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| My D3, At Last!It arrived today | Rate Topic |
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Apr 8th, 2016 14:01 | 1st Post |
| Today my D3 arrived. I have been waiting for this since 2006, OK, I know the D3 was't made then but it was what I wanted when I bought my D1 in 2006. JK has been kind enough to release his D3 to me. I have already been out and taken it for a short walk. No pix worth sharing unfortunately, yet. I am going through the menus making setting to suit my ways. For example, since I usually use Aperture priority I find it easier to adjust the rear command dial rather than the front dial which then leaves my finger free to rest on the shutter release instead of the front command dial. Once I make some pix I am prepared to share, I will post them here. I am really excited that at last I have a really good camera. I am going to enjoy this. Although it's going dusk here I am taking good sharp photographs in my room and it looks like it's daylight.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Eric: Fri Apr 8th, 2016 15:37 | 2nd Post |
| Well done Robert. I am sure you will be as knocked out with its performance as I was. I found it a breath of fresh air. Shooting at 4000asa ( in daylight!) gave results that were comparable with 400 asa on the D2x. Time to get back to Cadwell Park* to take advantage!! Very pleased for you.  *Here's a reminder of the day. CANNOT BELIEVE IT WAS 2009!!!!!  Attachment: image.jpeg (Downloaded 60 times)
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Eric: Fri Apr 8th, 2016 15:37 | 3rd Post |
You will have to change the Avatar now!
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Robert: Fri Apr 8th, 2016 16:27 | 4th Post |
 Good point but probably even less hair now! Re. Cadwell, yes, last meeting of the year in the Mini Challenge. Weather and health permitting I will be there. Will PM on dates etc. I am going for a couple of days to the opening round at Donnington Park about the 21-24th April, again weather permitting. Michael will be there for five days working (can lad!) for one of the BMW Mini teams, Coastal Racing from Lancaster. They have a new driver for this season, this will be his first season in cars, having done well racing Karts. Hopefully Sid will be back in action next year with his 'new' historic three wheeler, so hopefully will have two sets of events to follow.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Fri Apr 8th, 2016 17:04 | 5th Post |
Robert wrote:Well you can give us a big smile then.
Well no excuse for less than great photos. Enjoy the camera, I certain did.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by Robert: Sat Apr 9th, 2016 03:36 | 6th Post |
| Well I make no claims to be a great photographer! I muddle by, occasionally I get an image I really like. One thing which helps is taking lots of photographs but I need to constantly improve, not always knowing how. Great camera on it's own isn't the answer, but at least I now have the best tool available to me, which I have been striving for all these years. I love to explore the different aspects of photography. Really looking forward to revisiting some images which have previously defeated me. Here is one which I took in 2009 at Cadwell Park, I have reworked it using the Nik filter set, I feel it's a vast improvement on my previous attempt at processing. I could probably have achieved a similar effect when I processed it originally but I find the Nik selection points so much easier than other methods to separate the subject from the background.  My original attempt back in 2009: 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Robert: Sat Apr 9th, 2016 07:02 | 7th Post |
| My first half decent pics from the D3. Daffodil. Nikkor 55mm f2.8, 1/500 Sec, f22, ISO 900 Processed in Lightroom and with Nik filters.  Forsythia. Nikkor 55mm f2.8, 1/500 Sec, f5.6, ISO 200 Processed in Lightroom.  Seems to take nice photographs! The Forsythia is a very heavy crop from this: 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Iain: Tue Apr 12th, 2016 10:26 | 8th Post |
| Well done Robert. You've gone up to a D3 and I've just traded my D3 for a D4, I would have licked a D5 but that wasn't going to happen.
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| Posted by Robert: Tue Apr 12th, 2016 11:21 | 9th Post |
| I would quite like a D5 as well but one has to be realistic! I think the D3 will do me, I don't have ambitions beyond that. I doubt it will ever be a limiting factor in my photography. It's just a matter of getting used to it and fine tuning it to my needs. We're getting there! I haven't had the 300 f2.8 on it yet, although I think I will tend to use that on the D300s mainly, probably use the 80-200 on the D3 for motorsport and rugby. Love the silky smooth action of the D3.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Graham Whistler: Fri Apr 15th, 2016 18:23 | 10th Post |
| Good to see you enjoying your self Robert!
