Album 995 flash shots in complete darkness.

I was surprised to see when I took a flash shot in complete darkness that the subject was correctly in focus (auto-focus). How is this possible? I don't know. I have no assist light which helps the camera to focus also the green led light does not confirm focus lock.

Look at my album:
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995Flash/

This album needs some explanation:
Picture 1037: this picture has no correct focus. Macro ON.
Picture 1038: focus is correct, macro OFF, no red eye correction.

Picture 1052: macro ON. The subject (1 feet) is correctly focused except for the lower site of the picture. (maybe I went a little bit too close)
Picture 1053: macro off. The subject (1 feet) is not focused correctly.

Picture 1048: another close-up shot.

You can see if the subject is more than 2 feet away (just an estimation) in macro mode the picture is out of focus. If it is closer then 2 feet, it is just the opposite. (See picture 1052 and 1053).

Conclusion: if you want to take pictures in complete darkness when the subject is 3 feet away or further make sure the macro mode is turned OFF.
If you take a close-up shot, turn macro ON put don’t get too close.

Is this the same with the 990?
The F metering is 2.6 so how is this possible?
Do I make a fool of myself to make these conclusions?

See also my other album (click below). Remember all pictures are taken in complete darkness and single auto focus mode ON.
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995FlashAll/

--Jan

Very interesting Jan, Thanks for the pictures. It is amazing how the camera focuses in darkness.. Jerry

Jan Struyf said:

I was surprised to see when I took a flash shot in complete
darkness that the subject was correctly in focus (auto-focus). How
is this possible? I don't know. I have no assist light which
helps the camera to focus also the green led light does not confirm
focus lock.

Look at my album:
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995Flash/

This album needs some explanation:
Picture 1037: this picture has no correct focus. Macro ON.
Picture 1038: focus is correct, macro OFF, no red eye correction.
Picture 1052: macro ON. The subject (1 feet) is correctly focused
except for the lower site of the picture. (maybe I went a little
bit too close)
Picture 1053: macro off. The subject (1 feet) is not focused
correctly.

Picture 1048: another close-up shot.

You can see if the subject is more than 2 feet away (just an
estimation) in macro mode the picture is out of focus. If it is
closer then 2 feet, it is just the opposite. (See picture 1052 and
1053).
Conclusion: if you want to take pictures in complete darkness when
the subject is 3 feet away or further make sure the macro mode is
turned OFF.
If you take a close-up shot, turn macro ON put don’t get too
close.

Is this the same with the 990?
The F metering is 2.6 so how is this possible?
Do I make a fool of myself to make these conclusions?

See also my other album (click below). Remember all pictures are
taken in complete darkness and single auto focus mode ON.
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995FlashAll/

--
Jan

Click to expand...

I forgot to mention. I used ISO 200.

Jan

Jerry said:

Jan Struyf said:

I was surprised to see when I took a flash shot in complete
darkness that the subject was correctly in focus (auto-focus). How
is this possible? I don't know. I have no assist light which
helps the camera to focus also the green led light does not confirm
focus lock.

Look at my album:
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995Flash/

This album needs some explanation:
Picture 1037: this picture has no correct focus. Macro ON.
Picture 1038: focus is correct, macro OFF, no red eye correction.
Picture 1052: macro ON. The subject (1 feet) is correctly focused
except for the lower site of the picture. (maybe I went a little
bit too close)
Picture 1053: macro off. The subject (1 feet) is not focused
correctly.

Picture 1048: another close-up shot.

You can see if the subject is more than 2 feet away (just an
estimation) in macro mode the picture is out of focus. If it is
closer then 2 feet, it is just the opposite. (See picture 1052 and
1053).
Conclusion: if you want to take pictures in complete darkness when
the subject is 3 feet away or further make sure the macro mode is
turned OFF.
If you take a close-up shot, turn macro ON put don’t get too
close.

Is this the same with the 990?
The F metering is 2.6 so how is this possible?
Do I make a fool of myself to make these conclusions?

