Neutral-density filters are a mainstay of landscape  and travel photographers desiring long exposure for specific effects like the motion blur of water. However, outside their utility with outdoor photographers, the ND filter has immediate uses for anyone shooting portraits and working with flash photography.

The Singh-Ray Vari-ND is a unique kind of neutral density filter. Unlike most ND filters, the Singh-Ray Vari-ND achieves a 2 to 8-stop range of ND through two different filters sandwiched together, resulting in extreme flexibility from a single unit. As Singh-Ray advertises, their Vari-ND filter is “The only solid ND filter you’ll need.”

The Flash Sync Problem

When shooting with flash in bright daylight, there are a couple of problems that become apparent . For one, one has to shoot at or below the x-sync of one’s camera, which is generally between 1/200 and 1/250. Even though some speedlights offer a high-speed sync option, the reduction in power that these flashes employ to achieve a HSS is so drastic that it often defeats the entire purpose of trying to ambient light.

Even shooting at the base ISO of one’s camera means that a very bright scene will necessitate stopping down to f/11 or even smaller to achieve a proper exposure for the ambient light. When you compound this with the desire to underexpose ambient light and create a hierarchy with an off camera flash like the Nikon SB-900 or a portable lighting system like the Elinchrom Quadra Ranger or Profoto AcuteB 600, the limitations of a 1/250 sync speed become daunting.

Instead of stopping down to f/22, the beauty of an ND filter is the ability to cut multiple stops of light from factoring into the exposure. This not only means that one can avoid stopping down into the zone of diffraction, but it opens up creative opportunities that can help create compelling photos as well.

Whether you want to create a “dark daylight” of dark blue sky or shoot at f/1.4 at high noon, a good neutral density filter is the answer to many a photographers’ flash sync woes.

The Only ND Filter You’ll Need

Singh-Ray states that their Vari-ND is ”The only solid ND filter you’ll need,” and they’re not far off. Aside from photographers who need less than 2-stops of ND, the 2 to 8 stop range offers enough flexibility to satisfy all but the most demanding and specific uses.

2-stops of ND is the perfect amount for subtle effects, while 8-stops allows you to shoot at f/1.4 at high noon with a sync speed of 1/200 without blowing your exposure white hot.

Moreover, one thing Singh-Ray stands by is the quality of their filters – one reason why the Vari-ND will blow a $300+ hole in your wallet.

Thin vs Regular

Singh-Ray makes two versions of the Vari-ND – the standard-ring version and the thin-ring version. The regular version is 14.2mm thick and the thin is 10.5mm thick. My best recommendation is to skip the standard and go straight to the thin-ring version.

At over a centimeter thick, even the thin-ring is enough cause vignetting below 35mm on a full-frame camera. Besides, if you’re already spending $340 on a filter, you might as well spend $390 for the more svelt version.

Design

The design of the Vari-ND filter looks very much like your average polarizer. The Vari-ND features a smoothly rotating front element that lets you dial in different degrees of neutral density, from 2 to 8-stops.

While there are markings on the barrel of the filter, these are not calibrated in any meaningful way. Singh-Ray states that the markings are only so that you can achieve repeatable results and they are not to be used as precise indicators of stops.

Use & Functionality

Using the Vari-ND is a process – for the most part, it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of accessory unless you plan on using it at its lowest ND settings only.

Due to the massive amounts of light cut by the Vari-ND filter, the best use of the filter necessitates that you focus at its minimum effect, then reset the filter to shoot. For landscape photographers shooting at hyperfocal settings already, this isn’t really an issue at all, but for portrait shoots where composition and shooting distances are rapidly changing, it requires a bit of finesse.

The easiest use of the filter comes without using a lens hood, or using a collapsable lens hood like the Mamiya #2 rubber lens hood.

Since the Vari-ND is only two-stop of light reduction at its minimum, f/2.8 lenses focus just fine without the need to remove this filter. In bright light and with faster lenses, you’ll be able to focus with the filter at even higher levels of neutral density.

At 8-stops neutral-density, the frame for all but the brightest scenes is so dark that everything is obscured. Precise framing requires achieving the frame you want before “stopping down” the ND filter. In dimmer ambient situations, a tripod is advisable for the most critical framing.

While the markings on the filter aren’t useful for dialing in a specific amount of neutral-density, they are essential for getting even and repeatable results with flash and strobes. Thanks to the markings on the barrel of the Vari-ND, it’s easy to set your flash exposure “stopped down” with the filter, open it to 2-stops ND to focus, and then reset the filter to the desired strength.

Examples With The Singh-Ray Variable ND Filter

Killing The Sun

Contrary to its appearance, the above photo wasn’t shot in space. Instead, it’s a photo of the sun amid a bright blue sky at midday. The exposure was 1/250, f/8, ISO 200 and 8-stops ND with the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter. Needless to say, this ND filter is enough to turn day into night.