____________________ Graham Whistler |
| Posted by Robert: Sat Apr 16th, 2016 16:17 | 11th Post |
| Yes, great fun Graham! Today I went to the local rugby club, they were playing Bradford, I tried out the D300s and the D3 with both the Nikkor 300 f2.8 (MF) and the 80-200 f2.8. I took 220 exposures, after deleting all the uninteresting and unwanted sequence images I'm left with about 25 reasonable photographs. Here are some of them. I have selected them mainly for the action and the expressions on the players faces. D3, 300mm f2.8 MF @ f2.8, 8000 Sec, Auto ISO 500  D3, 80-200 f2.8 @200, f4.5, 3200 Sec, ISO 400  D3, 80-200 f2.8 @200, f4.5, 3200 Sec, ISO 400  D3, 80-200 f2.8 @200, f4.5, 3200 Sec, ISO 400  Although I took quite a few exposures with the Nikkor 300 f2.8, on both the D300s and the D3, almost all of them were nicely sharp, with the action within the very narrow DoF. However, they were inevitably at the far end of the pitch and it was hard to pick choice shots at that distance, so most of the good shots were with the 80-200 and closer. The cold wind was making my eyes water and I found it very difficult to see what was happening. None of the D300s images made the cut, mainly I think because I found the D3 so much easier to see what I was doing and was so sweet to use. Some of these images are very heavy crops a couple almost 1:1 yet they seem to me to be well good enough. It will take me a few events to get fully up to speed with the D3 but I'm loving it!
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Eric: Sat Apr 16th, 2016 16:38 | 12th Post |
Robert wrote:Yes, great fun Graham! I hate to say I told you so. One thing I found when running the D3 and D300 side by side was the D300 started to stay increasingly, in the bag....and ultimately went up for sale. The D3 is just a relaxing camera to use....and its crops can match the D300 in most circumstances. Try leaving the D300 at home and give the D3 your undivided attention. Nice shots, by the way. I think their shirt design is a bit girlie...but I wouldn't plan on telling them.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by jk: Sat Apr 16th, 2016 17:20 | 13th Post |
| Yes I have to agree with Eric. The D3 is heavier, bulkier but so much more satisfying to use. Those images look good. Glad to see that the sun shines on you with the D3. Rain will come and the D3 will outshine the D300 even more under higher ISO conditions.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by Graham Whistler: Sat Apr 16th, 2016 18:05 | 14th Post |
| Very good set of action pix, well done glad the camera is working for you.
____________________ Graham Whistler |
| Posted by Robert: Sun Apr 24th, 2016 14:53 | 15th Post |
| Well, my day at Donington came and went... On Friday I had a good day exploring the circuit ready for race day on Saturday. I took a few photos all with the D3, on Eric's advice. I took the D300 and the D3100 just in case but they didn't see the light of day. I find Donington a very tough circuit to find a decent vantage point which is close enough to the circuit with the light in the right place. The massive catch fences are a real pain in the photographers backside. I covered 8 miles on Friday walked around the inside of the circuit three times. I took over 600 exposures, the 11 fps was a boon in those conditions using a 300mm MF lens, I was able to focus on a fixed point and wait for a car to come into the focus zone then rip off three or four rapid exposures, usually at least one was sharp. I found auto ISO was a big help setting the mode to manual and then I had complete control over my parameters, aperture AND shutter speed. The auto ISO took care of the exposure. When I woke on Saturday I was suffering badly from vertigo. The world was spinning, I looked like a drunkard as I staggered across the paddock! So my photography was curtailed, no further images created as I struggled to recover sufficiently to drive back home. Here are some my least bad exposures. D3, Nikkor 18-36 No flash.  D3, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 @ f11, 1/200 Sec ISO200 Very heavy crop.  This is the original before cropping...  D3, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 @ f11, 1/200 Sec ISO200 Very heavy crop. 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Sun Apr 24th, 2016 14:57 | 16th Post |
