J. Dennis Thomas' Nikon Digital Field Guide Companion

Nikon D4 is here...

2012-01-06T01:36:00.001-06:00

Looks like they've made quite a few changes and it seems pretty impressive. At $6000, it better be impressive. Judge for yourself:

The D4 announcement from Nikon

The new stuff:

New Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor
New EXPEED 3 image-processing engine with superior, high-speed processing capabilities
91K-pixel RGB sensor for the more accurate Advanced Scene Recognition System
Faster and more accurate AF with 51 focus points
Multi-area Mode Full HD D-movie with three image area options

My guess is that in the next couple of months we'll see the D800 roll out with all of these advances in a smaller more affordable body. That's really what I'm looking for. The reason I bought a D700 over a D3 was the removable grip. Sometimes smaller and lighter is better.

Adobe Camera RAW 6.6 and Lightroom 3.6

2011-12-14T03:09:00.002-06:00

Adobe has released the final candidate for Adobe Camera RAW 6.6 and Lightroom 3.6

Get the Adobe Camera RAW 6.6 update here for Mac
Get the Adobe Camera RAW 6.6 update here for Windows

Get Lightroom 3.6 here for Mac
Get Lightroom 3.6 here for Windows

The updates provide RAW support for these new cameras

Canon Powershot S100
Fuji Finepix X10
Leica V-LUX 3
Nikon 1 J1
Nikon 1 V1
Panasonic DMC-GX1
Ricoh GR Digital IV
Samsung NX5
Samsung NX200
Sony NEX-7

They have also added profile support for 30 new lenses

Lens Mount	Lens Name
Canon	Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 DG HSM II
Canon	Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM II
Canon	Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro
Canon	Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Canon	Canon PowerShot S100
Leica	LEICA ELMARIT-S 1:2.8/30 mm ASPH.
Leica	LEICA APO-ELMAR-S 1:3.5/180 mm
Nikon	Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 DG HSM II
Nikon	Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro
Nikon	Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Nikon	Nikon 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8
Nikon	Nikon 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6
Nikon	Nikon AF-S DX Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G
Phase One	Mamiya AF 35mm f/3.5
Phase One	Mamiya AF 45mm f/2.8
Phase One	Mamiya Sekor AF 28mm f/4.5 D Aspherical
Phase One	Mamiya Sekor AF 80mm f/2.8 D
Phase One	Mamiya Sekor AF 55mm f/2.8 LS D
Phase One	Mamiya Sekor AF 80mm f/2.8 LS D
Phase One	Mamiya Sekor AF 110mm f/2.8 LS D
Phase One	Mamiya Sekor AF 150mm f/3.5 LS
Phase One	Phase One 28 mm Digital AF f/4.5 Aspherical
Phase One	Phase One 35 mm Digital AF f/3.5
Phase One	Phase One 45 mm Digital AF f/2.8
Phase One	Phase One 80 mm Digital AF f/2.8
Phase One	Schneider-Kreuznach 55 mm LS f/2.8
Phase One	Schneider-Kreuznach 110 mm LS f/2.8
Phase One	Schneider-Kreuznach 150 mm LS f/3.5
Pentax	Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM
Sigma	Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 DG HSM II
Sigma	Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG OS APO HSM
Sigma	Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro
Sigma	Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Sigma	Sigma DP2x
Sony	Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM
Sony	Sigma 50-200mm F4-5.6 DC OS HSM

One thing I wish they'd add some of the more popular legacy zoom lenses like the NIKKOR AF-S 28-70mm f/2.8D and the NIKKOR AF-S 80-200mm f/2.8D. A lot of pros still use these lenses and it would be nice to have access considering they support less expensive legacy lenses like the 28mm f/2.8D.

*Adobe Camera RAW 6.6 is ONLY compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS5. Earlier versions are NOT supported.

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There are also some notable fixes in the ACR 6.6 update including:

New camera profiles for Nikon D3, D3000, D3000s, and D700 to address issues with highlight posterization
ACR 6.5 clicking “Choose target folder button makes APD frozen (Mac only)
It’s possible that Lightroom crashes when saving keyword to file
Fuji S200 rendering highlights with green cast
Scrolling can perform too fast when using the trackpad
Snapshops don’t reset when in local corrections only with global corrections
Fixed issue red eye reduction for images converted to B & W.
Fixed issue with overcorrection of vignette.
Fixed issue with color noise reduction at extreme color temperatures.
Fixed issue with noise reduction when using local exposure adjustment.

Nikon D7000 and D5100 firmware updates

2011-11-10T09:18:00.002-06:00

Nikon has announced two new firmware updates for their most popular cameras, the D7000 and D5100.

Get the D7000 firmware here.

