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Ron's Content

There have been 337 items by Ron (Search limited from 30-March 23)



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#87747 D3 problem during firmware update

Posted by Ron on 27 March 2024 - 01:52 PM in Technical Troubleshooting

How was the camera 'interrupted' during the firmware update? According to Nikon, if the camera is operated, turned off or loses battery power during a firmware update it could be bricked. If that's the case you would need to contact a Nikon service center.

 

--Ron




#87746 What is this digital artefact?

Posted by Ron on 27 March 2024 - 01:43 PM in Technical Troubleshooting

Two things I would try. First I would do a camera reset and see if that helps. If the camera reset doesn't clear the problem up, I would try another card. Be sure that you use a high quality card and format the card in camera. If it shows up on the second card, I would contact Nikon.

 

--Ron




#87741 Three primes

Posted by Ron on 26 March 2024 - 12:35 PM in Photographic Technique

There's a blog post up now. https://www.nikonfor...nochromes-sooc/

I have an old blog post about using the Adobe channel mixers for monochrome conversions here. https://www.nikonfor...s-in-lightroom/

Thanks, I'll check'em out! Appreciate the help.

 

--Ron

 

Edit:I've printed out your presets and will be giving them a try. Thanks again!




#87734 Three primes

Posted by Ron on 25 March 2024 - 06:14 PM in Photographic Technique

That’s a nice set of lenses, even if I prefer the older D version of the 85 as it renders subjects at portrait distances, both on DX and FX, a little softer. It will be fun getting to know the Z 85/1.8… Have I written anything about my settings for a more Tri-X/HP-5 like rendering for jpg-s SOOC?

It's a nice set for the D7000, and probably any DX camera. The 20mm serves as a close relative to my all time favorite wide angle focal length, the 28mm. The 35mm, of course, is my "normal" lens and one of the sharpest lenses I own. A real pleasure to use. The 85mm is actually a better fit on DX than it is on FX. I've shot some really good images with it on DX where it comes close to the classic 135mm focal length. The bokeh is probably not as good as your older "D" version or the current ƒ/1.4 version, but it's pretty nice. If it had rounded aperture blades it was be perfect.

 

If you've written about your Tri-X/HP-5 recipe, I've probably missed it. I always presumed that you did all your cooking in Silver EX Pro.

 

It's been a long time since I used any of my cameras as a dedicated monochrome device. I'm having to relearn some things that I had previously learned and forgotten over the years. Of course, since I'm shooting exclusively in RAW with no jpeg image at all, I'll either have to set up a recipe in ACR or use Nikon NX Studio with my in camera's picture control setting... something I've never done before.

 

--Ron




#87731 Three primes

Posted by Ron on 25 March 2024 - 12:46 PM in Photographic Technique

I've recently setup my D7000 to shoot RAW only with a monochrome picture control. The three lenses I'll be using are the Nikkor AF-S 20mm ƒ/1.8G, the Nikkor AF-S 35mm ƒ/1.8G FX and the Nikkor AF-S 85mm ƒ/1.8G.

 

--Ron




#87730 Exposure Bracketing for Solar Eclipse

Posted by Ron on 25 March 2024 - 12:41 PM in Photographic Technique

Be sure you have a solar filter on your lens... and adjust your exposures to compensate.

 

--Ron




#87729 Newbee Intro & ASAP Access Help

Posted by Ron on 25 March 2024 - 12:35 PM in Say Hello!

Welcome to the forums, Mark. I too am envious of both your motor home and your gear.

 

As far as shooting eclipses... well, there are many ways of doing it. You already have a solar filter which is the main thing. I'm sure you know that you should never point your digital camera at an intense light source such as the sun for any length of time without adequate filtration. You can ruin the sensor very easily. The only other thing I can think of is a tripod. You didn't mention one in your post above... perhaps you did in the other post. In any case, you're going to need one for shooting with the long lens. You might want to bracket exposures but chances are, the sun will be nearly washed out in any case, and the moon will be totally black. You have both zone 10 and zone 0 in the same photo, which is really hard to balance. So, shooting it like you would a silhouette will at least get you and image... provided you're using a steady support.  

 

Another idea, which I've used with some success, is to shoot eclipse shadows on the ground around plants and trees. The light filtering through foliage serves to act as a camera obscura ... that is, a sort of pinhole camera, that projects the eclipse image onto the ground or sidewalk, etc. underneath. The images can be quite beautiful because you'll probably see dozens of small eclipse images rather than just the one you'll see with your long lens. You can also use shorter lenses (with proper filtration) to photograph reflections of the eclipse off of different objects... cars, the windshield of your motor home, etc. There are other ways of photographing eclipses but my old brain is starting to form a block... so, I'll just finish by saying, use your imagination, and have fun! As always, the trip is it's own reward. Enjoy the ride.

 

--Ron




#87672 tethering

Posted by Ron on 21 March 2024 - 06:11 PM in Technical Troubleshooting

Did you check the Nikon NX Tether manual? From what I gather by glancing through it, your cameras are not supported by the software. Only Z cameras and the D6 and D780 DSLR's are supported according to Nikon.

