Going back to photography and to the dark side (nikon)

[Paul77]

Long time Canon DSLR shooter. I've tried so many different cameras and got caught up in all the hype for what feels like an age. Done news, landscapes, wildlife, and sports and loved them all.

Canon 350D to 600D, to 7D to 1D MarkIII, to 5D Mark III paired with a 1D MarkIV for sports. I think I spent well over £15k in gear which was staggering. I then sold it all and switched to a Fuji X-T1 which I felt was ok. Done me well in New York but something just didn't feel right after using a DSLR for so long.

I've been away from it all for about 6 months now, and I'm starting to get the itch again. Going to Monaco in Sept so I don't want to go empty handed.

In about an hour I think I'll be bidding on a Nikon D300. Looks to me like the perfect wee camera for my needs now. Still in the stock photography acceptable camera list and cheap as chips. Anyone a budding photographer and uses Nikon gear? Looking to help out my golf club with some pics of the course too for the website I think. It's badly needed.

I have a smallish landscape collection on my website www.campsie.photography but I always like seeing other folks work too. Anyone got a website or a Flickr account to share?

Paul

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Some lovely photographs there Paul - mind you - you can hardly fail to take a cracking photo of Buachaille Etive Mor (if that's the hill I think it is) - though I certainly could

 

[Paul77]

Some lovely photographs there Paul - mind you - you can hardly fail to take a cracking photo of Buachaille Etive Mor (if that's the hill I think it is) - though I certainly could

It was the one and only time I was there. I was just in total awe of the place. Teams of togs go there everyday and it's saturated with pics on the net but the human experience of being there no picture could ever really capture.

 

[dewsweeper]

As bit of a hit and hope photographer I enjoyed your pictures immensely.
The area is beautiful.
Dewsweeper

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

It was the one and only time I was there. I was just in total awe of the place. Teams of togs go there everyday and it's saturated with pics on the net but the human experience of being there no picture could ever really capture.

The glen is really awesome - photographs just struggle to capture the grandeur (especially) and beauty of the Highlands.

 

[Paul77]

As bit of a hit and hope photographer I enjoyed your pictures immensely.
The area is beautiful.
Dewsweeper

That's kind. Thanks

The glen is really awesome - photographs just struggle to capture the grandeur (especially) and beauty of the Highlands.

I think for me Colin Prior still is one of the best at doing it. He does some great panoramic work with tele zooms, which keeps the field of view and compression close to what the eye actually sees. He's a clever man.

 

[bladeplayer]

Have a look at the YOUR GOLF PHOTOS on the forum , you may have to set the dates back a bit depending on ur own settings look for Kevin Markham's posts , guy is a genius with a camera @kevinmarkham on twitter

Also check out GM'S Kevin Murray @kevinmurraygolf on twitter



EDIT Ive bumped one of Kevins Royal Aberdeen post so it should be nearly first in the YOUR GOLF PHOTOS section. his flicker etc addresses are in his sig

 

[Slab]

You know already its tough to go wrong with almost any modern DSLR & as long as you stick some decent glass on the front then Bob's your whatsit but my last Nikon was an F301 back in 1985 (not even AF) its been canon since then for SLr's

I know a few who made the switch though and some of them still appear quite normal

 

[davidy233]

Some nice stuff on your website Paul - I use a 5dmkiii paired with a 1dx for football - if you go Nikon route then you'll be fine as long as you stay inside and don't let anyone see you with it

Here's my website http://www.davidyoungphoto.co.uk/

 

[Paul77]

Have a look at the YOUR GOLF PHOTOS on the forum , you may have to set the dates back a bit depending on ur own settings look for Kevin Markham's posts , guy is a genius with a camera @kevinmarkham on twitter

Also check out GM'S Kevin Murray @kevinmurraygolf on twitter



EDIT Ive bumped one of Kevins Royal Aberdeen post so it should be nearly first in the YOUR GOLF PHOTOS section. his flicker etc addresses are in his sig

I was already following Kevin Markham on twitter. His stuff is pretty good yes.

You know already its tough to go wrong with almost any modern DSLR & as long as you stick some decent glass on the front then Bob's your whatsit but my last Nikon was an F301 back in 1985 (not even AF) its been canon since then for SLr's

I know a few who made the switch though and some of them still appear quite normal

That's why I'm going back to an older camera. Much like golf clubs, you can still play no bother with the older stuff. It's just how easy you want to make it really

 

[Paul77]

Some nice stuff on your website Paul - I use a 5dmkiii paired with a 1dx for football - if you go Nikon route then you'll be fine as long as you stay inside and don't let anyone see you with it


Here's my website http://www.davidyoungphoto.co.uk/

I like your footy pics David. Dead true to the nature of the scene. I had a wee look the last time you replied to my post. Impressive stuff. I have all my footy pics on my website but they are hidden from view. I was doing some work with SPN photography then got taken up by SportPix but before I did any work I woke up one day and didn't want to do photography anymore. It's taken 6 months to snap out of it, and obviously any sports work will have dried up now.

