The Big Switch

The time has finally arrived...after months of planning, contemplating and weighing my options...I am now officially switching photographic brands.

From

To

I have been shooting with Canon ever since I started out early in 2009. At the time they had the most enticing entry-level offering, and as many of you know, as soon as you start buying lenses you are mostly set onto one brand for the rest of your photographic career.

But something strange happened early in 2010. I was afforded the opportunity to shoot with the acclaimed Nikon D3s and a couple of Nikkor lenses. Needless to say I was impressed...for wildlife photography there simply is no other camera that can perform like the D3s does. Its high ISO files are very clean, even up to commercial usage standards. Its autofocus system simply rocks. And image quality and dynamic range are off the charts. Since using this monster of a camera, I have dreamed of owning one...which of course implied that I would have to change systems sometime.

Yes, yes, I know many will say I am senseless and a new announcement of a possible Nikon D4 is due later this month...but the time is now. I have an opportunity to make this move now...and the D3s will be a magnificent piece of machinery for quite some time still. I also like to give a new piece of photographic equipment some time to 'settle in'...see what others are saying about it and see if there are any glitches that came in during development (that's one thing the Canon 1Dmk3 fiasco taught the photographic community). We should also try to avoid always trying to be on the forefront of developments - it's a dangerous place to be since tomorrow's new technology is obsolete the next day.


So - in the past few weeks I have sold all my Canon gear. Every piece of equipment I have owned has served me very well and you will find it hard to get me to bad-mouth the Canon brand. However, I feel Nikon is better suited to the photographs I want to create, and and am looking forward to getting to know my new toys. I am picking them up tomorrow...now to get the first half of the day to pass quickly!

I will be pairing up my D3s with the D7000, giving me both a full frame and 1.5x field-of-view crop factor camera. The lenses I am going to use are:
14-24mm f2.8
24-70mm f2.8
70-200mm f2.8 VR-II
500mm f4 VR-II

I will also try to convey some of my experiences in using these cameras and lenses in the field during the coming months.

Till next time, keep shooting, no matter what you're shooting with! And remember, in the end it's the monkey behind the viewfinder that's responsible for taking the photo...


Morkel Erasmus