Digital Photography - 3/72

iPad 3 Wallpapers from Nikon D800

Apr

2012

April 11, 2012

I decided to post a couple of iPad 3 (a.k.a. the “New iPad” or just “the iPad”) wallpapers taken by the Nikon D800 while I am working on the upcoming Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens review. I am hoping to publish it within the next few days, so that I could start working on reviewing the Canon 5D Mark III and some high-end Canon lenses. These images were requested by our readers in higher resolution and since the new iPad has a whopping 2048×1536 pixel retina display, I thought it would be better to extract them in a bigger size. They should also work as wallpapers for the original iPad and iPad 2, but obviously the images are not going to be as detailed…

1) Click here to download the wallpaper version in 2048×1536 resolution

Confessions of a Deer Hunter

Apr

2012

April 10, 2012

By Bob Vishneski 22 Comments

I spent quite a bit of time during my youth hunting in the woods of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Along with my family and friends, I was convinced that the first day of deer season was a national holiday! In truth, I invested far more time in preparation for deer season than hunting. It was simply part of the process of being as well-prepared as possible for harvesting a deer. During my early teens, I gave serious thought to becoming a Pennsylvania Game Warden, as I could imagine no better job than being outdoors every day and getting paid for it! And although I never bagged a buck or became a Game Warden, I learned quite a bit about nature, wildlife habits, topographical maps, and many other subjects. The learning process and being outdoors was far more important to me than actually shooting an animal. When I rekindled my interest in photography, and my Nikon cameras and lenses replaced my rifles and scopes, I put many of the skills I had learned as a hunter to work in photographing deer and other wildlife.

Over the last five years, I have been photographing quite a few of the animals inhabiting Hartwood Acres, a historical landmark consisting of the former estate of the John and Mary Flinn Lawrence family, and 629 acres of pristine forest. Red-tailed hawk, whitetail deer, turkey, raccoon, and fox are regular inhabitants of the park. Rumor has it that coyotes have been spotted as well.

Nikon D800 vs D700 FPS and Buffer Comparison

Apr

2012

April 8, 2012

By Nasim Mansurov 20 Comments

Many of our readers have been asking me to provide some information on how the new Nikon D800 (see Nikon D800 Review) compares to the Nikon D700 (see Nikon D700 Review) in terms of speed (“fps” or “frames per second”) and camera buffer. In the below video, I show the performance of both cameras side by side when shooting 14-bit Lossless Compressed RAW images with very fast SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB compact flash memory:

As you can see, the Nikon D800 is slower than the Nikon D700 with its 4 fps speed versus 5 fps on the D700. It also lasts about half a second shorter than the D700 before its buffer gets full at around the 4 second mark. Nikon’s estimates for the D800 and D700 (see D800 and D700 brochures) are 17 images for the D800 and 20 images for the D700 before memory buffer gets full and fps slows down. My tests are a little off, because the D800 should be a little faster according to Nikon – 17 / 4 fps is 4.25 and 20 / 5 fps is 4. Interestingly, the same thing happens when both cameras are set to 12-bit RAW – the D700 still lasts longer. Note how much longer it takes for the D800 to complete its write from the camera buffer into the memory card – now that’s one huge buffer! I bet it is at least 4 times larger than the one on the D700. Lastly, note that the D800 shutter sounds very different than the one on the D700.

Some people have been reporting memory compatibility issues with the D800. I have not seen any issues so far with any of the SanDisk & Lexar cards I have (I have been using SanDisk and Lexar cards for my cameras exclusively), so I believe memory card issues are happening with cheap third party memory cards only. Hopefully we will see a firmware update from Nikon soon – the D800 seems to have occasional slowdowns when writing to and reading from CF and SD memory cards, as reported in my Nikon D800 Review.

Filed Under: Cameras, Digital Photography, Gear, Memory Cards Tagged With: Camera Buffer, Compact Flash, DSLR Camera, Nikon, Nikon D700, Nikon D800, SDHC, SDXC

Nikon D800 for Sports and Wildlife Photography

Apr

2012

April 6, 2012

By Nasim Mansurov 42 Comments

While the Nikon D4 is the proper tool for sports and wildlife photography due to its faster speed and extreme ISO capabilities, many photographers are also looking at the Nikon D800 for action photography. First, the high-resolution sensor could give some “reach” opportunities with plenty of options to crop in-camera (DX mode) or in post (I highly recommend to do it in post instead of in-camera). Second, the AF system on the D800 is identical to the one on the D4 (Advanced Multi-CAM 3500FX). And lastly, noise characteristics of the D800 are very similar to the D4 when images are down-sampled to 16 MP (down-sampling can also result in increased sharpness). The biggest disadvantage is the slow 4 FPS speed of the D800.

