I’ve been ill with the flu since Friday evening, with the usual inconveniences: body ache, alternating shivering cold and fever, sleepless nights and weird dreams.
Hiking was out of the question, and even sitting at the computer felt tiring. Instead, I spent the weekend on the couch, napping and binging on photography videos on Xiao Hong Shu.
We’ll be having dinner shortly, and I still don’t feel great. Tomorrow might be a remote work day.
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I keep receiving codes on my Facebook app, as if someone was trying to access my account.
As I walked away after taking this picture, I had a doubt, “Did I set the focus in this scene?” Clearly, I didn’t.
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I took the Nikon D850 out with us today. Back at home, I returned it into its original box, wrapped the box in leftover Christmas giftwrap paper, put the lot in a large parcel bag, and affixed the pre-paid postage label. That was it, the camera was ready for collection. The repair time will be around 25 days according to Nikon.
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On this cold Sunday morning walk, we covered about 6 km in about 2 hours. P did not fancy a long hike, because she wanted some rest before the dreaded Monday and the weather was miserable. Luckily, much of the ice had still not melted, which enabled us to walk over frozen ground that would have been otherwise too muddy.
Perhaps, I was just as miserable as the weather. Twice people stopped and started conversations with me. Both times as I was setting up the above shot. “Spot anything interesting?” “Pardon?” I asked back. “Did you see an interesting bird?” he asked again. Instead of giving a simple answer, my mind started analysing the situation, thinking about why I would be taking the picture of a bird with a short lens on a camera fixed on a tripod? “Oh, no. It’s just the trees.” The man trod off.
About five minutes later, an old lady stopped and asked if I was shooting anything interesting. “Oh, no it’s just trees. No rare birds or anything of the sort, ” I said, once again gesturing at the trees. She said, “I know, I saw you had a short lens. Have a nice day.” Obviously, she knew her stuff and could have made an interesting conversation partner. Instead, I blew it off by being brief and effacing.
Later, P told me that I was borderline rude for virtually telling these two people to bog off. In her words, I was as bad as the shopkeeper who sold me the camera and whom I had called unfriendly. It wasn’t really my intention, I just avoid lengthy conversations about photography with strangers lest I bore them. I have to admit, though, that people stopping and asking questions about what I am photographing should have been give-away of their genuine interest. Knowing this, I felt, well, miserable for the rest of the walk, despite P’s attempt to comfort me.
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Back to the D850, it is an amazing camera. Here are two more pictures that I took today.
We went for a walk in the cold today, covering 10 km in Long Valley. The temperature hovered around zero degrees Celcius, so much of the overnight ice remained, which made it fun for us to slide on the many frozen puddles along the way.
My one-month-old Nikon D850 has a misaligned focusing screen, which means that the AF works but the viewfinder shows a blurry image. I requested a warranty repair from Nikon, and it’s due to be collected by courier on Tuesday. I thought I’d take a few pictures with it before it’s sent off. The D850 is a really great camera, it’s a shame that my specimen has this fault.
