Beloved husband and co-cook is so happy with my new foodblogginghobby (he prefers to read arcane history books; he's currently poring over a biography of Charles Russell Lowell, Jr. 1835-64 -- dude, the guy only lived 29 years!) that he heartily endorsed this splurge.
The above photos are from the Nikon Web site. I decided not to bother with a Kodak point-n-shoot pic of my new toys. And I can't even use the new toys yet, because the batteries are still charging.
Now, I'm not promising anything great, but I'm so thrilled, I'm kinda wiggly.
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16 comments:
Most excellent camera!! I bought a Nikon Cool Pix. It's tiny and lets me be stealth.
Stealth is prolly smarter... This MoFo is big and heavy, and of course -- Of Course! -- I have not been able to get through the initial set-up procedure and have to take the whole rig back to the store today.
Why back to the store?
Here's the www.dpreview.com forum for the D70 and D50:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1034
It takes some doing to get the D70 to shoot how you like it, at least it took me a while. I can probably help if'n you'd like.
That AF D 60mm F2.8 is an amazing lens. It doesn't focus as fast as the Kit Lens, but damned it's sharp as a tack and has nice aperture range for close-ups. Don't be afraid to close the aperture down for those close-ups, see what you can do. And sister, that is one heavy lens, real heavy. I bought an AF D 50mm f1.4 just to lighten the load a abit and give me a wider scope. At some point you'll need the kit lens or something similar. Dragging around a 90mm lens doesn't always work for group shots or exterior images of restaurants.
You're going to want to save for the SB 800 speedlite too. Between the camera, the lens and the flash you won't find a tighter pair. Nikon's i-TTL technology is amazing.
Biggles
Doc: I bent a pin in the memory card slot! I wasn't being ham-fisted, I don't think, but those little babies are fragile. The lovely folks at Seawood Photo in San Anselmo fixed it for free. (I'm never taking that card out again.)
But I'm enormously grateful for the link to the forums (and props to you: I had already learned that's the camera you use, so I went to the store "informed").
And I already got the kit lens!
This is gonna be fun. Give me some time. :)
After I bought mine I kept staring at it. I've had it about a year and still find myself admiring it in a frankly unwholesome manner. Enjoy it!
MG: I know! I was afraid to touch it at first; thought it'd be months before I flipped the switch. Now -- well, yes, it's unwholesome. Meow!
(I must add: When I was a kid, my dad made homebrew beer that stunk so badly, my mom called it Monkey Gland. But it's really a cocktail, right?)
Monkey Gland...
Shake with ice and strain
2/3 dry gin (2 oz, 6 cl, 1/2 gills)
1/3 orange juice (1 oz, 3 cl, 1/4 gills)
2 dashes absinthe
2 dashes grenadine
Shake
Serve in a cocktail glass (4.5 oz)
Wait -- Absinthe??? I've never had the pleasure.
When you get the chance be very selective about your surroundings and the people your with.
So I'm told! I think I can actually do that (i.e., get the chance.)
They only made the stuff legal again in the Uk about 3 or 4 years ago. Still if you wander around some of the more salubrious cocktail joints in London you can see why they should probably ban it once more. For my own safety if nothing else...
Quit yer yappin' and go start snappin'.
You got yer tripod?
I pull my card out probably 3 or 5 times a day, more on the weekend. Maybe a dozen times during one shoot. If it matters, I use an external USB card reader.
I think yer pin was probably funky when you got it. I've never been super gentle, but then I've never been rough with it either. Ah well, as long as everything is cool.
Biggles
Big Guy: Oh, lordy. The camera store people were adamant that it was an "operater error." Whatever. It's fixed. I use the USB (I'm a Mac user) and delete photos every time I load them, but I don't have an external card reader. I'm a Newbie!
BTW, I know you hate daylight (what are you, a vampire?) but that ice water pic was totally ambient light.
Monkey Man: "Salubrious"!! OMG, you are a thesaurus! Now go to bed; what's the time difference -- half a day?
The camera store was wrong. It takes someone like me, to ruin a Nikon.
I don't hate daylight.
But you can't count on it. Let me give you an assignment and lets say you've got a 3k return.
The job rolls in at 3pm and you need product shots by 7am the next day. The job requires chocolate, yellow lace, ferns and stupid dwarfs dressed in red.
Will you grab your camera and wait until the sun does something?
This same scenerio can be laid out for any basic food blog post. Our food comes out, sun or no. The best thing you can do is be ready.
What I learned is that you really need to be aware of different light sources. The White Balance in your camera can't deal with snn, light bult or whatever. Make damned sure it's all from the same source.
Bring it on.
Bigs: D'oh! You are correct, sir.
And speaking of stupid dwarfs dressed in red -- OMG, you should see my dumb little maltese poochie in his red chili-pepper cape with the green stem poking up from his head. I know; animal abuse.
Re: absinthe
I have 2/3 of a bottle a friend smuggled to me aging in the cupboard. I love the idea, but anise is nasty.
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