Oops

Time flies from the last posting. Yes, I went to Korea, and no, did not head for US, instead I was in Germany in April (was supposed to head to US then, but due to change of role, this trip was made instead).

So what change... Well, got the D7000 just before the Korea trip - so it was a birthday present to myself. First thing I did was to test it out with 50mm F1.8 lens on my nephew (technically speaking, it should be my cousin's son which in someway still nephew, but who cares right?). One thing that hits me with that testing - I don't know the camera well enough to figure out the way it works. However, the most important note which I am still trying to grasps is why half of my shots are blur!!!! I never had issues with D70, but man, it's weird to have half of the shots on the blur side. D70, pick up the cam, set the required settings, focus and shoot. No issues, but when I did the same with D7000, some were fine, some were blur. So, is there something that I am not getting right here!?!?

Having been reading up the DPreview forum on anything that talks about D7000 and it seems that I am not the only one. Some managed to overcome it by using some settings, like changing from AF-S to AF-C, from a single point to 9 point focus mode, etc. Some with success, some still having issues. I am still doing a lot of test shots, along with more pictures of my nephew and 2 trips to Zoo and a "free" trip to Bird Park (department held a workout session there, so we were give some time to enjoy some shows at the Bird Park - which means bringing out the camera!).

Along with that, I had also added in a new lens into my lens collection - the most expensive lens to-date on my collection, the venerable 70-200mm VRII F2.8. Purchased on the last day of 2010, along with the TC20III. Reason for it - simply, I am heading to Alaska (YEAH!!!), and this is the best possible lens that I can afford to hopefully bring home some good/great shots of wildlife that I hope to encounter during this trip. No, I cannot afford the 200-400mm lens (please, it's in the range of an MP's monthly income and I don't earn that much! It would have taken me a long time to save for that kind of $$$), and if I was to rent the lens, it would have come up to more than 1K just for rental! (Not taking into consideration what happen if something happens to that lens while I was renting it?!?!)

The count on the camera is now at range of 2930 shots already passed through that sensor. I think I am getting a hang of it, but I still get those blur shots at times, if not often. I have to start learning how to use it again in trying to take birds in flight, which I am still not able to do so. What have I brought onto myself... Haiz. Anyway, I am still scratching my head on this, and the only way I could think of it is that my hands are no longer as steady as it was, which does not seems to right, since I have no issues with D70. Could it be that with such a huge jump in the pixel size/resolution, it somehow made it a more demanding camera? Mystery continues as I try to get this issue righted.

Did I mentioned also that I was using this for some event shots like a dodgeball game (company) and team building games (department) held recently as well? No? Well, since I need more practice, even if it was something I am lousy with, it's still practice with the camera, I brought the cam down just for this reason. Was I happy, well, I got to learn more, and tried to get familiar with the camera, so yes, but still, the shots were, well, let's put it as still in progress!

Meantime... I am counting down the days - Yes, it's actually approximately 9 more days to flight for that trip (of a lifetime, hopefully, for me).