This morning I stealthily unpacked it. It came packaged in a “bundle” outer box as the “Nikon D610/24-85 VR Kit”. Inside was the standard gold D610 box, with a white-boxed lens. This is to prevent the dealer from separating the lens from the camera and selling it at full price; an age-old trick in the camera business which has transcended the digital realm. At $300.00 for a $600.00 lens, I can deal with this. Everything was in pristine shape, although not nearly as “factory sealed” as I would have liked.
While the battery charges, I install the strap and mount the lens. As I remove the lens from its packaging, it seems smaller than I imagined, but once on the camera, it appears about right. The whole assembly feels well-balanced, and fits my hand like a glove. The grip feels much better that the D90, accommodating the full width of my hand. It has substantial heft; it does not feel chintzy, yet it is not overly heavy either. It seems just right.
The timing of all this is not the best. I’m extremely busy right now, and I don’t have as much time to devote to the “new camera ritual” as I would like. I don’t want to make too big a deal out of this, although it is. I can’t help but feel that everything I’ve done so far in digital photography has been leading to this. Working in APS-C format has been fine, but now, no more calculations. “Let’s see, if I want to shoot at 35mm, I divide that by 1.5 and I get…23.333; so, a 24mm lens should do it.” Only it doesn’t really, because while I’m composing with the frame size of a 35mm lens, I’m shooting with the depth of field of a 24mm lens, which might not always be what I want. It’s not a bad thing, just different.
One thing I won’t be doing is cracking open the user manual. I already have that in PDF form on my iPhone, and have read a good portion of it. Despite the slight change in controls, I will have no problem operating this camera. What will be new however is the ability to meter with manual focus lenses. That and the depth of field issue has made the D90/APS-C experience enough of a departure from traditional 35mm film experience to warrant this purchase.
As far as this not being a “Professional Grade” camera, I can offer this; Magnesium body, pro-grade camera strap, pro-style strap lugs, substantial weather-sealing. In short, this sways more to the pro side than the Prosumer cameras of old. And it certainly has everything I need, and more to return to 35mm SLR photography in the digital age.
No comments:
Post a Comment