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My D600 arrived Thursday, 20 September 2012. My initial impression of it was that its as a little larger than I’d prefer, but not as heavy as its size led me to expect.
Upon shooting it, I immediately forgave its size with the first frame I took of my youngest daughter. The shot was bright and clear.
This review is about shoes.
I just finished the book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall.
One major takeaway from this book is the idea that modern athletic shoes actually hurt our feet by bypassing the natural action of the foot. The book presents the foot as an incredibly engineered, infinitely adaptable little piece of the body. That’s not hard for me to believe. The idea is that modern athletic shoes coddle your feet so much that the feet get weak, resulting in a far greater incidence of running injuries (and back problems, I suspect) than people had before Nike and others popularized “jogging” and the modern running shoe. The shoes also encourage a method of running that causes damage. And, after having problems *caused* by their shoes, changing shoes or adding orthotics, etc., to solve the problem isn’t addressing the root cause of the problem: the over-engineered shoes themselves. The book makes the statement that running shoes don’t reduce injury, they reduce pain. So if they’re accelerating injury but hiding the pain, that’s bad. Is this true? Well, the book convinced me.
Naturally, if you’ve got repaired bone or ligaments in your body, this is something to take very carefully — and gradually. Talk to a doctor. Or talk to a few until you find someone that you think is really taking a fresh look at things, rather than someone just repeating the conventional wisdom he was introduced to in medical school.
The author of the book comes across as a little over-eager to me, but not to the point where I distrust his message and conclusions. It’s a mass-market book and I expect he’s trying to keep the pacing of the book fast to keep it interesting. The author offsets this by liberally mentioning names of researchers and one or more studies throughout the book, adding substantial credibility in my view. But I already bought the premise and am inclined to trust the body to do things the right way, if left alone — so I was an easy target.
I bought some minimalist shoes for everyday wear, Moc3 RunAmocs by SoftStarShoes. I’ve been wearing them only a day now so it’s too early for a report, other than to say that they’re comfy so far. And the folks at Soft Star Shoes were very friendly and helpful.
I know in my case, on the occasion that I’m around the house all weekend watching my young children (thus little or no shoe wearing), my knees feel great on Monday. Barefoot agrees with me.
Many shoes make my knees hurt so I’ve long been on the lookout for a magic orthotic insert and I’ve tried two or three without much improvement. I’m now headed in the opposite direction: Getting as close to factory defaults (barefoot) as possible. We’ll see how that goes. The idea of strengthening my feet by simply letting them do their job without artificial cushioning resonates as a pretty basic idea that aligns with my opinion that the body has an uncanny ability to self-correct and heal all kinds of problems, given the opportunity.
It was also an enjoyable book. Recommended. I bought the paperback on Amazon and got the audio CD version from the public library.
At last, a full-frame, small-bodied DSLR at an attractive price point for photo hobbyist parents.
I’ve been waiting for years for Nikon to release a full-frame DSLR in a body smaller than that of the D700 (and now D800) and with a price closer to $2000 than $3000.
I ordered the Nikon D600 as soon as I woke up on 13 September 2012. It should arrive two days from today, 18 September.
I sold my Nikon D90 recently in anticipation of the D600’s release. I also sold my Fuji X100, but that was more because of the Fuji’s ever-hunting, unreliable close focus.
This camera is no means cheap in price, but considering how much my mother paid for my father’s manual-focus Nikon 35mm camera in the 1980’s, when you adjust for inflation the D600 isn’t that pricey. And given the substantial savings in film developing, I expect the D600 to have a considerably lower total cost of ownership for myself.
If money matters, the D7000, D3200 or D5100 all promise to take great photographs. My money, however, is on full-frame. My plan is to leave my 50mm f/1.4 G lens on there most of the time. I can even use it with my 18-200 VR DX lens if I need a super zoom. I may later pony up the thousand bucks for a Nikkor 28-300 lens, but I don’t think that’s in my near future.
I also plan to shoot it on Small image size at FX (about 6MP) or Medium image size with DX lenses (also about 6MP) most of the time. I plan to keep one of the U modes set up for full-resolution and probably Normal or Fine compression.
The only other camera (given all considerations, including price) that interests me at this time as a realistic potential purchase is the Fuji X-E1 (body only or with 18-55 lens) with their 35mm f/1.4 lens. I may buy one down the road as a more compact, go-anywhere camera, in addition to my D600.
My Nikon D90 worked great for me for three full years, but I had full-frame wanderlust. My hope is that my D600 lasts me double that time before I sell it.
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