Far too expensive in gear to keep up with. I was sitting next to someone from SNS Group who had a D4s wired to the macbook, cropping inside the camera and sending pics off several seconds after taking them. We had a good laugh about things too but I realised I wouldn't be able to keep up with that sort of tech where I was at the time so I packed it in.

 

[davidy233]

I like your footy pics David. Dead true to the nature of the scene. I had a wee look the last time you replied to my post. Impressive stuff. I have all my footy pics on my website but they are hidden from view. I was doing some work with SPN photography then got taken up by SportPix but before I did any work I woke up one day and didn't want to do photography anymore. It's taken 6 months to snap out of it, and obviously any sports work will have dried up now.

Far too expensive in gear to keep up with. I was sitting next to someone from SNS Group who had a D4s wired to the macbook, cropping inside the camera and sending pics off several seconds after taking them. We had a good laugh about things too but I realised I wouldn't be able to keep up with that sort of tech where I was at the time so I packed it in.

I've been experimenting with a low tech version of that for Dundee's social media - Lock pic I want to send - whip card out of camera - stick it in card reader and photomechanic drags just that one pic off card - crop in PM (5 secs) and save to watched folder where automator sizes, adds graphic/watermark and emails to me and the media manager - we had branded action pics on twitter within two minutes of being taken last week.

As for too expensive in gear - tell me about it - I'm doing OK at the moment but Canon had a deal this month where they were doing two years interest free on any L lens or pro body - really tempted by 400 2.8 at £7,698.00 - maybe next year.

 

[Paul77]

That's great. AS they say it's how fast you can get it to the desk. Willie Vass has engineered this mental wifi dongle thing that sends pics to his macbook. Looks like an old Nokia phone on the bottom of his 1Dx's lol. I was always just swap cards too and lock pics, ingest in photomechanic and use PS actions to do the work and send over email. Mostly about a few mins too. Sometimes something would happen in that time that had me drop the laptop to the floor lol. Luckily I stripped Windows down to bare bones with fast SSD storage too so everything was rapid and I could bump it about if needed.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

That's kind. Thanks



I think for me Colin Prior still is one of the best at doing it. He does some great panoramic work with tele zooms, which keeps the field of view and compression close to what the eye actually sees. He's a clever man.

I was recently given a copy of Andy Hall's 'A Sense of Belonging to Scotland' - nice idea that book - and an interesting variety of photographs. Colin Baxter does still rather seem to dominate Scottish published photography - good as he is.

Will check out Colin Prior

 

[davidy233]

That's great. AS they say it's how fast you can get it to the desk. Willie Vass has engineered this mental wifi dongle thing that sends pics to his macbook. Looks like an old Nokia phone on the bottom of his 1Dx's lol. I was always just swap cards too and lock pics, ingest in photomechanic and use PS actions to do the work and send over email. Mostly about a few mins too. Sometimes something would happen in that time that had me drop the laptop to the floor lol. Luckily I stripped Windows down to bare bones with fast SSD storage too so everything was rapid and I could bump it about if needed.

For newspapers I'm generally lucky in that I primarily work for an evening paper - so I don't have to send from the match very often - I used to take a pic with my phone of the back of my camera for twitter just for speed - a pic I posted on twitter a year and a bit ago that way appeared in a national last Saturday - unauthorised - after player who used to play for us gave it to a reporter - so i ended up selling an iphone pic for three times the top national price after a discussion with the picture desk.

 

[Paul77]

I was recently given a copy of Andy Hall's 'A Sense of Belonging to Scotland' - nice idea that book - and an interesting variety of photographs. Colin Baxter does still rather seem to dominate Scottish published photography - good as he is.

Will check out Colin Prior

My pal John G Moore also takes quite phenomenal landscapes but I'm bias

 

[Paul77]

For newspapers I'm generally lucky in that I primarily work for an evening paper - so I don't have to send from the match very often - I used to take a pic with my phone of the back of my camera for twitter just for speed - a pic I posted on twitter a year and a bit ago that way appeared in a national last Saturday - unauthorised - after player who used to play for us gave it to a reporter - so i ended up selling an iphone pic for three times the top national price after a discussion with the picture desk.

I let the copyright lawyer at the BAJ deal with any of those ones. I was the same, I got 3 times the amount for a Twitter infringment from the Mirror at Christmas last year. Never sold any sports pics because we didn't have the license to do so. Sold loads of news pics though. Always had to chase infringers. It's a pain. Good to see you've got a good solid model there with working with the paper.

 

[MegaSteve]

Back in the heydays of photography using the 'real deal' [film] they were seemingly dozens of top notch makers... Now it more or less boils down to a choice of two... Not sure if that's good or bad... Yes, I am aware there are more than two makes but they appear to be only there for the niche markets...

Still wish I'd never sold my Spotmatics...

 

[Paul77]

Would have loved to have been a tog in the times of film. I still have a Canon AE-1P sitting by my bed. I got three rolls of film out of it before the shutter died. Some electromagnet switc needs replacing. Best printed pictures I think I've ever had. Pure briliance. I thought about larger format film and trying to learn to develop but HID says if I'm going to do anything worthwhile in the loft it'll be converting it to a room lol.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Great pics Paul, really impressive