Timeless?

Posted on 16 October 2024 by unconventionaltravel.com

It’s easy to make fun of the cyber truck. But there is not another truck that looks like it. Ugly, yet a beauty at certain angles. Certainly a useless vehicle, yet worth a picture. Jealous?

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Nikon D700 and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D

Posted on 28 May 2024 by unconventionaltravel.com

Not much is happening in May. Lots of rain in Tennessee. Been hiking a little with a Nikon D90 that someone gave me. But mostly I take out my Nikon D700. The Nikon D700 is not bad for hiking when I attach a light weight lens like the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D. 

I’ve noticed that now I prefer the pictures from a full frame (FX) camera than the smaller crop of a Dx sensor. When I look at my DX sensor photos now, something seems odd about the photos. Not sure why.

Some light fog in the picture above.
I noticed the daddy longlegs on the rhododendron above. Cool!
This colorful mushroom comes up every year. So beautiful.

My favorite Nikon Dx camera of all time was the Nikon D200. But I hated the battery life of the Nikon D200. Then I owned the Nikon D7100 which had good battery life, but for some reason my Nikon D7100 drained the battery when not in use. Annoying! My current Nikon D700, Nikon D90 and Nikon D70 have excellent battery life.

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It must be magic, or it’s the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 NIKKOR-S Auto.

Posted on 4 May 2024 by unconventionaltravel.com

If you take the Nikon D700 and attach the Nikon 50mm f/1.4
NIKKOR-S Auto (Non-AI). What do you get? Magic! Personally, I think the lens looks beautiful. Very high quality build. It weighs about 306 grams.

But how do you attach a Non-AI lens to the Nikon D700? Well, you hack the aperture ring with a file. Just sweat and a fine file. It’s a nail-biting process for an amateur. But if you take your time you will end up with a magical lens! Search the web for instructions! It’s been a long time since I did the conversion. Doing the conversion with a file took about 3 hours. John White can convert them professionally here https://sites.google.com/view/aiconversions/home

You can see where I filed away part of the aperture ring above.

If you can nail the focus of this lens, it’s super sharp. The focus ring is pretty stiff on my personal lens. Out of the box, the colors are very pleasing for the Nikon 50mm f/1/4 Nikkor-S Auto. I believe I paid less than 60 dollars for this lens a few years ago.

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What do you call a fisherman that leaves their trash behind?

Posted on 1 April 2024 by unconventionaltravel.com

I asked that question to a man fishing off a bridge. He said, “trash is what they are.” Sounds like a good answer to me. I went on a short hike and came across a lovely fishing spot littered with Modelo beer cans, plastic bait containers and a fishing bobber stuck in a tree overhead. Did a quick clean up and spilled beer on my pants.

The responsible fisherman’s setup below.

Some sort of pollution floating on the pond. Cumberland mountain state park pond is not looking healthy these days. Definitely overcrowded and the golf course water runoff is causing an algae problem. 

Roosters and chickens were looking for bugs on my drive home.

The local squirrel playing invisible.

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The broken Nikon 105mm f/2.8 FX AF MICRO-NIKKOR

Posted on 30 March 2024 by unconventionaltravel.com

Well, I say broken, as in just the manual focus works now. I busted my ass one winter day and the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 micro went down with me. It hit the frozen wooden bridge and took a few bounces. I just watched in slow motion and felt the pain on my right side as I kissed the bridge in unison. Shook it off and inspected the gear. Few dents here and there. Still worked. Then slowly the autofocus went out a couple of months later. But they say real macro is done with manual focus! So I guess I’m still in business? 

The lens was well-used when I bought it, but it took great pictures. Heavy. But sharp as a tack! 

The only hope of getting good macro photos with the lens is using a tripod. Since I’ve got bad shakes from coffee abuse and other substances. I took some shots of a cherry tree that had finally bloomed after years of being dormant for some reason. It’s currently attached to the Nikon D700.

Now my main focus was on ladybugs. I’ve since discovered ladybugs are not easy to focus on when they are hungry for pollen. The little critters ignore my commands to hold still for the money shot. But they sure are fun to watch!

I’m starting to collect B+W Filters! Top quality!!!

The Nikon 105mm f/2.8 micro still looks pretty good.

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