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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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Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II for Birding

25Jul/10
9 Comments

I’m currently testing the new Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and doing as much bird photography as possible to see how it performs in various situations, especially with teleconverters. I received it a couple of weeks ago, but my schedule went hectic and I have not received the new Nikon TC-20E III, which I really wanted to test this lens with. The Nikon TC-20E III is nowhere to be found at the moment and I was able to get a copy by renting it through LensRentals.com for now. I also needed the TC-20E III to complete my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II review and wanted to test it with all of my telephoto lenses after hearing so much about its great performance. The TC-20E III is arriving at the end of this week, so I am planning to get out and shoot as much as possible during the weekend and next week.

So far, I’m in love with the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II. It is so sharp and full of contrast, that I don’t even see a reason to shoot it without teleconverters. The Nikon TC-14E II is unnoticeable on it and the Nikon TC-17E II performance is just superb – that’s what I have been shooting with and I am more than impressed with this setup. The TC-17E II makes the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II a 510mm lens and the new VR system helps me keep the lens stable while hand-holding it. I do not have an arca-swiss mount for the lens yet, so I have not used a tripod once so far – only hand-held shots.

Burrowing Owl Chick

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Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Review

8Jul/10
17 Comments
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This is an in-depth, long overdue review of the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens that was released back in August of 2007 together with the 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens. I have owned the Nikon 24-70mm ever since it came out and I have written a lot about it in my articles, but never got the chance to sit down and provide some detailed feedback about what I like or don’t like about this lens. After I got my hands on other FX wide-angle lenses such as Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 VR, Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G, I knew it was time to put them all up to a real test and compare each one with the 24-70mm.

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

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Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 Review

8Jun/10
18 Comments
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This is an in-depth review of the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens that was released back in August of 2007 together with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens. I have been planning to write a review of this lens for quite some time now and I wanted to make the review as thorough as possible, comparing it to other Nikon FX wide angle lenses that are out in the market today. My plan finally came to reality, when I got a hold of Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G, Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 VR, Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8D, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G and finally Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lenses all at the same time!

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

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Nikon 24mm f/1.4 Review

2May/10
42 Comments
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This is an in-depth review of the new, most anticipated professional Nikon 24mm f/1.4G ED lens that was announced earlier this year together with the Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0G VR lens. 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 24mm f/1.4G

Nikon 24mm f/1.4G

The Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens is a professional-grade lens for enthusiasts and professionals that need the highest quality optics of a fixed wide-angle lens with a large aperture of f/1.4 for low-light situations and shallow depth of field to isolate subjects from the background. The lens incorporates the latest optical technology destined for both FX and DX sensors (equivalent of 36mm on DX), yielding amazing clarity and contrast in most challenging lighting conditions. The Nikon 24mm f/1.4G follows the footsteps of the legendary Nikon 28mm f/1.4D lens, which was known for its exceptional quality and sharp optics, even at large apertures. The new Nikon 24mm f/1.4 is no exception – it performs almost flawlessly at all apertures, most notably at f/1.4 with maximum sharpness from center to corner, as seen in the examples of this review. Nikon has incorporated the latest technology and optical formulas to this lens, including AF-S silent-wave focus motor and Nano crystal coating. The lens is also sealed against dust and tough weather conditions. Just like most Nikon professional lenses, the lens has a 77mm filter thread, which is great news for landscape and architectural photographers.

Where the Nikon 24mm f/1.4 shines, is its subject isolation capability with exceptionally good-looking bokeh at a wide perspective of 24mm, which is an extremely useful focal length for both FX and DX sensors. The maximum aperture of f/1.4 makes this lens an exceptionally good portrait lens for both images and video, allowing to hand-hold it in low-light situations.

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Nikon 24mm f/1.4 Image Samples

20Apr/10
18 Comments

I finally got my hands on the new Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens and had an opportunity to do some early testing of this marvelous lens a couple of days ago. What can I say? The lens is truly a gem – it is super sharp wide open at f/1.4. I do not know of any other Nikon lens that is this sharp at f/1.4…I was very surprised. It is so good wide open, that I shot at f/1.4 90% of the time and only touched other apertures for when I needed more depth of field.

Take a look at this shot of Omar:

Happy Omar

Happy Omar - Nikon 24mm f/1.4 @ 1/1250, f/1.4, ISO 200

And definitely check out the full-size version here and take a look at the detail on his face at 100%.

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Nikon DX vs FX

23Mar/10
50 Comments

Some of the most frequently asked questions from our readers are around DX and FX format sensors. What is DX and FX? What are their differences? Which one is better and why? If you have similar questions and want to get a clear understanding about these formats and their differences, along with seeing actual image samples from both, this article is for you.

Before diving into sensor formats, it is first important to understand what a sensor is and what it does in a Digital SLR camera. It is easier to understand how sensors work by comparing them with the human eye. The lens in front of the camera essentially functions as the cornea of your eyes, gathering ambient light and passing it to the iris. The iris then expands or shrinks, controlling the amount of light that enters the retina, which functions almost exactly like a camera sensor. The retina is light-sensitive, meaning it can adjust its sensitivity based on the available light. If there is too much light, it decreases its sensitivity, while automatically increasing the sensitivity in a dim environment, so that you could see in both extremely bright and extremely dark conditions. Remember what happens when you come out of a dark place to a very bright, sunny environment and vice-versa? Either your eyes will hurt and everything will seem too bright, or you will have a hard time seeing at all – due to sensitivity of the eyes that have not yet adjusted for the new environment. The sensitivity of your eyes is just like the sensitivity of the sensor, also known as “ISO” in photography. But sensitivity comes at a price – high sensitivity levels ultimately decrease image quality, similar to when you have a hard time seeing in a very dark environment. This degradation of image quality is first visible as “grain” or “noise” in the pictures, followed by loss of detail, sharpness and color in extreme levels of sensitivity. When I say “extreme”, I mean extreme to the digital camera, not human eye. Even with all of the latest advancements in sensor technology, cameras are not even close to seeing the range of light the human eye can see in various environments.

