A Leap of Faith
I did my time in the dark room. I felt what it must be like to be a newt, spending way too many hours in a room with blacked out windows, with nary a UV ray in sight. I smelt like a freshly embalmed cadaver and developed skill with clothing pegs and drying lines.
I spent good student cash on the best photographic paper. On fresh chemicals. On Illford film. It was all worth it, when I graduated with distinction. And then the whole world went digital. Sigh.
So I sold some things, begged borrowed and begged some more, and started from scratch again. I was set up, and I earned a living with the Nikon D70. Not a good living mind you, there was many a 2 minute noodle meal, but it felt good. The dark room was substituted for the PC and I discovered the joys and frustrations of Photoshop. Good times.
Within a year and a half the D70 was a dinosaur, and my heart was set on the D200. Surely this would be the answer to my noise and small image size woes?
For over 2 years we cared for each other my D200 and I. Slowly however, I realised that I didn’t know my camera as well as I should have, before gettng into the relationship. Too many times I would arrive home after a shoot to find the dirty dark secret she was hiding. In every dark corner it lurked. Mocking me and my photograpic skill. It was dirty, ugly and unnavoidable. It was excessive noise.
We decided to ignore each other and operate as well as we could, while our nemesis mocked us from the other side of the tracks, with its full frame sensor. The Canon 5D was everything I needed in a camera and more, and it killed me to admit it.
Then suddenly there was something in the air! A fresh scent that reminded one of new beginnings and hope. From over the horizon it came, trumpets heralding it’s arrival. It was a cool customer, with the maximum ammount of digital splendour that could possibly fit into its lean build. It had a power to weight ratio that Lance Armstrong would quiver when hearing about. And best of all, it had a full frame sensor. It was, it is……….THE D700!
In short I am probably going to take the plunge and buy this beauty of a camera. So if there is anything of mine you would like to buy, (equipment, furniture, body, soul?) just say the word and I will happily sell it to you. The outlay of cash is substantial. Like a second hand car substantial. Gulp.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of something beautiful.