The Blog

We all know the world we share has been making incredible leaps with technology in almost every arena, so much so it is often difficult to keep up with it.

Many of our favorite pastimes and pursuits are very different as the technology has changed the way we do things, listening to music comes to mind as my idea of listening to music is very different than that of my children.

Who would have thought that CD’s are now the technology of the past and that retail stores are removing them from their shelves.

Photography has gone through many changes over the past 150 years, with the digital world it is going through a constant change again leaving one standing still if you blink your eyes.

Having gone digital and enjoying the freedom of what amounts to unlimited film and instant results, I am sometimes still amazed just at that.

I use to pride myself on my ability to change a roll of film in seconds with one hand, having a camera that would shoot 4 frames per second was almost reckless, going through a 36 shot roll of film in 9 seconds was crazy.

Today a camera shooting 11 frames per second with each frame metered and focused individuality seems normal.

I have gone a little retro, I am finding that some of the older lenses are richer, warmer and just as sharp as the new computer produced lens of today, with less technology in the lenses they have less motors and chips to wear out as well.

One such lens came from one of my own favorite times in lens production, what I call the class of 93 from Nikon. 1993 was a year that the Nikon or Nikkor company released some fabulous lenses.

One of them is the 28mm F 1.4D AF, when introduced this compact superfast lens became a favorite among professionals specifically photo journalists, those that had to get a clear sharp image in low light and capture a scene had to look no further than the (28 1.4) the lens became difficult to find and as it was expensive was often overlooked by consumers and nature photographers.

As a result, Nikon stopped producing the lens in 2006, the lens of course became popular and due to its scarcity, the cost of the lens skyrocketed, by 2008 this lens was being sold for over $4,000.00.

Today, ten years later (2018) the lens can fetch $2,000.00.

The lens although 25-year-old technology was produced in a time when Nikon was producing some of their best products, produced by artisans and the finest engineers in the photographic world, the results still speak from themselves.

Coupled with a high performance digital SLR like the D4S, this lens is just starting to peak with its low light edge to edge sharpness and quick response.

Sometimes old can not only be new, but can continue to be amazing.