As I am sure you are all aware, Nikon today announced the D800.
In many ways a great camera, but it’s not a D700 replacement, but more of a cheaper smaller D3X. In many ways it is ahead of the D3X.
At 36MP it’s in medium format quality range. For people who cannot justify the cost of Medium Format is a very cheap alternative.
Its no speed freak, at 4 frames per second but then it is not really targeted at the photo journalist or sports photographer. This is more a studio or landscape camera.
One of the things that makes this camera of interest to me, is that it comes in two version. The standard D800 and the D800E.
As I have mentioned before in a previous post https://brown-family.org.uk/?p=3568, there is a filter covering the sensor on most digital cameras that actually reduces the resolution of the image. Nikon have taken the brave move of releasing a version of the D800 without this filter, this is the D800E. I love studio work but cannot afford or justify yet digital medium format, this could be a viable alternative.
Today we have had the day off and have enjoyed ourselves just being able to do as we pleased. This meant a pleasant motorcycle ride round parts of Lincolnshire, and included a trip to Wisteria Patchwork. They had a sale on this week, so some fabric indulgence was a must for Caroline. Then we headed further North to Kirton in Lindsey, the weather had turned colder at this point so we stopped at Mount Pleasant Windmill and enjoyed some of their warming soup. I also took the opportunity to stock up on some fresh flour for my own bread making.
We then went home as dark clouds were heading our way.
Once home I proceeded to make some fresh bread while Caroline did some sewing, making some more quilt tops.
Forgive the poor quality shot above, low light and shot with my phone, never conductive to good photography.
Do you find a lot of your photographs very similar? Do you have a style or are you stuck in a rut?
Sometimes it’s good to try something different.
If your after suggestions try these:
Shoot Black & White
Try digital blending in Photoshop instead of HDR
Try a lens you don’t use very often
Shoot a Portrait with a Wide Angle Lens
Shoot a Landscape with a Telephoto
At the big family get together today, I was asked for recommendations on what camera to buy for a complete beginner.
A very difficult question. They had pretty much already decided on a Canon SRL as that a ‘real’ camera.
I asked what they wanted to take pictures of but they had not really thought about that.
Choosing a camera should fit the purpose of what they want to photograph, but also needs to be a model that suits them.
I pointed them at the low end Canon and Nikon SLR’s but also suggested they take a look micro four thirds and the Sony Alpha Range.
I often see very expensive top of the range Leica’s, Hasselblad’s and Ebony Cameras for sale that have hardly been used. I sometimes think, someone walked into the shop and asked for ‘Best’ Camera money could buy, rather the the best camera that suits the sort of Photography they want to do, at a level they are currently competent in.
Unable to produce a half decent shot that even a Casio compact could excel at, they give up in disgust.
With everything that’s been going on over the last month, the Gym and our fitness in general had taken a back seat.
Well after an exhausting days Christmas shopping at the weekend we visited our local Gym. Instead of hitting the weight machines, for a change we spent an hour leisurely swimming, and we both really enjoyed it.
When shooting Landscapes on Small Format, I expect my technique is similar to most SLR users.
Modern Digital SLR’s have great dynamic range and we snap away generally trusting in our modern matrix metering.
A quick glance at my histogram is usually enough to see if my exposure is in the ball park. I tend to follow the digital mantra ‘Expose to the Right’, but I try not to over expose or clip.
Unlike film, digital at the extremes of the black and white points is a cliff face. There is nothing below 0 and nothing after 255 in our binary capture world.
I know the recovery slider in Adobe camera RAW and Lightroom can bring back a surprising amount of detail, but this is detail held in your capture, your not really recovering anything.
When my exposure looks bad it’s here I either reach for the Exposure Compensation Button (I usually shoot in Aperture Priority). In really tricky situations I use my camera’s spot meter.
If the dynamic range of the subject exceeds my camera’s dynamic range, then I generally bracket my exposures. Once back home I then resort to HDR or digital blending, sometimes both. Products like Photomatix Pro and of course Photoshop make HDR very easy now.
Getting it right in Camera is always the holy grail, to this you have to resort to careful metering.
Sekonic L 758 Light Meter
If using my medium format camera, then this would be with my handheld spot meter. I actually start with an incident meter reading first, this usually puts me in the ball park. With the meter in its incident mode, you place it in the same light as the subject you want to photography, and point the metering dome at your camera and take your reading.
I usually have my meter set to EV readings. My Hasselblad has markings for EV and an EV lock, so I can set the exposure then adjust my aperture and the shutter speed will automatically change to maintain my set EV reading.
This incident reading is my starting point. I then try to determine the dynamic range of the scene. First of all I try to find the brightest part in the scene, once found I set this in the memory of my meter. I then try to find the darkest part of the scene. Once again this gets set in the memory of my meter. I then hit the averaging button and note the average. This is usually close to the incident reading if the dynamic range is now too high.
With the meter in averaging mode, you can then meter around the scene with the spot meter, and it will display the how many EV’s above or below the average that part of the scene is. You can then ensure the important parts of the scene is exposed correctly and will maintain detail in your photograph.
With my meter, it has a clever trick in averaging mode. It displays a graph at the bottom showing your lowest and highest reading, together with the average. Now that is not the clever part, the clever part is that I can upload from my computer custom Dynamic profiles for different cameras, films, and for each iso. So on the meter you can select your camera or film and the meter will show if your exceeding the dynamic range available, and you can then adjust your exposure as needed.
If you are exceeding the dynamic range then the choice is to allow what you want to go back/white. With your meter you can easily determine what that will be and make an informed choice.
Often at this point I will often bring out the filters. A one to two stop gray graduated filter usually drops the dynamic range by enough to resolve your issues.
In many respects I am quite old fashioned in my photography. I believe in using the right tool for the job.
Though I also believe any camera you have with you can produce a master piece.
When it comes to Landscapes the bigger your film or digital sensor the better, though one should also remember that depth of field reduces as sensor/film size increases.
So while I have taken great Landscape images with my iPhone, I feel my best work has been done with Medium Format or Large Format.
Surprisingly I feel this has less to do with image quality and more to do with thinking more about the shot.
Having to set up my tripod, camera, choose the right back, lens, filters, and then spend time time metering the scene to work out the dynamic range and exposure really focuses the mind and makes one concentrate on a great composition.
I’ll talk about the basics of metering in my next post.
Today saw us exploring the east coast of Suffolk.
We found ourselves at Orford Castle, from the top there are some delightful views to the south. The weather was a little overcast but I still thought it worthwhile to take a few black and white shots of the castle.
Today we went on a shopping trip to Norwich, clothes and quilt shops for Caroline and for me a visit to The Window, the smallest coffee shop in the world.
The shopping and coffee went well, though Caroline did not buy any quilting material we did manage to get some clothes and Coffee.
Hayley our champion Barista served me one of the best Espresso I have had this year.
I’ll certainly rate Coffee Aroma in Lincoln and The Window in Norwich as the top two coffee shops I have visited this year.
While walking round the city I also did a little street photography, always fun.
