A non-covid topic (gasp!) - Photography

Lately, I've just become so saturated with the whole covid discussion, and the billions of permutations of the same, that I've been trying to post some stuff which is non-covid related. I hope you won't mind. ...

This topic has nothing to do with the Chi-Com Floo, but rather about photography and cameras in particular.

About a 2 weeks ago I ordered my first Nikon camera. This is significant because historically, I've always been a loyal Canon guy, but secretly I've always loved Nikons. I guess I'm a 'closet Nikon guy' (is that even a thing??). Over the years, I've probably purchased tens of thousands of dollars worth of Canon gear, or Canon compatible gear (i.e. lenses, etc). As an amateur photographer, I've been able to take some really nice pictures, and even some wall hangers. Most of my photography pursuits have been landscape and nature photography (both macro and wide angle). I've traveled the World in my line of work, many times in fact, and I figured out early on that I probably should get a decent camera to take pictures of my travels. Canon was my selection. There was a period of 4-5 years where I probably spent as much time in the air as I did on the ground, and at last count I've been to about 73 countries on 4 continents. I documented it all, much of it on film cameras (which is a whole other post).

Somehow, I always felt like something was missing from my photographs, that 'Holy Grail' of a certain look I saw in my mind, but couldn't quite capture on film. Sure, I got really close, but I never got quite "there". I have a good friend who is a semi-pro photographer (mostly travel and art photography, and all B&W). Because of our line of work, he traveled to many of the same places I did, at the same times. He was a mentor of sorts when it came to photography, but it was also frustrating to see him capture that "thing" you saw in your mind's eye that I couldn't seem to capture on film. I have long told myself to never let myself fall into the trap of thinking that the camera makes the photographer. In other words, that a certain type or brand of camera will magically make one a better photographer. My friend was big on this mantra also. He shot exclusively with Nikons. He never had anything negative to say about Canon, but he shot with Nikons only.

I'd taken some pictures with some Nikons in the past, and for some dang reason those pictures just came out fantastic, and I couldn't get my Canons to do the same thing. (but dude! It's NOT the camera...it's YOU!), I told myself.

Well, I finally broke the mold and left the Canon camp and went to Nikon (at least for some testing on a long-term basis). My Nikon took longer to get here than it should have (another whole story about FedEx, for another time). It finally showed up yesterday. Now, with any of these new cameras you usually wind up spending the first day just reading the manual and learning about the camera. The new Nikon was no different, but in short order I was able to start playing around with it. ...

MY GAWD!! I can't even believe it! Within probably about 2-3 hours I was taking shots which I could never get with any of my Canons! And I mean seriously too! The tones and textures were fantastic, and the sharpness is just unparalleled!

I'd gone ahead and purchased some really "fast" lenses for the new Nikon just so once I learned the camera I could start taking some low light and also some really artsy shots. After I got comfortable with the camera in general, I switched out the stock Nikon lens for one of these 'fast' lenses. This particular lens is a 50mm f0.95 lens and also a f1.2 lens in 55mm, also a prime lens. Within minutes, I was absolutely STUNNED! I've NEVER taken pictures like that! I was just shooting random stuff around the house, and practically every one of these shots was a 'million dollar' shot (even though they were of nothing in particular)!

And the ease at which all of this happened was also pretty shocking. It took me weeks to learn my way around my latest Canon, and I had this camera pretty well under control in a couple hours. Now granted, I do know my way around cameras, and my Canon experience made me know what to look for, but still it was pretty amazing. I shoot almost all my photography from completely manual settings. That, or Aperture Priority. I rarely use any of the 'auto' features on a camera anymore. I used to use those auto features when I first started out, but now I have so much more control over everything.

Anyway, I still believe that the camera doesn't make the photographer (the lens might, but not the camera), but I have to say, yesterdays experiences with the Nikon have given me a little pause on that mantra! No, actually a whole lot of pause, even to the point of wondering if I should regret not having picked up a Nikon far earlier in my travel days.

Oh well, what is done is done; water under the bridge so to speak, but I thought I'd share my experiences.

P.S. Oh, and did I mention that this thread is NOT Wu-Flu related???

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I'd love to see some of your shots if you don't mind sharing.

Photos or it didn’t happen....

🙄😁🤭🤗

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

originally posted by: Dalamax
Photos or it didn’t happen....

🙄😁🤭🤗

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I'll be honest...I absolutely HATE that saying!!! No kidding either! There are only about two sayings in the entire World that I HATE, and that is one of them! "Derp" is the other.

