Monday is the Labor Day holiday in the US, and I have decided to give myself the holiday weekend off from writing JFASN. That is no small treat, as researching and writing these reviews every week takes up a considerable portion of the day on Saturday. In fact, it usually takes up most of the day.
Instead of slaving over a hot laptop, listening and writing, listening and writing, I’ll be slaving away over the new toy that I bought last Monday, learning how to use it.
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| Nikon D3100 |
As I have mentioned on Twitter, this is the most expensive camera I’ve ever owned. It is also, I hope, the best, and certainly the most complicated. Since I have had this week off from the day job, I’ve had a lot of time to play with it and have already taken quite a few photos with it.
Even so, I still haven’t taken any that rival the best of those I shot with its predecessor, such as this one that I took just a few weeks ago:
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| Bee On A Dandelion: August 2012 |
Or this:
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| Oceanside, Oregon (in the distance), the Pacific Ocean (to the left) and Netarts Bay (to the right): June 2009 |
I assure you, while I am practicing and studying, I will be listening to great jazz, and Jazz For A Saturday Night will return next weekend.
In the meantime, I wish you in the US a happy, safe holiday, and those of you elsewhere a wonderful weekend. 🙂
Al
UPDATE 08-31-2012 2:00 PM: Just to clarify things, the two photos above were taken with my Kodak Z710, not the Nikon D3100.
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| Kodak Z710 |
The Z710 was a fantastic camera though. Mine accompanied me on four trips to the American Southwest (Arizona, Utah, Nevada, parts of California) and with it I produced some beautiful photos on those trips.
In addition to the two above, another example is this shot of the Columbia River Gorge. I have used this as the background for my Twitter page for the last few years, and I just uploaded it as the cover photo on my Facebook page timeline. (You may not see the photo on Facebook unless you are signed into your Facebook account, if you have one.)
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| Crown Point, Vista House and the Columbia River Gorge |
If the Z710 had just a few more manual controls, such as manual focus, I might have been happy using it until the day it died. It clearly is capable of producing superb photos.
Ah, but then there is also the little matter of megapixels. The Z710 has 7.1, versus 14.2 on the Nikon. And the Nikon produces RAW files, which the Z710 does not.
All-in-all, I was thrilled with the Kodak Z710 but I expect to be ecstatic with the Nikon D3100. (For the price difference, I damn well better be!)
jazz for a saturday night 