Category: No Metering

22May

Lake Panic. White-fronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides)

Posted in Bird Sanctuaries/Hides, eShop, Flora and Fauna, Gear, Hardware, Locations, Mirror, No Metering, Portfolio, Print for Sale, Wildlife | Leave a comment

White-fronted Bee-eater at Lake Panic, KNP © H Grohmann

White-fronted Bee-eater at Lake Panic, KNP © H Grohmann

I’ve never had a chance at getting this ‘close’ to them so this was a first. The 500mm Mirror (750mm effective) was used as I wanted to rekindle my manual shooting prowess. I deliberately left the 150-500mm at home. The (enlarged) image is a bit noisy but acceptable for a 30 year old lens design (but manufactured 2009)…and a 2006 sensor (D80) that’s quite noisy at 400 ISO never mind the 1000 ISO I have to be at to get an exposure with at least double the focal length in shutter speed to get a sharp(ish) image, and then cropped in by at least 50%. Whew…Breathe!

A number of 18-270, 100-400 and 150-500mm (Nikon) photographers came and quizzed me about the mirror :) The 400, 500 and 600mm (Canon) prime users ignored us…and they call “us” snobs! LOL.

Read about the Mighty Mirror here.

White-fronted Bee-eater at Lake Panic, KNP, RSA © H Grohmann

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leopard Look © Harvey Grohmann

Contact me for tuition and tours as well as event photography!

Gear I use: Bodies: Nikon D-SLR’s / Lenses: Nikon, Sigma, Tokina, Vivitar
Filters: Hoya UV & Polarizing / Flash: Nikon Speed-lights / Bag: Lowe Pro
Tripods & Heads: Manfrotto / Grips, Triggers, Timers, Batteries: Phottix
Editing Plug-in: Topaz Labs Noise Reduction, HDR, B&W Conversion & more!

16Jun

Lunar Eclipse – Compilation

Posted in Astrophotography, eShop, Gear, Hardware, Mirror, No Metering, Photography 101, Portfolio, Print for Sale, Tips-Tricks, Tripod | 4 Comments

Despite 4 hours of standing outdoors in the freezing Highveld winter near Jo’burg, it was fun! What photography isn’t? Thanks to my friend Wayne for letting me shoot on his plot and keeping the coffee, red wine and conversation flowing! I eventually lost the feeling in my feet, it was so cold. The joys of outdoor photography :)

Lunar Eclipse 2011 06 15 © HarveyG Photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How was it shot? See my technique here:

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07May

Lake Panic – Kruger National Park

Posted in eShop, Glass, Hardware, Lens, Mirror, No Metering, Print for Sale, Road Trip, Telephoto, Tripod, Wildlife | 2 Comments

Just got back from a shoot in the KNP. I stayed at the Sand River Bush Camp run by the Lowveld Honorary Rangers. I will do a trip report sometime about this magnificent secluded camp. Here is one of the images I took at the end of that trip at the Lake Panic Bird Hide on the way out of the park with my completely manual Vivitar 500mm f/6.3 Series 1 Mirror Lens. (Read my lens review here). If you want to join me on a photo tour to this camp, please contact me here.

African Darter (Anhinga rufa) - High and Dry

African Darter (Anhinga rufa) – "High and Dry" © HarveyG Photography 2010

Click about/contact if you wish to order a print. Thanks!

28Dec

Vivitar 500mm f/6.3 DX Series 1 – The Mighty Mirror – Review

Posted in Hardware, Lens, Mirror, No Metering, Reviews, Specifications, Super Telephoto | 23 Comments

Vivitar VIV-500-6.3 500mm f/6.3 Mirror Lens

Vivitar VIV-500-6.3 500mm f/6.3 Mirror Lens

Note to readers: Please leave a comment! It would be nice to know where you are from and if the article helped you in any way!

Christmas 2009. A new Vivitar 500mm f/6.3 DX Series 1 Mirror Lens.I’ve always been fond of them.

A lightweight(1.4 lb – 651 g) manual focus, multi-coated, catadioptric (reflex), fixed aperture “Super” Telephoto which, despite the “DX” label, can be used on full and small frame DSLR sensors as well as on regular 35mm film SLR’s. On the D90, with it’s DX sensor and 1.5x crop factor, that’s an effective 750mm! Make sure you are a good 15+ meters from your subject unless you want to shoot that Lion’s eyeball. These mirror lenses can be attached to virtually any (D)SLR using common T-Adapters. My first set of images can be found at the end of this post. You deserve to see what some lens manufacturers may not want you to see and thus why reviewers (and others) often unfairly malign these marvellous mirrors…

 

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