See also my other album (click below). Remember all pictures are
taken in complete darkness and single auto focus mode ON.
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995FlashAll/

--
Jan

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jan Struyf said:

I was surprised to see when I took a flash shot in complete
darkness that the subject was correctly in focus (auto-focus). How
is this possible? I don't know.

Click to expand...

Neither do I, but it makes me want to buy a 995 and do spy stuff with it.

Iam also a happy owner of Nikon 995 and i tried your experience and got same results and it worked also in ISO 100 ,,

The camera is so super its a lot more than my expectations was ,,, in auto mode though it has some problems with white balance in indoor lighting if not using manual preset....................btw i have firmware version 1.5 ......

will have some more fun with camera now ,,,,and thanks all people here in the forums ,, you have been very helpful to help me with come to a conclusion of what camera i finally got ,, THANK YOU all

Yonor,

Great new that it works for you too, it confirms my results. Thanks you to let us know.

Jan

Yonor said:

Iam also a happy owner of Nikon 995 and i tried your experience and
got same results and it worked also in ISO 100 ,,
The camera is so super its a lot more than my expectations was
,,, in auto mode though it has some problems with white balance in
indoor lighting if not using manual preset....................btw i
have firmware version 1.5 ......

will have some more fun with camera now ,,,,and thanks all people
here in the forums ,, you have been very helpful to help me with
come to a conclusion of what camera i finally got ,, THANK YOU all

Click to expand...

I love my 990, but its inability to focus in low room light often causes me to miss shots.

Can anyone here provide an explanation -- or speculation -- on how the 995 is doing such a great job focusing in low (or no) ambient light?

For me, this would be the most compelling reason to upgrade from the 990.

I am sure they use either infrared or ultra sonic techniques used in other industries. This feature alone worth upgrading to 995
Mark

Tony said:

I love my 990, but its inability to focus in low room light often
causes me to miss shots.

Can anyone here provide an explanation -- or speculation -- on how
the 995 is doing such a great job focusing in low (or no) ambient
light?

For me, this would be the most compelling reason to upgrade from
the 990.

Click to expand...

Mr M44323 said:

I am sure they use either infrared or ultra sonic techniques ...

Click to expand...

ultrasonic seems very unlikely to me: bulky, and forces focus to the closest (not the most centered) object.

Infrared seems possible ... but if Nikon has added this capability to the camera, why in heaven's name haven't they mentioned it in their press releases???

Is it possible that the camera, when it can't find anything to focus on, simply defaults to an 'average' subject distance , say 10 feet in non-macro and 1 foot in macro?

Jan Struyf said:

I was surprised to see when I took a flash shot in complete
darkness that the subject was correctly in focus (auto-focus). How
is this possible? I don't know. I have no assist light which
helps the camera to focus also the green led light does not confirm
focus lock.

Look at my album:
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995Flash/

This album needs some explanation:
Picture 1037: this picture has no correct focus. Macro ON.
Picture 1038: focus is correct, macro OFF, no red eye correction.
Picture 1052: macro ON. The subject (1 feet) is correctly focused
except for the lower site of the picture. (maybe I went a little
bit too close)
Picture 1053: macro off. The subject (1 feet) is not focused
correctly.

Picture 1048: another close-up shot.

You can see if the subject is more than 2 feet away (just an
estimation) in macro mode the picture is out of focus. If it is
closer then 2 feet, it is just the opposite. (See picture 1052 and
1053).
Conclusion: if you want to take pictures in complete darkness when
the subject is 3 feet away or further make sure the macro mode is
turned OFF.
If you take a close-up shot, turn macro ON put don’t get too
close.

Is this the same with the 990?
The F metering is 2.6 so how is this possible?
Do I make a fool of myself to make these conclusions?

See also my other album (click below). Remember all pictures are
taken in complete darkness and single auto focus mode ON.
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995FlashAll/

--
Jan

Click to expand...

Wait just a minute...Am I understanding you right? You're standing in total darkness and getting this picture? Can the G1 do this? Total darkness? Seriously? What am I missing, here?

