Kenneth Wong Photography: Blog

More Holiday Deals 12-9-19

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 17:26:12 GMT

Here are a few more Holiday deals I've found.

Canon

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM lens, $50 off: $99.00.

Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM lens, $70 off: $129.00.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens, $100 off: $299.00.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens, $330 off: $549.00.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II lens. $300 off: $1599.00.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro lens, $200 off: $699.00.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens, $180 off: $1269.00.

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM lens, $300 off: $1899.00.

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV full frame dSLR body with accessories, $600 off: $2499.00.

Canon BG-E20 grip for Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, $100 off: $200.

Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT flash, $80 off: $499.00.

Nikon

Nikon D7500 dSLR with 18-55mm, 70-300mm lenses and accessories, $500 off: $996.95.

Nikon D500 dSLR body, $200 off: $1496.95.

Nikon D750 full frame dSLR body with accessories, $500 off: $1196.95.

Nikon D750 full frame dSLR body with 24-105mm f/4 VR lens, $1100 off: $1696.95.

Nikon D850 full frame dSLR with MB-D18 battery grip, $500 off: $2796.95.

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G lens, $70 off: $376.95.

Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens, $50 off: $426.95.

Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens, $100 off: $846.95.

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G lens, $350 off: $1446.95.

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR lens, $500 off: $1896.95.

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR lens, $650 off: $2146.95.

Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, $140 off: $1256.95.

Nikon Speedlite SB-700 flash, $30 off: $296.95.

Sony

Sony a7 III full frame mirrorless body with memory card and accessories, $200 off: $1798.00.

Sony a7 III full frame mirrorless body with 28-70mm lens and accessories, $200 off: $1998.00.

Olympus

Olympus Tough TG-6 Rugged Digital Camera, $100 off: $349.00.

Misc.

Dell Ultrasharp 27" InfinityEdge IPS monitor, $489 off: $229.95.

Holiday Deals 12-8-19

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 02:25:36 GMT

Here are a few of the 2019 Holiday deals I've found online.

Canon

Canon EOS RP full frame mirrorless body with EF to EOS-R adapter, memory card and other accessories, $399 off: $999.00.

Canon EOS RP full frame mirrorless body with Canon RF 24-105mm IS lens and accessories, $599 off: $1899.00.

Canon EOS RP full frame mirrorless body with Canon RF 24-105mm STM lens, EF to EOS-r adapter and accessories, $300 off: $1699.00.

Canon EOS RP full frame mirrorless body with Canon RF 24-240mm lens and accessories, $799 off: $1499.00.

Canon EOS R full frame mirrorless body with accessories, $500 off: $1799.00.

Canon EOS Rebel T6 dSLR with Canon EF 18-55mm IS, 70-300mm III lens, memory card and accessories, $350 off: $399.00.

Canon EOS Rebel T7i dSLR with Canon EF 18-55mm STM lens, memory card and accessories, $250 off: $649.00.

Canon EOS SL3 dSLR with Canon EF-S 18-55 lens, memory card and accessories, $150 off: $599.00.

Canon EOS 90D dSLR with memory card and accessories, $50 off: $1149.00.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II zoom lens with tripod, $400 off: $1799.00.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III zoom kens with tripod, $300 off: $1799.00.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS zoom lens with accessories, $300 off: $899.00.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L non-IS zoom lens with accessories, $100 off: $549.00.

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II lens with accessories, $150 off: $1649.00.

Canon Speedlite 430 III-RT flash with off-camera cord and accessories, $100 off: $199.00.

Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens with accessories, $300 off: $499.00.

Canon 17-40mm f/4L and Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens bundle, $400 off: $799.00.

Canon Pixma Pro-100 wireless professional photo printer, $149 after rebate.

Nikon

Nikon D850 full frame dSLR body, refurbished: $2399.00.

Nikon D850 full frame dSLR with memory card and 4 TB hard drive, $530 off: $2796.95.

Nikon D810 full frame sDLR body, refurbished: $1779.00.

Nikon Df full frame dSLR body with 50mm f/1.8G lens, refurbished: $1599.95.

Nikon D800E full frame dSLR body, refurbished: $1449.95.

Nikon D610 full frame dSLR with MB-D14 grip. Nikon 50mm f/1.8G and accessories, $1100 off: $896.95.

Nikon D500 dSLR body, refurbished: $1199.00.

Nikon D7500 dSLR body, refurbished: $569.95.

Nikon D5600 dSLR body, refurbished: $396.95.

Nikon D5600 dSLR body with Nikon 18-55mm AF-P DX lens and accessories, $250 off: $546.95.

Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8 ED AF-S lens, refurbished: $946.95.

Nikon Z7 full frame mirrorless camera body with memory card, FTZ lens adapter and bag, $700 off: $2696.95.

Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 lens with accessories, $200 off: $1096.95.

Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E VR lens, refurbished: $1049.00.

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL VR lens, refurbished: $1599.00.