Shooting Wide Open

Translating this into something slightly more applicable to photography, here’s an example of how this can work to kill daylight with a portrait:

1/250, at f/1.8, ISO 200. 7-stops ND applied. Nikon D3 + Nikon 85mm f/1.4.

The above photo is a practical example of how the Singh-Ray Vari-ND can tame daylight in a meaningful way.

Here, the filter was cutting over 4-stops of light, which lower light levels entering the lens enough to shoot the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 at the relatively wide aperture of f/1.8 for a very shallow depth of field, all while dramatically darkening the bright afternoon sky. The real key is that this was all shot at 1/250, the sync Nikon D3.

Without the Vari-ND filter, it would have been impossible to shoot with the same combination of a wide aperture, relatively low shutter speed (for the abundant light), and also throttle down the harsh afternoon sunlight into a gentle accent camera left.

While using high speed sync with speedlights would have enabled one to raise the shutter speed, HSS dramatically decreases flash power, which in turn hugely decreases the flexibility of small flashes and all their benefits.

Shooting Into The Sun

Here’s another portrait example of how the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter can really tame sunlight – in this instance, shooting directly into the glaring, South Beach sun in Miami.

1/250, at f/11, ISO 200. 4-stops ND applied. Nikon D3 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

Here, the Vari-ND is working at around four-stops or so – enough to easily tame the sun without completely killing detail in the clouds, and overall keeping things natural for an exposure that would have been impossible otherwise.

Image Quality

The beauty of the Singh-Ray Vari-ND – and the reason for its high price – is the excellent optical quality of this filter. It’s color-neutral, so it won’t impart color casts to your images while it works – hence why it’s called a neutral-density filter.

Moreover, the filter leaves your images sharp. Two slabs of glass or not, sharpness with this filter is a complete non-issue; the quality with this filter is simple there are doesn’t degrade the quality of your lenses. In reality, the quality of the lenses you use, your RAW converter, and your sharpening workflow will make more of a difference on image sharpness than the Vari-ND will.

1/250, at f/5.6, ISO 200. 4-stops ND applied. Nikon D3 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Pros:

• Wide 2 to 8-stop ND range
• Flexibility eliminates need to remote filter to focus for most lenses
• Excellent optical clarity & neutrality
• Daylight becomes your bitch

Cons:

• Thin-ring mount is $390
• Filter vignettes below 28-35mm on full-frame using Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Requires dedicated shooting workflow – not for P&S work

Summary

If you’ve ever cursed your camera’s sync speed, wanted to tame ambient light, or otherwise control your exposures independent of the sun, the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter is the answer to your prayers.

While it’s not cheap by the standards of a filter, the fact is that the Vari-ND is a tool that extends your lighting equipment and its flexibility in such a meaningful way that it’s more apt to compare this to another piece of lighting equipment.

As David Hobby, the Strobist Himself, says,

My advice – don’t skimp on the ND. The cheap ones are pure crap – and I say that from experience.

I highly recommend the ungodly expensive Singh-Ray Vari ND, which I am pretty sure is manufactured in heaven. It oughtta be, for the price. But it is sharp as hell, neutral and lets yo use any aperture you want.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Where to Buy – Recommended Retailers

The Singh-Ray Vari-ND is available from BHPhotoVideo.com, where I buy all my photo gear:

• Singh-Ray Vari-ND – 77mm (Thin Mount)
• Singh-Ray Vari-ND – 77mm (Standard Mount)
• Singh-Ray Vari-ND – 82mm (Standard Mount)

Buy Yourself Something Nice

If this article or any other content on www.ishootshows.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and grabbing your next photo gear purchase through one of my affiliate links:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• BorrowLenses.com

Simply clicking through any product links on this site helps me bring you free content like the photography tips and gear reviews regularly posted on www.ishootshows.com, and naturally it doesn’t cost you a cent more. If you do grab some gear, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up.

Tea Me

If you want to donate directly to help support and host www.ishootshows.com (and if there’s any leftover, keep me stocked in tea), you can contribute money to www.ishootshows.com via PayPal.

Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.

The Nikon 200-400mm f/4 is specialized lens that solves a specific problem – when a photographer is faced with the need for both reach, relative speed and compositional flexibility. It gives you the reach of 400mm with the flexibility (albeit however limited) of a 2x zoom down to 200mm – right where the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 leaves off.

More to the point, the 200-400mm f/4 offers superior speed and optics over pairing a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR with a teleconverter.

Here’s my review of the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR II from BorrowLenses.com.

Support These Reviews

If you find this review helpful, please consider buying your next photo gear purchase from B&H or Amazon.com, or consider renting your gear from my friends at BorrowLenses.com.

To learn how you can help support www.ishootshows.com, visit the page Buy Yourself Something Nice for a list of all the affiliates that help make the content of this site free and flowing. Now with that out of the way, let’s get to the review.

