D200 goes to the Metropolitan Museum

[jczinn]

I took my D200 to the Met yesterday. I got some good results, but I will confess these are NOT straight from the camera by a longshot. I used Auto WB and while the camera did an okay job I was not really happy with the WB out of the box, and did quite a bit of tweaking. Now, the musuem has extremely mixed lighting and its a tough situation for sure. Also, most all my shots were underexposed and I'm finding that the D200 is underexposing WAY more than my d100 did. I should have dialed in at least +.07 using the matrix meter--or even more. This is not a finding others have supported and in fact many have said quite the contrary, so I'm not sure if its my meter, or what. I may end up using the "fine tune" custom function to adjust this, if its truly consistent, but I have yet to take any straight outdoor scenics with straightforward light so I can't be sure.

On the upside I can't believe the fantastic results at ISO 800 and above. And the way the NEF's whip into shape with processing is nothing short of amazing. Makes shooting in a museum, handheld, a breeze.

All with Nikon 12-24, handheld, no flash.

ISO 800, 1/20, F7.1

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This shot was way underexposed but I only had a chance to grab one frame with the kid running, so I spent a lot of time fixing it up.
ISO 800, 1/80, F4

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The odd sky colors here I think is due to the weird glass or plexiglass of the windows.
ISO 400, 1/160, F7.1

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ISO 800, 1/30, F8

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ISO 800, 1/250, F6.3

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On the way back home to Brooklyn!
ISO 200, WB Daylight -2 (still needed correction due to shooting through car window), 1/500, F4.5 and no I wasn't driving!

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[Gale]

Hi Janet,
Beautiful images and your proccsing is great. Wish I could do so good.

I am using daylight -2.. But shooting conditions for me are far different than what you shot above. May just be the place and light your shooting there..

I think the camera is doing a great job. Your images are sharp and look great.

 

[Frits]

Janet, your #2 is gorgeous! Great lines and the little girl completes the overall effect beautifully.

 

[Rich Gibson]

I agree with frits. The second one would not be as striking without the child. The contrast of the abstract color panels with the child really click (pardon the oun!)

Rich

 

[beaucamera]

Great job, Janet. Glad you're enjoying your new toy. It's good to have report like yours with first hand experience with the D200. Learning how to achieve results under different shooting and lighting circumstances is very helpful.

Many thanks and Happy New Year!

Virginia
aka beaucamera

 

[greyflash]

Beautiful shots Janet. The little girl walking by the colored panels is my favorite but they are all very nice.

 

[mike mac]

Janet I love the one with the little girl it is fantastic, Hopefully the mixed lighting of the museum played havoc on the WB I cant wait to see some scapes and some more birdies

 

[jczinn]

Thanks everyone, I think what really impressed me most about this particular outing was how much I could "salvage" from what would probably have been a throw-away shot with the d100. You would not believe what that shot with the girl and the colored panels looked like pre-processing. At 800 ISO and even after boosting exposure over a full stop in Capture--still workable. BTW, that's an Ellsworth Kelly painting if anyone is curious :wink:

 

[EdMac]

Museum Shots

Great job Janet. I am glad to see that the D200 is working out so well. Hopefully your exposure will be better in outside daylight. Anyway, the shots are great even with the post processing.
Happy New Year.:smile:

 

[PixelPete]

Hi Janet,I like them all.Nice compositions.That last one pretty impressive for being shot through the window.

 

[Phil K]

Beautiful images, Janet.

 

[SRA]

Impressive posting. All your shots are very good. What impresses me, on all your shots, is the lighting.

 

[dbirdsong]

The more I look at the second one, that child should be sent a check for being such a good model.
:biggrin:

That is a master piece... thanks for sharing.

 

[RFCGRAPHICS]

Hi Janet,

Great series of images as always. I was just at the Metropolitan last week. Guess we had the same idea :smile: My experiences are similar to yours, iso 800 - 1000 is not a problem compared to our good ole D100s. Hope you are enjoying your new camera, look forward to seeing more of your images.


Regards

RFC

 

[jczinn]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments!

Hi Janet,

Great series of images as always. I was just at the Metropolitan last week. Guess we had the same idea :smile: My experiences are similar to yours, iso 800 - 1000 is not a problem compared to our good ole D100s. Hope you are enjoying your new camera, look forward to seeing more of your images.


Regards

RFC

RFC, of course I was thinking of your wonderful shots as I wandered there. No way could I get a shot like yours of the main hall (and I tried, but failed miserably!) I did of course notice that you'd found that same picture location as I did in the modern art gallery--I admit that my shot was a homage to yours :smile: Honestly I was thinking, "let me see if I can get this half as well as RFC's version--and I think I got it about half as well :wink: But, mainly I was experimenting to see how the D200 handled the higher ISO's and the mixed light, and I was happy with the results!