Posts Tagged: D800
Electronic Objects
Loud Objects #1
Loud Objects #2
Loud Objects #4
Loud Objects #6
I finally made it to the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival for the first time. Seeing electronics legend Dieter Moebius was very cool, but perhaps the most interesting performance of the evening was by NYC outfit Loud Objects. The performance consists of members wiring up an electronic sound circuit in real-time, soldering irons and all, on an overhead projector. I’m not sure how much variation there was in the sound source but, it was fascinating to hear it go from silence to crazy changes to the signal as you watch them add wires and chips to the circuit.
Oakland Smile
Street Vendor, Oakland CA (click image to view large)
We finally made it back to Art Murmur this last Friday. It had been several months since the last time we made it down there. We probably would not have made it on our own, but the excuse of hanging out with friends we had not seen in a while was also irresistible. In the intervening time, the first Friday art gallery night in downtown Oakland has continued to grow. This night several blocks of Telegraph Ave were closed to traffic and filled makeshift stages, street vendors, buskers, food trucks, and drunks. It was also my first time shooting out on the street with the replaced D800, and I took couple dozen shots. This is my favorite one of the night. I saw her first and lined up to get her contrasted against that outrageous orange wall, and then she saw me and gave me this fantastic smile. That’s hella Oakland for ya.
Richmond Radio Towers
FCC Radio Towers (click image to view large)
Yes, basically boring. But somehow I kinda like it. In a retro sort of way. I don’t know why.
Red Cadillac
Red Cadillac (click to view large)
I recently noticed this red Caddy in the area near my work. This is the first shot I’ve managed to get because either the location has not been good, or because I’ve been in too much of a hurry to get to work. This doesn’t really do it justice. I’m hoping to try some other approaches with it. Stay tuned for that.
Land of the Free (Unexamined)
Land of the Free (Unexamined) (click to view large)
The title is a cryptic reference to what one finds when examines things a little closer and a little deeper than what is offered by a patriotic veneer. That analysis will have to await the next trip down to Fresno, when I have chance to take a slightly closer up shot.
Ocktails at Millerton Inn
Ocktails (click to view large)
Another photograph from my trip up Friant Rd.
Are Cars Electric?
I have been bike commuting past this odd assortment of vehicles for a year. There’s actually two electrics. None have moved an inch. Every time I go past think about stopping to shoot, but I’m so eager to just get home, that I don’t do it. This, despite the fact that I know damn well that the very day I am ready to take a picture they will all have been towed off. So, the day I had the new D800 with me, I actually took a quick shot. I would not have thought the camera would disappear before the cars.
Full Frame Sadness
I ordered my D800 way back on February 7th or so. I waited with patient excitement week after week. As the first few units got into the hands of pros and sample photos showed up online, it became more exciting still.
But as the rumors of various sorts of problems started to appear, I had my worries as well. Of course, jumping on the bleeding edge of new technology and equipment, one expects to get a little cut now and then. I knew the risk I was taking. As the wait for delivery stretched on, I began to feel confident that by the time I actually got mine, the production glitches will have been worked out, and I would avoid getting nicked.
It finally showed up around July 18th. Since then, I’ve had some pretty good fun shooting with this thing. I had no weird lock-ups, no greenish cast in the screen, and overall pretty sharp results. But I thought I had better really check it for the infamous left focus point problem. Using a 50mm f/1.8 lens, I took a series of shots with the focus point full left, centered, and full right, both with AutoFocus and with Live View, at about f/2. Alas, the left focus point was badly out. And in fact, the right was a bit out and the center not perfect.
I spent a few days trying to decide wether to send it back to the retailer, or send it to Nikon for repair. I realized the only really sensible thing to do was return it. Nikon doesn’t really acknowledge the problem, and many of their service centers here in the States have a bad track record of properly making the calibration adjustments to solve the problem. Moreover, the shipping was on me. Why pay to have fixed what ought to be working right from the start?
So today, I sent it back to B&H for an exchange in the hope that the replacement will be free of this problem. And by the way, their customer service has been great from beginning to end. But it was a sad, sad day. The focus problem occurs with settings I pretty rarely use, and everything else about it was pretty fantastic. I might have actually just kept it as is. I just couldn’t pay that much for a professional piece of equipment and have it be slightly crippled.
So now I’m waiting all over again, and dog only knows how long it will be before I’m reunited with a D800. Or if it will be fully operational this time. I don’t know; after going through withdrawals for a few weeks, I might not care the next time. Who needs 50-some-odd focus points anyway?!
Right Here
Millerton Inn, August 5, 2012 #1 (click image to view large)
Another one from my brief time in Friant. I have a soft spot in my heart for big rusty arrows.
First Friant
Lake Millerton Motel, August 5, 2012 (click image to view full size)
Each time we go to Fresno for one or another piece of business, I try to sneak off by myself to take photos. We usually stay at my in-laws’ home out near Woodward Park, an area which is virtually all new subdivisions and malls. I find all this pretty uninteresting on every level, so I always head towards downtown, to the older, more interesting, and typically more run-down, parts of Fresno.
On this particular day, I did not have very much time at all, as we were preparing to head back home by noon. I decided I would drive the opposite way on Friant Rd just to see what’s around. I found the old Friant Rd, the one we took to go to Millerton Lake when I was a kid. The scenery was so familiar it made me feel weird. I wondered where Ball Ranch was, where my cousin Tommy, God rest his mischievous soul, would take me fishing when he talked his father out of the car for a Sunday afternoon. I don’t think I saw it. But before I knew it, I was seeing something else I had not seen in at least 25 years: the town of Friant. Thankfully, it had not really changed much. So, this is my first attempt to shoot here. I’m sure it won’t be my last. I’ll post a few more shots of this outing over the next few days.
I took a few photos of the Millerton Motel. Doing the post on this shot, I thought I would go for a simple film look. While I’m not sure I got very close to that, I do like the result on its own terms. I’ll definitely post a few more shots from this outing over the next few days.