Ups and Downs

My Nikon D610 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Lens

The Nikon D610 has Arrived!


I got my new Nikon D610 this last week, on Tuesday, 7/8/2014. Yeah, the date is significant to me - it's about a $2,000 camera after all!
 
I shot the picture at right using my Nikon D3200. I haven't used the D3200 since, and it's kind of sad but kind of exciting. The D3200 has been great - it's introduced me to my exciting and pleasant new photography hobby. It has inspired me to take a good number of excursions including overnight camping or motelling trips for the sole purpose of taking some pictures. It has provided me with memories that will last the rest of my life, especially since they've been recorded in digital images!
 
I've got some good pictures out of the D3200 too, which is what I was led to believe would happen even on the entry level DSLR. It also exposed some weaknesses that generated the interest in moving up the camera food chain. I've mentioned them in an earlier post, but to summarize, I wanted better picture quality above all (no noise in my night photos, improved sharpness without resorting to software and its artifacts). I also wanted some other features that either contribute to picture quality improvement or just make shooting some pictures easier, such as mirror lock up, exposure bracketing, and depth of field preview. So, after looking around at what I thought offered the best picture quality and feature set I could afford, I chose the Nikon D610.
 

Elmer looking at the Nikon D610
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, 1/60s - f/2.8 - ISO 800

I haven't the D610 for a week yet, but I have got out to try to shoot sunsets one evening. They didn't turn out great; my best picture so far has been an unplanned snap shot of my dog Elmer the night after I got the camera.
 
This shot was on full auto mode using my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens and the built in flash. The large version of this has really nice detail. The bokeh of the background is very nice. I don't see noise in it, or at least the noise looks like a more pleasant graininess rather than a irritating digital noise issue.
 
I never got one shot from the D3200 at ISO above 400 that I liked. And, this shot is a crop of maybe 1/3 of the original image and it still has great detail. Finally, after I took this shot I showed it to my wife on the D610's LCD and her first reaction was something like "Wow!". She's not into the photography like me, and to have her see the difference in the picture quality made me know the camera upgrade was worth it.
 
I know I'll post more as I get more time with it, so I'll leave the discussion of the camera usage for now.
 

Learning to use a Camera

 
I decided to get some more information about the D610 than what the Nikon User Manual provides. I had got an instructional DVD for the D3200 in a package deal I got when I bought that camera. It really wasn't of much use or value to me, so I was hesitant to get anything dedicated to the D610. With the wealth of information available online it didn't seem like it would be that valuable.
 
But, I decided to spring for a Kindle e-book, and in fact, I've now got two of them. I like both of them, and thought I'd let you know about them in case you're interested in getting something yourself.
 

Nikon D610 Experience - The Still Photography Guide to Operation and Image Creation with the Nikon D610

 I got this one first and like the information about why to use one setting over another, as well as how different settings relate to each other. I didn't get any of that kind of information in the D3200 DVD (Blue Crane Digital - Introduction to the Nikon D3200 Basic Controls).

The only thing I was wishing was that the author explained how different settings, etc., tie in to Nikon Capture NX 2. It is clear the author is more of an Adobe Photoshop user. There's nothing wrong with that, but one of the cool things about Capture NX 2 is that it is Nikon specific and the RAW manipulation is tightly linked to the Nikon cameras and offers advantages due to the inside knowledge that the software developers have compared to Adobe. This wasn't a deal breaker, just a desire of mine.

The good thing is that I got not just more insight into how the D610 works, but some insight as to how the D3200 works too, and it was information I hadn't found anywhere else. Specifically, the linkage between different auto focus modes and auto focus and exposure meter settings.

Link to this book on Amazon:
 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GKT43W6/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o02_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Mastering the Nikon D610  

After finishing the book above, I wanted more of the type of insight I got, such as why an experienced Nikon user would use one setting over another in different photography situations. My guru Jon (who just purchased a Nikon D7100 to go with his updated D600) got Darrell Young's "Mastering the Nikon D7100" and liked it so I added this e-book to my Kindle virtual bookshelf.

I like this book too. It book covers most, if not all, of the various controls and settings as well as why you'd use one over the others (in a lot of cases). It's a more complete coverage than the first book (and the author of the first book lets you know he's not covering everything).  
Link to this book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2YIZQM/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Again, this author doesn't mention how the settings or work-flow can be integrated with post processing software enough, in my opinion. For example, I've read other places that you might as well turn off some settings if you're using Capture NX 2 because the PC will process them better and/or faster and you can save time between pictures on the camera (that is, reduce camera processing time in order to get more pictures written to the card quicker so you don't miss a shot). Neither of these e-books go into that much.

I wish they were both more comprehensive from a work-flow perspective, I guess. Perhaps there's another book with that info. On the up-side, I have gotten information from both of these books that I hadn't got for the D3200 and I'm very glad I purchased them, especially since together they were only about $20 - around 1% of the cost of the camera! If you're spending that much on a camera you might as well spend a bit more to get a better understanding of how to use it - the Nikon manual describes the controls but very little about why you'd use them.

View NEF files in Windows Explorer

One thing I got out of both of the books above is a tip regarding installing some software on the PC to allow you to see RAW (NEF) files in the Windows Explorer. Without this software, when you use Windows Explorer to view a folder containing NEF files, the NEF files will appear as a generic image icon instead of showing a preview like JPEG or TIFF files.

Nikon offers a free bit of software that, once installed, allows you to preview NEF files in Windows Explorer. That is cool! Otherwise, the only way you could see what a NEF file really looked like was to open up Nikon View NX 2 or other software. Now you can more quickly go through your folders if you're trying to find a particular NEF image file.

Here's the link to Nikon's software download page: http://www.nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/

The Downside

Not to get too carried away, but my wife was able to go pick up our Pomeranian Alvin's remains today. I couldn't do it yet. It's been a bit over 3 weeks since we had to put him down and the hole in my heart and life is still too painful to face. I'm trying not to dwell on it but I can't, won't let myself, forget how important he was in my life for 14 years. I know that eventually I'll be able to control the pain and that the fondness will be the dominant emotion, but it's a bear getting to that time.