Thursday, March 1, 2012

review for nikon d700

it has been a while since our last askdaniel.com guest post. and we've received such lovely emails & requests from the last round, i've asked him to make a bi-weekly appearance to share a few tips on photography and stuff he is good at. but he has been so swamped with work. in fact just this morning, he left for a business trip to europe, back in time for the weekend but.. things are a little blue in the house.

we did, however, find a little surprise in my inbox! 
so here you go!

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Hi everyone!

I have a confession to make... as much as I love my Olympus E-P3, for a lot of the photos I take (and end up on this blog from time to time!), I still use my trusty Nikon D700.


It is a big and heavy digital SLR camera, but it has a "full frame" sensor which can take very clean and detailed photos in a variety of settings.  I use a range of lenses - one of my favourites is my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.  It is also a big lens, but it is super sharp and gives a really nice perspective for portraits.



I took this camera and lens on a trip out to see the snow monkeys at Jigokudani Monkey Park up in Nagano Prefecture when my parents came to visit.  Zhing was recovering from an extreme snowboarding injury, and there were no dogs allowed -  so it was just me, my folks and a few new furry friends.



I hope they weren't too offended by me taking photos of them while bathing in the natural hot springs...



Others were more resourceful, and discovered that pipes carrying the hot spring water to a nearby ryoukan (Japanese inn) could keep them warm without having to get wet at all!!



While it's no fun to carry, one of the other benefits of a long zoom lens like the 70-200mm is that you don't have to get too close to your subject, which is handy when the leader of the pack starts staring you down...



All of the monkey photos were taken at this lens' widest aperture of f/2.8, which allows more light into the camera sensor and helps to isolate the subject and blur the background.

Thanks for reading!!  Next time round I'm thinking to go through a couple of the little editing techniques I use to touch up our images.  As usual, any queries or requests are very welcome!

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come back soon, hon! 

xx

12 comments:

  1. Awwwww that little dog is so cute! =)

    http://pinkchampagnefashion.blogspot.com/

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  2. snow monkeys! very cute daniel... i hope muu isn't jealous they got more print space than him hehe :)

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    1. muu has blog posts dedicated to him!! he should be fine sharing the limelight in this one! plus the monkeys were so expressive! :)

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  3. Hi Daniel,

    What makes you choose Nikon over Canon for your dslr?

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    1. when i first started getting into dslr, i compared both brands and at that moment both brand's entry model (nikon d80 vs canon's) were both competitive in price, specs and in function. but when i decided to purchase it, nikon had just released their model so it was largely by chance i started with nikon. the d80 was great for me then (we've since passed it on to zhing for daily use) and i started investing in lens.

      i guess one thing led to another and since their lenses are not exchangeable, i was commited at that stage.

      that being said, i've been very pleased with the performance and improvements in the nikon family. and now when i hold the canon cameras, the feel and the buttons feel different. i guess its like being used to your native language! :)

      hope this helps!

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  4. Incredible photos!! Simply amazing.

    Okay, I give, what kind of dog is he?

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    1. he's a maltese (we think!) he was adopted from the pound and that was on his papers but he is a tad bit too petite to be a maltese!

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  5. i really the shots where the monkeys are in the water. its got a dreamy, almost surreal feel to it. did you just leave the aperture open awhile longer for those shots? those weren't edited by any chance right? they look really gorgeous.

    gotta say, your photos have a very editorial, crisp, commercial (in a good way)!!!! to them. i'm fast becoming a fan ;)

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    1. The photos of the monkeys in the water were taken at an aperture of f/2.8 and shutter speed of 1/200 - wish I could take credit for the dreamy feel, but I think it was more due to the steam wafting up from the hot spring water!! I do edit my photos using Adobe Lightroom, and am hoping to write a little bit about some of my regular edits for next time!

      Thanks,
      Daniel

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  6. hahahaha... love the adorable pup with his solemn expressions! =D

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    1. He certainly takes his modelling very seriously!!

      Thanks,
      Daniel

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