Me | Jeff Wong | Page 25

Hiking at Diamond Heights and Mt. Davidson Park

December 20, 2015 / Cali, Me, Photo

I spent the afternoon hiking around some new parks in San Francisco. I figured it was a nice day to get some fresh air. At the end of the day I was able to snag this photo

So, the afternoon started with me taking the metro and a bus to Diamond Heights.

I honestly didn’t know where I was going, so I just kept hiking. I took a little back yard trail for about a quarter mile.

The trail took me past a couple different neighborhoods. If you look closely, I think these are made of giant shipping containers.

When I finally arrived at the park, the landscape started opening up, revealing a miniature canyon (on the right).

It’s a nice trail, and makes for interesting photography because of the way the canyon casts a shadow.

Some of the rock formations were pretty cool… It’s almost like something you’d see in Skyrim.

As I walked through the park, I was chasing the light, heading west.

I finished Diamond Heights pretty quickly, and figured I could catch some more pictures on Mt. Davidson Park. Little did I know, it was one hell of an incline to get there. Some of those hills were pretty brutal.

As I got near the top, I saw an MG in excellent condition. Whoever owned this really took care of it.

And when I got to the top of Mt. Davidson, I waited for an opportunity to snap a pic of San Francisco at night.

Here’s a panoramic of 10 stitched photos looking east-ish.

And that concludes my hike. I took the bus and metro home. It’s pretty easy to get to, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to check out the skyline at night, as an alternative to Twin Peaksâ€”it’s less crowded at Mt. Davidson.

I’ll be back in the future to capture the sunrise. Stay tuned!

2 Weeks with the Nikon 35mm 1.4g

December 19, 2015 / Me, Photo

So I purchased a used Nikon 35mm 1.4g 2 weeks ago and I wanted to give an update on my impressions. Before I share my opinion, I want to note that I’m not a professional photographer… it’s just a hobby that I enjoy.

So for starters, I noticed that the 35mm 1.4g is pretty soft when shot wide open (at F1.4). There’s also a fair bit of vignetting, but I actually kind of like the effect.

However, when you shoot wide open, its ability to isolate a subject is phenomenal. The strength of the 35mm is its versatility. There is certainly some compromise, but the convenience of having one single lens on the body is what makes it brilliant.

And having the extra low light ability just makes things so much more interesting for night time. Things look incredible with available lighting, and the best part is that you can do it hand held. The difference between f1.4 and f2.0 is a full stop (2x more light), and the difference between f1.4 and f2.8 is (4x more light). That’s a tremendous delta.

The most important thing I find myself doing is shooting more pictures of people. That’s the difference I’ve been looking for versus my 24mm.

The 35mm is great for journalism style photos. I love how it shows some of the environment to give you a hint of what’s happening around a subject.

The 35mm can also be used for some landscapes/cityscapes. This was stitched from 5 photos shot vertically to create a similar focal length to a ultra wide angle lens. There is a little distortion, but most people probably won’t see it. (Now that I’ve pointed it out, I’m sure you’ll notice it. Heh)

And the bokeh is incredible. If you look really carefully, there’s a slight bit of onioning when you zoom in 100%, but you really have to pixel peep to notice.

So after using the 35mm 1.4g for a week, I think I’m going to keep it. I got it for a great deal, so I’m feeling pretty lucky right now.

What do you guys think of the the 35mm?