joi, 29 decembrie 2011

december sunset - malaiesti valley



sunrise on the Piatra Craiului mountains

the Malaiesti chalet in the Bucegi mountains



the Bucsoiu peak seen from the Malaiesti chalet



sunset over Postavaru mountains

  



last sunrays
 
panorana of the Malaiesti valley with the Postavaru mountains in the background

evening light
after sunset
  


some more pictures from Malaiest and some info can be found in one of my older posts here.

 the pictures above were taken with the nikon D90 body and the nikon nikkor AF-S 18-200mm lens


take a look at my photo album

sâmbătă, 8 octombrie 2011

transalpina 2011



rasarit vazut din geamul pensiunii la Ranca
 Transalpina este drumul care trece la cea mai mare altitudine dintre drumurile rutiere din Romania. Altitudinea maxima la care ajunge este de 2150m. Lungimea lui este de aproximativ 120 km. Este de curand asfaltat, ceea ce inseamna ca drumul e foarte bun deocamdata.
statiunea Ranca vazuta in lumina diminetii
Asfaltarea drumului a avut ca efect cresterea dramatica a numarului de turisti si masini in zona. Drept urmare la Ranca s-a inceput constructia de pensiuni, binenteles dupa modelul clasic in Romania de turism prost inteles cu constructii urate si de proasta calitate, facute in graba, probabil fara niciun plan urbanistic, respectand dictonul 'hai sa omoram gasca cu ouale de aur'. Asa ca daca te cazezi la Ranca de fapt te cazezi intr-un santier in lucru. Pensiunea la care am fost cazat era terminata, dar in jurul ei se construia. Avand o forma banala ca si constructie, la tot pasul gaseai la aceasta pensiune dovezi de lucratura facuta in graba. Balustrada de acces spre camera se clatina de parca era pusa sa te dezechilibrezi, geamurile (termopan) erau lipite de jur imprejur cu scotch, probabil pentru ca nu erau destul de etanse. Usa spre balcon ba se deschidea, ba nu se deschidea, etc.
 La toate acestea se adauga ca administratorii pensiunii nu se ocupa de gunoi ci trebuie sa il iei tu cu tine, lucru destul de ciudat pentru o statiune turistica cu drum de acces asfaltat. Totusi privelistea din camera era superba, poza cu rasaritul de mai sus, fiind facuta direct din camera in care am fost cazat.

in poza se observa  punctul cu altitudine
maxima a Transalpinei
In ceea ce priveste drumul asfaltat, el permite accesul multor persoane in inima muntelui ca sa zicem asa. Partea proasta a acestui aspect este ca la noi in general unde se poate ajunge cu masina, incepe si zona sa aibe cat mai multe urme de "civilizatie". Astfel vom putea observa pungi duse de vant de colo colo, pentru a popula si culmile pe care drumul nu ajunge. Aceste pungi amintesc de punga care se unduia frumos in vant in filmul 'American Beauty', cu diferenta ca la noi sunt mai multe pungi si nu e niciun ciudat romantic care sa le filmeze.
Unii indivizi au considerat prea banal sa ramana cu masina numai pe drumul asfaltat, luand-o cu masina frumos pe pajiste ca niste descoperitori neinfricati a caror singura frica este sa faca cativa pasi pe jos.

 Dar hai sa las aspectele negative si sa spun ca drumul este spectaculos. Parca iti vine sa te opresti la fiecare 100 de metrii ca sa admiri peisajul. Din punctul asta de vedere recomand oricui sa treaca odata macar prin zona. E bine, daca va duceti, sa nu fiti sofer, pentru ca e greu sa te concentrezi si la drum si sa admiri si peisajul in acelasi timp. Deasemenea e bine sa fiti atenti la vreme pe perioda pentru care v-ati propus sa mergeti, pentru ca daca vremea e mohorata aveti sansa sa conduceti printre nori si sa nu vedeti mare lucru.

 Nu mai ramane de spus decat ca cei de la Top Gear ar trebui sa viziteze si Transalpina dupa ce au facut Transfagaraseanul renumit ca fiind unul dintre cele mai frumoase drumuri din lume. Cu siguranta Transalpina va fi incadrat in aceeasi categorie selecta facand cunoscuta Romania in lume - in mod paradoxal - pentru drumurile ei superbe.