Modifications enabled with B firmware Ver. 1.03

An error where the card may not have been recognized when some memory cards were used has been addressed.
The following issues occurred when the mode dial was rotated from U1 or U2 to another shooting mode or from another shooting mode to U1 or U2 when the power was off or when the exposure meters are off (Auto meter-off). These issues were resolved.
- A new folder is sometimes created despite the fact that the current folder does not yet contain 999 files and none of the files are numbered “9999”.
- The number of remaining exposures may not be displayed as specified in the settings.
- The setting for Role played by card in Slot 2 may change between Overflow, Backup, and RAW Slot 1- JPEG Slot 2.
An issue where Battery info in the setup menu sometimes showed sufficient remaining charge even when the remaining charge for the AA batteries inserted in the MB-D11 battery pack was low has been resolved.
An issue where a saved photo may not have been displayed properly when a movie was displayed in playback mode while saving the photo has been resolved.
An issue where zoom in or zoom out may not have performed properly when the playback zoom in or playback zoom out button was pressed while in Live view has been resolved.
The message displayed when the internal memory of the Wireless Transmitter WT-4 is formatted from the Format transmitter's memory under Device settings in Wireless transmitter of the camera’s setup menu was changed from Done to Built-in memory formatted.
The message displayed when the internal memory of the Wireless Transmitter WT-4 is formatted from the Format transmitter's memory under Device settings in Wireless transmitter of the camera’s setup menu was changed from Done to Built-in memory formatted.

Get the D5100 firmware here.

Modifications enabled with firmware A:1.01 / B:1.01

An error where the card may not have been recognized when some memory cards were used has been addressed.
When Selective color from the retouch menu is performed on a picture taken with the image quality set to NEF (RAW)+JPEG and an image size of M or S, the edges of the image may not have changed color. This issue has been resolved.
When Metering was set to Matrix metering, the exposure mode set to M (Manual), and the HDR exposure differential set to Auto, the exposure differential was fixed at a value equivalent to 2 EV. This has been changed to enable automatic adjustment of exposure differential so that it is appropriate for the scene

Please help out our 4-legged friends!

2011-09-10T14:34:00.001-05:00

As many of you know we've had a devastating number of wildfires in Texas this summer. There have been hundreds of animals displaced and many of them are in need of help. If you can, please help out these little guys. People often forget that humans aren't the only creatures affected by these disasters.

You can donate here:
http://www.austinpetsalive.org/

Henrietta and Maddie appreciate your help!

Photo55 iPhone app

2011-08-31T11:16:00.000-05:00

My friend and I have just released our first photo app, Photo 55. Please check it out!

With a nod to the past we present the only app that recreates the look of the classic Type 55 film. Type 55 was a black and white 4X5 sheet film that produced both a positive and negative image. While the positive image was for review and intended to be discarded later, the border proved to be interesting and many famous photographers incorporated it into their final product.

With Photo55 you can finally create iconic Type 55 images with your iPhone and without all the chemical goop.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photo55/id458021952?mt=8

Wayne Coyne - Flaming Lips / Type55

Amber - Red Rogue Studio / Type55

Austin TX / Type55

La Dolce Vita / Type55

Nikon P7100 and AW100

2011-08-24T00:17:00.000-05:00

Well, Nikon's "big announcement" was less than stellar. While we were all expecting a new full-frame DSLR we got the Nikon P7100 point and shoot.

Although the camera is laden with a lot of high-end features, it's not really groundbreaking with the exception of the new Vari-Angle LCD. Pretty much the Nikon version of Canon's bestselling G-Series compacts.

Nikon has also released some more S-Series cameras for the Ashton Kutcher crowd, but probably more exciting than the P7100 is the first Nikon camera that is waterproof, freezeproof, and shock resistant camera: the Nikon AW100.

This is a Nikon point and shoot I can really get into. Being an avid kayaker I often wish I had my camera with me, but after having two close calls with my P5000 I decided to leave it at home. Now there's a Nikon camera I can take along with me.

Nikon's newest macro lens! The AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 40mm f/2.8G

2011-07-12T14:01:00.000-05:00

Unexpectedly, Nikon has released a brand new macro lens, the AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 40mm f/2.8G. Aimed squarely at the entry-level user this is Nikon's most inexpensive macro lens coming in at $280.

The build of the lens is very similar to the 35mm f/1.8G, which is to say, unlike the 85mm f/2.8G VR macro lens which has a magnesium alloy body, the 40mm f/2.8G macro has a polycarbonate body. The new lens does however lack VR which is a pretty handy feature to have.

