Propeller Skies

My shiny new Nikon D70 needed to undergo consumer product safety testing to ensure it would be useable for concert photography, so I picked up a copy of Stomp and Stammer and flipped through it, hoping someone interesting was playing. I was in luck, as Azure Ray was playing at The Earl. As they are somewhat famous and I have shot several times at The Earl, this seemed like an excellent opportunity for testing the capabilities of the D70. The only drawback to this scenario is I was sure I would not like Azure Ray, because they are a relatively quiet band. Amazingly, I really enjoyed the show. I think Envie has expanded my horizons.

Because I am lazy, I will not be reviewing the show. For a review of a previous show see Crooked Fingers with Azure Ray at Evil Sponge.

Going into the show, I had very low expectations of the Nikon D70. I expected significant amounts of noise in the photos, because there always is when high-speed film is scanned.

When Azure Ray took the stage, I put a 50mm Nikkor lens on the camera and took a few shots. After retreating to a corner and reviewing the shots on the LCD, I decided to continue the consumer product safety test, since the photos looked okay. Next, I switched out the 50mm lens for an 85mm Nikkor that I frequently used to shoot concerts on film. After shooting and reviewing a few more photos, I put the equipment away and enjoyed the rest of the show.

After getting home, I transferred the photos to my computer and reviewed them at full size . The D70 passed with flying colors. Color saturation was excellent and did not show any of the under or over saturation common with digital cameras. On the shots that were in focus, detail was exquisite and easily the equal of film. Most surprisingly, there was very little noise in the pictures (I shot at ISO 1600). Noise was significantly than scanned film. Overall, the D70 is a significant improvement over my previous equipment. Stay tuned for an upcoming review of the SB-800 speedlight.

notes:

PHOTO: Orenda Fink of Azure Ray at The Earl, Atlanta, GA. March 23, 2004. Both photos courtesy of d.2263 Photographics.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2004 at 10:01 and is filed under Concerts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.