Nikon D800e and casual photography

Everyone is so serious about the new Nikon D800 and the Nikon D800e.  As an amateur photographer, I have the luxury of enjoying my cameras and trying to gain some knowledge and improve my skills by doing even the simplest things.

It is no secret how hot it has been across the nation this summer and I have not been out much taking pictures, certainly not as much as I would like.  So when I saw my D800e sitting on my desk for another weekend I decided to experiment in my own front yard.

We have a ever changing assortment of butterflies that come to the half dozen Spirea bushes in our front yard and I enjoy trying to capture these butterflies as they move from flower to flower.  Getting my D800e and my Nikkor 24-70, I headed out into the yard.

Although a tripod would be better for tack sharp images, I wanted to see if I could catch them in action and went handheld.  Imagine my surprise for twenty minutes work, I came away with this image

Yellow Swallowtail butterfly

The image was shot at an angle over my head and was slightly underexposed.  A few minor tweaks and a crop in Lightroom 4 and I was pleased with my short time in my yard.  Beautiful bokeh from the Nikkor  24-70, soft light because of the angle and the butterfly held still for just a brief second that allowed me to grab this image.

Wow, I thought I had a good shot but when I posted it to my 500PX page, it quickly climbed to the Upcoming page with a score of 93 at the time of this blog.  This is my highest rated image and it brings a real smile to my face.  I have spent hours trying to get an image that would rate this highly and failed miserably.

Enjoy photography, take whatever chances you have to make images and practice, practice, practice.

Until next time, keep shooting!

Kudos to Nikon

As I reported during my vacation, my Nikon AW100 which was performing really well for me, took on water and died during the third day in the water.  Up to this point it was doing great, I really like the GPS functionality, the scene modes are varied and well done and the easy auto mode is great for just grabbing some snapshots.

Underwater in St. Thomas

The colors are true and the fill flash does nicely for the shadows.  I was having a great time until the camera simply began to fog behind the lcd screen.

I did my best to dry it out by pulling the battery, putting it in a zip lock bag with dessicant packs and putting it in the sun.  It would start up just fine but nothing showed on the screen and the shutter would not fire.

Really disappointed I brought it home and sent it to Nikon for service.  I explained what happened and hoped that it would not be too much to be repaired.  I was expecting to pay for a repair since I have no way of knowing how or why water got in.  I received an email promptly from Nikon listing that there was water damage and that the product would be replaced.  Just as I was beginning to wonder during the third week what the status was, a package shows up on my front step.

Kudos to Nikon, I am impressed.  Inside the box was a "new" Nikon AW100.  It has a different serial number than my return and it started up just like brand new one.  I am pleased and glad that I have this camera back.  Not sure how long it will be before it goes back in the water, and when it does, I will be more careful with it.  I will enjoy shooting with it as a quick point and shoot camera to accompany my new D800e.

Thanks Nikon!