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Friday, August 12, 2016

The Nikon

The Nikon. Why do I use The Nikon? The only real answer is that if you don't already know, I can't explain it, you just have to do it yourself. But I'll try.

There's something about the way it feels in the hand. The polycarbonate. The balance.

The way the controls fall under the fingers. As if the machine's designer had hands. And fingers. And a thumb. That were hooked up pretty much like mine are. Everything just feels ... right.

And there's the sound. That little clop-snap as the instrument makes the image. Bang. I push the button, and it takes a picture. It's not like other cameras. When you look through the little hole in the back, and looking, really seeing it, you wait until.. clop-snapthere, that's the instant. That's The Nikon. The Nikon is there in that instant. The image.



And the lens. Then the lens. The 18-55 lens. Soft when you first get it, but after you drop it a couple of times it gets ... this glow. This amazing look that's not like other lenses. People recognize it instantly, it looks like nothing else. The Dropped Nikkor Glow. It's why I shoot The Nikon. I can't get that glow in Photoshop, because I haven't bought the right pack of actions.



But it's really the feel of The Nikon. You can't explain it, you just have to pick it up and work with it for a thousand frames, or ten-thousand. Did you know that Henry Carter-Brassaï said that your first 10,000 pictures are your worst? He used The Nikon. And I do too. It's the way it feels. It's the Images you can Make with it



The Nikon.

18 comments:

  1. Meh, no disruptive, game-changing innovation in The Nikon! Everybody on the net knows that mirrorless is teh future!!!11!!!

    Seriously, how can you come up with stuff like this before 7:00am? At that time of day, I'm happy if I can remember my name ...

    Best, Thomas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have small children. 7am is damn near lunch time! This actually arose from midnight musings 'why is it always The Leica? That just sounds stupid.'

      Delete
  2. And did you know that the name 'Nikon' is actually an abbreviated form of 'Nicéphore Niépce's Konica'?

    I look forward to your next installment ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not bad, not bad at all...

    With best regards,

    Stephen

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have written you before, I just want to say that I enjoy and appreciate your perspective. I look forward to reading your commentary. Don't worry I don't necessarily agree with your posts, but I usually do! Again though thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love it, thanks for the good laugh on a Friday evening after a tough week. Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well then. You need to rent some expensive real estate in downtown San Francisco, hire an interior designer who will create a boutique museum (which maybe also is a store?)with lots of wall space for exhibits of your B&W photos (albeit probably not the feet) and those of other dropped-lens practitioners, and the wealthy customers will beat a path to your door to buy the coveted Nikon D3100s. It has already been done successfully.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Keep the Feet Picture. I think it has potential for six-figure sales, at least.

    With best regards.

    Stephen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have entitled it 'eagles'. It plays with the left/right dialectic while querying the state of the commerce-world.

      Delete
  8. Ha!

    "As if the machine’s designer had hands. And fingers. And a thumb."

    But no nose. Otherwise, I'd be able to get my eye close to the viewfinder without painfully squashing my nose against the back of the camera.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bloody brilliant observation. I am SO stealing that!!

      Delete
  9. What? No tribute payed to the tiny, squinty little viewfinder? What are you thinking, man!?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "you look through the little hole" ain't good enough for ya? GO BEAVERS!

      Delete
  10. I've dropped my lens 6 or 7 times now, but still no GLOW. Please, tell me which surface I need to drop my lens on to achieve THE GLOW. My photography depends on this!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I try to use artisanal ceder decking hand-shaped in Japan (obviously using a German surface would completely botch things) in the early Edo period. Emperor Go-Mizunoo's reign seems to have produced some especially good deck planks for this purpose.

    I try to drop it from approximately the height of the Emperor's sternum, as if he himself had dropped it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ancient decking -
      a lens drops like cherry blossoms
      Clunk! The Nikon glow

      Bassho (1600 ad)

      Delete