I tried drying it out for days, but to no avail. It was time to go shopping its replacement.
The dream was a Nikon D3x. But at approaching £5,500 – not a runner.
A D3? Good choice – I could use with all the peripherals I’d built up around the D2x. But I’ve heard lots of horror stories about difficulties keeping the sensor clean. My friend Bernd Seiler had experienced terrific problems with this – so much so he gave up, sold it and returned to film.
Lots of reading led me to the Nikon D700. Everything the D3 is, but smaller, lighter, £1,000 cheaper and with a dust cleaning facility for the sensor.
Amazingly the cheapest place to buy it was Amazon – what is the world coming to?
So now, one month later, what are the impressions? I think the key points are:
- Its got a huge viewfinder. After years of using an APS sized sensor camera, the difference in full frame viewfinder size and brightness is a revelation. Just like an old fashioned film camera!
- I love the fact my 17-35 is once again, a 17-35. Only problem is I’ve forgotten how to keep my feet out of the frame in portrait format shots.
- Slight vignetting creeps in with the 17-35 at 17, but only when taking vertical format pictures. Can’t work that one out – but I guess it’s something to do with the Lee filter attachment ring on the front (and yes, it is the WA version!).
- It’s much better at sorting white balance automatically than the D2x was. I only have to correct 50% of the frames not 80%.
- It’s autofocus is missing blobs around the edge of the frame. For somebody who likes wide angle shots with things in the foreground, that’s a problem.
- It’s battery life is pretty good, but then so far it’s only been used in the temperatures a Cyprus spring chucks at it. Hit it with cold and I’ve a feeling I’ll be back for the add on base that takes the bigger (fortunately D2x sized) batteries.
- It’s smaller and lighter than the D2x – so much so the kit for a day’s shooting fits comfortably in the Lowe Pro Vertex 100 bag. The D2x really needed the 200 version for comfort.
- It seems to keep it’s sensor clean – and Cyprus is a rough place for cameras from this perspective. It’s probably the dustiest place I’ve ever been!
- It’s got loads of customisable display modes to review pictures, but I can’t find one that displays a full screen histogram. And in my view, that’s the one you want.
- There’s less depth of field. I’d forgotten the smaller sensor of the D2x does good things for depth of field. Even at f22, you can’t be 100% confident everything turns out sharp.
And then the subjective one. Do I like it? Yes – definitely.
It’s got some gizmos I haven’t sussed out yet – but will. The whole ‘Live View’ thing has passed me by so far. But it does have what looks like an artificial horizon as fitted in an aircraft to make sure your pictures are level.
Must get around to reading the (comprehensive) instruction manual some day soon!
