beautiful 1050 ballistic nylon in steel

[maverick]

this is a full resolution image - i haven't resized it - just cropped a portion to show it.

i'd like to thank the smart alec for helping to produce this image...

oh, thank you also to the fine folks at tom bihn for designing, sewing and delivering this beautiful backpack! :)

[Darcy]

Great picture! Really shows the amazing weave of ballistic nylon.

[yeti]

It looks like little sideways "T"s...I'd never looked so closely at ballistic nylon before.

You must have a pretty fancy camera and good skills, maverick!

[maverick]

It looks like little sideways "T"s...I'd never looked so closely at ballistic nylon before.

You must have a pretty fancy camera and good skills, maverick!

the camera is a nikon d700 with nikon's 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and sb-900 flash. i was a long time canon user but left my old canon 5d for nikon's d700. i was torn between the 5d mark ii that canon was releasing and nikon's d700. i had been very happy with he image quality with the canon 5d. i wasn't looking for a larger image that the 5d mark ii would provide - in fact, i didn't want larger images. i also didn't care for shooting video with a dSLR at the time because the technology still needs to mature. what i was interested in was the improved high iso performance. what you can do with the 5d at 1600 iso, you can do at 6400 iso on the d700. the results on the 5d mark ii are arguably similar to those from the d700 at high iso's. the d700 has better build quality, in my opinion. the d700 was also less expensive (though i did have to sell canon glass and buy nikon glass).

so here i am, shooting with a nikon.

this image was taken at f/4.0, 1/60th second, iso 400, 40mm focal length, flash manually set, diffused and bounced off ceiling.

[pretzelb]

the camera is a nikon d700 with nikon's 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and sb-900 flash. i was a long time canon user but left my old canon 5d for nikon's d700. i was torn between the 5d mark ii that canon was releasing and nikon's d700. i had been very happy with he image quality with the canon 5d. i wasn't looking for a larger image that the 5d mark ii would provide - in fact, i didn't want larger images. i also didn't care for shooting video with a dSLR at the time because the technology still needs to mature. what i was interested in was the improved high iso performance. what you can do with the 5d at 1600 iso, you can do at 6400 iso on the d700. the results on the 5d mark ii are arguably similar to those from the d700 at high iso's. the d700 has better build quality, in my opinion. the d700 was also less expensive (though i did have to sell canon glass and buy nikon glass).

so here i am, shooting with a nikon.

this image was taken at f/4.0, 1/60th second, iso 400, 40mm focal length, flash manually set, diffused and bounced off ceiling.

You must be very good with a flash. I own a Canon XTi and I'm not very good but I do know it's hard to take a picture like this and not have it blown out or out of focus, at least for me it is.

I'm sometimes tempted to switch but most times I can never really see a huge reason to do so. If you read an article (by a good neutral source) about Nikon, then turn around and read another about a similar Canon, it's hard to see a big difference between the two. I almost think there isn't much of any when comparing like models. A few things like burst rate will sneak through, and might be critical to someone, but other than that they are very similar.

I will say that being able to shoot at a higher iso with good results is one feature I'm tempted by. My XTi does a decent job at 1600 but I often wonder what it would be like to have 3200 or 6400 available.

Back to the image, I am missing my Smart Alec more and more. If finances work out later this year I think I will get one again. I found the material to have a nice feel to it.

[maverick]

with regard to exposure and flash:

any direct light, including a flash, is very harsh.

if you can somehow diffuse the light, your subject will be more softly lit. think of a lamp at home. if you use it without a lampshade, a bright light bulb will provide this blinding bright light. but if you put a diffuser on top - call it a lampshade - you will have a soft, pleasant light. it's the same concept for the flash on a camera.

bouncing the light off of the ceiling (provided your ceiling isn't so high that there is no light from the flash to spill back at your subject) turns the ceiling into one big lampshade. of course, you have to get more light out of your flash to do this.

set the flash power manually and dial it to where you get the desired results. with time, you get to know what your flash can do and how best to use it in certain known situations. and for those funky situations, your experience will guide you on where to start - from there, you dial it up or down to get the desired results.

with regard to focus:

i have to admit i cheat a little. i use a magnified viewfinder on my d700. it makes it easier to see my subject :).

though, if you're really want to explore product photography, you may want to consider a light tent. you can purchase kits with light tents of various sizes or build your own.

You must be very good with a flash. I own a Canon XTi and I'm not very good but I do know it's hard to take a picture like this and not have it blown out or out of focus, at least for me it is.