momentcorp.com

Latest News

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:50:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

Sorry I have not posted news or reviews for awhile. I have been having on going health problems that have yet to be resolved. A lot of these problems affect the site as it is nearly impossible to type or use a computer without pain. I am having a lot of physical therapy to deal with these problems and hopefully this year will be better than the last.

I am not able to answer emails until my health situation improves. As I said typing is very painful. I am still reading my mail and have a strong desire to reply to those I receive once things have gotten better.

I really miss working on my site and posting blogs. I also miss the contact with the people that read my reviews. Once I am in a better situation. The reviews and blog posts will start to flow again :)

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 14:38:00 +0000

I know this is a very late New year post, as we now are at the 9 of January. Well better late than newer I guess:)

2010 was a rather slow year as far as new reviews, as I was struggling with a sore shoulder. On the good side though my site had more visitors than ever.
So I want to say a big thanks to everybody that has supported my site!

So what is my plan for 2011 then? Well hopefully there will be a lot of new reviews coming out in 2011. Another change that we will have in 2011 is that the sample pictures will be a lot better than before. I'm planning on a upgrade to the site as well as I feel that that is long overdue.

To sum up 2010: It has been a long 7 months with too much pain. Only a handful of selected assignments where done, after all the bills needs to be paid. That also resulted in the recovery being longer than it should. This also impacted my reviews a lot, as I was told to stay away from the computer. I'm now trying out some speech recognition software to allow me to get some writing done.

Failure to communicate

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:41:00 +0000

Guess who I´m referring to? If you guessed: Nikon, you just won a cookie:)
I haven´t heard a single thing for about 5 months now from Nikon Europe(Scandinavia/Norway) It´s not like they haven´t released anything lately.. No NPS(Nikon Professional Services) preorder notices, no information about new equipment, nothing siltch, nada, not a single thing. In fact last time I heard anything from them was about a Nikon course on setting up Nikon CLS. And how to set up your camera, if you are a professional Nikon user, you shouldn´t need to attend a course like this if you ask me. But that´s not the point, the point is that the communication part is something Nikon has been saying for years that they are working on improving. Well it´s been about 3 years since I talked to the Nikon officials in Norway, and nothing seems to have happened since(at least on the comunique part). I´ve right up given up trying to call them, as they don´t answer the phone. I noticed on the newest NPS membership card they have removed the phone numbers of the back of the card (Scandinavia) I.e Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland). This does not look to me as if they are trying to improve their communication with their customers, or is it just me? To me this is not really a big problem, as they can´t usually provide a answer to the problem, nor do I thrust the repair facilities in Norway(fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me). Which brings me back to the reason I get all my equipment from B&H, now that´s a company Nikon could learn a thing or two about customer care, and service. I think what I´m trying to say is; this just isn´t good enough for a company like Nikon.

Nikon instant rebates extended

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:22:00 +0000

The Nikon instant rebates has been extended (ends November 20, 2010.) and is now including more equipment. Don´t miss out on these great deals. These are instant rebates and there is no need to mail in anything to get the rebate. Just add it to your shopping cart and you are done.

Nikon GP-1 Review is out

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:11:00 +0000

Just posted Nikon GP-1 Review

Review updates

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 17:53:00 +0000

Nikon D2H IR, Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D

Once again more delays... The Nikon 24mm f/2.8D review should have been done, but due to bad weather and shoulder problems it will take a bit longer until the review is done. I still need some more shooting with the lens before the review can be made. On the other hand, the 5.8cm f1.4 review will probably be out before the 24mm review. Nikon GP-1 review should be out by this weekend.

NIkon

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:52:00 +0000

Only a few more days left on the Nikon Instant rebates! (ending October 30, 2010)

New review out!

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Data Robotics Drobo 4-Bay Review

Next review will be Nikon GP-1. After that new lens reviews will finally be coming out!

Review updates

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:37:00 +0000

It's been a "couple" of months now since my last review. My shoulder is still not back to normal, but I've decided to push out a couple of reviews. Unfortunately lens reviews still have to wait a while longer. I still have some shooting to be done with the 24mm AF and the 5.8cm before I feel that I can give a full review of these lenses. The 400mm AI-S has been put on the shelf for now. It's too painful to lift the Nikon D3 to my eyes, so anything much heavier is a no no. At least until my shoulder heals up.

