Nikon D600 - My Thoughts

Well, I've been using Nikon's D600 full frame DSLR for about a month.  I upgraded to a D600 from my trusty Nikon D300s.  Over the past month I've used the D600 for all of my shoots.  I've had a month worth of model shoots and several after dark photoshoots to give it a workout.  It's time for an update on what I like & don't like about my first digital full frame camera.

Bottomline, there are several features compared to my D300s I don't like, but overall I'm happy with the camera.  The following is what I like the most about the D600.

• Full frame sensor with a higher megapixel file size,
• I can use my Nikkor lenses at their true focal length (my AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VRII, is a true 70-200mm),
• Better low light sensitivity with a higher ISO top end.  At an equivalent ISO compared to my D300s I see less noise.  On top of this I can take the ISO several steps higher than the D300s.  This is great for my low light work,
• ISO goes to 100 versus 200 for the D300s on the low side (note, it has 3 L settings below 100),
• The monitor is big and bright. 
• The D600 is the smallest of my DSLR's.  It makes street photography more stealthy.  The caveat is I've moved most of my street photography to film rangefinders, so you have that....

However, I'm not completely a D600 homer.  There are some things I find both curious and a bother.  Here's what I don't like:

• ISO / WB buttons on the back of the camera as a second function versus dedicated buttons on the top left mode dial like the D300s
• Why is there a "Scene" option on the Release-Mode Dial?? I'll never use this option.  I don't want to sound "all-that", but aren't scene options for point and shoots?
• You need fast SD cards to take advantage of the burst modes.  In studio I often shoot in burst mode  to capture flowing hair of my model.  Unless you use top end cards the write speed is TOO SLOW.  Understand, I had really slow SD previously, but upgraded to class 10 - 95mb/second cards.  Problem solved.  I think this will be a problem for sports shooters or anyone that does high speed work.
• No sync cord plug.  I ended up buying a sync cord attachment that fits in the hotshoe.  I could have used it the other day when I was shooting in a different studio and needed a sync cord for the studio strobes.  I ended up using my Elinchrom EL-Skyport triggers.
• No 10 pin adapter plug.  Great, now I have to replace both my wireless and wired shutter release.
• The camera feels flimsy & plasticy.  OK, not sure "plasticy" is a real word, but that's how it feels.  My D300s is a tank compared to this camera.  Slap an AF-S 70-200mm lens on this camera and the balance is way off.  This will probably improve when I get a vertical grip.
• The multi-selector dial on the back of the camera is too small.  Seriously, Nikon, what gives?

Don't get me wrong, I really like the upgrade to a D600, and I'll get comfy with the changes.  I'm sure most of my issues are simply due to the muscle memory I developed with the D300s.  I didn't think I needed the file size of a D800 and I can't justify a D3 or D4 series.  The D600 fit my needs and wallet perfectly.  

Tattoo Style - Session Two

As I mentioned in an earlier post I respect tattoos as an artform.  Of course, if they are done well.  I decided to do a model photoshoot series with the focus on the model’s body art.  This shoot was Session Two.  This time I hired Ashley Ogburn who was getting into modeling, and brought a good mix of tattoos.  I also hired MUA, Emmy Lindgren who came recommended (she's also a model).  To mix things up I invited local photographer, Chris Pickrell, to join me on this shoot.  I’ve followed Chris’s photography for about a year.  I like some of his portfolio, so I thought I could watch him work and check out his technique.  I enjoy doing both pressing the camera shutter button and watching other photographers work.

 

The setting for this session was a combination of industrial gritty and studio work.  The industrial side of the shoot was done in the industrial side of the complex where M10 Studio is located.  The studio was of course M10 Studio. With everyone lined up and the time set I let both Ashley and Emmy know specifically I wanted for this shoot.  I sent them sample shots I wanted to try in advance along with makeup style recommendations.

 

For this shoot I asked Ashley if she would to do one set in lingerie.  She has some really nice scroll lettering above her belly button, and tattoos on her upper thigh, so I wanted to get this clearly visible.  Nothing sexual, more fine-art style.  She was good with this.  

