This post is aimed at all of the born tinkerers out there (like me) who just can't leave anything alone for 5 mins, without taking the back off it, poking around with it and generally wondering how it could be improved
.
I've had my D90 for a few months now and, partly through boredom but mostly through necessity, it has wound up with a few add-ons and mods. So, (as it's Friday night and I don't have date
), I thought that I would take some piccies and share with you a few ideas about how you could add some functionality/protection to the wonderful invention that is ...
the Nikon D90 . Besides, with Christmas fast approaching, what better time to start thinking about those little stocking-fillers
!?
As you can see, the D90 simply breathes out sex fumes, straight from the box ...
But, looks don't last forever (without a little help) and even great looks can have functionality added with a few well chosen accessories (think, Pamela Anderson/silicon breast implants
). With that in mind, I have
5 Top Tips for you on how to improve your D90/kill the resale value deader than a mafia-crossing dodo with AIDS.
1.) GGS glass LCD screen protector:
I fit these to every DLSR that I buy (actually, that's only three so far). You can get them on eBay for a little over a tenner and they are totally scratch/scuff resistant and clean up much more easily than the regular plastic screen (even if you insist on using your shirt sleeve to wipe it with - you filthy peasant :nono:!). You can even break them off (messy job, so I've heard) and clean off the glue from the screen to reveal a pristine plastic LCD screen (great if you want to pass the camera off as "one careful owner" when you sell it).
2.) Nikon DK21M magnifying eyepiece.
Why do I want one of these? Am I partially sighted? No! Am I hoping to improve the accuracy of my manual focusing technique? No! Is it because my nose is so big that it rubs all over the back of the LCD screen, getting red and sore in the process and I need a rubber eyepiece cup which sticks out further from the camera body so as to give my nose less chance of ending up looking like Henry Cooper's (famous English boxer, for the benefit of either young, or foreign readers
)? Erm .... well ... it
might be.
Sussed! Yes, I have a long nose and when I wedge the D90's eyepiece under my brow, I find that I'm pushing my nose hard into the back of the screen in order to seal the light out. This replacement eyepiece has a rubber shroud which is almost twice the thickness of the standard D90 one and sticks off the back of the camera another valuable 1/4" or so. The net effect is that, with the DK21M fitted, I not only see a slightly bigger image in the viewfinder, but also my nose rests gently against the back of the GGS screen protector (gratuitous plug) in the process. It was either this or plastic surgery. This was cheaper - the plastic surgery would have been a better option though!
3. Black insulation tape over the memory card slot:
Costs virtually nothing, but will add years to my life expectancy, as it saves me from cursing and swearing every time I pull the D90 out of its bag with my right hand, only to have the memory card slot flick open and consider spitting the card out just because my palm slipped backwards across the plastic, spring-out cover. Sorry, but Nikon really dropped the ball on this one aspect of the D90's design. Most D90 users won't need a quick-release memory card hatch - Nikon simply skipped on a more secure design to save money (I reckon).
Anyway, I put black tape over mine and it never springs open uninvited. Once or twice a year, when I actually
need to take out the card and put in a new one, I have to tear off another 2" of insulation tape and replace the old one. Whoopy-do! Big deal. I also throw a bit of tape over the hinge for this cover, as it is begging to have rainwater and sweat from my palm creep in through the purpose-built trough, which is evident in its design.
Here's a snap of the back of my D90, showing all three of the (above) mentioned 'upgrades' ...
Next 'upgrade' is not for
everyone,
all of the time, but it's a bloody good option to have, IMHO
.
4.) Non-Nikon battery grip:
Yep, you heard me right! I said
non-Nikon battery grip. Why? Well, although this doesn't apply to
all Nikon grips, the D90's grip
appears to come from a factory where they brand some of the grips as "Nikon" (and then Nikon sell them for a hefty fee) and some of the other grips roll off the production line and have other brand name's stickers attached to them before flooding onto eBay at much less than half the price of the real thing! To be accurate, I'm
not stating this as a fact (how could I possibly know?), but I've handled the original Nikon grip and I can't see or feel a single difference between that and the "Meike" brand one, which I bought on eBay (for about 40-50 quid, IIRC).
Incidentally, please don't confuse this my assertions about the battery
grip with the
batteries themselves - those all look the same, but are all too often 'chalk and cheese'. I only buy Nikon brand batteries myself now.
The obvious advantages of having a grip on your camera are; you can have twice the battery power available, your camera will spit out more frames per second, the shutter can be released from the extra release button in the grip when shooting in portrait mode and ... (arguably) the whole camera just feels a lot more secure to hold.
If you think that
all of those advantages are not worth the added expense and weight, then you can forget this option and move along to the next part of the thread. The real beauty of these grips though, is that you don't
have to use them
all of the time! If I want to travel light - I leave the grip at home. If I'm not sure whether or not I need it, I stick it in the bag and carry it along (with a spare battery in it) just in case I do. People who own D2's, D3's etc. don't have this luxury - they bought a breezeblock; they have to carry a breezeblock with them everywhere. Simples
!
Anyway, here's my grip. Other brand names appear on this same grip, BTW ...
5.) Leather hand strap.
OK, I admit it -this is really one for
either Gary Glitter fans, or people who tend to drink too much beer at gigs and festivals and then let go of their camera during a momentary lapse in concentration :bonk:.
Also ... I
hate camera straps! I'm not Japanese and neither is my wife (sorry, Monty Python moment there). Whether shooting in a crowd with a short prime, or trundling through the woods with a long tele on, looking for Big Foot, I like the discreet look that a hand strap affords. You can 'carry' the camera with one fingertip and then, when you need to take a shot, you can just swing it nonchalantly towards your eye and 'snap one off' - genius!
It does take a bit of getting used to though. The first day that I took my D90 out with the hand strap attached (to a local music festival), I had a lot of trouble with rummaging in my pocket for the change to pay for the beer, then troubles with drinking the beer with my left hand and as for the troubles that I had when trying to release said beer back into the wild, using only my left hand (as the camera was still strapped to the right), well, that just doesn't bear repetition here
.
Anyway, they're only a tenner. Why not give one a try...
And ... that's it really! Just a light-hearted, but well-intentioned post to spread a few ideas around and add some pictures to this most un-bodaciously text-heavy thread.
In fact, it took me nearly a whole bottle of wine to photograph, compose and type this post (and several beers to help me through the spell chjeking), so please go easy on me with your responses
.
Peace!
Andy