Next review out will most likely be the Drobo 4 bay, followed by Sekonic L-758DR light meeter.

On top of the 24mm AF Nikkor ,and the 5.8cm f/1.4, The following items are up for review as soon as I feel well enough to go out and shoot:
Nikon GP-1 GPS unit
Nikon MC-36
Nikon D7000 (sample pictures will be up as soon as I get the camera)
Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AI-S
Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX
Nikon 50mm f/1.4 vs 50mm f/1,4G AF-S
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 vs 35mm f/1.8G DX and so on.

There isn`t any particular order to what will be reviewed first. But you can expect sample pictures from the D7000 to be published on a daily basis after I get to grips with the camera.

Nikon D3, Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.5 @ 1/250s f/5.6, outtake from the latest assignment

Nikon Instant Rebates

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:25:00 +0000

B&H have some pretty sweet rebates on Nikon equipment these days. Depending on kit options you can save up to $1000! Just click the banner below to see the current rebates on Nikon Equipment.

Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:47:00 +0000

Seems like there is some kind of problem with Firefox and my portfolio. In Firefox none of the images will load. I'm looking into the problem. The portfolio is long overdue for a update as well. In the meantime there are a few pictures at my photoshelter account.

Comments on the new equipment from Nikon

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 12:29:00 +0000

Just some comments on some of the new Nikon equipment.

Nikon SB-700, ouch... they really missed quite a few features on this flash:
#1 No PC-Sync terminal, so forget about this one if you use pocketwiard II triggers.
#2 No external battery pack.
#3 still no real battery indicator
#4 Less power than the SB-600 (SB-600: 98' (30 m) at 35mm) vs SB-700; 92 at (30 m)35mm
#5 Weight; the SB-700(15.9 oz (450g) vs SB-900(14.6 oz (415g) and the SB-600 is 10.6 oz (300g) So currently the SB-700 is the heavies i-TTL flash from Nikon
#6 Price, compared to the SB-600 the SB-700 is more than $100 more expensive.
#7 Still only one IR receiver on the flash for the wireless. Personally I was hoping that Nikon would add a 2.4ghtz system to their wireless and move away from the IR.

But they did put in a few new features that looks promising:

#1 Light Distribution Patterns, now accessible using a dedicated button on the back of the flash. Best new feature of the unit without a doubt.
#2 Recycle Time, slightly faster than the SB-600 (3.5 Sec), vs SB-700; 3 seconds (AA Alkaline)
#3 A:B light ratios (previously only available on the SU-800)
#4 Accessories, you do get more included than on the SB-600, but you are paying more than $100USD for it.

Nikon D7000; They really missed with the name(D90x would have been a better choice in my opinion), but the specs make this a very interesting camera. My only gripe is that I wish it would take CF cards instead. I´m currently waiting for my pre-order. Who knows I might begin to start filming again. But that´s not my main reason for getting it. I really need something smaller because of my shoulder. I will start a Nikon D7000 sample images page as soon as I get the camera. This will of course be images straight from the camera without post processing added to them, just as it is on my lens reviews.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.4G Long awaited update of the manual focus Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 AI-S. The new 35mm 1.4 is packed with Nikon features, only thing missing for some might be the lack of VR. Personally I´m ok with lenses without VR, especially if they are fast and wide.
If you thought the manual focus version was expensive.., the new AF-S versions costs almost twice as much. The current price for the AF-S version is $1,799.95, compared to just under $1000 for the manual focus version. If this new 35mm even is slightly improved over the older manual focus version it will be a killer lens for PJ
I do believe that lots of photo-journalists are happy with the recent introduction of the new wide-angle primes from Nikon, but is it enough?

Nikon Pre-orders

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:10:00 +0000

B&H is now taking pre-orders for most of the new Nikon equipment. I have a feeling that the D7000 is going to be hard to get a hold of. So if you are looking for any of the new equipment you should hurry over to B&H and pre-order it now, or you will be waiting:) And just so you know, if you are a Nikon NPS member you can use that at B&H as well. Just type Nikon into the searchbox at the B&H website

I'm going to try and get a hold of some of the new equipment, leave a comment at the end of this post and tell me which item you want a review of:)

