thehyperfocaldistance.com

byThom

The first must have I’d recommend to anyone who just picked up a new Nikon, or who really wants to learn about the one they have, is to buy a copy of one of Thom Hogan’s Digital SLR eBooks. Lets face it as well designed as Nikon cameras are the user manuals leave a lot to be desired. Thom Hogan has been writing user guides for Nikon’s for a while now covering pretty much every Nikon SLR from the F5 on through the D90. The guides are only available from Thom’s website in the form of an eBook, essentially a CD with a PDF of the guide.

Nikon D700 guideThe Guide itself is divided into three main sections

1.  D700 Background
2. Shooting Pictures with the D700
3. After You’ve Taken Pictures with your D700

The first section covers the history of the D700 as well as providing an in depth explanation of the D700’s sensor, EXPEED processor, power, image storage and Camera Setup. While little in this first section is absolutely necessary to operating the D700 it does provide the user with an understanding of how the D700 works as well as providing the reader with sufficient background to make informed choices in the cameras settings. For example Thom explains the differences between JPEG, TIFF, and NEF, covers the options available within each format and detailed the typical file size each would generate.

The second section explains the location and use of the D700’s controls and displays.  Image quality, metering and exposure methods, lenses and focusing, menus, and flash usage are all covered. Each of the cameras controls is illustrated in front, top, back, and side views of the camera. Illustrations and screen shots show the information and options available in the displays and menus. Thom takes time to spell out some of the gotcha’s that could otherwise have lead to user frustration. The discussion of the various menus while detailed is far easier to understand then Nikons manual. Thom  helps out here by telling the reader which options he uses, why he chose these options, and under which conditions another option may be more useful.

The third section deals with the D700’s retouch menu, transferring images, and image playback. Since I shoot NEF, and use Aperture or Photoshop for processing, viewing and printing this last section was not as valuable to me as the fist two parts of the book. The Guide also has shorter sections on D700 accessories, specifications, servicing, and questions and answers.

Also included on the CD is an Introduction to DSLR’s PDF, an Introduction to Nikon Software PDF, several Excel worksheets covering depth of field, macro, camera card capacities, flash, focus adjustment, and D700 settings. Three videos on workflow are also included on the disk, as well as a number of Photoshop actions. The D700 Guide is part of Thom’s  ”Digital SLR Complete Guides + To Go Guide” series meaning that the package includes a printed To-Go guide, basically a crib notes version of the complete guide, which as Thom explains “ contains only those things you need to know when out shooting.” This is a nice addition as his earlier series of guides (D-200, D2, D70) did not include this kind of field reference.

Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the D700 is available online from Thom’s website for $39.95 plus $6.50 shipping. There is no download option so you’ll need to wait for the guide to be delivered. Thom’s site say’s to allow four weeks for delivery, but I got mine in less then two. The CD can be read on Macs and Windows PC’s using Adobe Reader. Thom does grant the purchaser certain rites for printing a copy of the guide for personal use. 

If you have a Nikon SLR then Thom’s guides are a great investment. At $40 something with shipping the Complete Guide to the Nikon D700 is not exactly cheap, but I feel the cost is offset by the greater insight I have into a $2700 DSLR. One final note, some of the tables are taken from Thom’s D3 users guide. As the D700 is basically a D3 in a D300 body this should not be an issue.

“He listens well who takes notes”

Odd that I should begin my blog with a quote from Dante’s Divine Comedy but truth be told this blog will be my notes on the art, and science of digital photography. I recently decided to take a break from pursuing my business degree; finally giving myself some free time in which to pursue my development as a photographer. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to take a break from my full time job so free-time is somewhat subjective.

So if time is so precious why devote any of it to a blog? More then anything to keep me focused and on track, to act as a kind of weathervane of my progress. Through my work with Continuos Improvement I have learned that you can not control something if you do not measure it. So in a sense thehyperfocaldistance is a metric to gauge my progress in digital photography.

This system of checks and balances may be more of a necessity for me then for others. I have a small problem when it comes to toys, I completely addicted to technology and bigger, faster, more expensive, so some measures are required to keep my NAS¹ in check. We all know that photography can be an expensive hobby. We also know that simply possessing good equipment does not make us good photographers. I’ve got the good equipment, now its on me to become a good photographer.

I’m still amazed at the wealth of information, much of it freely given, that can be found online. Tutorials, equipment reviews, podcasts, and forums, make it incredibly easy to find an answer to a question or to get a constructive critique of a photograph. The online experience  is one of the topics I intend to explore in this blog; commenting on the tutorials and articles that I have found to most useful, the online communities that I have found to be most helpful and the galleries that I find most inspiring. 

For the next four to five months I’ll be focusing on learning what it takes to compose and capture, process a good photograph. Along the way I’ll also be delving into Apple’s Aperture 2 and Adobe Photshop CS4, not to mention putting some time into learning how to blog with Wordpress. I’m not under any illusions that five months will be enough time to build this house, but hopefully I can at least lay a good foundation. While this blog may in practice be nothing more then my notes and what I’ve picked up from listening to the experience and advice of those who call themselves photographers it will also hopefully be, at its core, a chronicle of my journey.

I’ve often heard it said that photographers tend to stand in the shadows rather then the spotlight, preferring to be behind the lens rather then in front it. Yet I have seen that we are not only passionate about achieving our vision but find a bond in helping an other photographer to develop theirs. While this blog began as a means of focusing my thoughts on what I have learned I’m hopeful that it will in some small way allow me to give back what has so freely been given to me. My goal is that the site will develop beyond these humble beginnings, though it may be a while before I get my head around setting up comments, and a RSS feed, not to mention posting some pictures. 

1- Nikon Acquisition Syndrome