Lens Design

The design of the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 is well-proportioned, but in no way compact. Even with a more modest maximum aperture of f/4, the lens is extremely long compared to even your average f/2.8 professional zoom. That said, the 200-400mm f/4 packs in very useful 2x zoom range into a body that’s at the very limit of what’s possible to hand-hold for most photographers.

For me, the overall balance struck between range and size/weight is one thing that makes the 200-400mm so appealing. While the best image quality is delivered using a tripod, and failing that a monopod, it’s still possible to hand-hold the 200-400mm f/4 for short period of time, which is a huge asset when working in conditions when even a monopod isn’t a viable option.

The design of the 200-400mmm is relatively slim compared to other super telephoto lenses, particularly of the f/2.8 variety, but it’s still pretty massive compared to a more pedestrian optic like the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR, and much longer. The two lenses actually share very similar proportions and the same slightly tapering design, just at very different scales.

Nikon HK-30 Lens Hood

Like most other super-telephoto lenses, the 200-400mm f/4 ships with a stout carbon fiber lens hood, which attaches to the front of the lens via a screw-down knob. This locks the hood into a groove at the front of the lens, which is in turn stable enough to stand the lens on the hood quite stably if needed.

Mounting the HK-30 lens hood makes for a relatively huge outfit, but the narrow field of view with this lens allows for a very effective shield against stray light. When using this lens, I’ve never had instances of flare occur, in part thanks to the great optics, but also due to the effectiveness of this carbon fiber sheath.

Controls & Interface

The 200-400mm f/4 VR II features just a few more controls on its side than your average lens, but for all intents the controls are standard for Nikon’s super telephoto lenses.

Like most new Nikkor lenses, the 200-400mm features an focus switch for setting your AF/MF priority for setting the hierarchy of autofocus and manual focus.

Down from there, the lens features a focus limiter, which allows you to set a distance range you’d like to the lens to use – either the full range, or limited past 6-meters to infinity. In addition, one can set the VR mode between normal and tripod use.

As the lens also features AF memory buttons, the recall choices between AF-L and AF-ON are also available.

Usability

It might seem strange to comment on the general usability of a lens – these things are tools, after all. But there’s the rub. If they’re difficult to use for any given application, it doesn’t matter how well a tool may perform.

The point of usability for the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 is that it’s just barely hand-holdable for select applications – and particularly when there’s enough light to use high shutter speeds.

Due to the size of the lens, handholding is never the ideal option, but it the freedom from a tripod or even a monopod is certainly a necessary evil at times as a music photographer. So, it’s the fact that the 200-400mm can be held at all is a point in its favor against faster, larger lenses.

Optics & Image Quality

Needless to say, the optics of this lens are very, very good. While some users have made small whimpering noises about the performance of this lens at infinity when used at wide apertures, I’ve found this lens delivers excellent quality for all practical distances when shooting live music.

I think it’s safe to say that the determining factor for image quality with most shooters will almost always be technique, rather than the optics of the 200-400mm f/4 VRII.

Moreover, this lens delivers what other lenses cannot. A unique combination of zooming flexibility, reach and relative speed that not even a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II with a teleconverter can touch.

For anyone who needs this combination of talents, rest assured – the 200-400mm f/4 VR II delivers in spades.

Example Images

Summary

When you need both flexibility of a zoom and the reach of a true super telephoto, the 200-400mm f/4 is pretty much the only game in town.

This unique zoom’s delivery of reach, zooming flexibility and a relatively fast f/4 aperture combine into a vital package for anyone who needs all three requirements. While one gives up the f/2.8 speed of Nikon’s super telephoto primes, the 200-400mm f/4 delivers excellent quality at speeds and quality a notch above a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR paired with a teleconverter. While the 200-400mm f/4 VR II is ultimately a compromise, it’s a beautiful one.

I’ve rented the 200-400mm on multiple occasions when I need more reach than my 70-200mm can provide, and it always delivers.

Get This Lens

If you can afford to buy this lens – by all means, go through the fine folks at B&H Photo Video and tell them I sent you.

For everyone else, I recommend BorrowLenses.com for the Nikon 200-400mmm f/4 VR II, Nikon 400m f/4 VR II, and all the other ridiculous and exotic super telephotos we can’t afford.

Buy Yourself Something Nice

Do you buy stuff? Do you buy camera stuff? If this article or any other content on www.ishootshows.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and grabbing your next photo gear purchase through one of my affiliate links:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• BorrowLenses.com

Simply clicking through either B&H or Amazon.com here for your purchases helps me bring you free content like the photography tips and gear reviews regularly posted on www.ishootshows.com, and naturally it doesn’t cost you a cent more. If you do grab some gear, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up.

Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.

My 4GB Sandisk Extreme IV CF cards have served me well for shooting somewhere in the ballpark of one thousand bands at concerts and festivals over the last few years.

However, when faced with a string of summer festivals, I was in need of a pair of fast, large-capacity compact flash cards for my Nikon D3 and Nikon D700.