Nikon ViewNX 2

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:21:00 +0000

Nikon seems to have a new image browser out. I just have to mention a few things here. Since my shoulder is still way sore, I have to keep this short for now. First off, Nikon needs to get one thing sorted out straight away, and that is full x64 support for all their software and hardware! It's starting to get ridiculous the way Nikon is putting this off. All current versions of Nikon's editors and image browsers are lagging waaaaay to much. Using Capture NX2 or Viewnx(2) I've never ever seen my processors or RAM close to max, still the software is slow? This goes for all my computers, both PC and Mac's. (My main editing PC ic quad core 3.6Ghz with 8gb ram)

Nikon made the usual "Only the 32-bit versions of Windows XP are supported" Both ViewNx2 and Capture NX2 runs fine on xp64 by the way. All you need to do to get this to work is to "right click" the icon and go to compatibility mode, set this to XP and you are good to go.

Another problem Nikon seems to have is that they are really anti customization when it comes to their software. To be honest one of the things that annoys me the most about their software is the lack of customization. Why is the adjustment window always hidden, and the metadata maximized when you start up the browser?

Capture NX2 has a similar weirdness with the "Quick fix" window maximized, and the "camera settings" minimized? silly me I thought that capture NX2 was a "RAW" converter.

We need full customization of the software, both for short-cuts and menus. A better integration of Capture NX2 and View is also a must. An "open with" Photoshop with! Nikon settings would be nice as well. Sometimes I don't want to have to go through Capture NX2 to get the "as shot" settings in photoshop. I could go on and on about what needs to be fixed with Nikon's sofware, but at this point I find it pointless as they don't really want any input it seems. I think I have about 3 pages of problems and suggestions about Nikon's software....

Latest updates

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:27:00 +0000

(This picture probably don't show whats wrong, but it's all I had from the MRI)

I'm finally little bit better now. The final verdict from the Dr' was like I stated before, stretched nerve behind the shoulder blade, plus a torn muscle in the shoulder. Unfortunately I live in No(r)way where they don't really prescribe you anything, unless you are already dead. Which is the reason for this taking as long as it has to heal. I've been in severe pain since the start of June. But it's improving a a bit now. Last time I had this problem I was in Canada, I was back and ready for action within a month. Dr's in north America knows what they are doing. Don't get sick in Norway.......

Hopefully I'll be back to writing more reviews and taking pictures soon. It's been two and a half month since I took my last picture! I'll get back to answering your emails as soon as this shoulder heals up! Sorry for all the delays guys.

Delays delays,

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:26:00 +0000

No I'm not on holiday... On top of tearing some muscle tissue in the shoulder I've also stretched the nerve that controls the shoulder blade.... I've stretched that nerve once before and it really really hurts. Only thing that will fix it is time..
So much for holidays, photography, writing... or pretty much anything.

It's been more than one month since the injury, but after a Dr's appointment yesterday I was told to: not do anything that involves using my arm for at least one more month. So this is the reason for the slow updates, and lack of new reviews.

Dinosaur Jr

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:16:00 +0000

Two days before the show, i stumbled upon a website that had an add for Dinosaur Jr playing in Bergen Norway. I went wow, damn I hope I have time enough to get a pass for the concert. I've been a big fan of the band since the early 90's. A few phone calls and e-mails later I got the answer I never though I'd get; A pass will be available for you at the box office!! That was the day before the show, I started to see a light at the end of the tunnel. So big thanks has to go out to the label and management of Dinosaur Jr.

Now I've never shot a concert before so I really started thinking about what gear to use, the Nikon D3 was on top of my list, with it's high ISO performance that was a pretty obvious choice. After much back and forth I decided to bring the Nikon 17-35mm, 50mm f/1.4 AF-S and the Nikon 80-200mmm AF-S. I originally planned on bringing a Nikon F2 with the 105mm f/2.5 and a handful of Fuji Neopan 1600 film. But as luck had it the day before the show I started getting really sick. I then dropped the F2, the 105mm and all the film. Right then I wasn't even sure if I would make it to the show. I woke up 7.30AM on the day of the show, and for each hour that passed I was getting sicker and sicker. The Show started 9PM, but even at 6 o clock it seemed like an eternity away. I went back to bed for the 100th time that day.

At 8.20, I finally decided to go, I was really really sick, but since it's not overly likely that they would be back playing in my town anytime soon, I called up a cab and tried my best to get to the show.

