All posts by G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell, photographer and visual opportunist focusing on the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, redwood forests, California oak/grasslands, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography and more. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Commentary, Tongue in Cheek

New Nikon Cameras – Should Canon Shooters Switch?

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I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz recently around the announcement of some very fine new cameras from Nikon. Among those who shoot Canon, there has been some angst about “jumping ship” and switching to Nikon. People are wondering – “Is it time to switch?”

Should you do it?

Actually, if you switch from Canon to Nikon, your photography will instantly achieve astonishing levels of beauty and effectiveness, and you will be able to print your photographs at least twice as large and with more 3D-effect, accurate rendering, and enhanced micro contrast. Viewers will marvel aloud at the lack of shadow noise banding and the remarkable freedom from distortion and aberrations in your work.

Golden hour light will become twice as golden. Pretty girls (or guys, depending) will gaze in compelling ways into your lens as soon as you lift your camera to your face. Your electronic flash will illuminate objects 2.7 times further from your camera position. Bald eagles will make at least three passes above the sunlit mountain when they see you at work, and the herd of moose will hold still in the beautiful meadow until the eagle has passed. Touchdown receptions will always occur at your end of the field and on your side of the field, with nice light from the side to highlight the handsome features of the receiver. Your children will be five times as photogenic and they will always be willing to recreate that wonderful expression that you missed the first time around – not that you’ll ever miss it if you switch! You will never miss an exposure or produce an out-of-focus shot again. The Ansel Adams gallery will be renamed: The [Insert Your Name] Gallery of Light. There will be a 3 pound 14-500mm f/2.8 IS zoom, and it will sell for well under $1000. (But it won’t come from Canon – you have my word!)

Just by asking the question, you have already set in motion a series of important events – National Geographic representatives are on their way to your door bearing contracts and generous travel expense vouchers. They aren’t worried that you’ll move pyramids in post – they know that the pyramids will move for you! At this very moment, thousands of people with expensive new gear and lots of free time are searching for your workshops on the web – you do have a web site, right? Photography companies are sending you free samples of everything they make. (Have room to store 18 tripods? Time to clean out that closet!) News of your upcoming solo exhibit at MOMA was just announced on their web site!

I’d switch if I were you. ;-)

Note: The coolest thing is that this works both ways!  Nikon shooters who think that a jump to Canon will improve their photography in wonderful and glorious ways can switch that direction and achieve exactly the same effects achieved by those Canon folks who switch to Nikon with the same goal! Except for that 14-500mm f/2.8 zoom, maybe… ;-)

(And… Thank you to 1001 Noise Cameras for sharing the link and the laughter over this one! ;-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Utah

Trees and Cliffs, Red Rock Canyon

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Trees and Cliffs, Red Rock Canyon - Scattered trees below eroded red sandstone cliffs, Red Rock Canyon State Park, Utah.
Scattered trees below eroded red sandstone cliffs, Red Rock Canyon State Park, Utah.

Trees and Cliffs, Red Rock Canyon. Red Canyon, Utah. April 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Scattered trees below eroded red sandstone cliffs, Red Rock Canyon State Park, Utah.

During out April Utah visit we drove from Zion National Park to Moab, where we would visit Arches and Canyonlands National Park. We debated whether to take the quick and efficient route or the slow and scenic route from Zion to Moab… and of course the slow and scenic route won out. This took us on a range to sometimes-twisty two-lane highways, starting with the Mt. Carmel road through Zion, then up through the Dixie National Forest, past Red Canyon and then Zion, across the drainage of the Escalante, through part of the Capitol Reef National Park, and finally taking a long, lonely road north to highway 70. There was a lot to see along this route – too much, actually, for the single travel day we had allocated to it.

On a trip filled with surprises – this was my first visit to Utah in a long, long time, and my first time photographing there – this day was filled with more than its share. Among them was the drive up Red Canyon. Being focused on the well-known national parks and monuments I had completely overlooked this place – but it turns out to be a wildly colorful place of brilliant red cliffs and towers, many very close to the highway as it ascends the canyon. I made this photograph very close to the beginning of the red rock country as we arrived from the west.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Sports

Sail Boat, San Francisco Bay

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Sail Boat, San Francisco Bay - A sailboat in morning light on the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, California.
A sailboat in morning light on the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, California.

Sail Boat, San Francisco Bay. San Francisco, California. April 20, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sailboat in morning light on the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, California.

Taking a momentary break from the continuing stream of photographs from Utah, here is a photograph from San Francisco. On one of the first spring-warm days of the year, I took the train to San Francisco very early and then spent the morning wandering around with my camera and a few lenses. In many ways, this is my preferred approach to shooting in San Francisco – to travel light and walk – since there so many instantaneous and surprising subjects that come and go so quickly. This is sort of my own brand of “Photo Walk” for one.

On this morning I got of the train just after sun rise and first wandered through the China Basin area, taking time to photograph a large construction site before heading back over toward the Embarcadero to walk along the waterfront. As I walked past AT&T Park, I noticed the bright backlit and slightly hazy sky over the Bay and began to look for ways to photograph it. A moment later I found a gap in the shoreline “stuff” where I could get a clear shot of the water, and I stopped to put a longer lens on the camera. Right at that moment – lucky me! – I noticed this solitary sailboat coming into the scene from the right and by working quickly I had time to get about a half dozen shots of it against the minimalist backdrop of the bay before another boat joined it and cluttered up the image.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.