My requirements were 16GB capacity and UDMA. The solution? A pair of 16GB Transcend Extreme Plus 600x CF cards. Here’s my review of these memory cards that punch well above their price point.

Support These Reviews

If you find this review helpful, please consider buying your next photo gear purchase from B&H,Amazon.com, or any of my other my affiliate links.

To learn how you can help support www.ishootshows.com, visit the page Buy Yourself Something Nice. Now with that out of the way, let’s get to the review.

Why Transcend?

In flash storage, there are pretty much just two big names: SanDisk and Lexar, both of which offer pro-grade CF cards and the prices to match. I’ve long been a user of Sandisk compact flash cards – even back to my first DSLR the D70, I’ve used Sandisk CF cards. I’ve used Lexar cards as well, but SanDisk has always been my preference.

What made me go with Transcend was research into their price, performance and user reviews. First, the price. Let’s face it – the SanDisk and Lexar equivalents cost almost twice as much as the Transcend cards with the same specs.

A pair of the 16GB Transcend Extreme Plus 600x cards go for $138.98 from B&H Photo Video at the time of this writing (and where I personally bought two of these Transcend cards), compared to $120.83 for one of the equivalent Lexar 600x 16GB cards or $149.99 for a SanDisk Extreme Pro.

However, as appealing as a good price would have made the Transcend Extreme Plus 600x CF cards, the real tipping point for me was the consistent and exceptionally high praise given to the cards when combing reviews on B&H Photo Video and Amazon.com. B&H alone has 73 reviews with an average of 5/5 stars at the time of this review for the 16GB Transcend Extreme Plus 600x, with both the 8GB and 32GB versions also racking up 5-star averages.

Moreover, these reviews support the CF benchmarks performed by sites like Tom’s Hardware, where the Transcend consistently performs in grouping with the equivalent Lexar and SanDisk cards. A great price and 100 or so glowingly positive customer reviews? I was sold.

16GB – Go Big Or Go Home

Aside from the performance increase of 600x read/write speeds over my Sandisk Extreme IV cards, one of the main reasons for upgrading was for larger capacity.

So, why go from 4GB cards to 16GB cards? For me, this is simply an effort of providing maximum storage (short of going to 32GB cards) for my present gear while anticipating for the larger files of future gear as resolution continues to increase.

For me and my work, 16GB hits a sweet spot of ample storage for music festivals and other all-day shooting events while not seeming as ridiculous as a 32GB card. In other words, it just feels right.

With a 16GB card in both my Nikon D3 and Nikon D700, I’m more than set for individual concerts with zero possibility of having to change cards for most shows, while I’m equally in good shape for even all-day festivals.

Built For Speed – UDMA-Enabled & 600x

UDMA:

For me, it’s essential that the CF cards I use are UDMA-enabled. UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) is a standard that enables accelerated transfer speeds over non-UDMA-enabled cards.

This benefit comes in incrementally faster read-write speeds in-camera, but most noticeably with multi-GB downloads where the sustained transfer speeds add up to big gains.

Using a UDMA-enabled cards and card readers combine for extremely fast download speeds, especially when using a Firewire 800 or USB 3.0 connection.

600x Speed:

Naturally, we’ve seen transfer speeds creep up over the years, from 100x and 200x cards just a few years ago to the 600x speeds we see today.

While going with a more modest transfer speed of 400x saves a fair chunk on price, my interest in 600x cards is simply an effort of buying the best currently available today so that I’ll be guaranteed high performance for future use. The use of fast CF cards centers around better performance for extended shooting (bursts) and faster transfer speeds for downloading. Both of these elements are fairly specific to photojournalism, or shooting with an emphasis on impatience at the very least.

If you’re not an event or high-volume shooter who will benefit from UDMA and 600x speed increases, I’d highly recommend saving some money and going with smaller cards. It’s only the particular needs of music photography and high-volume shooting that really push me to grab fast cards of this size.

Design

The Transcend Extreme Plus 600x CF cards are a little shinier and showy than their Sandisk counterparts, with metallic foil on the faces, but the body is of course the standard CF Type II design with which we’re all familiar.

Performance

There are already benchmarks for the Transcend 600x cards that pit it against the competition from manufacturers like SanDisk and Lexar, such as testing performed by Tom’s Hardware. In these tests the Transcend cards performed with some of the best marks, consistently achieving some of the highest read and write averages. In these tests, the Transcend Extreme Plus 600x CF cards cards actually out-performed the SanDisk Extreme Pro on a few of the tests.

Needless to say, this isn’t a benchmarking type of site, so instead I won’t rehash what’s already been done. Instead, below are my qualitative thoughts on how the Transcend Extreme Plus cards have performed in terms of shooting, downloads, and general compatibility.

Shooting:

In my testing, the Transcend 600x cards are blazingly fast. Image playback is instantaneous – there’s nothing worse than waiting for image review when you need to check the exposure and histogram on a file. Moreover, the cards clear the buffers of my D3 and D700 noticeably faster than that of my old SanDisk Extreme IV cards.

