Photograph Works

I shoot a Nikon D200 and which has more or less the same number of pixels. So it came as a big surprise when I put a card in the D60 to find that a card (it takes SD cards) will hold about 100 RAW shots per GigaByte, whereas the D200 will hold 60. And I guess this is because of the NEF compresson on the D60.

The D200 shoots compressed as well as uncompressed NEFs and at this point I should walk into the other room and see whether I have it set to uncompressed or not, and whether the compression would account for the difference.

But I am not going to because I trust my memory and I am sure that there is not way the compressed or not, the D200 shoots 100 shots to the GigaByte.

OK, in the cause of scientific enquiry, I went and checked, and I’m right - the D200 shoots 60 shots to the GigaByte, whether the NEFs are compressed or not.

The question is whether the extra NEF compression on the D60 results in lower quality images? i have been using it with two lenses - the 60mm macro G lens, and the 12-24mm. I bought the lens as a kit with the 18-55mm but I don’t like it. It is not that I dislike the range or the build quality or the image quality - I just don’t like the way the central part of the lens peeps out when one turns the focal length either way from its mid point.

Turn it down to 18mm or up to 55mm and the central part of the lens sticks out and seems very fragile. It makes me nervous. Hence, I shall probably put it up for sale. But it is light and small, and given that a normal 50mm lens won’t ‘work’ on the D60 because it is not an AF-S lens, I should try the dinky little 18-55mm more. But before I take it out for an extended run, I have to check that its image quality really will hold up against the other two lenses.

I’ll put the shots up here in a day or two.

I bought the D60 as a back-up to my D200. Since I bought the 70-200mm lens and put it on the D200, I haven’t taken it off. The camera and the lens are wedded to one another and both stare at me suspiciously if I come to near with an ‘I’m going to separate you’ look.

The good and the bad.
I think the dynamic range is less than on the D200 and it is really easy to blow highlights where the D200 would not. Perhaps it is the metering. I have always been very, very impressed with the metering on the D200, and yet I can crank the exposure compensation up into minus 2 with the D60 and still run into problems. So active D lighting is a necessity and it works. And it is easy to set. Just put your forefinger on the button on the top plate that is next to the shutter and just left of the exposure compensation button. And at the same time, turn the rear command dial and it toggles Active D Lighting on/off.

I say ‘rear’ command dial, but there is no front command dial. It’s force of habit from the D200. And that is one tiny niggle, and that is that I forget how to change things sometimes, and I find myself twirling a non existent dial.

ISO is easily changed by pressing the button to the left of the lens mount and turning the rear command dial.

So do I like it? Overall, yes. It’s light and quick to use. And with Active D lighting as a means to conquer blown highlights, it’s capable even in high contrast scenes.