Hi Jan,

Maybe you just got lucky. Over the course of three weeks, I experimented with a CP880. One of the things I tested informally was the camera's low-light capabilities. What I found when shooting in low light conditions (all the way to completely darkened room) was that sometimes my shots were in focus and sometimes they were not. There was no corelation between camera settings and shot success. I didn't try the "turn the LCD monitor off to aid low-light focus" trick that some 990 owners are recommending. Sure, the 880 isn't quite in the same class as the 995, but I doubt that the 995's low-light capabilites are good enough to focus in complete darkness without any focus aids.

-- BG

Jan Struyf said:

I was surprised to see when I took a flash shot in complete
darkness that the subject was correctly in focus (auto-focus). How
is this possible? I don't know. I have no assist light which
helps the camera to focus also the green led light does not confirm
focus lock.

Look at my album:
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995Flash/

This album needs some explanation:
Picture 1037: this picture has no correct focus. Macro ON.
Picture 1038: focus is correct, macro OFF, no red eye correction.
Picture 1052: macro ON. The subject (1 feet) is correctly focused
except for the lower site of the picture. (maybe I went a little
bit too close)
Picture 1053: macro off. The subject (1 feet) is not focused
correctly.

Picture 1048: another close-up shot.

You can see if the subject is more than 2 feet away (just an
estimation) in macro mode the picture is out of focus. If it is
closer then 2 feet, it is just the opposite. (See picture 1052 and
1053).
Conclusion: if you want to take pictures in complete darkness when
the subject is 3 feet away or further make sure the macro mode is
turned OFF.
If you take a close-up shot, turn macro ON put don’t get too
close.

Is this the same with the 990?
The F metering is 2.6 so how is this possible?
Do I make a fool of myself to make these conclusions?

See also my other album (click below). Remember all pictures are
taken in complete darkness and single auto focus mode ON.
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995FlashAll/

--
Jan

Click to expand...

BG,

Luck? certainly not. I tried it again and again

Today I tried to take a flashshot were I couldn't focus (very dark) from a distance of 1, 2, 3 and 4 meters and the picture still looked quite sharp. At half a meter distance it was unsharp. I tried the same flashshot but with low light so the camera could focus at half a meter everything sharp. At 1 meter and the picture was a little bit sharper then the non focused shot at 1 meter (3 feet). I didn't compare the 2, 3 and 4 meters yet.

The theory from Phil Weinberger may be correct. The 995 may settle to a fix focus distance which could give a reasonable sharp image for the internal flash range (9 meters).

The conclusion may be if you take a flashshot and for some reason your camera focus system doesn't work it still get a reasonable sharp image. I never could do this with my previous digital camera.

Jan

Big Gulp said:

Maybe you just got lucky. Over the course of three weeks, I
experimented with a CP880. One of the things I tested informally
was the camera's low-light capabilities. What I found when
shooting in low light conditions (all the way to completely
darkened room) was that sometimes my shots were in focus and
sometimes they were not. There was no corelation between camera
settings and shot success. I didn't try the "turn the LCD monitor
off to aid low-light focus" trick that some 990 owners are
recommending. Sure, the 880 isn't quite in the same class as the
995, but I doubt that the 995's low-light capabilites are good
enough to focus in complete darkness without any focus aids.

-- BG

Jan Struyf said:

I was surprised to see when I took a flash shot in complete
darkness that the subject was correctly in focus (auto-focus). How
is this possible? I don't know. I have no assist light which
helps the camera to focus also the green led light does not confirm
focus lock.

Look at my album:
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995Flash/

This album needs some explanation:
Picture 1037: this picture has no correct focus. Macro ON.
Picture 1038: focus is correct, macro OFF, no red eye correction.
Picture 1052: macro ON. The subject (1 feet) is correctly focused
except for the lower site of the picture. (maybe I went a little
bit too close)
Picture 1053: macro off. The subject (1 feet) is not focused
correctly.

Picture 1048: another close-up shot.

You can see if the subject is more than 2 feet away (just an
estimation) in macro mode the picture is out of focus. If it is
closer then 2 feet, it is just the opposite. (See picture 1052 and
1053).
Conclusion: if you want to take pictures in complete darkness when
the subject is 3 feet away or further make sure the macro mode is
turned OFF.
If you take a close-up shot, turn macro ON put don’t get too
close.

