Cliff Mautner Photography: October 2009

Ronald and Phoebe- Pre-Bridal Session

In Hong Kong, It's quite customary to do a "pre-bridal" session before a couple's wedding. Ronald and Phoebe flew over from China to spend a few hours with me here in the Philadelphia area. This was truly one of the most flattering things to occur during my career. I can't thank them enough for their time spent traveling and I only wish I wasn't previously booked on their wedding date, which will be in Tokyo in November. Here's a few from our day. We began at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia. Phoebe changed throughout the day, donning stunning bridal gowns as well as beautiful traditional Chinese attire. Here's a few from the day!

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10.20.09- Photoplus Expo 2009- New York City

It's that time of year. Photoplus expo, one of the photography industry's premier events is this week in New York City. It's a show that I've been attending for quite some time, and the past few years I've been fortunate enough to be presenting a seminar along with some of our industry's best. On Friday, October 23rd @ 1:15pm, I'll be presenting "Hot Sun, Cool Images". Basically, I'll discuss and show images relating to my wedding work produced in difficult lighting conditions. As I always like to do, I'll share some of my favorite images and the thought process behind the capture. I hope to see many friends there and would love to meet new peeps, so please stop me to say hello if you read this blog.

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10.15.09- D3s images from Marcus Bell of Australia

Just a quick post here. Those that are checking out my images from the new 70-200 VRII might want to take a peak at my buddy Marcus Bell's blog. Marcus is one of the best photographers on the planet, and he was given a D3s to play with from Nikon Australia. The results were staggering. Check out his thoughts here.

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10.13.09- The New Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED VRII

A box arrived last Thursday. A box I've been excited about for a while now. I'm incredibly excited to be the first to post any images made with this lens.

Some of these lenses have been out for a while, and I've had some of these in my bag. However, the new Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED VRII with Nano Crystal Coat is still a short month or so away from being available and I'm stoked to have one in my bag right now in order to see what it can do.

For those who may know me, or may be familiar with my work, the previous version of this lens has been a staple of mine since it's inception. It's speed of focus, vibration reduction, incredible sharpness, and ergonomics made it indispensable. I've made many images with that lens since 2003. It owes me nothing. However, I was just as fond of my Nikkor 80-200 2.8 before it, I put it aside to make room for something better- and something that could absolutely allow me to produce images I couldn't produce before.

Such is the case with this new piece of glass Nikon has engineered. The improvements are vast. From the Nikon site:

Vibration reduction (VR II) equivalent to increases in shutter speed by four steps
A new optical design utilizing seven ED glass elements
Ghost and flare suppression with Nano Crystal Coat
A Silent Wave Motor (SWM) for superior autofocus that is smooth and quiet
Three focus modes built in: M, M/A, A/M
Aperture diaphragm utilizing an odd number of rounded blades (nine) for natural blur characteristics
Shooting at distances as close as 1.4 m throughout the entire zoom range
High-quality exterior design

Yada, Yada, Yada... LOL. what does it mean to me??? It means the ability to shoot at ridiculously slow shutter speeds, faster autofocus(as if this lens needed to be faster), edge to edge sharpness, no vignetting on FX gear, closer shooting distance, and the nano crystal coat which produces a nearly flare proof lens with contrast and sharpness that I've simply never seen in any zoom lens in my 28 year career(besides the other 2 crystal nano coat lenses in my bag already!!!)

The question will be, for those who are considering this lens- is it THAT much better than the older version. My answer, after only shooting with this lens for a few days now, is absolutely. Below you'll see my first results, in fact, perhaps some of the only images available anywhere at the moment with this new lens. The VR and improved sharpness would have been enough for me.

As an aside, I'd like to disclose that I OWN all of my gear. Every single piece of Nikon equipment I have has been purchased. I have the huge AMEX receipts to prove that. The big box of lenses I just received will be heading back to Japan when I'm finished the campaign shoots, unless I accidentally forget to enclose the new 70-200 VRII with the package(just kidding Soichi-san)!!

If you're an NPS member, get on a priority purchase list if you can. I assure you, with all sincerity, this lens will be well worth the investment, and will be the hottest lens put out by anyone in years!

Here are a few images I've made with this new lens. These are my first impressions, since I've only used it for one wedding-yesterday. The other images were shot the evening I opened the box. I also used it for a few frames while stopping by at Susan Stripling's wedding on Saturday. She's on the NPS priority purchase list as well.

All of the metadata is in tact. Feel free to see for yourselves!!I've also done a comparison by using the older version- the original 70-200VR lens in a few examples and there was considerable movement at the same slow shutter speeds with the older version.

I'd like to add that ALL of these images were hand held... NO tripod. Who needs a tripod now??? I'll post more as I shoot more images. I hope these are informative!

D3, ISO 400, AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm-f2.8G ED VRII- f2.8 @ 1/13th @200mm...yes, this is not a typo