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Digital Nikon FM2

ptomsu

Workshop Member
Steen,

these photos and the light you capture remind me so much of my honeymoon some 30 years ago I spent on Las Palmas - a wonderful time long ago ....

Many thanks for sharing indeed and have fun with your wonderful Df ;)

Peter
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member

(...) these photos and the light you capture remind me so much of my honeymoon some 30 years ago I spent on Las Palmas (...)

Thanks a lot, Peter, you make it sound like I succeeded capturing the mood with my tourist postcard photos.
The best praise I could wish for :thumbup:
The Df camera reminds me of my own honeymoon many, many moons ago.
A true retro model, just like myself .-)


© • click for actual pixels


© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/28mm G • 1/30 sec. at f/8 ISO 800 • Capture NX-D




© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/28mm G • 1/13 sec. at f/8 ISO 100 • Capture NX-D
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member

Canary folk music and dance in the street


© • click for actual pixels


© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/85mm G • 1/4000 sec. at f/2.8 ISO 100 • Capture NX-D




© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/85mm G • 1/2500 sec. at f/2.8 ISO 100 • Capture NX-D
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member


© • click for actual pixels


© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/85mm G • 1/3200 sec. at f/2.8 ISO 100 • Capture NX-D




© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/85mm G • 1/1600 sec. at f/2.8 ISO 100 • Capture NX-D
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member


© • click for actual pixels


© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/85mm G • 1/3200 sec. at f/2.8 ISO 100 • Capture NX-D




© • Nikon Df • AF-S Nikkor 1.8/85mm G • 1/4000 sec. at f/2.8 ISO 100 • Capture NX-D
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
Hi Steen. Now I have to ask you, is it your camera for life (well, just the strong feeling for now, we cant foresee what is happining in life), is it a happy keeper, or is it just...sort of lovely right now, but still longing for megapixels... :) ...?
best Thorkil
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member

thanks a lot, rayyan :thumbup:

and yes, 85mm on FX is the single focal length I simply couldn't be without if I could only have one prime :)
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
Hi Steen. Now I have to ask you, is it your camera for life (well, just the strong feeling for now, we cant foresee what is happining in life), is it a happy keeper, or is it just...sort of lovely right now, but still longing for megapixels... :) ...?
best Thorkil

Well, the (rather long) story is that I bought a 300mm f/4E PF tele, and to my surprise it did not focus effectively and reliably with the entry level D610 I bought after my D800E was stolen from me by a burglar.
So now I had to take the hard decision if I should just give up and sell the 300mm tele again, or replace my D610 camera with a D500 known for its very effective focus ability, and by its cropped APS-C sensor at the same time making the tele a perceived 450mm.
The 4/300mm was all the reach and speed I could afford among the very expensive exotic tele primes, but for birding I could very well use something longer, so the thought of a cropped sensor making the perceived reach longer was most welcome.
As you know I ended up trying the D500 solution, and fortunately that camera works like a dream with the 300mm tele as well as with my macro lens.
The perfect camera for tele and macro with its pixel density.

So far so good, but now I missed an FX camera for my normal and wide angle lenses, which is why I should perhaps have gone straight to a do-it-all camera solution like the expensive D810 rather than buying two somewhat cheaper cameras, ending up with more or less the same net expenses.
What I should have done was that I should have rented a D810 to try out with my 300mm tele lens.

At the moment I fully enjoy the retro full frame Df, but long term I believe that a used D810 is a more advanced and adequate solution for me.
Sort of a sweet spot with its 36 Mp, the sufficient amount of millions to avoid the need for a blurring filter on an FX sensor.
So far the D810 is just too expensive for my taste and for my wallet.
With some luck a D810 might very well turn out to be all the digital camera I need, covering everything within wide angle and normal, as well as macro and tele (provided it focuses strongly and reliably with my tele lens).

But if money were no subject at all I would love to also keep the D500 dedicated for macro and tele, and the Df for interesting old manual focus pre-AI lenses with charming aberrations and other funny imperfections.

Unfortunately money is indeed a problem for me now that I'm retired.
Besides, basically I'm actually a one-camera-shooter (digitally), so I predict that in a couple of years I will most likely end up with a D810 as my only digital camera (only paired with a couple of old film based F3 cameras that I use now and then when in the black-and-white film mood).
Patiently waiting for the D810 to come down in prices is no problem, as at the moment I very much enjoy shooting the little charming retro Df.
So I'm not in a hurry to make any changes from what I use now.
And there's a lot to like with the Df and its charming 'analogue' retro design and its FX sensor with the big fat pixels.
But as we all know it also has its deficiencies, see e.g. my post # 179 on p. 4 in this thread, and also my post # 247 on p. 5.

Anyway, enough about all my personal considerations, how do you like it yourself, Thorkil, now that you have had it for some time ?
What are your considerations ?
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
I love my Df for the way it renders -- there is something to that sensor that generates a "film-like" quality. I do wish it was 24MP instead of 16, but then again, 16MP is "about" the same net resolution offering that the better fine-grained 35mm film was, so maybe something to that? It's also fun to get the odd comment like, "Wow, you're still shooting an old camera!" :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

Combined with my D810, I think I am a very sweet spot photographically. If/when a D820 comes around, I may add one of them, but it will have to offer something pretty stellar over the D810 to make me jump. The older I get, I realize there's often more I can do with less stuff...