The good news is that the lens, is very small and lightweight, making it a great choice as an adjunct to the kit lens. The 40mm focal length is equivalent to 60mm on FX, landing it squarely in the normal lens range so it can easily be used as an everyday walking around lens and an excellent portrait lens.

A couple of other nice things about this lens are the internal focusing and Close Range Correction (CRC). Internal focusing allows you to get close to your subject without worrying about the lens extending as it focuses as some inexpensive third party lenses like the Tamron 90mm f/2.8D. The CRC allows each group of glass elements to move independently for more accurate focus, which is very important in macro work. Of course being a true macro lens, the 40mm f/2.8G allows you to get a 1:1 reproduction ratio.

I have a feeling this lens is going to be a huge seller for Nikon and I anticipate these things flying off of the shelves, do yourself a favor and pre-order.

Displaying your art in cafés and restaurants

2011-05-09T10:06:00.004-05:00

A lot of artists and photographers ask about the benefit of displaying their art in cafés and restaurants. As great as it would be, most of us will never get the chance to display in a high end gallery, so this is usually the best option.

I've displayed my photos in a coffee shop with great success. I chose a theme that was relevant to the area. I printed only live music photos specifically shot in local venues. I also chose images of bands that I knew were popular rather than my own favorite shots.

I printed the photos myself on my Epson 4800. I also framed and matted them. I used mid-priced polycarbonate frames, these look professional, don't chip or scratch like wood or metal and won't break the bank. Total cost was about $400. I easily made it back and even though the display was taken down 6 months ago people still ask about prints. I actually sold one on Friday.

Another key is to keep the prices affordable. The biggest mistake I see artists making is overpricing the art. Keep in mind the clientele of the venue. The place I displayed is mostly patronized by hipsters and college students. They're not the most affluent crowd.
You must also realize that this isn't necessarily a profit making venture, but a marketing strategy, keeping your prices down to a reasonable level will encourage more sales. I spend a lot of time in cafés and I most often hear people talking about the ridiculous prices on the art, and I usually agree.

Some of my unsold prints from the show were donated to special causes to be raffled off as well. I donated a photo of Motorhead to be raffled off to help a local band buy a new tour band when theirs was stolen. When they needed photos for their new album, guess who they called? That print that cost me about $25 to make landed me a $750 gig with more on the horizon.

Adobe releases Camera RAW 6.4 with Nikon D5100 support

2011-04-27T12:57:00.002-05:00

Important news for you new D5100 shooters. Adobe has released their new Camera RAW module which includes support for the D5100 .NEF files. You can download the ACR installer from Adobe.
Adobe Camera RAW 6.4 for Macintosh
Adobe Camera RAW 6.4 for Windows

Please be aware that ACR 6.4 is only compatible with Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3. If you're running an earlier version of these programs use the Adobe DNG converter.
Adobe DNG Converter for Macintosh
Adobe DNG Converter for Windows

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Nikon formally announces the 50mm f/1.8G AF-S

2011-04-27T12:02:00.001-05:00

As expected Nikon has announced the 50mm f/1.8G AF-S lens. An update to the hugely popular and one of Nikon's most revered lenses the 50mm f/1.8D. This lens is known to be one of Nikon's sharpest, but n typical Nikon fashion they have re-designed the whole package adding an aspherical element to make distortion almost nil (Something that the more expensive 50mm f/1.4G lacks).

The best part is that Nikon has kept the price on this low. With a retail price of just $219 I expect this lens to literally be flying off the shelves.

Unlike the 35mm f/1.8G lens Nikon has designed this one to work with FX as well as DX so all you D700 shooters can rejoice about very affordable normal prime that offers super fast and silent focusing.

Read the full announcement here: http://cdn.press.nikonusa.com/static/evolution.html

Nikon D7000 firmware update

2011-04-26T22:40:00.000-05:00

As expected Nikon has released a firmware update for the D7000. The update fixes the following bugs:

Noise reduction processing is now performed with shutter speeds slower than 1 s (previously 8 s) when On is selected for Long Exp. NR in order to reduce the bright spots that occur with shooting of still images at slow shutter speeds.
An issue that prevented the opening of movies recorded with the D7000 in certain movie editing software applications has been resolved.
When the camera was connected to a television via the A/V cable and a movie was played back, playback was normal the first time but when the movie was played two or more times, the sound was played back at extremely low volume and seemed to play intermittently. This issue has been resolved.
When white balance for RAW images created using the camera’s image overlay function was fine tuned with Capture NX 2 or ViewNX 2, the images acquired a magenta cast. This issue has been resolved.
An issue that caused 0.00” to be displayed for heading information when the GP-1 GPS unit was connected to the camera has been resolved so that ---.-- is now displayed.
When Viewfinder virtual horizon was the role assigned to the Fn button or the preview button and the applicable button was pressed, errors in the virtual horizon indicator were displayed. This issue has been resolved.
The following errors in Help displays have been resolved.
- "Maximum sensitivity" help was displayed for shooting menu>ISO sensitivity settings>On or Off help.
- German help displayed “Select focus priority for AF-S mode.” for Custom Settings>a1: AF-C priority selection help .
Get the update from Nikon USA

In other news Nikon is expected to formally introduce the 50mm f/1.8G AF-S prime lens. Check the Nikon Press page for the announcement.

