For all you folks thinking about a D60.

bdavison · May 2, 2009

Here are examples of what the D60 can do right out of the box. All shots taken handheld with the 55-200mm DX ED lens. NO VR was used in any of the shots. Right out of the camera with no PP.

The D60 rocks!!! Just put it in ISO 100, and aperture priority mode with f/11 as the f/stop, and rock and roll.

NateS · May 2, 2009

This is no secret. Pretty much any modern day DSLR is going to produce very nice results in capable hands.....it's the capable hands part that is sometimes hard to find. Looks like you have both nailed down....very nice photos.

bigboi3 · May 2, 2009

NateS said:
This is no secret. Pretty much any modern day DSLR is going to produce very nice results in capable hands.....it's the capable hands part that is sometimes hard to find. Looks like you have both nailed down....very nice photos.

I'd have to agree... nice shots!!:thumbup:

bdavison · May 2, 2009

Thanks for the compliments guys. I really REALLY enjoyed this shoot. I started at 9am and finished at 4pm....it was a LONG LONG day.

I dont think Ive ever been searched that many times before. Security was really tight. There were even snipers on the rooftops. It was crazy. But totally worth it.

I cant think of many things that will test a camera to its limits, but trying to pan handheld and capture something going 500 miles an hour with no VR, and with a 200mm lens maxed out. The D60 performed flawlessly, and I shot all day on a single battery. It was still full when I finished.

I also wondered how well the three focus points and AF would deal with a tiny fast moving object, but in Continous mode, it did very very well. There were a few times where I had to wait for it to lock on...but nothing major.

I started shooting in manual mode, but the cloud cover kept changing and messing with my exposures, so I dropped it into Aperture Priority mode, and never touched the settings after that. Shutter speeds ranged from 1/450 to 1/2500 through out the shoot. It did very well metering properly. I did use the Active D-lighting. The cloud cover tended to mess with the dark underside of the planes, so the D-lighting really helped out there.

I was hesitant to roll with just the D60, but I really wanted to see how much I could push it. After today, I would not hesitate to roll for a entire shoot with it.

EhJsNe · May 2, 2009

hmm....my D70 doesnt have an ISo 100....it only goes down to 200......but anyway, those are some really awesome shots.
A few look a little little bit soft, but nothing to bad, it was probaly focusing on the sky instead of the plane.

docphotog · May 2, 2009

GO THUNDERBIRDS!!! I hope to get my camera a week before they show up at Jones beach... hopefully I'll learn enough about it to get shots like yours!

bdavison · May 2, 2009

Here are the settings I used on the D60 and why...

Aperture Priority mode with aperture set at f/11 - I used a tight aperture to give me a wide depth of field so that in the multiple plane shots, if one plane was farther away, it would still be in focus...along with the background clouds, smoke trails, etc.

ISO 100 - It was very very bright sunlight on the runway, so the reduced sensitivity of the ISO 100, allowed me not to have to tighten up my f/stop, and also made using a ND filter unnecessary. Also, less noise/grain in the photo.

Active D-lighting ON - I wanted to capture as much as possible in not only the shadowing from the clouds, but also the underneath of the wings of the plane, and any shadows.

Normal color selection - This wasnt really necessary, as you could use any of the other settings like Vivid, Vivid+, etc. Normal is....well.....just normal color range.

Continuous shutter mode - Planes move fast, so I used continuous shutter mode to fire off a string of shots at show center. If you do this make sure you have a fast SDHC card so you dont overrun the buffer.

Continuous AF mode - If you are standing on the flightline, your subject is closing/leaving you at hundreds of miles an hour. Allowing the camera to continously focus on the subject will help quite a bit.

AF-area set to Dynamic - I wanted the camera to not only grab focus on the focus points, but also to try to grab focus on whatever subject was in the viewfinder. Dynamic mode focuses using the focus points, but if the subject leaves the focus point, it does a much MUCH better job of retaining or managing the focus than the "closest" subject mode does.

Metering set to Center-weighted - These planes move so fast, its pretty much stick em center frame, and shoot. With center weighted, it helps to have it meter off the subject plane, and not the clouds/sky in the background. I didnt try matrix, but I still feel as though the center weighted is a much better option.

WB set to sunlight - I changed mid-day. In the early part of the day I was running in Program mode on WB taking a measurement from a grey card due to a lot of overcast, later I switched to sunlight mode when the clouds started clearing up and the sunshine came through.

ShotGunNik · May 4, 2009

Nice shots!

Dantheman4334 · May 4, 2009

to be honest, these shots don't do much for me. They really don't. I'm sure it must have been hard capturing them in motion, but how can you be so sure, that at f11, on a cloudy overcast day like that, that your shutter speed would be enough? And why not use manual controls, get that larger f stop, while having a fast shutter speed?

ShotGunNik · May 4, 2009

Dantheman4334 said:
to be honest, these shots don't do much for me. They really don't. I'm sure it must have been hard capturing them in motion, but how can you be so sure, that at f11, on a cloudy overcast day like that, that your shutter speed would be enough? And why not use manual controls, get that larger f stop, while having a fast shutter speed?

That "F-11" is actually an "F-16" and those are the "Thunderbirds" whom are a very elite air acrobatic team such at the "Blue Angels". Also, I think for beginner its not that bad of a shot, but I can understand what you're sayin' in regards to the "WOW" factor of things. But, in my opinion, great pictures for what they are as it didn't seem to be that the person taking these pics was aiming for extreme professional shots, more of like fun shots, yet still capturing subject matter.

Dantheman4334 · May 4, 2009

ShotGunNik said:
That "F-11" is actually an "F-16" and those are the "Thunderbirds" whom are a very elite air acrobatic team such at the "Blue Angels". Also, I think for beginner its not that bad of a shot, but I can understand what you're sayin' in regards to the "WOW" factor of things. But, in my opinion, great pictures for what they are as it didn't seem to be that the person taking these pics was aiming for extreme professional shots, more of like fun shots, yet still capturing subject matter.

Sure. Thats fine. But, they don't look, in my opinion, as good as everyone says they are.

Oh and I believe he said "F11"

inTempus · May 4, 2009

ShotGunNik said:
That "F-11" is actually an "F-16" and those are the "Thunderbirds" whom are a very elite air acrobatic team such at the "Blue Angels".

No, he said f/11 which is an aperture setting on your camera.

Just put it in ISO 100, and aperture priority mode with f/11 as the f/stop, and rock and roll.

I don't think he put his camera in F16 mode... if he did that would be pretty forward thinking of Nikon to have various modes for different types of aircraft.