The next class
Is a sort of a photo safari. The instructor (Who hung around afterwards and yapped for a long time, despite twenty plus years he still has a great passion for his craft) said to me “I started having THIS class because if we went right to the photo-safari bit, we spent all our damned time showing people how to use the cameras and no time actually taking pictures.” I can see what he means. I spent some time tonight just rapidly switching settings and moving shit around, and i can see how just a little bit of drilling will make you a wad better. A couple of the things he showed us:
The shutter release defaults to “push a little and I’ll focus, push more and I’ll take a picture” But what isn’t obvious is, if you keep holding the shutter partway dowm it either holds the very first focus, or keeps continuously focusing. This is a camera setting. Also, you can remove the focus from the shutter release altogether and attach it on other buttons so that the shutter release does shutter only. Another of the programmable buttons puts the ISO setting at your fingertip with the thumbwheel, you can change film speed to suit you while you are framing a photograph.
I guess I had assumed most of these things were possible but I have a zero-tolerance policy where manuals are concerned; a booklet for a camera that is more than ten pages long is not an owners manual but a reference guide. I write operation manuals, and no matter how complex the system, I keep it to one page. The code is well written enough that this is all the operator ever needs. Sometimes I have to write a ten or fifteen page book of instructions for maintenance people, and that consists mostly of safety and recovery procedures. So when I cracked open the 65 page Nikon manual, I figured out where the shutter release was and put it back in the camera bag. Now that I have been taught the basics, I will refer to it as I need, but I have a lot more information than I had two days ago, and I’m having fun.
When film photography- most commonly 35mm film photography- began to be popular, there was a surge in people taking classes, going on photo safaris, etc, and I suspect we will see this more and more with the advent of good quality inexpensive DSLRs. It has to be good.
13 comments Og | Uncategorized
I took a Nikon School class a year ago or so. I think it was the “elements of photography” course. I also thought it was a good class, but I was a little disappointed because I thought it was going to be a hands-on, “photo-safari” type, and it turned out to be a lecture and demo. Still valuable, but not what I was expecting. What was the next class? they didn’t tell me anything about a next class, and I’d be really interested in that if it was a chance to practice with instructors to help.
Also, if you’re looking for a great reference guide for Nikon cameras, you can’t go wrong with Thom Hogan’s guides. they explain things a lot better than the Nikon manual does. It goes through all the menus item by item, explains what each does, and a recommended setting. He also writes a lot about photography technique in general. http://www.bythom.com is his main site, which links to sub-sites focusing on film, digital SLR, mirrorless, and accessories.
I am so tickled for you, this is great! Go Og!
Jenny
Maybe I missed this, but which Nikon?
D3100.
Nice. I’m still using my antique D70 :)
There was a woman in class who had one; a very nice camera.
Og, spendy, but did you read the specs and review of the Nikon Df I’d posted?
For me, that’s near perfection. I’d like to see it run about $1k less, and offer a couple of the features the reviewer had mentioned, but I won’t hold my breath waiting.
At the present price point, I’d like to see F-2 style interchangeable prisms and focusing screens. Those are remarkably useful features.
Still, the 35mm style controls and the look and feel of the camera (it’s quite small, actually!), are a delight.
All that said, you know what I’m really looking forward to?
Samples of your work, posted on these here pages. I mean that, too.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Og, you mentioned user manuals; I got a mobile phone, with big buttons (lousy eyesight) for Christmas. Still haven’t figured out how to use it because the frickin’ manual (>20 pages) is in such tiny type.
I’ve yet to transition to serious digital. At first it made no sense since the price point was falling as the technology was always improving, so whatever I got would’ve been a doorstop in a year. I paid ~$400 for a Canon point & shoot in the early 2000s. In tree photos, leaves didn’t look like leaves, they looked like kale, and other digital bokeh artifacts made me want to drop it in the trash, and after it plum stopped working a year later, that I did, and I was sour on digital then on. I have a Nikon Coolpix, and it’s a digital version of an old Kodak Instamatic – good for family pics and funny stuff to throw on the FaceBook, but not for something I’d hang on a coffeehouse wall or submit to a salon show. I was happy with what I was making with the Nikon N2000 35mm (I loved the Nikkor lenses), and even more with the C330 I owned for a minute, then the Rollei. Give me something with no pixelation, no excessive grain or funny looking grain that screams “digital.” Ektar quality, please. B/W gives me 10 stops of range, will digital? Can I Zone System, then burn and dodge in PS and have a data rich image?
All I want from an SLR is a light-tight box with a darned good and big image receiving surface, whatever they call that, and a darned good lens. A digital version of a K1000 for the camera body, if you will. I also want it in the couple hundred range, so if it gets robbed or dropped, I’ll cry over then lens, but snap up another body with a little overtime work. I know, I know, why not also ask for Hilary Duff in a red lace teddy waiting for me with a plate of pierogis when I get home tonight while I’m at it …
I stopped in Gary Camera today, and they’ll have an advanced class by summer. I hope to have the camera I’m looking for by then. Hope I’m off the Sunday they hold it. I stood there for a half hour talking “shop” with the guy, and it was so awesome to be at least in the environment again. If it wasn’t for a paying customer walking in, I might have closed the place.
Dammit Og, I got the photography monkey off my back, and now it’s baaaack…
Og, thanks for telling us about this class. I intend to find one in my area,–thanks for the Nikon link, too– & will probably bring my mother (69, but still sharp as hell).
I was a 35mm SLR guy, & pretty much get by now with a digital P&S:it may be a POS, but most likely that’s me. I miss being able to take the photos I want, or at least close, instead of whatever the camera decides to take.
Couple of things from a long-time Nikon shooter.
Jim was talking about the Df – I love the classical design but I was shopping for my first full-frame and went with a D810.
It was a long decision but I am incredibly happy with it. Double the resolution and much better dark ability (lower noise at higher ISO settings).
Like to shoot time-lapse landscapes so this is an issue.
As for different viewfinders, check out KatzEye Optics:
http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/
They seem to be going through some kind of re-organization but I got one of their screens for my D90 (another excellent body) and it was night and day.
Good luck with the classes – been shooting for a long time and still love it – always carry a camera with me.
MTS. Sorry to hear you gave up on that Canon.
I bought a S1-IS for about $500 in early 2000s. Found it to be functional, but never really mastered it.
Then one day, a few years later after a long period of non-use, the view screen went dead.
It was long past the warranty period, so I looked up on line about what could be done.
Son-of-a-gun. Various users indicated Canon was offering to replace it free of charge. I checked. They did. They paid for everything, including shipping both ways.
They sent me an S5-Is, lighter and with more functions and easier to use.
If you have yours buried somewhere and didn’t really toss it, you may still have a chance.
I still don’t use it much because I haven’t mastered it. After reading this series, I may seek out a class or two myself.
Love the Nikon School. Took the course back in the days of film (read: the Dark Ages). Learned a metric buttload. Including this: “Stop calling it available light photography. If you have a flash in your pocket, that’s available.” Changed my way of looking at light sources — I think, for the better.
Most of the cruft in manuals looks to me like it was added at the behest of risk-averse lawyers.
M