Nikon leaks the new 50mm f/1.8G AF-S

2011-04-19T10:32:00.000-05:00

Looks like Nikon has accidentally scooped itself by leaking their new lens before it's been announced. The venerable favorite 50mm f/1.8D is being replaced by an all new AF-S G version.

The new Nikon 50mm f/1.8G has had a total redesign with an added lens element (7 elements in 6 groups) including one aspherical element (which the 50mm f/1.4 doesn't even have). This lens should be a real knockout.

No word on pricing or availability but I'm hoping they keep it in the sub-$300 level.

In other news, I got my hands on the new D5100. Look for a quick review soon!

Nikon D5100 announced!

2011-04-05T12:18:00.000-05:00

Nikon has finally announced the D5100! Although I was hoping for the D800, this camera looks quite good. The D5100 sits between the D3100 and the D7000 in the upper entry-level position.

Some of the key features include:

16.2 Megapixel CMOS sensor. Similar to the D7000 sensor the D5100 allows you to print even bigger prints with maximum resolution.
Vari-angle LCD. Nikon finally fixed the movable LCD that first debuted on the D5000. Upgrading it to a hi-res 920K dot and moving the swivel to the left side. This will be a great improvement for those who are shooting a lot of videos and want to be able to see what they're filming when shooting from odd angles.
1080p Video. This was a no-brainer. True 1080p HD video is a requirement on all DSLR's these days. It's too bad that they didn't realize this in the beginning.
14bit RAW. This is something that was previously only available in the high-end Nikon cameras such as the D300s and the D700. 14bit processing expands the dynamic range of the images and should allow for less noise at high ISO's and better control of shadow/highlight detail.

There are a couple of things I'm disappointed in. A lot of the buttons had to be moved and some of the key features I was impressed had to be moved or eliminated. The great integrated Live View switch/Record button was eliminated and the Live View switch was moved to the top of the camera where the sweet new Drive Mode button was on the D3100. The record button is placed just behind the shutter release. This will make using Live View a little more awkward and losing out on quick access to the drive mode is definitely a bummer.

I would have liked to have seen the number of focus points increased. The D7000 has 39 points and I was hoping that the D5100 would get an upgrade to 19 or 21 points for more accurate focusing.

All in all, this is a pretty nice camera and like the D7000 I think Nikon has a real winner on their hands. This camera should be flying off the shelves once it's commercially available.

Nikon D5100 coming soon?

2011-03-28T17:58:00.000-05:00

Although I was expecting the D800 to be the next Nikon release, the recent events in Japan have left the Nikon Sendai plant where their FX cameras are manufactured shut down. Rumors abound about Nikon releasing a new camera soon and from what I hear the D5100 is the likely candidate.

The specs are unknown at this time, but reports are that it will be a 14 MP sensor with a swivel LCD (great for video).

SXSW in Austin TX

2011-03-15T13:47:00.000-05:00

For those of you that don't know SXSW (South by Southwest) is a huge interactive, film, and music conference held here in Austin each year during spring break. The conference draws well over 50,000 people and more than 2000 bands!

I cover SXSW for Corbis Images and I'll be posting up images here from all of the concerts and parties!

Here's a few from the GAYNGS / Local Natives show other night!

GAYNGS

Local Natives

Nikon D3100 firmware update

2011-02-07T13:19:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Nikon announced a significant update to the D3100 firmware to address a number of issues. Here's a list of the fixes:

