[VikingPhotography]

Well, it's actually D3-Day... my insurance company really did come through for me since I have two D3's sitting close to me, along with the 14-24 and 24-70 lenses.

It'll take me a few days to post my thoughts and opinions on these cameras but there's already a lot of changes over the D2x that I'm very appreciative of... here's hoping that I can get my head around those differences before I head off for UFC 84 in a few days time

[Dabhand16]

Great news VP

Be interesting to hear your thoughts in due course.

[JMitchell]

Grrrr........eat news Good to see they did their job
I'd also be interested in your opinion

[P-E]

Nice one VP You heard anything about the pro announcement next month from Nikon?.......nice new camera on it's way

[VikingPhotography]

Originally Posted by P-E

You heard anything about the pro announcement next month from Nikon?.......nice new camera on it's way

Well, it's going to be one of two things, and quite possibly both

1. The 24MP D3X
2. The ~10MP D10 with FX sensor... think a Nikon version of a 5D, in a D300 casing.

Now, the D3X is a given - we know it's coming out, we just don't know when. The D10 is more elusive but all indications are that it will be 'soon'

Prices?

D3X will be around £4500 - £5000 at launch
D10 will be around £1500 - £1700 at launch

[Chris H]

Great to see an efficient Insurance company for a change.

Glad your back in business, but one thing I think you should do.

Tie the flipping things round your neck when you go near rivers, coz It'll be easy to drown yourself if you do it again

[WOODY]

PLEASED TO HEAR YOU GOT IT SORTED VP, GOOD LUCK WITH THE NEW
CAMERAS

[Raymo]

It does make a refreshing change to hear a good story about an insurance company, it seems these days they search for anything to catch you out and avoid the payout, I was half expecting you tell us that they had a look at your site and said "you take photographs of concerts why on earth where you on a riverbank with your main kit, we are not paying you", gladly my pessimistic thoughts where wrong and you got sorted out in good time

[LJR69]

Damn fine news indeed! I can already predict the comments you'll have about the D3
Look forward to seeing your first photos taken with them.

[Dave]

Congrats.

I'll be interested how you get on with the zoom ranges now, as your work horse 17-55 will now be the 24-70, that will be equivalent to 16-47mm on the D2X. Also what are you going to do about your long end telephoto ? Invest heavily in new glass, or start to use x convertors ?

Curious, as I wondered how I would replace range I have if ever lucky enough to get a D3

[VikingPhotography]

Originally Posted by Dave

I'll be interested how you get on with the zoom ranges now, as your work horse 17-55 will now be the 24-70, that will be equivalent to 16-47mm on the D2X.

In the limited capacity in which I've used the 24-70 so far, I feel the difference in effective range vis-a-vis the 17-55DX is negligible.

The range of the 17-55, as expressed in 35mm film terms, was 25.5 - 82.5mm. Shooting with the 24-70 on the D3, I gain an extra 1.5mm on the wide end (noticeable) and lose 12.5mm of reach at the long end (partially noticeable)

If I were shooting with just the 24-70, I could almost always take a step closer to negate the loss of the extra 'reach' that the 17-55 had.

Also consider that, when paired with my second body and 70-200VR, I have seamless coverage from 24 - 200mm which is ideal for what I do.

Originally Posted by Dave

Also what are you going to do about your long end telephoto ? Invest heavily in new glass, or start to use x convertors ?

At the moment, all I'll do is crop in a bit if I need a tighter shot. Both Getty and WireImage only look for 3000 pixels on the longest side... if your shot is larger than that, Getty's workflow software downsamples the image to those dimensions.

So - if I don't have enough 'reach' with the 70-200, I'll just crop in a bit. There may come a time when I need more reach for specific jobs and, if I have enough advance notice, I'll rent a 300 or 400mm lens as needed.

[Charlotte]

And don't forget, you can choose to shoot with the DX crop for non-DX lenses too, to get extra reach

Congrats on the new kit, enjoy (I know you will)

[VikingPhotography]

Originally Posted by Charlotte

And don't forget, you can choose to shoot with the DX crop for non-DX lenses too, to get extra reach

I never used that feature on the D2X, so I doubt I'll use it on the D3 either; I prefer to crop in post-processing since I have full control over the placement of the crop.

A lot of what I shoot sportswise is fast paced and, sometimes, the action happens towards the edges of the frame when I've been busy panning to follow it... a selective off-centre crop down to no fewer than 6MP fixes those issues

[Charlotte]

The D2X is not a full frame camera, so doesn't have that feature.