A lot of you guys know I had left California last week to start making my way back to Colorado to spend time with my daughter and grandkids. Of course I am photographing on my way. 
So after Doug had posted some awesome photos from Valley of Fire in Nevada a month or so ago, it was on my mind to get back there as it's been a year or two since I was there. I worked my way through the park and made it to the Fire Wave parking area about 30 mins before sunset. I grabbed a couple of cameras and my GoPro and started hiking over to it. I didn't bring any tripods since there wasn't much in the way of clouds and in Valley of Fire one of the bad things there is it's only open Sunrise to Sunset with the park rangers kicking people out.
As I was hiking to the Fire Wave, I started noticing that along the trail were a lot of these small button sized battery powered candles lighting the trail, or would soon be as it got darker. And I thought, things have sure changed since 10 years ago when there was no trail and no markings out to it, and you just had to stumble across the Fire Wave to even know it existed. I was thinking, wow these rangers are bending over backwards, not only is the trail marked, but they are now lighting it at night?
Well, I was about 1/4 of the way to the Fire Wave when I came across the ranger setting down the little battery powered candles, and I made a friendly comment about the lighting of the trail. She mentioned that it's for a special even for Chinese New Year for a night hike to the Fire Wave. She said it was by reservation, but that she was running it and that I could stay after dark too if I wanted. So I said sure! Let me go back and grab my tripods and I will be right out there. So I ran back grabbed 3 tripods and 4 cameras and quickly ran back out there.
So I was so Lucky! It's been ages since I shot the Fire Wave at night. Years ago the Rangers didn't really care, so I used to spend all night out there. But now, they hustle you out of the park with bull horns. So I thought, how lucky that I just happened to show up on the one day that the Fire Wave would be open at night, and the sky was clear so I could get some awesome timelapses!
Now... of course I wasn't totally lucky because other people would make their way out there in the dark with headlights and flashlights. It would be a new group about every 30 minutes or so. I don't know how those will look, but if nothing else I still got some really cool single star images I can use. At about 8:30pm, the ranger came out and told me they were wrapping it up for the night. I was the last one out there. I was hoping it would have been all night, but even 3 hours was good!
So I left there and went back to the campground. There are 2 of them, and that's the only legit way to be in the park after sunset. I started getting my camera's set up for timelapses not far from where I was camping. There was a bit of wind, but not too bad. The forecast for the following day was for super windy conditions and gusts up to 50-60mph. I had initially wanted to go to Death Valley after Valley of Fire, but after seeing the forecast I decided not to, and instead had called Ben to see if I could swing by his place on my way to Colorado.
Well, I had set up my D850 first and I for some reason, perhaps because it was a little windy, I set it up with the tripod legs only extended 1 section and they were spread out at the 60 degree angle so the tripod was more stable. I like almost never do that. But when I went and set up my D810 and Sony A6400 on their tripods, for some reason I didn't take the same precautions and just set them up normal. My only guess besides it now approaching 11pm is that the wind must have died down, so I wasn't thinking about the wind anymore? I don't recall why with those 2 I didn't take the same precautions with shortening the tripods. I do recall pushing down on the D810 tripod setup and it seemed solid.
So all of the cameras were shooting away for about 3 or 4 hours. I checked and changed batteries about once an hour on them. About 3am, I did my rounds, and I couldn't see my D810 camera and tripod! Well, I looked down and there it was on the ground. I could see the camera and tripod in one spot and about 3 or 4 feet away was the lens.
Now it's funny, the A6400 is super lightweight and it was set up on my super lightweight travel tripod, and it should have blown away it's so light. But it was still there and standing. Well, I gathered up the A6400 and t6he D850 before any more accidents happened.
So all of my Luck with being able to shoot at the Fire Wave at night seemed to have run out, because I was fresh out of Luck it seemed when it came to my D810.
Upon looking at the D810 once everything was put away, I found the impact had pulled out the lens mount from the camera, it had broken the back of the viewfinder. But all of the electronics still work. The shutter even still works. And I was Lucky in that one of the last images of it had captured a really intense Meteor streaking through the night sky. Maybe the Meteor had used the last of my Luck for the day?
After that, I slept for 2 hours and then got up to get back to the Fire Wave and then spent the morning hiking around and shooting. But after, instead of heading to Colorado, I turned back around to California since the Nikon Service center is located in Los Angeles, and I plan on taking it there on Monday morning. At least to get it in and get it looked at.
I don't have insurance on the D810, for those that ask. I always buy the 4 year extended warranty on my cameras when I buy them. The D810 is older and I am usually careful with my cameras, so I don't bother with the insurance on the older bodies. I guess I should have. Ugh...
Other then a change of resolution, the D810 and D850 are nearly identical when it comes to IQ, so my D810 get's lots of use, and I am for sure going to miss it. Hopefully it can be repaired and it's not too expensive. I was saving up money to get some more astro gear, but I am guessing that will need to be put on hold as getting my D810 back up and running is more important to me.
