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Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:23 pm
by Remorhaz
I attended Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk yesterday. This year I attended the Bondi beach walk with a large group of people (around 40 people). I didn't actually know any of the other people on my walk although a number of them were Google Plus Circle friends :). It was great to meet some of them in person.

Our walk started at 3:30PM on Bondi beach and went well into the evening (even though the "official" end time was 5:30PM).

This was my first actual shoot with my new Nikon D600 full frame camera so I was looking forward to what it could do and the day was essentially a good test run for me.

I only brought a couple lenses so I started with the 85/1.8G and stuck with that for the majority of the time we wandered along the beach area. Here's one, watching the day go by...

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and of course the Bondi lifeguard tower

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When we got down to the southern end of the beach where the skateboarders were in action I stared with the 85/1.8G capturing some of the kids doing aerials on their boards. I'd also brought my Tokina 12-24/4 lens to use for some sunset landscapes (this is a crop sensor DX lens so I wanted to see what it was like shooting it in FX mode (not AutoDX crop mode) but zoomed in till it didn't vignette (around 20mm)... to see just how unsharp and ugly it might be :)). Ideally I'd like to get an FX UWA (like the Nikon 16-36/4 or 17-35/2.8) but for now I'm making do for my landscape work. I thought I'd try some close up extreme wide angle action so fitted the Tokina 12-24 and also got out the SB-900 flash. I underexposed ambient by about one and a half stops and set the flash to about a stop and a half over and thought I'd try some AutoFP High Speed Sync action. Here is one at 20mm and 1/1600 sec with flash

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I took one set of HDR brackets to try out - along the side of the Bondi pavilion - a scene with direct strong afternoon sunlight coming in angled from the left creating hard shadows into this long alcove - I'd be shooting into the dark areas as well as outdoors into open sun. I fully expected the scene be too difficult and too wide a dynamic range for the camera to capture so I shot it with a bracket of 3 shots - 0EV, -3EV and +3EV. Whilst the HDR image came out fine - what was most surprising is that the 0EV image as shot had no blown highlights and no loss of shadow detail - see the two images for comparison (pick the HDR) - perhaps a telltale sign of the reputed dynamic range capabilities of the new Nikon sensors?

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After a much needed respite at the pub waiting for sunset to get a little closer, we headed towards the northern end of the beach for some sunset action. On the way we had a great view back along the beach as the sun was heading down towards the horizon

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Some boys had setup a yoga ball buried in the sand and were using it as a mini trampoline - much to the delight of about 20 photographers trying to capture the action in various ways. Here's my quadriptych of one of the sequences

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We headed around the headland a little further and setup for the sunset and twilight action. We had some good cloud in the sky - perhaps a little too heavy but still much better than the boring cloudless skies of late. About 5 minutes before sunset - and what else do you do with a brand new camera than to take it out into the sea don't you think! :)

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The fisherman were out in action on the rocks (and catching some decent looking fish) - here he's reeling in quite a large salmon just as the sun sets

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(20 mins) after sunset we turned out attention out to sea - time for a nice long exposure (two minutes with the CPL and 3 stop grad ND)

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So how did it go... it was a great day, weather was fantastic, the company to match and the camera held up fantastically. I was more than pleasantly surprised at how well the Tokina 12-24 did using it as a full frame lens (even though it's only a crop lens). All of the seascape shots at the end were done with this lens plus my Lee grads and the Heliopan CPL - however even at 100% the images are nicely detailed with very little distortion or vignetting (zoomed to 20mm), they do soften up as you get right near the edges but not anywhere as bad as I was anticipating. The 16-35/4 better be a lot better for the additional $1200! :)

Lastly I figured I'd try out the high ISO performance of the D600 as we were walking back to Bondi for dinner. Saw this great gash in the sky - curved nicely, mimicking the curve of the beach and waves. Here we are in near darkness at 7:50PM, shot handheld with the 85/1.8G at f/1.8 and 1/80 sec at ISO 12,800! - even at 100% there's grain (luminance noise) but no colour noise - nice...

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Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:40 pm
by Matt. K
Rodney
I think regardless of what camera you used....they are great pics and they are the creation of the photographer...not the camera. But the quality inherent in the camera is evident. Seems you had a great day, and money can't buy that. :D :D :D

Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:59 pm
by chrisk
Awesome stuff Rodney. That fisherman shot is a beauty. Tell me, how are you finding the AF points ?

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:57 am
by aim54x
Great to see that you got out and about and making that camera earn its keep!

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:24 am
by Remorhaz
Matt. K wrote:Rodney I think regardless of what camera you used....they are great pics and they are the creation of the photographer...not the camera. But the quality inherent in the camera is evident. Seems you had a great day, and money can't buy that.


