An inconvenient truth about the Nikon D700
I have not been myself the past few weeks. After so long feeling good, once again, back pain came to visit, unsolicited, no warning, no idea how. It was just an uncomfortable, continuous pain on the lumbar area. The usual meds offered no relief. Only after an MRI could the doctor clearly identify the technical glitch in my lumbar vertebrae… foraminal stenosis. There is no urgency for surgery, therapy has been helpful, and it was until last Sunday that I was finally able to test again the Nikon D700 and the Nikkor 5mm 1.4g for night street photography.
Indeed, the D700 is a muscle camera, it's heavy, and my back feels it when hanging it across my shoulder, but I find that is a good thing since it forces me to grab it purposely with both hands while walking around Casco Viejo. I have found that handling this camera on the streets is intentional, you have to set it up for whatever comes to you, and yesterday's walk tested my abilities to quickly make small changes to its configuration in order to take the shots the way I wanted. As opposed to day walks, night street photography continually imposes challenges to your photography, it demands more from yourself and your gear, and this time I was able to better understand my shortcomings using the Nikon D700 as a camera of choice.
Going to through the pictures I took that night, I am able to remember the challenges I went through to get as good a photo as possible. I have found two things that got in the way: low light focusing, and ergonomics.
Personally, I don't mind a blurry picture, sometimes I think it adds to the mood, more natural, less technical. But I can't help noticing the lens hunting to nail focus resulting in a missed shot, or even worse the wrong shot. The situation is even worse when subject is in motion, which gets in the flow of things, gets you out of the zone, and gets frustrating. Indeed, I should be able to anticipate the shots, look for the spot of light to make sure it focuses, preset the camera config, but even then, seconds later the shot is gone. In this sense, street photography is unforgiven, and your results show it.
Using the D700 for daytime walks is a breeze, light is abundant, and focusing is not an issue. Pre-configuring the camera is much easier, most of the time I keep it on aperture priority, with ISO ranging up to 1600. On the other hand, nighttime is a pickle, one moment aperture priority works, the next manual mode is better, or sometimes spot metering makes sense, but others center weighted metering makes more sense. And then suddenly, the loud “clank!” of the shutter, or the chunky size of the camera become too much of an ALERT sign to unexpected pedestrians, which screws up the possibility of a good shot. Making these changes on the fly involve detaching yourself from the camera, and start handling a combination of buttons and dials, verification of settings, all before taking a shot, sometimes you get it, some other you don't.
I kinda love a challenge in photograph, but I am not necessarily looking for a lesson in patience, every time I missed a shot and get frustrated for not getting it, just because the lens hunted to acquire focus, or the setup wasn't quite appropriate for the result I was expecting.
My Nikon D700 is a great camera, I camera I intend to keep and learn from, but the truth is, for this kind of photography, there are cameras with better focusing, better ergonomics, and I hate to admit it, better technology. This is an inconvenient truth for the Nikon D700, technology have caught up with user demands, mirrorless cameras with better low light sensors, quick autofocus, low noise, and a freedom to customize buttons and dials to your personal taste, what else to ask for.
I guess whatever dilema or struggle I had before about what camera to use, for night photography it is pretty much solved. I'll keep working on this project for a while, who knows, perhaps a year or two, and see what comes from it.
Finally, after all the childish rant, I do understand the Nikon D700 is a great camera, and I understand why it has gathered so much respect from both amateurs and pros, and I hope to honor it with great photography. In the meantime, feel free to review my last Sunday's street photos.
