D2X on its way here (sigh)

Calumet Photo in the US sent me an "in stock" email, so I decided to bite. Called a friend who's been wanting one of my really nice watches and sold it to him, then ordered the D2x. Worth paying for Saturday delivery as there's no sales tax for me. What put me over the edge was reading several times, and then hearing several times in person, that the D2X sits firmly in the middle of medium format film camera performance.

Weird note. I wanted to order a second battery. Calumet says they are out of stock, with delivery not anticipated until July 1. When I expressed total disbelief, he went and checked, and said that the July 1 date is per a Nikon email to them. What's happened about batteries?

Sure hope I don't need mine adjusted for good focus. Was at a gathering last night where some were speculating that the problem is caused by the big jump in sensor ability not being matched by an equally aggressive narrowing of tolerances for focus adjustments in final assembly line standards, so that some would be fine, some would miss, but the only issue would be tweaking. Interesting theory. I know it happens in a lot of manufacturing processes, where improvements in the design cause problems because there were not concomitant improvements in the manufacturing process tolerances.

 

First mongrel shots

So I don't know the camera very well, but I can say this for sure - the degree to which it captures detail is absolutely stunning. No, make that breathtaking. No, make that - nevermind, you get the point.

Just messing about with the various flora and fauna. And yes I know the colors are extreme, that's the point; I'm feeling around for the effect I get with Kodak Ektachrome VS and a mixture of flash and natural evening light.

All shot with the 60mm macro (I'm working on this Pure (color) series of images, so the experiments were very, very useful in getting me to consider abandoning the MF gear I've been shooting with to date...) All of the ones here were also shot with the SB800DX firing away.

 

Extra batteries are unnecessary until you need them

I have four batteries for my D100, because I use the screw in base. (For those who remember, I bought the base and then wondered why I wasted my money on it. The more I put it on the camera - initially out of frustration at feeling like I wasted my money, then out of a growing appreciation - the more I grew to love it.) Even with the D100s legendary battery life, I managed to find myself grateful on many occasions that I could swap out batteries. Am working on getting a shoot with one of the aid organizations in Africa, and have heard that you need enough batteries and CF or storage to go four to five days without mains power, shooting the full time.