I just read the article by Steve Perry. What he wrote is what I did several years ago, as suggested in the video I linked to on the D750. D750 Setup
In use, it greatly simplified things for me. Shutter release takes photo, button on back controls focus. Press button once, and camera focuses, and locks in the focus. Press button and hold it in, and the camera tracks focus as an object moves around. All my Nikons now work this way.
I hate to have to remember things, as when I’m getting busy, my memory goes on strike. With back button focus, all I need to remember is to use my thumb at any time I want focus.
From my experience, I find the Nikon Z6 viewfinder superior to the D600 I once had (not sure how the D600 compares with your D750, but I would think it would be similar). Good eye relief also, for those using glasses. But you’re right - you need to use one yourself to evaluate and compare w/ your D750.
Back in 2006, when I visited India I took my trusty D70, which at the time I thought was a capable camera. It’s good that I brought my 18-200 lens, and that I left the ISO at only 200. In retrospect, what wasn’t so good, is that I hadn’t yet switched to RAW and was still shooting in jpg. I didn’t understand the difference back then.
This image is one of my favorites from those old trips, but I could never get it to to look the way I wanted - too much sunshine from almost straight above, meant too much contrast from dark to light. I told a friend in India I would work on this image some more, but the biggest issue was/is the eyes - as in they are all way too dark.
I did use control points to lighten them up, but stopped before it looked manipulated.
Wondering if anyone here (looking at you, Joanna!!!) might know of a way to improve the eyes more than I’ve already done, but without making them look “fake”.
(If it wasn’t for this expletive-deleted virus, I’d have gone back in 2020, twice, and again this year, and while I’m tentatively considering going back this coming summer, that all depends on how safe I might be. With two vaccinations, a booster, and having caught a mild case of covid several months ago, I ought to be protected well enough, but it still feels like a larger risk than I’m willing to take…)
You’re all free to edit this any way you wish - I have reasons for doing it the way I did, but my mind is wide open for other views.
(If anyone is interested, the photo was taken at "Alleghar Temple, close to Madurai, India. I went there many, many times, and spent lots of time photographing the monkeys, while avoiding their stealing any of my gear, which they tried to do a few times! They have zero fear of humans.)
I accept what you said, and I guess I’m asking for the impossible…
But, I disagree with what you wrote. To me, the whole program of PhotoLab is “magic”. For me, it is light-years better than anything I have ever tried in the past.
Maybe in 2006 I should have still been shooting film, as digital had not yet caught up? Anyway, I’m much less disappointed in what I could not do, compared to how thrilled I was at what I could do, and I feel the same way today.
Anyway, this is a screen capture at 100%. It almost shows what I want, showing a little more of the eye, but I don’t want the image to look faked.
This is with new control points on the pupil, but I can’t make them small enough to do what I want…
Wolfgang, the posts have rambled all over the place. I mentioned several points that I thought were relevant to comments made here and there on picture taking and camera features/capabilities that I have found helpful in my own picture-taking. The fact that I pointed to features of mirrorless as opposed to DSLRs shouldn’t be objectionable, should it?
Gosh, and you are one of the people who spoiled me! (written with a big smile)
Absolutely not - one of the sub-discussions in this thread got around to Joanna and I discussing mirrorless, and my spending a lot of time debating if I should buy a mirrorless camera. You added to that, and left me thinking I should hurry up and try one for myself. In no way was it “objectionable”; as I see it, it was “welcome”. Those thoughts leave me wondering still if I should buy one if for no other reason than to try out the new technology. Even if I accept that, I never get past the thought of which one to buy, and when it comes to buying a new camera, Joanna’s point that the D850 is almost certainly going to be Nikon’s final release of the “ultimate DSLR” at least for me.
As for me, realistically speaking, I have four/five cameras that I’m most likely to use (and many others too…). There’s my D750 DSLR which people here feel is my “best” camera, my Leica M10 Rangefinder camera that I enjoy even more, my old Leica M8.2 may end up being my “walk around” camera, and my Fuji X100f that used to be my “walk around” camera… as well as my Nikon Df. I’ve also got my Canon G7X Pro Mk II, which is by far the camera I’m most likely to wear on my belt when I’m traveling overseas. So, which Mirrorless? The Z9 costs to much to consider. If I consider the Z6, I might as well get the “better” Z7 in essentially the same body, and then there are the Z6 II and the Z7 II which are newer and improved. Ain’t no way for me to make a decision. I could always by the Z fc: (Nikon Z fc )
To be honest though, again, I already have too many choices, and “most” of the time I’m most likely to pickup one of my two D750 cameras, which is most likely to get me the best images to work with in this forum.
