NCD

ThePrettyDamned

That's new camera day. 

I picked up my brand new d7200 after work yesterday. It's charged and I've jammed a couple of sd cards in, but I've not been able to test it beyond a quick shot of the dog at iso 12,800.

Mind blown. 

Trial by fire tonight: I have an hour break at work in which I need to set it up and learn the controls before I shoot my first event with it. Luckily, it's not massively dissimilar to my old d200, but my first task is to reassign ae-l to af-on as it's missing this button. It also seems less intuitive to select focus modes and points, but I'm expecting only to need af-s and single point to be honest. 

I'm blown away by it, though. Where I couldn't shoot at 1600 on the d200 at all (800 in good light is web size acceptable quality, just) I'm basically expecting to sit at 6400+ tonight and still get colourful images. 

And, it's lighter, *much* quieter (a lovely little snick rather than a clack) and apparently still weather sealed to d800 spec, so it should be reasonably resistant to my efforts. And the autofocus system is amazing - the centre point of the d200 was fine, even in fairly low light, but this seems happy to focus in the dark with all points. Mad. 

Sadly, due to my laptop going back to "I don't want to do that" I'm going to be shooting jpegs, but if the quick snap of the dog is anything to go by it'll do just fine for tonight. 

Absolutely chuffed. I've been saving for weeks and decided I need a camera that is future serviceable and has a solid warranty, as well as the brilliant John Lewis accidental cover policy. It also had £85 cashback, which I'll be sorting at the weekend when I can register the warranty and such. 

ThePrettyDamned

First event shot and OH MY FUCKING GOD. 

This is considered a not-pro camera but the images are absolutely astonishing! 

I sat at iso 6400-12800, but managed a few at 3200 when the light was a hair better. Horrible green fluorescent mixed with incandes means white balance was challenging, and some photos would need graduated filters to sort but in general it did very well. 

I'm not absolutely used to it yet, and accidentally shot the whole event in jpeg... But the photos went up and staff were happy, so hopefully they'll let me practice events more with them! 

I've spent all weekend learning functions and have discovered how amazing it is to be able to send images to my phone... Via nfc. Amazing. 

And the autofocus is magical. I used af-c 9 point and even in such dark conditions with an off brand sigma 85mm 1.4 the focus was very fast and pretty accurate, with a few missed focus shots at f/2 (but given the depth of field I can easily put that down to movement). Apparently it focuses down to -3 ev?! 

Basically, absolutely chuffed. The image quality is astonishing even at 12,800 and I did a quick snap in the dark street at 25,600 which produced a more than adequate facebook shot. Grip is on its way (I did not like not having one). I wish the iso button was in the right hand, and it doesn't look like I can set the function button to be iso either, but I'll recheck. 

It also does custom preset white balance which the d200 was awful at (not sure if it could do it but when I tried it didn't work well!). So that's portraits easily catered for. 

One note - 24mp on a crop sensor means insane sharpness - equivalent to over 50mp on a full frame. I did a couple of quick portraits at the weekend and didn't need to apply any sharpening to them at all for viewing on screen. I think I'd rather it was a 16mp sensor for smaller files and more images in the buffer (though I'm not a rapid fire wildlife shooter) but I'm nitpicking to the extreme. Even the grain looks good. 

Oh, it does video. So I can mount a go pro to it for shoots, then film a commentary about the shoot for a YouTube channel with the d7200, which I think would be a great way of me tracking my learning and progress, as well as attracting help from others. 

Next gigs - portrait session with a couple of flashes and then I'm hoping to secure a couple of live music venues. Over Christmas I'm sorting my website and loading a few images to it, which I am going to flesh out as I go along. 

Happppppppyyyyyyyy! 

One bad thing - nikon cashback website isn't working properly when I've filled in the details and hit next. Bleh. 

goldtop

TLDR, but FYI, a picture paints a thousand words.

