Friday (03-May-2013) — Gibraltar

Gone to See Europe and North Africa. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop IV with Michael Mariant. Day 7: Cadiz, Spain and Gibraltar.

Gibraltar Monkey (Barbary macaques) on top of the Rock of Gibraltar. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/8. 1/250 sec).

Gibraltar Monkey (Barbary macaques) on top of the Rock of Gibralter. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/8. 1/250 sec). Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage. (David J Mathre)
Gibraltar Monkey (Barbary macaques) on top of the Rock of Gibraltar. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/8. 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Saturday (30-March-2013) — New Jersey

Backyard Spring Night Sky in New Jersey. Wide Angle Lens Options for Nikon 1 Cameras.

One of the issues I have had with the Nikon 1 “mirrorless” cameras is the lack of wide-angle lens options. The widest angle available with the initial set of lenses was 10 mm f/2.8 prime. This has a 77° field of view (FOV) equivalent to a 27 mm lens on a full-frame (FX) DSLR camera. I like taking wide-angle panorama landscape images when traveling. In order to do this with the Nikon 1 camera requires taking several images and then stitching them together during post-processing. Before going to Norway, I saw a note on the internet that the Olympus FCON-T01 Fisheye converter uses the same 40.5 mm thread that the Nikon 1 10 mm f/2.8 lens uses. The 0.74x adapter increases the FOV to something like 20 mm on a FX DSLR camera. I took this combo with me to Norway, and published an image of Greenland from 36,000 feet using the combo. (19-February-2013).

Since returning from Norway, Nikon released a new wide-angle telephoto lens for Nikon 1 cameras – the 6.7 – 13 mm f/3.5-5.6. At 6.7 mm this lens has a 100° FOV equivalent to a 18 mm lens on a FX DSLR camera. The following three images were taken with the Nikon 1 V2 camera 1) with the 10 mm f/2.8 lens; 2) with the 10 mm f/2.8 lens and the Olympus fish-eye converter; and 3) with the 6.7-13 mm lens at 6.7 mm. The wide-angle image with the 6.7 mm does not have the fish-eye curvature effect. Indeed, when in Norway I found that when I used the Olympus lens I would need to keep the horizon right at the middle of the image. I think that I will be adding the 6.7-13 mm lens to my light-weight travel kit.

Note: Nikon changed the threading on the 6.7-13 mm lens to 52 mm, so I can’t use the Olympus adapter with this lens 😉

New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 and 10 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/2.8, 10 sec). (David J Mathre)
New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/2.8, 10 sec). (David J Mathre)
New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 and 10 mm f/2.8 lens + Olympus Fisheye adapter (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/2.8, 10 sec). (David J Mathre)
New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens + Olympus Fisheye adapter (ISO 160, 10 mm, f/2.8, 10 sec). (David J Mathre)
New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 and 6.7-13 mm lens (ISO 160, 6.7 mm, f/3.5, 20 sec). (David J Mathre)
New Jersey Early Spring Night Sky with Moon and Clouds. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 6.7-13 mm lens (ISO 160, 6.7 mm, f/3.5, 20 sec). (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (24-February-2007) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Turkey Vulture and the Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec).

Turkey Vulture and the Moon. New Jersey Winter. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture and the Moon. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)

Tuesday (19-February-2013) — Trans-Atlantic Flight

Gone to See Norway 2013 Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 22: Bergen – Copenhagen – Newark Flight Home.

While on the Copenhagen to Newark leg of the flight home we crossed Greenland. Someday I want to visit Greenland.

Southern Greenland from 36000 feet. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens and Olympus FCON-T01 fisheye adapter (ISO 200, 7.5 mm, f/11, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)
Southern Greenland from 36000 feet. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens and Olympus FCON-T01 fisheye adapter (ISO 200, 7.5 mm, f/11, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (13-February-2013) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2013. Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 16: Tromsø.

I spent the day putting together a time-lapse video for one of the Northern Lights displays. Still many more to go. I catch the southbound Hurtigruten at midnight for a ride back to Bergen.

If the above is blank, use the following link for a 15 second time-lapsed video of Northern Lights