Writing this post sitting in Syracuse for a few days. Truth is, I haven't been back up here in the summer, well, ever, and I haven't been back in town much at all since I graduated in '03.
But when Jess invited me, what was I going to do? Say no? Hellllll no. So here we are, back in the 'Cuse, then Sunday we head back to Boston for four weeks. That unto itself is kinda weird for me, as I haven't been home in June since summer '03, but this time I didn't exactly have a choice.
Didn't have a choice? Yeah well let's back up a few steps and make a long story short. Monday night. Harrisburg. I'm working the plate. I got hit in the face with a bat (by accident). Fracture cheek (it's not as bad as it sounds, trust me), but I did get sent to the ER, then home until at least the end of this month.
So what did I do yesterday a few hours after landing? Headed over to LensProToGo's new studio space in Concord of course. Paul, the grand poo-bah over there was kinda enough to let me run around his new space with Nikon's newest flagship, the $8k, 24.5 megapixel D3X.
The space is still pretty empty, so I ended up with such exciting photos as this one:
(Look a bit funny?, Paul just got in the new set of Nikon PC-E lenses, and I was goofing around with the 24 (above) and 85 (below))
Needless to say, that camera really pumps out some sweet files (even if my computer did have a bit of a meltdown trying to process that many megapixels).
More to come shortly, I'm going to be shooting a ton of personal projects here while I'm home, gotta fight off that boredom.
So...you're probably wondering why the first photo I'm posting from my brand spankin' new D700 is a photo of a random car, I don't usually shoot cars...
Well let me first say that the above photo was shot at ISO 6400 (with my 70-200 at 1/40s), and it's straight out of the camera. I didn't do anything to it except resize it for the blog.
Now onto the tabacle (my umpire buddy Chris's term for debacle). After I picked up the camera and got back in my car, all excited to go hang out with Shyla for a bit, it wouldn't start. Nothin'. Zilch, wouldn't even crank. Aaaand my cell phone had zero bars left of battery life.
So after 20 min. of trying to flag down strangers in Harvard Square, I ducked into a burrito place and threw myself at the mercy of the burrito chefs (chefs? I dunno). After a mighty tasty chicken burrito disappeared, one of them volunteered to give me a jump. So he pulled around in a Honda (with a BMW hood ornament, but it was a Civic, I swear), and successfully blocked the one way street as he lined up to give me a jump.
After we connected the cars, mine still woudln't start, buuuutttt, now neither would his. So now his BMWCivic is blocking this one way street and won't start. Great. So we disconnect the cars and finally get his started. This seems like a good time to mention that burrito boy spoke almost zero English and is now looking at me like, "What the hell did you do to my CivicBimmer?" "Sorry man, glad we got it started, thanks for the effort," I told him, before he took off.
So now I'm really stuck, so I call AAA. But my phone is dying.
Actual conversation with AAA operator:
Doug: "Hi, I'm on Holyoke street in Harvard Square and needajumpandmyphone is going to die." AAA: "What's your AAA number sir?" (Fish in wallet for card, and read her number.) Doug: "Did you get that, my phone is going to," DEAD. Phone dead. Great. Hoping they got my address. Awesome.
Thankfully, 45 min. later a AAA truck pulled up and my car started on the first try. I shot the photo above while waiting for the jump.
For anyone wondering what I'm doing, oh, all day today. Joe McNally has a new class online at Kelby Training. Enough said. Score. Here's a little video to give you an idea of what the man is all about.
I'm not big on writing camera reviews or overly techie stuff, but we got rained out today, and I figured I'd do my own test. I shot both of the below photos at 1/125, F/5.6 and ISO 3200 with my 17-55 F/2.8 lens on both my cameras. I shot in RAW mode with my tripod and didn't do anything to convert the files at all. White balance was auto for both. Click on either image to see it larger. (D300 on top, D200 on the bottom.)
I took the new D300 out for a spin tonight to really see if I could put it through its paces and figure out some of the differences between it an my old D200. I've been using the D200 for a little over a year now, and while I wasn't upset with its performance, I was looking for a little more.
I'll also add that tonight's shoot didn't really stress some of the key differences in the cameras (the frame rate, the ISO performance (these were all ISO 200) etc. But I did shoot all of these images in 14-bit RAW mode (with my 17-55 2.8 lens) and processed them all in Lightroom.
It was a great sunset tonight, even if I did feel like the location was a bit lacking (no portfolio images, and I got nothing for my site tonight, but I did get to play with my new toy.) The learning curve isn't too too steep, but there are a lot of small differences that will total up to a significant difference.
After a few hours of use, my favorites are definitely the improved ergonomics of the vertical grip (the integrated multi-selector to change focus is sweeeeeeeeeet), the brighter, larger and more accurate LCD, the 14-bit mode and the autofocus.
I'll add that I don't have the new autofocus system quite mastered yet, as it's a completely new setup, but I do see its potential and think it will be an improvement, especially when I go back to shooting sports. Anyway, on to the images.
I wish I had more to blog, but I haven't had a chance to go shooting yet, but I hope to after my D300 arrives! (Yeah, I ordered it last night at 3 a.m.) (3 a.m., that's what you call "spring training hours").
