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 Project - Day 171

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. The end is here. Wow, 171 days of getting up, dressed, fed, and a picture before rushing out the door. More reflection later...

"Happiness hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her stuck still no turning back"
--Florence Welch, Florence and the Machine

Daily Picture Project - Day 170

LAST full day of school! And we finally got to a project that she has wanted to do since day #23! We had great fun today and now am thinking that it was a great experience. One more picture to add...

"The Lizard was keeping late hours and his eyes seemed even more buggy than usual."

Daily Picture Project - Day 169

Down to the wire. Just a few days of pictures left. Tom brought interesting items back from the US this trip. This was Natalie's favorite (except for the 16 boxes of Macaroni and Cheese).

"Monchichi Monchichi"

Daily Picture Project - Day 168

3 1/2 days of school left...

"Jumping for Joy!"

Daily Picture Project - Day 167

Finished Clue. Thanks goodness. Spent 3 minutes this morning looking for a stand in for a monocle. Geesh.

"Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the Candlestick"

Daily Picture Project - Day 166

Back to the Clue genre...

"Mr. Green in the Hall with the Gun"

Daily Picture Project - Day 165

So sad. Natalie is feeling the weight of the world the last few days. She's tired, she misses Aerin, other good friends are leaving Shanghai, her classmate's drama is getting to her, and she's starting on the short path to puberty (yes, it is coming). To emotions seem to be right at the surface. This morning's crying ranged from not being able to find a container of food in the pantry bigger than a QUART to measure for her math homework (liter no problem, US Quarts? Nada) to not being able to stand on her head (our 2nd option for picture as the 1st was Mr. Green with a Gun but no Gun!).

"In 6 1/2 Days I get to Relax!"

Daily Picture Project - Day 164

I'm a little under the weather today (Girl Scout camp did me in this weekend!) so we had to resort to the white board.

"Tick... Tock..."

Daily Picture Project - Day 163

Ok, yet another day of reprieve from the Clue theme! Too busy this morning. But Natalie came up with a nice metaphor!

"Her eyes were glued to the screen"

Daily Picture Project - Day 162

WE INTERRUPT THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM FOR SOCCER DAY
Natalie is headed off to SAS for Soccer Day. Not her favorite day of the year! And most of the pictures today resulted in a shot of her ducking away from the ball, so I see how the day will go. Mr. Mustard must wait to be revealed until tomorrow. Off to find a toy gun...

"I hope it doesn't hit me in the head!"

Daily Picture Project - Day 161

Realizing I have very items in the house that can be used as a weapon. Please don't look too closely at today's murder weapon!

"Ms. Scarlet in the Kitchen with the Lead Pipe"

Daily Picture Project - Day 160

"Mrs. White in the Library with the Rope"

Daily Picture Project - Day 159

She wanted to continue the Clue theme she started last week. I have to find rope, a lead pipe, and a gun before we can finish!

"Mrs. Peacock in the Lounge with the Wrench"

Daily Picture Project - Day 158

Pajama day. Natalie chose her Skyline Tshirt. She "earned it" when she was four! It is one if her last real linkages back to her previous life in Dayton. So, instead of using the "Future so Bright I have to Wear Shades" line, I went with her real quote. Not much effort on the picture this morning as she was too busy observing the kittens that are now living in a flower box on our garage wall. More pics of that later! Oh, and the sunglasses are mine. (Julie and Kim, these are the Washington DC too cool shades! Yes, I still have them and even wear them sometimes!)

"I miss Skyline"

Daily Picture Project - Day 157

These are Tom's glasses. And it is the Dining room, though it also seems to be my "junk I bought to decorate the house but don't know what to do with it" room. Might have to make this is a Saturday morning project.

"Professor Plum in The Dining Room with the Knife"

Daily Picture Project - Day 156

Today Natalie will "bridge" from Brownies to Juniors at the Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony (You are here in spirit Chris!). Natalie is a third year brownie as they changed the ages AFTER her first year. (Now you are a Daisy for two years) There is NO ROOM on this uniform now! We actually had to remove and replace several to find room. So that would have been a good theme for the day. BUT... She really wanted to use these glasses. These are pretty much the ugliest pair in the cabinet, but she thinks they indicate a certain level of sophistication. My attempt to explain that standing on the table negated that bit of sophistication seemed to go unheeded! Oh, and I should mention that Natalie really does admire Audrey Hepburn. She loves Breakfast at Tiffany's and My Fair Lady.

"Audrey Hepburn?"

Daily Picture Project - Day 155

"The world through orange-colored glasses made me sleepy"

Daily Picture Project - Day 154

New week, and weaning off the reflection theme! This week is glasses.

"Original, copy, shadow"

Daily Picture Project - Day 153

Delay due to Blogger outage. We enjoyed our Reflection theme this week. Only 22 days of pictures left1

"True Reflections"