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-   -   Nitrouz - The Evolution II. (http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-gallery/29216-nitrouz-evolution-ii.html)

Nitrouz 01-03-2011 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HKYStormFront (Post 877839)
like the cf pieces, the fang cover looks really good on the quartz man!

Thanks dude!

Just bought a Canon 60D yesterday with 18-200mm lens... Planning on shooting a lot more photoshoots with this car. You need to come to Vancouver and show me a thing or two.

GTHAUS 01-03-2011 10:07 AM

Looking good so far!

-Jeremy

Nitrouz 01-03-2011 10:21 AM

Thanks Jeremy. I had the Meisterschaft on the GTR...loved the sound.

Flushnismo 01-03-2011 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nitrouz (Post 878007)
Thanks Jeremy. I had the Meisterschaft on the GTR...loved the sound.

I just ordered the whole system for my Z. Hope its as loud as people say it is :tup: lol

Nitrouz 01-03-2011 11:34 PM

So aside from buying myself a 370z and lots of parts for Christmas, yesterday I also bought myself a new camera. It's a Canon 60D with EFS 18-200mm IS lens. Also got myself a Manfrotto Carbon Fiber tripod.

I literally JUST picked it up and starting playing with it... I'm a VERY amateur photographer, but I'm going to be shooting my car a lot more this year. So I thought I'd do some testing out.

First pic is with shutter-priority of 30 sec, and second with Aperture-priority of F/3.5. Shot from my apartment window. First I zoomed a bit too much to try to not get my window frame in the shot, but as a result the trade off was depth of field, as I focused on the traffic but the buildings were not focused (shoulda been the other way around). Second I zoomed out to 18mm to try the F/3.5.

I'm excited to start doing more photoshoots this year and learn as I go! HKY you need to pop into my thread more often to give me some pointers lol...

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/411/023vr.jpg

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/2728/027lz.jpg

FL 4Motion 01-03-2011 11:38 PM

Thanks Nitrouz, now Juno is bugging me for a carbon fiber tripod too. :shakes head:



























:)

Nitrouz 01-03-2011 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FL 4Motion (Post 879449)
Thanks Nitrouz, now Juno is bugging me for a carbon fiber tripod too. :shakes head:

It's very compact and light..got it on boxing week sale. Regular price $350, got it for $199.

Oh and here's a pic of my diffuser sitting in the corner...

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/6204/015us.jpg

Ztoon 01-03-2011 11:53 PM

Yeah, these DSLR's are amazing!
I just picked up the T2I. It makes me look like I know what I'm doing!
Have been bracketing shots in the AEB setting for HDR pics. Cool stuff. I then just run them through a program called HDRtist.

Nitrouz 01-03-2011 11:56 PM

lol I haven't even gotten close to shooting HDR pics yet...

We need to hook up in the spring to do a photoshoot together with our Z's man.

FL 4Motion 01-03-2011 11:58 PM

you crazy canucks and your boxing week sales. Juno said you got a great deal on that tripod. Her personal camera is a 7D but for work she shoots with Nikon's (booo!).

Nitrouz 01-03-2011 11:59 PM

she's outta my league then... even the 60D is too much for me. Like ZToon said, it makes me look like I know what I'm doing lol...

MC 01-04-2011 12:12 AM

speaking of that diffuser does the fog light work on the Canadian version or are you getting one installed?

Nitrouz 01-04-2011 12:29 AM

I'm not getting the light. I don't like it...reminds me of hemorrhoids. I may black it out or just leave it as is.

djpathfinder 01-04-2011 01:38 AM

That fog light is functional on all Canadian models.

docaam 01-04-2011 02:20 AM

that looks like turning into an awesome thread :)

k20z3 01-04-2011 02:55 AM

PM me questions regarding photography.

Selective HDR can be done with one single photo, I should do tutorials for the site hehe...

WB is your first big step, and understanding SS's and ISO's and Apertures.... then next comes kelvin temperature, shutter dragging, lighting etc.!

Nitrouz 01-04-2011 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djpathfinder (Post 879519)
That fog light is functional on all Canadian models.

really? dammit. I haven't seen the car from the back when it's driving as I'm always driving. Does it turn on with the headlights or braking?