Anyway, it's cloudy and raining and there are seven girls at the hotel pool in bikinis. Rough life I got goin' here :-)
I dropped in on the Boston Sea Rovers annual show tonight at the invitation of Jamie, and got to play with some cool new Nikon toys. Mmmmm Nikon toys.
I met Bob Watts from Nikon Professional Service who had a few goodies with him including the exotic 200-400 VR and the D3 and D300. While playing with the D3/200-400 combo I was definitely thinking, "If I drop this, I could offer Bob my car and it still wouldn't be enough to cover the tab, I wonder if I would have to name my first born 'Nikon'."
Well, I didn't drop it, and Bob still hooked me up with some free Nikon goodies (I now have a Nikon flashlight, for example).
While I've gotten to play with the D3 before, I've never had my grubby little hands on D300 before tonight, and let me tell you, I was very impressed.
Here are some images right outta the camera on the D300 (resized for the Web) shot with the new 24-70 2.8 lens.
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
And just for kicks, the D3 at 25,400 (this is what 1600 on my D200 looks like).
I also got to play with the new, "so wide you can see around corners with it on the D3" 14-24 2.8. And WOW that is one sharp little piece of glass. (It was nowhere near as large as I expected it to be, nor was the 24-70 FWIW).
Anyway, it's late, I'm off to bed and I don't feel like blogging about my first ever memory card failure event from last night either.
Because so many of you have asked, I thought I'd do a cliche photo blog, "What's in my bag?" post. Click on the bag for a larger view with details.
Also, with spring training fast approaching, I got an e-mail today from major league umpire Rob Drake asking me to check out his new Web site and blog. So click here to take a look at what Rob's up to.
Friday I was lucky enough to get to spend an afternoon/evening playing with Nikon's new D3. Let me first say, that if I had the money in the bank, I'd have ordered mine already. This camera was phenomenal. What follows here is just my review from my short time with this camera, it's by no means comprehensive, and I'm not a professional camera reviewer, so I'm sure there will be some flaws, but I thought I would just share my observations. For a more detailed review, take a look at at this article over at the Luminous Landscape.
What's the big(gest) deal about the D3? It has what Nikon's calling an "FX" sensor - or one the same size as a 35mm film negative. For more on sensor sizes, and a visual comparison, click here.
The easiest way to describe the D3 is to say the camera just gets out of your way and lets you compose images. With my D200 in certain situations, I have to say, "Well...I can't do this." Or, "I need to find a workaround for this..." The D3 says, "You want to do what? ISO 6400 at 1/1000? Sure." I know the D200 isn't really a fair comparison to the D3, and I make a lot of comparisons between the two going forward here, but I'm just speaking from my experience. I own a D70s and D200. If anything, the D3 just showed me that the difference between a "prosumer" and "pro" camera really is that great.
Ergonomically, the camera is the same as the D2X (so I hear, I've never used it) and the D2H (I've used it slightly). It was not as large as I expected (the same size as the D2H, and for that matter, as my D200+the vertical grip). It was also smaller and a lot lighter than Erin's Canon 1D Mark IIN that I shot with a bit too at the hockey game.
We started out shooting some rainy landscape shots in Winthrop with my 50 mm 1.8 lens (which I would use SO much more on a full-frame camera, it made me wish I had a 35mm lens for my D200) before moving on to Harvard for hockey. Shooting outside, I didn't really get to test out the high ISO features of the D3, as the outdoor exposure was around F/5.6 at ISO 200-400, but I will say that in a foggy situation like this on my D200, I would have had to up the exposure compensation to at least +.3, maybe +.7 (shooting in Aperture Priority). With the D3, the exposures were spot on. Also, having a 100% viewfinder is nice, as, unlike the D200 (95% viewfinder) what you see is what you get. (On the D200, sometimes things that are just out of the frame will show up in your image as a result of this.)
Also worth noting, we shot the landscapes with the D3's 14-bit RAW capture mode, and the hockey shots in JPEG fine.
I was determined to put the camera through all its paces (I didn't download and read the entire manual Thursday night for nothing!) so I tested out the live view mode (a night shot on the tripod, probably the only time I'd use this function), the virtual horizon feature (where the camera lets you know if it's crooked - again useful for landscapes) and, of course, the much talked about high ISO features.
Having shot Harvard hockey before with my D200, I'd been frustrated by my inability to produce tack-sharp images, as I just couldn't get the shutter speed high enough - not a problem with the D3. Shooting mostly with my 70-200 VR lens, I captured 700 hockey images, all at ISO 3200 and 6400 with shutter speeds between 1/640 and 1/1000 of a second. I did try a few at ISOs 12800 an 25600, just for kicks, but there was certainly some noise in those images. As has already been written, I think those figures are for when you need a shot, a shot you could not otherwise get and aren't able to use flash (i.e. a low-lit church) and something is better than nothing. Subjectively though, 12800 is like 3200 ISO on my D200.
