Bad experience with cancelling AT&T's iPad data plan

(This post has nothing to do with photo gear)

The short version: I called AT&T to cancel the data plan last month, and today when I checked my credit card bill and the $25 charge was still there. I called AT&T again today, talked to 4 customer supports, and was told that I cannot get the refund because there was data usage on my account (many days after I called to cancel the plan).

The long version

I ordered AT&T’s data plan for my ipad 2 in July (on the 10^th). On August 9^th, I received an email at work saying that the data plan has been automatically renewed. After reading the fine prints,

“…SHOULD YOU CANCEL AUTOMATIC RENEWAL AFTER WE HAVE CHARGED YOUR CARD BUT BEFORE THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL PERIOD IS SET TO BEGIN (E.G. WE CHARGED YOUR CREDIT CARD FOR THE RENEWAL AT 7 AM ET FOR A 9 AM ET AUTO RENEWAL AND YOU NOTIFIED US TO CANCEL THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL AT 8 AM ET), PLEASE CONTACT AT&T CUSTOMER SERVICE TO PROCESS A CREDIT FOR THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL.”

I realized that AT&T has already charged me. If I cancel my plan, I need to contact customer service to get a refund (that is how I understood it). I have wifi at home and work and did not see the data plan too useful, so I canceled the plan when I got home and called AT&T’s customer service right away.  A guy helped me over the phone. He didn’t seem to know stuff. I had to explain to him what’s going on. Finally, he said he has cancelled the data plan and I will get the refund (I don’t remember what he said exactly, but those were what I asked, he seemed to understand and said he has done those). The same day, I received a confirmation email saying that “AT&T Plan Automatic Renewal Cancelled”.

That’s a month ago. Today I received another email from AT&T saying that AT&T plan expires soon. I was puzzled, since I had asked to cancel the plan and shouldn’t still have a plan expiring. I went online to check my credit card statement and found no refund. So I was unhappy and called AT&T again. That started a frustrating experience.

The first CS doesn’t seem to know stuff. After a long while, he said there was a 25 dollar credit on my account and I have a new bill yesterday (to my surprise!). I asked them why AT&T cannot refund me 25 dollars and he just said because there is a bill on my account. I asked him why there is a new bill and he couldn’t explain. After a long while, he gave up and transferred me to another department.

This time the CS explained to me, they cannot gave me refund because there is data usage (after I called to cancel the plan). I said how could there be more data usage if I called to cancel the plan. Then he said I canceled the “Automatic Renewal” but not the data plan. This is like a trap! I said I stopped the plan on my ipad and called AT&T to cancel the data plan, what more can I do to cancel a plan. If I did all those and the plan was not canceled, it is obviously AT&T’s fault! He just kept repeating the same thing “we cannot refund you because there was data usage” and was not interested in my complaints.

So I said I wanted to talk to a manager. After a while, I was transferred to a manager. She just repeated what the second CS said. I asked her when I used the data, she mentioned a few dates, like August 27^th. At this point, I was very unhappy. I said I called to cancel the plan on August 9^th, why there was data usage on August 27^th. She repeated that I cancelled the “automatic renewal” but not the data plan, and my account is still not closed. I said, “No. I called to cancel the data plan and I was told the plan was cancelled by the CS and I stopped the plan on my iPad.”

To be honest, I don’t remember what that CS said exactly on the day I first called. I don’t know whether he really understood my question. But an ordinary customer has to assume the CS knows what they are doing, right? Now the AT&T CSs kept blaming me for not doing my part.

I asked the third CS “How should a customer cancel a data plan then? If I ordered the service through my iPad, I should be able to stop it from the iPad, right?” She said she can cancel my account for me. I asked her to do that, but I was not satisfied. Why I have to call to get my plan cancelled when I can order the service from the ipad.  And I insist that we still need to discuss the refund. I was very confused at this point. You have an account and a plan and automatic renewal thing, it seems you have to cancel all of these to get the plan canceled? Why AT&T wants to make things so complicated? Does it intentionally set traps for customers?

