Tag: Nikon D3400

Exploring four mountain landscapes ~ thoughts on aesthetic choices and gear limits

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In my previous post, I touched on the idea that gear limitations can have an impact on subject matter and aesthetic choices. Rather than work against the glass, it’s personally more rewarding to adapt to limits and consider other ways to make interesting photos. In this context, limits drive creative growth and learning.

As there was an abundance of wondrous mountains draped in heavy clouds, I made a decision to focus on the scale, shape, colour, and tonality of the landscape rather than the sharpest details. Knowing the optical limits of my telephoto lens changed my perspective.

Mountain landcape – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor 200mm DX VR lens

Distant landscapes are often hazy, and the details are difficult to record. Conditions were also overcast and regularly dull, further encouraging me to adapt and make deliberate  aesthetic choices.

My objective in this mountain series was to simply focus on framing form, shape, scale, and tone. Having a rough final image in mind, I made photographs that provided me the raw material for editing post-holiday.

Mountain landcape – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor 200mm DX VR lens

I set the White Balance to Fluorescent in Lightroom to make everything cold and slightly mysterious, emphasising the cloudy conditions. The 16:9 ratio crop choice also amplifies the scale of the mountains and encourages the viewer’s eye to travel their length, taking in tone, layering, and form.

During initial composition for the above photo, I deliberately framed it so the three visible mountain layers travelled to the right edge of the frame and terminated together. This provides visual interest, harmonises with the bulky layering at the leftmost edge of the frame, and serves as both entry and exit point for the viewer’s eye.

Mountain landcape – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor 200mm DX VR lens

In the photo above, you can just make out tiny white buildings at the bottom right of the frame, They sit at the foot of the mountains and look small, thus providing a sense of scale. I also like the dapples of sunlight near them, made muddy and indistinct by the Fluorescent White Balance choice.

Mountain landcape – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor 200mm DX VR lens

Blue mountains, orange clouds ~ two photo themes informed by limitations

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When deciding what camera gear to pack for a long holiday on the road, it’s true that I’ve never quite packed right. One can’t be prepared for all occasions and there’s always the thought in my mind that I need to pack light, lest I strain a muscle or two. As it turns out, I could have packed the optically superior 70-300mm Nikkor ED VR lens over the Nikkor 200mm DX VR. I should know by now that when deciding between packing light or packing heavier, but optically better, lenses, I should prioritise the better glass, even if it means a sore shoulder at the end of the day.

It’s not that the Nikkor 200mm is a terrible lens, it’s just old and performs better on older Nikon bodies that don’t demand so much resolving power from lenses. Even though the Nikon D3400 is a lightweight consumer-grade camera, Nikon still managed to squeeze in a top class crop sensor.

So, what to do when I need the extra reach that an optically questionable telephoto lens gives me, but it’s going to produce soft photos with lower contrast? This is where the available gear informs thought, idea, behaviour, and photographic practice. Optically inferior lenses are useful in their way ~ the shape and tonality of distant mountains shrouded in haze and evening mist – the colour of enormous clouds at sunrise. Even old glass is capable of good photos when limits are understood. If sharp detail isn’t possible, colour, tone, and shape may present as important themes, as in this case.

Mountains of blue, Townsville QLD – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor 200mm DX VR lens
Long morning clouds near the Gulf of Carpentaria, QLD – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor 200mm DX lens

A waterfall, tourists, and different camera generations

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Finally, I’ve started to edit some of the photos from the recent road-trip. I made so many that I’ll probably have editing fodder for the next two years! The recent laptop upgrade has taken up most of my spare time ~ copying thousands of files across, wrangling new software installs, and adapting to a non-OLED screen. The upside is that the new laptop features desktop power in a portable plastic shell, so any photo editing software runs as smooth as glass made by NASA for the latest Space Shuttle build.

The third of three waterfalls, Atherton Tableland – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor 35mm lens

On this day, we were driving through the Atherton Tableland, via Atherton and Herberton. Somewhere along the road, we happened on short walking trails for three waterfalls. Not having had an opportunity for hiking up to this point in the road-trip, we leapt at the chance to enjoy the cool forests in the area.

As serene as the waterfall looks, the mess of tourists waiting on the viewing platform to make photos was anything but quiet! Having made my way to the front, I hurriedly reached for my Nikon D3400 and made some quick photos. I’d screwed in the Circular Polariser to minimise the stray reflections on foliage and water. Using a slower shutter speed of 1/60th of a second blurred the fast-running water to give it a milky effect. Because I was using the Nikkor 35mm lens, such a slowish shutter speed was unlikely to cause a blurry image, as long as I was still enough. Even if I’d wanted to use a tripod for extra stability, finding room in the crowd was not going to be easy.

Within moments of completing those initial photos with the D3400, I pulled out the Nikon Z5 and made some more. After a minute or two of switching settings and trying different positions on the muddy viewing platform, I felt the pressure of the tourists behind me waiting for their turn.