Thanks Matt - appreciated :)

Rooz wrote:Awesome stuff Rodney. That fisherman shot is a beauty. Tell me, how are you finding the AF points ?


Actually I didn't notice the AF at all (which is a good thing) - it felt completely natural, snappy and normal - I was anticipating having to get used to it but I was golden all day. Note however that whilst I shot a wide variety of things (street, action/sport, landscape, etc) the one thing I did not shoot was portraits/candid portraits (e.g. H&S or top half) - which is the area I would be expecting the most issues with the AF area with.

One definite plus that I did notice - I'm not sure if it's the new camera (and the f/8 capable sensors) or not - but I could AF with the Tokina 12-24 on when doing those sunset/twilight landscapes. Normally with this lens on the D7000 the AF in poor light (and it doesn't even have to be all that poor let me tell you) is horrible (and you have to shine a torch to AF) but I was able to AF quite well until it basically got super dark.

aim54x wrote:Great to see that you got out and about and making that camera earn its keep!


Thanks Cam - and it didn't even get dunked on it's first day out (saving that for a trip with you, Gerry and Suren :))

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:50 am
by aim54x
Good to hear that your 12-24 is now working as it should......the f/8 compatibility is pretty good to have, it is nice to see the D600 receive this capability.

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:20 pm
by surenj
[Looks at the last shot at 12800 with disbelief!] :cheers:

Rodney, looks like those dark school concerts with be easy piezy in the future!

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:47 pm
by ozimax
Awesome stuff Rodney. Seems the day was a blast. Your photos are great and I imagine you have a lot to yet learn about the handling of the new camera etc.

Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:07 pm
by Wink
Love the fisherman shot!

The performance of this latest gen of Nikon cameras is raising the bar considerably.

Canon needs to lift their game quickly IMO. They're sporting 3 years or older tech in all of their cameras except the 5D3 and 1Dx.

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:20 am
by Remorhaz
aim54x wrote:Good to hear that your 12-24 is now working as it should......the f/8 compatibility is pretty good to have, it is nice to see the D600 receive this capability.

surenj wrote:[Looks at the last shot at 12800 with disbelief!] Rodney, looks like those dark school concerts with be easy piezy in the future!


Thanks guys - are you saying I should shoot all the school stuff with the f/8 mirror now? :)

ozimax wrote:Awesome stuff Rodney. Seems the day was a blast. Your photos are great and I imagine you have a lot to yet learn about the handling of the new camera etc.


Thanks Ozi

Wink wrote:Love the fisherman shot! The performance of this latest gen of Nikon cameras is raising the bar considerably. Canon needs to lift their game quickly IMO. They're sporting 3 years or older tech in all of their cameras except the 5D3 and 1Dx.


Thanks Adam - I'm now debating in my mind whether the fisherman shot (which is my favourite of the day) should have been left uncropped or not? what do you think?

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and here's another with the fishermen (brave souls :)) - taken a little later in twilight

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Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:21 am
by aim54x
Wink wrote:Canon needs to lift their game quickly IMO. They're sporting 3 years or older tech in all of their cameras except the 5D3 and 1Dx.


But both the 1Dx and the 5DIII are wonderful cameras that are right up there.

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:33 am
by ozimax
I must comment again Rodney. The first fisherman photo is incredible, and I don't even think it has much to do with the camera. You have captured a wonderful scene.

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 5:39 pm
by Wink
Remorhaz wrote:Thanks Adam - I'm now debating in my mind whether the fisherman shot (which is my favourite of the day) should have been left uncropped or not? what do you think?

I don't mind it cropped, but if it was me I'd probably knock a bit off the bottom. Just enough to get rid of that rock poking in there.

aim54x wrote:But both the 1Dx and the 5DIII are wonderful cameras that are right up there.

Absolutely. Everything else that is new is really quite old and what's old, is well, still old.
They desperately need a newer better APS-C sensor to keep up with the competition.

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:28 pm
by biggerry
Nice stuff Rodney, i do like the one of bondi beach with the rays.

Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:01 am
by Geoff M
Great images Rodney. The first fisherman one Is the standout for me. The high ISO performance ain't too shabby either.

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 12:46 pm
by Remorhaz
biggerry wrote:Nice stuff Rodney, i do like the one of bondi beach with the rays.


Thanks Gerry - me too :)

Geoff M wrote:Great images Rodney. The first fisherman one Is the standout for me. The high ISO performance ain't too shabby either.


Thanks Geoff

Re: Nikon D600 First Images...

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:58 pm
by gstark
What bothers me here - and especially in the fisherman image - is that I think that you've taken the sharpening way too far.