Some more D3000 samples - "Small Town Ventures..."

Hello all:

I wanted to post a few more D3000 samples here since some of you are considering getting the D3000. None of these scenes are supposed to be immaculate, rather I again wanted to show up the color tonality/capabilities of this simple, yet interesting DSLR.

The images posted on the next posting were taken with the D3000 and the Tamron 18-270 VC combination at ISO 200. All were shot in RAW, AWB, and Aperture Priority Mode. The RAW files were subsequently converted in Lightroom 2.5, frames were added with the program "iDFramer," and they were then converted for web at a 90% quality setting using Irfanview.

Please note that although one can use the D3000 in total "Stupid" mode, the camera offers you a wealth of options just like the D40 and D60 did. I never use any of those auto modes - just not worth the possibility that the camera may choose the wrong settings.

Even though I was off today, I had my "Honey-Do" list that my wife gave me, so I made it a bit more interesting by bringing the D3000 along as I picked up the myriad of little items she wanted. For those of you who reside in small towns, you know how quaint and colorful they can be at times. And there's nothng like a crisp, fall day with rich blue skies to bring out the other colors in various scenes. These were taken around 11:30 AM (I should have taken them earlier, but what the heck...they'll have to suffice).

Images were taken around the small town of Fuquay-Varina in North Carolina.

Images in the next posting....

Again, these are nothing special. But know that folks enjoy seeing various images that a camera is capable of before making any decisions as to whether they wish to purchase the model.

























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Hi Ben,

Thanks for your effort to show us your D3000 pictures. I find them very nice.

Some questions pop up about the metering :

• what metering mode did you use ?
• was ADL enabled ?
• did you apply exp. compensation ?

Thanks in advance.

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Greetings,
Marc



my photos (under construction):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbr03/

I used Matrix metering and yes, ADL was engaged, but I don't know how much ADL really works when shooting in RAW mode (as RAW is the only way I shoot). No exposure compensation was done. Like I said, I make my conversion/adjustments in Lightroom and that's all I really need other than adding frames in batch mode, which I use iDFramer to do.

I do find the color tonality of this camera actually "different" than the previous D40 and D60, which I find strange - can't explain it. Not that it's bad - heck no - but it's just that the overall color tonality/signature appears quite a bit different than the D60.

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Ben,
Really nice pictures.
I also have the D3000 & the Tamron 18-270.
Had A D40 & D60.
I like the D3000 beter than either one.
I also have a D90 & D300 with quite a few lenses.
The D3000 is really kinda my fun camera to play with.

Looks like that lens works very well too!

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Bob

Nice photos Ben!
David F

Ben Herrmann said:

I used Matrix metering and yes, ADL was engaged, but I don't know how much ADL really works when shooting in RAW mode (as RAW is the only way I shoot). No exposure compensation was done. Like I said, I make my conversion/adjustments in Lightroom and that's all I really need other than adding frames in batch mode, which I use iDFramer to do.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your response Ben !

Yes i understand, i also shoot RAW only, but i use captureNX1.3.

One more question : did you need to do a lot of exp. compensation / saving highlights / saving shadows in Lightroom ( not sure how this is called in lightroom ) ???

Thanks in advance.

Ben Herrmann said:

I do find the color tonality of this camera actually "different" than the previous D40 and D60, which I find strange - can't explain it. Not that it's bad - heck no - but it's just that the overall color tonality/signature appears quite a bit different than the D60.

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Click to expand...

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Greetings,
Marc



my photos (under construction):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbr03/

In two of the photos I brought the shadows up a bit because the contrasts were so high (again, these were taken mid-day, which is the worse time of day to take photos). But the camera did remarkably well overall. Yeah, RAW is all I shoot so adjustments can be easily made, whereas JPG's....oh well.

But again, I find the blues - in particular, in the skies - to have a different color tonality than the blues found in the D40 and D60. It's as if Nikon changed its color signature a bit here. Could be just my imagination, but I'm noticing it.
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thanks for posting Ben....nice shots....

I agree about the colors.....I was going to say they look even more "Nikonish" than the D40 does. If you go from the Canon look (reds are darker, blues less cyan, greens deeper and darker) to the D40 look, the D3000 looks like a step in the same direction only more so.....almost getting pastel......the skies are very cyan....

I remember when I first started shooting my D40, I was used to Canon point and shoot colors which have a sort of "rusty" quality to my eye, and I really thought the D40 was sort of circus like in its output.....now I am just used to it....plus I shoot RAW so I can move color response around pretty easily...

It will be interesting to see a formal review....and maybe some Imatest results....

I had pretty high hopes for this camera, and it's likely fine for those who have picked one up because the form factor is so nice, but not enough in it for me to think of it as a replacement for my D40.

thanks

Fred