Finally, I was transferred to a 4^th CS. He tried to repeat what the 2^nd and 3^rd CS said. He said it is like you go into a restaurant, if you order some food and take a bite then you have to pay. I said no, it is like you are trying to deliver pizza (or milk) to my doorstep every day and keep sending me bills. And I cannot cancel your service because the rules are so sophisticated that they are impossible to follow. I then said, this is what spammers do, AT&T is a big company and shouldn’t do such things to make money. I said when I cancelled Comcast’s service; I don’t need to worry about this. Comcast computed the partial credit and sent it my new address. He then just said something like “I understand, but I cannot refund your money”. I said, ah, it is just like AT&T just robbed me 25 dollars and now it says I will not give it back to you, what can you do?

Finally, he suggested that I file a dispute with my bank. I probably will do that. At the end, I just asked him, “Do you use any cable services or phone services or anything? Do you ever have to cancel a service? What you will do in such situations?” To give him credit, he did ask whether I have other AT&T accounts and mentioned he probably can credit me to those accounts. But fortunately, I have no other AT&T accounts and would not like to have one.

I know it is not really worth my time to spend an hour on the phone (and more time writing this blog) for this 25 dollars, but I just couldn’t believe AT&T is so arrogant and rude to their customers. I admitted that there might things that I did not follow correctly, but I believe my understanding of the tech stuff is “above average”, if I couldn’t figure it out how to cancel the plan correctly, probably there are many more out there having the similar troubles. We customers sometimes do naughty things, such buying stuff when there is price error, but other companies (such as Dell, Amazon) handled things gracefully. I cannot image AT&T can get away with such terrible policies and support.

More generally, there are a few things that are just not right:

For example, this whole automatic renewal thing (not limited to AT&T) is simply a spam. The only reason for it to exist to give companies legal rights to spam their customers. Otherwise, a company could ask their customers whether they want to get their service renewed when they actually attempt to use it.

I guess I could also blame Apple (if I dare) for not making cancel a data plan possible or straightforward directly from the iPad.

Nikon D5100 price dropped again at Amazon.com

The body only price today is $686.85.

The price with a 18-55 kit lens is $761.92.

If you buy the camera together with the 70-300mm VR lens, you get an additional $200 off.

Where is Nikon D400?

Nikon did not announce D400 on 08/24. Sony made a few exciting announcements (see www.dpreview.com). It is reasonable to speculate that Nikon D400 will use Sony A77's 24MP sensor. Nikon may just get hold of the sensor, since understandably Sony want to keep it exclusively for A77 for a while. If so, Nikon may need at least another half year to tune this sensor. I guess the earliest time that Nikon can announce D400 is ealry next year.

Nikon D7000 Digital-SLR Camera Recipient of EISA Award!

http://www.nikon.com/news/2011/0822_eisa_award_01.htm

The half life of DSLR price

Nikon DSLR D5100 ’s price dropped from $800 to $730 in four months, at this rate, assuming an exponential decay in price, its price will reach $400 in 20 months (this is, of course, a rough estimate).

I (gu)estimate that the price of a consumer level camera body has a half life of about two years. The prices of pro level bodies have longer half lives of three to five years.

What does this tell us? It can help us decide shall we buy the camera now or wait a little longer?

If the price has a half life of 2 years (consumer level bodies), then we expect the price to decrease by 10% approximately every 4 months, or the price will decrease 2.8% each month.

If the price has a half life of 5 years (pro bodies), then we expect the price to decrease by 10% approximately every 9 months! The price will drop just over 1% each month!

For example, the current price of D3S is approximately $5000, if I am willing to spend $2500, I may be able to afford a Nikon D3S in 5 years (it is possible that it will be discontinued long before that time or I may get it earlier if I consider second-hand market). If I just want to wait for one year, I expect the price to be around $4200 by then: if I saw that price before that time, it is probably a good deal (e.g., this may happen around Thanksgiving or Christmas)!

My Nikon gear.

I currently own

• Nikon D200 body
• Nikon FM2n body
• Nikon EL2 body
• AF Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D
• AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
• AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
• AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED(PDF:61KB)

the legion of Nikkor AI/AIS lenses:

• AI Zoom-Nikkor 25-50mm f/4
• AI Zoom-Nikkor 50-135mm f/3.5S
• AI Nikkor 24mm f/2.8S
• AI Nikkor 28mm f/2S
• AI Nikkor 28mm f/2.8S
• AI Nikkor 35 mm f/2S
• AI Nikkor 50mm f/1.4
• AI Nikkor 105 mm f/2.5S
• AI Nikkor 200mm f/4

accessories

• Nikon close-up NO. 4T, NO. 3T
• Canon 500D
• Kenko 1.4x
• Nikon BR-2A and BR-3
• Micro coupler
• Extension tubes
• Light meters
• Bogen Manfrotto 3021BPro Tripod

