Quote:
|
Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
I don`t use the D70's metering function, as I prefer incident light readings taken with a Gosson.
|
Ah...the Gosson Luna Pro light meter...now that takes me back!
I think we are of the same mind Alan in our appreciation of the solid and practical workings of good mechanical camera equiptment. I must admit a fondness for the automobile, however (my Hot Wheels collection is probably up to about 600 cars
).
I understand what you mean about "indefinite" focus, but i am not sure why the lack of the split screen focus circle should cause you trouble. In a sense that is just like a focus zone, but you only have one in the center of the frame. I believe your D70 has 9 focus zones (the D2X has 11) which are easily switched from one to another with the multi-selector on the back of the camera. If you put the camera on manual focus a little light comes on when that focus zone is in focus. If the part of the keris your are trying to focus on does not fall into one of your focus zones you merely need to adjust framing until it does, focus till the light comes on, and re-frame. Theoretically there should be less re-framing than with your split screen focus system since there are more focus zones therefore requiring less re-framing. In a sense the focussing should be quicker. When that light comes on the zone IS in focus. With the split screen you have to make the call. Trust the machine Alan.
I certainly understand your reluctance to sit down to process 200 images, especially when it was work done for you by photolabs in the past. I can easliy tone a hundred pics or more in a week, but it is my job and i am getting a fair bit more than your $12 an hout lab girl for it. Certainly when we compare the amount of time film takes to fully process and print to digital, digital comes out as faster, cheaper and cleaner. But if the work is suddenly on you when it was once done by others i can see your complaint.
I also understand your reluctance to invest too much money in more equipment if the return is not there. Just be careful up there on those paint tins, eh?
Alam makes a good point about making sure you use the proper settings on your camera to do close-up work. You will get the most out of your camera this way. However, even though these settings exist it is just a fact that these types of digital cameras are just not properly suited to do a good job with this type of photograph. They are made to take pics of the family outings and friends at parties, not record the fine detail of pamor on a nice old keris blade. As Alan pointed out early, nothing beats a fine macro lens for this work which means moving up into the realms of digital SLRs with inter-changable lenses if the quality of this type of work really matters to you. My wife, who loves to take close-ups of flowers, struggled for a good while with a Nikon 5700 and found the that close-up work with it was very frustrating. She is very happy, though, with her new D50.