Iron Butterfly @ For-Mar

I'm certainly not a butterfly expert.  Only two things I can think of go with butterflies:  Iron and Effect.
I'm not sure if this is iron or not, but it is metal - not plastic.  Close enough for me.  The For-Mar Nature Preserve is less than five miles from the house.  The last time I've been there was a few years ago.  I really do need to get out more.

http://geneseecountyparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GCP_ForMar.jpg

When I arrived at the Preserve, there was a sign that said Treehouse to the left, Butterfly House to the right.  I've seen the treehouse before.  Off to the Butterfly House.  Or the frame of the Butterfly House.  I almost walked past it.  It is a large frame that looks like a temporary greenhouse that would be covered with a heavy plastic tarp.  And now that we're in November, it is open air.  No butterflies.
To mark the house is a metal sculpture of a butterfly.  It is very nice.  I don't know enough about sculpting to offer any assessment other than, Hey - It's nice.  
But I know slightly more about the photo.  Wasn't easy.  It is dark.  On a sunny day.  Lot's of dynamic range between the sky and the underside of the sculpture.  I tried a few tricks in ACR, but noting came out that I liked.  When all else fails, I go to Photomatix.
Even though Photomatix has improved over the years to a most excellent program, there are still signs of HDR processing in this shot if you know to look for them.  I gave up the overblown processing a long time ago, it was fun while it lasted.  I use Photomatix these days only when I need more light balance that Photoshop will do, or when it will take a lot of time to balance the levels.  Call me lazy.  
In this case, some of the lesser settings in Photomatix gave a very nice image, but I just couldn't pull enough color definition on the sculpture underside that I wanted.  And to get what I wanted, made it look HDRish.  Moral of the story, get the shot right the first time.  Or next time.  I think the next time out would involve a tri-pod and a multiple shots HDR effort.  I also removed some distractions on the left, most notably the frame of the Butterfly House.  So next time out, frame it a bit better.  And a lesson for for general knowledge, look at the background.  It's easier to take two steps to the left than to spend time with artifact removal.

Iron Butterfly

NIKON D850 Ver.1.11/Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR

27 mm, 1/400 sec, f/4.0,  ISO 64 (AUTO)

EV0, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

For the next time, not sure what the DOF should be either.  It is tough to tell the subject is in focus, and the trees are blurry enough to be thought of as out of focus.  The colors of the trees and subject just give the eyes enough of a color break to help with distance.  In the end, not bad for a mistake.

D850 Test - in November

With the battery charged, the menu set up and a sunny November day in the 70s, time to take the the D850 out for a test drive.  I couldn't too far away from the house, due to the paying job, but the park a few miles away was in bounds.

I saw these two bikes leaning against a tree.  The riders were off walking around.  And they returned while I was taking the photos.  They were so nice, they asked if the bikes were in the way of something.  There is hope for the world.  Any way, what I saw here was the green on the smaller bike.  That is what doesn't belong.  Just great.

Two Bikes Against a Tree

NIKON D850 Ver.1.11/NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED

75 mm, 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 (Auto)

EV 0.00, MANUAL Mode

And the first field test with the new lens.  At f/2.8 - pure awesome.  Super sharp against the tree.

And at the park, the BMXers couldn't stay home on such a nice day.  I like the split of focus on this, there is real distance.  Could be the BMX winner for the year.

Head On

NIKON D850 Ver.1.11/NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED

200 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0.00, MANUAL Mode

Can't wait for the airplanes!

NIKON had a sale - and other thoughts

It was bound to happen.  End of the year and all.  And, in a few months the D850 will not be a current model.  Perfect storm.

The D780 experiment is over.  It was a good camera.  If it is your first trip into the Nikon world, if it fit your budget and you wanted to stay DSLR, I'd say go for it.  It is sort of a mirrorless hybrid, with a F mount.  But it didn't fit my hands right.  And for some reason, the Nikon engineers changed some of the buttons around.  I missed a few shots trying to get the BBF going only to hit the Live View.  And there was no battery grip, now or planned.  I won't feel bad if those aren't good reasons to switch to a D850.  I posted a review of the D780 a few months ago with my reasons, and someone didn't like it.  Ha.

I've had target lock on the D850 for a few years.  I thought it would be replaced earlier this year, which would have put the end of model line sales late last year.  And Nikon pushed it a year.  Then the D780 was announced and I got a case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).  Anyway the D850 and the D500 share a lot of the same technology and body layout.  The menus are almost identical.  Batteries, data cards and data cables are all the same.  And it has a battery grip.  And it fits in my hands.

I also filled out my last entry on the lens wish list.  The second lens in the f/2.8 trinity, the AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR.  The kit for the foreseeable future is complete.  Support trinkets, not included.

Now all I need is for the photo season to open up.  C'mon Covid vaccine, daddy needs to do some shooting.  My screen savers are getting stale.

And in other Nikon news.  In a way, this illustrates what is important in life.  To me.  In my youth, I followed news of cars.  What was the next model out?  What is next on my radar.  That wasn't totally consuming - but of interest.  Now, I somewhat follow Nikon.  I can predict sales and the best times to buy the next piece of the kit.  My advice to anyone thinking of getting into photography falls into three items.  First, glass is everything.  It's OK to get started with a kit lens but once the decision is made to seriously get into the hobby/business, get the best glass you can.  Next, do your research into the company you choose.  Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji all are great outfits.  Once you choose one, changing mid-stream is costly.  And these days, the technology is changing.  Fast.  Which comes to the last decision, DSLR or mirror-less.  DSLRs are not dead yet, but it will be sooner rather than later.  Which segues back to the Nikon news.  Nikon is nowhere near the lead of the pack for mirrorless, in sales or perception.  They could get a most improved over the last 12 or 18 months, but that is because they are so far behind.  At least two generations.  Can they make up the difference?  Probably.  But I'd still choose Nikon glass.  Nikon glass is second to no one.  I read where Nikon is moving development more toward mirrorless and the more advanced DSLRs.  The phone cameras are crushing the lower end cameras.  That is not news.  And if you look at what Nikon is launching new, it is all mirrorless.  The hobby/business is changing.  I've got too much invested in the DSLRs to change.  If I was ten years younger and had the income to support the move, I'd look a lot harder at mirrorless.

The successor to the D850 must have been in works for a few years.  Can't pull out.  My guess is it won't be much better, statistics-wise, and may not be worth the upgrade.  And may be the end of the line for the DSLR.  The next model may be a combo of the D850 and the D6 class for the super pro.  Not me.