I’ve been shooting my haikyo and structures photos for months now with a Canon Powershot compact camera. It was the best camera I’ve owned- which is not saying a great deal- though it is a nice compact. But too many times I’ve been to haikyo in poor conditions and:
1- come back with poor photos due to low-light conditions, and
2- felt shamed by other haikyoists packing dSLRs, getting more value from the location with their superior cameras.
So- I sped the levelling process and bought a Nikon d90 with 3 lenses in the past few days- thanks to Jason for his advice. We went on a night photo-walk after the purchase and I took a few photos:
This was shot in the Okubo station underpass.
The lenses I got, after plenty of discussion over what I really needed, are:
Tamron 18-50mm 2.8f: Useful as a walk-around lens, shooting fairly wide on buildings, shooting in haikyo in so-so light conditions- of course OK with tripod.
Sigma 70-200mm 2.8f: Telephoto lens, not so much for haikyo, but I’ll use it to shoot candids of people round the city- a content stream I’ll add in the next few weeks.
Prime 50mm 1.4f: Prime lens good for getting background blur, low light shots of objects, and general low-light shooting.
I’ll hasten to add that I’m certainly no expert. I thought about getting a cheaper package- just one lens, 18-200mm, 3.5f, but figured if I’ll spend that much, why not spend a bit more? Either way- now I’ve got some great lenses I can grow into.
A few more photos:
Lanterns somewhere near Okubo station. Kana reads- Hoppy! Perhaps beer? I’m not sure.
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More lanterns, same area. Not enough light really to shoot much else.
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Me- shot by Jason, modeling my awesome new camera.
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Am looking forward to bringing you some better quality images in the future.
Comments 11
I`ve never tasted hoppy but the guys at my local Okonomiyaki always have it as a mixer with their bottle keep. I think it`s like a dry ginger ale … will make a point of confirming next week.
Welcome to the Nikon Club! I am at the bottom end of the spectrum with my D40 but still it makes exploring those haikyo a lot more fun, you can be a lot more inventive with white balance and contrast to give your shots more feeling my best shot so far http://www.flickr.com/photos/43939188@N00/2942744867/meta/in/set-72157608018909872 shot with a nikkor 50mm 1.8 which I recommend or if you have the extra cash go 50mm 1.4, its a great way to improve your photography perspective (and get nice bokeh!)
Nice. I’m thinking of upgrading my D40 to a D90, it’s such a nice camera, and you really made a good choice with those 3 lenses. Looking forward to seeing some great shots. You have a great eye, now you have some great hardware.
nice camera! i love the shot in okubo
loco
Nice pics, look forward to more! xx
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Neil- I’ll be keen to hear the results. If it is a ginger ale though- seems odd to use that to try and pull in customers. Maybe it goes particularly well with okonomiyaki.
Japanese eye- Nikon family! Thanks. The Prime I mentioned is actually the Nikkor 50mm 1.4f. Bokeh looks awesome- that’s a great shot you linked to too, nice job. Don’t really understand manipulating white balance yet, but I think that’ll come.
Brian- Thanks- though I can’t really take credit for lens choices- my buddy Jason gave a lot of advice. Am pretty excited to try them out at some haikyo tomorrow.
Loco- Cheers bud.
Alice- Thanks, me too.
Hoppy is a beer-flavored carbonated beverage you can mix with Shochu. Basically it’s mix your own Happoshu. Cheaper than beer, and stronger if you are mixing it with pure shochu (though usually it’s water and shochu I think).
Yup, that’s another random fact from me.
Glad I could finally get you to join the Nikon club! Be sure and read your manual now!
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Jei- Good random fact bud!
Jason- Downloaded the manual- getting down to some serious study. Nice to be in the club!
Great shots! I’m envious of all the dSLR users… Perhaps when I have more cash and a stronger desire to create bokeh I’ll be asking for advice on my first dSLR too. For the time being, I’ll have to squeeze every last drop out of my Ricoh GX-100 ^^ It struggles in low light and cannot do good portrait shots with a blurred background…
Congratulations!
It’s a great feeling isn’t it? My only regret about entering the world of the dSLR is that I didn’t do it a hell of a lot sooner.
So, will it be a return to some of you previous haikyo to get some better shots?