New Camera..

Nikon D70 finally gave up writing reliably to CompactFlash Cards :(

Its replacement is, rather suprisingy a D90. I just couldn't justify the expense of a D300 let alone a D700 or D3.

Its a very nice camera. Things that are better than the D70 are:

• better viewfinder ( feels huge in comparison )
• much better LCD display on the rear
• reduced noise at high ISO.
• live view
• live view/preview over HDMI
• faster preview/better control over zoom

There are a few things which I think are worse though

• Battery life isn't as good
• takes SD instead of Compact Flash

Image quality seems clean, colours are good..Ill post some piccies and comments when I get the chance.

ok..more than a few days!

crikey! its been a while on this photo blog hasn't it?

Creative Zen Vision has given up the ghost, and replaced with an ipod Touch and a 3GS iphone.

In fairness I never really used it much for the purpose of a portable storage device. File transfer was too slow, and CompactFlash cards came down in price and went up in storage. I still think it sounded better than the ipod though! but the ease of use and availability of accessories really added to the iphone's lustre.

So, what's been happening in my world of photography? The truth be told..not all that much.

I have a new lens. A nikon 70-300 VR which is awesome. A SB600 flasgun, 3 new tripods including a gorillapod SLR, Aperture and a shiny new macbook pro to go with it. Adobe CS4 has recently been added to my photography kit as well. Same old Nikon D70 though. holding out for a D700 I think ( I quite fancy the low light performance )

As for actually taking photographs..well, ive been a little lacklustre in that front for a while. But hope to start shooting more soon.

I recently purchased a Creative Zen Vision for use as a media player and as a portable storage device for pictures while on the road. First impressions are quite promising.

Good points so far for the camera enthusiast:-

• Compact flash slot. ( can upload RAW and jpg )
• 30GB of storage
  
• Excellent screen ( despite the narrow viewing angle )
  
• Ability to play slideshows on TV via component video.

other good points:-

• Excellent movie playback
• Superb sound quality

I'll post a detailed review in case any one is interested over the next few days.

I went to the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition at the natural history museum ( in london ) on friday, I can heartily recommend it to my fellow amateur photographers.

All the shots are backlit so they look absolutley stunning.

Some of the winning entries and highly commended shots were taken with a D70 which is kind of inspiring.

I must say, I disagreed with most of the category winners, but it's a subjective art after all!

I was especially disappointed with the overall winner, I honestly thought it was the worst shot on show, even seeing it blown up to about 4 foot wide its still didn't do it for me.

Anyway heres a link... http://www.nhm.ac.uk/wildphoto/, it runs until february and entrance costs 6 GBP for an adult.

So that's a quick update on my photographic experience so far... I hope to start posting comments on new techniques I discover ( new to me! at any rate ), and links to any other cool galleries I may find. All in all , I think I am slowly improving as a photographer. So what are the symptoms of this?

• I take less shots, but more are keepers.
• I spend more time setting up shots.
• My friends are saying 'did you really take that?'
• The comments on my pbase gallery are getting better!

So what are the key things I have learned along the way?

• A tripod is worth its weight in gold
• It's better to underexpose than overexpose
• Always shoot RAW, the price of another CF card is insignificant compared to losing that shot
• You really need to learn to post process. Even the best shot straight from the camera benefits from a little pp.
• There are loads of photographers who are better than you. ( just look at the pbase popular galleries! ) , so it pays to take advice.
• You never stop learning!