More test shots on the D70

[Douglas]

Just a few more test shots on my D70 that I thought I would share. Since I was mainly testing the color, they are mainly of sunsets again. Big thanks to MrB, as the lens I got worked awesome. These were shot with the 18-70 using mostly the P setting and using RGBIII color and Saturation set to +. (I tried regular, but didnt really notice a difference) White balance on Auto -3.

First off, this one was shot with the 70-300 from about 10 ft away (didnt want to scare the thing off) and I am very dissapointed. I know the camera was focusing on the lizard, but its still very blury. Pictures look a little darker here on my work monitor vs my home one.



The rest of these came out well. I really like using the sunset filter with the SPlit ND (121M) cokin filters. I was limited on some of my shots unfortunatly and couldnt use the full 18mm setting. The water is very shallow and rocky, so they put out lots of signs right in front of observation deck (why, I have no clue). So I couldnt get all the shots I wanted. Im going to try another beach in a few weeks just for fun.







These arent the everglades, but if you ever want to see them, they look exactly like this when you stop for pics along Alagator Alley. Not sure which one I like better.





And this little guy was hanging out. Used the 70-300 again and got as close to the water as I could. Guess its a Floridian thing as I was more worried about scaring him off, then getting really close to an aligator in his turf. And even from 20 ft away at 300, this picture is still a bit blurry. Even with making sure the camera focused on the gator. So I can honestly say that I feel this lens is pretty much crap and cant wait till I can afford a 55-200 VR lens for the better glass. (or I might save up for the 18-200. Not sure if I will as I am very happy with the 18-70, but for conveinences sake I might.)

[PhotoshopAbuser]

Cool pics! It looks to me that even though you are focusing on the subject with your 70-300, your shutter speed wasn't fast enough. There is no exif data in these so at this point I can't tell for sure. A good rule of thumb is to always keep the shutter faster than the focal length you are using. ie. 250mm should have a shutter of at least 1/250. Try that and see if it helps!

[Douglas]

I had it on one of the full auto settings, Either the camera icon or the P, for the 2 reptile pics. The aligator one was done at 5.6 320 shutter. The lizard one doesnt tell me as it was a cut from the original instead of just a resize. But I really couldnt go any faster due to the apateur size.

[PhotoshopAbuser]

Ahhh...the full auto settings.

Get used to using your shutter priority and aperture priority settings. You can just practice in the back yard until you feel comfortable with it. Once you do, you can work with manual settings. It takes a little while to get into the swing of things but you will notice the difference! I think the last time my camera was in full auto was when I took it out of the box.

You also might want to look into picking up a tripod or monopod if shutter speed becomes an issue. Have fun!

[Douglas]

Thanks for the comments

I actually used a tripod for most of my shots. The lizard I didnt as I caught him out of the corner of my eye as I was about to drive away. So I just put my camera back together, jumped out and took some quick pics. I dont use Shutter Priority much, mainly due to the lenses I have. With the 70-300 being 4.5-5.6, I cant do too much. The 18-70 is a bit more doable with its 3.5-4.5. I didnt want to get that close for fear of the lizard running away on me.

For the scenics, I will use AP. Some of them were F25 (again, was just really testing. I think for the most part, I would use F11 to 16 max), but yeah as I get more time, I will play more.

Florida has pretty much been constant rain showers the last 2ish months. Even when I went on saturday, it was cloudy up until about an hour or so before sunset. I couldnt even get a shot of the sun setting as it was cloudy right at the horizon. But once the weather pattern changes, Ill get more chances.

[MrB]

Douglas, I like the sunset shots. I'm curious as to why the exif info is different for the first photo from all the rest. They all identify the camera, shutter speed, and f stop. The first one omits that info.

[Douglas]

The first one I cut from the original photo and pasted to create a new image. I wanted to keep the size of the lizard large, while still shrinking the overall image for posting. Oh and yeah, I had matrix metering on instead of spot. Thats why the overall image is dark.

The others were just resized in photo shop.

I checked the data last night on that image

Focal Length of 130
Shutter Speed 1/500
Fstop 6.3

So even with the shutter speed being that much faster, the image is still a bit blurry. I dont know if distance had anything to do with it, as I was only about 10ish feet away from it. Or if the lens is just that bad. But I do plan on getting a 55-200VR I think. (would love a 70-200 2.8 but funds dont allow it right now.)

[MrB]

I own the 70-300 VR and it is capable of much better than that. Maybe that's a bad copy you have. Even the alligator looked out of focus. Your shutter speeds seemed fast enough.

[Douglas]

Yeah. Thats what is frustrating. the one I have isnt the VR. Just the basic 70-300. But I found on adorama they have the 55-200vr for about $160 refurbished. So ill pick that up when I order my filters for the 18-70 (UV/Circular Polarizer/81A. All comes in 1 kit for like $75 for the 67mm)

[thebeing]

don't be dissapointed by the d70. i was too, at first. but now, I LOVE IT! it's a very good camera. so, bad pictures isn't it's fault. in time, you will learn to work with it, and you will be impressed with what it can do.

[Douglas]

Been very happy with the camera so far. Really loving it while still learning it. (so many menus lol).

[Douglas]

Been very happy with the camera so far. Really loving it while still learning it. (so many menus lol). Just finding a lot of shots with the cheapy 70-300 arent coming out that well. Glad I only paid $50 for it, heh.

[Loa]

Hello,

I have a Sigma 70-300 and I get the same problem: some softness in a lot of my images with it. I'm assuming that the Nikon 70-300 no-VR, being so cheap, will have similar deficiencies.

At one point I'm going to get Nikon's VR 70-300!

Loa

[MrB]

Originally Posted by Loa

Hello,

I have a Sigma 70-300 and I get the same problem: some softness in a lot of my images with it. I'm assuming that the Nikon 70-300 no-VR, being so cheap, will have similar deficiencies.

At one point I'm going to get Nikon's VR 70-300!

Loa

Your website is nicely presented.

[David Bickle]

I think the first picture is under exposed and may be suffering from camera shake. The D70 is a very good camera and produce very nice images once you work out the settings.
I like the sunset pictures.

[Marc Kurth]

The old Nikon 70-300 can produce very good images on a D70.

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by David Bickle

I think the first picture is under exposed and may be suffering from camera shake. The D70 is a very good camera and produce very nice images once you work out the settings.
I like the sunset pictures.

Yeah. I had it set on matrix instead of spot. Didnt think of it when I jumped back out of my car. Not sure about the shake, but Im geting a VR lens in the upcoming weeks.