I previously owned:

• Nikon D50 body
• Nikon N80 body
• AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G
• AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G
• AI Nikkor 135mm f/2.8
• AI Nikkor 180 mm f/2.8 ED
• AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
• AF-S VR Zooom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

On my near-term wishlist

• Nikon D700
• Nikon 28-105mm F/3.5-4.5D
• Nikon 28-70mm F/3.5-4.5D
• Nikon 28-85mm F/3.5-4.5D (I really want to see which of these cheap lenses works best on a D700.)

and more Nikon manual focus AI AIS lenses

• AI Nikkor 20mm f/3.5S
• AI Nikkor 20mm f/2.8S

On my longer-term wishlist

• An equivalent to Canon's 24-105mm F/4L USM IS.
• An equivalent to Canon's 70-200mm F/4L USM IS.
• I guess I will just buy a FF Canon body to use the above two lenses, when I have enough money and if Nikon still does not have thest two lenses.
• Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 (I am not sure I really need a f/2.8 lenses)
• Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 (I am not sure I still like wide-angle lenses)

On my dreamlist

• Nikon D-F6 body, a full frame SLR body with exchangable digital back (Not yet available and far from affordable :) Isn't it a waste to upgrate a great camera body every few years? It will be great if I only need to upgrade the digital back (at a lower cost, of course).

Useful Nikon links (for my own benefit)

Keywords: Nikon, Nikkor, Lens, AF, AI, AIs, AI/s, AFS, AF-S, DX, zoom, 18mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 105mm, 180mm, 200m, f1.4, f1.8, f2, f2.5, f2.8, f3.5, f4, ED, IF, VR

AI Zoom-Nikkor 25-50mm f/4

I bought my copy from ebay a few years ago after I read Bjørn Rørslett's review on this lens (which I quoted below).

The first thing I noticed is that the lens gives very strong flare when used at 50mm/4. The flare will mostly disappear if I stop it down to 50/5.6 or change the focal length to 45mm. For quite a while, I was wondering whether this is a design issue or I just got a bad copy. Cosmetically, mine looks very clean.

Recently, when I googled about this lens, I noticed that an article about this lens

http://imaging.nikon.com/history/nikkor/46/index.htm
has been added to the series NIKKOR - The Thousand and One Nights. In this article, the author mentioned that "At the maximum telephoto position of 50mm, spherical aberration causes a slight amount of flare throughout the entire frame with shooting at maximum aperture. From design data as well, we can see that overcompensation for spherical aberration results in flare." This seems to confirm my findings on the lens. The lens is more like a F4.0-5.6 lens.

I have collected a few manual focus Nikkor lenses as a hobby and I did not actually used these lenses often (which I plan to do so in future). To me, whether a lens has the best image quality is not that important, it is more fun (especially since I am not a great photographer) to find out the character of each lens. In this sense, it is very satisfying that my own experience with this lens is confirmed by someone knows about the lens very well.

Shop Amazon's Kindle Accessories Store

Intersting links about this lens:

From Photography is Malaysia AI Zoom-Nikkor 25-50mm f/4

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Zoom-Nikkor 25-50mm f/4 AI/AIS) "Never a volume seller in its days, this long discontinued lens exemplifies the good qualities achievable by a zoom without colour aberrations. Images are sharp corner-to-corner and light fall-off is very low even wide open. It quickly attains peak sharpness at f/5.6 and the image quality holds up well when the lens is stopped down, so even f/16 delivers good results. Compared to e.g. the 20-35 Nikkor, centre sharpness is slightly lower, but corners are much better. Field curvature is moderate and the same holds for the barrel distortion. A crisp rendition extends into the depth-of-field zone to make this an excellent choice for landscape photography. In fact, this was my preferred lens against modern zooms for this very application. Compared to most zooms, the 25-50 is very resistant to flare and ghosting is kept to low levels whenever the front element is carefully cleaned. This is one of my favourite lenses for the F2, F4 and F5 cameras, and it handles nicely, too. You could complain about a rotating front end but that's just nit-picking. A great lens that is sold cheap on the second-hand market. My F2 Titan would be naked without this zoom lens.

