Shot of the Day
Florida Atlantic Owls DH Caitlyn Bliss takes the field during pregame introductions before the Owls 10-1 defeat to rival Florida International.
Why I Switched to Nikon
If you are a photographer you have probably heard by now about Canon’s inability to repair its current professional camera body, the EOS 1D, Mark III. My problem with Canon has its roots as early as the EOS 1D, Mark II. Rated for 150,000 shutter cycles, I had two of those bodies blow their shutters before their 30,000th cycle. Just in case you’ve never seen an image with a blown shutter, here is a look from one of my Mark II’s:
While those bodies were under warranty and were repaired by Canon, more problems surfaced after their return. No longer were the bodies consistently sharp, frame after frame. A return trip to Canon didn’t improve their performance. After dumping them for a Mark IIn, the same problem persisted. So when Canon announced their latest professional body, the Mark III, I decided to wait as see what others experienced. Thank god I waited, the body is a $5000 lemon! Numerous firmware updates and “sub-mirror assembly” fixes have failed to improve its performance. Now Canon has even proclaimed the problems “fixed” and that the body is one of its sharpest ever, while privately they admit many of the pros sticking with them have gone back to using Mark II’s.
So when Nikon announced their latest pro and prosumer bodies, the D3 and D300, I started to think about switching back to Nikon, which I used prior to 1996. Nikon’s previous digital offerings have suffered from excessive noise at high ISO settings. When samples were released from the new bodies at ISO 1600 and above, I decided to make the move.
The following image was shot at 2000 ASA, 1/400 sec @ f2.8 at FAU Softball last Saturday using the D300 and a 70-200 f2.8:
This one was shot a few moments later, after the sun had completely set, at 3200 ASA, 1/500 @ f2.8 using the D300 and a 300mm f2.8:
These are amazing results that Canon can’t touch. Nearly every frame in these sequences were sharp. With Canon I might have 1 of 3 sharp. Shooting at ASA 3200 is very conceivable now, and as an added bonus, they throw in a sharp image….what a deal!
