If I had it to do over, I might have oeted for the D300s instead of the D7000, but I had been lusting after a newer
crop body that could hang in the dark where a camera I use has to be comfy. But the brutal speed of those heavy
Nikons is tough to beat, especially when they pair that wicked autofocus with the burst rate. First time you ever
shoot with one you notice it immediately and you never want to go back. I guess my impression, having never shot
a D300 or an S, is that it is a crop-body D700 for all intents and purposes. No matter how many cameras I shoot with,
the D700 just keeps on proving out as the better machine. I do like the D600, but I try not to shoot with it much.
Only when I need the resolution, I guess.
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The dangers of the acquisition impulse.
As you know if you are always in this thread, going back years, I have a case of the I-wants something fierce for
Nikon camera gear. But I have champagne tastes and a beer budget, so I made sure to always buy a camera body that
had a motor inside of it so I could buy old lenses for less money and try my best to get the best acuity and quality and
QUALITIES I could get. The same qualities I could get in "L Glass" in the Canon parlance' or just "the expensive
5hit" is what its called in Nikon I guess. You LOSE coating advancements and corrective optics, in the newest sense of the
word anyway. but in some cases, like the Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 ED AI manual focus lens, you have a HUGE ED glass
element right up front and its a reasonably-priced, older design. But blabalbla, I have legendary lenses like the Nikkor
105mm f/2.5 AI-s, and the 85mm f/2 and the 180 above and several other monster lenses. I researched endlessly
and BOUGHT everything I wanted, and kept it or sold it based on how it fit into what I thought I needed. But I guess
I grew impatient in a way, I wanted to keep SHOPPING for stuff and playing with it. But the only thing left to really
explore were the really old, pre-AI, Nippon Kogaku, moon-rocket-era lenses that were perfectly good for the time,
but can damage most modern digital Nikons. Advances and improvements to it's legendary F-mount have PUT THINGS IN
THE WAY that can get torn out by snapping on one of these old lenses.
And here is where the story finally gets going....haha, sorry. I ACTUALLY found myself justifying, today, upgrading my
Nikon D40, which can accept ALL THE F-mount lenses every made without damaging anything, to a Nikon D3200 or D5100,
so that not only could I go back and use all of these OLD classic lenses, but I could do it in high enough resolution to make it
worth DOING AT ALL, since I try to make a living shooting print-worthy photos that I can sell. I HAVE all these other lenses
in their "MODERN" manual focus equivalents, and some are even duplicated in auto-focus primes as well. On top of that
I have high resolution bodies that accept ALL of my lenses. And I HAVE THE NERVE to even CONTEMPLATE spending
MORE MONEY on a new "cheap" body (either one of which will also accept any F-mounte lens without damage) so that
I can spend EVEN MORE MONEY on "dangerous" (lol) lenses I already have better copies of to use on my excellent range
of bodies.
WHAT THE _ _ _ _ ? Thank goodness at the end of every day, I kind of just dump all of it out and keep the plastic in
my pants. Ironic how all of the things that can take all your money and leave you broke all start because you couldn't
keep things safely there?
But all that said, I was shooting a girl the other day singing at a festival, and I caught her in profile, and I was shooting
with I THINK a 105mm f/2.5, and I swear it looked like an old Playboy shot. And its the LENSES. So exploring these
really old versions, ehh, its not THAT expensive of a habit, and you get to look at an awfully large range of rendering
characteristics while you have fun and experiment. Provided you have a nice new used Nikon D5100, lol. Seriously
that is what its been about. My D40, which is not even part of what I shoot with, it is something I am actively trying
to sell, ACCEPTS the lenses, but the photo output is at 6MP, which is NICE to print from, but not always adequate
for my business of selling prints. Couple that with the miserable ISO range and youc an SEE that I NEED this upgraded
tool on two fronts. You know, so I can spend more money on lenses I don't need to shoot shots I can get with a D700
or a D600 or a D7000 or even a D100, D70s (or the aforementioned D40, lolololol.)
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