| Sorry to hear that you were under the weather on the Saturday. Like the car. Very nice, I wouldnt mind taking it for a spin on a circuit.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by Eric: Sun Apr 24th, 2016 15:18 | 17th Post |
| Well they look good to me Robert. Sorry your day was curtailed, hope you recover soon.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Robert: Sun Apr 24th, 2016 17:24 | 18th Post |
| Thanks, I think there were actually seven Coastal Racing cars out on Saturday, although I heard some ran into each other... But that's another story! I'm still a bit wobbly! Now I am reunited with my meds I should recover in a few days. I had loosely planned to call round by the Fields before they depart for Continental vistas but I couldn't face another 200 miles of driving yesterday. My next motor racing outing with Coastal, is later in May to Brands Hatch, I have never been to Brands either but live in hopes it's not like Donington and I can get a lot closer to the action, without all that catch fencing.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Graham Whistler: Sun Apr 24th, 2016 18:21 | 19th Post |
| You got some good pix there. One is enclosed is me with my 1275cc very fast mini I used to race in Rhodesia this about 1966! Yes I did once have hair! Attachment: GW-Motor-Racing.jpg (Downloaded 24 times)
____________________ Graham Whistler |
| Posted by Eric: Sun Apr 24th, 2016 18:29 | 20th Post |
Graham Whistler wrote:You got some good pix there. One is enclosed is me with my 1275cc very fast mini I used to race in Rhodesia this about 1966! Yes I did once have hair! Did you ever come across a guy called Mo Mendham? He raced minis ...but in the UK during the 60s?
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Robert: Sun Apr 24th, 2016 22:33 | 21st Post |
| Nice Mini Graham. The D3 is continuing to amaze me, without any clever stuff like re-sampling or layering, I have pulled this one out of a hat. The cars are way too far away but have cropped to 100% and the result is passable. (for me anyway) This is the original full image, showing the crop in Lightroom. D3, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 @f11, 1/200 Sec, ISO200.  The crop, processed in Lightroom and selective Nik filters applied to improve local contrast. OK, it's not perfect and could only be printed fairly small but it isn't bad. 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Graham Whistler: Mon Apr 25th, 2016 05:28 | 22nd Post |
| Eric no did not know him. I was in Rhodesia working as a photographer 1962-1975 and did all my motor racing there and in S Africa. (Pix by the way was taken with a Nikon F, with something called film?
____________________ Graham Whistler |
| Posted by Eric: Mon Apr 25th, 2016 13:22 | 23rd Post |
Graham Whistler wrote:Eric no did not know him. I was in Rhodesia working as a photographer 1962-1975 and did all my motor racing there and in S Africa. (Pix by the way was taken with a Nikon F, with something called film? Shame...you missed a real character. He worked from buildings behind his family pub in Watford, where I lived. He did some bodywork repairs on my wife to be's car and we got to know him very well. He introduced different bodywork to mini racing and was always trying new things. A bit of a 'lad' in many ways. The local constabulary kept an eye on his antics. They included driving a formula (not sure which one) racing car from Watford to Rickmansworth one night....with his girlfriend 'sat on the back'. The police stopped him and he was genuinely bemused at their astonishment. After 'dropping' her off..he shot off with two police cars chasing him...one ended up in a ditch. Shortly afterwards he lost his licence ...I believe even his racing licence. On a positive note, he did a brilliant repair job on the wife's car.....twice. While awaiting for it to be picked up outside his yard, a refuse vehicle backed into it....so he had to repair the other side as well. Lol https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=heL84f5limE Health and safety??? Those were the days.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Graham Whistler: Tue Apr 26th, 2016 05:18 | 24th Post |
| Sound an interesting person, yes times have changed. I passed my driving test in Watford 1959 when I was in training in Kodak's Advertising studios at Ruislip.
