DigitalHeMan's Digital Life

I am currently on vacation in Japan, and we started our trip by spending a couple of days in Tokyo. One thing that always impresses me when I am in Tokyo is the abundance of photography equipment that can be bought in the shops.

There are a couple of large camera stores in Japan, and all have multiple branches in Tokyo. Our hotel was in Shinjuku, primarily in a business district, but within a couple of minutes from the hotel I had access to a large BIC Camera store, and a Yodobashi Camera. Out of the two, I think Yodobashi is my favorite – this particular branch had 5 or 6 floors, and each floor had a different ‘theme’ – the ground floor covered ‘consumer’ cameras, the first floor was for Digital SLRs, the next for Medium Format and Studio, the next for Tripods and Darkroom, and so on….

The nice thing about these stores is that they always carry a wide range of photo gear – this particular Yodobashi had stock of all the exotic Nikon telephotos, as well as the small accessories that always seem to be impossible to get in Europe.

There are also a number of photo stores, and further Yodobashi and BIC branches, in the Ikebukuro region.

Tokyo also has a thriving second hand market for Nikon gear, and there are a couple of stores worth visiting. Probably the best known is Nikon House in Ginza, but you can also find good second hand selections at a small shop in Ikebukuro (just keep walking from the Metro down the road with all the electronics stores, and you will find it on a corner on the right) and a very complete store in Shinjuku (kind of inbetween the park and the New South Entrance to the Metro).

(I realise the above descriptions without shop names and addresses are pretty useless, for which I apologise, but looking at kanji on a roadsign or shop front doesn’t work for me)

One thing that hasn’t helped in my quest for Nikon gear is the exchange rate. Whereas when I was here a couple of years ago I was able to pick up a 24-70/2.8 for a couple of hundred Euros less than it cost in the Netherlands, it now is much more expensive to buy lenses in Tokyo. Probably the most outrageous example I saw of this was a 200/2VR for around 5000 Euros (3500 in NL), but even the cheaper lenses cost a lot more (for example a 14-24 was around 1800 in Tokyo, compared to 1350 in NL). I realise that shopping on the high street is never the best place to get the cheapest prices, and I am unaware of what they would cost via mail order, but it is certainly in stark contrast to the prices I experienced a couple of years ago.

The good news though is that accessories are still significantly cheaper.

So what did I buy? Two 77mm neutral color filters. Just couldn’t find anything else I needed

The photo accompanying this blog is a HDR image of a rice field before the storm in Chino City, Nagano Prefecture, where we are spending the rest of our vacation (obviously not literally in the rice field). Taken with the 24/1.4 and D3 at f/5.6

I’ve been lucky enough to visit South Africa a couple of times now, and knowing what gear to take is always the big question before I leave. In discussing this with other photographers, through my blog, and on forums, one question that people often ask me is what sort of camera support system they should be using whilst on the safari vehicles.

Often the initial thought is something along the lines of, ‘I’m taking a big camera lens, therefore I need to take the heaviest tripod that I own in order to support that lens.’ A logical way of thinking if you are intending to sit in the bushes for a day to wait for your prey to approach. Problem with that in Africa is if you sit in the bushes for any length of time, you’re likely to get eaten by a lion

You might also think that the safari vehicles will have enough space to mount a tripod. However, even if you are lucky enough to have a whole row to yourself, mounting a tripod is not going to be practical. Asides from the fact that there isn’t enough space in the footwells to put the tripod up, the rough ground you may be traveling across will quite likely throw the tripod outside of the vehicle, lens and body along with it.

So what is the solution? Well, you will probably be either shooting from the window of a 4×4, or traveling along in a typical safari vehicle such as the one in the following image (passenger normally not included….)

As you can see from the construction, it is a very open setup, designed to give the most flexible vision in any direction. You may be sharing your row with one or two other people, or you may have it to yourself. The way I work, when shooting with one of my big guns, such as the 200-400mm or the 600mm, is to take along a couple of bean bags with me. The most useful one I have is around 20cm (8″) square, and has a velcro fastening on it. The first day I arrive in Africa I go to the local supermarket, and buy around 2.5kg of maize or dried beans, and fill the bean bag up with this. They only cost around 2€/3$, so it’s not worth taking up 2kg of my luggage allowance to bring them with me from home. I then have a very flexible solution that I can use to support the lens, either on one of the chair supports, or on top of a fellow passenger body part. It is very easy to quickly change from one side of the vehicle to the other, without having the hassle of moving a tripod, monopod, or other support system, and easily gives enough support to get sharp images.

The bean bag solution also works well if you are shooting out of a car/4×4 as it will rest on the opened window, or, if you do have the chance to shoot from outside the vehicle, on top of the car roof. (Edit: the following image was not taken standing outside of a vehicle, as I value my limbs too much….)

All animal shots in this article taken with the D3/600mm, using a bean bag support, at the Krugersdorp game reserve, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Some time ago we put a call out on the Dutch Cafe at Nikonians for a get together in Amsterdam. This is something we have organised a couple of times in the past, although the previous trips were more based around out of town vendors. This time we decided upon a city meet, so planned to start off at Centraal Station in Amsterdam at 10am on the Sunday morning.

