Photographic Adventures by yours truly, ARMAND!

Hi friends! My name is Armand. I am a guy doing my thing in this great big world! I am going to attempt to do a photo blog by the recommendations of my brother and another friend! So, this will be a place where I will be posting pictures I take from my adventures (if I go on any), if I take some portraits or play with some animals. Hope you like, Armand Make sure to check out my insta! @armandludick and my brother! @emilludick

[armandludick]

Ok! So remember my first post? The one where I mentioned that I bought the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8? Yea, apparently it was no longer available at the great price I found it for. So I had to make a pretty tough decision - purchase this Rokinon 14mm or the Nikkor 14-24mm. 

Rokinon Pros: Cheaper (400-450 CAD vs 2100-2400 CAD), no coma, sharpness is super sharp at f/4 to f/5.6. Chromatic aberration is similar to the Nikkor. Image Resolution at the edges is a tiny bit sharper than the Nikkor.

Rokinon Cons: Barrel Distortion. Photoshop doesn’t have built in parameters to fix this in the Rokinon. One focal length. Image resolution at edges is only “good”. Possible quality control issues - ie some duds might make it to the market place. Manual Focus.

Nikkor Pros: No coma at every focal length.Image resolution at the center is a bit sharper than the Rokinon. More than one focal length. Autofocus.

Nikkor Cons: Way more expensive. Scarier if I drop or scratch the lens (both lenses do not accept filters). Bigger.

Ultimately, I decided on the Rokinon due to cost and very similar results as the Nikkor. I would have loved to have more focal length options, but I can imagine that 14mm will benefit me more for the stars if the only purpose for the lens (for me) is for starscapes. I would have loved the Nikkor, but I need a sale to occur or for the Canadian dollar to improve (I have no idea why it is so much weaker than the American since our economy is way better). I don’t think the barrel distortion will be too big of a deal - I should be able to correct for it. Either way, all you cheap a$$e$ like me will now benefit by getting a review of this lens when I get a chance to use it! :)

PS. www.lenstip.com - that is how I came to my conclusions on the lens optics

[armandludick]

Soooo it's not photography related but I just bought this! It's soooooo cool 😄 I'm a bit of a super hero fan 😇

[armandludick]

So, I plan on doing a bit of hiking in Colombia and I would rather recharge my batteries for my camera instead of buying a sh*t ton of batteries. I am intending on doing some starscapes too which will eat up my batteries! So, I bought this! It will be awesome! I can charge my phone (always have music and a flashlight), my brother’s GoPro and by buying a USB Nikon Battery Charger, my D800E!

[armandludick]

And the destination I have chosen is Colombia! The reason is because I honestly think it will be a little safer than travelling around Mexico and this way I can also visit with my brother! As much as I would have liked to do Chile or Argentina, I think my time there would have been too short, and I’ll also have to postpone Vietnam! But hey! I was supposed to go to Colombia last year, so at least I am making up on that rain cheque :) And yes, I will most likely be using this version of Lonely Planet as my travel companion :)

[armandludick]

Where to go, where to go??? I’m going to be getting about 6 weeks of starting Mid-December! I would like to get the hole enchilada regarding mountains, beaches and stars! 

Mexico is great because my brother is there right now for a few months learning Espanol - but it seems a bit dangerous for travel and there is also a famous quote in Mexico: “All the good looking girls are on TV”.

Chile would be awesome, but Torres del Painne might be busy and overall it is pretty expensive. Apparently surfing there is stellar and I have a lot of opportunities for star photos. Same with Mexico, perro mi Espanol no esta bueno.

Argentina would be amazing, but their beaches are apparently sub par and again, cost.

Colombia would probably be the cheapest overall, but I don’t know about the Cocuy Sierra Mountains…they look cool but apparently the east side has been closed off to hiking and I’m not sure about the beaches. I was researching it, and apparently they have a pretty alright surf scene too!

Where to go!? What a tough decision!!

[armandludick]

So, here I am! I am going to start my first post with a purchase I made today. I have recently decided that I want to get into starscape photography. However, while researching the subject a bit more, I noticed that my current line up of lenses doesn’t really work well with starscapes. At first, I was excited by the new Sigma Art series - the 24mm f/1.4 and the 35mm f/1.4. However, it turns out, both lenses have pretty bad coma in the corners - ie produce wonky looking stars further from the center of the image. The Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 is apparently highly rated, however, the vignetting on it looks horrendous, and the sharpness is pure garbage below f/4. So, what’s the point? The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 is the most recommended starscape lens, but it has massive barrel distortion and it’s sharpness again is very sub par. Then in Canada, at Vistek, the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 costs about 1000-1200 CAD. I thus decided on purchasing the Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8 which is about double the price - virtually no coma at all focal lengths, virtually no barrel distortion, superior sharpness at all apertures and focal lengths and it gives me more flexibility when framing a photo. I’m only going to get a chance to use it in about 1-2 months from now since I am still at work - but hoo-boy, I think that I am going to rock it! The only draw back to the 14-24 is that you cant put a protective UV filter on it, but the Rokinon 14mm doesn’t accept filters either.

And what about that tripod? I used to actually have an awesome 400 CAD Induro Carbon Fibre tripod. However, I lost it. After that, I find these little adventure tripods from Induro, Benro and Manfrotto to be pretty sick. My Manfrotto one is at the end of it’s life (3 years in rain, wind and shine!) and I gave my Benro to my brother with my NikonD300. This will be the first time I am using the Induro Travel series. It seems legit:

Panning and panoramics will be easy with the ball head and bubble level

It folds to about 20″ which is good since my bag is about 19″ Tall

It can support 10.3 lbs which is good since my heaviest lens and camera together weigh about 9 lbs

It has a little hook at the bottom to add additional weight for stability which is very beneficial on windy mountain tops - the Benro also had this feature.

Anyways! That looks like a good first post :) I’ll try to post frequently regarding my thoughts/plans with photography, my images and so on!