Getting a little light on the subject
08th January 2012
I'll make a quick mention of the D4 at the end of this, but first I'd like to mention an interesting problem I experienced recently.
About a year ago I started including a small torch in my camera bag. This was as a result of having the floodlight go out on me as I was packing my camera bag after a match. As you can imagine, the torch has stayed their unused ever since. It's a bit like carrying an umbrella. If you carry one it never seems to rain. But it did come in useful a few days ago.
Last week I went to the new Hockey Museum Archive at the request of one of the trustees. They were trying to get some of the photographs and pictures in the collection onto their web site. They had tried photographing them themselves with a compact camera but found that the pictures that were framed behind glass could not be copied in this fashion. The reflection of the flash was spoiling the image. Now this is not an insumountable problem if you have pro flash available. Simply point the flash slightly back from vertical and there is no reflection. Simples, as a well known meerkat would say.
I had not known quite what to expect when I went to the museum but the choice of locations for shooting the pictures was a well lit room, where the light was being supplied by daylight, and another well-lit room where the light was artificial. Now, I'm not an expert on picture framing but I do believe that the best frames are those that use a special non-reflective glass. It soon became apparent that only a few of the pictures had that sort of glass. In most cases I could quite clearly see the refection of myself and all around me even before I pressed the shutter button.
Unfortunately, it was not practical to turn off the lights (or the sun for that matter) and all I could find to carry out the shoot was an unlit corridor which, by an amazing stroke of luck, had a hook on the wall as well! The problem was that it was too dark to actually see what I was shooting. I found the only solution to the problem was to hold the torch between my teeth so I could located the image, and then turn it off before shooting.
What I should have done is taken a tripod with me and shot on manual focus, but I will know for next time. However, it just goes to prove that a small torch can have a useful place in a camera bag.
I WILL BRIEFLY MENTION THE D4, which Nikon has now officially announced. As I feared, the price is eye-watering - in the region of £4700. In the current climate it will be interesting to see how many rush out to buy it. The specs look good, although not a spectacular improvement on the D3. What will be of particular interest to sports shooters will be how good the ISO is. The D3 will shoot up to about 5000 ISO without any serious noise issues, which is miraculous in itself. My first pro DLSR, from about 2005, would leave horendous noise even at 800 ISO. Shooting indoor hockey or matches under floodlights is possible with the D3, but it would be nice to own a camera where shooting in broad daylight and in a dim sports hall were realy no different. Early rumours about a possible D800 suggest that it is more likely to be a replacement for the very expensive D3X, than for the D700, which is likely to mean that the D800 is not going to be a poor man's D4, either in terms of price or suitability for sports shooting. I suspect that my D3 and D700 will have to see me through to retirement.
About a year ago I started including a small torch in my camera bag. This was as a result of having the floodlight go out on me as I was packing my camera bag after a match. As you can imagine, the torch has stayed their unused ever since. It's a bit like carrying an umbrella. If you carry one it never seems to rain. But it did come in useful a few days ago.
Last week I went to the new Hockey Museum Archive at the request of one of the trustees. They were trying to get some of the photographs and pictures in the collection onto their web site. They had tried photographing them themselves with a compact camera but found that the pictures that were framed behind glass could not be copied in this fashion. The reflection of the flash was spoiling the image. Now this is not an insumountable problem if you have pro flash available. Simply point the flash slightly back from vertical and there is no reflection. Simples, as a well known meerkat would say.
I had not known quite what to expect when I went to the museum but the choice of locations for shooting the pictures was a well lit room, where the light was being supplied by daylight, and another well-lit room where the light was artificial. Now, I'm not an expert on picture framing but I do believe that the best frames are those that use a special non-reflective glass. It soon became apparent that only a few of the pictures had that sort of glass. In most cases I could quite clearly see the refection of myself and all around me even before I pressed the shutter button.
Unfortunately, it was not practical to turn off the lights (or the sun for that matter) and all I could find to carry out the shoot was an unlit corridor which, by an amazing stroke of luck, had a hook on the wall as well! The problem was that it was too dark to actually see what I was shooting. I found the only solution to the problem was to hold the torch between my teeth so I could located the image, and then turn it off before shooting.
What I should have done is taken a tripod with me and shot on manual focus, but I will know for next time. However, it just goes to prove that a small torch can have a useful place in a camera bag.
I WILL BRIEFLY MENTION THE D4, which Nikon has now officially announced. As I feared, the price is eye-watering - in the region of £4700. In the current climate it will be interesting to see how many rush out to buy it. The specs look good, although not a spectacular improvement on the D3. What will be of particular interest to sports shooters will be how good the ISO is. The D3 will shoot up to about 5000 ISO without any serious noise issues, which is miraculous in itself. My first pro DLSR, from about 2005, would leave horendous noise even at 800 ISO. Shooting indoor hockey or matches under floodlights is possible with the D3, but it would be nice to own a camera where shooting in broad daylight and in a dim sports hall were realy no different. Early rumours about a possible D800 suggest that it is more likely to be a replacement for the very expensive D3X, than for the D700, which is likely to mean that the D800 is not going to be a poor man's D4, either in terms of price or suitability for sports shooting. I suspect that my D3 and D700 will have to see me through to retirement.