While it’s extremely unlikely, I suspect I would be better off replacing my D750 with a D850, rather than with any of Nikon’s new mirrorless cameras - but as I’ve been told before, I need to try one of the mirrorless cameras out, and find out for myself how it works in my hands…
I suppose you live alone and have no wife who complains about to much gear…
2 leica’s, 2 d750’s, 1 d850 , 1 gx7pro, a nikon Df, fuij x100f. And this is what i can destilate from your post above
Mine is complaining about my tools in the atic , shed, my own computerroom, all those lenses i buy… Then i ask about the 68 jackets, raincoats, fasioncoats and matching trousers and blouses…
"that’s different, they all different…and not a hobby but i need that for my appearance…"
Oops, I confess - that list is only the cameras I often use. I never trade-in or sell my old cameras, although I do give them away to others who need them. My above list leaves off my Nikon F4 (two of them), my Leica M2 (needs cleaning), and my ancient Nikon SP, Contax rangefinder cameras, an old Nikon F2 (gave the other away), and my Nikon D2x and D3 (gave them to my brother). I enjoy having them, but I accept that I should really concentrate on one camera and learn it completely.
You’ll never win that discussion. As for me, I haven’t bought new clothes in years, as the old ones don’t wear out, and I finally bought a new hat… after checking out what workers wore in the 1930’s…
…I thought it would go well with my 1954 Leica M3. I forget which famous photographer wore a hat like this, but I remember seeing the photo. Since I’m copying, maybe I should copy Joanna, but the hat goes better with the rest of me.
Buying the hat was was easy. Buying a new mirrorless Nikon feels impossible, and when I walked out my door to take photos, I suppose I’d prefer to take one of the cameras I already love (I should write “use”, not “love”, but that would ignore the emotions behind selecting a camera to use.)
Tools? I had all my Dad’s woodworking and mechanics tools plus my 50 year collection. Now my wife and I are down sizing and gave all the tools to Habitat for Humanity. It took a step van to haul it away. Somewhere there’s a kid learning a new skill.
My father lives alone in a family house for 45 years, throws never a thing away unles i push that a bit, i fear the day i have to cleanout that place. I think i need a 12m3 trashcontainer or a moving truck and 3 weeks free from work through that place…
We clean out a apartment this month of my mother inlaw that’s 50m2 and we transported almost everything to a recycle store, better then trash it.
Doing it yourself of your own house to clean out is much better then you can see the joy of others when you give it away.
@Joanna has posted that she got the Nikon D850 because it is likely to be the last top-line DSLR coming from Nikon. Canon apparently feels the same way: Last top-line Canon DSLR
Part of me, when thinking about this, wants to buy a new Nikon D850 while I still can. Another part of me remembers when I held a D800 in one hand, and a D750 in the other, and decided the smaller and lighter camera was better for me. I went to KEH a few minutes ago, and found four of them for sale, used, for around $2,500 for a like-new body: Nikon D850 I probably could afford
Not sure if I’ll ever do anything about this.
I’ve mostly decided not to buy anything, and just continue with my two D750 bodies, and my two Leica bodies, and I probably have all the lenses already, no need to buy more.
Something else I’ve noticed. If I go back in time, most of my images needed a lot of help from PL5 to get them “finished”. Several people here have said that if I work harder to “get it right in the camera”, there is less need to edit. I’m not sure if it’s what I “do” when taking a photo, or what I now “think of” before taking the photo. PL5 is perhaps the world’s best bandaid, but if the photo is really thought out before pressing the shutter button, there’s less need of the “band-aid”. …I took several high dynamic range photos while at my brother’s home a few weeks ago, and almost every shot was taken very carefully. I look at them on my computer, and see no need to do much processing, just add my watermark.
(Of course, I might be totally wrong, and that I don’t see any need to improve them means I’m just not noticing things that others here clearly see, just like before. I guess I’ll have to post one of them, just to find out if it’s really “finished” or if it needs corrections that I’m oblivious to.)
If I do post more images, they’ll go in a new thread for 2022. At over 500 posts, this thread is more than long enough - and when I scroll back as I sometimes do, it’s amazing how many things have been discussed here, and how much I’ve learned from these discussions.
Maybe I’ll just say “thank you” and “Happy New Year” to everyone.
Well, I would say that article is fairly conclusive and that I wasn’t jumping the gun in not waiting for a possible (mythical) Nikon D880.
Body
Weight (g)
Weight (lb/oz)
D750
750g
1lb 10.5oz
D810
880g
1lb 15.5oz
D850
915g
2lb 3oz
So, only about 8oz more for the “naked” body.