Nitrouz 01-04-2011 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k20z3 (Post 879534)
PM me questions regarding photography.

Selective HDR can be done with one single photo, I should do tutorials for the site hehe...

WB is your first big step, and understanding SS's and ISO's and Apertures.... then next comes kelvin temperature, shutter dragging, lighting etc.!

you lost me at shutter dragging... :icon14:

djpathfinder 01-04-2011 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nitrouz (Post 879705)
really? dammit. I haven't seen the car from the back when it's driving as I'm always driving. Does it turn on with the headlights or braking?

Your car's ignition has to be in the on position, whether or not it's running, and your headlights have to be on (on or auto). To activate the fog light, just twist the part of the left stalk (that controls your lights and turn signals) that has the fog light symbol counter clockwise. To deactivate it, twist it CCW again. It's pretty bright but handy if you're driving in the rain/mist or in the fog (obviously). :tup:

Nitrouz 01-04-2011 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djpathfinder (Post 879736)
Your car's ignition has to be in the on position, whether or not it's running, and your headlights have to be on (on or auto). To activate the fog light, just twist the part of the left stalk (that controls your lights and turn signals) that has the fog light symbol counter clockwise. To deactivate it, twist it CCW again. It's pretty bright but handy if you're driving in the rain/mist or in the fog (obviously). :tup:

Cool thanks bro. Rep'ed ya! I saw the fog switch on the foglight and twisted it and kept staring at the front of the car thinking "there's no foglights on this car..." :icon14:

I'll check later lol... Thanks!

djpathfinder 01-04-2011 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nitrouz (Post 879776)
Cool thanks bro. Rep'ed ya! I saw the fog switch on the foglight and twisted it and kept staring at the front of the car thinking "there's no foglights on this car..." :icon14:

I'll check later lol... Thanks!

Hey, cool...thanks! I also do photography. Love car photography and I do a bit of that as well. You can check out my albums for some shots I've done with my cars. I've done some night time shots with my FX as well, as you can see in one of the shots with Seattle's Space Needle and skyline in the background. In that picture, I combined a few techniques, including painting with light. But, you've got good equipment to start with and learning simple techniques for now would be good. PM me and we can also discuss some basic principles if you have any questions. We visit my brother once a year in Seattle and we do make it out to Vancouver during those visits, so who knows, maybe we could hook up and I can help you with a shoot sometime in the summer.

Nitrouz 01-04-2011 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djpathfinder (Post 879879)
Hey, cool...thanks! I also do photography. Love car photography and I do a bit of that as well. You can check out my albums for some shots I've done with my cars. I've done some night time shots with my FX as well, as you can see in one of the shots with Seattle's Space Needle and skyline in the background. In that picture, I combined a few techniques, including painting with light. But, you've got good equipment to start with and learning simple techniques for now would be good. PM me and we can also discuss some basic principles if you have any questions. We visit my brother once a year in Seattle and we do make it out to Vancouver during those visits, so who knows, maybe we could hook up and I can help you with a shoot sometime in the summer.

Sounds good man! Let me know when you're heading this way!

Nitrouz 01-05-2011 05:16 PM

Just got a Stillen G3 intake off of a forum member for a great price. Install looks to be a pain from researching on the boards...

HKYStormFront 01-05-2011 05:26 PM

yea it's a pretty time consuming process, whole front end of the car has to be disassembled

djpathfinder 01-05-2011 06:08 PM

It's not that bad really. The first time you take off the bumPer is the most nerve wracking but the next time is a piece of cake. I can do it in 20 min, which includes putting the car up on jack stands (optional). The other time consuming part is figuring out where and how much to trim off. Not a lot btw. Took me about 4 hours to install but I was taking my sweet time. There's a DIY by Snakes702 but some of the pics he posted might be missing. Pay attention to protecting (wrap with heater hose) two AC lines on the driver side from metal on metal rub. If those lines rupture you'll lose AC and it's expensive to replace them.