I arrived at the venue about 8.50, stumbled in the door, got my photo pass after a little bit if hassle and went into the stage room. Now I really felt I'll, I nearly passed out a few times standing up, but determined to at least get a few shots before I had to run, was weighing heavy on my mind. I went up to the front of the stage and sat down on the floor waiting for the show to start. About 9.10PM J Mascis entered the stage, followed by Murph and Lou.

Crawling around the front of the stage I tried to do the best I could do. Having in the back of my mind the "bouncer" waiting to kick me out after the 3 first songs.. That was the least of my worries to put it that way.

Looking at their tour schedule Dinosaur Jr, had played every day for the last month. J Mascis looked quite tired at the beginning of the show. He kept looking at me crawling around with my camera at the front of the stage, he nodded at me, almost saying; ok I'll only do this once so you better be ready, he did one "head-bang" 2 seconds later the bouncer yelled ok that's three songs get out of here. I did manage to get a few more shots in before it was time for me to get home and bury myself in bed for a few days to try and recover from whatever it was that knocked me out.

What I caught of the show was really great, I do wish that I would have made it for the last songs, Freak Scene and Forget the Swan.

You can see a bit more shots here

Again Big thanks to the band, label and management.

Field Testing..

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:39:00 +0000

Nikon D3, TC-14E II, 80-200mm f/2.8D AF-S

I'm currently field testing : Nikon TC-14E II, Nikon Nikkor AF 24mm f/2.8D, and the usual old manual focus lenses. Next Reviews out will be the 24mm f/2.8D, Medical Nikkor 120mm and finally the Nikon 5.8cm 1.4.

Nikon Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Review

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:17:00 +0000

Just posted Nikon DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED Review
I love fisheye lenses, and it's quite surprisingly that I have not tried this lens before now.
Anyway head over to the review for full res sample pictures and comments.

B&H Nikon Lens Discounts

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:47:00 +0000

The guys at B&H have done it again! You can save 5 to 20% on your Nikon lens purchases by clicking this text right now!

Post Processing on sample images?

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:26:00 +0000

I think one thing that a lot of people are not aware of, is that the full resolution sample images on my Nikon lens Reviews are not post processed. The reason for this is quite simple, and is one of the most important aspects of my reviews.

The reason these images are not post processed through any application, especially on a non Nikon application is that you the reader would base your opinion on images that have been enhanced to look better. This is ok in some circumstances, but not when it comes to sharpening or changing the overall image. What you, the reader are then basing your decisions on is: "Am I as good with post processing as the author of this review?"

My sample images have not been post processed. Meaning if you had the same camera lens combination, and where next to me when I took the picture you would then have the same starting point.

Nikon D3, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 post prcessed.

Same shot as above but straight from the camera. The vignetting you are seeing in the picture is a DIY hacked Cokin Pro filter holder.

Another example:

Nikon D3, 35mm f/1.4 straight from RAW file, no PP

Same image as above but PP in Capture NX2

Nikon 35mm f/1.4 AI-S Review

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:16:00 +0000

Just posted: Nikon 35mm f/1.4 AI-S Review
Quite a remarkable lens. I highly recommend that you check out the review if you like Good old Nikon manual focus lenses.

Upcoming reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:05:00 +0000

I'm now field testing the Nikon manual focus Nikkor 35mm f1.4 AI-S, and the Nikon 400mm f/2.8 AI-S. The 35mm f/1.4 is the next review that's due. There will be some time before the 400mm is ready for a review as I need to test the lens waaaay more before I can give it any verdict.

Nikon D90 Review is out

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:02:00 +0000

Just added Nikon D90 Review

A quick quote from the review "If you have ever used a Nikon Dslr in the past, you will be up and shooting pictures in a second and never look back. If you haven't used a Nikon camera in the past or if you have moved from another brand, you will also be up and shooting in a second. Digging through the menus you can really unlock all the power of the D90. I find that the Jpeg files straight from the camera are a bit soft, and lacks a bit of contrast. This can all be fixed easily with the Picture control settings."

Nikon Nikkor-P 600mm f/5.6 Pre-AI Review

noreply@blogger.com (Fredrik A. Rasmussen) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:28:00 +0000

Just added a new review: Nikon Nikkor-P 600mm f/5.6 Pre-AI with CU-1 Review

At one point in time this was the lens for sports and wildlife photography. Check the review to see how it performs on the very modern Nikon D3.