A magenta tint was present at the bottom of still images captured at high sensitivities after shooting in live view mode or recording movies for an extended length of time. The occurrence of this magenta tint has been reduced.
When images captured with continuous shooting in live view mode were played back, in some very rare cases, some of the images were not properly displayed. This issue has been resolved.
When shooting in live view mode with AF-area mode set to Subject-tracking AF, in some very rare cases, the focus point slipped off the subject with autofocusing after the intended tracking subject had been selected. This issue has been resolved.
When images edited using camera retouch functions were played back in calendar playback mode, they were assigned to dates based not on the date of capture, but rather the date on which they were edited. This issue has been resolved.
When white balance for RAW images created using the camera’s image overlay function was fine tuned with Capture NX 2 or ViewNX 2, the images acquired a magenta cast. This issue has been resolved.
A portion of the error message displayed when live view mode could not be initiated because the camera’s internal temperature was too high has been revised.
When Noise reduction in the shooting menu is set to On, operation is as follows.
Processing to reduce noise is performed at all ISO sensitivity settings. Noise reduction is especially effective with shooting at high ISO sensitivities.
Processing to reduce noise is performed immediately after shooting in any of the situations noted below. While processing to reduce noise is performed, "Job nr" blinks in the viewfinder display. Shooting is not possible until "Job nr" is no longer displayed. The time required for noise reduction processing is roughly equal to the shutter speed used to capture the image.
- Shooting at shutter speeds slower than approximately 8 seconds
- Shooting at high ISO sensitivities when the internal temperature of the camera is high
The Help information displayed for the Noise reduction item in the shooting menu has also been revised in accordance with these modifications.

You can download the new firmware version 1.01 here.

Which lens for my D7000???

2011-01-10T13:40:00.000-06:00

One of the most common questions I've been getting recently is "What lenses should I buy?" While this question can be answered in a myriad of ways depending on what the photographer intends to shoot I wanted to create a quick list of lenses that should be taken into consideration when shopping for glass.

This article is applicable for any Nikon DX camera, not just the D7000

Pro glass
If you're planning on shooting weddings, or any other type of photography where you'll be collecting money from clients you should really be using Nikon professional lenses. In these days of high megapixel counts, the high resolution cameras will show any defect that a lens may have. High quality lenses are what you need if you're serious about your work.

Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G - This is the lens that will spend most of the time on your camera. From moderately wide to short telephoto this covers the most useful focal lengths. I see a lot of people recommending the 24-70 f/2.8G, but in my opinion this lens is better suited for DX. The 24-70 is just too long. The Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR is a good alternative to this lens.
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G VRII - This lens is just great. It's sharp as a tack. It's really expensive and really heavy as well.

Unfortunately Nikon is lacking in a serious ultra-wide pro lens for DX. The 14-24mm f/2.8G is amazing for FX, but being a 21-36 equivalent it just doesn't fill the ultra-wide role. You're only real options are the Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 or the 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5.

Third party options
Not everyone can afford Nikon pro glass. Fortunately there are quite a few choices in good fast glass made by third parties. Personally, at this time I prefer Sigma over any of the other companies. The HSM motor is easily comparable to Nikon's Silent Wave Motor (AF-S) and the build quality is excellent. Tokina and Tamron lenses are known for their good image quality, but the focus motor is lacking, being slower and louder. Both of these companies are developing silent motors similar to AF-S or HSM, but I've yet to get my hands on one.

Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 OS - This is a great fast light-weight all purpose zoom. The Optical Stabilization works great and helps a bit in low-light and works wonders if you have shaky hands. It's nice and sharp.
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC BIM - This is a nice sharp lens. I used one for a few months and I was happy with the image quality, but was disappointed with the focus motor as I mentioned above.
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 OS - Great fast, versatile telephoto lens. This is as close as you'll get to the Nikon 70-200mm /2.8 without dropping serious money.
Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-4.6 - This lens isn't exactly fast, but it's wide. It's the widest aspherical lens you're gonna find anywhere. Trust me, the 2mm difference from 8-10mm is definitely noticeable.
Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 - This is the only ultra-wide lens that I'm aware of with a constant aperture. This lens is a little soft at the edges wide open, but it's still a pretty good lens.

All-in-one zooms
Some folks like the convenience of a lens that goes from wide to telephoto. This means that you spend less time swapping out lenses and have less of a chance at missing a once in a lifetime shot. Of course this convenience comes at the cost of lens speed and image quality. The image quality is by no means terrible, but it will not compare to a good fast constant aperture lens.

Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VRII - If you're looking to only carry one lens this would be my choice. It's the top performer of all super-zoom lenses.
18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM - This lens gives a bit more reach than the Nikon version, but isn't quite as strong of a performer as far as sharpness goes. It is however much less expensive.
Tamron 18-270 f/3.5-6.3 VC - This lens is a bit sharper than the Sigma as well as a bit longer. With a maximum aperture of f/6.3 at the long end you're gonna need a lot of light or a high ISO if you plan on shooting any kind of sports or moving subjects. Tamron has announced a new version of this lens with their PZD silent focusing motor.

Prime lenses
Prime lenses are a great option for people who want to travel light. What you lose in versatility you make up for in speed and sharpness (in a lot of cases). There are three prime lenses that I highly recommend.

Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G - At just around $200 you can't beat this lens. It's great for all around shooting. It's sharp and fast. I think everyone who owns a DX camera should have this lens in their bag.
Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G - This is my favorite portrait lens for DX. It's not overly expensive, it's super fast, and very sharp. If you're serious about portrait work this is one lens you need.
Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G VR - This is a macro lens that I found also excels for portrait work. SUPER sharp.

Kit lenses
Don't rule out the kit lens as a viable option. For most people's everyday shooting habits the kit lens is all that's needed. Before you go out and start dropping money on all kinds of different lenses spend a week or two shooting with it. If you find yourself lacking in some area then consider other lens choices. The Nikkor 18-55 f/3.5-5.6G VR lens is a really good lens, especially when you consider the price point. This lens is probably going to cover the needs of most beginning photographers.

Digital camera in a classic package - the Fuji X100

2011-01-04T16:27:00.003-06:00

I normally stick to Nikon related news here, but this camera by Fuji is a real headturner. Following in the footsteps of the Leica M9 Fuji has designed a beautiful classic looking rangefinder camera.

Fuji has designed this camera from the ground up and there are no other cameras that have a feature set quite like it. The fast 23mm f/2 lens gives you a focal length equivalent of about 35mm with the X100's APS-C sized CMOS sensor. This is a great moderately wide angle perfect for street photography and snapshots. Portraits however, are going to be a bit troublesome. The upside is that unlike the Leica the Fuji will have AF capabilities.

The controls are completely analog, all of the settings are controlled by dials on the outside of the camera so there's no digging into menus to change settings like most compact cameras.

The thing that I'm most excited about is the brand new one of a kind hybrid viewfinder. The one thing that has been stopping me from buying a compact camera for everyday photography is having to use the LCD to compose my images. I'm from the old school and I believe that composition is much easier to do when your eye isn't distracted by extraneous details in your peripheral vision. A true optical viewfinder is the only way to go in my opinion.

The cool thing about the hybrid viewfinder is that not only do you see what's coming through the lens the viewfinder also projects your shooting data into the viewfinder. This is a very cool feature. The camera also has a switch so that you can use the electronic viewfinder as well.

Bottom line is that this is one beautiful classic looking camera and if Fuji can bring this in at under $2000 I guarantee this is one camera that will find it's way into my bag. If Henri-Cartier Bresson were alive and shooting digital I'm sure this is the camera he'd be using to capture the decisive moment.

Nikon D7000 firmware update.

2010-12-29T13:18:00.000-06:00

Last week Nikon announced a firmware update that is supposed to fix the "hot pixel" problem when shooting video in low light. I've been hearing mixed reviews about the update with most saying it has worked, but more than a few complaining that it hasn't.

Luckily, my copy of D7000 didn't show any glaring problems unless I shot in near darkness (which no videographer should actually do). So I got my hands on a problem D7000 and checked it out before and after the firmware update. My analysis showed that the firmware did fix the problem (on the camera I tested at least).

I'm not sure exactly what the firmware update actually does, but I speculate it's simply a process where the camera maps out the aberrant pixels and fixes them by possibly matching them to the nearest neighbor. Don't take this as gospel though, only Nikon knows for sure and as usual, they're not talking...

My conclusion is that if your camera doesn't show any problems skip the firmware update, and if it does have a problem update it. I might add that some folks are reporting that it sometimes needs to be run twice to fix all of the pixels.

You can get the D7000 firmware v1.01 from Nikon.

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 OS HSM

2010-12-21T13:02:00.002-06:00

Today I want to do a quick review of what is probably the best lens you can get for less than $500. The Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 OS HSM. I stumbled across this little gem when I was looking into buying the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR. I was looking for a good walk-around lens and after trying on the 16-35 I knew it wasn't the lens I was looking for (don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT lens for serious work, but not what I needed specifically).

It just so happened that my local camera shop had a used copy of the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 OS HSM for dirt cheap. I tried it out and I was hooked. It was exactly what I was looking for. It had everything that the Nikon 16-35mm offered and more. Now, before anybody gets the wrong idea, I want to point out that I am NOT comparing these two lenses other than for what I was looking for personally.

The wide aperture allows you to isolate the subject / The Sword, Austin TX

Here's what sold me on the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 OS HSM:

Speed. The aperture though variable is still plenty fast. Faster than the 16-35mm at the wide end, and much faster than Nikon's direct competition the 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 VR.
Focal length range. This lens has the perfect focal length for most everyday shooting scenarios from landscapes and street photography to portraits and still-life. This lens has you covered.
Close-up focus. This was one of the biggest selling points for me. At right around 1:2 it's not true macro, but it's good enough. What I'm really excited about is close focusing at the wide-angle setting which allows you to do cool things with perspective distortion.
HyperSonic Motor. The Sigma HSM is right on par with Nikon's Silent Wave motor. Fast and quiet. Better than any other third-party offerings so far.
OS. Optical Stabilization isn't a really big deal to me, but if it's there, I'll use it. It does it's job.

