Jordon, my son in the Army, was home for most of March, on leave between assignments, going from South Korea to Italy. During his time here, he kept asking about cameras, and what would be my dream camera. I told him the Nikon D850, since I have used Nikon since the 80's, but never had the full frames. He surprised me during his time home by ordering a Nikon D850 body. After several delays due to the price, over 3K, the body arrived late on March 13 at 7:02PM. It came the day before but UPS needed a signature and I had went into town.
I had hoped to take the camera with me to Newnan's Lake where Ray Carpenter, a photographer friend paid my $150 to spend a half day with Dick Vautrinot, a well-known nature photographer, photographing eagles and osprey from his pontoon boat. Fortunately he allowed me to use his Nikon D850 on my 200-500 lens. Following the session, I was able to save his settings on a SD card, which I downloaded onto mine, saving set up time.
My first test was the local Pro Rodeo in a very dark arena on a Friday evening. Even with pushing the ISO practically to the maximum, the images still maintained detail and sharpness. I was stoked.
Though heavy, I have found the body with heavy lens not too much a burden, except when trying to hand hold for any length of time on a subject.
I did notice two dust spots already, though I trust the sensor cleaning and some blowing will eliminate them. The bane of digital. Never a problem in film days.
I was also pleased to be able to use all the old lenses, programming them in. I still plan to purchase one or two wide primes and such down the road.
I also purchased a Western Digital 8TB hard drive so I can hopefully begin backing up some photos. Jordon unfortunately left for Italy before we could find the free Photoshop Express editing app for the MAC. The only one I can find is 99.99, or monthly.
So I am still stuck with editing on the iPhone.
But all in all, Stoked.
