DR KOH

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My Armor for the D3s…

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A few things that I added immediately to my new toy are:

1. Hand strap

I get so frustrated with the normal strap recently, it always got in the way between my eye and the viewfinder, where I have to adjust here and there or push it aside during shooting. I don’t put strap over my shoulder or neck that often nowadays, as I prefer to either carry it on my hand, or put it inside my shoulder bag.

So, I took out a Matin Hand Strap that I used to use on my D700, and lug it back to my new toy D3s.

Matin Hand Grip "CREPIS" (Dark Brown) with Self-Standing Stand! (Genuine Cow Leather, Made in Korea!)
Matin Hand Grip "CREPIS" (Dark Brown) with Self-Standing Stand! (Genuine Cow Leather, Made in Korea!)

This is a very high quality hand grip from Matin, made in Korea. Genuine leather, self standing stand, soft and durable. Did I mentioned it smells good too! (yeah when still new, the leather smell)

This is how you hold the camera with the hand grip on.

See, even if you open wide your hand, the camera still secure.

I don’t use the self-standing bottom as in the picture above, as I need an Arcas Swiss plate on my camera body bottom in order to mount my camera on the Photo Clam ballhead that I often use.

PhotoClam has a dedicated plate for Nikon D3, D3s and D3x. A perfect fit specially made based on the bottom contour of the D3 series. Will not move an mm after mounted.  You an use it as a protection to your camera bottom also, worry-free of scratching your camera bottom.

The other good thing about the Photo Clam plate is that it comes with a dovetail at both ends of the plate.

Photo Clam PC-D3-UP for Nikon D3, D3x, D3s DSLR Cameras

With the dovetail, you can put strap over it and in my case, I can get rid of the Matin self-standing bottom and put the hand grip strap directly over the dovetail.

The tripod I use often is the Jusino AX-254C Carbon Fibre Series 4 sections tripod. I like the little RED add-on to the tripod, so I choose the Red colour model.

Jusino AX-254 Ruby Red Professional Traveller Series 4-Sections Tripod (Max Load 12kg)
Jusino AX-254 Ruby Red Professional Traveller Series 4-Sections Tripod (Max Load 12kg)

The ballhead I use is not Jusino, but Photo Clam PC-33NS.

Photo Clam Professional Ballhead PC-33NS with Spirit Level (Black) (Maximum Load 30kg) (Free Jusino QR Plate!)

Photo Clam ballhead PC-33NS above can withstand 30kg load. I have a video demoing the performance of the ballhead and tripod holding a Nikon 300mm F/2.8 Lens.

This is how it looks after being setup.

(In case you wonder how can a Canon white lens be mounted on a Nikon body? No that is not a Canon lens but Nikon limited edition Nikkor AF-S 28-70mm F/2.8 White / Grey Colour lens.)

A tip on using hand grip, or should I say my personnel preference. DO NOT TIE THE STRAP TOO TIGHT! Putting the strap too tight will restrict the movement of your fingers and palm, end up uncomfortable and hard to maneuver your fingers to access the buttons on your camera. This was what I did and I end up putting the strap in my drawer than using it.

Let it loose, so that you hand and move freely and easily. The strap is supposed to help you grab your camera firmer, or give you more confident in holding your camera with just one hand.

I thought about a screen protector…or should I said THREE (one on top, one at back main LCD, and one at back lower smaller LCD). I later decided not to, as I don’t like to reduce the clearance of the LCD with something sticking over it. A camera is bought to use, not to keep. I am not going to keep the screens in perfect prestige condition for the next buyer.

Don’t buy a camera with mind thinking that you are going to sell it off later.