Is this the same with the 990?
The F metering is 2.6 so how is this possible?
Do I make a fool of myself to make these conclusions?

See also my other album (click below). Remember all pictures are
taken in complete darkness and single auto focus mode ON.
http://users.pandora.be/jan.struyf2/995FlashAll/

--
Jan

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jan

You're right, it's not just luck.

I picked up my 995 a couple of days ago (upgrading from the 990 and previously the 950) and having seen this thread, decided to try it for myself. Couldn't believe the results!

First of all, i went into a pitch-black room, door closed, no light at all. Just aimed the camera in the general direction of the bookcase on the wall and hey presto! one perfectly focused picture. Tried it several times with different distances.

Next decided to try outside. I'm almost in the country so no city lights or reflections off the cloud. Impossible to see anything, not even a hand in front of my face. Found a pile of bricks, stepped back a couple of paces, aimed the camera in the general direction and again, another perfectly focused shot! Again, tried with different distances and still got good results.

I wondered if the camera was setting a small aperture to get a great depth of field so that almost everything would be in focus but i found that the camera did use different apertures down to (up to?) 2.6. Also it's possible to "feel" it focus just as though it were full daylight.

I've just been outside to try out this function again, this time deliberately with different zoom settings and different distances and i must say the results are still very impressive.

[I've never posted a photo on this forum before so please forgive me if this doesn't work.]

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1535453&a=13337888&p=50699519

The picture is not spectacular nor particularly interesting but it does illustrate what is possible in total darkness.

I've upgraded to the 995 from the 990 and i'm very happy i did. The 950 was good, the 990 was very good but the 995 is top-notch. I haven't even used it in daylight yet but already i'm impressed by the features and the implementation.

Chris L
Melbourne, Oz

Jan Struyf said:

Luck? certainly not. I tried it again and again
Today I tried to take a flashshot were I couldn't focus (very dark)
from a distance of 1, 2, 3 and 4 meters and the picture still
looked quite sharp. At half a meter distance it was unsharp. I
tried the same flashshot but with low light so the camera could
focus at half a meter everything sharp. At 1 meter and the picture
was a little bit sharper then the non focused shot at 1 meter (3
feet). I didn't compare the 2, 3 and 4 meters yet.
The theory from Phil Weinberger may be correct. The 995 may settle
to a fix focus distance which could give a reasonable sharp image
for the internal flash range (9 meters).

The conclusion may be if you take a flashshot and for some reason
your camera focus system doesn't work it still get a reasonable
sharp image. I never could do this with my previous digital camera.

Jan

Big Gulp said:

Hi Jan,

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Chris,

Isn't that amazing. When I went to my cellar in my office (day time, I wanted some darkness), I asked to one of my colleges: could you come downstairs I want to take some pictures from you. He said: You are crazy. I told him, I want to prove something to the world. He looked at me and didn't say anything anymore (He was thinking this is not crazy but hopeless).

Now somebody at other side of the world send a picture of some bricks in the dark. I should have taken this shot. I live in bricks country, Belgium (just choking).

Thanks Chris it’s nice to see that somebody on the other site of the world reads you post. Enjoy your camera and post some other picture from your incredible country. Don’t be afraid this Nikon site is not an art museum.

Chris, you are one of the few people which have both the 990 and the 995. After you had some time to play with your new camera, tell us more about differences with the 990.

Thanks,
Jan

Chris L said:

You're right, it's not just luck.

I picked up my 995 a couple of days ago (upgrading from the 990 and
previously the 950) and having seen this thread, decided to try it
for myself. Couldn't believe the results!

First of all, i went into a pitch-black room, door closed, no light
at all. Just aimed the camera in the general direction of the
bookcase on the wall and hey presto! one perfectly focused picture.
Tried it several times with different distances.

Next decided to try outside. I'm almost in the country so no city
lights or reflections off the cloud. Impossible to see anything,
not even a hand in front of my face. Found a pile of bricks,
stepped back a couple of paces, aimed the camera in the general
direction and again, another perfectly focused shot! Again, tried
with different distances and still got good results.

