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New camera lens (Rokinon 14mm, f2.8 Nikon AE)

Last weekend was Black Friday, and I've had my eyes on this lens for months.  I enjoy photography, especially astrophotography and macro photography.  But since I'm in college, money isn't something I can just throw around.  

The price dropped by a full hundred dollars on Black Friday for the Nikon version of the lens, which was perfect.  I couldn't resist buying it (according to camelcamelcamel, it was the lowest price it had been in two years).  

Even though finals are approaching and there are a lot of projects/tests that need my attention, I couldn't help but take some pictures with it.  

There's a highway overpass next to my boyfriend's apartment, and we walked over there to get some long exposures.  It was very, very cold and he complained the entire time.  I was too excited to be cold, I think.  I've never taken long exposures of the highway before, but I've always wanted to.  
I had issues with changing the aperture of the lens, so all the pictures are taken at f22...  Which is ridiculous for nighttime photos as larger apertures are definitely preferred.  The lens has a focus and aperture ring, but you must leave the aperture ring at f22, otherwise you'll get an EE error.  So you have to control the aperture via the camera body -- a very odd design choice in my opinion.  Why include a manual aperture ring if it is unusable?

In any case, I figured all that out once I got back inside, and after some googling.  

It might be because my camera is kind of old (Nikon D40, first came out in 2006 or 2007).  Amazon reviews don't really mention the issue so most other people might not have it.  Or they weren't expecting/didn't want a fully manual lens like me.  

f22, 10 seconds.  The detail on the highway blew me away.

f22, 15 seconds.  Bright lights = stars!

f22, 30 seconds.  Can you see the mustache distortion?
Three of my favorite pictures of the night.  I'm really happy with this lens.  I can't wait for finals week to be over so I can take it out and spend all night capturing the stars.  I might also walk around campus and take pictures of everything once people clear out.  


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