 |
|
|
|
|
|
[ D70
GALLERY ] [ D70 INFRARED ] [
10.5mm FISHEYE ] |
 I had been shooting almost exclusively
with the CoolPix line of digital cameras. My first purchase was the
CoolPix 990, which
I was waiting eagerly for at my local camera store on the day it was
released and paid full retail of $1000 for. The quality was such that
I haven't shot more than a few rolls of film since then. In fact, that
investment paid for itself within the first month of shooting client's
work for their web sites. Back in the film camera days, every couple
of years I'd trade in a few lenses and purchase new ones as the
changed perspective kept my creativity fresh. But once I started
shooting with the CoolPix swivel body cameras, I found new ways to
look at the world and every day was a new creative experience. I then
upgraded to the CoolPix 5000 after reviewing it for
Shutterbug Magazine and
ended up purchasing it along with the WC-E68 wide angle lens. My
current body of work is color infrared taken with the CoolPix 950 and
can be seen on
www.ColorXrays.com. |
|
In June 2004 I made a creative decision. While updating my
business insurance policy, I realized that I had camera equipment
sitting here that I haven't touched in about four years. After reading
the reviews of the new Nikon D70, I decided to make the purchase and
familiarize myself with the camera by using it to photograph my
existing film stuff to sell on eBay. I love the fact that as newer
generations of cameras have been released, the resulting images have
needed less and less editing in Photoshop to get perfect exposure and
color. That was true with the CoolPix cameras and also true now with
Nikon's DSLR line. |
| I sell my photography at major art
shows around the country and have become proactive within the art show
industry. Jurying for the art
shows is going digital and I've been offering to create
"digital slides" of artist's work for submission. I recently purchased
the Nikon CoolScan 5000 for high resolution scanning of jury slides
and my 1970's
sports film and needed a DSLR with a high quality macro lens
for creating digital files of clients art work. |
|
Because of our
Shutterbug Magazine article on shooting digital infrared, one
of the first things I test with any digital camera is how sensitive it
is to infrared. |
Different styles of photography
Pre CoolPix days meant carrying a relatively heavy camera bag and
shooting film that was expensive to process. That also meant that
every time I considered taking a picture, I had second thoughts
because of the hassle and expense. As consumer digital cameras
increased in image quality and flexibility of print size, I started
shooting more often and carried a camera with me all the time. With
the D70, I'm planning my shooting sessions more but still carrying my
CoolPix for every day type of photography. What the D70 has brought to
my photography is the capability of shooting professional quality
studio images with my Dyna-Lite
strobes. For example, I just photographed my 12 year old niece doing
ballet. Though she's not experienced enough to
hold position on her toes for more than a second or two, I was able to
use the lack of shutter lag, combined with studio strobes to capture
her in perfect position as can be seen in this photo. If you own a
consumer digital camera, you know how difficult a photograph like this
is to capture because of the timing and shutter lag. The D70 brings
back the professional capabilities of my old film Nikons in a $1,000
pro digital body. Extremely affordable and a no brainer for anyone who
takes their photography seriously.
 Besides
photographing in situations where timing and shutter lag is critical,
I'm having artists come to my home studio for me to photograph their
paintings so they can be turned into
digital jury slides, like
this painting by Pittsburgh area artist Johnny Lung. For the first
time he has total control of his jury slides and how the color and
composition accurately represent his painting. In fact, after he got
his slides back from
Slides.com, his first reaction was that everyone would know that
they were created from digital files because they were so perfect. But
that's what jury slides are supposed to be if you want to earn a
living selling at the best art shows in the country. |
At PMA 2005 in Orlando we had a chance
to set up an elevated photo using the D70 and 12-24mm Nikon zoom
controlled remotely through a laptop using Nikon Capture 4.2. You can
read more about it on our PMA
review page.
 |
