Today I just bought my brand new Nikon 45mm P f2.8 Lense in Black. This lense is absolutely awesome!! It is so sharp and very very lightweight as you can see in the photo on a D200. This photo I found on the Internet elsewhere by the way, but I am using it until I can take a different photo of my setup. There are two colors, black and silver, but by far the black 45mm P lense is much more rare. I bought this lense from a small mom and pop shop here in Nagano, Japan. I paid a little more for the black version, but I think this black 45mm P lense looks sweet on a Nikon D200. I will post some photos shortly when I get a chance to take it out for a spin.

Again, the great thing about this lense is that it is very small and extremely light weight. The aperture size of 45mm on the D200 is not bad. Plus the f2.8 makes it pretty fast. It is a manual focus lense though which is not good for those uncomfortable with that. For me, I find manual focus to be a welcome challenge and it helps boost creativity.

The Nikon Nikkor 45mm P f2.8 Lense in Black was purchased brand new! It came with a pouch, NC filter, lense, manual, box, etc. It’s all there and I was so excited to find and get this lense. Cute lense!

Also note that I believe this lense, especially the black version is now discontinued by Nikon.

UPDATE: I have received several email requests about where to buy a brand new Nikon 45mm P f2.8 Lense in Black. You can also buy the silver version too. Check Ebay and search for the ebay store called “MATSUIYASTORE”. The store is located in Japan and the seller speaks and writes in excellent English. This is one watering hole where I buy lenses that are hard to find. Please note that his prices are a little higher, but if you have ever bought anything used or new from Japan, you’ll know how maticulous the Japanese are at keeping products in excellent condition. Plus they generally save everything like the box, manual, etc. Anyway, I have yet to find anywhere else that sells the Black Nikkor 45mm Lense. I bought mine new here and it is definitely brand new and works awesome. Also note that I live in Japan so shipping was easy, but I totally this trust this shop and individual to ship well to all countries. If you have any questions or feel other wise, please feel free to contact me for more info.

UPDATE: MATSUIYASTORE currently has both a Black and Silver version listed in their store on Ebay as of March 7th, 2007. Grab it while you can!

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Recently I purchased and downloaded the iPod Video called “On Camera Flash” from the Shoot Smarter website. It’s new and there is not a whole lot of info available on shooting flash, so I thought I would download a copy for viewing during my free time.

Although the iPod version is specifically for the iPod, I felt the video quality was rather low. They say the video size is small to fit the iPod which I understand, but if you have bought any videos from iTunes, you’ll know that they offer much better and larger videos to be played back on your computer screen. I thought for the price it could have been larger perhaps. To me, this was just whipped together quickly.

The video content itself was more of an “organized” way to explain what I already know I felt. I am about half way through the video and there is not much “new” material here and I actually think beginners will probably find the same. However, I do think the video helps to enforce and build confidence in the area of on camera flash. Smart Shooter also makes recommendations about accessories they use and this is very helpful. Although, the only minor problem is that most all of the recommendations were not found on some of the larger and popular camera forums such as Dpreview. So it made me wonder whether it was a sales pitch or if indeed the products were really good. Again, the video states very clearly that they are opinions only and each viewer needs to test and decide which tools are the best for them. This is fair.

I am anxious to finish the video to see if there are any tips about actual operation of the flash and other devices. After about half way through the video, I have yet to hear any hands on tips about flash settings for different scenerios or setups. Mostly theory and/or methodology thus far.

My post here is not meant to be a review and I am still not done with watching the video, so it could actually get much better. However, for those on the fence about this video, I probably would still recommend giving it a try even with the rather slow beginning. It does help to explain methods more clearly and it does give you alternative ideas about flash accessories. Do grab the iPod video if you can though as I don’t think the DVD is actually worth it. For what I am seeing, I am glad I saved 10 bucks and just got the smaller iPod video.

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