The wide-angle gives a cool perspective / Dougie Fresh, Austin TX

As far as image quality goes this lens is really good especially for the price range. Wide open it's a little soft in the corners, especially at 17mm, but this doesn't really matter in the real world. If you're at f/2.8 either you're looking to get a shallow DoF or it's dark. In either case the corners aren't really important. Stopped down it's relatively sharp, good enough for most of my work. It's not as sharp as a Nikon pro lens, but it's not a pro lens. It's just about as sharp as the Nikon 16-85mm. Bottom line is that if your not printing billboards you're gonna be fine with this lens.

The Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 does have more distortion than a lot of lenses, but it's easily correctable in post. If you're not shooting a lot of architecture and straight lines I don't think it will be a big problem.


You wanna take cool macro shots with your everyday lens? This is the lens for you.

My final verdict is that this lens is a must have if you want the most versatile lens you can get without breaking the bank. It's small, light, well-built, fast, close-focusing, and inexpensive. What more could ask for?

(by the way, I chose the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 VR over the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR even though I was planning on spending the $1000)

Nikon announces future firmware update for the D7000!

2010-12-03T12:29:00.000-06:00

To address the hot pixel problems that have been plaguing D7000 users when shooting low-light videos Nikon has confirmed that there will be a firmware update in the near future.

Personally, I don't think people should be shooting video in the dark without an additional light source, but that's just like my opinion man...

From Nikon:

We have received reports from some users of the Nikon D7000 digital SLR camera regarding the occurrence of noticeable bright spots with movie recording under certain conditions.

Nikon believes that these bright spots are not normally noticeable, and therefore do not indicate a problem with practical use. However, with further investigation of the reports received, we have confirmed that bright spots may be noticeable when recording movies of especially dark scenes or subjects.

In order to provide our customers with better products, Nikon is currently preparing to release a firmware upgrade with measures to reduce the occurrence of these bright spots for the D7000. Further details will be announced at a later date.

See the original post at the Nikon site here.

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Nikon Programmed Auto or P mode. Why aren't you using it?

2010-11-25T09:52:00.001-06:00

One commonly heard phrase that resounds around the internet is "If you shoot in auto mode you're letting the camera make all the choices for you". This bit of photographic fallacy has been passed down from "pros" to amateurs and continues to be spread around everyday.

I'm here to bust that myth and set the record straight. Anybody that insists that you must shoot everything manual is a fool! Programmed Auto (P) is a very cool mode that picks the settings based on lighting conditions as well as how the light is distributed around the scene. Using a database of over 30,000 images the metering system predicts what kind of photo you're taking and and chooses the settings accordingly.

The great part about the Programmed Auto or P mode is that you can adjust the shutter speed or aperture at any time by rotating the main command dial. This is called Flexible Program. Dial to the right to open the aperture/increase the shutter speed and to the left to close down the aperture/slow down the shutter.

In addition you can turn on Auto-ISO and set a minimum shutter speed if you're concerned about maintaining a certain shutter speed to freeze action.

In effect, P mode is automatic, but YOU still control the settings. The camera just offers a basic exposure guideline which you can override at any time.

Using P mode can really speed up your picture taking process while still allowing you quite a bit of control over your exposure settings.

(pssst,I often use Programmed Auto when shooting concert assignments, don't tell anyone!)

Capturing Better Photos and Video with your iPhone

2010-11-23T18:33:00.001-06:00

I've been getting really into iPhone photography lately. I just finished writing a book about it called "Capturing Better Photos and Video with your iPhone". It's been really fun trying out all kinds of apps and getting creative by using the limitations of the camera as an advantage.

The great thing about the using the iPhone as a camera is that I always have it on me and it fits right in my pocket. I just wanted to share some of my favorite shots that I have taken with the iPhone during the last couple of months while writing this book. Enjoy!

Keep an eye out for my book "Capturing Better Photos and Video with your iPhone"!!! Coming soon to a bookstore near you or available for order online from Borders or Amazon

Nikon D3100 ISO test

2010-09-21T19:33:00.003-05:00

I picked up the new D3100 today and the first thing I wanted to do was test out the High ISO capabilities. The D3000 was such a stunning failure at high ISO settings that I sold the camera not long after I got it because the images were barely usable at ISO 800.

With the addition of the CMOS sensor in the D3100 as well the new EXPEED 2 image processor I was hoping that the D3100 would be able to compete with some of the other cameras in its class such as the D5000 and the D90, although I was concerned about the higher pixel density which commonly leads to lower signal to noise ratio (read: more noise).

