Archives for August 2012

My wife is a photographer. She’s been doing product photography for a local jewelry shop for a couple years now, and in the last year has gotten into “normal” photography as well. She’s attempting to start a business doing it, so to help with that, we purchased the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens (Nikon Mount) for her to do product photography outside work, as well as a pretty good portrait lens (though admittedly, with a DX (APS-C) camera, it becomes 150mm and you have to stand pretty far from the person being photographed.

We purchased the lens from the local Shutterbug (an Oregon based, often found in the mall, camera shop). They price matched to B&H, Adorama, and Amazon (though they initially tried to add in the price of next day shipping). We did this largely because they were able to order the lens, and were willing to let us play with it before purchase. Buying online doesn’t have this advantage. It took almost exactly the quoted 3 weeks to arrive, but it did make it in time for a planned trip to Portland (which ironically has a camera store that stocks this lens (Pro Photo Supply).

Initial impression is quite good. The lens feels quite solid, has the classic Tokina AF/MF switch (pull the focus ring toward the camera for MF, push away to AF), which I find very intuitive and useful. While the lens does extend with focusing, it’s not obnoxious. With the hood on, however, the lens does become pretty darn long at full extension. One of the biggest advantages to the lens is the price. At $489, it’s a bit over half the cost of the Nikon 105mm Macro/Micro Lens. And while, yes, the Nikon focuses completely internally and has VR, as well a focus motor, none of these things really make it worth the price difference. Especially given macro photography rarely uses auto focus, and since it’s generally on a tripod, VR is nearly worthless. Oh, and weight. The Tokina weighs in at 19 oz, while the Nikon is over a half pound more at nearly 28 oz (27.9 oz). Focusing is pretty darn fast, and pretty quiet. Not sure what some others online have complained about.

There are more extensive reviews here, here, and here.

All and all, I’d highly recommend. While I can’t speak for whether a filter should be used or not (using a relatively inexpensive one currently, will probably switch to a 55mm Hoya HD in the coming months), I still prefer to use them since filters are “cheap” relative to replacing a lens.

[xrr rating=5/5]

For years I’ve had a passing interest in “flipping” or playing with a balisong/butterfly knife. Living in Oregon all my life, I was well aware of Benchmade and their extremely high quality Balisongs. Alas, they’re also quite expensive, and they don’t make a trainer anymore. =(

So, a few months ago I started looking at trainers, and how they ranked. From most of what I saw, the Bear and Son BC114 got pretty good reviews, and was darn affordable. So, a few weeks back, I purchased one off eBay, and waited.

When the “knife” arrived, I was pretty pleased. The build quality seemed good, though the punch job on the “blade” was a bit sloppy (the tang side had obvious punch press slop. nothing my Dremel couldn’t fix). The play on the handles was non-existant (and still is, but I’d imagine that’ll change as the pins stretch), but the pins also seemed overly tight. Thankfully, some White Lightning fixed that as well.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I suck at flipping. But that’s the point of the trainer. And I have gotten better. Now, I don’t know how long the knife will last, but given the parts, I’d guess I should be able to “fix” anything that breaks. The “blade” should last forever. The pins may break, but I should be able to replace them with screws. The handles I’d guess I’d just try to fix with some JB Weld.

All and all, pretty happy. I wish I could have bought it locally, but when I went to the local knife chain store (Excalibur Cutlery and Gifts) they were sold out (and a bit expensive, but I’m all for local economy).

[xrr rating=4/5]