I wondered if the camera was setting a small aperture to get a
great depth of field so that almost everything would be in focus
but i found that the camera did use different apertures down to (up
to?) 2.6. Also it's possible to "feel" it focus just as though it
were full daylight.

I've just been outside to try out this function again, this time
deliberately with different zoom settings and different distances
and i must say the results are still very impressive.

[I've never posted a photo on this forum before so please forgive
me if this doesn't work.]

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1535453&a=13337888&p=50699519

The picture is not spectacular nor particularly interesting but it
does illustrate what is possible in total darkness.

I've upgraded to the 995 from the 990 and i'm very happy i did. The
950 was good, the 990 was very good but the 995 is top-notch. I
haven't even used it in daylight yet but already i'm impressed by
the features and the implementation.

Chris L
Melbourne, Oz

Jan Struyf said:

Luck? certainly not. I tried it again and again
Today I tried to take a flashshot were I couldn't focus (very dark)
from a distance of 1, 2, 3 and 4 meters and the picture still
looked quite sharp. At half a meter distance it was unsharp. I
tried the same flashshot but with low light so the camera could
focus at half a meter everything sharp. At 1 meter and the picture
was a little bit sharper then the non focused shot at 1 meter (3
feet). I didn't compare the 2, 3 and 4 meters yet.
The theory from Phil Weinberger may be correct. The 995 may settle
to a fix focus distance which could give a reasonable sharp image
for the internal flash range (9 meters).

The conclusion may be if you take a flashshot and for some reason
your camera focus system doesn't work it still get a reasonable
sharp image. I never could do this with my previous digital camera.

Jan

Big Gulp said:

Hi Jan,

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks, Jan. I think one of the most amazing, and liberating, features of the Internet is that ordinary people (I class myself as that though I don't know about others on this forum!) can communicate easily and share ideas wherever they are. It's many years since I last travelled in Europe; I'm afraid I mainly travelled through Belgium although I did spend a little time in Antwerp, a lovely place.

I've been a keen photographer for most of my life but I'm not a professional nor an expert. You are prompting me to do something about the photographs I take -- generally, only a few photographer friends get to see them. Last year I took over 1500 shots with the 990 on a trip to Central Australia and I'm still trying to organise these in some sort of way for presentation. It's a photographer's paradise -- the air so clear, the colours so rich and vibrant, no enhancement needed!

Just to whet your appetite, I've added a photo below, taken ten minutes before the sun disappeared below the horizon. The colours are real!

Yes, I had thought of posting something about the 995, particularly after some negative comments in this forum. I don't have money to spare so I considered very carefully before upgrading to the 995. It was certainly an easier decision to upgrade from the 950 to the 990 but after studying all the information, I decided that the 995 would be a worthwhile upgrade.

I haven't taken any pictures in daylight yet but already I'm very pleased to have made the move to the 995. There are some new features which promise great things such as the white-balance bracketing -- I've already used that and I can see that being useful, and some of the existing features have been improved or enhanced.

I like the change to the inbuilt flash but not for the reasons most people espouse. Yes, red-eye was a constant problem but fairly easily removed with all sorts of packages and I'm not sure how much difference the new arrangement will make. The reason I like the new flash arrangement is that for me it is the quickest way to put the flash on or off. Now that I am getting a little older and need reading glasses, the little icons on the LCD screen are quite hard to distinguish, particularly in low light so with the 990, I was never quite sure whether the flash was set on or off unless I went to the trouble of putting my glasses on. Now it's simple -- flash down, no flash; flash flicked up, flash, and with the flash up I just get the options appropriate to flash, ie flash when needed, red-eye reduction, fill-in flash or slow synch. Much easier, at least for me.

There's much more I've already found out about the camera but I'll save this for another thread.

Thanks again for your comments.

Chris L
Melbourne, Oz

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1535453&a=13303586&p=50727308

Jan Struyf said:

Chris,

Isn't that amazing. When I went to my cellar in my office (day
time, I wanted some darkness), I asked to one of my colleges: could
you come downstairs I want to take some pictures from you. He
said: You are crazy. I told him, I want to prove something to the
world. He looked at me and didn't say anything anymore (He was
thinking this is not crazy but hopeless).
Now somebody at other side of the world send a picture of some
bricks in the dark. I should have taken this shot. I live in
bricks country, Belgium (just choking).