____________________ Graham Whistler |
| Posted by Eric: Tue Apr 26th, 2016 16:45 | 25th Post |
Graham Whistler wrote:Sound an interesting person, yes times have changed. I passed my driving test in Watford 1959 when I was in training in Kodak's Advertising studios at Ruislip. I took my driving test in Watford in 1968! Small world.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Eric: Tue Apr 26th, 2016 16:57 | 26th Post |
| Appologies Robert for hijacking your thread. The D3 is a special camera. Its crops are quite exceptional. That's what I meant about it being 'forgiving of technique'. It just seems to be sharper, even handheld without VR, and although the resulting cropped files are smaller, they are still printable quite large. It was why I stuck with the D3 rather than upgrading to the D3S or the D4. They may have been better but I just didn't need to incur the on cost....the D3 was all I needed for my work.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Robert: Wed Apr 27th, 2016 04:18 | 27th Post |
| Not a problem Eric, I enjoy the diversion, I would have added a pic of my rally Mini but I have been so distracted over the last few days, I just haven't had the time. The Crystal Palace video was lovely, comparing that with the ultra secure circuit at Donington is from the sublime to the ridiculous. The trouble is it's very hard to present a cohesive argument against safety, no matter how inconvenient it may be for photography. Each year even tighter regulations further increase the safety both for competitors and spectators. Usually the result is more expense and less access. Motorsport is inherently dangerous, that's obvious, yet there is no end in sight for the tinkering and tightening of the regulations related to safety. That was one of the reasons I gave up competing in 1988. </rant> Back on Topic...  I tried two techniques depending on the corner. With the longer shots I cranked the shutter speed up to 1/1,000 sec, in M, using f 11 to maximise the DoF and used auto ISO to control the exposure. This is novel for me, with the D200 I had to keep the lens wide open to keep the ISO max at 400 and to get a decent shutter speed in Aperture priority. The second technique was to reduce the shutter speed to 1/200 sec to show the wheel rotation and background panning blur but I found that if the cars were bouncing on the track it made the back of the car have vertical blurring. I had planned to refine the settings on Saturday racing to get sufficient wheel and background blur, AND a sharp car. What impresses me is, given I was using a manual focus 300mm lens, the extreme cropping and the nature of the subject, the detail like the sill sticker text, is amazing. This is from 12Mp images. I can't imagine ever needing more detail than that, these are very heavy crops, yet they are perfectly usable images. I think they could probably be resampled upwards to increase the pixel count for printing quite large, although I haven't tried that. I have NOT applied any sharpening to any of the D3 images in this thread, beyond a touch (24%) of 'Clarity' and a little 'Dehaze'.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Robert: Sun May 29th, 2016 18:47 | 28th Post |
| Have had a few distractions of late. There has been an off road 4 wheel drive trial nearby, I couldn't resist... All taken with the D3 and 80-200 f2.8.  That's my son, Christopher leaping out of the way, that was the first Land Rover to make it to the top... And it is as steep as it appears. it was made even harder by a previous competitor knocking down a tree which was in his way. Nobody was allowed to remove the tree this competitor made it look easy.  The guy in the background was using a D3S, I think he was from the local rag, knew nothing about motorsport... 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Mon May 30th, 2016 06:19 | 29th Post |
| Cant beat the old LandRover 90 or earlier SWB models.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by novicius: Tue May 31st, 2016 22:42 | 30th Post |
| Great pics. , and that D3 is a Nice Catch Robert ! Have you tried wide-angles on it ? Reason I ask is that my 20-35 f2.8 afd does Not work well with the sensor on my D3s .
____________________ Back in Danmark I do not use my equipment to make photo`s .. I take photo`s to use my equipment The better I become at photography,the better my camera gets. |
| Posted by Robert: Wed Jun 1st, 2016 02:52 | 31st Post |
| Thanks for the kind words Novicius, apart from my 18-35 f3.5-4.5 which seems to work well enough on the D3, my Nikkor 20mm f2.8 is faulty with an internal loose or broken screw due to it having been dropped while attached to the D300S. It still takes pictures but a loose screw or whatever it is, jams the AF mechanism. It works OK in manual focus if you jiggle the screw around inside by shaking the lens!!! Haven't had the camera long enough to evaluate all my lenses with the D3. I am hankering after a 16mm f2.8 MF fisheye after trying one on the D5 at the Manchester D5-D500 launch day. I have one in my sights, I just need to negotiate a deal... I feel the 16mm would be good for astro photography and some landscape/panorama opportunities. Also inside churches and similar buildings, halls etc.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by novicius: Thu Jun 2nd, 2016 19:01 | 32nd Post |
| Sorry t` hear about that 24 , you may have t` wait for winter to open it up and see what can be done about it . What do you think about that " active D-lighting " . I just got a D3s some months ago , not completely familiar with it yet, so I know what yer going thru`.. Them are mindbogling picture taking tools are n`t they , never dreamed of being able to shoot a black cat in a coal cellar
____________________ Back in Danmark I do not use my equipment to make photo`s .. I take photo`s to use my equipment The better I become at photography,the better my camera gets. |
| Posted by Robert: Tue Jun 14th, 2016 06:41 | 33rd Post |
| My latest with the D3, this time with the Nikkor Micro 55mm f2.8. A small but striking flower I found growing around one of my neighbours back gates. D3, Nikkor Micro 55mm f2.8, 1/250 Sec @ f11, ISO 560. Attachment: Screen Shot 2016-06-13 at 23.06.26.jpg (Downloaded 13 times)
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Graham Whistler: Tue Jun 14th, 2016 06:57 | 34th Post |
| Nice image, glad you are joying your D3. Great camera and plenty of photographers still getting good pictures with the D300 including my daughter!