With modern digital cameras, image files aren’t written directly to memory cards, but in first are temporarily stored in a RAM buffer. This process allows a camera to shoot in bursts without by being limited by the write-speed of the memory card. Where a faster card like with a 600x speed comes into play is shooting bursts and the ability of the cards to quickly pull images from the camera’s on-board buffer once you’ve reached the buffer limit.

Not only do images transfer more quickly from the camera, the extra speed allows the buffer to clear more quickly and thus enables extended shooting at large volumes.

Downloading:

Aside from the speed benefits while shooting, the cards enable extremely fast downloads, thanks to the UDMA technology. When paired with a UDMA-enabled card reader like the blazingly fast Sandisk Firewire 800 CF reader and downloads are almost surprisingly quick. Downloads via Firewire 800 clock in at about 2.5GB per minute.

The Transcend cards also worked flawlessly when downloading to a new 11″ MacBok Air using a USB 3.0 UDMA-enabled Delkin card reader.

Reliability & Compatibility:

The big question when using a new brand is always reliability, especially when the performance of the product lives up to the specs.

In my use of the Transcend 16GB 600x CF cards, the reliability has been solid. No errors or corrupted files with thousands of files written and read so far. Only time will tell, but reliability isn’t a concern.

The Transcend 16GB 600x CF cards work flawlessly with all my gear, just like my Sandisk cards. No issues whatsoever with the Nikon D3, Nikon D700, Sandisk Firewire 800 CF card reader nor my Mac Pro that I regularly use.

In effect, the Transcend cards work just as well as the Sandisk cards I’ve been using, so there’s zero change in my workflow. If anything, my workflow is simply faster thanks to the increased speed of the cards for downloads.

Summary

Both in and out of the camera, these new 16GB Transcend Extreme Plus 600x CF cards cards have offered rock solid performance that’s exceeded my expectations. Write-read speeds offer a substantial improvement over my old SanDisk Extreme IV cards without any sacrifice to performance.

Will these cards stand up to the rigors of rock photography, with hot festival days, constant use and continual formatting? I’ll report back after 6 months of use, but for now, I have no problem trusting my images to theseTranscend Extreme Plus 600x CF cardscards. Consider these Transcend cards ishootshows.com approved.

Where To Buy

You can buy the Transcend Extreme Plus 600x CF cards at B&H or Amazon.com. B&H has a slightly better price, especially with discounts for purchasing multiple cards, and that’s where I personally bought these cards.

• Transcend Extreme Plus CF Cards at B&H Photo Video
• Transcend Extreme Plus CF Cards at Amazon.com

Buy Yourself Something Nice

Do you buy stuff? Do you buy camera stuff? If this article or any other content on www.ishootshows.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and grabbing your next photo gear purchase through one of my affiliate links:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• BorrowLenses.com

Simply clicking through either B&H or Amazon.com here for your purchases helps me bring you free content like the photography tips and gear reviews regularly posted on www.ishootshows.com, and naturally it doesn’t cost you a cent more. If you do grab some gear, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up.

Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.

The latest addition to Nikon’s stable of fast primes, the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S offers Nikon users a classic focal length with all the cutting-edge features we’ve come to expect.

With a big price tag, the question with the 35mm f/1.4G is whether it has the performance to match. We’ve put this fast prime through its paces for the answer.

Support These Reviews

If you find this review helpful, please consider buying your next photo gear purchase from B&H,Amazon.com, or any of my other my affiliate links.

To learn how you can help support www.ishootshows.com, visit the page Buy Yourself Something Nice. Now with that out of the way, let’s get to the review.

Key Features

Here’s what Nikon thinks are the key features of the lens. For me, the big take-away features are that it’s a fast, pro-grade 35mm f/1.4 lens that autofocuses. While the AF bit isn’t that amazing, it’s something that’s been sorely lacking in the Nikon system for years and which Nikon is only now finally addressing.

FX-format, ultra-fast classic wide-angle lens: Update of one of Nikon’s most respected NIKKOR lenses; suitable for landscapes, night scenes, interiors, weddings, photojournalism and astrophotography.

Optimized for edge to edge sharpness on both FX and DX-format D-SLRs: DX-format D-SLR the angle of view is equivalent to a focal length of 52.5mm in FX/35mm format.

Rear Focus (RF): Provides smooth and fast autofocus while eliminating front barrel rotation and lens length changes.

Exclusive Nikon Silent Wave Motor (SWM): Enables fast, accurate and quiet autofocus.

Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm: Renders a more natural appearance to out-of-focus image elements.

Nano Crystal Coat: Use of Nano Crystal Coat further reduces ghosting and interior flare across a wide range of wavelengths for even greater image clarity.

Aspherical Lens Element: Aspherical lens element virtually eliminates coma and other types of aberration, even when shooting at the widest available aperture.