ThePrettyDamned

goldtop said:

TLDR, but FYI, a picture pains a thousand words.

Ouchies  

Yeah, I'm getting a picture or two up as soon as I can. Doing pictures to here from mobile is a pain in the bum though, I use Flickr and it's a bit shit getting the link. 

Hopefully I'll get a photo up later  

Short version - well happy.

ThePrettyDamned

Attempt... 

Edit: didn't work, will try later. 

hywelg

Had my eye on the Sigma 20mm f1.4 for my Canon. They are very good lenses. 


And when you get back to Raw +jpg you'll see another leap in low light capabilities. 

ThePrettyDamned

hywelg said:

Had my eye on the Sigma 20mm f1.4 for my Canon. They are very good lenses. 


And when you get back to Raw +jpg you'll see another leap in low light capabilities. 

I've got the ex dg hsm, and it's great. I have had a couple of other lenses from this range as I'm so impressed with this one (a 17-50 2.8 I think? And a 30mm 1.4) but they were both shite - poor focus, poor build and the 30mm 1.4 had just a bad look to the photos. I think the 85mm came a bit later and is more of a bridge to the art range, along with a couple of other fast lenses they did (I've heard the 24mm 1.8 macro is a good one). 


I usually just use raw, but as the camera is WiFi enabled I will shoot small jpegs (6mp is small?!) and get them onto social media via my phone when I'm out and about. So this is now my walkabout camera, too! 

There are niggles. I don't like the placement of the iso button and I don't like that I can't assign it to my function button. I've got back button focus sorted, which is great, so now it's back to my usual af-c way of working. I don't like how little information is on the small screen at the top - it goes on the main screen. It's a small niggle but it means I can't quickly check things like white balance or quality, although the buffer makes it clear if I'm in raw or jpegs. 

strumjoughlamps

Had a d7100, ''twas the first Nikon I couldn't get on with, cheap feel and a few choice buttons missing compared to what I was used to.

well regarded range for the price tho. 

ThePrettyDamned

strumjoughlamps said:

Had a d7100, ''twas the first Nikon I couldn't get on with, cheap feel and a few choice buttons missing compared to what I was used to.

well regarded range for the price tho. 

Mine feels well built except for (another niggle) the sd card door. Flimsy and easily opened, like a 5d mk ii. 

Which is absolutely shit. 

And yes, it's missing some buttons I'd like and, more cruciallly (given the missing/wrong location buttons) the function button can't be programmed to what would be truly useful. 

However, this is work aroundable - the image quality is just quantum leaps from the d200. I'm gripping it, too, because it's a bit small. And gripped cameras are generally much more comfortable. 

I did want a d3s and nearly picked one up for a good price with 100k clicks, but I was advised against it by Fixation who said they're having trouble sourcing crucial spare parts. They recommended going for a D4 but at over twice the price of a brand new d7200 (not including cashback, plus two years accidental damage cover) I couldn't justify it. 

I also considered a d600 but they have quite flimsy build, too, and I'd basically just be paying for a bigger sensor. And I already have a 6x7 camera if I want a bigger sensor. 

This is easily enough camera for me to use - it just needs a bit of work around. The autofocus system is mind blowing, and is accurate and fast even in the dark. 

Actually, there is another niggle - it doesn't have the torque to drive older d lenses as fast. But nit picking mad now. It's a wonderful camera. 

stickyfiddle

Pffft! (Fuji guy here...)

Looking forward to seeing pictures though

ThePrettyDamned

stickyfiddle said:

Pffft! (Fuji guy here...)

Looking forward to seeing pictures though

I borrowed an xt1 for a week and I tried so hard to love it, but I found it a bit frustrating - just didn't work out (sadly - there are some bargain xt-1s and xe2 around!). 

However, if I get disposable income, I'd *love* an x100. 

I'll try to get some photos up at the weekend with luck the girlfriend will let me take a portrait, and I'll put a couple from the first event it did, too. You don't want a selfie, trust me