Nikon has dropped the price of the D7000, the camera I have been using for the past year. You can pick up the body alone for under $1,000 now. With an 18-105mm lens you will pay under $1,300, and for the lens I purchased with it (18-200mm) and a bunch of other goodies the package is now under $1,600.

I’m not sure why this happened as I didn’t expect a price drop until a successor was released. That hasn’t happened yet, but there probably will be a D7100 or D8000 announced in the next year.

To check out photos I’ve taken with this camera click here.

Posted on August 28th, 2012 under Other. Comments Off on Price drop on Nikon D7000

Opening for Iron Maiden at Shoreline a few weeks back was Coheed and Cambria.

I had previously seen the band 3 (or Three) open for Opeth in Oakland. Coheed and Cambria are somewhat similar. Both bands sound great live, but their studio work doesn’t do it for me. Coheed’s last three songs on this evening were particularly good. They did a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell” followed by their two heaviest and most Maiden-like songs (“In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” and “Welcome Home”).

Posted on August 24th, 2012 under Other. Tags: concert photography, nikon d7000, sigma 85mm f/1.4 lens. Comments Off on Coheed and Cambria

I can see why Colon would use testosterone. Low sense of well-being is one symptom of low testosterone and Colon certainly isn’t going to win any beauty pageants. One of the benefits of using testosterone is a reduction in weight for the obese. It’s a shame that testosterone didn’t seem to work for Colon yet he still got the ban.

I took today’s photo earlier this month at an Oakland A’s game, two days after Colon threw 8 scoreless innings against Toronto and three days before he allowed zero earned runs in 7 innings versus the Angels.

Posted on August 22nd, 2012 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, nikon d7000, oakland. Comments Off on Bartolo Colon suspended 50 games for illegal use of testosterone

We did a little hiking in the mountains near Mt. Shasta in California this past weekend. In today’s photo (covering about 180 degrees) you can see Castle Lake, Heart Lake (lower left corner partially obscured by trees), Black Butte, and (on the far right) Castle Crags.

Posted on August 21st, 2012 under Other. Tags: california, castle lake, landscape, mt. shasta, nikon d7000, panorama, photomerge, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on Mt. Shasta wilderness panorama

Today’s panorama photo is a photomerge of 11 pictures I took from the Brooklyn Bridge. The result you see above covers more than 200 degrees and includes Manhattan on the far left, the Manhattan Bridge straight ahead, and Brooklyn on the far right. If you look closely you can see a helicopter, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the new World Trade Center Buildings (under construction). Unfortunately, you cannot see the Geico Gecko.

Posted on August 19th, 2012 under Other. Tags: brooklyn bridge, new york, nikon d7000, photomerge, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on Panorama from the Brooklyn Bridge