I’m not looking forward to tonight’s long flight from LA to Manila. A coach seat isn’t exactly what you’d call comfortable, especially with an expected fly-time of about 17 hours. But that doesn’t have to be time wasted..not when I have a new “novel” to read!
With the arrival of the new Nikon D3s’s, it’s time for me to really familiarize myself with these new tools. Having shot Canon for the past 6 years, I’m actually looking forward to learning something new, and getting my hands back on some Nikons. If there’s one thing Nikon excels at, it’s ergonomics. Nothing feels quite as good in your hand as that sculpted Nikon grip and the way the shutter release button is canted at just the right angle to meet your finger. Ahhhhh!
Time to RTFM (read the * manual)….my gosh, it’s three quarters of an inch thick and contains over 430 pages! Today’s camera manuals are a whole different story from what we were used to seeing back in the film days.
Upon arrival in Manila, I’m meeting freelance Filipino journalist, Red Santos. We’re heading north of town to shoot the Obando Fertility Festival, so tonight will be my last chance to have an in-depth look and the D3s manual and make any last minor tweaks.
On Friday, I shot the D3s’s in Los Angeles during an assignment for an old friend, Dan Tobin. Dan previously headed up the communications department at Education Development Center, an NGO with prorams world wide. Dan now runs Stenhouse Publishers and he needed photos of high school students reading, learning and interacting with teachers. One of the classrooms I was photographing in, lacked a window, so I shot most of it at ISOs over and above what I could have, with my 6 year old Canon Mark II’s. Everything with the D3s’s was great, except that I felt like the focus was a bit slow. I think I’m going to have a look at reducing the number of available focus points, and see if that speeds things up.
So, on the plane tonight, it looks like I’m going to get a chance to test the effectiveness of the D3s owners manual. Let’s see if it is as potent as an Ambien and a Bud Light.
Sweet dreams all.
Ciao.
Karl
Karl once you changed the AF points how was the AFing? What AF point setting did you end up with? I’m a D700 user and use the 51 pt 3D tracking and so far hasn’t been a problem. Keep up the great work, very impressed!
Hi Brent,
Good question about AF, I’m glad you asked.
Here are my menu settings:
a1 AF-C priority selection=Release + focus
a2 AF-S priority selection=Release
a3 Dynamic AF area=51 points 3D tracking
a4 Focus tracking with lock-on=Normal
a5 AF activation=Shutter/AF-ON
a6 Focus point illumination,Manual focus mode= yes. Continuous mode=yes
a7 Focus point wrap-around=No wrap
a8 AF point selection=AF11 point
On the front of the camera I select the focus mode as Single in most cases.
On the back of the camera I set the AF mode to the middle setting (looks like cross hairs)
I don’t know if these will be right for you, but currently, that’s the setup I am using. I might change however, as I am still “learning” these new cameras.
Cheers,
Karl
I’m surprised it’s no bigger than the D700 manual! Happy reading
Hey Karl,
Don’t know if you’re an iPhone or iPod touch user, but the new iOS includes iBooks which allows you to add PDF files to your device. Those little manuals are bricks, but if you have the serial number of your camera handy, you can download the PDF version from the Nikon website. I started adding the manuals to my 3G iPhone – very cool option. Launching iBooks on the older 3G is a little slow, but it works fine. If I had a lot of time to kill on a long flight, I might bring the paper version (no need to worry about batteries), but I have the confidence knowing that the manual is always on me because my phone is always on me.
The cameras aren’t too difficult to figure out. It’s the strobes (with their sparse UI), especially using CLS, that I sometimes have trouble with and need to turn to the manuals.
Thanks for sharing your stories and tips!
Aloha,
Kepano
Thanks Kepano, I’ve got an iPhone G3s and I’ve been meaning to get a D3 users manual onto my phone. I just had lunch with Ken Rockwell this afternoon and we were taking about that! Ken has some nice, quick and easy manuals. It’s great to have a manual in your pocket for when you need to reference some obscure setting on the camera. Great advice, thanks for your comment and for following the blog.
Cheers.
Karl
Karl:
As a 43 year (since age 15) Nikon shooter, I have always been curious about auto focus evolution.
In the case of fellow shooters using Canon, their EOS EF AF has always been visibly faster than Nikon AFS. The big deal has been in “keepers” with focus as a consideration. Nikon has always had a higher percentage of being in focus when tracking moving subjects or continous shooting.
I find it curious how my wife’s consumer Nikon D90 with 11 focus points is faster to lock on subjects than my pair of 4 year old Nikon D200 11 point AF or my 2 year old D700.
Ed
Edward J. “Ed” Michaels
856.685.9435
ejmichaels@gmail.com
KC2MWI (442.550 91.5 on W3SBE when local)
NPPA: 259612
Hey Karl,
Well its been about 2 months since you made the switch to Nikon.. How’s it working out?? Your recent photos are great! Did you change your PP workflow?
Gene
http://www.geneinman.com
Hi Karl,
I enjoy your posts, you inspire me in my upcoming assignment with an NGO as a photojournalist in Africa. I now have a Nikon D90 but will be upgrading to full frame and look forward to hearing how your new Nikons are working out, and what lenses you find most helpful for your work. If I had to guess it looks like you use your 17-35mm for your close up shots of people. Does the lack of VR in that lens (if indeed you use that lense much)come as a drawback to you, or do you find that bumping up the ISO with the D3s eliminates the need for VR in low light?
Thanks for all your advice/reviews on the gear you use and other useful things like packing and what clothes you find work well in harsh environments etc.
Keep up the good work.
Rodney
Hi Karl
Greetings from London!
I note your comment about the Nikon Manuals and also that you have an iPhone – there is an app called MegA Guide Pro for Nikon DSLR camera, which is a text version of the manual with a few images. You can either buy for one specific camera model or buy for a little more the manual for all Nikon Pro series camera’s.
I hope to catch up on a trip with you soon.
Cheers
Andrew
Kark
Thanks for enlightening everyone with the AF setting you use, have you modified these since your initial pass, and do you still find AF slow?
Cheers
Andrew