Jack Gruber » afghanistan

Nikon D3S Taking The Heat

jackgruber — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:59:44 +0000

Sitting here at USA TODAY the other day talking about the D3S during a visit with Nikon’s Design Department General Manager Koichiro Kawamura and Technical and Engineering Liaison Kenji Suzuki along with Nikon’s Bill Pekala and Mark Suban, I realized the D3S has pretty much all the bells and whistles I really want and need from a still camera.

Well, maybe a better quiet mode that really is quiet would be nice.

I really am a huge fan of the new Nikon D3S. Everything from the higher ISO’s and image quality make this still camera nearly perfect.

Did I say I was a huge fan?

The funny thing about talking to both Mr. Kawamura and Suzuki was that we were not talking about the D3S as a still camera. All of the discussion focused on the D3S as a video camera and all the pieces we added to the D3S to make it into a workable video camera.

We explained our likes and dislikes. We talked about the things we would like to see added and fixed as still photographers focusing more and more on capturing video on a daily basis.

I don’t think we offered up any brilliant revelations that haven’t been discussed by other more knowledgeable professionals but I hope the next Nikon version coming off the line will address many of the issues regarding not having 1080p video, live view auto focus and viewing along with audio issues and length of video recordings among other things.

The one thing that I brought up that seemed to spark some interest was the fact the Nikon D3S shuts down in extreme heat. It has happened to me a few times but was really prominent in southern Afghanistan in August.

NIkon D3s in the heat of Kunjak, Afghanistan

No big surprise here. A well documented issue and I knew about the extreme temperature problems with the D3S going into the assignment. Working with it in the field while walking on patrols during the 100+ degree heat with marines in the Helmand Province, I never had an problem with the camera shutting down. Not once.

The heat problem only came to light when I set the camera up in a makeshift outdoor studio to interview each member of the marine platoon for a video project.

Almost immediately the stationery D3S wedged between cots and MRE boxes heated up under the intense Afghanistan sun and the camera stopped recording all but short length clips.

Uh oh.

The only thing I could think to do after having started the interviews and needing to keep things moving was to shield the camera from the sun with anything available.

Sleeping bags, overturned cots and boxes. All of this helped but it was just too hot. The camera just wouldn’t work in the extreme heat.

In a last ditch effort with plenty of bottled water around, I soaked my travel towel down and used it as a cold compress wrapped around the camera body.

Probably not in the D3S manual but the fix worked. I was able to limp through the interviews which took nearly four hours and quite a few bottles of water. Most of the marines actually appreciated my ability to adapt to the conditions. They were also taking great pleasure in passing the time watching and mocking me while I scampered about trying to keep the “Beverly Hillbilly” rig from blowing away in strong, gusty winds.

This is the published version of the video “Voices: If you could bring an American to Afghanistan, what would you show them?”

Sounds of Afghanistan

jackgruber — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:57:52 +0000

Combat Outpost Kunjak based 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment marines during quiet moments along with fellow Afghan National Police in the Helmand Province near Musa Qala, Afghanistan.

This was one of those moments during the long stretches of not much happening between missions. Marines looking for an escape from the heat sit with their Afghan fighting partners.

I heard this music playing from across the camp and took off running. I found the Afghan National Police commander nicknamed “Bobby” by the marines sitting and playing.

This was really one of those truly memorable moments I will keep with me. Here these guys are sitting right in the middle of war while making some really beautiful music.

Voices Afghanistan

jackgruber — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 01:10:58 +0000

If you could bring an American to Afghanistan, what would you show them?

I posed this question to the nearly twenty-five marines of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment based at the remote outpost named COP Kunjak in the Helmand Province. The marines were nearing the finish of a seven month tour of duty in Afghanistan. The 1/2 Marines lost ten men during this battle rotation.

The marines speak in their own voices about what they would show Americans if they could bring them to their Afghanistan outpost.

War Zone TBI

jackgruber — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:00:40 +0000

A video I edited and shot for the story of how military doctors are diagnosing and treating traumatic brain injuries (TBI) at the NATO Role 3 Treatment Facility at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan. More U.S. troops are being identified as concussion victims each month under new, more aggressive medical treatment guidelines instituted by the Pentagon in July. Those rules require that any service member caught within roughly 50 yards of a blast be pulled from the battlefield for at least 24 hours and examined for evidence of concussion. The same goes for troops in a vehicle or building struck by a bomb.