I also shot some with the D3 in crop mode, with my DX lens, the 17-55 F/2.8. I did this for two reasons, I wanted a wide view for some close up shots of players in the corner where we were shooting, and I really wanted to test out the 11 frames per second that the D3 is capable of with a DX lens (at 12.1 megapixels, the D3 shoots at 9fps). I didn't think there'd be that big difference between 9 and 11 fps, but I immediately noticed a difference on a sequence where a Harvard defender checked a St. Lawrence forward into the boards right in front of us. I was able to record the entire play, something I certainly would have missed with a slower camera.
The other cool thing about the D3? All this shooting drained only 40% of it's battery. I think that works out to around 1,500 to 1,600 images per charge.
Also, please note, in the slideshow above, there are some images shot with my D200 at 3200 ISO for comparison.
Conclusions? Um, I want one. Now please. I won't ask for anything ever again. Really.
Not much today, just this link to a video preview of Nikon master Joe McNally's upcoming book, "The Moment it Clicks." I can't wait to get my hot little hands on a copy. Oh, and while I'm at it, check out Scott Kelby's blog for a little behind the scenes idea of how this book got its start.
I had a free period this morning and when I noticed the clouds, I ran home and grabbed my camera to head to the lake across the street from school. I only got off about 40 shots before I had to head back, and the above one is my favorite. I shot it with my D200 and Tokina 12-24 at ISO 100, F/8 and 1/15s. The conversion was done entire in Photoshop, with some blending more and shadow/highlight tricks to get the clouds to really pop.
Somy editor called me today and asked me if I could shoot an event tonight and write the story, saying, "You can do both. Just find a couple people to shoot. I have faith, and you need the dough." The man had a point, so off I went.
The event was a holiday party for families of soldier's serving overseas and those killed in action since 2001 and was hosted by the Jeffrey Coombs Foundation. Patriot running back Kevin Faulk is in the middle photo, and I shot the entire event with (wince) on camera TTL bounce flash. As you can see, the ceiling was really low (10 feet or so) and almost white, so I set the white balance to flash and bounced the flash straight up. You can reverse engineer this light setup by looking at the ceiling in the bottom photo and seeing the light falloff as you get further away from the clown and kid. The event was also attended by Academy Award winner Chris Cooper (top photo) who apparently lives in nearby Kingston.
And you always have to watch out for those dangerous balloon swords, they'll cut yah, I swear.
To celebrate my birthday yesterday (and because I hadn't shot anything in a week or so) my friend Rob and I headed off to shoot sunset yesterday from the roof of the library at Tufts. I think my toes just recovered. Despite the fact that I wore my Under Armour cold gear, someone (me) forgot to wear boots and warm socks. So while the rest of me was fine, my toes just about fell off.
After we warmed up with some Dunkin' hot chocolate, we headed off to the East Coast Grille & Raw Bar for some drinks and a plate of their "Wings of Mass Destruction." They grill the wings, so they're not greasy, but your mouth is afire for a while for sure. I like them so much beacuse they're tasty hot, not just burn your mouth off hot, if that makes sense.
Anyway, the above photo was taken with my D70s and my 10.5mm fisheye just after the sun set over the city.
Also, I'm not his biggest fan, but I think that Ken Rockwell has a decent post on the 5D vs. D3 and D3 high noise performance updated yesterday. Click here for all the links.
These late night Patriots games are killing me. It's like those baseball playoff games that all start at 9 p.m. Maybe I'm getting old, I dunno, but I can't hang with MNF games that go until midnight then be productive in the morning. I think I need a TiVo.
My new site just passed 1,000 total unique visitors since going live in September, so I wanted to thank you all for visiting and your support. Also, I wanted to throw some speedlinks out there, including my favorite Google Analytics. GA is how I know that I've had 2 visitors from China to my site and that the average, "bounce rate" (those who navigate away after looking at only the first page) is just more than 25%.
Other news/link:
I finally have an album company to call my own. I'm pleased to announce I'll be offering KISS Wedding Books to all my 2008 clients. I love KISS's business model - fast and simple. Kinda a cool model for life if you think about it. Throw away all the extras you don't need and stick to simple excellence.
The Ravens, so it seems, are a little upset about the officiating from last night's game, going as far to say that the fix is in. Now, I watched the game, I know almost nothing about football officiating (maybe Marky Mark Evans can weigh in on this?) but as someone who officiates professionally myself let me tell you this, the refs don't care who wins. Flat out, period, end of conversation. There's no such thing as makeup calls either, while I'm at it. Think about it, if I miss one, do I really want to miss another on purpose to, "even up" things? I don't sleep sometimes when I miss 'em, I'm not missing 'em on purpose.
Today I shot Sharon vs. Canton in the state soccer playoffs. Using a little Strobist ingenuity (and my new Pocketwizards), I bungee corded a SB-80DX with 1/2 CTO gel on the football goal post (top photo) to add a little light to a quickly darkening second half.
Also, it's amazing what a little light will do in terms of noise. The second image is at ISO 1600 on my D200, and there's almost no noise. Proof again, that noise is directly related to exposure.
I shot 700 images at the game (which Sharon won 4-2) and only used the strobe for probably 30-40 of them, but I feel like it's the little thing that make your images stand out.
