vrankin

<p>Monarchs are down in numbers this year, but a few are migrating through Wisconsin this week. I was fortunate enough to move close to one warming in the sun on a chilly early morning.</p><div></div>

<p>Fall colors are just beginning in the slightest way, here in SE Wisconsin, USA. But migrating monarchs are a sure sign. This one stayed still long enough in the cool early morning for me to come close.</p><div></div>

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<p>Photos rated as the best by people whose opinions I've valued, haven't necessarily been from my best cameras. More important were choice of subject, timing, lighting, placing of exposure and composition. Ironically, having a "camera that doesn't get in the way" has in later life meant a simpler camera with more reliable automation. It allows for being more intuitive, rather than so intellectual with the camera.</p>

<p>All of my Nikon equipment was refurb, and all was just fine. (D5000, D5100, D3300, 18-55, 55-300, 55-200)</p>

<p>Following some previous posts in this thread:<br> 1. You can downsize easily in ViewNX2 at the "Convert Files" step, checking a box and giving the window a value for the long side.<br> 2. If you're viewing your D7100 images at 100%, you're seeing a much more demanding level of resolution from your lenses. I view my 24MP images at 50%. They look better. No need to physically downsize the file and lose information.</p>

<p>24 MP is a good ceiling for APS-C, and the D7100 has some shelf life left. It may never completely satisfy loyal D300 users, but pro level APS-C is now obviously leaving the scene. Nikon's marketing direction appears to be the D810 and D750 Full Frame models, instead. Another group of Nikon users somewhat disappointed may have been those looking for a P8000. Heavier quality fixed lens compacts with lots of external controls and smaller sensors are also now passing away. The new marketing front appears to be large sensors in small bodies with lens interchangeability.</p>

<p>I didn't have more than three seconds for this shot of our grand daughter dashing from the car to a swing set in a local park. After the shot, I realized that toned B&W presets from an earlier landscape session were still in effect. Our family rather likes it this way.</p><div></div>

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<p>Not too cynical at all, Wouter. I lived and moved with people like that, every day for a whole career. I'm a retired minister!</p>

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<p>Following Matt's theme suggestion steers me away from some of my "better" shots, this week. Here, my wife and our grand daughter are walking back to the car after playing at a local park. It captures their mutually determined personalities well, and the not-so-perfect framing does seem to suggest that my wife likes to push against imposed limits. (My projections, of course.)</p><div></div>

<p>I've reversed a dogmatic assertion from the past. I used to believe that only a fully manual approach to making photographs was legitimate - that one must have known exactly what one was doing at every step of the workflow, imposing one's skill upon every detail of execution. But now I'm fairly old enough to know this has to be nonsense for me. My photography has evolved in a new and better direction, since employing the many facets of technology that are completely automated, thanks to engineering that is galaxies beyond my understanding in electronics, physics and more specifically, sensors, processors, and algorithms. I point the camera, compose, trip the shutter, and miracles seem to happen, in a childlike delightfulness. It's not my personal and private execution anymore. For this I'm grateful, since at age 65 after a mild stroke all of that past cognitive glory has faded. I am often forgetful or confused about details of settings. But I still seem to recognize a beautiful, or story-telling image.</p>

<p>The D5300 does have a main dial on the rear, though not a second one on the front of the grip. It also has an assignable function button to the left of the flash. The D5300 and D3300 have the i Button as a short menu function. It's not as fast as buttons and dials, but faster than the usual menu diving. I have a D3300 after owning a D80 with more buttons and two dials. I do miss them a bit, but not as much as some would. The D5300/D3300 sensor and Expeed 4 processor are very nice. As others have already said, you'd probably be happier with the D7100. It has their upgrades plus a number of others, two control dials + more external buttons, and also a larger/brighter viewfinder. For many it seems to be worth the extra $250-$300.</p>

<p>First outing with a new D3300 kit, this shot was made at the dock with our grand daughter, as she caught her first fish on Labor Day weekend. (Large sample in my gallery here)</p><div></div>

<p>I've had good scans from Dwayne's in Kansas. They provide approx. 8 MP scans, but I can't remember the numbers, having sent them off.</p>

<p>The 24 hr. non-response time to this original post seems to reflect the cool interest I've seen elsewhere. It's a lot of money for a 2/3" X-trans sensor already seen in the previous X20, and a lens that excited in 2011. Will the EVF and new body look carry it? Time will tell. It reminds me a bit of the Nikon P7700/P7800 progression, also a bit minor. I anticipate some 1" sensor small camera announcements coming up at Photokina will bring more excitement.</p>

<p>Another one</p><div></div>

<p>With time before an appointment I stopped for a chai at a local coffee house. These flowers were beckoning from behind a rain barrel. The new D3300 kit was in the car, so I tried out a couple of in-camera NEF variations for these shots.</p><div></div>

<p>(While working out in the field, in older rangefinder film camera days) "Is that a lens cap on your lens?"</p>

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<p>Louis, I loved your posts. You really took me back. Right out of college I worked in a K-Mart camera dept. full time. We sold many 124G and Electro GSN cameras. I shot with 124G and Yashica D cameras for almost 20 years. After a time each 124G ran into winding/shutter cocking problems. But the D never stopped. </p>

<p>It probably wasn't due to faulty equipment.</p>