 

If you absolutely need tethering, you might consider a third party source. Adobe Lightroom supports tethering, for example. If you decide to go this route, be sure that your cameras are supported before subscribing to Lightroom.... although, I'm pretty sure they are.

 

If you don't wish to use Adobe software, there are probably other programs that support tethering as well.

 

--Ron




#87664 old lenses on DSLRs

Posted by Ron on 21 March 2024 - 09:47 AM in Nikon DX DSLRs

I love those old lenses... And an F3/AF!! My goodness!

 

--Ron




#87649 old lenses on DSLRs

Posted by Ron on 20 March 2024 - 01:31 PM in Nikon DX DSLRs

I regularly use my FX lenses on both my DX and FX cameras and the indicated ƒ numbers are always the same.

 

--Ron




#87642 That’s got to be good value

Posted by Ron on 19 March 2024 - 04:00 PM in Nikon FX DSLRs

The D610 is definitely not an action camera, but it has a good sensor and outputs fairly clean images. However, it's starting to show it's age, so I've been hemming and hawing about replacing it. If only Nikon would knock a few hundred more dollars off the D850(yeah, right!), I might be tempted to stay with DSLR's. Otherwise, it's mirrorless and a whole nother ballgame.

 

But Peter's right about the grip. It makes a world of difference in how these cameras handle. I was initially pretty excited about the D780 until I learned that it wouldn't take a grip. That kind of popped the balloon for me.

 

But if you can live without the grip, or if they're not your thing to start with, then the D780 is a really nice upgrade. It's amazing how it seems to fly under everyone's radar because it does tick a lot of boxes in the 'nice to have' column.

 

--Ron 




#87637 That’s got to be good value

Posted by Ron on 19 March 2024 - 11:02 AM in Nikon FX DSLRs

B&H is still listing it as around $2200US. And that's with a US$100 discount.

 

The camera itself has received some good reviews. It apparently still takes all F mount lenses from AI forward. But It doesn't take a grip which turned some people (myself included) off. It seems to be a pretty nice, if expensive, camera tho. Who's selling it for that price?

 

--Ron




#87624 Lens gray marking

Posted by Ron on 17 March 2024 - 06:05 PM in Nikon Lens Discussion

Okay, you guys got me cold. I had no idea that Nikon had ditched the 5 year USA warranty. I apologize for the error. 

 

--Ron




#87597 Battery and Recharge Suggestions

Posted by Ron on 16 March 2024 - 12:13 AM in Beginner Questions

I try to never drain my batteries all the way down to zero. When they get down to half way or maybe a bit below, I put them in the charger. Since I work so infrequently these days, I usually check them the day before I'm going to be working and, if they're the least bit questionable, I charge them.  I also have an AA adapter for my grip that can serve as a backup ... provided I remember to pack plenty of (charged) AA batteries.

 

I've seen batteries that showed that they were nearly worn out magically return to nearly new status. Sometimes it takes a few charges to accomplish this and sometimes the batteries never recover. But once they start acting funky, I make plans to replace them.

 

But no, I wouldn't drain them all the way.

 

--Ron




#87596 Retouch Menus -NEF Raw -No image for retouching

Posted by Ron on 15 March 2024 - 11:52 PM in Beginner Questions

Thanks for the info Ron. Rather than start a new topic for this I will ask in this one as it is about the software. For now I will hold off on the monthly subscription, I may realize the need if things change. I tested on my D850 with Bracketing , it was set for 3 exposure with extream on both sides. I was reading the Nikon Software will not do Braketing from my understaning. So I question when you say the Lightroom 5 is so old . Would it be too old to work with Bracketing pictures?

 

Thanks

Michael

I believe Lightroom 5 would probably struggle just to import NEF files created by newer cameras... most certainly Nikon Z camera NEF's. Adobe has a page somewhere in their web system that lists all of the Lightroom (ACR) versions and which camera files those versions support. I've seen it but, I stupidly did not bookmark the URL, so I'll have to look for it. But, I'm pretty sure that your D850 is way too new for Lightroom 5 to support.

 

--Ron

 

Edit: I found the page!! You would need Lightroom 6.1 at a minimum.




#87588 Lens gray marking

Posted by Ron on 15 March 2024 - 10:25 AM in Nikon Lens Discussion

At one time all Nikon lenses designated for sale in the United States were marked with a US before or after the serial number. That has not been the case for some time. As Peter noted, if you get the extra warranty paperwork (the yellow 4 additional year warranty registration slip) and the serial numbers match, you have a US market lens. If you bought the lens used it's difficult to tell. The lens could be either US market or Gray Market. I'm not sure if there's a publicly accessible database of US market serial numbers. Somehow, I doubt it.

 

Edit: by the way... when purchasing Nikon lenses, you need to be sure to specify whether you want US market lenses or not. In many cases the prices are the same or nearly the same for both gray market and US market lenses. However, the US market lenses still come with an additional warranty which makes it worth the effort to make sure you get US market lenses. 

