Exhibition

I was asked to participate small exhibition with theme about Finnish heroes or heroism. I chose this work and ordered the print, mounting and laminating from Dialab. Good service & quality from their side. I think somebody thought my work to be a painting :)

D700

My D300 broke and got some constant mirror problems during last shoot so I had to send it for check & repair. Somewhat annoying to get black viewfinder about 20 times during the important shoot when you should be focusing to other things than fixing camera. And repair ain't cheap either, estimate was around 300€. During the repair they open the whole camera and some of the grip rubbers need to be torn away which means extra expenses to replace those parts :/

This feels about the worst time to buy new Nikon DSRL semi-pro body, as everybody are waiting the D3s/D700 successors to be announced. As I need to have the working camera soon, I couldn't wait for next week or next month. So decided to get the D700 as all D300 my accessories (like batteries and CF memory cards) will work with it. I was thinking to get D7000, but it would have required to buy pile of SD cards, battery grip etc. 

This is first time I am not overly excited about the new camera. Absolutely nothing wrong with the camera but I feel it as more of tool than toy. I just put the custom menu settings as they were in D300, tested that all my most frequently used lenses are focusing ok with this body and stored the camera to bag to wait next shoots.

 

First impressions after taking 1000+ frames with camera. Bigger viewfinder is very nice and one of the reasons I chose FX-body. Vignetting when shooting wide open with primes is clearly more visible but easily fixed with LR/PS. High ISO IQ is improved compared to D300 (ISO 3200 and sometimes even 6400 are usable) but I might be one of the rare persons who still thinks that even D70 delivers usable results with ISO 800.
Shooting 14bit RAW files made the D300 considerably slower than with 12bit files so I kept using 12bit files. With D700, you can shoot 14bit RAWs without noticeable shutter lag. Changing to FX made me to rethink what lenses I need to carry around in camera bag. With D300, 85mm prime was long enough for tight headshots, but it feels a bit short for that when attached to D700.

Update: now after about three months of using D700, there are finally new rumors that D4 and/or D800 are coming next year. Maybe :)

What gel holders?

ND2 & color gel wrapped & taped over the Compact 600 R + zoom relector. Doesn't look good but works perfectly.

MiniTT1, FlexTT5 & AC3

I had quick test with PocketWizard MiniTT1, FlexTT5 & AC3 ZoneController for Nikon. With AC3 & ControlTL  (Control the Light) you can wirelessly control remote flashes in TTL or manual mode. There is lot to digest with all the settings and PocketWizard utility software tweaking (going through all the manuals are about reading 50+ pages) but I got the wireless controlling with AC3 to work at first try. Reliable triggering, even through walls. The standard what you would expect from PW products. Turning the control wheels of AC3 was faster way to adjust power settings of remote SB-800 connected to FlexTT5 than doing it old fashioned way from camera/commander flash menu.

When one teaches, two learn

Around two weeks ago I spent one evening teaching flash photography basics for friends. 1-3 lights setups using everything from vintage Nikon speedlights (SB-24) to battery powered heavy duty lights (Pro-7b). Why to use certain modifiers, how to guide model, what to do when wind destroys gear (like it did on the workshop) etc. Teaching is interesting way to rethink why you do the lighting certain ways and also get some new ideas from the people participating workshops.

Post apocalyptic gang

From the post apocalyptic themed shoot with Jamo. See more photos after the link

Loupes

Hoodman Loupe

Loupes are indispensable for still & video capturing during sunny days. You can't properly focus or see the results from LCD without them.