Three monks at the Buddhist temple in Zhenjiang, China. Great faces, great color. How can you go wrong?

The packages I mentioned in my last post have arrived. Unfortunately, I’ve had little time for anything other than unpacking them. First among the new arrivals is a shiny new Nikon D700. I’ve waited a long time for a full-frame digital body from Nikon and the first thing I did was introduce her to my Nikkor 17-35mm. This had been a favorite lens of mine on my old film bodies and it’s good to have the wide end back. I think these two will be nearly inseparable.

An odd circumstance of pricing made it cheaper to buy the D700 with the 24-120 lens than without. It wouldn’t have been my first choice in a mid-range zoom but since it was basically free I could hardly say no. I’ll put it through its paces and see how it does. On the D300 it will be a crop factor similar to a 36-180 so if I carry it along with the 17-35 on the D700 I’d have most bases covered.

Part of my reasoning of going with the D300 and D700 is that their controls are arranged very similarly. When I was shooting with the D200 and D300 in China, I was constantly hitting the menu button on the 300 when meaning to hit the preview button (Nikon — stop moving buttons, please!). This would typically bring up the menu with “format card” highlighted which was particularly disconcerting. Anyway, while the two new bodies aren’t exactly the same, more similarity will help. As will their both having much better high ISO performance. I’ll post images and more thoughts when I get the chance to get these cameras into the field.

I should also mention that I added a Lensbaby Composer to the order. I borrowed a 2nd generation Lensbaby from my friend, Doug, when I went to the Gaspe last summer and had a ton of fun with it. The Composer is a little more rigid and controllable than the older models but I hope it will still be as enjoyable. I have to say my initial reaction was mixed. The build seems a little rough and the swivel clicks loudly when you first shift it from its current position. Maybe that will loosen up with use or I’ll get used to it. We’ll see.

The other major addition to the ol’ camera bag is a new iPhone. I’ve been nursing an ancient old cell phone for years but finally made the move to join the rest of the 21st century and now have a phone that can actually receive a text message! First reaction to this piece of gear is sheer joy. I can’t believe how sweet this piece of technology is. I’ve already hit the app store for a sunrise-sunset calculator called Focalware, too. I had something similar on an old Palm device and found it very useful. Nice to have that info handy again.

So much to experiment with in the coming days. Sure would be nice if the weather would cooperate with a nice day for shooting this week but it looks like it will be luxurious if it gets above freezing. Maybe we’ll get a good snow…