The world is round

[DRGSin]

Man, this camera continues to amaze me. I cant get over the newfound freedom I have beyond 800. My younger son played in this same gym 3 weeks ago and after shooting a dozen shots and chimping with the D1x, I got so frustrated that I formatted the card and watched the remainder of the game. I wish I wouldnt have-it wouldve been cool to compare the 2. I returned tonight with my older son's team and a chip on my shoulder. The gym is yellow and biege in color with minimal lighting and a few lamps that glowed GREEN! The rafters...umm I mean bleachers, were in almost complete darkness.
I know Auto WB is a no-no...normally. Ive experienced the deleterious effects 1st hand. Not with this camera however. I set it on AWB and it adjusted to the cycling of the lights(every shot in my set is uniform), it showed the green lights as they were and recreated the bright spots also. The only thing I did was to cool them off a little, but that was personal preference. I used the expodisc to take a reading at another venue the previous night-I just wasted $100.00. I had to make so many adjustments that I have to admit I got down on myself for having such a tool and BEING such a tool WITH it. Well I redeemed myself when I opened up this batch.
The settings are as follows for the first 3:
-ISO 5000-6400
-1/500-1/640 sec
-EV+.7
-f2.8
-No NR in-camera or PP
-Sharpening in-camera set to 5 out of 9 and 10% PP
-PP=NX-cooler WB, corrected rotations, resized, USM(10%) and saved as Jpeg______________________________________________ _______________
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And now for the new toy. You have to remember that my world, up to this point has consisted of a crop factor of 1.5. The D1x was my 1st and only digital camera. Ive switched the D3 to DX mode to see the difference but it never really hit home...until tonight. I picked up the 24-70 2.8 and BAM! The world is round! The vastness was amazing. I could practically see my ears! It made this school gym seem like the Taj Mahal of middle schools. I cant wait to see what the 14-24 looks like! Im thinking I'll be able to keep track of that bald spot forming on the back of my head. Anyways, without further delay:

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[vIZnquest]

The D3 is one great camera as seen by what you have done. It finally arrived that one can be creative and do what they please and can get great pictures as this with minimal PP. This is great stuff.

[JohnG]

First shot is really nice. Great capture! I also like the concept of the last shot - really cool!

The middle two are nice action but focus is soft (look at his face compared to the face in shot 1).

Have fun with the new toys

[Walter C]

In a word: Excellent!

[JohnG]

One additional note. I just re-read your post and noted you used no noise reduction. That's very, very impressive. Great results - an incredibly usable ISO 6400 image quality.

[k1par]

Good shots BUT.....I love that last one. In my opinion that is something else.

Keep it up !!!!!

[bluesman graham]

Hi DRGsin, Looks like Nikon have grabbed the bull by the horns with the D3!!, I will put it on my wish list with Santa!!( though it looks like i'm getting a SB 800 Flash unit). I'm dumbfounded as to the quality of shots at 6400 compaired to my D2h !!, Look forward to seeing more green envy pics soon LOL. Kind regards Graham

[David French]

What a sports camera that D3 must be! I'm sure these look better than it looked in person.

If I even shoot a basketball game, I'm gonna have to copy you on that last shot! Great idea.

As for the WB, you have calibration targets (white uniforms) in every shot. You can either shoot RAW, or, in Photoshop, select a white area, go to Image > Adjustments > Match Color, and check the boxes 'Neutralize' and 'Ignore Selection...' Forgive me if you already knew this.

[DRGSin]

David French wrote:

What a sports camera that D3 must be! I'm sure these look better than it looked in person.

If I even shoot a basketball game, I'm gonna have to copy you on that last shot! Great idea.

As for the WB, you have calibration targets (white uniforms) in every shot. You can either shoot RAW, or, in Photoshop, select a white area, go to Image > Adjustments > Match Color, and check the boxes 'Neutralize' and 'Ignore Selection...' Forgive me if you already knew this.

ActuallyI didnt know that, thanks for the tip!



Thanks for the compliments guys, I appreciate them. This camera is DEF something else, esp from where Im coming. John, Thanks for looking and your comment. Very true..I was so astounded at being able to get something out of this gym that I overlooked the obvious-theyre def soft. Im finding that Im back-focusing on a 1/2 dozen or so shots from each shoot. When i view the focus point its on my intended target but the target is soft and the kids behind are tack sharp. Im thinking I need to learn how to use the Fine focus tuning option. I'll redeem myself and put some others up.
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