More Time With The Nikon P7700

This is the second day of using the Nikon P7700 on my morning walks. I'm starting to think this would be the better "outdoor" camera. It brings a lot more to the game than my P7000, which has its own quirks, probably due to the dead internal battery. When I was in Red Bluff, I realized I never used the optical viewfinder, so the lack of one in the P7700 is really becoming a moot point. It will require more care in transport because, unlike the P7000, it doesn't  "batten down the hatches" when it's turned off. 

You never know what finds it way to the street these days. Whether it's airborne flotsam from an uncovered trashcan or a deliberate sidewalk art installation (I use that term loosely), they often have a story to tell, even if its one of my own creation. This appears to be a notepad made for somebody who misses somebody else very much.

One adjustment I needed to make was in the framing.  The P7700 doesn't have the 1.5x aspect ratio of the Fuji. Instead, it uses the 4/3 proportions of the Micro Four Thirds cameras. To the bad, it's neither 8 X 10 or 8 X 12, two formats I am more familiar with. Oh well, be understanding when you notice that the images are cropped to the more traditional 8 X 10 print. (I checked the specifications on the Fuji X10, and it too has a Four Thirds aspect ratio).

I've walked down this street dozens of time, but this morning, I was perplexed: Where was the rest of the snake? It took a while, but I concluded the snake was actually crawling into the house. Having a built in zoom lens made it easy to get the framing I wanted.

This motorcycle engine was lit by sunlight bounding off of a light-colored building behind me. This gave the housing a broad, almost glowing highlight with plenty of shadow detail. I converted the image to black and white using the the Remove Color function, a quick way to get that monochrome effect. 

It hadn't occurred to me that the engine was inherently monochromatic, but if you look at the thumbnail at the right, there wasn't that much color to begin with. The black and white conversion brings out the highlights better than the original.

I'm still fascinated when an object and its shadow are so different on a two-dimensional format. You'll probably recognize this as a street sign. Or not.

This Study In Turquois is a pop-up fence on  Irving Street. It shows the color as a highlight, a middle tone, and in shadow.

I noticed the light behind this gate decoration, and by zooming in as tightly as I could, I was able to transform the lamp into a glowing orange orb.  

Things wind up on the sidewalk for any number of reasons. In some neighborhoods, micro playgrounds have been created where children can play while their parents watch from nearby benches. I seriously doubt anybody would put this little play structure near a busy intersection, but you never know.

Believe it or not, I've been trying to make this image for years. If you look at the thumbnail at the right (side view), you can see that the photo was made while looking up, and into, the flower itself. Unlike the Fuji cameras I currently own, the Nikon's screen is fully reticulated, making this upshot easy to accomplish.

I am warming up to the P7700 more and more and missing the optical viewfinder less and less. However, I have noticed a difference in how I approach my photography. The rangefinder-esque layout of the Fuji X-E1 allowed me to watch my subject with my left eye while focusing and composing with the right. When using the P7700, I felt a certain disconnect when I was not looking directly at my subject. Holding this camera at arm's length essentially breaks that connection, removing me from the intimacy I've enjoyed using the Fuji. The experience pits looking through the camera at the subject (Fuji) against looking at a camera that is pointing at your subject (Nikon). I believe this to be a real shortcoming, something that distances me from the image or mood I'm trying to capture. But in this case, the Nikon's purpose is the make simple "snaps", not consciousness-raising, socially relevant documents of our time. 

Sea (or see) trials aren't finished yet.