Metz 44AF-1 Flash Review

I didn't buy an external flash until two years after I bought my Nikon D5000, before that I would just use the on camera flash.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money so I went with the cheapest decent quality one I could fine, which was the Metz.  I don't have much to compare it to because I have never used the Nikon brand ones that cost twice as much but I am happy with the photos it takes.  I primarily use it for taking photos of the family which I don't post here but recently all my facebook profile photos were taken with this flash.  I haven't figured out a way to take the flash off the camera yet because I think I need to buy another connector for that but I have some great photos of my daughter using this flash so I am happy with it so far.

COKIN P121 G2 Grey Graduated Filter Review

Graduated filters are used for landscape photography to make the sky darker so the whole picture is exposed properly.  I really tried to figure out a good way to use this to make good photos but never really got it figure out.  I had two problems:

1. There was always dust on the filter that I could never quite get off.  It was a like a dust magnet!  There was also dust in the carrying case that came with it so even when I spent 5 minutes to get all the dust off the filter, it was added back on when I put it back in the case.  The most annoying thing was the dust was in the case when I first opened it.
2. The photos always looked better using HDR.  The way I tested it was, I would take three photos for a HDR to be processed in Photomatix.  Then I would take some shots using this graduated filter.  I would compare the HDR to the ones shot with the graduated filter and the HDR ALWAYS looked better. So, I stopped using it.

Maybe I just got a bad brand, or maybe I just never really figured out the best way to use it but my opinion is that HDR produces better images than graduated filters so I don't use this much anymore.

Hoya 52mm ND filter Review

ND filters fit on the front of the lens and limit the number of light that enters the camera.  I bought this one to use with my Nikon 18-55mm lens and really enjoyed playing with it.  The main reason I got it was to make water look better.  If you have every seen a picture where there is a river or body of water that looks silky smooth, they probably did that with and ND filter.  I don't use it much more, only because I don't use my 18-55mm lens much since I purchased a 18-200mm lens.  The problem with these filters is they only fit on a lens of the same size (thats where the 52mm comes from), so I will probably sell this filter when I sell my 18-55mm lens and buy a new one for either my 18-200m lens or maybe the 12-24mm lens that I use for landscapes.

To get a better idea what a photo with an ND filter looks like check out the photos I have posted where I used this ND filter.

Slik Sprint Pro II Tripod Review

Before I purchased this tripod I was using a $10 tripod I picked up in the boxing day sales, it was terrirble and fell apart after a couple of months.  So, I decided to get a better one for a trip to Asia, but I wanted to spend less than $150 for the tripod and head.  I went with this model from Slik and it was a huge mistake.  One of the legs fell off one week into the trip!  I managed to fix it with duck tape but the leg that broke needed to be carefully extended each time.  In the process of putting back together the leg extensions and figuring out how the leg lock worked, I realized a cheap plastic piece had broken which is why the leg fell off.  I know $150 may be considered cheap for a tripod but I still don't think I got my moneys worth.  As a hobby, there is a limit to how much I can spend on camera gear so I used the taped together tripod for another year, carefully pulling out the one leg each time I needed to extend it.  I now how a Sirui tripod which was fairly inexpensive (but not as cheap as this Slik) but is sturdy and well made.

Although I really didn't like this tripod, I couldn't afford to buy a new one for quite a while so I ended up taking a lot of photos with it, check them out here.

Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens Review

Officially called the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II Zoom Lens, this is my go to lens when I am just walking around with my camera.  The great thing about this lens is the range, the 18mm is great for landscapes and the 200mm is great for zooming in on stuff that is far away.  The best part is that I don't need to change the lens.  Since I already owned the Nikon 18-55 kit lens, I could have bought a Nikon 55-200mm lens for a lot cheaper but I hate changing lenses when I am outside, and I know my self, sometimes if I need to change the lens to get the shot I want, I just wont take the picture. So, this is was worth the extra cost beacuse now I take more photos because I don't need to stop and change the lens.  So, if I am out taking photos, this is the lens I will have on the camera, then I will carry the Nikon 50mm if I want a low fstop for a picture and the Tokia 12-24mm for wide angle landscape shots but most of the time I will just use this lens.  Great buy and I am really happy with it.

Here are examples of the types of photos that can be taken with the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6.