Nikon 85mm f/1.4G lens, refurbished: $1149.95.

Nikon 28mm f/1.8G lens, refurbished: $499.95.

Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G DX lens, refurbished: $479.95.

Nikon 105mm f/1.4E lens, refurbished: $1399.95.

Nikon 18-35mm ED f/3.5-4.5 lens, refurbished: $499.00.

Nikon 70-200mm f/4G ED VR lens, refurbished: $1099.95.

Nikon 28mm f/1.4E lens, refurbished: $1279.95.

Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens, refurbished: $1529.95.

Nikon 24mm f/1.8G lens, refurbished: $546.95.

Nikon 16mm f/2.8D ED fisheye lens, refurbished: $499.00.

Nikon TC-17E II teleconverter, refurbished: $289.95.

Nikjon TC-20E III teleconverter, refurbished: $309.95.

Fuji

Fuji X-T10 mirrorless body, $299 off: $499.95.

Holiday Deals 12-3-19

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 22:33:10 GMT

The 2019 Holiday season is here so I thought I would kick off my seasonal posts today with a deal I found on Nikon FX cameras.

Full frame cameras are the Internet rage now, so for those of you looking to upgrade into the world of full frame 35mm sDLRs, now's a great time to do so.

No, contrary to popular belief, no camera -- or lens -- will instantly improve your pictures, but here's a deal on the Nikon D610:

Nikon D610 with Nikon grip, Nikon 50mm f.1.8 AF-S lens and Wu-1b WiFi adapter: $896.95

Get the same deal at B&H Photo is here.

HP Laptop Security Flaw 12-12-17

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 23:48:49 GMT

A security researcher has discovered a keylogger that affects more than 460 models of HP laptops in the EliteBook, ProBook, Pavilion and Envy lines. The flaw affected laptops as far back as 2012.

For more information on this vulnerability, check out the story here.

HP will be releasing a fix of the affected models with Windows update.

For a list of the affected models, check out HP's security bulletin here.

iOS Help Videos 11-29-17

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 17:59:00 GMT

Need help with your iPhone or iPad?

Apple has created a YouTube page with iOS how-to videos. Find it here.

Improving your portraits with common household items 10-25-17

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 16:40:35 GMT

This is an article I originally wrote back in 2010 for another blog web site and have been meaning to bring it over to this site for some time. I hope your find it useful.

I've been participating in various online photography forums on-and-off for many years now. One of the things that I have noticed in all of them is how often people are lead to believe that photography is complicated and expensive. They couldn't be farther from the truth.

With this in mind, I decided to take a cue from my good friend and colleague Richard Thompson, who spent many years selling cameras for Best Buy and Wolf Camera. Richard’s approach to sales is a bit unorthodox as he doesn’t always up sell a customer to complex, expensive equipment. Instead, he will often sell them on the idea of purchasing less expensive accessories that would allow them to make use of the equipment and features they already have.

Richard's method works particularly well for people that are starting out, as they are less likely to be overwhelmed by the prospect of learning something radically new. This is especially true when it comes to lighting.

The word “lighting” usually brings to mind the use of strobes. Unfortunately, many people overlook the fact that Mother Nature provides us with all the light we need to make beautiful pictures. One of the great advantages of using natural light is that there is no guesswork in the setup because we can see exactly what the light is doing. This isn’t always possible with strobes. The trick is learning to modify the light to get the desired results.

This can actually be done with ordinary household items that most of us have laying about in our cupboards.

For this article, I used the items shown above: Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil, 11” x 14” black and white mount board (white on one side, black on the other), tissue paper and painter’s tape. Ordinary cardboard that is white on one side can be substituted for the mount board and masking tape or Scotch tape can be use in place of the blue painter’s tape. All of these items can be purchased for about $5 each at your local drug store. These materials can be used in place of expensive light modification products that cost $200 or more.

To demonstrate how effective these items can really be, I started with one of my favorite “crash test dummies” in a common situation that many people are challenged with: making a portrait using window light.

As you can see in the image above, my subject is being lit by harsh, direct light from the sun coming through the patio door. The sunlight was a little warmer than I would have liked, so I created a custom white balance and took a picture from a position directly in front of my test subject. The results are very unflattering, as shown in the image below.

The light of the sun is creating a harsh shadow that covers the right-side of my test subject.

Using a few pieces of painter’s tape, I placed the tissue paper on the glass patio door to diffuse the sun light.

The tissue paper greatly improved the quality of the light coming through the patio door. Below, on the left, is the original image. The image on the right shows the result of the diffusion created by the tissue paper. The tissue caused to the light to spread out and spill on to the background, opening it up for us to see.

Portrait photographers often place a light beneath their subject to fill in the area under the subject’s chin. The light also creates a kind of radiant “glow.” We can accomplish this effect by adding a piece of white cardboard to the setup to reflect some light up into the test subject as shown below.

