No photo is attached because you can imagine a blank screen.

Using a Nikon D810 set at ISO 100 to attempt an interesting photo of a parking lot used by Bartram Trail hikers in Macon County, NC, I shot most with a Nikon 24-70 lens @ f11 mounted on a Gitzo 5533L tripod. The RRS BH-55 ball head gripped the RRS L-plate. An attached Leofoto DA-1 cable anchor held the Nikon MC-30A shutter release cable.

After the rain started, I sat in my truck for a few minutes, finally realizing all the gear was either impervious to water or weather sealed. I set up again, holding a small umbrella in my right hand over my head and camera. I used my left to operate the shutter release, zoom the lens, and adjust the angle.

Climbing up a small embankment above a ditch was the greatest physical challenge. It allowed my favorite shots, framing the parking lot, which now had another vehicle beside mine, with low hanging branches above the hiking trail.

After the rain stopped, I moved back across the road to capture the foreground, lot, mountains, and darkened clouds with my Nikon 16-35mm f4 lens. My newest, purchased last summer, it had been used perhaps a dozen times, most recently in two old houses for sale by the land trust for which I was volunteering today.

All I saw was a blank screen. Since the D810 is a single lens reflex, I reflected that its optical system could not have an electronic problem like the newer mirrorless cameras. Was something weird occurring because of its electrical contacts to the camera? As a journalism major whose technology stalled beyond Home Repairs Merit Badge, all I knew to do was turn off the camera; remove the lens; and reconnect it carefully.

Still a blank screen. No wait, I could see light and dark, just like the field and sky beyond the lens. It was a focus problem.

Manual focus on the lens didn’t change the view. Additionally switching to manual focus on the camera didn’t help either. Hmmm. After using Nikon lenses since 1969, did I finally have a bad lens? Would I have to turn to Ugly Hedgehoggers for help? Send it off to Melville, NY for some Covid-extended time? Was it still in the warranty period?

I tried the 24-70 again. It worked perfectly, convincing me that the lens was the culprit.

Then I saw the problem. Like the polarizing filter I'd held in the sun earlier, the rear element of the 16-35 had condensation.

That girl I met in the fourth grade has great trouble sleeping and sets the thermostat to 65F to help. My D810 and the 24-70 mounted on it had ridden the 16 miles around my neck. Nothing else did.

Once dry, the 16-35 worked perfectly.

I laughed at myself--yet another example of how, despite all that splendid gear, I am not a professional. But as usual, I had fun! I hope the photos work for the land trust, too. And maybe I'll remember to put my camera bag in the truck hours earlier. Maybe.