Random Photography Thoughts

Any new photo gears may or may not help you take better pictures.  But most likely they will re-kindle your passion somewhat even if you're not exactly a gear head.

I don't think I ever suffer for my craft of photography except in monetary term.  But recently there were a couple of times that came close or actually qualified as suffering.  New York City was in frozen mode for the past few weeks or months.  It seems like the longest winter ever.  I was out taking pictures in the open for an hour or two.  Not only my fingers felt numb but they were also hurting badly.  I wore some thin gloves so I had better feel with the controls of the camera or so I thought.  I don't know if I had ever felt this kind of numbing pain when I was out skiing/snowboarding.   The pain was real and I thought how many fingers am I going to lose for my stupid photo expedition in the cold.  Luckily the number is none.

I pride myself surviving the cold and came back with pictures I am not ashamed of.  Surprisingly the Nikon D7000 and AF-D 80-200 f/2.8 worked well in the arctic cold.  One thing I discovered was some of my pictures had unnecessary high shutter speed and hence ISO.  I was shooting mostly shutter priority, manual with ISO auto max out at 6400, so essentially I am shooting auto.  I might even have picked aperture priority.  Anyway the point I am trying to make is my fingers are numb and all of a sudden the thumb wheel got turned inadvertently by my gloved fingers.  I honestly don't think it was an electronic malfunction on the part of the camera due to the cold.  This makes the case of big camera where the controls are bigger and not so cramped even with gloved hands.  Even the lowly D7000 can withstand cold below 10F for at least two three hours.

Another thing I experienced in the cold was over exposure.  One time when I was out shooting in the cold, I found my pictures at least over exposed by 2 or 3 stops with my AF-D 20-35 f/2.8, something I can tell right away looking at the camera LCD.  Initially I thought it must be the camera--because it just came back from Melville!  But later the following day I had second thought.  I think it could be the AF-D 20-35 f/2.8.  Though I must say I couldn't conclusively say that one way or another but my hunch is the cold make the aperture blades stick.  That's one theory I tend to believe.  I never had issues before or after with the AF-D 20-35 f/2.8 except that one time.  During that time, I dialed back the exposure compensation and kept chimping, essentially ruining the entire shooting experience.  If only I knew it--meaning the lens aperture, I would have chosen to shoot with f/2.8 the biggest aperture to avoid any opening and closing of the aperture.