Later development shows this even might apply to the D2X for landscape work. Thus, the venerable 25-50 is able to produce silky-smooth images when it is attached to the D2X. There is a roundness and tactility to the image that makes the 25-50 downright enchanting. You might get slightly sharper images with other lenses, but hardly more pleasing to the photographic, inner eye. The virtual lack of distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration helps the 25-50 to project its endearing image quality onto the imaging sensor of the D2X."

AI Nikkor 28mm F2S: Introduction

From Photography is Malaysia Nikkor 28mm f2.0 Lens

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Nikkor 28 mm f/2 AI) "The high-speed 28 Nikkor is unusual in having its close-range correction (CRC) executed with the front elements, not with the rear as the case is with other wide-angles. It offers outstandingly sharp images and these are produced at all aperture settings from f/2 to f/8 with just a trace of corner softness at the wider settings. Field curvature is modest in terms of wide-angle lenses. Peak performance occurs between f/4 and f/5.6. When stopped down beyond f/11, sharpness suffers however. This lens is unusually resistant to flare and ghosting and eminently suitable for shooting directly into the sun. Never catching the buyers' fancy, this is an uncommon lens which is indicative of the perils of free enterprise."

AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G IF-ED

I just received my first VR lens. I was very excited. I tried to take some indoor shots with it right after I opened the box, handheld, at 1/10s. That is the meaning of VR, right? It didn't work. The pictures are blurred. It is still a lens, not a miracle. This lens is not for indoor, 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 will suit better for that purpose. It has other shortcomings too: it is rather bulky, much heavier than the non-VR 70-300mm G, auto-focusing is not that fast and easily get confused when shooting complex scenes (this might has more to do with the D50 body though).

At this point, I thought, maybe I should not give up searching for a good 180mm ED AIS manual focus lens (auto ones are good of course, but rather expensive and bulky). VR does have its limitation.

Once back to the real world, I become very happy with this lens. I am able to get sharp pictures handheld at 1/50s or faster, not guaranteed, but with high confidence. A new lens like this always brings you something fresh. For example, I found out today we have more than one racoons in our backyard:

From 70-300mm VR

I have not mounted it on a tripod yet. But the lens is sharp enough. There are more important things that I want to worry about than sharpness. What I like most about this lens is its color rendition. I know it will be great. Even the non-VR non-ED $100 70-300mmG has pretty good color rendition. This one costs five times more. It gonna give something.

From 70-300mm VR

A very small amount of color fringing can be seen at the long end when wide open when shooting backlit scenes:

From 70-300mm VR

It is very acceptable and stopping down the lens will totally solve the problem. Again, as I rememberd, CA is not an issue even for that non-ED non-VR version. Nikon's coating technique must be very mature now.

You can find more sample shots at my Picase web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/westernfort/70300mmVR

AI Nikkor 35 mm f/2S: Introduction

From Photography in Malaysia
Nikkor 35mm f2.0 Wideangle Lens (Manual Focus)

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Nikkor 35 mm f/2 non-AI, AI and AIS) "Nikon developed this fast wide-angle for photojournalists in the '60s, and it stayed long in the lens line. The earliest version had a yellowish shimmering to the front element that later on became bluish when multicoating was added to it. The 35/2 is an 8-element design that delivers very sharp images throughout the aperture settings, peaking around f/4. There is a nice smoothness ("bokeh") in its pictorial rendition. Flare can be mildly annoying whilst ghosting is a real and troublesome issue under adverse shooting conditions. According to design drawings seen by me, Nikon made some modifications to the rear element groups in the 70's, so newer lenses may not be identical to the early sample (from '69) I own, and bokeh reportedly is less satisfactory also.

On the D2X, the AIS 35/2 I own performs superbly. It shows flatter field all-over than the faster 35/1.4 and CA is well under control. Image crispness is of the highest class, even when the lens is opened up (a little softer at f/2 than the 35/1.4, though).

By the way, the current AF version has a much simpler optical formula. Centre sharpness is great but corner quality isn't outstanding on this new design. "

AI Nikkor 28mm F2.8S: Introduction

From Photography is Malaysia
Nikkor 28mm f2.8 Lens

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Nikkor 28 mm f/2.8 AIS, 0.2 m Close-Focus version) "Nikon designed this lens to yield sharp images even used for close-up photography. This was achieved thanks to its advanced 8-element design and a CRC feature acting on the front elements as with the 28/2 Nikkor. Images taken up close really are extremely sharp in the middle part of the picture and sharpness extends quite gracefully into the corners. Optimum near-focus sharpness is obtained at f/5.6 and f/8. For distant scenes, however, corner sharpness isn't that remarkable and ghosting under adverse conditions can be troublesome. There is some corner colour fringing present, too.