Once again, we see some improvement. Below, on the left, is the image made with the tissue paper diffusion. The picture on the right shows the result of the light reflected from the white cardboard. You can see that the right-half of my test subject is no longer in shadow and that it is pretty evenly lit. To reflect more light, the cardboard can be wrapped in aluminum foil.

Accent lights are frequently used to add dimension and help separate the subject from the background. The same effect can be created by wrapping a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil. Placed high and behind the subject, the foil will reflect the light necessary to create the accent.

In the image above, you can see that I have placed the dull-side of the foil towards the subject. The shiny side can also be used to reflect more light but will produce a much harsher quality of light. Which side of the foil you decide to use will depend on your needs and preference. Alternatively, the foil can be omitted altogether.

In the comparison above, the left image shows the effect produced by the addition of the tissue paper and the white cardboard. The image on the right shows the results after the addition of the aluminum foil reflector.

The final result is a huge improvement from where I started, as shown below.

I’m a firm believer that you can make photography as complicated and expensive as you want. From this example, it’s easy to see that good photography is not about what you shoot with but rather how you choose to use the resources and equipment you have.

Interactive photography learning site 12-06-16

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 17:22:48 GMT

London-based designer and animator Simon Roberts has created an interactive web site to help beginners understand the physics of photography and how camera settings and the exposure triangle works.

If you've been struggling with learning how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together, the site is well worth a look.

For more information, check out Simon's site here.

Digital Camera Fingerprint 06-20-16

Mon, 20 Jun 2016 20:35:50 GMT

Italian researchers have developed a method to quickly and efficiently identify images taken with specific digital cameras by recognizing image characteristics that are unique to individual camera sensors. These characteristics could then be used to identify stolen cameras and images. While the concept is not new, their method makes it practical to do so.

Prior to this, the amount of computational power required was far too great. Click here for more information.

Performance Macro Lens 05-08-16

Mon, 09 May 2016 00:24:13 GMT

This weekend I had the privilege of trying out Nikon's long-discontinued 70-180mm micro zoom lens. For those of you aren't familiar with this lens, it's unique in the world of photography, as it is the only macro lens that's a zoom -- NOT a zoom lens with macro or close-focusing capabilities. It is also unique in that the aperture does not change as the focusing distance changes.

Unlike many of the lenses being produced today, this lens is built like a tank, with an all-metal lens barrel and an aperture ring. It doesn't have an ultrasonic motor built-in, so entry-level Nikon cameras like the D3300 can't autofocus with this lens.

Roland's Nikon pages and Ken Rockwell list these specifications:

18 elements in 14 groups
9-blade rounded diaphram
Diameter: 75mm (3 inches)
Total Length: 175mm (6.9 inches)
Weight: 1010 grams (2.22 lbs.)
62mm filter size
Max. reproduction ratio at 70mm: 1:3.2
Max reproduction ratio at 180mm: 1:1.32
Manufactured in Japan from 1997-2005, less than 20,000 were produced

The AF Micro Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D

For more information on this lens and its development, check out the Thousand and One Nights article here.
On a medium-resolution camera like a Nikon D3 the performance is amazing:

Nikon D3, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, 160mm, 1/125th @ f/22

Performance is also spectacular wide open:

Nikon D3, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, 180mm, 1/125th @ f/5.6

The Internet has cast a lot of doubt about the performance of "older" Nikkor lenses on high-resolution APS-C (aka DX-sized sensor) cameras. On the 24 MP D7200, performance is equally amazing:

Nikon D7200, ISO 100, Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, 180mm, 1/125th @ f/16

Nikon D7200, ISO 100, Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, 150mm, 1/125th @ f/14

Nikon D7200, ISO 100, Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, 180mm, 1/125th @ f/16

Nikon D7200, ISO 200, Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, 140mm, 1/125th @ f/22

Compared to the prime macro lenses offered by Nikon or other manufacturers, this lens has three drawbacks:

Slow, shifting aperture, making this lens a little slow for normal photography. Prime macro lenses are usually f/2.8 or f/4. While this might not be important to some, many people carry macro lenses rather than regular lenses, so this may be a deal-breaker for some users.
Maximum reproduction ratio of only 1:3.2 at 70mm. Maximum reproduction at 180mm is 1:1.32. Most other modern macro lenses are capable of going to 1:1 (life size). To get to 1:1, an extension tube or close-up lens is required.
Autofocus is slow compared to the current AF-S macro lenses like the 105mm VR. It's more than acceptable if you're making small corrections, but painful if you have to go from one end of the focusing range to the other.

Based on my limited time with this lens, the convenience of the zoom function far outweighs these shortcomings. Not having the aperture shift as the lens is focused closer is a HUGE help, especially on older camera bodies that don't have an electronic aperture display. On that note, I should point out that with other macro lenses that have a maximum aperture of f/2.8 -- like Nikon's recent 105mm macro lenses -- the wide-open aperture slows to f/5.0 at 1:1, so this lens really isn't "slow" for macro use.

IMHO, this lens is a great buy for any photographer who does a lot of macro work and requires some working distance between themselves and their subject.