Digbeth, June 11th
I can picture Skizz holding this…
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Last day as caretaker today. In retrospect it was good to work out the week after hearing I hadn’t got the job, allowing me to put it all to bed and move on, although I was aware that I’d just reached that point in a job where I’d comfortably settled in. Quite an odd feeling, being attached to a job after all this time. Still, it’s on one of my cycle routes so I can always pop in for a cuppa (and maybe revisit that tunnel…)
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I realised that this week I’d been avoiding going out for extended photography trips despite planning them, which was strange. Then I realised why. I’d loaded a film into the Nikon F5 and really wasn’t looking forward to dragging about the place, beast that it is. So today I bit the bullet and headed for the Selly Oak graffiti gardens where I knew I could rattle off 36 shots with no problem. Allowing for the fact that I’ve fitted it with an old manual lens, and therefore not using a fraction of the automatic functions, I’m resolutely unimpressed. Mostly this is down to the weight. It’s like carrying a couple of house bricks around your neck and I was sweating like a pig by the time I got home. I can’t believe pro-photographers used to carry these sorts of things around, not to mention all the extras that go with it.
Of course in the pre-digital days if you wanted auto-focus and auto-exposure you needed this kind of kit but these days it’s a serious case of overkill. (That said, I did like the extra shutter button on the side for portrait shots.)
This post may vanish for a while when the F5 goes on eBay!
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Tomorrow (Saturday) I’m off to the Kings Heath Carnival, partly for the photo opportunities and partly because it just seems really mad. Dogs jumping through fire, a junior school heavy metal band, donkey rides and “Mad Dominic”. If it goes well I’ll be endeavoring to go to all the local carnivals and festivals over the next month: Bournville (24 June), Northfield (1 July), Moseley (a whole week but mainly 1-2 July) and any others that cross my path. It’s all rather fête-tastic!
Re the F5. I know what you mean about its weight. The D200 is so much easier to handle (though I do miss the second shutter release). On the other hand, the F5 is built like a tank. I reckon you could go to war with this thing and do a lot of damage with it and still be able to take photos. Although it’s heavy, it does have good ergonomics and sits well in the hand, enabling steady shots where smaller, lighter cameras might introduce some shake. Of course, you might be photographing portraits of people’s feet ;)
Your right, once it was hoisted up into position it was very nice to take photos with. It was the hoisting that got me down. ;)