Wedding Photography Rockford

Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F/1.4 ZF.2 Lens for Nikon Mini Review and Sample Photos

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:26:38 +0000

85mm Nikkor 1/80 f/1.4 iso 3200

So I just picked up a new lens. As you can tell from the title of this post its a Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Lens. I was a little skeptical to get a Manual Focus Lens. Oh I didn’t tell you!? There is not Auto Focus here.

First Impressions:

1. I was having a real tough time getting this thing to focus on what I wanted it to focus on. Especially wide open at f/1.4.

-Focusing Ring has very long throws, which makes it easier to focus in on your subject precisely.

- Every time I thought it was focused, I would take the picture and review it, only to my frustration I would find out, it would be an inch or two out of focus. I thought to myself, Maybe I just need to get used to the MF way of life, I have been so used to just getting my focus power from the AFF (Auto Focus Fairy).

- After a little bit of reading about the lens (Which there is not much information out there), I noticed people were talking about a little green dot that would pop up in the View Finder to indicate that you were in focus. For the life of me, I didn’t know where to find this green dot, nor did I notice it ever before. After looking all around my VF for this green dot, I noticed it was on the bottom left corner of the VF along with all of the other camera settings. After using the green dot as my assistant, my photos were all in focus! This made me one happy boy. I also felt like such a newb for not knowing about the Focus Indicator.

2. Colors Rendering and Contrast is the bomb diggity.

- Beautiful

-Stunning

- Blows my Nikkor 50mm 1.8 color out of the water. (Even though I still think that lens is the best glass for the money and its a really awesome lens)

3. This thing’s middle name is Sharpness

- Wide open, it’s sharp with a little hazy goodness all around.

- Past f/2 it only gets noticeably and awesomely sharper.

4. Bokeh

- Just beautiful Butter Sauce all around town.

5. Distortion

- I still want to do a little more testing in this area, but from what I see in my sample photos, it handles distortion really well.

6. Conclusion:

At first I was really regretting my purchase and was hoping I didn’t make a big mistake in buying this lens. I wasn’t able to get anything in focus for the life of me. And maybe if I had consistent practice with MF all day every day for a while, I would probably be a serious MF pro, but I don’t know if I have the patients. I wanted results now, but I wasn’t really getting them. I loved the color and contrast right away. I loved the bokeh right away. I loved the build of the lens right away – It was solid and and felt like it was made out of pure titanium from a Government F-15. Everything about this lens other than the MF was great, but if I couldn’t take a single picture that I wanted, it was as good as dirty underwear (not good at all, incase I have some freaks reading this). But everything changed as soon as I discovered the magical green dot to assist me with making sure my focus was dead on. I will be very anxious to get out and shoot a little more with this lens and see what kind of stunning images I can produce. I still need to answer the question: Is it practical? That will answer itself with a little more time.

7. And one more thing…….

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

- I support my growing family through my Photography and through this Blog. If you enjoy the material that I post or find it helpful then I just ask that you support me by leaving a donation by clicking on the donation button on the right hand side or share this post with your friends so that I can continue doing what I do. It would help me out a great deal.
- Since Google’s disclaimer forbids anyone to ask people to click on their ads, I guess i’m not allowed to ask you to click on my ads and help me out. ; )
- If you like my work please make sure to “Like” me on facebook, You don’t even know how much that would help me!
- If I have done work for you in the past and you are pleased with it, please leave a review on my Page here!
- And if you know anyone getting married? or maybe not even know them, but just heard about it, or a little birdie told you, pass the word along!

Thank you
-Valentin

Sample Images - Click on the pictures to see them in full resolution.

I also added screenshots of some of them at 100% crop

1/60 f/1.8 iso 1000

1/50 f/2.5 iso 500

1/250 f/1.4 iso 400

100% Crop

1/60 f/3.5 iso 400

100% Crop

1/60 f/3.5 iso 400

100% Crop

Nikkor 1/160 f/1.8 iso400

100%

1/160 f1.8 iso 400

1/160 f/1.8 iso 400

100% Crop

1/200 f/1.4 iso 400

1/125 f/1.4 iso 640

1/80 f/1.4 iso 640 See what I mean by the focus being a hair off!

1/60 f/1.4 iso 1000

1/60 f/2.5 iso 2500 Pushing the ISO

1/60 f/1.4 iso 1250

1/60 f/1.4 iso 1250 – Unedited

1/60 f/1.4 iso 640

1/60 f/2.2 iso 6400 Really Pushing it.

1/80 f/1.4 iso 3200

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Shooting with Mark and Josiah Downtown Rockford

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:42:18 +0000

Woke up at 6am and it is pouring rain, thunder, lightning, and hail. We had planned for this morning to go downtown to do some shooting. As soon as josiah and Mark got to my house it stopped raining and the sun started to come out. Everything was dry within an hour. We got some sweet shots of the fog at the park before we headed down. Did some off roading, and we were on our way. It was a fun Saturday Morning. Weather was beautiful and much to take pictures of. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

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Jackie and Nate Engagement – Downtown Rockford

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:01:54 +0000

Well, it was a beautiful day last Saturday and what better way to spend some of it than going out and taking pictures. We decided to meet downtown and kinda wing it. I didn’t want to go to the usual areas downtown because I was tired of the same old thing. So instead of going behind the library around the bridge, we went completely the opposite way. And I think I found some serious goldmine spots. The sun was bright and beautiful, wind was extreme – we had to work with it, since it was the middle of the day. Anyways, Jackie and Nate were super easy to take pictures of. They were very cooperative and they were even willing to do things that could have gotten them run over by a car. I’m a little surprised that the only thing that happened was that we got yelled at in the middle of the road from a passing car. Anyways, I hope you enjoy some of the photos, and let me know what you think in the comments below.