 

When everyone arrived Emmy got to work making up Ashley while Chris and I sat around and chatted.  We agreed what Ashley would wear for the first part of the shoot.

 

Studio strobe as key light camera right

Studio strobe as key light camera right

Since we did first part of the shoot in the complex I loaded up everything on our roller cart.  I had an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with a softbox as a key light as needed.  I also had my Nikon SB-600 speedlights as needed for fill lights.  My speedlights were triggered with Elinchrom EL-SkyPorts.  Also a large gold/silver reflector to bounce the available light as needed.  The complex has large industrial windows so I can get a good mix of sunlight or shadows.  I used both my Nikon D300s with an AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 D, and my Nikon D600 with my AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VRII.  Settings for both cameras was started at their lowest ISO, f/5.6-6.3, and speed starting at 1/125.  I adjusted these settings throughout the shoot.  

 

With this kit we went to the back of the complex and shot 3 series.  I directed Ashley during my part of the shoot in order to focus on her tattoos.  The majority of my shots were photographed with my lighting gear set up and being moved around to get different effects and shadowing.  During Chris’s portion he did all of his work with available lighting using my reflector for a few shots.  I liked the output he achieved using the complex mixed lighting.

 

Available light only

We shot against a white concrete wall, a red industrial door, a wall of metal studs, a plastic sheet that was stretched between 2 metal columns, and a white canvas stretched across a storage area.  

 

After about 1 ½ hours we went back to the studio for a set against a white seamless.  For this I had Ashley change into her lingerie.  I set up an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with a large Elinchrom beauty dish as the key light.  I also used my 2 Nikon speedlights firing against the background to get a high key effect.

 

Once ready I posed Ashley standing, sitting, and laying down for this shoot.  I did a few of the shots standing on a ladder so I could shoot down on her.  During this session I adjusted the studio light regularly to get the proper lighting on Ashley’s tattoos.  I like some of the photos I got.  Chris didn’t shoot during this portion.

 

In Studio on a white seamless

Shot down from a ladder

Bottomline, this was a fun shot and I enjoyed watching Chris shoot as much as I enjoyed working with Ashley.  She was fun to talk with and easy to work with.  Also, she had the tattoos that were the theme of the shoot.  I think I’ll do another shoot in this series again in studio.

 

Chris Pickrell directing Ashley

MUA Emmy Lindgren

After thoughts:

·         Watch the model to make sure she’s comfortable.  It’s winter and the complex was cold (studio was toasty).  Make sure he or she has regular breaks and has a coat to wear as needed.  We did this and I even brought a space heater into the studio, but it really wasn’t needed,

·         This was my first shoot where the model was laying down and I shot over her shoulder.  I got a couple of good shots, but need to practice more with this technique,

·         Don’t go overboard on the color saturation.  Ashley’s tattoos were either black or colored.  A few of the ones in color were muted tones.  I resisted the urge to pop the color by increasing the saturation.

·         Watch what’s around you.  While Chris was shooting I photographed him, and even turned around and photographed Emmy who was watching the action.  I really liked these images.

Tattoo Style - Session One

Although I don’t have a single tattoo I’ve always liked the more artistic work I see on some people’s bodies. As a creative type guy I respect the craft, color & form. I just don’t have the guts to get one myself. Anyway, I thought it would be a good theme for a photoshoot, so may I introduce to you the first part of my 2 shoot series focusing on models with tattoos.

I put a call out for a model that had a minimum of a sleeve (full or partial), back work and tattoos on their legs. Model Annie Patrick Vowell and I hooked up. She was perfect. I described what I wanted to capture, making sure she would know there would be a bit of skin and she agreed. I was going form more of a gritty / industrial vibe so I organized the shoot in the industrial side of the building where M10 Studio is located.

To minimize setup time on the day of the shoot I scouted locations in the complex the night before. I picked about 10 locations and on shoot day settled for 3.

On the day of the shoot Annie arrived on time and we set off. Since the focus was on the body art, I didn’t think we would need a MUA / stylist. Anyway, Annie said she would handle this herself, so this saved about 45 minutes. I had put all of my camera gear, lighting, extension cords, softboxes, etc. on our studio’s rolling cart which made things so much easier to tote around.