 









Pozele sunt realizate cu aparatul nikon d90 si lentila nikon nikkor AF-S 18-200 VR.


aruncati o privire si pe abumul meu de fotografie care contine imagini facute pe teritoriul Transilvaniei.




sâmbătă, 1 octombrie 2011

nikon AF-S nikkor 18-105 mm review

I bought this lens as a kit lens together with the nikon D90 body. It was my first nikon lens and I was pretty happy with it. As I began to read about lens online and also bought the older 180 mm prime lens I became unhappy with it. I read some good reviews about the 18-200 mm from nikon, which was described as being far better than my 18-105 mm. So I said why not have a better lens with a wider range and sold the 18-105 mm.


nikon 18-105 mm @ 18mm f3.5
I only realized how good this lens was after I started using my new 18-200 mm. On a well known site the 18-105 is described as being the fuzziest nikon lens in the corners at 18mm. Well this is not true in my opinion. It actually is far better at 18mm than the 18-200 mm.  When I used it I never noticed any problems with it, which is a good sign. On the other hand the pictures taken at wide open at 18mm with the 18-200mm where unusable. I went back and checked out some pictures I had taken in the past with the 18-105 at 18mm wide open. They were decent corner to corner. There is some fuzziness noticeable in the corners, but it is very little for an all-around kit lens. On the left you can see an image taken with this lens at 18mm wide open and below a 100% crop of its top left corner with no adjustments or any kind of post-processing.

100% crop of the top left corner
 At f8 the images all get sharp from corner to corner and you cannot find any fuzziness. There also is some distortion at the extremes of the zoom range, but it is nothing I wasn't able to cope with.

What I didn't like about the 18-105 was its plastic mount. I almost felt guilty whenever I took it off or put it onto the camera body. I also found a few such lens for sale online which had their plastic mount damaged. So it is really a shame that Nikon didn't put a metal mount on this otherwise nice lens.


The bokeh of this lens is not great, but what can one expect from a lens in the 300 $ price range.
The image stabilization (VR) also works really well. I was able to take quite a few decent pictures in low light with the hand-held camera. You can check out some of them here.
As far as focusing is concerned it focuses fast and very well. Even in low light conditions it focuses fast together with the nikon d90 body. It has its own focusing engine so that you will be able to use it with nikon bodies that don't have internal focusing engines as the nikon d40 or d60 for instance.

As a conclusion I would recommend this lens to anyone who wants a decent all-around lens. Anyone who wants sharp pictures from corner to corner with good bokeh should consider a fast prime lens.

Here are a few more images taken with this lens.


vineri, 30 septembrie 2011

bucegi mountains - malaiesti valley in winter

located in central Romania, the Bucegi mountains are part of the southern Carpathians. The highest peak of the Bucegi mountains in the Omul peak with 2505 meters (8218 feet). The plateau can be reached by cable car or with the car, which makes it a popular tourist attraction. There the weather and time have shaped some rocks into peculiar shapes which resemble mushrooms or the head of the sphinx.

The Malaiesti valley is situated on the north-eastern part of the mountain range. It is only accessible by foot and in winter you will have to take the longer access path as the shorter one is too dangerous.
In the Malaiesti valley you can find accommodation at the Malaiesti Chalet. There you can also have something to eat. From this chalet you can take various trips and you can reach the peak in about 2,5 hours (it can take longer in winter).

It is not uncommon to meet bears in these mountains, so it might be a good idea to travel in larger groups and make some noise if you find yourself here in any other season than winter.


All the pictures from this post are shot with the nikon D90 body and the nikon 18-105mm lens.

view from the access road to the Malaiesti Valley

the last rays of the sun cast spectacular colors onto the peaks

the Malaiesti valley in the morning, seen from the entrance to the Malaiesti chalet




Some of the pictures above are featured in my photography
book published by blurb. It can be ordered online on their site.

joi, 8 septembrie 2011

the Ciucas mountains

  
Although not a very high mountain, its highest peak being 1957 meters, the Ciucas mountain is a very picturesque place.

   
Four natural reserves are located on this area. A wide range of wildlife can be found here. Here are the most important: bear, fox, deer, wild boar, wild cat, marten, squirrel, chamoix, nightingale, finch, rock butterfly, hawk, eagle, golden eagle, the common viper and the small mountain lizard.

  Many of the rocks have different names as "Goliat" for example or "the old lady", as time, water and wind shaped them into many interesting shapes. I'm sure anyone can find resemblances to different things as soon as they give them an attentive look.




 




you can find a few more pictures from the Ciucas mountains here

photos done with nikon D90 body,  nikon 18-200 lens and Kenko circular polarizing filter.



Check out my photography book published by blurb.
It can be ordered online on their site.