M/A Focus Mode Switch: Enables quick changes between manual and autofocus operation now enhanced with a refined MF driving mechanism to reduces focus time lag and improve ease of use in M/A mode.

Nikon Super Integrated Coating (SIC): Enhances light transmission efficiency and offers superior color consistency and reduced flare.

Optical Design & MTF Chart

The optical design of the new 35mm is relatively compact and with a minimum of fuss – just a single aspherical lens element in the rear assembly to help correct for optical aberrations at wide apertures.

From Nikon’s MTF chart for the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S, we see some very good suggested performance. As always, MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) simply a kind of guideline for expected performance. MTF charts indicate performance of an optic at different spacial frequencies – at 10 lines per millimeter (red) and 30 lines per millimeter (blue). In the most basic terms, we can get an idea of contrast (red) and sharpness (blue), respectively.

What we see from this chart is that the 35mm f/1.4G should deliver very good sharpness in the center of the frame wide open, and excellent sharpness as well. Naturally, the corners of the frame show a dip in performance on a full-frame camera, but nothing out of the ordinary – and not where there’s going to be important subject matter anyway when shot at f/1.4, either (assuming you’re not shooting landscapes wide open with the expectation of edge-to-edge sharpness).

As always, these charts don’t really get at the heart of image quality the way real samples can, so stay tuned for the real verdict on how this lens performs wide open. Hint: It won’t surprise anyone.

What’s In The Box

The Nikon 35mm f/1.4G ships with all the standard accessories for a fast Nikkor prime. No real surprises.

Design, Ergonomics & Controls

Ergonomically, the new 35mm f/1.4G fits right in with the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and 85mm f/1.4G, with identical design cues. Personally, I love the look and feel of these lenses.

The barrel features a very slight taper toward the lens mount and a big focusing ring, which is very well damped for an AF lens. The focus ring is of a nice width, making operation quick and easy when you need it, but out of the way when you don’t.

The one switch on the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G is the standard M/A -M switch to toggle between Autofocus with Manual override or Manual focus-only.

The one point where the 35mm differs from its 24mm and 85mm siblings is that it features a smaller 67mm filter size, instead of the larger and “pro standard” 77mm size. Not a huge issue, but one that might of concern when buying/using filters like a polarizer or the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter.

Build Quality

The build quality of the new 35mm f/1.4 is heavy and solid, just like you want. Just like all of Nikon’s professional, fast aperture primes (with the exception of the less expensive 50mm f/1.4G), the 35mm features a very solid feel in the hand.

The only minor points that can really be said about the lens are the inclusion of a plastic filter threads, but this might only be a concern for people constantly changing threads. For most users, who are either going to be shooting this lens naked or with a protective filter on at all times, this isn’t an issue.

Lens Hood

The twist-on lens hood of the Nikon 35mm is compact and made of high density plastic. Like most of Nikon’s recent lenses, the lens attaches with a bayonet system  and secures by a tension lock. The throw on the bayonet lines are long enough and the lock secure enough that it’s quite a tight fit – no worry about the hood being knocked off. Or to put it another way, if the hood does come off by accident, it’s going to be because you’ve dropped your camera, at which point you have much bigger problems than a lost hood.

Lens Performance: AF Precision & Speed

I found the AF speed of the 35mm f/1.4 very good, though not quite as fast as the 24mm f/1.4G AF-S, which in my review I found to be exceptionally fast for a Nikon prime lens. It’s roughly on par – and more likely slightly faster – than the focusing speed of the Nikon 85mm f/1.4G.

Precision is excellent on a well-tuned DSLR – which is a crucial point when using a fast prime like this. And to the point, I found the 35mm very “confident” in terms of AF performance, with no stuttering indecision that could plague Nikon’s older AF-D primes. This point makes Nikon’s breed of new fast primes even more usable wide open when AF performance is critical, and the 35mm f/1.4G is no exception here.

Lens Performance: Color & Contrast

In terms of contrast, the 35mm f/1.4G is beautiful. Even wide open, contrast is excellent – the lens delivers on what the MTF chart promises. Even with only a single aspherical element as the exotic element in this lens, the color and contrast wide open leave nothing to be desired. Throughout the aperture range, color and contrast are rich and natural.

Moreover, the lens handles backlit scenes beautifully. Even wide open at f/1.4, there’s essentially no halation or veiling flare produced on backlit subjects, even with extreme overexposure in the background. This makes the lens especially well-suited for environmental portraiture and live music photography alike.

Lens Performance: Sharpness

The first impression of shooting the Nikon 35mm f/1.4 is that it’s meant to be shot wide open. Sharpness here is very good and full of detail. Together with the high contrast, the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S is a lens that I can happily shoot wide open, all day.

Real world shooting confirms what the MTF charts suggest – that the 35mm delivers very well and evenly in the center of the frame. It’s only at the corners that wide-open sharpness degrades.

In terms of sharpness, the 35mm f/1.4 seems close to the beautiful new 85mm f/1.4G for performance, with a slight edge over the wider 24mm f/1.4G in terms of evenness wide open.

