Travel, Blog And Nikon D810

I must admit that traveling and blogging do not go together and specially if you are traveling into remote areas where Wi-Fi is not readily available. Last couple of months, I was traveling into different places (of Nepal) and realized that not having internet all the time or not updating your social media in every hour or even not having to worry about writing anything removes a lot of pressure from your shoulder and helps you to relax and be more creative. It was a good escape for a couple of months and enjoyed every moment of it. While traveling, few thoughts came into my mind about blogging and how I can incorporate those beautiful landscapes of the himalayan nation but later I chose to stay away from it and enjoy the free moment I had. Sometimes, writing a blog can put lots of pressure and specially when you are running out of the times and topics. First, you have to think about the blog post and then explain it nicely so that you can deliver the message you are trying to deliver to your readers. During the process, you might have to include some visuals (photos, graphs or videos) and that would be an extra work on top of the writing part as well. It's a fun thing to do but surely a time consuming process as well and, if you have another full time job, it becomes very difficult to manage time for the blog regularly. It sounds like an excuse for not being regular on blogging but this is the truth which I learned from my own experience; hard to do full time job and be regular on blogging. Please accept my sincere apology for not being as regular as I wanted to be.

If you were following my blog in last few months, I mentioned about upgrading my Nikon D700 to either D750 or D810. I also mentioned that I was leaning towards D810 for few reasons which I would tell once I get the camera. And the moment is here; I sold my D700 and got the Nikon D810 last month. The main reason I went with D810 and not D750 was same look, feel and control as my trusted D700 even though some believe that D750 has a better dynamic range being newer model than D810 which may be true but I am very happy with D810's capability on every aspect of photography so far. I loved my D700 and the only reason to upgrade was to get little more pixel for cropping and get better dynamic range with the Nikon's newer EXPEED 4 sensor.

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SuperMoon (click the image to view full size)

It's been few weeks I am playing with the D810 and I am very happy with my upgrade decision so far. I will be uploading more pictures in coming days but here is the super-moon shot I tried on December 3, Sunday. Please stay tuned and keep guiding me through my mistakes. Happy Shooting!

Another Shot Of Baltimore Inner Harbor

Couple weeks ago, I shot the Baltimore Inner Harbor during blue hour and I was very happy with the result. If you have enjoyed doing landscape photography, you might also have realized that how fast natural light changes from the sunset to the blue hour to the darker hour. If you are not well prepared for the shot, it's very easy to miss the window for the proper light. Usually, when I plan to shoot for the blue hour, I complete the camera setup just before the sunset and then monitor the light very closely. Then after the sunset, I take few shots in 10-20 minutes interval until I get the result I am happy with. Last week after passing the blue hour, I stayed little bit longer and then captured the darker hour Inner Harbor as well. I think I took this photograph around 9:00 - 9:30 PM on the same day I shot the Harbor in a blue hour. You can see how much difference the changing light from the blue hour to the darker hour makes on the photograph. Even though these two photographs are not taken from the same spot, you can see the similar buildings on both photographs and the composition is also somewhat similar.

This shot was also taken in an Aperture Priority (A) mode with an aperture value of f/8 at 16mm focal length using ISO 200. The camera adjusted the shutter speed for me automatically.

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Baltimore during darker hour (click the image to view full size)

Even though I love taking all kinds of photographs, landscapes and cityscapes are my favorites. This photograph was taken using Nikon D700 and the Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 lens without using any filter attached to it. I welcome any comments or critics you may have. Happy shooting!

Should I Get DX Model Or FX Model As My First DSLR?

This post is a part of our Q&A section. If you want to submit your question, please use the form in the Contact page.

Andy (Colorado, USA) asked: I want to buy my first DSLR and I am struggling to make a decision on whether to get a DX model or a FX model? Are there any advantages or disadvantages of getting one over another?

Andy, when I bought my first DSLR in 2010, I didn't know anything about the DX models or the FX models. Let alone the details of different models, I didn't even know about the existence of those models. But nowadays, due to many wonderful photography blogs and magazines, we have much more detail information about the different brands of camera, different models and their functionality, which is really a good thing so that the buyers can make an educated decision.

Buying the first DSLR is always exciting and yet very confusing task. We get easily confused on which brand to consider as our first DSLR. Some of your friend might say that the camera they are shooting with, whether it is a Nikon or a Cannon or a Sony or any other brand, is the best brand which makes your brand selection job even tougher. But once you get your mind set on the brand you are getting, next question you will encounter is which model should you get? At the beginning and specially if you are trying photography as a hobby, you might want to get an entry level and relatively cheaper DSLR camera and in that case, decision is relatively easier. But if the budget is not an issue and you are considering photography as a serious hobby and then later turn it into a profession, you might want to get a decent DSLR and that's when our discussion of DX vs FX might come handy.

The first and the most important thing you have to remember while selecting the DX or the FX model is, they differ by their sensor size. The DX models have a smaller sensor or also referred as a APS-C censor which is approximately 24x16mm whereas, the FX models have a larger sensor and also called a full frame (same as 35mm film format) sensor which is 36x24mm. If you are a beginner, DX models might serve you well but if you are looking to upgrade to more "serious" camera, you have to go to full-frame because most of the DX line-up are aimed to let you introduce into the photography world but lacks many pro-level features and specs. But it is also true that with the change of technology and the competition among different brands, DX models are also getting close towards being professional camera if you get the top of the line DX model, Nikon D500 for example. Nikon D500 is the most expensive DX-format DSLR within Nikon brand and it comes with many pro-level features. In fact, many professional photographers have started using this camera as a main or backup camera because of it's light weight and other pro level features.

DX camera bodies are relatively smaller and lightweight than FX bodies and built quality is little bit compromised with the high quality plastic vs aluminum on FX bodies. Usually, DX-format lenses are more compact because the image circle that they need to produce only needs to cover the smaller sensor area compared to that of full frame camera. This makes DX camera bodies an ideal choice if you want to travel with lightweight camera and lenses. Another advantage of DX camera is that you get an extra reach on the lenses because of it's 1.5x crop factor on the sensor. If you use 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on DX bodies, it gives you an effective focal length of 105-300mm but it won't help you to get the shallower depth of field because depth of field depends on "actual" focal length rather than "effective" focal length.

But in FX camera sensor, for any given pixel count, the photo-diodes will be larger than those on a DX sensor and that is the reason FX camera can produce cleaner images when shooting in a low light condition using higher ISO. The latest high megapixels FX camera bodies have an additional advantage of more pixels packed into the sensor to capture more details although it might produce little noisier picture at higher ISO.

In my opinion, which came from my own personal experience, if you are just starting out, you may want to get a decent DX model DSLR so that you can understand how does your camera work and also get to know about the different controls and the features of the camera and then later upgrade it to the FX model. By doing so, you can discover pros and cons of both sides and decide which fits best for your work. Good luck!