This afternoon was cold and wet, and Peg and I determined it was an ideal day to go visit Allegheny Cemetery. As the web site for the cemetery describes, these lands are truly beautiful, and it is a tribute to a different age. The light was soft and gorgeous, and I took three cameras with me. My 10D captured the majority of the images while I also used my FTb loaded with HP5. Of special interest was the new (to mew) F100 I’ve posted about before. This was the first real day of use for the F100, and for those Nikon loyalists, I will give a particular report about that camera below.

Peg and I love to visit cemeteries, and we had visited Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland in September. However, in comparing the two places, while Lakeview is beautiful (and does have James Garfield’s memorial) Allegheny is more monumental in many aspects, especially in its use of Egyptian-inspired craftsmanship.

I guess at one time in the history of building personal monuments, the news from the excavations in Egypt had a huge impact on the kind of memorials the wealthy members of society built for themselves. Both Allegheny and Lakeview had many such memorials, but in Allegheny they are both larger and more numerous (maybe there was more money in Pittsburgh).

Typical grouping

The workmanship on these memorials is quite stunning.

The place is quiet and beautiful, and it is really a peaceful locale to visit.

On a separate note, working quickly gave me an opportunity to really compare the three cameras in a very limited time (we arrived around 3:30 and were kicked out –gently, mind you, but firmly– at 5:30; the grounds close at 5:00 pm but we didn’t know that).

I used the F100 with an older Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens (manual focus). The focus ring and the aperture ring on this lens turns the opposite from my Canon lenses, and it initially threw me off. But the viewfinder was wonderful, and the controls very easy to figure out. I didn’t have the manual with me, but after a few frames I could easily figure out how to do everything I wanted to do. It felt very nice in my hand and was wonderful to use. I loaded the camera with Ektar and used an 81a filter to warm things up a bit (Ektar can be a little cold in my experience and the day was cloudy). I REALLY liked this camera, and found it much better than the modern equivalent Canon film cameras, and look forward to using it more often. I do want to purchase an AF lens, because while the F100 DID give me focus confirmation, the focussing screen currently in the camera didn’t help me at all. While the camera supports older manual focus lenses (bravo), clearly it assumes you’re gonna use an AF lens. Nikon users: can the F100 take different focussing screens?

The Ftb, as in the past, was easy and intuitive to use, and today I mounted my 28mm f/2 FD lens, which I love. I certainly have flip-flopped on this topic, but after today I think that 28mm might be my favorite fixed focal length when capturing landscapes. The image of the angel at the top of the post was captured with my 10D and the 17-40 Canon zoom, which I like very much, but at 17mm with a 1.6 crop factor (equalling roughly a 28) the image just didn’t look as great as it did through my FTb. I know crop factor equivalent 28 doesn’t really equal a real 28, and this time, in direct comparison, it was very clear to me what the difference was. I had been reading recently on a forum a thread about how 28mm lenses don’t get much love (Canon, for instance, doesn’t have a ‘L’ series 28 prime; they have a great 35mm ‘L’ prime and a 24mm ‘L’ prime, but no 28).

But today’s clear winner was the F100. I am hoping to acquire a 28mm Nikkor AF prime, and once I do, I may actually start doing the majority of my 35mm film work with the F100. So, Nikon users, a second question: any thoughts about prime Nikkor lenses I should acquire? Does Nikon have a good 28mm prime? Their zoom lenses I know are wonderful, but for me right now, pricey.

Today’s clear loser was the 10D. I know the design is old for a digital, and my thoughts about it have nothing to do with the megapixel count, but it was the hardest camera to use of the three. I hope soon to acquire a used 5D, which I am sure I will use a great deal for landscapes (( have wanted a full-frame digital for 4 years). When that arrives, Peg and I are thinking of converting the 10D to infrared use.

Overall, a great day capturing images with my wife. Lots of fun.

Hope you enjoy the images.