Week 44.2008: Gear Prep

Gear Prep was a test shot I took with a Nikon D300 from ProPhotoRental.com. For my trip to Amsterdam I borrowed a D300 and a Nikkor 17-55 f2.8 lens ( in the foreground of the image ) from Pro Photo Rental because the opportunity of taking photos in Amsterdam was a great way to test out the camera body I've been wanting. I also knew there would be no do-overs on these photos and the larger image size and cleaner images at high ISO would mean more flexibility when it came time to edit.

The D300 is a huge upgrade from the D50 that I use normally.  Because of this I kept taking shots while I was packing, familiarizing myself with the controls and how the camera behaved.  I didn't want to get into a situation where I couldn't get the camera to behave the way I needed it to or where I accidentally put the camera in a mode that I couldn't get it out of.  I took this shot to see how the camera picked it's focus points and how I could make it pick the points I wanted.  By the end of the night I felt fairly confident with the camera and the following week in Amsterdam I was very comfortable with it.