Anyway... I just wanted to share that Luck can be Fickle...
So after Doug had posted some awesome photos from Valley of Fire in Nevada a month or so ago, it was on my mind to get back there as it's been a year or two since I was there. I worked my way through the park and made it to the Fire Wave parking area about 30 mins before sunset. I grabbed a couple of cameras and my GoPro and started hiking over to it. I didn't bring any tripods since there wasn't much in the way of clouds and in Valley of Fire one of the bad things there is it's only open Sunrise to Sunset with the park rangers kicking people out.
As I was hiking to the Fire Wave, I started noticing that along the trail were a lot of these small button sized battery powered candles lighting the trail, or would soon be as it got darker. And I thought, things have sure changed since 10 years ago when there was no trail and no markings out to it, and you just had to stumble across the Fire Wave to even know it existed. I was thinking, wow these rangers are bending over backwards, not only is the trail marked, but they are now lighting it at night?
Well, I was about 1/4 of the way to the Fire Wave when I came across the ranger setting down the little battery powered candles, and I made a friendly comment about the lighting of the trail. She mentioned that it's for a special even for Chinese New Year for a night hike to the Fire Wave. She said it was by reservation, but that she was running it and that I could stay after dark too if I wanted. So I said sure! Let me go back and grab my tripods and I will be right out there. So I ran back grabbed 3 tripods and 4 cameras and quickly ran back out there.
So I was so Lucky!
It's been ages since I shot the Fire Wave at night. Years ago the Rangers didn't really care, so I used to spend all night out there. But now, they hustle you out of the park with bull horns. So I thought, how lucky that I just happened to show up on the one day that the Fire Wave would be open at night, and the sky was clear so I could get some awesome timelapses!Now... of course I wasn't totally lucky because other people would make their way out there in the dark with headlights and flashlights. It would be a new group about every 30 minutes or so. I don't know how those will look, but if nothing else I still got some really cool single star images I can use.
At about 8:30pm, the ranger came out and told me they were wrapping it up for the night. I was the last one out there. I was hoping it would have been all night, but even 3 hours was good!So I left there and went back to the campground. There are 2 of them, and that's the only legit way to be in the park after sunset. I started getting my camera's set up for timelapses not far from where I was camping. There was a bit of wind, but not too bad. The forecast for the following day was for super windy conditions and gusts up to 50-60mph. I had initially wanted to go to Death Valley after Valley of Fire, but after seeing the forecast I decided not to, and instead had called Ben to see if I could swing by his place on my way to Colorado.
Well, I had set up my D850 first and I for some reason, perhaps because it was a little windy, I set it up with the tripod legs only extended 1 section and they were spread out at the 60 degree angle so the tripod was more stable. I like almost never do that. But when I went and set up my D810 and Sony A6400 on their tripods, for some reason I didn't take the same precautions and just set them up normal. My only guess besides it now approaching 11pm is that the wind must have died down, so I wasn't thinking about the wind anymore? I don't recall why with those 2 I didn't take the same precautions with shortening the tripods. I do recall pushing down on the D810 tripod setup and it seemed solid.
So all of the cameras were shooting away for about 3 or 4 hours. I checked and changed batteries about once an hour on them. About 3am, I did my rounds, and I couldn't see my D810 camera and tripod! Well, I looked down and there it was on the ground. I could see the camera and tripod in one spot and about 3 or 4 feet away was the lens.
Now it's funny, the A6400 is super lightweight and it was set up on my super lightweight travel tripod, and it should have blown away it's so light. But it was still there and standing. Well, I gathered up the A6400 and t6he D850 before any more accidents happened.
So all of my Luck with being able to shoot at the Fire Wave at night seemed to have run out, because I was fresh out of Luck it seemed when it came to my D810.
Upon looking at the D810 once everything was put away, I found the impact had pulled out the lens mount from the camera, it had broken the back of the viewfinder. But all of the electronics still work. The shutter even still works. And I was Lucky in that one of the last images of it had captured a really intense Meteor streaking through the night sky. Maybe the Meteor had used the last of my Luck for the day?
After that, I slept for 2 hours and then got up to get back to the Fire Wave and then spent the morning hiking around and shooting. But after, instead of heading to Colorado, I turned back around to California since the Nikon Service center is located in Los Angeles, and I plan on taking it there on Monday morning. At least to get it in and get it looked at.
I don't have insurance on the D810, for those that ask. I always buy the 4 year extended warranty on my cameras when I buy them. The D810 is older and I am usually careful with my cameras, so I don't bother with the insurance on the older bodies. I guess I should have. Ugh...
Other then a change of resolution, the D810 and D850 are nearly identical when it comes to IQ, so my D810 get's lots of use, and I am for sure going to miss it. Hopefully it can be repaired and it's not too expensive. I was saving up money to get some more astro gear, but I am guessing that will need to be put on hold as getting my D810 back up and running is more important to me.
Anyway... I just wanted to share that Luck can be Fickle...
