After I posted my little fireside chat, received a bunch of emails saying basically, “Didn’t know it was so small.” Yes, the Df is smaller than the D4. You can see here, it is much smaller physically yet a powerhouse inside. Yes, the Df while it shares the same sensor as the D4, that’s really about all it shares. As many know, I’ve been looking for another D4, a “beater” that I could use as a knock around. Well Nikon I think heard what I was looking for and made the Df just for me because it fits my needs for a FX, small camera perfectly!
Ya, I dig the Df! In fact, it’s been my go to camera body since it arrived on my desk. Why? Well, I’ve had a number of folks ask that and other things about the body. I hope this video begins to answer those questions. And in case you missed it, you might look at this other posts of mine on the Df.
I’ve been enjoying the image quality of the Df. After seeing the DxoMark stating how the Df is better than the D4 (which is pretty amazing) I wanted to see in the real world if that is the case. So when we visited the Sandbar Mitchell project, I shot with the D4 at ISO1600. Since I shoot A LOT of restoration projects and often shoot with just available light, I knew this would be a great test for the Df’s noise performance.
What you see here is a severe crop of the base of the seats in the darkest part of this B-25J cockpit (red square top photo). You can see rivet and nuts head detail in the crop. That is pretty darn sweet to me. Na, I haven’t done a side by side between the D4 and the Df. But I did shoot a project with the Df and it did a really good job, great job. So between what DxoMark said and what my own real world shoot show, I have all the confidence in the world in the Df’s ability to deal with noise. Just one more feature showing this isn’t a camera just for nostalgia.
On our recent trip to Ann Arbor, I took just the Df, 50f1.4AFS & 18-35AFS (P7800 & SB-300 as well) because I wanted to put the Df though more real world work (I’ll be commenting on it all week). I just wanted to show you that it actually is a tough camera today. Many seemed to have gotten the impression the Df isn’t built well, quite the contrary! Whenever I get new gear, I abuse it just to make sure that a year after purchase, I have something still performs like new. The Df is solid construction and up to this point, handling with ease everything I’m throwing at it!
Note: photos taken by Sharon with her V2 which can also take the weather!
Back in the old days, prior to the blog, we had Moose News, an email blast we’d send out with Moose news. Once the blog went live, Moose News went away. Recently, a bunch of folks have called the office asking how folks are able to sign up for our workshops before they are announced on the blog. It’s because folks who have already attended our workshop be emailed when we have new offerings. With so many receiving their emails on their smart device, many of asked why not bring back Moose News. Well, we came up with a simple email list using MailChimp. So, fill out the form below and when we have something like a new workshop (have two news ones coming in 2014) you’ll receive an email and be the first to know. No, you won’t receive a ton of emails from us so you will have to watch for those that come. We’re keeping it simple, hope to stay in touch with a whole bunch more of you in the future.