____________________ Graham Whistler |
| Posted by Robert: Tue Jun 14th, 2016 07:52 | 35th Post |
| Thanks Graham, the D3 may (now) be two versions behind but the IQ is outstanding, I am absolutely delighted with it. Although I have parted with my beloved D200 I am still more than happy with the images it produced, within it's limitations. For the most part the limitations were't onerous. It was only when pushing the exposure envelope to higher ISO in poor light that things got ugly and even then I have some cherished images which although perhaps technically poor, are among my favourite photographs.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Eric: Tue Jun 14th, 2016 11:32 | 36th Post |
Robert wrote:My latest with the D3, this time with the Nikkor Micro 55mm f2.8. Campanula garganica .....the boss thinks. 
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by jk: Tue Jun 14th, 2016 18:28 | 37th Post |
| Super blues. I dont remember seeing a blue flower captured so brilliantly. Well done.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
| Posted by Robert: Wed Jun 15th, 2016 04:13 | 38th Post |
Eric wrote:Campanula garganica .....the boss thinks. Please convey my gratitude to the boss! I thought it looks like a Campanula, doesn't quite fit the habit description for C. garganica, it is clinging to the door and the rendering with what appear to be sticky tendrils but I guess they adapt to their environment. It's actually growing out of crevices in the doorway and appears to be self seeding. Its perfect for my garden because it will provide some pretty and effective ground cover for some of the less accessible areas of the garden.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Eric: Wed Jun 15th, 2016 05:04 | 39th Post |
Robert wrote:Eric wrote: Ah...she did give the caveat "without seeing where it's growing and how big it is, I can't be certain"....hence the 'thinks'. A lovely plant shot whatever it is.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Robert: Wed Jun 15th, 2016 05:48 | 40th Post |
Eric wrote:A lovely plant shot whatever it is. Mainly due to a great lens (ex Eric) and a wonderful camera (ex JK)! A very good pairing. It's delightful to be able to use the whole of the Micro 55's field on FX at last. It was a good lens on DX, it's a great lens on FX.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Robert: Thu Aug 18th, 2016 17:40 | 41st Post |
| Birding for once, some Swallows nesting in a nearby shed. D3, Nikkor 80-200 f2.8, @ 200mm, 1/250sec at f2.8, ISO1000, SB800 flash set to TTL Attachment: Swallow Feeding Time.png (Downloaded 17 times)
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Graham Whistler: Tue Aug 23rd, 2016 07:52 | 42nd Post |
| Nice one Robert, have they fledged and gone now?
____________________ Graham Whistler |
| Posted by Robert: Tue Aug 23rd, 2016 08:35 | 43rd Post |
| Thanks Graham, see my other thread: http://nikondslr.uk/view_topic.php?id=1369&forum_id=25 I enjoy photographing birds, very satisfying when I get half decent pix. BIF are of course far more challenging esp. with an MF lens! I should do much more because I have so many opportunities all around me. There is a world Owl centre only a few miles down the road, I believe they fly them free, from time to time, there is a large collection of Herons at the same location, they are spectacular when they are being fed.
____________________ Robert. |
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