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Oh, Freyja, what have I done?
15 years ago
General
Guess who's allowed himself to be dragged clawing and hissing with bristled fur into the current century?
Egged on by some who like my photography but really dislike how long it takes me to get things scanned (if I ever do), I finally broke. I bought a used digital body to take all the Nikon glass I've accumulated over the years.
I almost feel like I should wash my fingers after typing that.
I wound up with a Nikon D2x. All my other Nikons are "single-digits", so I didn't see any reason to change from the professional line, and I'll have to admit that the thing has the tank-like build I expected. I don't think it'll ever replace the F, F3, and F4 in my affections -- but we shall see. The little monster has a 12.1 MP crop sensor, but I figured I don't shoot much wide-angle stuff anyhow and full-frame is far, far beyond my means. Most of what I do on film is in the 50-105 range (35mm film, that is; medium format and 4x5 are another matter) and "available dark", which the 35/1.4, 58/1.2, and 85/1.4 will cover nicely -- taking the 1.5x crop factor into account -- and suddenly my 180/2.8 is a 270/2.8. That's going to take some getting used to, but I'm trying to look at the positives: effectively having a fast 270mm will be nice when shooting at zoos; and now the 300/4.5 is a 450. I'll have to see how it all works out.
I'll continue to use the GIMP/Photoshop the same way I do now for scans: cropping, resizing, and the like -- nothing I wouldn't do in a wet darkroom -- and adjusting jpeg compression for posting. That's it. I don't believe in "enhancing" scans or photos; the practice, and it's all too prevalent, is insidiously undermining the trustworthiness of the photograph as a record. I've also got far more "film" now than I know what to do with: something close to 390 "raw" images on an eight-gig card. When I got my start, a 36 exposure roll of ASA 64* Kodachrome and processing cost most of a week's allowance. Each shot had to count, and I don't think I'll ever be changing that.
* Digression: yes, I antedate "ISO"; hell, I used to use a meter calibrated in Weston film speeds, which I had to convert from DIN speeds: Ilford Pan F, pushed one stop and souped in Acufine, was ASA 100, which is 21/10 DIN, which is 80 Weston.
Egged on by some who like my photography but really dislike how long it takes me to get things scanned (if I ever do), I finally broke. I bought a used digital body to take all the Nikon glass I've accumulated over the years.
I almost feel like I should wash my fingers after typing that.
I wound up with a Nikon D2x. All my other Nikons are "single-digits", so I didn't see any reason to change from the professional line, and I'll have to admit that the thing has the tank-like build I expected. I don't think it'll ever replace the F, F3, and F4 in my affections -- but we shall see. The little monster has a 12.1 MP crop sensor, but I figured I don't shoot much wide-angle stuff anyhow and full-frame is far, far beyond my means. Most of what I do on film is in the 50-105 range (35mm film, that is; medium format and 4x5 are another matter) and "available dark", which the 35/1.4, 58/1.2, and 85/1.4 will cover nicely -- taking the 1.5x crop factor into account -- and suddenly my 180/2.8 is a 270/2.8. That's going to take some getting used to, but I'm trying to look at the positives: effectively having a fast 270mm will be nice when shooting at zoos; and now the 300/4.5 is a 450. I'll have to see how it all works out.
I'll continue to use the GIMP/Photoshop the same way I do now for scans: cropping, resizing, and the like -- nothing I wouldn't do in a wet darkroom -- and adjusting jpeg compression for posting. That's it. I don't believe in "enhancing" scans or photos; the practice, and it's all too prevalent, is insidiously undermining the trustworthiness of the photograph as a record. I've also got far more "film" now than I know what to do with: something close to 390 "raw" images on an eight-gig card. When I got my start, a 36 exposure roll of ASA 64* Kodachrome and processing cost most of a week's allowance. Each shot had to count, and I don't think I'll ever be changing that.
* Digression: yes, I antedate "ISO"; hell, I used to use a meter calibrated in Weston film speeds, which I had to convert from DIN speeds: Ilford Pan F, pushed one stop and souped in Acufine, was ASA 100, which is 21/10 DIN, which is 80 Weston.
