Ask a Pro

Q. What is the latest regarding the problems with the Nikon D750? I bought one of the bad ones and am getting ready to send it back for the third time in hopes they can fix the fuzzy, black, thumb image at 6 o’clock that consumes about 40% of the bottom middle of my shots. This happens intermittently but frequently enough to have ruined both wedding and vacation shots. If I purchase a very recently manufactured D750 will I be OK? Thanks! By the way, I love your column and your well-written, easy-to-understand answers.

Q. What is the difference between shooting with a straight-up monochrome camera, such as a Leica, and converting in post to a monochrome image? Also, what’s the difference between an in-camera monochrome image and converting to monochrome in post?

Q. I recently purchased a Sony A7R II and have enjoyed the switch to Sony ever since. That said, I have discovered an “issue” with certain aspects of a mirrorless setup. There are times I would like to take shots of a subject at night using a flash. The problem arises when using the EVF to compose with settings that work for the exposure with flash. It is nearly impossible to see anything, as the EVF is just black! I am sure this is not just a problem with Sony EVFs, but other mirrorless cameras as well. Is there a button that you can map, similar to the Nikon “Preview” function? Something that will “light” the EVF so you can see what you have within your frame while composing would be perfect, but I do not recognize the function name within the menus if there is one. Is this just an inherent “problem” with mirrorless cameras with EVFs for now?

Q. The idea of shooting in Raw on your DSLR and then importing those Raw images into your tablet or phone to edit is pretty ludicrous to me. I don’t know of anyone who has enough free space on their mobile phone to edit even a day’s worth of vacation shooting. Are people really buying into this?

Q. I read that Google is no longer supporting the Nik Collection of plug-ins and I’m afraid that one day soon my beloved plug-ins will stop working. Do you think Google will reconsider and update the plug-in if a Mac or Windows update (or Photoshop or Lightroom) breaks it?

Q. For years I had planned to “upgrade” from my camera with an APS-C sensor to a camera with a full-frame or even midsize sensor. Since I’m retired, I no longer print my photos or try to sell them. I have some very nice full-frame lenses from my film camera days, so I could use them with a full-frame camera. But I display my photos only electronically on a TV or photo frame, which can’t display all of the image data that a larger sensor could capture. So, wouldn’t a larger sensor just be overkill?

Q. Re: your answer to the question about solving noise problems in the writer’s wedding shots in the February 2017 issue. You mentioned Photoshop, Lightroom, and Nik for noise reduction, but left out the best noise reduction software I’ve ever used—DxO’s OpticsPro 11. I had great night shots of lava flowing into the sea off Hawaii that were unusable because of noise, but OpticsPro 11 Prime worked wonders.