Ryan Yorde Photography

In an effort to get back on schedule, here is a post that is actually on time. Over this past week I rented A LOT of gear to test before I purchase my own equipment. Among the rentals are a Nikon D300s with a MB-D10 grip, a 50mm f/1.4G AF-S, one 24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S, a 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR, one 105mm f/2.8G AF-S VR, and one R1C1 macro lighting system with SU-800 and an SB-600. While this did not come cheap, It was an excellent opportunity to get my hands on the equipment in a variety of situations.  Its always good to know what you need and what is just plain overkill. For example, I would really like to own an army of 12 SB-900s. However, at $500 per, that would rack up quite a tab. On a more realistic note, it would be far more economical to simply own three SB-900s, and do the rest of the work with SB-600s at less than half the cost.  The R1C1 macro lighting kit is cool, however it is somewhat useless in most situations. Even while doing macro work, a RayFlash would not only be cheaper, but produce better results. The SU-800 is nice, and in most situations cheaper than controlling your army of speed lights with Pocket Wizards, the line of sight and range limitations make it too unreliable outside of the studio. As for the lenses, I love every one of them. The D300s is a fantastic body especially for the price, and offers only a few minor setbacks from the larger D3. The only shortfalls of the D300s are: one, it will not shoot 14bit RAW faster than 2.5fps. If you understand binary then you may see why this is a problem. Two, one CF slot and one SD slot. It is a little annoying to me that I have to carry two different types of media with me at the same time to get the added redundancy made possible by the dual card slots. This is an especially large problem when you cannot find SD cards as fast as the CF cards you are using. Third, full frame field of view. While sometimes this can work to your advantage in the form of a focal length extension, its drawbacks in low-light sensitivity make it a slight handicap. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here are a few of my test shots from this week. (Also, my last two post were also shot entirely with rental equipment)

I got my new gear from B&H on Wednesday, and have been shooting away ever since. I was a little disappointed at first with the 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G VRII lens that B&H shipped me was not functioning properly, but the wonderful support at B&H shipped me a replacement overnight and everything has been great. So far I am very impressed with many of the great features and innovations with the D90. The 16-85 has also impressed me with very little chromatic aberration and great flexibility outdoors. I wanted to get an SB-900 as well, but have been pleasantly surprised with the performance of the built-in flash with a diffuser. As expected the boda bag is as awesome as everyone said it was, storing my D90 with the MB-D80 attached & 16-85 lens, batteries, charger, flash diffuser, filters, white balance cards, SDHC cards, and even my external hard drive and card reader. I look forward to many days of photography with this camera.

At last, I have ordered my new camera equipment so I can stop borrowing Wes’. After weeks of the age old Canon vs. Nikon debate, and input from various photographers, I have decided to purchase a Nikon D90. I only purchased the body at the recommendation of Noah Hayes, with the intent of purchasing the 16-85mm in place of the 18-105mm kit lens, that I have found to be less than stellar. Everything is scheduled to arrive this Wednesday. If all goes according to plan, the 50mm f/1.4G AF-S, 14-24mm f/2.8G AF-S ED, and the 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR IF ED, will soon join my collection along with a SB-900 or two. I also purchased the Boda Lens Bag to carry everything with me. Reviews to follow!