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

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Hannah Play Time

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:09:31 +0000

Here are just a few photos that I took while Hannah was playing with her toy. I was loving the way the sun was shining through the window, so I found that as an opportunity to take some pictures. Enjoy.

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

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Hannah – Baby Mozart

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:19:32 +0000

Took some pictures of Hannah around the house. She wanted a photo of her playing at the piano, so I couldn’t say “no”. She is 3 months old in these photos and she is growing super fast. Good times. Enjoy.

My favorite picture is her Lloyd Christmas Hair

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

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Hallie and Justin Engagement Session – Downtown Rockford

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:35:09 +0000

Aside from Snowboarding, driving, snow, and christmas trees, one thing I like about the winter season is the overcast skies throughout the day. We were able to go out at 9am with Hallie and Justin to Downtown Rockford to take some engagement photos. Although there was no beautiful snow to complement the photos, there was also no harsh shadows and annoying direct sun. It was a good time and Hallie and Justin were great to work with. They were naturally in love, and it showed through the camera. Anyways, check out just a few photos from the shoot last saturday morning. And remember………..

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

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Took Hannah in the Studio for some Baby Portraits.

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:49:21 +0000

Well, I know many of you girly girls have been waiting for cute photos of Hannah (just to give you an idea of your misconception of “cute” – Hannah just let out some massive diarrhea bombs as I was typing this). But, even though she may let out some diarrhea explosions here and there, she is still my daughter and I love her anyways. Anyways, I’m sure you didn’t come here to read about baby fecal matter, so I will get on with the post. I took Hannah into the studio like 2 months back (actually according to my photo meta data, these photos were taken on 12/23/11). So it has been a while since I’ve posted, but you can understand, I am a new dad and don’t have all the time that I used to. These were more experimental more than anything, so don’t judge to harshly. Hannah was a cranky baby at the time as well.

Anyways, here are a few photos to cool your engines a bit, because hannah is yelling at me to hurry up.

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

Here’s the Setup. It get’s kind of messy pretty fast.

She IS Russian…….

There’s her baby butt, and here’s here baby…………….

Merry Christmas

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New Addition to Valentin Tokarchuk Photography

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:24:44 +0000

Sorry this post is long over due, but the holidays are a busy time. Well as many of you do know, Dasha and I had our first baby born on November 12, 2011. Her name is Hannah – which means, “He favors me”. She was born 7 lbs 5 oz. and 19 inches long. It was such a crazy experience for me, I couldn’t imagine how it was for Dasha. We ended up going to the hospital at 3 am on the 12th, I was so nervous I could’t keep still. At 7pm baby Hannah was born. It was such a happy moment. Pure Grace was the thought that kept going through my mind. I never thought I would have a beautiful healthy baby girl, but God was gracious. Dasha was a champ. The Midwife and the nurses were so shocked at how well she went through it. Well, to pass some time, I took pictures. Here are some pictures of our stay at the hospital. Enjoy! and remember!

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

Hannah next to her cousin Philip

Hannah next to her newest cousin Amie – who was born just 3 weeks earlier.

Tired, Stinky, and Happy Family.

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Thanksgiving Morning 2011

admin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:05:11 +0000

Here are the pictures from Thanksgiving Morning at the Host Residence. This year was a lot warmer than last year, so we got to enjoy the shooting a lot more. Caleb was as goofy as usual, which in effect, caused me to be goofy too. My Brosepeh from another Moseph was here this time. Trap. Marks scary hair (Good Riddance ). Awesome Profile Pictures. Delicious Breakfast from Bill Host. Good things all around. Anyways, I’m going to show my favorites first, and then drop a slideshow at the bottom of the rest. And as always……….

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

- I support my Family through my Photography and through this Blog. If you enjoy the material that I post or find it helpful then I just ask that you support me by leaving a donation by clicking on the donation button on the right hand side or share this post with your friends so that I can continue doing what I do. It would help me out a great deal.
- Since Google’s disclaimer forbids anyone to ask people to click on their ads, I guess i’m not allowed to ask you to click on my ads and help me out. ; )
- If you like my work please make sure to “Like” me on facebook, You don’t even know how much that would help me!
- If I have done work for you in the past and you are pleased with it, please leave a review on my Page here!
- And if you know anyone getting married? or maybe not even know them, but just heard about it, or a little birdie told you, pass the word along!

Thank you
-Valentin

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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Jeff and Jillian Wedding Sneak Peek

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:16:40 +0000

Wow, I haven’t posted anything in a while. It’s good to be back on the Blog. As many of you already know, our Baby Hannah was born on November 12, 2011, so things have been a little crazy around the Tokarchuk residence. Anyways, I will designate a special post just for Hannah at a later date very soon.

I wanted to give you a little sneak peek of the wedding that I am currently editing. Jeff and Jillian were just an outstanding couple and their wedding date was definitely memorable. Here are a few shots from that morning.

Let me know what you think, and as always……..

HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!

Thank you
-Valentin

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