Unfortunately we chose the worst day of the year in terms of weather, and it rained torrentially the whole day. This had an effect on the turn out, and the group was rather small – Albert, Jeroen, and myself.

Red - Waterlooplein

Our plan for the day was to spend the first couple of hours walking around the Jordaan, and then get to the city archive for 1200pm, to allow us to join in with the Foam Museum Foam Lab Safari, a photo walk through Amsterdam. The theme for the Safari was ‘Structures’, and photographers were open to interpret that as they wished. Foam had organised a ‘refuel point’ in Amsterdam Noord, so we walked up from the archives to behind Central Station to catch the boat to North. Along the way we were able to take a few shots, using umbrellas as protection, as the rain really wasn’t planning to stop any time soon.

ARCAM - Amsterdam Center for Architecture

Wet - Bridge near Nemo

One interesting solution that Amsterdam has to the student housing problem is to make temporary accommodation by stacking up shipping containers, cutting a window in the side, and painting them funky colors. Not sure it would be my first choice of living quarters, but they seem very popular. There is such a ‘commune’ in the north of Amsterdam, at the NDSM Wharf.

Light at the end of the tunnel aka A student's life

I said No

There are also a number of old warehouses in North, and these have been handed over to artists who use them for their creative purposes. We wandered inside one, but upset one of the residents, who didn’t want ‘professionals’ taking photos…..

D is for...

Blue

Saint in training

It’s always nice to wander round a city that you know very well looking for some different photos, and it was a good day’s walk……

All the photos in this blog post were taken using the D3 and the 24-70mm f/2.8G lens. The waterproofing of both the lens and the camera certainly proved to be valuable…..

Albert demonstrating how to take a photo whilst holding an umbrella.....

A couple of weeks ago I was given the opportunity to visit the Super Bikes Championship at the Assen TT Circuit in Holland, as part of a corporate sponsorship package we had purchased. Of course I was more than happy to go along, as long as I was able to take my gear with me

Although I pleaded with the organisers to get me a place in the press pit, it appears our Gold Club sponsorship didn’t quite give us that many privileges, so I ended up shooting from one of the tribunes. I was lucky to be able to get a seat on the second row just near the final bend, so, although I was a bit higher than I would have liked, I was able to capture the action as the riders were leaning over to take the bend.

I decided to travel to the venue fairly ‘lightly’ so ended up just taking my D3 along with 300mm f/2.8G VR, TC-14e, a 24-70mm f/2.8G for general shots, and my Gitzo monopod. As it turned out, I needed to use the teleconverter with the 300mm, but then it was just the right focal length to get frame filling bikes, after a slight crop in post processing. (I find with this sort of photography it is always best to be slightly wider, and crop later, rather than fill the frame in camera and risk chopping the nose or the tail of the bike).

The weather was great on the day of the race, but unfortunately this meant I was left shooting at relatively high shutter speeds, since I wanted to keep my aperture fairly wide. This meant that I wasn’t able to blur the movement of the wheels to introduce the sensation of speed, and I had to avoid taking too many shots where the bike just looked stationary on the track. Luckily from my vantage point I was able to get shots of the riders leaning into (and out of) the curve, so at least the spokes of the wheels weren’t visible.

Panning the action was not so easy from the height I was sitting in the stand, so I was glad I could use the monopod for some support, and I finished the day with a number of shots I was happy with. Getting press credentials for these sort of events is next to impossible unless you are representing a media publication, but at least I now have some images that I may be able to use to blag my way in next time….

One thing I noticed whilst in Tokyo was how readily available Nikon cameras and accessories were.

In a time where Nikon D3s are rarer than hen’s teeth, pretty much every store in Tokyo had one on display, and the larger ones claimed to be able to deliver out of stock (maybe a reason why the rest of the world is having such difficulty finding them). Although some of them said they would only sell to people resident in Japan at present.

Also relatively rare (in European terms) lenses were available off the shelf – I was in store that had all the Nikon big guns (400, 500, and 600) in stock, although my temporary excitement disappeared when the shop realised they were advertising the VR version a bit too early….

I was also able to stock up on Nikon accessories, all at low prices compared to Europe. Things like Nikon NC filters, lens caps, gel filters, extension tubes, and the coveted BL-3 battery cover for the MB-D10 were available even from electrical superstores….

But what impressed me the most were two dedicated Nikon stores – one in Ginza, NikonHouse, which only stocked second hand Nikon (but had a good selection at reasonable prices – warning, the owner doesn’t speak too much English), and another one in Shinjuku (whose name I forgot to write down, but you will find it if you walk down the main street in Shinjuku) which sold everything Nikon, both second hand and brand new. Also in Ginza you can find Nikon Plaza, which is one of many Nikon showrooms in the city, run by Nikon, and also housing NPS. Here you can play with new Nikon gear, although unfortunately they also were unable to show me the 600mm