We started in a room which used to be an old garage for the first shoot location. The walls are grungy, the space just had a well past it’s used by date vibe. I set up a single Elinchrom D-Lite 4 strobe with a Vagabond softbox as the key light. I used a large silver reflector as a fill light. Most of the shots were set at f/5.6 minimum aperture in order to get a sufficient level of out of focus background. Shutter speed in the 125 or higher range. We spent about 30 minutes in this space placing Annie near an open circuit breaker box & against an oil stained wall.

We then went over to an area that had about 25 large boxes (gaylords) filled with assorted things. It made for a natural backdrop. Again I used a single Elinchrom D-Lite on a Manfrotto boom arm stand. For this series I kept the strobe approximately a minimum of 6 feet away from the model. The goal was to get harder light and not to conflict with the lights coming in from the industrial old school windows. We had to play with the lighting a good deal to get the right blend.

In this space I posed Annie in a number of positions both standing and sitting. There was some fun writing on the boxes so I wanted to capture this as well. In this series I essentially photographed Annie’s total tattoo gallery (except her back pieces). Since this was the first time working on a tattoo themed shoot I wasn’t really sure what poses would work the best to capture both the model and her tattoos. Took a bit of experimentation.

For the final location I move Annie to a set of painted over windows. Same lighting setup, except this section of the building is darker so I adjusted my lights and camera settings as indicate by my light meter. Since I wanted to photograph Annie’s back and side pieces this session was topless (Annie, not me). Tasteful of course using hand and arm placement. I was able to get several very nice shots of her back work and the large tattoos on her side. I did have to move the lighting around a fair amount to soften up the light, and avoid shadows falling over the tattoos.

Overall, I was happy with the result. I was very impressed how well the tattoos that Annie has compliments her body style and her personality. It was enjoyable capturing this digitally. Overall, an enjoyable shoot.

After action topics:

• Bring a lighting assistant. In studio the movement of the equipment is often minimal. In the mixed lighting of the industrial space I did a fair amount of adjustments on the lighting location and power. It would have been nice to have someone help me.
• Put the model’s escort to work. Annie brought a friend to the shoot which I encouraged. She was a trooper and held the reflector as needed.
• Check the histogram regularly. Several of my earlier shots were too dark. They looked fine on the camera monitor, but in the computer they were probably 2 f/stops to dark. If I had watched the histogram regularly this probably would not have occurred.

Busy Weekend - Ashley, Bill & Kristen

Had a busy weekend doing model shoots at M10 Studio.  I'll write more detailed posts in the coming days, but wanted to drop in a teaser. 

On Saturday I did the second in my Tattoo Style series photographing model Ashley Ogburn.  Ashley has quite a few stylized and fun tattoos.  I did this session with local Indianapolis photographer Chris Pickrell & MUA Emmy Lindgren.  We did a session both in studio & in the industrial side of the building.

Ashley Ogburn showing off some of her tattoos

On Sunday I hooked up with Los Angeles based fashion photographer Bill Jones.  He had offered to show me his stuff during a shoot with model Kristen Renee Grable and MUA Tiffany Holmes.  I was surprised how awesome Bill's photography and skills are and how he does it all with a 50mm prime and one light.  I can't wait to work more on this style. 

iPhone photo of Bill & Kristen both down low

Stay tuned to this channel for more blog-postery on this weekend's sessions.

Nikon D600 & Wendy

Indianapolis model Wendy Pund recently did a photo session with me at M10 Studio.  It was an enjoyable shoot and Wendy is top notch.  Tall with skills.  The goal of the shoot was to work with my new Nikon D600 for the first time in studio under controlled lighting.  As you know from previous posts I’ve used my “trusty” Nikon D300s for several years.  The primary difference is moving to a full frame sensor versus the D300s crop sensor.

Verdict, both Wendy and the D600 are great to work with.  Wendy, well, she’s fun to chat with and is good in front of the camera.  The Nikon D600 is a solid, well priced FX camera.  It has the form factor of the Nikon D7000 which means it’s smaller than the D300s.  It’s going to take time getting use to the button and menu configuration.  On the positive side all of my professional lenses now have the correct focal length in camera.  My AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II is now perfect in studio.  On the D300s the crop factor made the longer focal lengths unusable in studio.  My AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G prime is now a true “nifty fifty”.