Thanks Chris it’s nice to see that somebody on the other site
of the world reads you post. Enjoy your camera and post some other
picture from your incredible country. Don’t be afraid this
Nikon site is not an art museum.
Chris, you are one of the few people which have both the 990 and
the 995. After you had some time to play with your new camera,
tell us more about differences with the 990.

Thanks,
Jan

Click to expand...

Chris,

I'm living 10 km away from Antwerp.

Thanks for your reply. With this picture you sent us, I feel myself in the middle of Australia myself. Very very nice.

Good idea, start a new thread about your experience with 995 against the 990. Take your time.
Jan

Chris L said:

I've been a keen photographer for most of my life but I'm not a
professional nor an expert. You are prompting me to do something
about the photographs I take -- generally, only a few photographer
friends get to see them. Last year I took over 1500 shots with the
990 on a trip to Central Australia and I'm still trying to organise
these in some sort of way for presentation. It's a photographer's
paradise -- the air so clear, the colours so rich and vibrant, no
enhancement needed!

Just to whet your appetite, I've added a photo below, taken ten
minutes before the sun disappeared below the horizon. The colours
are real!

Yes, I had thought of posting something about the 995, particularly
after some negative comments in this forum. I don't have money to
spare so I considered very carefully before upgrading to the 995.
It was certainly an easier decision to upgrade from the 950 to the
990 but after studying all the information, I decided that the 995
would be a worthwhile upgrade.

I haven't taken any pictures in daylight yet but already I'm very
pleased to have made the move to the 995. There are some new
features which promise great things such as the white-balance
bracketing -- I've already used that and I can see that being
useful, and some of the existing features have been improved or
enhanced.

I like the change to the inbuilt flash but not for the reasons most
people espouse. Yes, red-eye was a constant problem but fairly
easily removed with all sorts of packages and I'm not sure how much
difference the new arrangement will make. The reason I like the new
flash arrangement is that for me it is the quickest way to put the
flash on or off. Now that I am getting a little older and need
reading glasses, the little icons on the LCD screen are quite hard
to distinguish, particularly in low light so with the 990, I was
never quite sure whether the flash was set on or off unless I went
to the trouble of putting my glasses on. Now it's simple -- flash
down, no flash; flash flicked up, flash, and with the flash up I
just get the options appropriate to flash, ie flash when needed,
red-eye reduction, fill-in flash or slow synch. Much easier, at
least for me.

There's much more I've already found out about the camera but I'll
save this for another thread.

Thanks again for your comments.

Chris L
Melbourne, Oz

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1535453&a=13303586&p=50727308

Jan Struyf said:

Chris,

Isn't that amazing. When I went to my cellar in my office (day
time, I wanted some darkness), I asked to one of my colleges: could
you come downstairs I want to take some pictures from you. He
said: You are crazy. I told him, I want to prove something to the
world. He looked at me and didn't say anything anymore (He was
thinking this is not crazy but hopeless).
Now somebody at other side of the world send a picture of some
bricks in the dark. I should have taken this shot. I live in
bricks country, Belgium (just choking).

Thanks Chris it’s nice to see that somebody on the other site
of the world reads you post. Enjoy your camera and post some other
picture from your incredible country. Don’t be afraid this
Nikon site is not an art museum.
Chris, you are one of the few people which have both the 990 and
the 995. After you had some time to play with your new camera,
tell us more about differences with the 990.

Thanks,
Jan

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

To Chris,

Your picture is very stunning, i like the color of the image, what set up did you used to get this kind of image ? thanks...

Chris L said:

I've been a keen photographer for most of my life but I'm not a
professional nor an expert. You are prompting me to do something
about the photographs I take -- generally, only a few photographer
friends get to see them. Last year I took over 1500 shots with the
990 on a trip to Central Australia and I'm still trying to organise
these in some sort of way for presentation. It's a photographer's
paradise -- the air so clear, the colours so rich and vibrant, no
enhancement needed!