Sorry if this seems a hijack, but I felt it was somewhat inline to wax philosophical on this thread :)
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
Steen …(and Jack)….
Thank you for your answer and for that it was a long one…
As you know I just bought the Df short after you, couldn’t resist any more, when the price was less than the half. It has been my dream since it came out. And somehow, I never believed all negative speak. Had my own vision. Nikon, I have always had. But they have been boring, even though I liked them, and effective, but they have never charmed my socks of. Now its a bit different. I used to say the communication just must be there, and by instinct, it must be intuitive. The combination of mechanical feeling combined with simple functions and then the undefined essential psychological feeling. The Df is the first Nikon that is not boring to me, it’s the first Nikon that by the first minutes could communicate with me by instinct, and besides, the buttons just feel totally all right to me, and the way to adjust the aperture with the pointing finger is simply…smiling.
And as Jack says, the way it render, the colors, the soft yet strong way it defines the colourpalette, surfaces and borders, is under strong but not the least, calm refined control. So putting a rawfile in C1 is a joy and I´m aware that it unaware sometimes make me smile.
So for now the Df fulfill my dreams…I like it, I really like it
But I have bought the Fuji X-T2 too, so I have to get used to it. I like it, its small. Its handsome, its more handsome at work. But the Df is more liberating for my mind to work with. So I have had to work with the X-T2 to give it a chance.
But dreams..
You know that little store One of many Cameras at Graabrödre Torv, one of the calmest and best squares in Copenhagen, Bjarke has given me a friendprice scanning 120 film on a X1, for not more than a 35 Velvia cost.
And I still have my Hasselblad SWC, primitive, wonderfull and I have had the SWC so much in my hands, not the least in Venice, so……
But your dream about a D810 seems more realistic than mine, while I would like, just once, a tiny little Hasselblad X1D and some lenses too….
So while you also are living in Copenhagen, and while they are closing a lot of local bancs anyway, we could just help them together. But after the bancaffair we will go to Nyhavn where Jack is waiting for us and will provide us with a Glenfiddich 15, but on the the way we will have to do a quick stop while I do another small banc affair (The X1D is more expensive than the 810 you know)…:cool::cool::
So after Jack’s turn, it will be your turn, and then mine…I have to learn that Glenfiddich…:chug:
So, for now we must say cheers in our Df’es :watch:
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Steen …(and Jack)….
Thank you for your answer and for that it was a long one…
As you know I just bought the Df short after you, couldn’t resist any more, when the price was less than the half. It has been my dream since it came out. And somehow, I never believed all negative speak. Had my own vision. Nikon, I have always had. But they have been boring, even though I liked them, and effective, but they have never charmed my socks of. Now its a bit different. I used to say the communication just must be there, and by instinct, it must be intuitive. The combination of mechanical feeling combined with simple functions and then the undefined essential psychological feeling. The Df is the first Nikon that is not boring to me, it’s the first Nikon that by the first minutes could communicate with me by instinct, and besides, the buttons just feel totally all right to me, and the way to adjust the aperture with the pointing finger is simply…smiling.
And as Jack says, the way it render, the colors, the soft yet strong way it defines the colourpalette, surfaces and borders, is under strong but not the least, calm refined control. So putting a rawfile in C1 is a joy and I´m aware that it unaware sometimes make me smile.
So for now the Df fulfill my dreams…I like it, I really like it
But I have bought the Fuji X-T2 too, so I have to get used to it. I like it, its small. Its handsome, its more handsome at work. But the Df is more liberating for my mind to work with. So I have had to work with the X-T2 to give it a chance.
But dreams..
You know that little store One of many Cameras at Graabrödre Torv, one of the calmest and best squares in Copenhagen, Bjarke has given me a friendprice scanning 120 film on a X1, for not more than a 35 Velvia cost.
And I still have my Hasselblad SWC, primitive, wonderfull and I have had the SWC so much in my hands, not the least in Venice, so……
But your dream about a D810 seems more realistic than mine, while I would like, just once, a tiny little Hasselblad X1D and some lenses too….
So while you also are living in Copenhagen, and while they are closing a lot of local bancs anyway, we could just help them together. But after the bancaffair we will go to Nyhavn where Jack is waiting for us and will provide us with a Glenfiddich 15, but on the the way we will have to do a quick stop while I do another small banc affair (The X1D is more expensive than the 810 you know)…:cool::cool::
So after Jack’s turn, it will be your turn, and then mine…I have to learn that Glenfiddich…:chug:
So, for now we must say cheers in our Df’es :watch:
I think I'd like to join you for that trip, Gråbrødre Torv and then Nyhavn. I'll bring the F6, just to stay on topic :)

The local pusher sold my Zeiss 21mm the other day, just before I contacted them to tell them not to. I suppose it was meant to be that way then. I spent the monies well though, buying a 50mm and a 300mm for the GX680. Both lenses arrived today. From One of many Cameras at Gråbrødre Torv. Excellent shop :)
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
You guys are making me miss Copenhagen! I may just show with my Df and 810 and two (or three) lenses :) And of course, plenty of room for a nice dinner followed by a few fingers of Scotch!
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
:)..you shall be very welcome both, Jack and Jørgen. Then I must persuade Steen so that we take you a bit around..
Thorkil
 

Swissblad

Well-known member
You guys are making me miss Copenhagen! I may just show with my Df and 810 and two (or three) lenses :) And of course, plenty of room for a nice dinner followed by a few fingers of Scotch!
Sounds like a fun idea... and even if it means buying a Df.... would make for a fun evening!

:thumbs:
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
I am unfortunately not a candidate for this year. My daughter is getting married in July, and I am now older and dealing with some "old man" health issues I have to get taken care of after that. Maybe next spring?
 
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