The close-focusing 28 copes very well with D2X, and for near subjects, you are assured of high quality images with virtually no CA issues (not yet tested for distant subjects with this camera)."

AI Nikkor 200mm f/4: Introduction

From Photography in Malaysia
Nikkor 200mm f/4.0 Lenses (AI version)
Nikkor 200mm f2.0 ED IF & 200mm f4.0 lenses (AIS version)

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Nikkor 200 mm f/4 Nikkor non-AI, AI, and AIS) "The latest versions (AI & AIS) of this slender, nicely-handling and unobtrusive telephoto are optical gems. It's impressively sharp even wide open and attains peak performance already from f/5.6 onwards. Beyond f/16 the quality gracefully declines. It works great with extension tubes and also with close-up lenses great results can be achieved. As common with true telephoto designs it is susceptible to flare, but ghosting rarely is a problem with it. The AIS version which is the slimmest of the two focuses most smoothly, whilst the AI lens has a markedly stiffer focusing action. They both share the same optical formula, though.

On the D2X, images are stunningly contrasty and sharp at f/4 to f/8, but from there on, detail sharpness starts to decline, contrast gets progressively lower, and chromatic aberration (CA) becomes visible. The amount of CA is not excessive and judicious post-processing can largely eliminate it, but since I foresee situations in which stopping down beyond f/8 is necessary, I have to downrate this nice lens just a fraction for D2X applications."

AI Nikkor 35 mm f/1.4S: Introduction

From Nikkor -- The Thousand and One Nights
Tale 27: Fastest 35 mm lens by OHSHITA, Kouichi

From Photography in Malaysia
Nikkor 35mm f1.4s Wideangle Lens (Manual Focus)

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Nikkor 35 mm f/1.4 AIS) "Nikon has offered this superspeed lens for two decades now, so must believe the design is good. This is an excellent lens for low-light and general photography, although the results are not stunning when it is used wide open. Partly this stems from the tendency to internal flare that needs stopping down to f/2-f/2.8 in order to disappear. Its imaging capacity quickly increases when the aperture is set to f/2.8 and peak performance is reached between f/4 and f/5.6. In this quite narrow range it produces tremendously sharp images. To illustrate its imaging potential: In the peak range it is possible to discern objects that actually measure <1 mm within a recorded area of 5 by 8 m. You'll need at least 40X magnification to observe these tiny details on the film, but they certainly are there . This shows the unbelievable level of detail that can be resolved on film by this lens! At f/8, however, performance starts to decline and by f/16 it's just another ordinary lens. Flare isn't usually a problem with it and ghosting is well controlled, too.

The peak sharpness of the 35 mm f/1.4 lens declines towards the corners, partly because of curvature of field. Seemingly its optical design is optimised for central sharpness, which should suit PJ-style users. However, if you put this lens to use for nature photography, you do well to acquaint yourself with its sharpness distribution across the image area. For digital camera users, there is less noticeable decline of sharpness away from the dead centre of the frame.

The 35/1.4 features CRC and thus is a capable performer even up close down to its near limit at 0.3 m. There will be quite visible barrel distortion, though, when it is focused this close.

On DSLR cameras, you will observe some chromatic aberration towards the corners of the frame with nearly all models. Only the combination with D2X behaves nicely in this respect and although there is some CA, it is generally negligible (or caused by field curvature). On the other hand, D2X images are very sharp even at f/1.4 and excellent in the peak range f/2.8 - f/8. Critically sharp and contrasty images still can be had at f/16 with the D2X. Similar behaviour is seen on the D200."

AI Nikkor 180 mm f/2.8 ED: Introduction

From Nikkor -- The Thousand and One Nights
Tale 10 : Made the ED lens more accessible by OSHITA, Kouichi

From Photography in Malaysia
Nikkor 180mm lenses Telephoto Lens

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Nikkor 180 mm f/2.8 AIS ED) "This fast medium telephoto lens has, thanks to its ED element and modern optical formula, a superb optical quality. Images are rendered with high sharpness, contrast and vivid colour saturation. Even wide open quality images are produced, and stopped down to f/5.6 it's hardly possible to better the image quality. Beyond f/16 there is a noticeable decline in quality so these small f-numbers shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary. Flare and ghosts can be a problem under high-contrast conditions. It performs marvellously with an extension ring added. The PN-11 tube is the best choice and brings with it a tripod collar to help the 180 ED give 1:3 close-ups with tremendous quality. I often use the 180 ED with my F2 Titan.

