On Our Way Along I-81

This past Friday morning, Hubby and I headed out of town to celebrate our anniversary.  Our destination was Staunton, VA.  I found a quaint bed and breakfast place where they had 5 old homes with 25 rooms!  Staunton was not part of our original plan.  I had looked at Roanoke and Charlottesville, but there were no rooms to be found.  College football weekend?  Perhaps.  I was able to book a room in Staunton.  More on that in another post.  

We drove down I-81.  The sky was beautiful with white puffy clouds.  While Hubby was driving, I took a lot of pictures from the front passenger seat:  

We saw a lot of farms.  This one caught my eye...red building and bright green field

Another farm and field drive-by shot

Can you see the snow in the mountains?  

One of the few trees that still had the fall colors

I took this from the front window...loved seeing the rays come through the clouds

More posts to come from our quick weekend getaway....

My Thoughts on My D600

I enjoy taking pictures with my D600.  I've had it for a little over a month and taken 2600 pictures.  Enough time to get acquainted with most of the settings and different lens use.  I hardly have to do an post productions to my pictures except for my usual straightening, minor cropping, and adding my copyright information.

I have not found any major issues with my camera.  During the first few weeks it came out, there was little negative chatter about the camera.  There was a lot more "Wows" and "Awesome" from those who appreciate the fine art of photography and for those moving up from DX to FX format.  There's a lot to appreciate in using this camera.  Kind of like taking photography to the next level.

In recent days, there's been grumblings about dust issues with the D600.  Out of curiousity, I took my camera and set it the smallest aperture and shot a picture of the sky.  I think I was at f/16.  I looked at my LCD and sure enough I saw some dust spots.  Mostly in the upper left corner.  I went ahead and continued to open the aperture and took a couple more shots at f/11, f/8, f/5.6, f/4, and f/3.5.  The dust spots slowly disappeared  as I opened up the aperture.  Wide open at f/3.5...there were no signs of the spots.  I didn't notice them at f/8.

My previous camera D7000, which I still have, has the dreaded oil spots.  Again, I don't notice it unless I shot at f/16 or f/22.  I plan on sending that camera in for maintenance real soon as I've rolled the camera over twice.

Here are my thoughts.  I did take a chance by getting this camera in the early stages when it came out.  I will live with this slight issue on the D600.  I rarely shoot at f/16 or f/22.  That's probably why I haven't noticed any spots in my pictures.  I plan on setting my camera up to do an internal cleaning when I turn on the camera.  At some point, I will send my camera in to have maintenance...most likely next year.  If there is a major issue with the mirror and Nikon ends up replacing a part, I will get it fixed.  In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my lovely camera and all it's beautiful capabilities.

While my brother was still in town, he and I made a trip to Georgetown and walked around the town and the University:

One of the beautiful buildings - Georgetown University

From the inside looking out

Georgetown is the place to see many lovely homes

They are all so different!

Many of them are going through renovations both inside and outside

This exterior was beautiful

We walked along the "locks" at the canal

A Virginia Tech Weekend with My D600

My brother has been in town.  On Saturday (very, very early in the morning), we headed down to VA Tech to catch a game:  VA Tech versus Duke University.  We arrived on campus around 9:30am and proceeded to walk around the beautiful campus and take pictures.

My brother is an alumni of Tech and he was amazed at all the growth and new buildings since the 80s.  What was once gravel parking lots are now dorms/residences or classrooms/halls.

Our first stop was to visit the April 16 memorial for those lost their lives and for those who survived that horrific day in 2007.

The Admin building on campus

April 16 Memorial for the 32 who lost their lives

In memory

There were 32 Hokie stones each with a name

A memorial for those who survived

As we walked around campus, I was impressed with the architecture of the old and new buildings.  All the buildings are made of Hokie stone.

The entrance to the library

Lee dorm where my brother lived for his first 3 years of study

Watching the Hokie band pass by

At Lane Stadium

An ooooops!

Tech beat Duke:  41-20

The Hokie mascot hamming it up in the end zone

This was amazing to watch!

Besides their engineering programs, Tech is also know for its horticulture program.

A peaceful pond

I was playing around with my shutter mode....

I could have spent hours here...taking it all in

Looks like Hokie stone was used to build the bridge

Additional pictures from this past weekend:

A peaceful lake

Software engineers hang out here

I couldn't resist taking this picture....

Hokie colors!  Everywhere!

A Hokie Caddie decked out

We came across the stables on campus.  What a photo op!

I started talking to the horses and they decided to hang out with me and pose 

Hokie spirit in the Squires Student Center

Hokie die hards!

Tailgating parties were everywhere...even in some of the remote quiet places on campus

Inside the War Memorial building.  I was fascinated with the interior architect

Night time at the War Memorial

We had beautiful weather the whole weekend.  I walked over 7 miles on Saturday...exploring the campus and taking pictures.  I took over 900 pictures in all.

I brought a small backpack with me that I use as a purse.  I placed my D600 along with my new 24-85mm lens in my bag.  I was able to take it into the stadium without any problems.  I did have to open the bag before arriving at the gate.  I guess security thought I was sneaking in beer or alcohol.  For the football shots, I used continuous focus and continuous shooting mode.

My metering mode of choice has been center metering.  I've been getting great pictures with this setting.  For most of the weekend, I was shooting in auto focus mode (except during the game) instead of my usual single point focus.  If I didn't like where the camera was focusing on, I just simply re-focus the shot.

I'm in love with my D600 and the 24-85mm lens.  The lens is very sharp in the center and does have some barrel distortion (wide) and pincushioning (zoomed) along the edges.  It's only noticeable when taking pictures of sidewalks and buildings.  Things with straight lines that become curved.  It doesn't bother me at all.

What I love about the D600 is that I can crop the heck out of the picture and still see a lot of details.  I shoot in Large, Fine, JPEG mode.   My pictures are averaging anywhere from 12Mb to 18Mb each.  My White Balance is set to AUTO and the D600 does a beautiful job getting WB right.  I no longer have to do any minor PP to my pictures.  The camera is that good!

The camera is doing all the work for me.  I just point and compose and shoot.  Now that's a photog's dream....

Taking My D600 to The Plains

This past weekend, I took a trip to The Plains, Virginia.  It's a quaint tiny, tiny town.  My mission was to visit a yarn shop called Hunt Country Yarns.  How fitting.  It was a bright sunny day and my D600 had a great time capturing the scene.

The Rail Stop restaurant, once owned by Robert Duval (the actor).  He currently lives a few miles north of The Plains on a 350+ acre farm

This is downtown...The Plains.  I told you it was tiny.  To the left is Hunt Country Yarns and The Rail Stop restaurant in the center

It was a pleasant walk through town

On the other side of town, I found an old 1800 stone church.  I was fascinated with this stone tower-like structure

A glimpse through the archway

The church was very majestic looking

My D600 performed beautifully inside as well as outside:

Hunt Country Yarns:  I fell in love with this hand knitted sweater on display.  I need to learn another knitting technique...entrelac knitting

Hunt Country Yarns: there were cubby holes full of colorful yarns.  All waiting to be "squished" by me!

All pictures taken with my D600 and 50mm f/1.8 lens

I'll be back with a review of my new camera and a comparison with my D7000.  Stay tuned!