#GANGES: #Varanasi is one of my least favourite places in #India, but there were still moments of joy in this town. This river is a law unto itself, a host to the most incredible numbers of antibiotic-resistent bacteria, but surprisingly, they are present from the #Himalayan foothills onwards, rather than your usual suspects in the picture. #Rishikesh is the demarcation line between clean and not-clean, it seems. The river is actually an amazing opportunity for research into bacteria and drug-resistance. Also, we all miss the magical quality of the most vivid film we’ve ever seen, #Fuji #Velvia #rvp50 #velvia50 #nikon
Posted instagrama few seconds read (About 57 words)
This is the rarest #Nikon item I know. Not because it’s particularly valuable, it’s the #CF-100 case for an #F3 and #MD4 motordrive, but there’s just not many out there. Most people have never seen one, and this is certainly the only photo you will find on the Internet.
Posted instagrama few seconds read (About 67 words)
This is the #rarest piece of #Nikon kit I know. Yes, the 6mm fisheye is rare and 100K, but we all know what it looks like, and may even have tried one at a photo show. But this, there’s only a single photo of it on the net, and it’s the size of a postage stamp. But… What is it?
Posted instagrama few seconds read (About 27 words)
No one loves a nice #Nikon #F3HP more than me, but I replaced my stolen #F2AS with one that was brand new, and consequently too nice to use. Crap. What to do - sell it and get a battered one? Keep it as a collectors’ item? #35mm
Background: So I’ve talked myself into taking the gf’s D300 to India, for I need a zoom telephoto while I’m there, my least-preferred lens, but I either shell out 700 quid for a new Canon lens which isn’t as fast as my old Nikon 80-200 f2.8, or just borrow the damn Nikon. Easy decision. So it’s time to start learning the Nikon, a system I haven’t touched since I chucked the D1X and D70, and so far, it’s been fun. Setting aside the (rather endless) question of image quality, what we have here is a lightning-fast camera. It just responds. The focus is rapid, the drive is twice as fast as the 5s and it all just works. Last night, I was shooting with the 5 in a dark, dark nightclub. 25600 ISO all the way, which, incidentally, I absolutely love. So it was dark, and the 5D was just refusing to lock focus. Not surprising, but the 5D often does that when working at speed. But the D300 isn’t. The focus points are large and easy to catch, there’s 51 of them, and focus tracking, watching the point zip around the viewfinder, works well. I tracked some seagulls flying over on the South Bank and all was good in the hood. Last time I tried it with either of the 5s, it was a complete waste of time. So. What we have here is Canon putting photographers somewhere other than first. We get a camera that barely focuses, but does put out 21 megapixels. A camera with a poky viewfinder, but does shoot video. I have no brand loyalty, by the way, so this isn’t an advert for one company over another. But Nikon seem to realize that it is possible to make a series of high performance professional cameras over a wide range of prices and sizes without disabling them in some way, rather than only two at the top end, like Canon. Some of us, indeed, plenty of us, don’t want a massive heavy body, let alone two of them. But we do want good weather sealing and excellent build, top-notch AF and high-speed motors. And with Canon, there’s this huge patch occupied by the 5D series. A good camera, but I wish it was better.