Be aware that the pre-ED versions (engraved Nikkor P) of the 180/2.8 are inferior in image quality in comparison with the ED 180. Not a bad lens, but the standard of the ED is a tall order to meet.

On the D2X, image clarity is excellent, but as the lens is stopped down, small traces of chromatic aberration (CA) detract from the purity of the image. The amount of CA is by no means excessive, and for many subject and shooting conditions would go undetected. However, to demonstrate I for one noticed this slight deviation from perfection, I have downrated the 180ED for D2X a wee bit."

AI Nikkor 105 mm f/2.5S: Introduction

From Nikkor -- The Thousand and One Nights
Tale 5: Best-selling Mid-range Telescopic Lens by SATO, Haruo

From Photography in Malaysia
105mm f/2.5 Nikkor Telephoto lenses
Nikkor 105mm f/2.5s

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Gauss Type 105 mm f/2.5 Nikkor-P·C (non-AI), AI, and AIS) "Nikon redesigned the popular 105 mm in 1972 and choose to use a new Gauss-type design (5 elements in 4 groups) instead of the earlier tested and tried Sonnar formula. Probably they did this because of the 105 mm's growing popularity as a portrait lens. Since the Gauss formula gave better performance towards the near focusing limit this seems a wise move. The first batch evidently were released without multi-coating and carried the 'P' designation (I own one of them), but these were quickly replaced by multicoated 'P·C'-labelled lenses.

Current versions are outfitted with rubberised focusing collars and the lens data are removed. Compared to the earlier type of the 105/2.5 Nikkor, the new formula offered even better image definition, enhanced close-range performance, and a much improved colour saturation for the multi-coated versions. It performed better than its predecessor wide open, and delivered tremendously sharp images from f/4 onwards. Flare is only a problem under the most extreme of adverse light conditions and ghosting is rarely a threat to image quality.

During the years, it has undergone some external changes, but the optical formula survived to this day. This is one of the truly great lenses of all times and a definite Nikon classic. It easily holds its own again any modern lens - what a pity that this prime lens lost its popularity during the onslaught of low-speed, medium-quality AF zooms. Oh well, the general public always get what they want - don't they."

AI Nikkor 20mm f/3.5S: Introduction

From Nikkor -- The Thousand and One Nights
Tale 20 : Ultra wide angle lens directed for an ultra compactness by OHSHITA, Kouichi
(The tale is about AI 20mm f/4, AI 20mm f/3.5s is also mentioned.)

From Photography in Malaysia
Nikkor 20mm Ultra-wideangle lenses - 20mm f/3.5

Bjørn Rørslett says (referring to Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AIS) "This tiny lens is extremely well corrected for flare and ghosting; accordingly is the inside tip for nature photographers fond of shooting into the sun (I am one of those). Used in combination with the elusive, ultra-thin K1 extension ring it can give stunning close-ups with a very steep and dramatically emphasised perspective. Although there is no CRC feature, it yields excellent sharpness used up close this way. For landscape work, however, its pronounced field curvature can be a serious disadvantage. The corner sharpness isn't as good as the centre either. I tend to bring it with me just for those dramatic shots into the sun and set the aperture to f/22 to obtain a nice star-shaped sun. Otherwise, f/8 gives the sharpest results."

Useful Nikon links

My favorite, from the Nikon Japanese website:
The History of Nikon Cameras
The Thousand and One Nights

Nikon lens info:

Photography in Malaysia. Great coverage and detailed info. There you can find useful information about almost all bodies, lenses and accessaries that Nikon ever made.

Nikon Lenses Database. A very useful site if you want to get info on an old Nikkor lens. For exaple, you can find out through the serial number in which year a lens is made. Combined with the above Malaysia site, this can give you a good guide when buying an used Nikkor lens.

Nikon F-mount index by Lars Holst Hansen and Rick Housh.

Lens reviews:

Reviews of Nikon lenses by some pros :
Bjorn Roslett Nikon lens review.
David Ruether Nikon lens review.
Thom Hogan lens review.
momentcorp
(I know there are a lot out there, but you really don't need to read too much. In fact, there is even a guy named Ken who basically says every Nikkor lens is a good one, which might be true. It really about figuring out your specific need.)

