More Testing

My sister is getting anxious now.  She feels like the Nikon D70 is going to take any joy out of taking photos that she may have NOW prior to taking delivery.  I will say that it has been a challenge to squeeze anything out of this camera that makes sense.  But this is like the first WHEEL, or the first cell phone.  It might have been cool in Miami Vice days to hold up a shoe-sized cell phone to your temple and fry your brain, but if you wanted to call ahead and order lunch, you had to break some eggs.  Everything about digital SLR cameras has gotten more sophisticated since the introduction of this model.  But this is what makes it fun for me.  It would have been fun for my DAD, too.  He would KNOW why more megapixels doesn't mean a thing to a person with skill at taking nice photos.  

But there IS the little quirk or two, 1.) metering that is good but hardly consistent.  Pointing and shooting and NOT checking to see what just happened is not wise.  2.) The camera is inconsistent in color and contrast.  For every session, you will need to establish that the camera is set up well enough to get a usable product out if it.  Nothing more than a few test shots, hell, they're free.  But both things are manageable and in a way, make you think more about what you really WANT to have as your result.  I think it will be MORE OR LESS point and shoot, but with better image quality.

With all that in mind (and with a promise to get back to CIGARS in a week or so) I shot some photos getting out of the car at 6:50 am at work.  The battery has since died and is not allowing me to fire the shutter now, so LUNCHTIME shots are not happenin.  But outside of the fact that I did not set ANY camera settings, this is ABOUT what I saw this morning.  The white balance is off, not sure how easy it is to for the camera's brain to AUTO white before the sun comes up...it gets a pass.  If I had set up a SPOT metering, I could have kept that sky from closing the iris down.  I think I needed to meter in the darker areas.  But the CAMERA and its designers wanted me to have access to the lovely nuances in the sky, I guess.

I turned around and fired off a second shot, this one much better exposed to the TRUE light conditions.  The color and overall feel are as I saw it.  Had I taken the time to white balance, it would have been nicer, but I don't guess that affects the levels, so ehh, again, this is how my morning eyes saw it for the most part.  And to be honest, everywhere I have taken the camera, I have come back with something useful.  I just have to shoot a lot more to ENSURE
that I have SOMETHING.  Its ALL gonna be fine, sis.  

And then I got into the office and set up the camera on a tripod to see if I could eliminate any camera movement and see JUST how sharp the lens could be if I wasn't there shaking it.  But then I decided I would play a little long exposure fun and games....

  I was pleased with the camera's handling of the lighting in this 4 sec. or so exposure.  And it certainly looks sharp enough.  But til I test it out again tonight, ehh, I am just posting to entertain and inform my sister.  But soon more cigars, I promise.

And lest I forget, her son just accepted a full tuition scholarship to the institution of his choice, well, provided he chooses the school that offered it, anyway.  I am impressed that a modern youth has the give-a-crap to survive today's education system and come out in demand by colleges everywhere.  Well DONE C-man.  Got yourself a free camera with that one, lol.