Nitrouz 01-05-2011 09:14 PM

MY review: Nissan 370Z vs. Nissan GTR
 
***Disclaimer: I cannot emphasize the word "MY" in the thread title enough***

Now that I've had my 370z for a week, driving daily, ripping in curves, driving in city traffic, I finally have a feel of not only driving the car, but OWNING it. Please keep in mind that my last vehicle is a 2009 Nissan GTR, with pretty much full turboback straight pipes, HKS hard pipes and dual SSQV, AAM intakes, suspension, Volk GT30's, Cobb custom tune, and a bunch of other misc. mods. All simple mods, but all things that GTR responds well to. As many of you know, I traded in my GTR of 2 1/2 years for the 370z due to the "fun factor". Now let's see if it lived up to my expectations.

First of all, my background. I work in a corporate environment. I work on average 12 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. I'm just a few months shy of 30. Now this just means that I still want to have fun, but sometimes do not have the time to do so. I do love the track, but unfortunately due to my work, my opportunities are limited to 4-5 trackdays a year. That means 95% of my driving is done on the street.

Ok now that we got that out of the way, I first purchased the GTR after I sold my 420z-tt. This was a fully built, GTM sponsored, Methanol inhaling, fire spitting, stroked motor twin turbo 350Z. Needless to say I spent a fortune on that car. Enough to buy a Ferrari. Somewhere in that build, the fun of horsepower decreased and the hassle of maintenance increased. GTM did a beautiful and flawless build on the car. Just that with any car built to that extent, you'd always have to watch the gauges, listen to noises, etc, to a point where you cannot just simply enjoy the raw fun of driving. I also had a couple of other cars at the time as DD's. So I decided to buy a GTR. High power, unique, reliable, AWD, can handle the occasional snow day here in Canada, dual-clutch with auto mode, etc. Perfect. Unfortunately the trade-off was that other than on the track, the car was boring. Too stable. If I wanted to have fun on the streets, it'd be at speeds that I can go to jail for, which I'm not about to do.

In comes the 370Z.

Performance - Obviously, performance is not in the same league as the GTR. I don't care if you have a 800whp Z, you're not beating a 500whp GTR from a stop or on a track. Period. From a roll, horsepower wins. but other than that, you might as well go home. The main strength of the GTR was not the power. It was not the AWD. It was not the DCT. It was a combination of all of them. The only strength of the GTR, if I can only name 1, is its consistency. It's a sniper. One shot, and the job is done. No drama, no bs. The Z is slower of course. I feel that even free revving, the Z feels very laggy in comparison. It stops slower, and gives a lot less confidence in the corners. Given the 45 degree weather we have here, the tires are so cold it does not grip. I still ripped it through some back roads, and I actually feel how slow I shift compared to the GTR's DCT. The Z's Syncro-Revmatch is awesome though for those lazy days.

Exterior - This is subjective. But I prefer the Z. So does my gf who loved the GTR as well. Yes the GTR is blunt, it has a presence. But have you noticed...that no matter who put what bodykit on a GTR, hell even a widebody kit, all GTR's look the same? The Z is not as "iconic", therefore its identity can be skewed a lot easier by the owner's efforts, if that makes sense. With a few mods here and there, the Z can really be "your own". Whereas the GTR is still "Mizuno's own". :p

Interior - This goes to the Z as well. The GTR has a lot more interior functionality, sure. It has 4 seats. It has all customizable gauge displays in the center concole. It has more supple leather as well. However, the Z's interior has a lot less plastic, at least that's how it FEELS. I love the black headliner, as it makes the interior a lot more "roomy" feeling. The GTR is like a pair of really like Tom Ford sunglasses. Chic, well displayed, good looking, etc. Whereas the Z's interior is like a pair of Oakleys. Simplistic, but WRAPS AROUND YOU. Get's to the point. I prefer that when I'm driving. I like the cockpit feel of the Z over the relatively luxurious interior of the GTR.

Aftermarket - With relation to my comment above, the Z is a lot more "customizable" due to its lack of iconic presence, relative to the GTR. And of course, all the parts are at a FRACTION of the price of those for the GTR. I got a lot of my exterior simple mods done for only $10k on the Z, whereas for the GTR, that buys you maybe a full amuse turboback exhaust.

Comfort - The Z's suspension is VERY soft compared to the GTR. It's a lot more comfortable to drive the Z in town than the GTR. It's also not as wide or long as the GTR, so parking is easy. The Z has a lot more road noise though coming from the hatch. The GTR's seats are a little more supportive, but I like the lumbar support of the Z's seats. The GTR needs that.

