---------------------------
|
|
.. |
Nikon D100 DSLR User Experience An old photographer learns some new tricks and regains his youthful passion for a profession and a hobby he had almost given up It is important for readers of this column to understand that aside from being a computer consultant (specializing in Apple Macintosh computers for around 20 years) I have been a professional photographer for over 30 years, and that my main hobby has been photography for over 40 years. Important for me to remember too, because until recently, I had forgotten it. Not the professional part, but the hobby part. At a certain point which now seems like a lifetime ago, photography became a chore for me. Lugging around a lot of heavy equipment, and not getting the same respect from clients as in the good old days. It's not that things had really changed that much for me personally, the entire profession of photography and people's perception of photography had changed. In the 70s and 80s photographers had almost the same status as rock stars. We were allowed to be temperamental and difficult to work with, it was even expected of us. But as the 90s approached cameras became automatic and focused themselves, they practically ran out the door and took pictures for you. More and more often on a job a client (or art director) would show up on the set, with equipment even more expensive than the photographer and start snapping the scenes so carefully set up by the photographer and his crew. After the shoot was delivered to the advertising agency he would come into the meeting and flash his own version of the event, hinting that his pictures where just as good or better. In despair a lot of photographers, including myself, changed to larger cameras that no-one in his right mind would use unless they were being paid to do so. Yes this discouraged the idiots but it made our work just that, work. We became technically proficient robots who had forgotten why we had chosen this profession in the first place. To create photographic art. I turned to the computer, because it was a new challenge, and used photography to define my existence, but I had lost the motivation to capture the magic moment that had driven me most of my life. The moment that the image formed itself in my camera. I had tried to explain it to many people over the years but no-one ever really understood, the only moment that had ever really mattered to me was that moment when I saw the perfect image. Am I being over dramatic? No, not really, photography has always been a religious experience to photographers. We feel a little bit like we are stealing slices of time. We often want to apologize to people and inanimate objects for not capturing them just right. We are always convince that we are not there at the right time of day, and that the light could have been better. What gave us unimaginable pain in the past was the period of time we had to wait for our film to be processed. We would agonize about imagined wrong exposures, miscalculated f stops, and foolishly selected shutter speeds. Then when the film came back we would silently congratulate ourselves for our successes and try not to have anyone see our miserable failures. We would imagine that the lab technicians where laughing behind our backs and that competitors where waiting to go through the garbage bins to pull out and display our worst mistakes. Some of my friends were so paranoid that they would carry scissors with them to the lab, and immediately snip all "bad exposures" into small pieces. But we were incredibly happy in our pursuit of those few great images. That is until it became a job and the guys in suits started making us feel like robots. The Digital Single Lens Reflex I don't want to say that it was a particular piece of equipment or a particular moment that I spent with that equipment, but for historical reference yes it was the Nikon D100 and the 24-120 VR lens that allowed me to once more feel like a photographer. I don't think I have mastered the art of photography yet, no true photographer ever feels that, but I do feel like I am once again seeing the light, the shapes and the moment. I am once again anxious for tomorrow and what situations and light it will bring to me. I have taken some images in the last few days that I really like, as usual I have shown them to other people and most of the time they don't get it. And I don't mind, it is enough, that those moments were magical for me. If that sounds peculiar, I would ask, have you ever had a thought that was too alien for you to share with other? But it made you feel good inside? Well (some) photographers get this same feeling for images. They may not make sense to other people but they justify our own being and existence. Most of all they make us keep looking for our own perfect moments and hopefully to have a camera ready to capture them, often only for ourselves. The Nikon D100 is one of those cameras that is ready to capture the moment (not the moment after) without being burdened by the overly heavy nature of other cameras capable of the same task. combined with the 24-120 VR Nikkor lens it at times becomes almost a third eye that sees as quickly as the lenses we were born with. Again I have to plead innocent to being overly melodramatic. A photographer wants if possible to have his camera speak for his vision, not to be a far distant representation of that vision. If a camera is too heavy, to difficult to operate, or too slow to respond it will not be able to truly represent the moment that the photographer intends to capture. There are of course still areas that are disappointing and unsatisfactory, but they are mostly due to a less than complete understanding of the media. We are now closer to the truth in trying to achieve that capture of the moment but we still have a lag between the eye and technical reality. We now have to worry about whole new set of problems, that had no bearing in the world of film, but have to do with the capabilities and limitations of electronic image sensors. These capabilities are being advanced constantly and although photographers no longer have to buy or experiment with film, they do have to be concerned with the advances in these image sensors because they determine the actual look of the images. Nikon D100 Digital SLR The Nikon D100 is not the absolute best Digital SLR being produced