Lake Mahinapua with the Nikon D300

I've been using the Fuji X-E2 (and  X-E1) a lot lately (see the last few posts) and really enjoying it. Much to my surprise, it's fast becoming my camera of choice for all my photography. So where does that leave my Nikon D300 DSLR?

White Heron at Mahinapua. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 17-80mm f3.5/4.5. f/8 @ 1/10th, ISO 800

I'm not sure, to be honest. I've talked many times on this blog about my love for DSLR's, even though I've tried my best to switch completely to mirrorless. I managed it for a while when I was using all Olympus micro four thirds gear, but the pull of a solid DLSR has always been to hard for me to resist. The Olympus gear gave way to a Canon 50D recently, which then quickly changed to the Nikon D300. I have always enjoyed using the Nikon D300, and still do. It's a beautifully designed camera that always inspires confidence whenever I use it. But since I've 'discovered' the Fujifilm X-series cameras, it's sat in a camera bag unloved, and I've almost literally had to force myself to shoot with it.

Lake Mahinapua with a D300. f/11 @ 6 secs, ISO 200. ND64 Filter + Cokin ND Soft Grad

This weekend past (as I write this), I decided to give the D300 some 'love', and take it out on a sunrise landscape shoot. Even then, with the decision made and my camera bag packed the night before, I almost changed my mind in the morning.

I know many people harp on about this, and I hate to be one of them, but the main reason I almost changed my mind was because of the weight. With the camera body, lens, vertical grip and various accessories (tripod, filters, spare batteries etc), I definitely need a reasonable sized backpack to carry it all around in. Because of this, I find myself justifying what I do and don't bring along with me. I decided, for example, to leave my 70-210mm home rather than carry it around all morning and not use it. It was going to be a landscape shoot after all. Big mistake!

The first image of this blog - White Heron at Mahinapua - was the scene that greeted me as I arrived, pre-sunrise, at Lake Mahinapua. Boy, could I have used that 70-210mm lens that I decided not to carry with me!

I'm not a 10 pound weakling whose incapable of carrying around hefty camera gear, but I am 51 and not 21 anymore. So the less weight I have to carry with me, the better. And that's just all there is to it. The Fujifilm X-E2, with 16-50mm lens (and 50-230mm that I will probably get eventually) is much smaller and lighter, and fits in a much smaller bag, so I'll be more likely to carry it all with me on every shoot. And just as importantly, I won't be sacrificing anything in terms of image quality.

Mahinapua Jetty Monochrome. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 16-50mm f3.5/4.5. f/11 @ 4 secs, ISO 200. ND64 filter + ND Grad

But I digress (slightly). This post isn't about the X-E2, it's about the Nikon D300. And as I've already mentioned, it's a lovely camera to use and a joy to shoot with. So back to the landscape shoot...

Unfortunately, sunrise on this particular morning was very disappointing, since it was hidden behind cloud cover. So it was on to plan 'B'. And on a dull, grey morning with a large body of water and no colour, what's a landscape photographer's plan 'B' mostly consist of? That's right people - long exposure monochrome images!

I screwed on a 64ND filter to the front of the lens - blocking 6 stops of light from entering the camera - giving me an exposure range of around 3 to 6 seconds at f11. Surprisingly, I could still make out an image through the optical viewfinder, and as long as I manually placed the focus point of the camera over an area of high contrast, it had no trouble auto focusing.

Mahinapua Jetty among the Reeds. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 17-80mm f3.5/4.5. f/11 @ 4 secs, ISO 200

Because I had already decided that the images would translate well into black and white, I decided to shoot RAW + Jpeg, and set the camera to monochrome. This way, I could see the final monochrome jpeg when I reviewed the image on the lcd screen, but still had the RAW file if I changed my mind and actually wanted them in colour. As you can see from the image above, I did decide that the colour version also worked.

Since the exposures were so long, I also set the camera to shoot with a 2 second delay. This is very easy to do on the D300 - just a flick of the drive mode switch on the top of the camera. I could have used a remote release cable instead, but I find that the 2 second timer delay is just as effective, and you don't need to set up any extra cables.

Moody Mahinapua monochrome. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5/4.5. f/11 @ 1/6th sec, ISO 200

Despite the lack-luster sunrise, I came away from Lake Mahinapua with a few images that I was happy with. The D300 performed flawlessly - no complaints whatsoever. We are spoiled for choice when it comes to cameras, for all levels and budgets. Now that digital has been 'mainstream' for over 15 years, there are a plethora of great cameras to choose from. And since digital technology devalues so quickly (unfortunately), cameras that were expensive 'state-of-the-art' cameras only five or six years ago, can now be had very cheaply. That's a huge 'win' for anyone getting into photography who doesn't have a lot of money to spend - or even for someone like me who is a very seasoned photographer who doesn't want to (or need to) spend big dollars on the latest and greatest.

Will I keep the D300 and continue to use it? Considering how little I paid for it, then yes, I may very well keep it so that I can scratch that DLSR itch every now and then? But I already know that it's not going to be my 'main' shooter. That honor (is it really an honor?) now belongs to the Fujifilm X-E2.

