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If you live in Colorado and are a SCUBA diver, then Cozumel is the place for you. No Colorado cold water diving here.  It’s less than 4 hours on a direct flight from Denver. Our resort of choice is the Iberostar Cozumel. In my opinion the Iberostar Cozumel is the best resort for divers. Most dive sites are between 5 to 10 minutes by boat. Dressel Divers  is the on site dive operation. Both the resort and the dive operation have a very smooth running operation. This is our 7th trip to Cozumel and our 5th at the Iberostar Resort. The Resort has great food and friendly staff. With up to 200 feet visibility you cannot beat the diving in Cozumel to that of any other location in the Caribbean. This is an all-inclusive resort. All food, drinks and most activities are included,  like 14′ Hobby Cat sail boats, sea kayaks, wind surfing and much more. The spa and diving are extra. Thanks to Mike Sánchez, our dive guide, for the great week of diving and thanks to all our other friends at Dressel Divers, Cozumel, a PADI 5 star dive operation. The underwater camera I use is the 8 MP Sea&Sea DX8000G . This camera is easy to operate and does a pretty good job even without an external flash. All the underwater photos in this gallery were shot with this camera and no external flash.  For all land shots I use the Nikon D80.

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Chris introduces himself and some of the new features in Lightroom 3 Beta

Lightroom 3 Beta preview

Lightroom 3 Beta is now available for download  from Adobe and it’s free until it’s  final release sometime in April 2010.  To download Lightroom 3 Beta,  go to Adobe.com and search for Lightroom 3 in the upper right corner of the site.

Introduction to Lightroom 3 Beta

Sharpening in Lightroom 2 vs. Lightroom 3 Beta

I hope you enjoyed theses videos by Chris Orwig on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.  Lynda.com is a great source for online training which includes classes on photography, graphic design, web design, programming and software & web applications.  With Lynda.com you will have access to 725 online courses 24/7.  Course subjects I have taken thru Lynda.com are:  Lightroom 2, Lightroom 3 Beta, Search Engine Optimization, Wordpress,  Twitter, Facebook, Product Photography, Selling & Publishing Photography, HTML, Photoshop Elements, Word, Excel and Expression Web.

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So you are looking for a new camera lens or you went out and bought a brand new D-SLR digital camera with the kit lens. Now you want to produce 11 x 14 or 16 x20 or larger sharp prints.  You will need a good tripod and know your camera lens sweet spot. The lens sweet spot is the aperture or F-stop setting which produces sharpest image possible.

The lens sweet spot is determined by which F-stop or aperture to get the sharpest image. All lenses have a sweet spot.  What we are going to determine is what aperture will produce the sharpest image.  A simple rule of thumb is to take the widest aperture and stop it down 2 full f stops or 2 full aperture values ( see chart below).  Let’s say you have a lens with a maximum F-stop of F4.  That would make the sweet spot of your lens about F8.  The problem is this may not be the exact sweet spot for your particular lens. The only way to really know is to test the lens for yourself or you may find it in a lens review article in one of the many photography magazines.  The problem is that your lens may not have been tested or at least may not have identified the sweet spot of your lens.

Full F-stop Chart

Your lens may have other F-stops not listed on this chart above.

The chart above gives the corresponding aperture value to F-stop.  As each aperture value increases it cuts the light in half.  As each aperture values decreases it doubles the light.

So let’s test the lens.  The first thing I did was find a test pattern chart to test the lens.  I found one at http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/ISO_12233-reschart.pdf You can print it right from the site or downloaded it.  Once downloaded you can print the test chart in the best quality your printer will allow you to print.   This is what you will need to run this test: your camera and lens; a sturdy tripod; a remote cable release; a board to mount the test chart on; the test chart.

Step 1. Attach the chart on the board with tape so that the chart will not move if there is any wind.

Step 2.  Find a bright spot outside and set the board with the chart in the sun.

Step 3.  Install your camera on a tripod.

Step 4.  Select the camera to aperture priority.

Step 5.  Focus your camera on the chart.

Test Chart Location Below

Next, we’ll start with full open.  Let’s say at f5.6 and shoot your first picture.  Next we’ll shoot a photo at each f-stop, making note of each photo’s f-stop so that when you import them you will know which F-stop corresponds to each photograph.  Be sure to use your remote shutter release cable and don’t move the camera through the whole process.  Please note  that any camera shake or movement will cause an inaccurate test.

