Edinburgh International Festival, 2013

During an Edinburgh festival some years ago I was within earshot of the renowned artist and gallery owner Richard Demarco (a close friend of Sean Connery and other well-known Edinburghers), when I heard him remark to a friend: “Edinburgh’s amazing at this time of year ... the entire city is en fête.”

En fête it almost certainly is. Edinburgh’s population (approximately 500,000) doubles during the three weeks of the Festival (which concludes this year on August 24). The only problem is that the streets are crowded (and I do mean crowded — walk the upper part of the Royal Mile from Tron Church to Edinburgh Castle, and you’re literally shoulder-to-shoulder with other folk — every square foot of road and pavement is taken).

The upside for the street photographer is that there are limitless picture-taking opportunities. The downside is you’re lucky to get a picture without someone walking into shot.

I’m not complaining, however, as I do like the Festival, and enjoy the atmosphere generated by visitors during this time of year.

My Festival photo walk took in the upper part of the Royal Mile (Tron Church to Bank Street), from where I descended The Mound to finish up at Mound Square/Princes Street.

(All photos taken with a Nikon D3200 and 50mm lens.):

Watch the birdie ...

Spotted ...

Send in the clowns

Portrait

The arms of the law ...

In a bit of a fankle

Leaflet, sir?

Photo gear ...

I’m currently in the process of making more changes to my gear.

When taking candids, I found the Ricoh GR not quite as responsive as I’d hoped. Sometimes the slightest movement — even at high shutter speeds — resulted in an out-of-focus picture. The truth is, I think I’ve grown dependent on the image stabilisation of its predecessor, the GRD IV. (Although it features a smaller sensor, the GRDIV almost always gives a stable, sharply-focussed shot.)

So, regrettably, the GR has been returned (and refunded).

The fact is, over the last year I’ve tried a number of cameras. I bought an Olympus XA film camera, which I like very much and still use occasionally. Immediately following this I bought a Nikon D200, which I liked but found a bit on the weighty side. This was sold and replaced with a D90.

Although lighter, I still found the D90 a shade heavy after an hour or two. This prompted me to think about a smaller camera body, which led to me trying the X100, which I disliked (see my previous post on this).

In August last year I bought the Ricoh GRD IV, a really inconspicuous street camera, the only downside of which is that the small-resolution files don’t allow much cropping. (Still, the camera is very much a keeper.)

My latest walk with the D40 and 50mm lens led me to rethink my attitude to DSLRs. I’m now of the opinion that smaller, more compact entry-level models are still viable tools for street work, as they have considerable advantages: with a shorter lens they are almost as light and inconspicuous as micro fourth-thirds cameras, the nearest alternative in image quality, and tend to be considerably cheaper. (Thinking of Olympus OM-5 and Panasonic Lumix GF here). 

I was surprised to discover, for instance, that the D40's direct descendant, the D3200, has an amazing 24.2 MP, coupled with the same Expeed 3 processing engine used by Nikon’s flagship camera — the D4. The most persuasive argument in favour of my buying the camera, however, was the purchase price ... now only £304 brand new.

My final reasoning was the fact that, coupled with a prime lens such as the 50mm, this camera is capable of matching the image quality produced by more expensive DSLRs (and the best of the micro four-thirds cameras).

So with Nikon’s D3200 (and the GRD IV as my secondary camera), I look forward to my next photo walk (planned for next week).

Bright day in Bank Street (Nikon D40, 50mm 1.8G)

Making pictures (Nikon D40, 50mm 1.8G)

Routemaster (Nikon D40, 50mm 1.8G)