Congrats Tracey and Todd!

Will Pridham would like to congratulate Tracey and Todd on their recent wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and a great time! More photos on the way.

Algonquin in the Fall

D700, ISO 400, f11@5s. (70-200mm 2.8, 2 frames)

Morning in Algonquin is a very special time, especially in the fall. The warm and cool air mixes over water to create spectacular misty mornings. Dress warm though as the temperature dips below freezing!

The Opeongo River offers some spectacular scenary. Low valleys are shrouded in mist and ice after a frost.

Pickeral weed and other types of aquatic grasses and sedges provide wildlife forage in the Opeongo system. This tributary is a well known spot for feeding moose (unfortunately none seen). On this particular morning, the mist provided a surreal atmosphere.

D700, ISO 400, f11@10s. (70-200mm 2.8)

The sun breaks through the trees here as it climbs into the sky. These mornings are so beautiful that sometimes the camera becomes secondary and you are left just quietly watching events unfold.

Steam rises off the lake and produces a great effect. These are the moments that the hikes in the dark and cold mornings pay off.

D700, ISO 400, f11@ 1/5s. (70-200mm 2.8)

The following photos are the result of a long hike up the trail to get there for daybreak. It was worth it as the views did not disappoint.

Poplars and maples showed up in stark contrast against a coniferous backdrop as the mist separated me from another peak.

D700, ISO 400, f11@ 1/25s. (70-200mm 2.8, 3 frames DoF stacked)

Two wider views on this plateau offered spectacular scenary of 100's of squared kilometers of Algonquin wilderness.

D700, ISO 400, f11@ 1/40s. (70-200mm 2.8, 3 frames stitched)

D700, ISO 400, f11@ 1/25s. (70-200mm 2.8, 10 frames stitched)

Overall impressions of the trip were as follows:

1. I used the 70-200mm 2.8 more than any other lens. Why? Because the 14-24 and 24-70 were ofter too wide and got foreground elements in the photos I didn't want. What a surprisinly useful landscape lens.

2. Morning in the fall is a much better time for photography than dusk. There is much more spectacular and moody shots available.

3. Didn't use the 14-24mm once this trip. I find it difficult to use properly. You really need the right view and there is much more to consider in the composition. I will need to practice much more with this lens to use it properly.

Nikon D700 and the 70-200 f2.8 VR- At the Haliburton Wolf Centre

All images here were taken at ISO6400 through one-way glass in a controlled environment.

Sunday rolled around and I was just itching to see what this camera could do. Remnants of Hurricane Ike had been hitting us with dark, overcast days and rain showers so it made for an ideal low-light situation. I decided for a trial-by-fire and went up to the Haliburton Wolf Centre, located near West Guilford, Ontario. The location only provided one enclosure to view the wolves from and most of the viewing area was encompassed by moderate canopy cover.

My relevant gear:

- Induro 3 series tripod
- Acrotech GV2 ballhead with quick release plate
- Nikon D700 (with D80 backup)
- 70-200mm 2.8 VR Nikkor

The Camera
I was lucky and the western timberwolves were out near the enclosure. Due to the light available, I needed to up the speed to ISO6400 and shot at wide-0pen most of the time. The images are OUTSTANDING and very comparable to ISO 800 on my D80, the only difference being the colour is much richer out of the Nikon EXPEED chip (good article here by LetsGoDigital). The grain visible can easily be workable in a noise-reduction program such as Noise Ninja. This wasn't what impressed me the most though.

The AF on this baby is jaw-dropping. Nikon's scene recognition system quickly focused on individual moving wolves and it was able to keep tracking through dense foliage. It was easy to keep a focus lock by depressing the available AE-L/AF-L button whenever needed.

The menus were very similar to the D300, though I did find them annoying. I guess when there are so many options available, you're going to need room to put them all. It will take a while to really understand where all the menus are. One thing is for sure though, read the manual thoroughly as some of the most important settings are only available through the custom menus.

The Lens
There's really not much new to write about with this lens as most everything has been examined by others more qualified than me. I will say though, that this lens lives up to all the hype. It produces sharp images that are rich in colour at f2.8 and also creates terrific out-of-focus backgrounds. The VR is a godsend as it will afford you 1-2 stops better than the 80-200 f2.8. One thing that was glaringly apparent was the need for a teleconverter as the 200mm on a FX sensor really lacked the reach that the 200mm would have had on a DX sensor. For my money though, image quality is more important, and the D700 gives you that.

Will Pridham Photography Goes FX!!

Well it was bound to happen, but I finally decided to go FX! After some deliberation at the pro's and con's of each format, the FX-format's terrific low-light ability managed to sway me just enough. Along with the D700, I picked up a several new Nikkor lenses including the 14-24mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8, and the lauded 70-200mm f2.8 VR. Preliminary usage with these lenses show terrific potential for shallow depth of field photography as well as providing state-of-the-art low-light wedding photography. All in all, I just feel that I will be able to offer better quality to clients than staying with DX format.