Click for a 2x larger version of this panoramic image.

However, the 35mm f/1.4G isn’t just a lens to use at wide apertures, of course. Stopped down to f/8, you get all the blistering, edge-to-edge sharpness you’d want for landscape work as well. Or in other words, the new Nikon 35mm f/1.4G is a lens you can shoot at essentially any aperture. Rest assured – it’s going to deliver.

100% Crops

Here are three 100% crops from the above pano, which was shot at f/5.6 at ISO 200 on the Nikon D700.

When you consider the low contrast conditions, atmospheric haze, distance and the field of view, I find this sharpness excellent. There’s tons of detail – arguably more than the modest 12-megapixels sensor of the D700 can handle. However, this is only at f/5.6 – as good as these samples appear, the 35mm f/1.4G delivers an even more crystalline image at f/8 across the frame. This is especially true in the corners of the frame, which by f/8 are sharp edge to edge on even a full-frame camera like the D3 or D700.

Long story short, the 35mm f/1.4 delivers wide-open sharpness as well as edge-to-edge sharpness for landscapes. Win-win.

Sample Images

As they say, talk is cheap. Here are some images made with the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G:

The 35mm Advantage

One final thing about this lens that shouldn’t be overlooked is it’s 35mm focal length, which has long been a standard of prime shooters since the introduction of the 35mm film format.

35mm is a little like the story of Goldilocks. It’s a focal length that’s not too wide and not too tight in terms of framing. In other words, it’s often just right.

While 50mm on a full-frame 35mm sensor very well captures a naturalistic perspective compared to the human eye, a 35mm lens very well reproduces the field of view we see. As a result, framing with the 35mm focal length has a very comfortable feel to it and is immediately familiar. Moreover, it’s just incredibly useful.

Summary

Even with a seemingly pedestrian optical design with “only” a single aspherical element, the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G is a lens that sings.

The 35mm f/1.4 is a lens that builds on the excellent performance of the Nikon 24mm, 50mm, and 85mm f/1.4G lenses and completes the lineup. For me, it’s a do-it-all lens, with excellent sharpness wide open and edge-to-edge sharpness when stopped down. In addition, the lens delivers nice flare resistance, beautiful color and contrast, even wide open.

In short, it’s everything you expect and want from a fast prime. The only downside is that with this great performance is a price tag to match.

Where To Buy – Recommended Retailers

If this review and other content on www.ishootshows.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and purchasing your photo equipment any of the links in this review, my support page, or elsewhere on my site.

• Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S at B&H Photo Video
• Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S at Amazon.com
• Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S at BorrowLenses.com

Buying through these affiliates really does help me bring you all the free articles, reviews, and tutorials on www.ishootshows.com.

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• BorrowLenses.com

If you do buy through B&H or any of my affiliate links, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up. B&H is where I personally buy the vast majority of my gear, and I’m looking forward to bringing you more reviews thanks to their equipment loans.

Just about every photographer, pro or amateur, knows that hosting their photos online is a great way to show friends, family, potential clients, and colleges new work. To this end, Flickr has been a popular and extremely easy way to share photos online that has helped foster the talent of countless photographers.

However, for all of Flickr’s benefits, there comes a point when many growing photographers run into some of the challenges of using Flickr that may indicate that they’ve outgrown the popular photo sharing site. This is particularly true for photographers transitioning into the realm of selling prints, licensing, and handling a true online archive.

Here are seven signs you may have outgrown Flickr – how many apply to you as a photographer?

One Reason to use Flickr

For me, the biggest reason to still use Flickr is the most obvious: the social network. Flickr is a fantastic resource to connect with other photographers, see lots of work, and generally explore. In this regard, even with competitors like 500px growing, Flickr is still an excellent resource.

I still use Flickr for the aforementioned reasons, but not as my main online archive.

If you are a photographer who uses Flickr as their primary web presence, it might be time to consider a move to a professional service like PhotoShelter if any of the following seven signs sound a little too familiar.

7 Signs You’ve Outgrown Flickr

For all its benefits, there are a few key reasons why Flickr isn’t suitable for the requirements of the serious photographer beyond its use a social networking platform. Here are 7 reasons to consider when you might have outgrown Flickr.*

*While there are various additions to Flickr through third party applications using Flickr’s API, this article looks at the core service itself.

1) You Don’t Know What “55631_acce07b97_o.jpg” Means

If you use Flickr, you’re probably familiar with a file name formated like the above, as Flickr reassigns image filenames into a string of numbers and letters unrelated to the orignal filename.

If you actually take the time to title and caption your photos’ metadata like you should, Flickr automatically uses these for the image title and and description, erasing any real link to the original file name and the Flickr copy.

The only way for someone to really identify an image from Flickr is to send you a link, after which you have to visually ID the image. And since the original file name has long been wiped, you’ll have to scan your own local archive and hope that you’ve done a better job at organizing than Flickr does.

