{"id":2057,"date":"2012-07-27T22:31:51","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T13:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-07-27\/2057"},"modified":"2012-07-27T22:31:51","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T13:31:51","slug":"took-my-new-nikon-d4-out-for-a-spin-at-night-before-reading-the-manual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-07-27\/2057","title":{"rendered":"Took My New Nikon D4 Out For A Spin At Night (Before Reading The Manual)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 2000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWatching The Evening Pass<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As I mentioned the other day on the impromptu portraits<\/a> post, I picked<\/span> up a Nikon<\/span> D4.<\/p>\n\n

\u8aac\u660e\u66f8<\/span>\u3092\u8aad\u307e\u305a\u306b\u3001\u8cb7\u3063<\/span>\u305f\u3070\u304b\u308a\u30cb\u30b3\u30f3D4\u3067\u591c\u306e\u64ae\u5f71\u904a<\/span>\u3073\u3002<\/p>\n\n

I actually ordered it the day it was announced, but ended up canceling\nthe order for lack of excitement about what I'd get over the Nikon D700\nI've been happy with for years. But despite<\/span> having canceled the order, the\nshop shipped one to me a couple<\/span> of months later when they finally got\nstock, and well, not ordering<\/i> is one thing, but returning<\/i> is\nanother, so here I am<\/span> with a D4.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

I've used Nikon bodies for years, so many of the basics felt familiar,\nand with that insufficient head start, I took it<\/span> with me on a late<\/span>-night\nouting with Paul Barr, who had just arrived in Kyoto. I slapped<\/span> on an f\/1.4\nlens and set the Auto ISO to go as high as 12k, so I hoped<\/span> that combination\nwould compensate in the dark evening for my lack of experience with the\ncamera.<\/p>\n\n

(I'd done something similar years ago when I got<\/span> the D700, as seen in\n“Impossible Photography: No Light, No Tripod, No Hope. D700 and a 50mm<\/span> f\/1.2<\/a>”.)<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 12800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLow Tide<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I was to meet Paul on the Sanjo Street bridge (the one featured a few<\/span>\ndays later in “Kyoto\u2019s Quasi-Annual Flash Flood<\/a>”), so I just<\/span> hung around in\nthe pleasant warm evening and snapped whatever went by...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 7200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMuch Brighter Than Reality<\/span>\nthough it gives us a peek at the heron that couldn't be seen in real life\n<\/div>\n\n

Dark scenes kept overexposing, so to maintain a realistic<\/span> sense of the scene, I had to<\/span> dial in quite a bit<\/span> of negative exposure...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBetter<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

This was annoying, and mimicked my experience with the Nikon D700, until\nI suddenly<\/span> had an epiphany about exposure that made me feel like a total<\/span>\nidiot... something one should learn as the first stop beyond “camera\nnoob”... something that I realized<\/span> I knew<\/span> the moment I actually<\/span> thought\nabout it: the camera attempts to set exposure to create an “average”\nresult, and that works fine in most average situations, but when the scene\nis particularly bright (e.g. a sunny<\/span> day over a blanket<\/span> of snow) or\nparticularly dark (these evening scenes), an overall “average” brightness\nwill be unnaturally dark (resulting in gray snow) or bright (an evening\nscene that looks almost like day). So, you must dial in some compensation\nto tell the camera to shoot for an overall brighter or darker result.<\/p>\n\n

I knew this as a textbook fact, and practically speaking I knew<\/span> to\ncompensate in bright situations, but in my formative years with the D200,\nit was simply out of the question to take these kinds of evening pictures,\nso I didn't<\/span> internalize the textbook knowledge on that side of the scale.\nWhen the ability for these night shots arrived with my D700, I remained<\/span> ignorant, which was simply stupid. Glad to have finally fixed that.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>50 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 12800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOops<\/span>\nslight backfocus \ud83d\ude42\n<\/div>\n\n

The D4 has a bunch of different autofocus modes that I didn't<\/span> know\nanything about, but I thought<\/span> I'd play with them before actually reading\nthe manual. The focus<\/span> miss in the shot above is actually interesting, I\nthink,<\/span> when you look at the big version... the lawn and path in the\nbackground are rendered with such a nice<\/span> mood.<\/p>\n\n

The next shot (with even more questionable focus) is much darker,\nperhaps because of the car headlight that had just entered the scene...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 9000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As people walked by while I waited on the bridge, I tried<\/span> what seemed to\nbe an appropriate autofocus mode for tracking people as they moved nearer. I had mixed<\/span> results, but this next shot impresses me for the overall feel and\nexposure in such a dark,<\/span> complex scene...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 3600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStraight Out of the Camera<\/span>\n(actually, straight out of Lightroom, with only a bit<\/span> of added noise reduction<\/a>)\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 12800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWaiting in Traffic<\/span>\nwith lots of “negative highlights” in Lightroom to tame the LEDs\n<\/div>\n\n

There were some other autofocus modes that I tried<\/span> and it was a total<\/span>\ndisaster. I got a<\/span> local tough-guy-poser kid to, well, pose for me, but\nmanaged to get only the writing on his sleeve in focus...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 7200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWasted Opportunity<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

After milling around for a while with the camera, Paul and I developed<\/span> a hearty<\/span> thirst that required quenching...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 12800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTo The Rescue<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

We sat at a counter overlooking a little<\/span> river, with the windows in front of us hinged at the top and opened halfway, leaving\nthe windows as half mirrors in front of the leaves of a tree.<\/span>..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 12800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHazy Self Portrait<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I shot a few more “Kyoto Night Scenes” on the walk home...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 12800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTypical Gion<\/span>\njust past midnight\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTidying Up Shop<\/span>\nin front of their flower shop, which was still open at midnight\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 12800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPath To The Chion'in Temple<\/span>\nlong exposure while propping the camera on a short<\/span> light post\n<\/div>\n\n

I've since sat with the camera's manual and tried the various autofocus\nmodes, and have not been able to make heads or tails about most of them, so\nI'll have to study more.<\/p>\n\n

My biggest impression with the D4 so far is extreme disappointment. The\none<\/i> feature that I was<\/span> really really really<\/b> looking forward\nto, focal-length-aware Auto ISO, is implemented so poorly as to be\nessentially useless to me, but I'll rant about that another day.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned the other day on the impromptu portraits post, I picked up a Nikon D4.<\/p>

\u8aac\u660e\u66f8\u3092\u8aad\u307e\u305a\u306b\u3001\u8cb7\u3063\u305f\u3070\u304b\u308a\u30cb\u30b3\u30f3D4\u3067\u591c\u306e\u64ae\u5f71\u904a\u3073\u3002<\/p>

I actually ordered it the day it was announced, but ended up canceling the order for lack of excitement about what I'd get over the Nikon D700 I've been happy with for years. But despite having canceled the order, the shop shipped one to me a couple of months later when they finally got stock, and well, not ordering is one thing, but returning is another, so here I am with a D4.<\/p>

I've used Nikon bodies for years, so many of [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}