D300 thoughts so far!

well as promised a Nikon D300 update... OMG I love her, nuff said really.

Ok seriously, I got the camera wednesday last week so have had a great weekend of play time and a couple of days this week while I have been off work, in fairness I haven't given her the fairest of chances yet. While I have been out and about most of my shooting has been with the cheap Tamron 70-300ld not really a great performer, as you might well have heard me moan. But the results i posted before where from said lens and to be honest I'm rather pleased, focusing on the D300 is sharp and spot on, the metering is awesome under these conditions and and its quick. I have been playing with high ISO's of 1600 and am really pleased with its ability to keep noise under control, although viewable on flat detail-less areas its always manageable in the darkroom and of course I've been able to push the shutter up above the 1/4000 barrier of the last camera.

Weobley Castle, 10mm, processed using Topaz and CS5

Today I took the camera out to the Gower for my 365 challenge, Weobley Castle providing the opportunity for some wide angle fun. and I'm again very pleased, the ergonomics of the camera are great despite it being both 400g heavier and almost twice the size of the little D60. Its a pro end camera and it shows, its always comfy and ready to use, the extra control meaning its easy to make changes on the fly and not to forget something as I did on the D60 because it was always hidden away. Picture Quality is great, is it better? well if I'm honest to my eye I couldn't say, the D60 has and still does hold its own and with the digital darkroom working its magic on pictures its hard to distinguish. But thats doesn't mean I'm disappointed, i just think that after a while you start to count numbers when talking about 'quality' on digital instead of seeing real differences, certainly when I put Jens SP90 macro lens on I saw a huge difference in quality and the D300 rocked those pics, but that piece of glass cost 3x as much as my humble 70-300 so i would expect to see 'quality' results from it.

using the feared 70-300, and getting results at last!

Ok so here Begs the big Q... should I have spent the money on Glass instead? Hell yes glass will always provide a bigger step in Quality than a new camera, But thats to miss the point here, this was as much about lust as need and as much about access to control and ease of use as to simple quality gains. I am completely in love with this camera, in less than a week it fits in my hand like it belongs there and is sooo easy to learn to use that I haven't thought twice about its depths. and speaking of Depths the manuals size alone gives some idea to the Depths the menus will go on the beast, i have hardly touched the Menus other than to set up an alternative shooting menu for when i wanna play lensbaby B&W and let the camera take over correcting any minor metering bunnies for me, although I cant wait to really get  stuck in to the camera more.

so verdict.. the camera is great 100% what I wanted, Quality wise ill get the picture on this easier than the D60 and that equates to getting the picture, which is always better than not! I certainly want new glass to replace the tamron and possibly my little Zeiss lens, but at least I'm not tied to new expensive glass I have the world of old AF stuff available now to. all round its win-win

the RAW colour of the D300 and the Sigma 10-20 lens is just breathtaking, a few tweaks and some sharping and this is the result, i did try a few bracketed shots for a HDR image, but it just doesnt need it. oh and the metering is epic!

a weekend of chances!

(Steve) Well the plans for the weekend didn't come off :( and we were left wondering what to do with damp grey nothingness! the summer of discontent continued, or so it seemed. we cancelled the shoot with Heather and the 'philosophers Daughter' series because it was just wet, hardly suiting summer dresses and paper butterflies.

Hoverfly on Sea holly. (Steve)

 Instead we decided to head of to the camera shop and hope longingly that a little break in the clouds might spread some sun on us. In Swansea Camera Centre Jen falls in love with the 50mm f1.8 and I realise that a good camera needs good glass! oh dear, time to save again it seems, so much for a free hobby once you buy the camera..

Anyhow the sun broke and we headed down to Sketty Parc and found plenty of fun in the gardens there, I took the Tamron which I have come to hate and fell in love with its potential, and coupled with another impromptu break in the clouds and more macro fun to day, I think im quite happy to play with it again. So its not the sharpest tool in the bag, but on the new D300 it rocks, (did I mention that, let me bring a update to you on that midweek)  its focuses nicely on macro and if you close the f-stop up a little its not too bad! Certainly better than nothing at all :D

you cant beat a spot of red on a sea of green (Steve)

Jen on the other hand has fallen in love with a Squirrel or two and then today, a random trip to Pembrey circuit to see what was going round in circles in the damp greyness, and the skies cleared and some fools were to be found 'Drifting'.  ill let her fill you in....

Mr Squiggle

 (Jen) Well gutting Steve's shoot was off, but I have really enjoyed myself this weekend. Having squirrels come to me when I call was so cute, not like the ones in my garden that are vicious, so may go back there without the sp90 lens on so I can get a good shot lol.

Chasing butterflies and dragonflies is always been fun to me and with the sun deciding to rear its head its best to grab a chance when you can so I am pleased with my shots and hopefully when I get home there will be more shots to share with you all.

Another Daisy shot

Drag racing today was absolute fun, not sure on my shots but a good giggle I had to myself watching them and getting burnt fron this thing that people call the sun (doesn't come around here much) . I really hope that I get a chance to catch them race again soon. It also helped this weekend when i came to realise (only because Steve is playing with his new camera) that my camera has iso sensitivity settings that i didn't know was there .. Hehehe helps a little (ps... I should read the manual to camera sometime)

Cheeky fells who was waiting for me to throw seed

Alphabet challenge!

well I'm often telling people I could construct a better argument with a tin of alpha spaghetti, but could I do the same with the camera, a challenge set me thinks! so without further to do the 366 takes another twist, the 366 alphabet challenge... every day (mon-fri) we work through the alphabet taking a picture that links with the letter, so monday coming will be 'F' for example.. so I might choose 'fish' 'flowers' or a I might use a 'fisheye' lens, so no real rules,in fact if we can justify it it goes! :D sounds typical for me then!

Coastal Play at Lougher estuary, it was a damp grey and very windy evening, perfect for photographers then, lol

Sunny fun

Well on the weekend we headed down to pembrey race track to have my first experience of photographing bikes. It is quite a skill to learn, one that I haven't got meh...
On the plus side of things, we headed into the country park to a little sandy pond to discover dragonflys breeding in the reeds there. Awesome day even in the tremendous rare heat of the sun. I know now that my tamron sp90 defiantly rocks for macro even if it does struggle with the focal length for flutterflys . So after I buy a shorter length ( maybe 35 m or 50m) just to have a closer quality prime I might be looking at a teleconverter as a good addition to my kit. Hehehehe
Jenny xx

Poo to the weather

After sitting here and looking back at last years stuff we have realised that we have seriously not gone out to half as much as last summers activities and photography thanks to the weather. But what we have done we have enjoyed , just wish there was more of it. Fingers crossed for next year. Jennyxx

what a great week!

Fisheye daises! was a great lend, but I wont be buying in a
hurry at over  £500
 I don't think I could get enough use out of it

Its has been an awesome week for me behind the camera, some impromptu landscape plays, getting the sand between my toes and playing roulette with the incoming tide and my camera percariously close to the sand/sea. Then tonight a quick charge to the beach for a cracking sunset that just rocked for about 5mins before the heavens opened on me! was it worth it, hell yeah I think so but ill let you judge me eh!

in the week we had the wednesday night camera club stroll, this week around Parc Howard and I managed to borrow a fish eye lens so got some cracking play time in with that!!! 

 I didnt realise how much I miss landscape shots till yesterday gonna get out there now. :)

ok ok, pics tell the story better than me!

Llanelli beach, 5 mins before the rest of the sea landed on my head and camera! Its rained this summer fair play!

Bracelet Bay, Mumbles.. so wish i had had a 10stop ND grad for this shot!