2) You Want Better Archiving Options

While Flickr allows paid “pro” members an effectively unlimited storage (up to 20MB per photo), what you can actually do with your photos once they’re in the big Flickr cloud is relatively limited. For one, Flickr only accepts JPG files in uploads. This means that you have to convert your beautiful RAW, TIFF, and PSDs before uploading.

Also, in addition to the wacky file names mentioned above, Flickr’s backend batch organization are essentially limited to changing how the images are seen on the site, how, and by whom.

There are no such thing as batch downloads by the account user from Flickr’s web interface, let alone the ability to conveniently offer batch downloads to say, your mom or a client. In this sense, you’re pretty much out of luck if you want to use Flickr as an archive in any meaningful way.

3) You Need To Send Clients Images

Even if you have magically uploaded the full-resolution file of an image to Flickr, options for sending files is extremely limited. At best, you can send a link to the high-res image, but there no options to FTP from Flickr or allow batch downloads to other users.

4) You Need To Watermark Your Images

Flickr doesn’t offer the option to dynamically watermark images. This is fine for your cat photos, but not so great for commercially viable and generally unique images. The natural solution here is to watermark the images before uploading to Flickr, but right out of the gate, there are two big issues:

1) Static watermarks necessitate low-res images

The most effective watermarks are placed to scale on web-resolution images. Moreover, uploading high-res images defeats the whole purpose of watermarking.

2) You have to manually watermark your images

Depending on your workflow, watermarking can be a chore. At worst, you’ll have to manually watermark all your images, which can be a hugely time-consuming step, after which you’re stuck with a bunch of small, web-sized images with your ugly watermark sitting on your computer.

At best, the most pain-free way I’ve found is to upload with the Flickr plugin for Adobe Lightroom, which only renders a temporary file, uploads it to Flickr, and then deletes it, so your own local archive is keep nice and clean.

5) You Want To Sell Prints & Images

While Flickr offers an option to order prints from their site through Snapfish, print and finish options are limited at best.

Since all prints are available at Snapfish’s standard pricing, there’s no option for photographers to price prints or earn profit from sales. While this option is fine for users looking to share images with friends and family, it’s sorely lacking for all but the family snapshooter.

Moreover, it’s impossible to license or provide controlled download of images through Flickr. The most advanced way to send a file with Flickr is to directly link to the full-resolution image – if you’ve even uploaded it.

6) You Blog & Share Images

While you can upload huge, beautiful high resolution photos to Flickr, there are limited options for what you can do with those images in terms of embedding them.

Unlike professional image services like PhotoShelter, which can create dynamically scaled custom sizes for embedding at any size, Flickr offers only a few set tiers for image sizes based on width – 240px, 500px, 640px, etc. It’s not possible to set specific widths.

If your images to live only on Flickr, this is fine. However, if you want to embed images in your blog and have them properly sized for maximum effect, you’re out of luck unless the width of the content area exactly matches one of Flickr’s preset sizes.

7) You Want A Customized Website

A quick look at any Flickr page and you’re struck with one thing: Unless your name happens to be Flickr (and if so, I’m sorry), there’s barely a hint of your brand as a photographer anywhere on your Flickr page, save for  a 48×48 pixel profile photo.

Needless to say, Flickr is the last place you should be sending any potential client to if you want to be taken seriously. On the upside, at least it doesn’t have a silly name like SmugMug.

The Solutions

There you have it. 7 reasons you may have outgrown Flickr. For those growing photographers looking for a more robust set of features from their photo host, there are a few options, including SmugMug, Zenfolio and the new kid to the block, 500px.

What I consider the single solution to all of Flickr’s above failings is PhotoShelter, a professional image service that delivers everything from robust archive management to print sales to customizable websites that put your brand first. Moreover, it’s the service I personally use to manage my online image archive via www.ishootshows.com, from instant image licensing to digital transfers to clients.

The only thing that PhotoShelter lacks in comparison to Flickr its social sharing and community aspects. However, to this end, PhotoShelter includes an export feature to send images to a linked Flickr or Facebook account, making sharing a snap.

Summary

As mentioned before, I still use Flickr and I absolutely love the social element of the site as a way to connect with peers and colleagues. While Flickr falls short when it comes to serious image archiving and management, at it’s core, it’s still a fun, easy way to share images. However, when you find yourself searching for an online archive with more robust features and flexibility, there’s a lot of competition.

Buy Yourself Something Nice

Do you buy stuff? Do you buy camera stuff? If this article or any other content on www.ishootshows.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and grabbing your next photo gear purchase through one of my affiliate links:

• B&H Photo
• Amazon.com
• BorrowLenses.com

Simply clicking through either B&H or Amazon.com here for your purchases helps me bring you free content like the photography tips and gear reviews regularly posted on www.ishootshows.com, and naturally it doesn’t cost you a cent more. If you do grab some gear, drop me a line! I’d love to hear about what you picked up.

Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.