Captured with Nikon D700 FX Camera

Captured with Nikon D700 FX Camera

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Nikon D700/D3 vs D3s High ISO Noise Comparison

19Mar/10
37 Comments

In this Nikon D700/D3 vs D3s High ISO Noise Comparison, I will be focusing on providing information and image samples from the first-generation Nikon full frame cameras (Nikon D700 and Nikon D3) as well as from the current high ISO king – Nikon D3s. High ISOs are needed in low-light environments, where the amount of ambient light is insufficient for hand-held photography at standard ISO sensitivity values. While doubling the ISO number doubles the shutter speed to freeze motion or prevent camera shake, it also introduces noise into the picture.

All tests below were performed on a sturdy tripod, with timed exposure to prevent camera vibrations. Both Nikon D700 and Nikon D3s were set exactly the same way, shot in manual mode with Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G at f/8.0. Exposures were exactly the same on both cameras, depending on ISO value. I shot in RAW (Active D-Lighting: Off, High ISO NR: Normal), then imported into Lightroom, cropped and exported with “Camera Standard” camera profile. The rest of the data is available via EXIF in the files to those who are interested in technical details.

Here is the full area that I shot for these tests:

Sample

The first test is at ISO 800. The image on the left is Nikon D700 and the image on the right is Nikon D3s (click to enlarge). Both are extremely good at ISO 800, but Nikon D3s is a little cleaner in the background areas.

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Nikon D300s vs Canon 50D High ISO Noise Comparison

18Mar/10
6 Comments

This article is to primarily show the key differences between the Nikon D300/D300s and Canon 50D and provide information on high ISO performance above ISO 800. While there is a significant difference in both features and price between these cameras, in this Nikon D300s vs Canon 50D comparison, I will primarily focus on low-light performance between these two cameras.

Major differences between the two cameras

  1. Sensor Resolution – Nikon D300/D300s is 12.3 Megapixels (4288 x 2848) while Canon 50D is 15.1 Megapixels (4752 x 3168).
  2. Pixel Pitch – Nikon D300s is 5.49 microns and Canon 50D is 4.7 microns.
  3. Crop factor – All Nikon APS-C (DX) sensors have a crop factor of 1.5x, while all Canon APS-C sensors have a crop factor of 1.6x.
  4. Autofocus focus points – Nikon D300/D300s has the same professional autofocus system as in Nikon D3/D3s/D3x with a total of 51 focus points, while the Canon 50D has a much inferior 9 focus point system.
  5. ISO – Both cameras can handle up to ISO 3200 in native mode. Nikon D300/D300s can be boosted to ISO 6,400, while Canon 50D can go up to ISO 12,800.
  6. Wireless flash master – Nikon D300/D300s has a built-in flash that can be used as a master flash to control other Nikon flashes, while Canon 50D does not have such feature.
  7. Exposure compensation – Most Nikon cameras can handle -5 to +5 EV, while Canon 50D can only handle -2 to +2 EV.
  8. Frames per second – very similar performance between the cameras. Nikon D300 is 6 FPS, Nikon D300s is 7 FPS and Canon 50D is 6.3 FPS. With the MB-D10 battery pack both Nikon D300 and D300s can shoot 8 frames per second.
  9. Movie mode – Nikon D300s can handle 720p video and Canon 50D has no video support.
  10. Viewfinder coverage – 100% on Nikon D300/D300s and 95% on Canon 50D (pentaprism on both).
  11. Weight – Canon 50D is lighter (730g) than Nikon D300/D300s (840g).
  12. Custom Functions – 25 on Canon 50D and 48 on Nikon D300/D300s.
  13. Price – Canon 50D is currently selling for $925 at B&H and Nikon D300s is $1,519.

High ISO Comparison

Let’s move on to high ISO tests for both Nikon D300s and Canon 50D. Here is what I photographed for this test:

Sample

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More Image Samples from Nikon 16-35mm VR

16Mar/10
18 Comments

It is taking me a long time to sort through the images and pick the ones I like the most, so I decided to post three quick samples from my last trip to Utah where I shot with the Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0G VR lens. I haven’t had a chance to do any post-processing on these images, so they are exported from Lightroom with the default settings (standard Lightroom sharpening is applied).

If anybody is doubting the sharpness of the Nikon 16-35mm VR, take a look at the full versions of the below images and see for yourself. The images are razor-sharp from center to corner and the very slight amount of softness at 16mm does not bother me at all. Either way, it is way better than the Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8D and the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G.

All images are shot on FX (Nikon D700) and the corners will be even better on a DX body.

Nikon 16-35mm VR Sample 1 Resized

Window Arch Sunrise - Nikon 16-35mm VR @ 35mm, 1/200, f/10

Click here to download the full version of the file in JPEG format (4.5 Mb).

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