Bob, here's the rub about the P(ark your brains) Mode on the D3. The
metering system is that 3D-color matrix thingamabob as first expoited in the
F5. Well, even that is a variation of the one in the F4, but the F4 was very
hit and miss as to success rate. Regardless, the F5's metering system was
very stout and the camera could be used in any auto mode without fear. The
D3 not only carries on that tradition, but has further evolved where the
camera really slices up the bacon when it's frying time.
This all reminds me of the ansel adams hyper-picky metering. Every wannabe
AA with a view-camera is using the pentax spot-meter to get 30 readings,
consults a pocket noteboook, writes down a bunch of stuff, stares at the
scene some more, repeats the whole process two or three times and then ends
up with the same exposure as if they would have just stuck in incident meter
in the air to begin with.
To quote our current favorite lunatic: "DUH! WINNING!"
So, I guess what I'm saying is that it never hurts to test out alternative
working methods and constantly be learning. My day job is in the
communications industry. It is vital, no, critical, that I'm constantly
learning. Technology is changing so rapidly that if I'm not studying at
least five hours a week I'm falling behind--and even at that, I'm
struggling. I'm typically reading, studying and learning between five and
ten hours every week (in addition to 50-60 hours of work) and the more I
learn, the more I realize that I'm not keeping up. Same with photography. In
the past six month, I've not been able to devote much of any time to
photography and it shows.
To give a clue as to the rapidly changing communications world: Literally
six months ago I designed two massive DWDM/10G Layer2 networks. Somewhere
just under a hundred nodes massive. When I designed it, it literally was not
only state-of-the-art, but something so cutting-edge in overall design that
three major vendors chose to use my design as the basis for how to engineer
for this type of application for other clients. Within my own company, my
design gained adoption. (The design was create, fresh, but oh so
obvious--I'm smart, but not THAT smart). Needless to say, it has taken on a
very high profile--well beyond my pay-grade.
So, here we are, six months later, actually installing and turning up the
system. The total amount of bandwidth and channels assigned on said system
has not just doubled, but tripled! Instead of a single 10G ring servicing a
certain area, now there are three--and with the potential of being up to
five or six by the end of the year. Of course, that has me a little
concerned because I can accomodate eight... 100G cannot come soon enough!
Anyway, back to photography, there was a day and age where I felt that I was
actually being innovative and fresh with photography and applying technology
to a desired outcome. An example would be my heavily customized tripod. But
this level of innovation requires three things: Study, Time and
Practice/Testing. The studying portion, for me, often times comes from
reverse-engineering other things that have nothing to do with photography.
The time portion is pretty self-evident. One reason why Jim Nichols's shots
are improving so much lately is because he's spending a lot more time doing
them. Practice/Testing. It's one thing to read about stuff, but you got to
actually try them out yourself. Only YOU can learn for yourself. I cannot
learn for you.
How do I know how a camera will respond under certain circumstances?
Practice and test under those circumstances. That way, when confronted with
those circumstances in the real world you know instinctively how to respond.
Most people (myself included) tend to just fall back onto the tried and true
methods--the safe zone.
AG
AG
--
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