In my experience, what makes my D850 heavy is my 28-300 lens, which weighs in at around 1lb 12oz and effectively doubles the weight. With something like the 50mm attached, it really doesn’t feel that heavy.
Your decision has to be whether you really need the 45Mpx that a D850 gives you. You don’t need it if most of your work is aimed for web pages unless you find yourself continually having to crop to get a decent subject size.
Of course, unless DxO allow bigger uploads, you wouldn’t be able to share D850 RAW files here
On the subject of things going out of stock, it would seem that Manfrotto are stopping the 290 CF tripod that you got. I jumped last night and ordered one as a replacement for my 055 aluminium, which is considerably heavier.
This has been the aim of this whole thread You never know, one day you might make as good a digital photographer as you were an analogue one
And a very happy, healthy and productive New Year to you.
if he gets any better in this he can go back to OOC-Jpegs and a set of 512Mb SD cards and mimic the old analoge way!
No need for rawdevelopers applications anymore.
having spare time means internet which means GAS which means… bigger house?
Interesting coincidence - I was just reading a fascinating write-up about one of my favorite cameras, the Leica M8. If you’re curious: Thoughts on a Leica M8
Thinking back, one of the reasons others in this discussion were so disappointed in M8 images, is because of its lack of technical features and how much/little can be done in editing - it can’t do, and wasn’t, designed to do, what can be done with a late model Nikon or Leica.
But I think these are the key thoughts from this review:
" DNG files from the M8’s 10MP APS-H (2/3rds full-frame, 1.33x crop factor) CCD sensor are sharp and detailed. There is a unique digital ‘grain’ to this sensor that is pleasantly reminiscent of film.
Apparently the output from the M8 was modeled on Kodachrome slide film. Thorsten Overgaard has written about this and claims to have heard it directly from Stefan Daniel, Leica Camera’s division head of product management, during a briefing at the annual meeting of the LHSA in 2010. Whether this applies to the raw or jpeg output is unclear, but I find the comparison compelling. I tend to use the M8 as if it is loaded with a roll of 160 ISO slide film, and that, I believe, is the key to understanding this camera.
Imagine that the Leica M8 is a less expensive Leica M7 with an unending roll of Kodachrome with a built-in digital scanner. The removable bottom plate will help with this illusion. This may not be as much of a stretch as you think, as the M8 is a bridge between film and digital imaging. Being both modern and antiquated makes the M8 somewhat timeless, and in a market where obsolescence is the rule, any relevance this 14 year old camera enjoys today has to have something to do with quality.
Even the sensor’s dynamic range is just a few stops more than a typical slide film, providing a precedent for how to expose for best results (i.e. expose for highlights).
As with film, you can push exposure in-camera (change ISO setting), or in post-processing (Lightroom). I recommend leaving the camera at base ISO in all but the lowest light. If you prefer a more mid-tone exposure, there is plenty of detail in the shadows waiting to be revealed, and an image exposed this way will still have contrast and dynamic range when pushed. Conversely, there is nothing waiting for you in the blown highlights of an overexposed raw file but a white abyss. Beware."
If I accept the above, I’ll leave my image editing to my Nikon D750 and Leica M10, and pretend the M8 is shooting Kodachrome - the final image is finished, not ready for editing.
On the other hand, when I’m using my more powerful cameras, while I should try to get the image as perfect as I can in the camera, as Joanna initially made it clear, maybe using a different exposure will allow me to get the most out of my image, with editing being an integral part of my creating a photo.
To answer - no I do not NEED 45px, my work is aimed at web galleries and other online distribution, and since DxO won’t allow me to post those huge raw files, that’s another reason NOT go go beyond what I already have.
You were SOOO right - that tripod is awesome. Anyone reading this should consider buying one before it’s too late, and THANK YOU for pushing me towards the one I bought.
Ouch - I don’t always use heavy lenses, and the body going from 26 ounces on my D750 to 35 ounces on the D850 put an end to any of those thoughts.
I will also wish all of you a happy, healthy, productive, and exciting new year!
I haven’t been here for a rather long time, but did not forget experimenting on this subject a bit further.
I recently went to an Air Museum in the Netherlands (on home ground of former Soesterberg Air Base hosting the 32nd TFS with F-86, F-102, F-106, F-4E (YES!!!) and finally F-15C/D’ s).
This time I tried not to use any additional App besides PL5. In which I partially succeeded. All I did in the end (16 bit TIF export from PL5) was further dehazing and enhancing detail in Affinity Photo.
Exported as .JPG in the end. I kindly ask your views on this (Still learning). Tell me what is good and what is less good or even bad. All’s welcome.
You never know, one day you might make as good a digital photographer as you were an analogue one 
