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Last Two Recipes from Lola

Photo Walk 2010 Images

27Aug/10
17 Comments

Now that our main PC is back up and running with the full amount of memory (yes, it was RAM that was faulty), we are now back on track! While reviewing our 2010 Lightroom catalog today, I realized that I have not posted any images from the 2010 Worldwide Photo Walk, although I did make a promise to share some pictures. I did not encounter anything great or exciting this year, since I was busy enjoying the company of my friends and other Colorado photographers. The Denver group was super fun and everybody had a blast!

Here are some images that Lola and I took that day:

Photo Walk #1

Lola shot with the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G all day and I switched between Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G. The above image was taken with the 24mm f/1.4 – love that bokeh!

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, Lifestyle Photography, Miscellaneous Tagged With:

How to Find Total Shutter Actuations on Nikon and Canon DSLRs

25Aug/10
4 Comments

During the last several weeks, I have received several requests from our readers about finding the total number of shutter actuations on their DSLRs. I decided to write a short article on how you can find the total shutter actuations on both Nikon and Canon DSLRs, in case you are interested in seeing how much you have been using your camera or how close your shutter speed is to the manufacturers’ rated shutter life of 150,000 (on most entry and mid-level cameras) or 300,000 (professional cameras).

1) EXIF Data

The information on the total shutter actuations on your camera is preserved in file headers, known as “metadata” or “EXIF”. If you do not know what EXIF is and what it is used for, check out my “What is EXIF” article that I wrote a while ago. Basically, your camera writes all exposure-related information such as date, time, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and a bunch of other important information into the header of each file. Some camera manufacturers like Nikon and Canon also add unique shutter actuations data fields that are used for seeing the total number of exposures or “shutter actuations” cameras have.

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, Guides and Howtos, Software Tagged With: , , , ,

How to Fix Blank Images in Lightroom

24Aug/10
1 Comment

Have you ever had a situation when you opened Lightroom and all thumbnails and images appeared blank? After discovering that the memory on our main PC was bad, I switched over my Lightroom catalog to my laptop for temporary access to be able to retrieve images to our clients. I opened a backup copy of the Lightroom catalog in Lightroom 3.0 and I was surprised to see that none of the images showed up, although my file path remained the same. Here is how it looked:

Lightroom blank images

Lightroom blank images

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Computer Problems

22Aug/10
14 Comments

I apologize for not being able to post for a while, but our main PC that has all the images is down at the moment and I am still waiting for replacement parts to arrive to get us going again. For some strange reason, the amount of RAM was showing up as 6 GB instead of 12 GB on the PC I recently built, occasionally increasing and decreasing in size. It was certainly bad RAM and I had to send it back to the manufacturer for replacement. As soon as the memory arrives, I will start posting more – I have lots of great new articles coming up and pictures to share. August has been a very busy month for both Lola and I, so we are doing our best to keep everything organized. I keep wishing that there were more than 24 hours in a day!

I am also anxiously waiting for B&H to ship the new lenses and the Nikon D3100 to me for testing.

Omar and Ozzy

Omar and Ozzy, captured with Nikon 35mm f/1.8G

The Nikon 35mm f/1.8G is a beautiful lens – even my two sons like it :) More to come!

Filed Under: News and stuff Tagged With:

Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR DX Lens

19Aug/10
1 Comment

The last announcement from today is the Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR DX lens, an update to the existing Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED VR DX lens that was announced back in March of 2007. The lens was announced together with the Nikon D3100, because it is a DX lens and will most likely be a part of the future two lens kit for the D3100.

Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, News and stuff Tagged With: , ,

Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens

19Aug/10
7 Comments

When I first heard of a possible release of the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens for FX, I did not believe it, simply because it is extremely hard to design a superzoom lens with such range that would perform well on a full-frame sensor. Today, Nikon responded to the popularity of the Nikon 18-200mm lens by announcing the Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens for FX sensors.

Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

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Nikon 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Lens

19Aug/10
18 Comments

Another lens that has been released today is the Nikon 24-120mm f/4.G ED VR – an update to the Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VR lens that has been out since 2003. The lens has been completely redesigned with a constant aperture of f/4, now coming with a gold ring around the front of the lens barrel, which is an indication of Nikon’s professional line of lenses.

Nikon 24-120mm f/4.0G ED VR

Nikon 24-120mm f/4.0G ED VR

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Nikon 85mm f/1.4G AF-S Lens

19Aug/10
12 Comments

Along with the Nikon D3100 DSLR camera, Nikon also released the long-expected and overdue Nikon 85mm f/1.4G AF-S – an update to the legendary Nikon 85mm f/1.4D that has been our top choice for portraiture and wedding photography. The Nikon 85mm f/1.4D has always been the “king” of bokeh and because of this, has been considered to be one of the best lenses for portraiture and low-light photography.

Nikon 85mm f/1.4G

Nikon 85mm f/1.4G

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Nikon D3100 DSLR Announcement

19Aug/10
14 Comments

Today Nikon announced the new Nikon D3100 DSLR camera – an update to the existing Nikon D3000 that was released a year ago. The D3100 is not just a cosmetic update, it comes with a brand new sensor and advanced video recording capabilities that are not yet present in any of the current Nikon DSLR bodies. Specifically, there is now an option to shoot 1080p video, the absence of which has certainly been a disadvantage when compared to Canon’s line of beginner cameras.

Nikon D3100

Nikon D3100 DSLR

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, News and stuff Tagged With: , , ,

Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR II Review

12Aug/10
17 Comments
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This is an in-depth review of the new Nikon 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens that was released in December of 2009, along with the TC-20E III teleconverter. In this review, I will not only provide general information about the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and its performance, but also how it works with all current Nikon teleconverters (TC-14E II, TC-17E II and TC-20E III) and how it compares to other telephoto lenses of similar and lower classes. The lens was kindly provided by B&H – the largest photo reseller in the world that I use more than any other to buy my photography gear.

Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II

Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II

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