Clarification Saturday

Sherelene is working today so I’m not taking the day off either. I had several things I wanted to
address, so here goes;

Email from a friend: I got an email from a friend who is, “not yet” a believer, he was some what offended by yesterday’s entry, in one way, he stated in his email, “I guess you are saying if we are not Christians, or alongside you politically, we are the enemy!?” Absolutely not! The enemy is Satan. His sole purpose of existence is to steal and lie. He is the great deceiver. We are not struggling against flesh and blood, but a spiritual enemy. If I did not believe strongly enough that
God is the answer, I would not have ever made “the” decision. Since I’m fully committed to Him
I can’t deny where I stand on the issues of the day. People may not care one way or another, but
I still must stand my ground if only to demonstrate that it’s real. We are not pitted against others,
we are pitted against the real enemy, God’s enemy. I pray my friend will find this peace.

The 4th of July: This weekend is more than a chance to Bar-B-Q out and have parties, it’s that too
but much more. It’s a celebration of our declaring independence which led to the forming of our nation. It is a time to be thankful for what God has established, the greatest experiment of freedom in the world How will the experiment end? That’s up to us. Are we willing to stand up for what so many died to leave us?

What chains bind you? Jesus came, showed the way, and died so that you might be set free! We are all bound in the chains of this life; sin, fear, anger, jealousy, greed, deceit, dishonesty, self -indulgence, lack of concern for others. I hate that list, it is awful to think that describes me, but sadly it does. At our worst, we are capable of this describing our behavior. The Good News, and that’s why we call it the “Good News”. That Jesus has made it possible for us to live above our nature. Will we still make mistakes, fall and bust our knees, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can rise above our nature. If you no longer want to drag your chains around, you can only get rid of them, if you see one man, Jesus.

Thoughts on DSLRs: I’ve been doing an informal study of Nikon’s current top four cameras. In the coming weeks, I will make that study more formal, but for now here is what I’m thinking. The D3x is the ultimate Hi Res camera for the studio and fashion shooter, and very useful for the landscape photographer. It is ruggedly built and a little on the heavy size for carrying around in the field,
but oh what beautiful files it makes. Speaking of files, they are big, and that means it eats up your storage, but then storage is cheaper everyday…… The D3s is the ultimate quality file maker that still has speed and agility. The D3s, for me is the near perfect camera, great looking files, ridiculously good Hi ISO low noise, and just sweet ergonomics. I think for most folks 12 mega pixels is plenty. Heavy? yes, worth it, you bet. The D700 is the value camera in the current line, near D3s performance, maybe 95% as good in a smaller more affordable package. If i could only own a single camera this might be the one. Then just when I was sure I had a good handle on things, we released the D7000. Wow, this truly is a great value. For only $1,200. it is a 16.2 megapixel camera that also shoots 1080p Hi Definition video. It is packed with top end features and is light and easy to carry, but still very well made. I have to admit, I’m in love with this little sweetheart. So what do I use almost all the time? The D7000, when I need more speed and better High ISO low noise the D3s and D700 are the ticket. If I bought three cameras today for my retirement, they would be those three, D3s, D700, and D7000. But retirement is still some time away and before then who knows what the line-up will be…… Fun, fun, fun.

A fun project is coming: Through the years I’ve collected a number of old manual focus Nikkor lenses, many classic, super sharp, zooms, wide angles, and micros. Since all the current higher end bodies allow you to use the older lenses, a very cool feature by-the-way, I will soon do a full test of many of these lenses on current bodies. Should be interesting as many of these old classics can be bought for very reasonable figures. I hope to work on that in July. I plan to test the following manual focus Nikkor lenses; 24mm f 2.8, 50-135 f 3.5, 80-200 f 4.5, 80-200 f 4, 300 f 4.5 IF-ED. All on FX and DX bodies.

Have a great 4th weekend and be blessed, and thanks for joining me here.

the pilgrim

*Photo note: Nikon Coolpix P300, old car, Utah.