Update Camera System

  I was the first photographer to successfully photograph the free Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival in 2007 with no flash allowed, at a church hosting it annually. Two of my Sunday School students from a different church participated. From an 8.2mp Canon 20D to a better 17.9mp Canon 7D in 2009 for the Jan. 2010 event, both have limited light-sensitivity and focus "struggles". My aging equipment can only do a fair job of photography for the 150 actors and church staff involved. The church putting on this Boar's Head Fest and investing money and time in making costumes, rehearsals, free programs, music production, and carpentry deserve the best that technology and I can now produce. This means the quickest low-light focus (-7.5EV) directly on a subject's eyes, the sharpest lenses, the best color accuracy, detailed raw files allowing correction of low light exposures, and a dependable, reputable system. The silent 45.7mp Nikon Z8 can do these now in lower light with high color-accuracy.

   Every January is my chance to voluntarily capture photos but my constant clicking is disturbing to the audience, and the missed-focus or blurred shots (like the leading photo with 5 actors onstage blurry on purpose, looking at the child on her Daddy's shoulder) are upsetting to myself and any who don't know what they are missing that's actually possible now. Renaissance-style outfits' details are missed from too-small of a sensor, some fogged and aging Canon "L-quality" lenses, too-slow shutter speeds, digital noise, and a 2009 camera's inability to low-light focus add up to about 33% or hundreds of missed memories.

   I will soon attach some photo successes with good and bad light and some failures but the camera is programmed to not take a picture without its focus confirmation. So I cannot show you examples where the camera could not focus at all, thus not shoot in low light as there are many such unrecorded misses from dark lighting.

   The bad news for me is new professional cameras like the Z8 and latest Z lenses are more expensive than ever and, due to circumstances like Magic, our German Shepherd for which I paid in 2021 with all my regular savings for the best hip dysplasia operation out-of-town that failed, then went into debt for a re-do the doctor wanted, which failed even more quickly, and the Plandemic-market-crash where I lost 95% of my separate retirement savings the year before, sad to say. I take good care of Magic with Gentle Giants food, walk her every night before bed and though she is crippled, still gets around on her own with prayer, daily leg stretches, and love (wuvzin').

   The current retail when not on sale of the 45.7mp Nikon Z8 at B&H Photo is $4324 (may not be on sale when able to purchase) and with the two sharpest, fastest "Nikon S Mark II" zooms needed ($2800 24-70mm, and $3200 70-200mm) plus a $300 Fringer converter for using some still-sharp Canon "L" lenses on a single Nikon body (really should have two Z8s for ready-to-go lens-switching in this and other active venues), adds up to $10,600 without a 2nd camera, nor 2 spare batteries, B+W lens-protection UV filters, spare memory card(s) and CF-Express B card reader I've never before needed. This does not count extra lenses and other accessories but it will get me started by early January 2027. I have the B&H credit card to save the tax. I also volunteer for Citizens Defending Freedom, the Election Integrity Project (my pics displayed under 'Meetings'), and sometimes our free Texas Jazz Festival.

   For donors, I hope to offer views of pictures you helped me create from the next Boar's Head Festival scheduled ea. January if you give me the opportunity to purchase this equipment. Its okay if I need to wait another year, I can still use my cameras and see if even newer models appear in 2027 for the following year's Festival. Tech is advancing in favor of great photography and Nikon is due some fine new cameras soon I think.

Thank you, and God bless you whether you can financially help or pray, Bruce Switalla, 1 Cor. 15:1-4, Eph. 2:8-10.