I find it odd that I can seldom pick my best work immediately after a shoot. In fact, I find I often need to leave a batch of images at least 6 months before I can pick the ones I’m happiest with. Often, as is the case with this image, I need to leave the files alone for a couple of years.
I shot this image back in October 2014 when I had my brief experiment with the Nikon D800. Some of you might remember this and how I hated the camera. I now find some of the image were quite good although the lens distortion from the lenses I was using was significant. I suspect my feelings for the camera distorted my view of the images as much as the poor-quality lens.
This image was shot at Penmon on Anglesey in North Wales. I used a 2 stop ND grad to darken the sky. The post processing was performed in Lightroom to convert the RAW file and then On1 Photo RAW. I remember waiting for ages at the time for the man to walk in front of the house so that I could capture him cleanly. I’m not sure if you can see him as it will depend on the resolution of your screen but I wanted him there.
Have a great weekend and I hope you get out with your camera.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Robin,
Why did you “hate” this camera (Nikon D8000) that word is a strong imotive adjective?
It is a fine camera used by thousands throughout the world, I have never owned one but have used others which are almost identical. The menus are simple, it’s not too heavy and if you use prime’s then it is no heavier than a mirror less set up.
Just intriguing that’s all,
Regards,
Alan
Hi Alan,
It is indeed a fine camera but I just couldn’t get on with it. I wanted to love the camera so much but in the end I just couldn’t shoot consistently with it. I was always needing to check if the images were sharp. I would experience a lot of camera shake, even on a sturdy tripod. I couldn’t achieve good hand held shots except at very fast speeds. If I did long exposures there were light leaks unless I remembered to close the rear curtain on the viewfinder (I kept forgetting). At the time I was also going through a very painful injury involving a trapped nerve and a prolapsed disc in my neck (I still haven’t fully recovered) and carrying this camera was nothing short of agony. I think the pain and camera became linked. I had bought mid-range lenses that just weren’t up to my expectations. I toyed with the idea of buying top of the range lenses and in the end decided to cut my losses. It’s a long story and the combination of quite a ferw things.
Robin
As usual – inspirational stuff.
You on Facebook Robin?
Thanks Roger.
No, I dont use facebook. I never got to grips with it or many of the other Social Media platforms. I find they just eat my time and I am always running short of that.
Thanks for a dramatic, affecting picture.
Thank you. Im pleased you like it.
Lovely photo! I’m so sorry you turned to hate the D800, I love mine.
Thannk you. It is a great camera but I just couldn’t get it to work well for me.
Hello Robin,
A really impressive photo with great tonality & chock full of lots of blacks, whites & everything in between. This is what I keep trying to accomplish but seldom do anywhere near as well as depicted in this image. I like the apparent telephoto compression that puts the man seemingly quite close to the house & almost a giant in scale. What focal length lens was used to do this? Cheers,
Jed
Thank you. The image was actually shot at 19mm and the camera is full frame.
Outstanding image, Robin, many thanks! You have a great weekend, too.
Thank you
A very impressive mono image from the Nikon D800, I cannot quite understand why you hated the D800, has as been said Nikon sold thousands world wide. I did have one and had no problems with the camera what so ever, I took probably over three thousand images with it. I took a few landscape images with it where I could use a tripod, and the rest of the images were 1940’s events, steam trains, and traction engine’s. In these situations I could not use a tripod, so had to make do and either use a monopod or hand held. Because there were to many people around, which makes the situation a different ball game. In processing the images I always view them at 100% on screen and then they were printed out at A3+ and had no problems.
John.
Hi John. Looking back now I can see some good images from the camera and the RAW files are very flexible. Unfortunately All I can recall of using the camera is frustration and a lot of pain from my neck and back. I dod suspect having a long period of severe pain from a damaged nerve may have played a part in the bad memory. I also think my choice of lens (I was on a tight budget) also played a part. I think a camera is a personal thing and what some may love others hate. I know there are people who can’t use Micro 43 but I loved my 43 camera. When I print the D800 images they look lovely, right up to A2 (limits of my current printer) but I still didn’t enjoy using it.
I noticed you produced this with ON1 Raw, how are you finding this programme. I keep hearing very mixed views that it isnt currently fit for purpose?
Hi Ralph, my experience is a bit mixed. I really like the results from On1 and have been a user from quite a number of years. My personal view is that much of the time the early release is more like a beta release and always has some stability issues. This release in no different. There is the return of the bug that tells me I don’t have the software installed when I try to run from Photoshop on Windows. I can still run it from Lightroom or standalone though. I had the same problem in On1 Effects 10 until they patched it. On my Mac which is top of the range with maxed out memory and processor it crashes. I have narrowed this down to being the Brush adjustment layers. After I add one of these I hear the fan in the Mac start up and then after 30 seconds the entire system shuts down and the Mac reboots. Despite these problems, some of the adjustment tools are superb (but not that different to version 10).
Many Thanks.