 

--Ron




#87523 Remote for D5600

Posted by Ron on 07 March 2024 - 11:34 AM in Beginner Questions

The Nikon compatibility chart only shows recent, mostly Z series cameras. The D5600 is not listed, nor are any other Nikon DSLR cameras.

 

--Ron




#87469 EN-EL14 and EN-EL14a battery compatibility

Posted by Ron on 03 March 2024 - 01:54 AM in Beginner Questions

According to this post on Nikon Rumors the two batteries are interchangeable. However, you may need to update your camera(s) firmware to support the EN-EL14a.

 

--Ron




#87468 Sunset - Moon Up

Posted by Ron on 03 March 2024 - 01:44 AM in Landscapes

Your shots look nice. Very nice color.

 

Sunset color is often variable depending on the amount of dust in the atmosphere. Down at my latitude sunsets can be pretty bland unless there are storm clouds on the horizon. At your latitude they're probably more colorful in general.

 

--Ron




#87466 Nikon and Metz 60CT-4

Posted by Ron on 03 March 2024 - 01:31 AM in Strobist Corner

I've never owned a 'potato masher' but I did briefly pine for one back when I was shooting B&W film. The photographer you're thinking of is 0. Winston Link who did extensive photography of Norfolk & Western steam locomotives ... documenting their last days. Link was famous for his dramatic night photographs. He used elaborate lighting setups to make beautiful night photos. He elevated the lowly steam locomotive to a thing of beauty. High art.

 

As you probably know, black body flash photography is extremely difficult to nail. Frontal flash often results in poor subject detail, especially at night. Balancing flash and whatever ambient light might be available only adds to the problem. It's usually better to, if possible, move flash off camera and use multiple flash units. A lot of trial and error is involved as well, even with modern flash meters.

 

Some of us do dabble in flash photography... sometimes even using the popup.

 

--Ron




#87465 Nikon D500 XQD vs : CFexpress Type B for photography.

Posted by Ron on 03 March 2024 - 01:05 AM in Nikon DX DSLRs

I still use SD cards so my experience is based on that, but I think card performance is not just about how fast a card can be written to in the field. It's also has to do with how fast you can move your photos off the card and onto your computer or external drive. With SD cards, the extra speed does come in handy, especially when you're shooting RAW or RAW+Jpeg.

 

And, of course, if you're shooting sports or wildlife then you'll probably appreciate the extra speed, especially when using burst photography ... even if you never push the camera to the point where you overload the buffer.

 

In normal photography, the extra speed is probably an unnecessary luxury, but still nice to have when moving photos off the card.

 

Only you can decide if the extra speed is worth the cost penalty.

 

--Ron




#87454 Film costs (crazy ?)

Posted by Ron on 02 March 2024 - 02:21 PM in Film Photography

Yeah, welcome to the future. Where everything that was old, is new again, only more expensive.

 

I have some refrigerated Fuji film from the 00's but all my Kodachrome and Tri-X pan is history. 

 

--Ron




#87453 'Corrupted' pictures

Posted by Ron on 02 March 2024 - 02:18 PM in Post-Processing, Printing, and Scanning

Sorry about the confusion re: memory cards.

 

Otherwise, gosh... I donno. The word salad from Nikon is a bit confusing to me as well. Definitely something got lost in translation.

 

I'm pretty sure you do have disk cleanup. Use search on your PC, not the internet. It should show up in the results.

 

--Ron




#87452 Tuna Backar an overcast day

Posted by Ron on 02 March 2024 - 02:03 PM in Cityscapes and Architecture

Oh, the saturation! Doctor! My eyes! ;)

 

--Ron




#87451 Retouch Menus -NEF Raw -No image for retouching

Posted by Ron on 02 March 2024 - 01:59 PM in Beginner Questions

Version 5 of Lightroom is way too old. I wouldn't even install it.

 

Lightroom can be a mess... no matter how new it is, and even though I used it for years, I no longer recommend it. However, if you think you might be interested in the Adobe ecosystem, I would look into the 'Photography Plan' subscription. It's what I have and I pay $10 a month for Photoshop, Lightroom (both versions) Bridge, and a number of other applications. I realize that not everyone likes the subscription model, and I was one of those who didn't, but it does give me immediate access to the latest versions of all the applications I use, plus any previous version of the same apps.

 

My current modus operandi is to use Photoshop (with Adobe Camera RAW) for all of my post processing. Others here on the forums have other preferences that work just as well or sometimes probably better. Because it's the end result that matters, I don't judge their preferences.

 

My journey with Macintosh began in the late eighties with the Mac Plus... well, actually, a cobbled together very early Mac Plus hackintosh. I ran Photoshop 2 on that machine and upgraded both the software and hardware (featuring actual Macs!!!) through the nineties. When Apple was on life support in the late nineties I was forced to jump ship to the Windows ecosystem. Now, I'm trying to ween myself off of all things Microsoft. It's a work in progress.

 

--Ron