After you finish, take your memory card and import into your favorite photo editing software.  (I use Adobe Lightroom 2.)  Open the photos in your editor and set the  magnification to one to one.  Use a side by side compare function if available.  Now, carefully inspect and compare each photograph to see which one is the sharpest.  Once you have determined which photo is the sharpest you have found your lens F-stop sweet spot.

If you are using a zoom lens you may want to repeat these steps for several focal lengths.  Let’s say you’re using a 70 to 200 mm lens.  First use 70mm then 130mm then 200mm. This will let you find the best F-stop for the sharpest picture at all F-stops.

The chart below shows the tests results I found with the lenses I have.

Conclusion.

One thing that I found when performing these tests is the better the lens quality the harder it is to find the exact sweet spot. These lenses generally had between two and three F-stops with the best sharpness. With some less expensive lens I found it easy to find a single F-stop sweet spot. But it is possible with higher end consumer lenses with ED glass (extra low distortion glass) you can get very sharp images.

Now you know what your lens sweet spot is.  Even if you have a less expensive lens, by using this knowledge, you will be able to get very sharp photographs with most lenses.  But, we do live in the real world.  Sometimes, because of low light conditions, or the need to adjust the depth of field, we may have to adjust our F-stop to our needs.  So, if the situation is right to use the sweet spot of your lens,  you will find you will get the sharpest pictures possible with your lens.

The Teleconverter

I was not happy with the test results on the Nikon TC-20E II 2X Teleconverter.   I have read other reviews of the Nikon brand Teleconverter that come to same conclusion. They also revealed that the Nikon TC-17E II 1.7x and Nikon TC-14E II 1.4x both had superior performance over the TC-20E II 2X Teleconverter.

If you are in the market for a new lens or camera, buy the best lens you can afford.  In my opinion, the lens is more important than the camera.  Consider this the lens has a life cycle of about 10 or more years and because the camera technology changes so fast, the camera’s life cycle is only 2 to 5 years.

So do your homework before you buy any camera, lens or teleconverter.

Please share your questions or comments below.

Happy sharp shooting.

Doug Niedermiller

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By Doug Niedermiller Photography

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This is our new 2010 Colorado Calendar. All of the photos in this calendar were shot in Colorado. Click on the Calendar below to View, Save or Print the new FREE 2010 Full Year Colorado Calendar in Adobe PDF file format.

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The photos in this slide show were processed in HDR. For more information on HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography and the program I use, Photomatix Pro 3.1, click on the links below!  Photomatix Pro 3.1 is a standalone program and also has plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

Photomatix Pro

The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists +DVD

Mastering HDR Photography: Combining Technology and Artistry to Create High Dynamic Range Images

Pandigital SCN02 PhotoLink One Touch Scanner w/Memory Card

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Map of the Hoodoos of Colorado Springs. Click on the markers below to view more information.

This photo was shot in autumn  just after sunrise. First, I set up the camera on a tripod and shot 3 photographs at 3 different exposures; 1/4 sec. 1/15 sec and 1/60 sec. ,all at F8. Then , I imported them into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, then combined them with the Plugin Photomatix Pro 3.1, a program for processing in HDR  High Dynamic-Range photography. This allows one to see the detail in the shadows and highlights.  It also has the ability to create some pretty cool special effects. Then, I imported them back into Lightroom for final fine tuning. The camera I used was the Nikon D80 with a Nikon 16-85mm  Lens  and a Circular polarizer filter.  Camera settings, Aperture Priority, ISO 100, in RAW format and the Lens set to 16mm.

For more information on HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography and the program I use, Photomatix Pro 3.1, click on the links below!. Photomatix Pro 3.1 is a standalone program and also has Plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

You can also subscribe to Outdoor Photograher by clicking on the magazine icon below.  It’s a magazine designed for all levels of outdoor photographers.  There are always great photos and lots of tips to improve your photography.  This is my favorite magazine.

Photomatix Pro

The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists +DVD

Mastering HDR Photography: Combining Technology and Artistry to Create High Dynamic Range Images

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Map of Cape Ann Massachusetts. Click on the markers below to view more information.

This is our new 2010 Old Trucks Calendar. All of the photos in this calendar were shot in Colorado. Click on the Calendar below to View, Save or Print the new FREE 2010 Full Year Old Trucks Calendar in Adobe PDF file format.

By Doug Niedermiller Photography

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All content in this website is the Copyrighted property of DougNiedermillerPhotography.com and DCM Travel Reviews.  You may use any of our content for your personal use for free. All other uses please Contact Doug.

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