Attention - The Z gets pretty much 0 attention compared to the GTR. But that just means I fly under the radar. I loved the attention of the GTR for the first month of ownership, but since then I've beend dreading it. What's the world coming to when a man cannot even pick his own nose in his own car without being seen? :roflpuke2:

With all the above, what does that translate to? I love the exterior and interior of the Z, even though it lacks performance. I shift a lot slower than the GTR's DCT, but MAN is this fun! Dump the clutch at 3.5k rpms and let the fun begin! This is something that no DCT nor auto tranny's will be able to have. After getting suspension upgraded, and a pair of snails, and some exterior parts, the Z will be a car of "my own", and something that I know I will enjoy more than the GTR. So what if I'm not the fastest? So what if I'm not the rarest? At least I'm having fun. At the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about?

If you're read up to this point, thanks for your patience. Wish you all a great New Year. I know mine is. :driving:

Alex

Jamaica 01-05-2011 09:17 PM

:tup:

HKYStormFront 01-05-2011 09:43 PM

nice writeup alex :tiphat:

Nitrouz 01-05-2011 09:50 PM

thanks guys. Posted that in its own thread in the General section.

RCZ 01-05-2011 10:57 PM

Nice writeup indeed. You were a lot nicer on the Z than I expected. Sounds like a good new asset to the forum.

definitionxmk 01-06-2011 01:58 AM

great words. I love picking my nose when people don't see too =)

k20z3 01-06-2011 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nitrouz (Post 879705)
really? dammit. I haven't seen the car from the back when it's driving as I'm always driving. Does it turn on with the headlights or braking?

Shutter dragging is effective when you use strobes you can capture ambient light (Sunlight, tungsten light etc) by keeping your camera at a low shutter speed it adds a dynamic look to your images :)

FuszNissan 01-06-2011 11:30 AM

Thanks for the Review.

98intrigue 01-06-2011 11:58 AM

Great write up! I've never driven a GTR, so I can't agree or disagree... But it was a good read.

Nikon FM 01-06-2011 12:06 PM

:tup::tup:

RCZ 01-06-2011 03:23 PM

I got rid of my STI for the same reason. It was fast and very stable, but I had to take stupid risks and needed a lot of space to have any fun in it. I'm sure it was much crazier in the GT-R, but same idea.

Ztoon 01-06-2011 11:17 PM

Great write-up man!!
I've been thinking of a '05 Gallardo or a GTR. Haven't driven godzilla yet, so it was great getting your feedback.
Yeah, that AWD is a different animal. The Gallardo HP and torque presses your organs against your spine when launching, but the seat of your pants fun of a RWD is missing.
+rep for your input Alex!

Spec Jay 01-07-2011 12:03 AM

great write up. one thing though the z is just over an inch narrower than the gtr. i was discussing it with my buddy when he parked his gtr next to my z lol

Nitrouz 01-07-2011 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztoon (Post 884220)
Great write-up man!!
I've been thinking of a '05 Gallardo or a GTR. Haven't driven godzilla yet, so it was great getting your feedback.
Yeah, that AWD is a different animal. The Gallardo HP and torque presses your organs against your spine when launching, but the seat of your pants fun of a RWD is missing.
+rep for your input Alex!

Thanks bro! The GTR will walk a normal Gallardo. A tuned GTR like mine would walk a LP560 no problem. Even then, with a superior tranny to the LP, I found the GTR boring. I drove the LP560 extensively as well, and I did not like how the clutch engaged in the tranny. Less predictable than the GR6 in the GTR. The LP was really fun to drive though, just simply because you know you're driving a Lambo. If you put the exact same driving behavior (except acceleration and hp) in a Toyota, people would be like "wtf is wrong with that Toyota?"

Lambo :nutswinger:..............hey I'm guilty too.

Nitrouz 01-07-2011 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spec Jay (Post 884298)
great write up. one thing though the z is just over an inch narrower than the gtr. i was discussing it with my buddy when he parked his gtr next to my z lol

Weird because in my parking spot it seems a lot narrower than the GTR...possibly by 2-3 inches.

Anyways the GTR just feels big...especially when going under 80mph. Above that, you can manhandle it like a miata..... ok maybe not to that extent but you get the idea...


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