New Lens and Sharing some Pictures

I bought a new lens for my Nikon 40DX this week. I have been wanting to get a prime lens for a while and have been looking and browsing, but no buying. After realizing that I had less than a handful of decent pictures from the two weddings I attended recently, I decided to go ahead and get it here. I bought a Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX.  This was my first major purchase at a Chinese Photography market. I knew what the price was on Amazon and also new that I would be able to get for same price, but probably not cheaper.

This is a super fast lens! At f/1.8, I can take pictures in very little light. But I must admit that using the new lens takes some getting used to. It definitely makes me think about the process a bit different. The combinations of aperture and speed make controlling the exposure a bit more tricky!!! I really want to use the lens for some real portraits and have been snapping around the house to practice. I can see myself taking this lens on street walks from now on. It is super light and almost like a point-and-shoot if you get the right settings for the lighting. One feature it has that I love is the ability to override the auto focus without changing the setting on the lens. The A/M setting on the lens will allow you to use the autofocus to get 95% of the focus and then you can fine-tune manually. Seems like work, right? But when you are trying to take a close picture of someone, it is sometimes difficult to find the right focus point. The nose? The glasses? Being able to change that on the fly is a good technique for quickly taking a few shots with slightly different points. Anyway, more on the technical discovery's later.


I took a few pictures and wanted to share. Not just a technical article, but some picture of Natalie. Seems like she is growing up way to fast. Oh, and I got a few pics of Tom smiling. Really. Check it out.

Picture of the Expo Center in Puxi taken from car
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My sister-wives from Puxi
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Caught a real smile that comes after the fake smile
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Seems grown up to me
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Conference call night. This is how I see Tom most evenings!
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Some smiles from the morning of International Day. Curly hair courtesy of braids we put into wet hair at 8:30 PM the night before.
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Smiles
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Still loves Mucho (AKA Hobbes)
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She CHOSE to wear a skirt
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I asked for a smile. I got one. Whoohooo!
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These are Natalie's shoes that she wore to school. Told me that morning that the holes have been there for a couple of weeks. Oh, and it was raining this day. Said she was used to her feet being wet.
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Better shot of the inside of her shoe. Off to the market today to get a new pair of fake Converse. Why can't she wear the $50 New Balance she got this summer?
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Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 40

Today is international Day at school so I will post some separate pictures of Natalie. She wanted curly hair so we did the braids on wet hair last night. Cute. Oh, and I spelled atheist wrong.

"And in the Public Schools no less. Call a Lawyer. As a math atheist, I should be exempt from this."
March 7, 1991

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 39

"This whole book is full of things that have to be accepted on Faith! It's a religion!"
March 6, 1991

a

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 38

"Yeah, all these equations are like miracles. You take two numbers and when you add them, they magically become one new number! No one can say how it happens. You either believe it or you don't."
March 5, 1991

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 37

Thought this was fitting in light of last night being Math Night at the school. And since we prayed to Jesus at the start of Math Night and thanked him for providing the wonderful curriculum (Not making that up, it is a Lutheran school...), I also thought it was fitting.

"You know, I don't think math is a science. It think it is a religion. A religion?"
March 4, 1991

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 36

Today was Gammaw's last day in Shanghai. Thanks for visiting! See you soon!

"Safe travels to Mom/Gammaw!"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 35

Back to school and Calvin and Hobbes...

"This book makes no sense at all."
May 20, 1990

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 34

We let Natalie play hooky from school today. her Gammaw leaves Monday so this was the last week to spend weekday time with her. Natalie planned out a busy day, we were all exhausted when we got home. Well worth the missed school!

"WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM FOR A DAY OF PLAY  WITH GAMMAW!"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 33

""
May 19, 1990

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 32

Today: Playing the part of Hobbes is Mucho the Monkey! (also realized an issue with hair style continuity!)

"It's like a paper boy. You know, like a tiger with a paper route.  Oh."
May 18, 1990

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 31

Back to school after a week off! Natalie was asleep at 7:30 p.m. last night, but awake again at 1:30 a.m.! Mosquito! I had to get up and spray her room twice, but she still insisted on sleeping in bed with us. Wouldn't even be possible without a king-size bed. This morning, her body showed the wrath of the mosquito. Bites all over legs, arms, face. She even had one on the palm of her hand!  Anyway, on with the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons this week!

"Hey Hobbes, what's a 'Paper Tiger'?"

Recipe: Roasted tomato soup With Cheddar Hat

It is a bit cooler in the evenings now and so got the hankering for some soup! I stole the original recipe from one of my blogs, but of course I had to modify a bit! I called it a Cheddar Hat to make it a bit more appealing to the nine-year old in the family, but basically it is just a crouton with cheese. Hard to find plum tomatoes, but smaller grape tomatoes are always available and usually sweet even if not completely ripe. However, this substitution means there won’t be as much “juice” in the tomatoes. I also think you can use this as a base to add whatever other herbs or ingredients sound good. I want to try again and add a roasted beet or maybe even some carrot. No pictures from last time, maybe next time!