{"id":935,"date":"2008-09-15T23:42:55","date_gmt":"2008-09-15T14:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-09-15\/935"},"modified":"2010-11-27T21:32:37","modified_gmt":"2010-11-27T12:32:37","slug":"impossible-photography-no-light-no-tripod-no-hope-d700-and-a-50mm-f12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-09-15\/935","title":{"rendered":"Impossible Photography: No Light, No Tripod, No Hope. D700 and a 50mm f\/1.2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/1.2<\/span>, ISO 4000<\/span> —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nInviting<\/span>\ndark path to someone's home, made bright by Nikon\n<\/div>\n\n

I haven't done much since returning to Japan<\/a> a week<\/span>\nago. Tired from the trip... overwhelmed with work<\/a> (that I\ndon't<\/span> even get paid for)... and spending an inordinate time at the doctor\nfor some acute back\nproblems<\/a>. It's been a<\/span> long week.<\/p>\n\n

But I was feeling okay last night, so after Mass in downtown Kyoto, I thought<\/span> I'd give my new Nikon D700<\/b>'s legendary low-light\nperformance a spin,<\/span> combining it with the fastest lens that I could<\/span> get my\nhands on (that is, one that lets in the most light), the same Nikkor 50mm f<\/span>\/1.2<\/a><\/b> that I borrowed<\/span> from Zak<\/a> for my Artsy-Fartsy in Kyoto<\/a> post\nearlier in the year.<\/p>\n\n

There isn't a color camera with better low-light performance, and if\nthere's a commonly<\/span>-available lens with better low-light performance, I\ndon't<\/span> know of it. So, the combination should let me get all kinds of rich,\nfull-color glossies, without a tripod,<\/span> in absolute total darkness.<\/p>\n\n

Or something like that.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/1.2<\/span>, ISO 2500<\/span> —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nQuality Time<\/span>\nsparsely-lit restaurant balcony overlooking the Kamo River\nKyoto, Japan\n<\/div>\n\n

Besides having no plan beyond shoving the camera and lens into my bag\nbefore heading out, I faced<\/span> two major hurdles...<\/p>\n\n

The first is that I haven't yet opened the D700's manual, so I don't<\/span>\nknow much about it beyond what I brought<\/span> over from having used the D200 for\na few<\/span> years. It's not really<\/span> fair to put equipment to a test<\/span> like this when\nit's likely that any failure will be what, in polite conversation, is\nreferred to as “user error”.<\/p>\n\n