The focus on the D600 is extremely fast and precise, and the low light capacity is uber.  This is a good feature for me as I still like to shoot after dark city scenes for fun.
 

Anyway, back to the shoot.  The session with Wendy was primarily portrait work.  No specific theme this time out.  Therefore, the lighting setup was straight forward.  I photographed Wendy against a fashion grey sweep background.  Two Elinchrom D-Lite 4it studio strobes triggered with my Elinchrom SkyPort triggers were the primary lights.  Normally, one D-Lite as a key light and the second as needed for fill.  I also used a Nikon SB-600 speedlight occasionly to add light to the background.  We also did several shots against a black background.
 

In post processing I’ve not yet taken advantage of the larger file size.  Initial testing did prove images can be cropped or magnified more aggressively while maintaining the image quality.  However, the focus of the shoot was not on the post processing, but the ergonomics of the camera and the ease of use.

The following are some key take-aways about the camera: 

·       I’m not use to the smaller camera size.  Understand, I have used a vertical battery grip on all of my Nikon DSLR’s in the past.  I’m going to need to get one for the D600 pronto.  With a long lens (i.e. Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED or Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8) the camera is not balanced.  It feels off front heavy in my hand,

·       The multi-selector dial on the back of the camera is too small, and is not as responsive.  This is a pain,

·       The burst rate is slower than the D300s.  However, for my photography style that really isn't a problem,

·       In manual mode I constantly and accidentally hit the Main Control Dial with my thumb and changed the shutter speed without knowing.  It always seemed I nudged it to a higher shutter speed.  Possibly when I add a vertical grip this will go away.  This was the most annoying issue so far with the D600,

·       I was use to the ISO &WB control being on the Mode Dial on the D300.  Now the buttons are secondary functions on the back buttons.  Strange.

·       I’m still trying to remember how to change the focus point settings,

·       I love FX.  I’ll use my D300s as a backup but, as they say, once you go FX you never go back.  They say that, right?

·       The monitor is big and bright, 

·       I like the modes on the Mode Dial versus the configuration on the D300s via a button / dial setup,

·       I like the larger file size.  The file size is in the Goldie Locks zone, “just right”?

·       The battery drain rate stinks.  The battery is different from my D300s, so I'll either need to get a vertical battery grip or a second battery,

·       I like the higher usable ISO.  I still do lots of low light photography so 6400 is my new best friend.  

Bottomline, I still need to develop my muscle memory with the D600, but so far I like what I see.  Oh yes, props to Wendy for working with me.  She will be hired again.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been uber busy the last few weeks with Thanksgiving and activity around my day job.  Oh yes loyal readers I have a day job and it isn't related to photography.  My day job helps fund my photography "Jones", as well as funds family, etc., etc....you get the idea.

Anyway, even though I've been busy the last few weeks and therefore somewhat lacking on my blogging activity I've still been able to get in a couple of model photoshoots.  Both have been fun and results have been good. 

Just wanted to give you a quickie update.  The first shoot was with Indianapolis model, Wendy Pund.  Wendy helped me test out my new Nikon D600 full frame DSLR.  I posted about my initial experience earlier, and will post more on the D600 and the shoot with Wendy ASAP.  In the meantime, here is a shot we both really liked.

Model Wendy Pund

And then just this weekend I did another shoot with my D600.  This time with model Annie Patrick Vowell.  The theme of this shoot was TATTOO, and shooting out of the studio with just only 1 studio strobe versus the normal full setup.  Annie did a nice job working with me in a number of interesting lighting conditions.  We are both happy with the results so far.  I'll blog on this shoot shortly, but in the meantime, here's Annie in a darkened area of the Circle City Industrial Complex where M10 Studio is located.

Model Annie Patrick Vowell

Kind of a Joan Jett look going on if I do say so myself.  Stay tuned to this channel for posts on each shoot, and a couple of new film cameras I recently purchased.  Yes, there is more than digital in photography.