Just as I was about to put away the camera, a guy approached me casually swinging his Sony A7III and asked me to make a photo of him and his family – “Always best to ask a person with a good looking camera, right?”, he said (I wondered what he might have thought if I’d been using a glacially slow 20 year old Finepix). After checking the settings – shutter priority and face recognition – I obliged and handed it back. Almost as soon as I’d done this, a young woman walked up to me and handed me a one-shot film camera. I made a photo of her and her young overseas tourist group and wound on the film.

From a Nikon D3400 to a Nikon Z5 to a Sony A7II and then a cheap film camera. As I was the last of our group still lingering, I quickly left the scene and made my way back to the waiting car.

Testing the Nikon D3400 and a low-priced DX telephoto lens classic

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The road-trip is only days away and the table is covered in camera gear. I’ve already rushed out to test the Viltrox 28mm pancake lens on the Z5 and found it to be unexpectedly sharp and unusual. I’m intending on packing the Nikon D3400 for the holiday because it’s light, small, and offers excellent quality images. With this in mind, I tested it at the local wetlands.

Yellow reeds at sunset – Nikon D3400 and Nikkor DX 55-200mm 4-5.6 G lens

I’ve always nurtured a soft spot for the Nikkor 55-200mm DX lens – the largely plastic construction belies better than expected optical quality. I sold my original version and purchased the 55-300mm DX Nikkor some years ago, thinking I needed the extra reach. Even though it’s not optically poor, it never had the personality of the 55-200mm. It was mushy and unattractive at 300mm unless stopped down to f8 at a minumum. The 55-200mm also offers more pleasing out of focus areas – or bokeh.

In use, the Nikon D3400 feels as plastic as it looks. The external buttons are functional and generally well-placed but offer hollow haptics beneath fingertips. I also kept moving the focus point because I was smushing the four-way pad on the back accidentally. It was one of Nikon’s lightest and cheapest entry-level cameras and certainly feels it.

Despite the build quality, the image quality is excellent. I have no complaints in my rushed testing. My outing was less about the characteristics of the attached lens and more about checking whether the camera itself was in good order after picking it up second-hand with just over 1000 shutter clicks. So far, so good…

When processing the raw file above, I found some odd behaviour in Lightroom. When choosing any one of Daylight, Cloudy, or Shade White Balance presets to see how they looked, a lot of green was added to the image, as you can see below. I don’t mind it, but I’m not sure why it’s happening.

Yellow reeds at sunset in green

Two black and whites and the joy of packing light

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Our road-trip is just around the corner and my thoughts have turned to packing camera gear – if I’m not charging batteries, I’m agonising over lenses or bag capacity!  Last year, I packed too much for the road. One evening on the aforementioned trip, I ended up clambering over red dirt-hills with two shoulder bags crammed with gear ~ each bag worn cross-bodied. I was fumbling with cameras, switching lenses at dusk in dusty conditions, jogging to catch the vanishing light, and dropping lens caps. At the time, I made a promise to pack more rationally for big trips like that. So, here I am again, with my camera stuff covering the table.

I see you in the dark corner – Nikon Z5 and Nikkor 40mm f2 lens

One thing I’ve always liked about the Nikon Corporation is that the engineers have never skimped on putting good quality digital sensors in their cameras at all pricing levels. Even in the 3xxx beginner DSLR line, the image making capacity has always been top-notch. This is why I’ve no qualms about packing a Nikon D3400 in my bag for the road ~ a 24.2 megapixel DSLR announced in 2016 that only weighs 395g without the battery or a lens. And the sensor in the D3400 is no slouch – it bests the Toshiba-made CMOS sensor in my beloved D7100. It has greater dynamic range, more colour depth, and excellent ISO range. It will sit right next to my Nikon Z5 very easily.

More importantly, the D3400 is so light! All of that photo-making capacity in such a light plastic body. For this road adventure, I think it will get a lot more use than my significantly heavier and bulkier D7100 did on the trip last year. It doesn’t have the speed of the high-end Nikon bodies and it lacks lots of external controls but none of that matters because my photography needs don’t cross into the high-speed fanaticism of sports or wildlife photography – apart, perhaps, from the odd photo of a sitting duck or two.

Empty chairs & night reflections – Nikon Z5

Since my needs are simple, a simple body will suffice. It’s a light camera that offers great image quality. The right tool for the right job, according to need. Nikon may brand it a beginner’s DSLR, but it offers more than enough control and photo-mojo for my needs: It enables me to make photos, it has a button I can program to change ISO, and it offers me plenty of control over light. Calling it a beginner DSLR is mostly about Nikon rationalising their camera lines and appealing to different kinds of photographers – you’re into fast sports? Get our super fast full–frame camera! You’re into photos of birthday parties? Get this beginner DSLR instead!

I’ve yet to really use the D3400 seriously, but it strikes me as an interesting camera. Released by Nikon at a time when small and sexy mirrorless cameras were fast taking market-share from the DSLR duopoly of Canon and Nikon, the D3400 seems like the last gasp of an old company that hadn’t quite realised the grim future of the bulky DSLR and they were desperately trying to downsize their cameras to appeal to consumers who were already buying into smaller and lighter mirrorless models.