at the moment, not even by Nikon, but it is the best Nikon DSLR available at under US$ 2,000. It is also in my opinion the best Nikon DSLR for every day shooting, mainly because it is light weight enough to carry with you always. A camera that stays at home because it is too heavy, is not a very useful camera. For the past month I have not left my house without the Nikon D100, usually with the the 24-120 VR Nikkor mounted. The 24-120 VR is a wide angle to medium telephoto zoom with Vibration Reduction. The weight of the camera with lens in a small shoulder bag has not even been noticeable. No back aches and no shoulder pains, it is just there, ready to be used at any time. This actually really surprised me, but I do have to admit that many times I wished that I hadn't been quite so lazy and carried a second lens and flash with me at all times. When conscious of going out to shoot, or seriously working with the camera I of course carried a second lens, the 12-24 DX Nikkor super wide angle zoom and the SB-80DX Nikon Speedlight. This combination gave me enough coverage and power to photograph room interiors and exteriors of houses that I am shooting for some hotel and real-estate clients. The main differences between the Nikon D100 and the Nikon Coolpix 5700 (which are both labeled as pro-sumer cameras) are first of all size, the Nikon D100 DSLR is a camera that looks like a professional piece of equipment and most people become slightly intimidated when you pull it out to take a picture. The Nikon Coolpix 5700 is not even noticed it so small and unobtrusive. Second the Nikon D100 DSLR is easier to view through and focus. It has a manual zoom and fully automatic and manual control over focus, shutter speeds and aperture. Over and under exposure and white balance compensations are also easy to manipulate without having to go to a menu. Most all the controls a photographer will need during a shoot are available on the exterior of the camera without having to go to the LCD monitor menus. This is a major difference from the Nikon Coolpix 5700 which relies heavily on LCD monitor menus for manipulating the camera controls. For the actual moment of taking an image the biggest difference is the amount of time it takes to start up the camera and take an image. It is for all practical purposes instantaneous. meaning that you can pull the camera out of your bag and while lifting it to your eye turn on the camera and immediately take a picture. different photographers of course have different requirements and this camera allows for all the manual manipulation and careful preparation that a photographer has come to expect from a pro-sumer level SLR camera. If you have noticed that I am careful not to say that this is the best DSLR camera available, it is because there is another more sophisticated level of DSLR available from Nikon. It is the current model D1x and the just about to be placed on the market D2h. These cameras are slightly heavier, more able to take professional abuse, and much more capable in certain areas. I am trying to be careful about what I say because I believe that every camera is the best camera in certain environments and conditions. I like the Nikon Coolpix 5700 for its incredible image quality in a very small package, the Nikon D100 DSLR for situations where I need faster response and manual overrides without adding too much weight, the Nikon D1x for commercial print jobs where the absolute best image quality and an even faster response to my wishes is required, and the Nikon D2h for any fast action and sports event that requires the height of action to be captured consistently. Nikkor 24-120 mm f3.5-5.6 V R wide angle to medium telephoto zoom lens. This lens really surprised me for a number of reasons. First I did not really believe that this long of a zoom range, going from a true wide angle to a medium telephoto, could be put into a high quality lens. Second the f3.5 maximum aperture is not all that exciting, it does keep the price down to a manageable level but still seems a bit slow. The third being the necessity for VR in such a short lens. OK. First of all the approximate focal length on the Nikon D100 DSLR is 36 to 180 mm. This turns out to be an incredibly good candid portrait lens. You can follow your subject around and shoot freely from almost any distance. In camera framing of images is extraordinarily flexible and precise. I often found myself in busy situations just spinning around and shooting various subject matter without moving far from my spot. And when I did have to move the lens was very quick to re-focus, re-zoom and ready for the next shot. My biggest problem with the Nikkor 24-120 was constantly running out of room on the Compact Flash Card in the camera because I was able to take so many different pictures so quickly. The Vibration Reduction feature is necessary on this lens mostly because in low light (at f5.6 and 200 ASA) you find yourself shooting at very low shutter speeds. The VR function allows you to shoot for an extra hour before pulling out the tripod or jacking up the ASA (not recommended, it can get real noisy). Nikkor 12-24 mm f4 DX super wide angle zoom Now this is an incredible lens. There was a lot of talk about Nikon DSLRs not being viable professional cameras for commercial photographers because they lacked true wide angle lenses. Well Nikon now has some true wide angle lenses specifically designed for their DSLRs. The DX designation is for lenses that are designed to be used with 23.7 x 15.6 mm digital image sensors. These sensors are 30% smaller than the image size 35 mm cameras are based on. Therefore a lens optimized for this image sensor size can be smaller and lighter in weight than the same lens designed for the larger 35 mm film size. Nikon has come out with a range of DX lenses, the Nikkor 12-24 mm being the first to reach the market. Although I really expected to fall in love with this lens, not the Nikkor 24-120, the opposite of course happened. I would still consider this lens to be absolutely essential equipment for a Nikon DSLR photographer though because when you run out of room to back up there is only one answer, and that is a wider lens. When shooting room interiors or houses there is no way to get everything in the picture (a basic requirement) without this lens. |
Copyright - dpmac.com 2003-2004 - contact info@dpmac.comt