Nikon South Africa have just launched the D5500 – a 24,2-megapixel, touchscreen, Wi-Fi enabled, lightweight camera – and we got to test it with their new brand ambassadors I See A Different You, a trio collective from Soweto, portraying South Africa as they see it. I hugely admire their frank, honest work and beautiful stylised images, plus they love to travel Africa.
Photo by I See A Different You.
You can get more insight into I See A Different You, their desire to tell beautiful stories about Africa, and their mission to portray a different view of Soweto by watching this TEDx video.
It was wonderful to be able to walk through the Johannesburg CBD with them as they led us past the statues of Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Pigeon Square, the Shadow Boxer Statue and through the old Chinatown district. I got horribly sunburnt, but had a wonderful day, snapping away on the new Nikon D5500. Here are some of the shots taken with this nifty camera.
Photo by I See A Different You.
Photo by I See A Different You.
Photo by I See A Different You.
And then a few of my own, all also taken with the Nikon D5500.
As a regular DSLR user, it was habit to immediately look through the view-finder, but I enjoyed using the flip-out touchscreen for taking low-perspective shots and zooming in on the images (much like you would on a tablet).
The Wi-Fi is the business. I’ve never considered using it before, let alone thinking of it as a great asset, but it was incredibly useful to be able to share images straight to my phone, them Tweet and Instagram them along the walk. I’m now considering buying a Wi-Fi adaptor for my own camera. You can follow the hashtag #thruthelens to find the photographs we snapped on the walk.
On top of the Wi-Fi, there are loads of effects and scene-settings to play with as well, plus HD video recording and excellent low light capability with an ISO of 25600. You can read more about the Nikon D5500 here. It costs R13 495 for the body from ormsdirect.co.za.