Your saying makes me want to NEVER post a single picture EVER!! Seriously.

😁 I promise I won’t drop a d***p 🤗

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

There is so much more to photography than just picking a motive. A few days ago I finished a video project where I had a professional camera man and his assistant take shots under my direction.

During selecting and editing / cutting these scenes, I was in awe. Just one example it took me so long to notice that he made sure there were only so much different colors in the shot. The car is black and white with red.

He picked the garage with red floor, white walls and it's and 80s race car, so now I get why he wanted the old equipment in there, that has a bulged old TV screen still. And surprise, it's also black / red and white.

Then on moving scenes, I found parallel angles moving through the scene. The more I watch the footage the more in awe I are. That's why I called that guy yesterday to hire him as my camera man for upcoming projects.

It just blows my mind out of the water, I have a bit of feeling for shapes and sizes but that is astonishingly deep on so many levels.


You are correct, it's not the camera, it's the camera man. Equipment like balanced holders and such are necessary but it's the one that looks through the lense / screen of the camera that makes the magic. The camera does not tell him where to put the lights and so on.

Just amazing.




Add: And I did some shots too, only three of them landed in the video and I was so proud at first but set to reality very fast.. Compared, I am level 1 and he's like 11 on a scale of 10.

a reply to: Grenade

You know, I would really love to post some pictures here, and I rarely ever do. The reason is, every time you post a picture you've got (50) Sherlock Holme's types who try to prove how smart they are by analyzing every single pixel, they expose every single big of meta-data and so forth. Really makes it not fun to have to thoroughly scrub every single photo of every shred of info so you can post it online.

I can put my pictures up on an easel in a show, or frame for someone to hang on their wall, and I don't have to deal with any of that crap! People just don't seem to understand how invasive that is. They're just trying to show off how smart they are, in the moment, but they don't realize their posts last for years and are subject to internet searches world wide for decades. They just don't understand the risks they creat by doint that.

And, that is why I don't post a lot of pictures, and the ones I do, are usually stock pictures from the interwebz.

Love my Nikon D750. Considered venerable now by digital standards, but the thing takes awesome photos and I have some good lenses. Used to use Sony before moving to Nikon. Never shot canon, but I know many who use them and love them. They are all good, but it’s that undefinable connection which matters.

You sound once bitten dude, I was going to go first (cause I didn’t mean to use disagreeable phrases) but my jpg things have to be some other format and I’m a nincompoop with that stuff.

Mine were just some work photos...

Appreciate your concerns and thanks for breaking up the crazy.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Fair enough, i totally understand.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
Yeah that's why my face will only be visible in the pic thread when it's active, so the people that are in there and writing can see it but later, when the thread calms down it's gone again

This isn't exactly like a closed circle, as everyone can look at it years later, like you wrote.

Too much wankers, crazies and pathetic-obsessive people on the internet. You never know if you dropped a comment somewhere and weeks later get messages calling you names, just so the pathetic Netherlandish person get's a ban from a mod, so it can make the 20st account and be a sly ass on ATS once again.


A good example to protect one from this is to exchange one or two meaningless details when it becomes very private. As a bread crumb for the obsessive to follow down the wrong track. For example if describing something and you just use a different color.

Nobody reading it will be "betrayed" because it's a meaningless detail for a normal person just enganging in conversation. But for a stalker, the color is important because they will look for blue... but it's actually red.

Or is it?
As long as I do not invent any stuff and the switcheroo is for protection, I have zero issues exchanging details like that on public ATS. For private conversation between friends it's different of course.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I've had better luck with my Nikons than Canons as well. When in switched from film to digital I hopped over to the Nikon camp. I still have my trusty, now antiquated D5000 that's been on countless trips and vacations, diligently snapping photos along the way.

One day I'll upgrade, but the thing is still chugging along and an absolute tank for the punishment I've put it through, so I've been hesitant.

Glad to see your passion reignited, and completely understand not wanting to post pictures here.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I felt the same when I changed to Panasonic from Canon. I tried Nikon but I like the way my Canon glass works on the Panasonic better.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Lately, I've just become so saturated with the whole covid discussion, and the billions of permutations of the same, that I've been trying to post some stuff which is non-covid related. I hope you won't mind. ...

You are likely to have more luck in this direction than I have had.

I too thought that maybe we should have more to look at and to discuss than the virus. In fact I as hoping it would speed up its demise if we gave it less air time.