Second landscape shoot with the OM-D E-M1

It's winter here in NZ at the moment, and what a wild and wet winter it's been. The West Coast of the South Island normally bares the brunt of any storm that passes through, although this winter we've been left relatively unscathed (fingers crossed). The weather man predicted a fine weekend (after a fairly wet week) and I didn't need any further convincing to head out with the E-M1 again.

My favorite area to shoot landscapes is around Hokitika - a half an hour drive from where I live in Greymouth. Not only is it the location of my favorite lake (Mahinapua), but it also has several other 'must visit' attractions (Lake Kaniere, Dorothy Falls, Hokitika Gorge and Sunset Point - to name a few). So that's where I headed this morning - first stop Lake Mahinapua.

Lake Mahinapua Sunrise 2017. Olympus E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5/6.3 EZ. 1/4s @ f8, ISO 200

Sunrise was 7.50am, and I arrived at 7.30 to a frosty, but perfectly clear morning (with not a cloud in the sky, unfortunately). The jetty at the lake is a perfect focal point for leading the eye into an image. I usually shoot it from further back, since it's built in an 'L' shape jutting out into the lake. But this time I decided to concentrate on capturing just the end of the jetty. I composed the photo to highlight the jetty itself and not the sky, since the day was cloudless, and I set the E-M1 on a tripod. The morning was perfectly still, so a shutter speed of 1/4s was enough to give me smooth water with perfect reflections. I used an ND grad to darken the sky a little, and also tried some with a polarizer and ND filter to slow the shutter speed to around 2 seconds. Job done. Next stop, Lake Kaniere.

Hans Bay, Lake Kaniere. Olympus E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5/6.3 EZ. 1/640th @ f7.1 - ISO 200

It's been a few years since I shot at Lake Kaniere, so I was looking forward to getting some new images of the area with the OM-D E-M1. Overall I'm pleased with the calm, clean images I was able to take, although I would still have preferred some clouds in the sky. The final result is nothing spectacular - just a 'nice' image. I will need to go back and capture some more moody, atmospheric light. It could also be a better sunset rather than sunrise location? It has potential, I just haven't visited it at its best.... yet.

Canoe Creek Walk. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5/6.3 EZ. 1/40th @ f5.4 - ISO 800. 30mm

Just before the turn-off to get to Hans Bay at Lake Kaniere, there is a small (15min) walking track that follows Canoe Creek to the lake. The track winds through lush native forest and is well maintained with wooden walkways that cross over the creek in several places. These paths curve through the bush and form fantastic leading lines through any composition. They also remind me a little of the jetty's that jut out into the lakes themselves. I'm a sucker for a jetty in an image. I can't go past a jetty without photographing it! Just look at the images that accompany this post!

Deadwood - Lake Kaniere. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5/6.3 EZ. 1/60th @ f6.3 - ISO 800. 36mm

At the end of the Canoe Creek walk you come out the the shore of the lake and can walk around to a sheltered inlet that has an otherworldly feel to it. Very spooky and Jurassic Park-like. The carcasses of fallen trees litter the bank and cast these amazing reflections into the water. It's dark, it's cold and it's eerie - and you could easily imagine a dinosaur (or an orc) emerging from the forest. I took several images I liked at this location - all hand-held with an ISO of 800 to keep the shutter speed reasonably high. Yes, I could have set the camera up on the tripod - and maybe I should have? But with the ibis (in body image stabilisation) of the E-M1 and no real need for a long shutter speed, you can get away with hand-holding most of the images as long as you're ok with shooting at ISO 800 (and I am). I may go back soon and shoot at the same location with my medium format Bronica on ISO 100 film, in which case I definitely will need a tripod.

Sunny Bight, Lake Kaniere. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5/6.3 EZ. 1/1600th @ f5 - ISO 200. 23mm

My final destination for the morning was a picnic spot at the other end of the lake from Hans Bay - Sunny Bight. More clear blue skies, more still calm water, more beautiful reflections - and more jetty images! :-)

I found a small jetty that I was able to access from the car park, and this time decided to place it dead-centre in the lower third of the frame - for the classic jetty-leading-into-the-frame shot. I think it works compositionally by 'grounding' the viewer in the scene and leading the eye into the symmetrical view of the reflected mountains in the upper third. The jetty itself could maybe do with being a touch lighter - although i also like the way it almost 'emerges' from the bottom of the frame?

All-in-all I had an amazing morning shooting around two incredible lakes. I started out on a tripod in the very early morning light at Lake Mahinapua, and ended up hand-holding for the rest of the morning at Lake Kaniere since I was shooting with decent shutter speeds, filter-free. The compact, yet solid form factor of the OM-D E-M1, with its incredible ibis, encourages photography that is unencumbered by a tripod, although you obviously have to be careful when light levels drop or you're purposely wanting long exposures.

Some may look at micro-four-thirds as something of a 'lesser' format compared to full frame, or even APS-C? Yet for landscapes, I think they actually have more benefits that negatives. They are smaller and lighter, which if you are tramping distances is definitely a positive. They have increased depth of field at all apertures - great for landscape photography. And image quality from the 16 to 20MP image sensors is perfect for an A3+ sized print. What more do you want? Seriously....?