Just to whet your appetite, I've added a photo below, taken ten
minutes before the sun disappeared below the horizon. The colours
are real!

Yes, I had thought of posting something about the 995, particularly
after some negative comments in this forum. I don't have money to
spare so I considered very carefully before upgrading to the 995.
It was certainly an easier decision to upgrade from the 950 to the
990 but after studying all the information, I decided that the 995
would be a worthwhile upgrade.

I haven't taken any pictures in daylight yet but already I'm very
pleased to have made the move to the 995. There are some new
features which promise great things such as the white-balance
bracketing -- I've already used that and I can see that being
useful, and some of the existing features have been improved or
enhanced.

I like the change to the inbuilt flash but not for the reasons most
people espouse. Yes, red-eye was a constant problem but fairly
easily removed with all sorts of packages and I'm not sure how much
difference the new arrangement will make. The reason I like the new
flash arrangement is that for me it is the quickest way to put the
flash on or off. Now that I am getting a little older and need
reading glasses, the little icons on the LCD screen are quite hard
to distinguish, particularly in low light so with the 990, I was
never quite sure whether the flash was set on or off unless I went
to the trouble of putting my glasses on. Now it's simple -- flash
down, no flash; flash flicked up, flash, and with the flash up I
just get the options appropriate to flash, ie flash when needed,
red-eye reduction, fill-in flash or slow synch. Much easier, at
least for me.

There's much more I've already found out about the camera but I'll
save this for another thread.

Thanks again for your comments.

Chris L
Melbourne, Oz

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1535453&a=13303586&p=50727308

Jan Struyf said:

Chris,

Isn't that amazing. When I went to my cellar in my office (day
time, I wanted some darkness), I asked to one of my colleges: could
you come downstairs I want to take some pictures from you. He
said: You are crazy. I told him, I want to prove something to the
world. He looked at me and didn't say anything anymore (He was
thinking this is not crazy but hopeless).
Now somebody at other side of the world send a picture of some
bricks in the dark. I should have taken this shot. I live in
bricks country, Belgium (just choking).

Thanks Chris it’s nice to see that somebody on the other site
of the world reads you post. Enjoy your camera and post some other
picture from your incredible country. Don’t be afraid this
Nikon site is not an art museum.
Chris, you are one of the few people which have both the 990 and
the 995. After you had some time to play with your new camera,
tell us more about differences with the 990.

Thanks,
Jan

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jan/Chris,

How can you do something like that??

I just got a 995 and it will not even fire when it is dark!! The "no way" red right is flashing and it won't fire at all!!

You must have some kind of trick...

S.

Chris L said:

Jan

You're right, it's not just luck.

I picked up my 995 a couple of days ago (upgrading from the 990 and
previously the 950) and having seen this thread, decided to try it
for myself. Couldn't believe the results!

First of all, i went into a pitch-black room, door closed, no light
at all. Just aimed the camera in the general direction of the
bookcase on the wall and hey presto! one perfectly focused picture.
Tried it several times with different distances.

Click to expand...

Hi Jan,

Whoops, looks like I missed the reply you posted a few days ago. Thanks for the follow-up information - very interesting! Boy, I can't wait until the 995 is available here in US stores so I can get my hands on one.

-- BG

Jan Struyf said:

BG,

Luck? certainly not. I tried it again and again
Today I tried to take a flashshot were I couldn't focus (very dark)
from a distance of 1, 2, 3 and 4 meters and the picture still
looked quite sharp. At half a meter distance it was unsharp. I
tried the same flashshot but with low light so the camera could
focus at half a meter everything sharp. At 1 meter and the picture
was a little bit sharper then the non focused shot at 1 meter (3
feet). I didn't compare the 2, 3 and 4 meters yet.
The theory from Phil Weinberger may be correct. The 995 may settle
to a fix focus distance which could give a reasonable sharp image
for the internal flash range (9 meters).

The conclusion may be if you take a flashshot and for some reason
your camera focus system doesn't work it still get a reasonable
sharp image. I never could do this with my previous digital camera.

Jan

Click to expand...