Eden Gardens | North Ryde | Sydney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nikon D700 – Low Light, High ISO Macro Photography

Decided that my hand-held macro technique needed some “brushing up” this weekend. It has been awhile since I did any macro photography and as they say practice makes perfect! I never use a tripod for macro as I find it inconvenient and I am too lazy to cart a tripod around anyway.

It was showering all Sunday morning so I just waited in the cafe sipping cappuccino until it stopped. Anyway, the shower was a bonus really with all that water droplets on the flowers makes for great macro photography!

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 320 | f/11@1/320 | No Flash

 

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 400 | f/11@1/250 | No Flash

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 1600 | f/8@1/200 | No Flash

Majority of my macros shots are 1:1, it took awhile to get the technique down pat but now I have quite a good hit rate for sharp macro shots. I need to work on my insects macro shots, especially bees. I have not gotten a bee macro that I have been totally happy with.

 

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 400 | f/16@1/500 | Flash

 
Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 1600 | f/8@1/400 | No Flash

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 640 | f/11@1/30 | No Flash

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 1600 | f/8@1/250 | No Flash

This weekend I decided to shoot at a higher ISO than normal just to see what the results would be like. I also didn’t use any flash for the majority of the shoot. I think that they were okay up until about ISO 640 after that they where a bit furry when viewed at 100%.

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro

ISO 1250 | f/9@1/640 | No Flash


Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro
ISO 400 | f/16@1/500 | Flash

Shot hand-held with Nikon D700 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro
ISO 320 | f/11@1/320 | No flash

Overall, I was happy the results from this weekend. I am interested in getting the Nikon R1 Close-up Speedlight Remote Kit. My current home brewed macro rig consists of 2 x SB-800s which can get pretty heavy after awhile. A lighter load would provide more stability and greatly improve my chances of obtaining sharper and crisper macros shots.

Nikon D700 - Light Painting (Night Photography)

We came across this bunker at Malabar, using Google maps, whilst searching for interesting places to shoot in Sydney.

Malabar Bunker - In Daylight

We checked it out during the day time to make sure that the bunker would be an interesting subject and it didn't disappoint. The structure was covered in graffiti both inside and out. It was definitely suitable for some light painting experiments.

Inside the bunker - Entrance

Inside the bunker - first floor

I am glad we checked it out in the daytime as it made navigating to the bunker much easier at night. Here are some of the shots from our light painting experiment.

Malabar Bunker - (Back view) Painted in Portrait

Malabar Bunker - Painted in Portrait

Malabar Bunker - Painted in Landscape

The top floor was "painted" using a Canon 430EX wrapped in purple cellophane and the second floor was "painted" using a Nikon SB-800 with a green gel over the flash head. The external walls of the bunker was "painted" using another Nikon SB-800. The camera aperture was set to f/11 with an exposure time of 3 minutes.

There were 4 of us split into 2 teams, one team would be taking the shots and "painting" the outside of the bunker whilst the other team was up in the bunker "painting" the two floors. The results were satisfactory for first timers and we learnt alot .

Lessons learnt for next time:

1. Turn head lamp off before walking around and ruining the shots.
2. Make sure that when the flash fires it is not aimed towards the camera lens.
3. Bring some real torches with more lumen so we can focus!
4. Get some proper gels instead of using cellophane for the flashes
5. Probably fire the flash with less power or less frequently when "painting" the external walls
6. Increase the exposure time so we can get extended star trails

It was a lot of fun, everyone thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We have already started making plans for another light painting shoot. All the other guys that weren't that keen to come this time are now chomping at the bit after they saw the results.

Nikon D700 - High ISO samples

Here are some high ISO samples taken from my new Nikon D700. These were all taken from inside St. Marys Cathedral near Hyde Park. I used my Nikon 50mm and my friend's Sigma 12-24mm.

ISO 3200, 24mm @f/5.6

ISO 3200, 24mm @f/5.6

ISO 3200, 24mm @f/5.6

ISO 3200, 50mm @f/2.0

The following photos were taken during the Chinese New Year Parade in Sydney last weekend. I used my Nikon 50mm and Sigma 70-200mm.

ISO 2000, 135mm @f/2.8

ISO 2200, 122mm @f/2.8

ISO 1100, 50mm @f/2.0

ISO 6400, 50mm @f/1.8

ISO 6400, 50mm @f/2.0

ISO 800, 50mm @f/1.8

ISO 6400, 50mm @f/1.8

ISO 6400, 50mm @f/1.8

I am very impress with the high ISO performance of the Nikon D700. I am just amaze at the quality and cannot help myself from repeatedly looking at them. I cannot believe how clean the images are and the lack of noise compared to my Nikon D200.

Nikon D700 - First Impressions

When Nikon released the D3 in late 2007, I said that I would go full frame when Nikon shrunk it down into a D200/D300 sized body. I had no idea Nikon were going to announce such a beast barely 6 months later. I have been umming and ahhing about getting one since it was announced last July. I finally bit the bullet and picked up my new toy (D700) last week. I guess it is my belated Christmas gift or early birthday present to myself.

Honestly, I started playing with it before reading the manual. If you are familiar the D200, or any Nikon dSLR for that matter, you can navigate around the D700 without any problem. Although, I did spend quite a bit of time reading up on all the new features later on.

The D700 is a little bigger and heavier than my D200. It also has the biggest and thickest Nikon dSLR manual I have ever seen. Both the D70 and D200 manual were both tiny by comparison.


What I like about the D700

• It's built like a brick shit house, very robust

• It has a full frame format or FX sensor

• The viewfinder is much bigger and brighter compared to the D200. I like.

• The built-in dust sensor cleaner

• The incredible low noise performance at high ISOs
  

• Huge 3.5" LCD screen. It's awesome and the ease of zooming in to check whether your shot is sharp or not.
  

• I like the fact that they no longer use screw caps for both the pc sync and the 10-pin port. I am sick of misplacing those little suckers
  

• The other cool thing is that you can create your own menu (My Menu) by grouping all of your favourite custom settings in the one place for easy access. So far, the only thing I cannot put there is the format command.

What I don't Like about the D700

• The door to the CF compartment is a bit on the flimsy side compared to the D200. I'd preferred if they used the same locking mechanism as the D200.

• No dedicated BKT button. For some reason Nikon has decided to remove it from both the D300 and D700. No matter, just reassigned the Func key to do the same thing.

• I don't hate it but I am not that keen on the feel or sound of the new shutter. It doesn't sound or feel as crisp as my D200. I think I am getting used to it and I sure I will learn to love it.

Test Run

I took it out for a test run today. I am very happy with the results as all of the exposures were spot on. No need to fool around with the exposure compensation here. This means minimal adjustments were required in Lightroom, which is what I like as I am extremely lazy.


St. Patrick's Cathedral - Outside









St. Patrick's Cathedral - Inside





High ISO Shots

I also took some high ISO shots to checkout its low noise capabilities and I have to say the shots at ISO 6400 were very impressive.




These were taken straight out of Adobe Lightroom, no noise enhancements applied, e.g. Noise Ninja.


Some BW Shots

Hills Hoist - An Australian Icon

Conclusion

I am very very impress with the D700. I hear you asking, do I really need a D700?

Only if you want to shoot full frame, shoot hand-held in low light at high ISOs (@6400) and you want gorgeous looking images. If the answers to the above questions are all "no" then just get the D300 and save a shit load of money.

You won't regret getting the Nikon D700. It has my highest recommendation.

Check-out more D700 high ISO shots here