Since many sports and wildlife photographers have been asking me about the D800 AF performance, I decided to share some information on it that I have collected so far. First of all, the f/8 focusing capability is not a myth – it definitely works. I tried the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR with the TC-20E III and focusing worked, even in low-light conditions (although not as accurate as in daylight conditions). Granted the image quality was pretty bad (the 200-400mm just doesn’t couple well with anything but the TC-14E II), AF worked just fine. This means that the Nikon 500mm f/4 and 600mm f/4 lenses will also autofocus with the TC-20E III teleconverter and you are not just limited to very bright shooting conditions. I will have to do some more in-depth digging with the TC-20E III and other long lenses, but so far I am impressed by the updated AF system.

What about the TC-17E II that I have been avoiding when shooting with f/4 lenses? Surprisingly, the D800 made my TC-17E II usable again. Take a look at this image, shot with the Nikon 300mm f/4 AF-S and TC-17E II:

Free Nikon App for the iPad/iPhone

Apr

2012

April 5, 2012

By Tom Redd 13 Comments

If you just got a new Nikon flash or a new Nikon camera like the D4 or D800, maybe even a Nikon 1, there’s an app for you. If you are like me, you don’t want to carry a big manual with you everywhere you go but for those rare occasions you need to refer to it, it is nice to know that you can download the manual in pdf form from the Nikon website. To make it simple, Nikon has a free iPhone/iPad app (not available for Android to my knowledge) called Nikon Manual Viewer – it is free and much more convenient than carrying around a manual. Several of Nikon’s product manuals for DSLRs, NIkon 1 and speedlights are available for download and viewing from within the app itself (currently only in English or Japanese).

What is Does

The app is free and easy to use, you go to the Downloads button and select your product from the menu.

Nikon App Homepage

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Cameras, Digital Photography, Gear Tagged With: Apple iPad, Apple iPhone, Nikon

Reach Out and Touch…

Apr

2012

By Bob Vishneski 51 Comments

Somebody’s hand
Make this world a better place
If you can
- Nickolas Ashford and Adele Simpson
Performed by Diana Ross

As photographers, we are bombarded with messages urging us to see the world through our own eyes, or find our “unique vision”. Apart from the photo club outings and occasional seminars, photography is primarily an individual pursuit. And as we all know from Diseases That Plague Photographers and other articles on Mansurovs, photographers can be a bit consumed (ok – downright obsessive!) with their equipment, and have extremely strong opinions concerning it!

Along your photographic journey, however, I would suggest taking some of life’s detours, which include using some of your equipment and gifts to make a difference in the life of others. The opportunities are many and cost little, if anything, but can be worth their weight in gold to both you and those you choose to help. They also provide the chance for you to experiment and sharpen your skills in fun, low stress environments. Don’t be surprised if you experience some memorable moments along the way.

Don’t Leave Someone Out of the Picture

Whether it is a single mom or dad out with their child, a grandmother and her granddaughter, or simply a larger group, someone is usually left holding the camera, and thus missing from the photos. When people get back home, they have a slew of photos of one another, or nine of the ten people of the group, but not everyone together. When you observe such a situation, offer to take a picture of them with their camera (a good way to see quite a few camera makes and models, BTW!). Follow-up by taking a photo or two with your own camera. Why? Should someone have their camera settings in some odd state, you are not going to have time to figure out how to fix them given the myriad of unique menu systems and options associated with the plethora of point-and-shoots and DSLRs you are likely to encounter. But you should know your camera well enough to quickly change a setting or two and get a quality photo.

Images from Another World

Apr

2012

April 4, 2012

By Nasim Mansurov 76 Comments

I just came back from a trip and wanted to share some of the images that were taken with the Nikon D800. Since I did not have a chance to shoot much with the D800 before the trip, my Nikon D800 Review had very few sample images, some of which were pretty bad for my taste. But as I have already pointed out, I had to publish the review before my trip, because our readers kept on sending me emails on a daily basis, asking when the review will be available. It is still a work in progress, so I will be updating it with more information this week. Check back the review occasionally and you will find more valuable information with plenty of details. Some readers requested me to provide more image samples and comparisons with the 5D Mark III and the D700, so I will do that later this week as well.

Back to the images from another world – the below images were taken with the D800 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G, Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lenses, in a remote location of New Mexico, known as “Bisti Badlands”:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Cameras, Digital Photography, Gear, Landscape Photography Tagged With: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico, Nikon, Nikon D800

Is Nikon D700 Obsolete?