I agree with you, and I thank you for letting in some fresh air.

a reply to: olaru12

That's cool. Are the lens mounts compatible without an adapter? If adapter, do all of the lens functions show up in the camera? I have zero experience with Panasonic cameras, but I did look into the Lumix line and the Fujifilm line before finally deciding on the Nikon. As a matter of fact, I had several Lumix and Fujifilm cameras on my short-list. I did have one Canon on the short-list too, but it had too many issues to overlook (controls in the wrong place, needless complication with menus, and AF issues pretty much across the board) so it got eliminated early on.

Don't get me wrong, Canon's are really nice gear, and I don't plan on getting rid of mine anytime soon. I just felt it was time for a change, and I'm not getting any younger, so why not!

My main aversion to Nikon over the years was always primarily the cost. Nikon's seem to run about 30-40% +/- more for the same thing, over Canon. This is especially true with the glass up front. But I just decided to bite the bullet and finally go for it this time around. So far, my decision appears to have been the right one.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I bought my very first camera about this time 50 years ago.
It was a Minolta,you had to use flash cubes.I still have the
case I bought for it,I don't know if I still have the camera.It
was the camera that I used to take all of my baby's pictures
with.

a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

Yeah, I'm a pretty hardcore traditionalist when it comes to photography. I don't like to make heavy modifications, if any at all, in post processing. I feel like a picture should be good because it's a good picture, not because you use a bunch of fancy software to modify the picture into something you didn't photograph. To me, that's cheating...and not really 'photography'.

Much like the camera not making the photographer, I also believe that post processing shouldn't make the photographer either. Plus, I believe that a photograph needs to be a good photograph to begin with regardless of what happens to it afterwards.

I resisted the transition to digital for a long, long, time...for my main cameras. Sure, I got some PNS stuff early on, but that was about it. For my main cameras I stuck with my Canon film cameras, and had several pro bodies with some really nice glass to go with them. Over time it became more and more difficult to find places who could (competently) process film. And once everything became totally computerized and automated all bets were off in terms of what you were going to get.

Then one day tragedy struck!! I was picking up my main camera body off the kitchen table and I somehow lost my grip on it. It slammed into the hardwood floor right on the corner of the body and just fragged itself (i.e. bent the body, damaged the lens mount and broke the back latch). The cost to repair far exceeded the cost of a new body. That was my impetus to make the jump and go with a digital body.

Digital photography still bothers me, but I'm getting better about it. Somehow I've never felt it was "real". Just simple things like ISO settingings in the 10,000+ range (now even the 50,000 range) just drove me nuts at first. "How can this be?"...I would ask myself. Things like that were never possible with film. There are other examples too numerous to list, but you get the idea. At first I kind of took it personally, after spending decades working on perfecting a craft that now a camera could fix internally in 5 seconds (or even automatically). Don't get the horizon level? Here, just push this button. Got a dirty lens? Just push that button. Wrong exposure? No problem, camera will fix. Heh, about the only thing left is focus. No automation can fix that, well, not all the way anyway. Anyway, I'm coming to terms with digital photography, albeit slowly. I think it's nice to see people taking pride in the photos they actually took, and not something they conjured up with photoshop.

I guess I'm rambling, so I'll stop.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Some pictures I have taken with my Nikon. Pretty happy with it.
Mount Rushmore



Splitrock Lighthouse up past Duluth MN. I have used this one as my profile picture. The profile picture I have now is across the small bay by the lighthouse. Pretty cool place. Great story on how it came into being.

originally posted by: mamabeth
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I bought my very first camera about this time 50 years ago.
It was a Minolta,you had to use flash cubes.I still have the
case I bought for it,I don't know if I still have the camera.It
was the camera that I used to take all of my baby's pictures
with.

When I first got interested in photography, I think I was about 8-9 or so. My sister had this old 'Brownie Holiday' camera. Actually, both my sisters did. They pretty much trashed them, but I was able to combine the two and get one working camera. I don't even remember what size film it took, but it was some weird size. For a flash it had one of those old reflectors that you stuck a single bulb into. One flash and replace the bulb; single use. It was the only camera I had, so I thought it was the coolest. In my kid-mind I was Ansel Adams, but in reality I was probably I was probably more like Mr. Bean as a youngster.



Shot photos with hand-me-down and cast-off relics for a long time as a kid. They were all I had so I went with it. My first new camera was a Focal 110 instamatic camera Mom bought me at K-mart. LOL! Took a whole lot of pictures with that thing! I'll say one thing though, all those junky old cameras taught me about photography...which is kind of a fun memory.

a reply to: Tarzan the apeman.

Nice pics! I especially like the lighthouse pic. The boat adds real context and scale to the picture. Nice shot!