A Little Blue

Nikon D3200, Nikkor 16-85mm f3.5-5.6 G DX VR

Life's been keeping me busy for the last month or so, so not all that much shooting has happened. I have been shooting a few frames pretty much every day, so my pace actually remains higher than before the return to Nikon.

I've now got a little over 200 shots on the D3200, while the D200 is approaching 2700 shots on the clock (since mid-August). Overall I'm digging the D3200 as a light carry camera and it also can go in the bag for getting the shots the D200 can't, like the above. That's a handheld shot with significantly more dynamic range than the D200 can capture. I still prefer shooting with the D200, but the D3200 pretty clearly comes out ahead when the conditions get challenging for the sensor.

Fall colours are finally out in force in Toronto a couple weeks later than normal. Despite the cold summer, the fall has been warm and extended which has delayed the turning of the leaves. So now in late October we're finally getting the glorious fall colours which were expected to begin at the end of September. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to do any shooting oriented road-trips, unlike last year, but I have had a couple chances to get out and shoot within the city limits. As can be seen above, that leaves some very good shooting opportunities. This was shot down behind the Don Valley Brickworks, which has a little oasis of trails and nature just off a major local road near downtown Toronto. Well worth visiting if you come to Toronto.

In terms of shooting, the above shot was handheld, with a low shutter speed and VR off (oops). I had to crunch the dynamic range to make the shot look good, there's a very wide range of tones from the clouds down to the dark shadows in the pond and it takes one of the modern high-DR sensors to capture it properly without HDR or a ND grad. I'm not one for HDR and I really don't use filters much. Really should change that as a properly applied ND, ND grad and/or polarizer can do wonders for a scene. The real issue is that my filter kit is built around my old Mamiya 645 system and my Cokin holder set is unsuited to DSLR UWA's. I really need to invest in a 100mm system like the Lee.