Apr

2012

April 3, 2012

By Roman 94 Comments

36 megapixel Full Frame camera sounds great, doesn’t it? What you get in a D800 is, basically, exceptional high ISO performance, as demonstrated by Nasim in his Nikon D800 review, and resolution that, heretics say, can rival some of Medium Format digital backs. One of the best cameras currently on offer, surely. One of the best for several years to come, it is almost a revolution, both in camera market as well as your pocket, as creatively described by Bob Vishneski. Extremely tempting, completely justified again and again in your mind. People would understand, wouldn’t they? Even your wife, with some persuasion, could see reason. And yet something is not quite right, not quite settled. Is it the old-ish D700 poking you at the shoulder? Never too far away, the brother. Always haunting, always showing off its huge sensor, its lower than ever price tag. The D800 shines above it day and night, yes, you see it in your dreams, you see it in the hands of other photographers – calling out to you, always bright, but the older brother is persistent. After all these years, after almost decades it seems now, D700 is still trying to drop a shadow on your face, still trying to be noticed and loved just as it was before the new kid came to town. A desperate pensioner.

But as it happens, pensioners are hardly desperate. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wrote “The Lord of the Rings” when he was 62. What can we expect of D700, then?

Plenty, actually.

Canon Unveils Astrophotography Centered Canon 60Da

Apr

2012

April 2, 2012

By Roman 18 Comments

With Nikon offering a niche D800E camera (which, against some expectations, will likely prove to be very popular) next to its mainstream model, the D800, Canon has decided, after a 7 year break, to take a similar step with the introduction of a modified Canon 60D model, the 60Da. Seven years ago Canon brought 20Da, a modified version of a popular Canon 20D DSLR. 20Da was, essentially, the same camera with a different IR filter and added live view functionality which, while having severe limitations at that time (inability to function in a bright environment), was very useful when manually focusing on stars at night. Changes to IR filter made the camera about 2.5 times more sensitive to Hydrogen Alpha wavelenght (approx. 656nm), which helped the 20Da capture space nebulae much more easily.

Canon 60Da, as you would expect, has a certain number of improvements over its predecessor thanks to recent technology advances. Canon’s great 18 megapixel sensor will help astrophotographers and astronauts capture much more detailed Space photographs, while a high-resolution vari-angle LCD promises even easier manual focusing and composing at night. As with 20Da, you can expect 60Da to have a slightly better high ISO performance compared to the regular model, and an added benefit of video, which, I’m sure, will be very popular.

Ever since the 20Da was discontinued in 2006, astrophotographers had to modify their cameras on their own and with an added risk of damaging an expensive piece of equipment. Now, however, it’s good to know there is a choice to buy a great camera pre-modified specifically with astrophotography in mind. It is a specialized camera, though, and thus will be available to order from select authorized dealers only at an estimated retail price of 1,499$.

Here is the official press release:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Cameras, Digital Photography, Gear Tagged With: Astrophotography, Canon 20D, Canon 20Da, Canon 60D, Canon 60Da

Mastering Lightroom: How To Use the Tone Curve Panel

Mar

2012

March 31, 2012

By Roman 10 Comments

In this short tutorial I will show you how to use one of the easiest and most powerful tools found in Lightroom – the Tone Curve. In my previous tutorial about black & white conversions, I briefly showed you how to use the HSL Panel’s Luminance section to control the lightness of separate colors of the image. Using the Tone Curve Panel is very similar as it also allows you to control the lightness and darkness of various parts of a given photograph, however, rather than altering separate colors, the Tone Curve tool controls certain ranges of actual tones in the image.

What Is It?

The Tone Curve represents all the tones of your image. The bottom axis of the Tone Curve is the Tone axis: the line starts with Shadows at the left-most end and ends with Highlights in the right-most end. In the middle you have Midtones, which are then further split into darker Midtones, called Darks in Lightroom, and brighter Midtones, called Lights. In other words, going left to right, the curve starts with Shadows, Darks, Lights and ends with Highlights. You can also see the corresponding range shown to you by Lightroom once you hover over a specific slider under the Tone Curve, in the Region section of the Panel. The Y axis represents lightness of a given tones. The tones get darker as you move lower and brighter as you move up the axis.

iPad 3 Wallpapers from Nikon D800

Confessions of a Deer Hunter

Nikon D800 vs D700 FPS and Buffer Comparison

Nikon D800 for Sports and Wildlife Photography