If you like to see some lens tests and MTF curves:

www.photozone.de
www.photodo.com

Finally, http://www.nikonlinks.com/ have more links to interesting Nikon sites, but sometimes more is less. For example, of course, google have all useful Nikon links, but that might not help too much.

AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8: the old faithful

From My photo gear

From My photo gear

This was the first lens that I owned and still is my most frequently used lens. The lens is light, compact, and very affordable. Nikon people tend to believe that Nikkor 50mm f1.8 is the best f1.8 50mm lens. (Canon people may say their 50mm f1.4 is the best f1.4 lens.) The truth might be a 50mm is the easiest to manufacture, so almost all brand-name 50mm lenses are pretty good. The optical formula for Nikon's 50mm f1.8 lens has not been changed for quite a long time, because there is no need to change. That is another way to see that a 50mm lens is of very good optical quality.

For classical SLRs, a 50mm lens is considered as a "normal" lens. Basically, that means the angle of view of this lens is very close to the angle of view of your eyes. In digital SLR era, the crop factor narrows the angle of view of this lens. Many people will use a 35mm lens as their normal lens instead.

However, a 35mm lens is much more expensive than a 50mm lens. There are still a lot can be done using this 50mm f/1.8. What can it do? Many things, landscape

From Nikon D50 + A...

birds

From Nikon D50 + A...

portrait

From Nikon D50 + A...

still life

From Nikon D50 + A...

and even close up (with a Nikon close-up no. 4T)

From Nikon D50 + A...

Buy Nikon Prime Lenses .
Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

My Nikon N80 story: an unwise investment

I bought my N80 body late 2001 or early 2002. Wrong expectation and bad timing add up to an unwise investment.

I vaguely remember that I read Phil Greenspun's article on building a 35mm SLR camera. Then I eagerly wanted to buy a SLR camera. It seems at that time, I believed deeply that once I own a SLR camera, I would begin to take professionally looked pictures. Like all eager newbies, I read many photography magazines and reviews on the web about SLR cameras. According to Phil, learning photography should start with a 50mm prime lens and Nikon makes the best 50mm 1.8 lens. This part is still true, I guess. So I decided that I wanted to buy a Nikon. Phil also said N80 is a good body. One reason is that it has two dials. To tell the truth, I didn't even know what that means except two is more than one.

So as a poor student by then, I spent quite a lot of money buying this N80 body with a 50mm f1.8 lens. The reality is that my photography skills did not improve with this N80 body. I believe I took less than 1000 photos with this N80, mostly "I've been here" type, then sold it at a low price after a couple of years of possession and switched to D50. Basically, I realized possessing a cool SLR camera does not mean learning photography.

Only after I bought the D50, I figured out that I can only improve by taking pictures. With film cameras, however, taking tens of thousands of pictures to learn photography is not really sustainable for a poor student. It seems right after or even before I bought this N80, people had already started switching to digital cameras. I just felt those digital cameras were like toys. I failed to foresee what was coming. Soon, we bought our own digital camera, which cost only half as much as the N80. Then I shoot less and less with the N80. The convenience of a digital camera is so overwhelming. I remember by the time I sold the N80, there was an unfinished roll of film in the body which must had been there for more than half a year. I never got that roll finished or developed.

There was nothing wrong with the N80. It was me not figuring out my specific needs.

Nikon close-up NO. 4T.

From Micro

Nikon close-up no. 4T is a close-up attachment lens. It enables a normal lens to focus on closer subjects. In other words, it is a cheap way to get a macro (or shall I say "micro") lens. In its manual, Nikon said it is "designed primarily for use with telephoto lenses ranging in focal length from 85mm and 200mm." I just use it with my 50mm lens. Here is a sample shot

From Micro

This is taken directly from my D50 camera. No cropping or post-processing. The diameter of the coin is 4cm. You can do some math to figure out the magnification ratio. I guess this one is around 1:4 and I believe you can do at least 1:3.

In the manual, it says, used with 105 f/2.5, it can give a reproduction ratio of 1:2.2-3.2.

You can buy this from Amazon.com .

Sample shot added 11/17/2006:

From Micro

taken with D50, AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8 + 4T @ f/4 and 1/160s, handheld. I did find some support for my arm.