{"id":757,"date":"2010-04-19T16:53:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T16:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/?p=757"},"modified":"2011-09-13T09:53:54","modified_gmt":"2011-09-13T09:53:54","slug":"it%e2%80%99s-official-i%e2%80%99m-announcing-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/it%e2%80%99s-official-i%e2%80%99m-announcing-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official, I\u2019m Announcing Retirement:"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nThe retirement of the two Canon Mark II bodies and the 16-35 and 70-200 lenses that have served me so well over the last 6 years. These two workhorses have been the tools which have helped me earn a living. They have been by my side through thick & thin, and then some. I\u2019ve lived with them and enjoyed them as friends. I\u2019ve slept with my head resting on them during train rides across India, I\u2019ve protected them from would-be robbers in Haiti, and hid them under beds in Kabul, Cotabato and Cali. I’ve been tossed out of Cuba with them when I couldn’t convince immigration officials that I was a vacationing tourist who just happened to have worn-looking professional cameras.<\/p>\n

My Canons have been locked up with my PackSafe in countless five-dollar-a-night hotels around the globe. I\u2019ve shot them, unprotected, in heavy downpours in East Timor and in the dust storms of Southern Sudan. I\u2019ve made images of Rajasthani rickshaw drivers and watched their eyes light up as I showed them their picture on the screen. I\u2019ve handed them to novice monks in Burma and watched in delight as they discovered, wide-eyed, about the magic of digital photography.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although I have mishandled them, including one incident when I dropped my 70-200 nine feet down, off of an elephant, (that story here<\/a>) and Ken Rockwell’s review of the amazingly undamaged lens here<\/a>), only once did these Cameras ever let me down; that was in Sri Lanka, back in 2006 while shooting one-year anniversary of the Tsunami when a shutter broke (story here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But alas, technology marches forward in this new age of building faster, lighter, better, sharper cameras every 6months.<\/p>\n

In \u201cdigital camera years\u201d these Mark II bodies are dinosaurs. In order to serve my clients well, and provide them with the best images I can deliver, it\u2019s time to replace them with upgraded technology. So, a few days ago I pulled the trigger and ordered two Nikon D3s\u2019s from Adorama\u2026..Nikon you gasp\u2026yep, that\u2019s right, Nikon. After much thought and a thorough analysis of the costs, I have decided to switch back to Nikon. You may remember my story in 2004 when I was robbed of my two trusted D1X\u2019s while in a really bad neighborhood in Lima Peru (story here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The debate that many photographers have over Nikon vs Canon, is something that has never really interested me, and I\u2019ve always said that which camera you\u2019re using doesn\u2019t make a difference (see my quote in the last paragraph here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My decision to \u201cupgrade\u201d is based on the improvement in picture quality at high ISO\u2019s which I believe to be the most significant advancement in recent years, and my decision to switch from Canon to Nikon is based mostly on economic reasons….Let me explain: The way I see it, at this time, Nikon offers a full frame pro body with high ISO capability for $5000 while Canon\u2019s full frame Mark IIIs is $6,115 and lacks high the newer, cleaner, high ISO settings. Since I have to buy two bodies, the math is simple. I can get 2 Nikon bodies, the 2 new lenses I need (the17-35 f2.8 and the new 70-200 f2.8), one extra battery and a flash (SB-400) for $14,609, while with Canon, it would cost me $12,229 for 2 full-frame 1Ds Mark III\u00a0 bodies, (old technology with max 1600 ISO), plus another $2499 for the new improved 70-200 2.8, for a total of $14,729 . (Replacing the 16-35 2.8 would add another $1,520, but of course, I could just keep using my existing 16-35, 2.8).<\/p>\n

Perhaps some would say, \u201cbut you can get the 5D Mark II for $2,500\u201d\u2026..I know, I know, but I need the toughness of professional bodies which can withstand the rigors and abuse that I will be subjecting them to, as well as ergonomics that don\u2019t allow dials to be accidentally rotated when bumped (this is a problem I see with the command dial on the 5D Mark II). And then there was the option to get the new Canon Mark IV but I really wanted to get back to a full frame, for the little bit of extra wideness rather than stay with the 1.3 crop factor.<\/p>\n

So; soon, I\u2019ll be shooting Nikon again. Frankly, I\u2019m looking forward to something new. Change is good, that\u2019s one of the reasons I love my job so much\u2026whether it\u2019s traveling to a new country, covering a new story or in this case, getting new camera gear; change offers me an opportunity to learn something new.<\/p>\n

Sure, I\u2019ll have to get used to lenses that mount and zoom in the reverse direction, and yes, I\u2019ll have to read an owner\u2019s manual the size of an encyclopedia, but hell, why not, I need something to do on my next 16 hour trans-pacific flight.<\/p>\n

858.689.1963As for the future of my 2 \u201cgently\u201d used, near \u201cmint condition\u201d Canons (ha ha), I\u2019ll be selling those in order to help defer the cost of the new Nikons. So, if you know someone who might be interested in buying them, let me know, I\u2019ll give them a great deal.<\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/p>\n

Karl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The retirement of the two Canon Mark II bodies and the 16-35 and 70-200 lenses that have served me so well over the last 6 years. These two workhorses have been the tools which have helped me earn a living. They have been by my side through thick & thin, and then some. I\u2019ve lived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[7,6,8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758,"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions\/758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karlgrobl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}