I set up the D3100 with a lens I picked up today to test out, the Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 HSM OS (which is a great lens, by the way, and inexpensive). I set the camera up on a tripod, set the camera to Aperture Priority and the aperture to f/8 and zoomed to 70mm. I preset the WB using a grey card and shot with available light and center-weighted metering. I shot a set with NR on and NR off for comparison as well. All images are at 100% crop and shot in JPEG. No, this isn't a definitive scientific test shot in a lab. It's a real world shot in a regular everyday setting. I chose this image because it has shadows, highlights, and mid-tones all in the same shot. See the uncropped version here.

Click on the images for a closer look.

So, how did the D3100 fare? Lets take a look.

At the native ISO of 100 it's clean as a whistle. No surprise there.

At ISO 200 once again no noise.

ISO 400 if you look really really close you can see some luminance noise, but you need to look super hard. ISO 400 is great.

At ISO 800 is where you generally start to see noise creeping up. If you look real hard you can see a tiny bit of chroma noise and a small amount of luminance noise. It's not enough to even be concerned about. This image is shot with NR off. The next shot is NR on.

At ISO 800 with the NR on I see no appreciable difference.

Here's where it starts. You can start to see the chroma a little easier, but it's still very low. Luminance noise is a little chunkier, but still not bad at all. Remember this is with NR off.

Here's ISO 1600 with NR turned on. The chroma noise is has been desaturated and the luminance is smoothed out a bit. You'll notice that you lose a bit of sharpness.

At ISO 3200 you can really start to see it. The chroma noise is definitely noticeable and there's a good amount of grain especially in the shadow areas. Still it's not bad. It's definitely usable. I wouldn't be afraid to print an 11X17 with an image at this setting. Remember no NR here.

With the NR on the shadows and even the mid-tones are starting to look a little smeary from the fairly aggressive NR algorithm. There's no way to adjust the amount of NR on the D3100. Shooting at 3200 I'd recommend keeping the NR off.

ISO 3200 is the highest native setting that the D3100 offers and it's pretty damn good. The next two settings are what are known as "expanded" settings. These aren't "true" ISO settings but are created by increasing the gain in the signal amplifier. This will NOT give optimal results. Sensors are designed to work within a certain range to achieve optimal results so I don't recommend using these settings unless it's a necessity. Anyway for comparison I shot the expanded ISO range as well. The settings are Hi 1 (6400) and Hi 2 (12,800).

At Hi 1, there's significant noise of both the chrominance and luminance variety. Of course it's especially bad in the shadows which is common, but it's also pretty bad in the mids and you can even see it showing up in the highlights.

The NR cleans it up well at Hi 1, but you lose a lot of sharpness and detail in the mids and highs. The shadows are smeared badly. If I were in a pinch I'd use this setting, but I'd have to think about it real hard.

At Hi 1, the noise is real bad, but I wouldn't expect it to be good. It is what it is I and can't really find a fault with it, because in reality if you pushed film to ISO 12,800 it would look worse. So...

There's not much I can say about Hi 2 with NR on. It looks kinda like Claude Monet and Georges Seurat have taken over the image processing. Splotchy and blurry. Not usable at all. Again, I really didn't expect it to be.

Bottom line is that the D3100 kicks the crap out of the D3000. Hands down. Of course it did. The D3000 sucked. In my opinion The D3100 holds it's own the the D5000 (maybe a little better), outperforms the D90, outright slays both the D300 and D300s. I'd like to compare it to the D700 and the D3/D3s, but it's not quite that good. Nikon does apply NR to all images shot at high ISO settings even when the NR is turned off (D3100 manual pg.134), so there's a slight loss of detail at ISO 1600 and above even with the higher resolution. For a camera at this price point the D3100 has a stellar low-light performance.

Being a professional concert photographer I wouldn't be concerned going into a photo pit with this camera. Apart from the high ISO performance, the 11 point AF system inherited from the D90 makes this camera very usable from a pro perspective. It doesn't have the build quality I would need for constant use, but it will definitely capture the images and do it well.

So boys and girls, I'll close this out by saying the Nikon has a real winner here.

Check out my D90/300/700 comparison

I'm skipping the Slayer/Megadeth/Anthrax metal extravaganza this weekend and I'm heading to Memphis TN where I'll be giving the D3100 a real workout at the GonerFest

Stay tuned for a full review!

You can order my Nikon D3100 Digital Field Guide by clicking on the Amazon link!

Nikon annouces the D7000!

2010-09-15T19:15:00.000-05:00

Throwing a serious curveball out there, last night Nikon announced the all new D7000. This camera is unprecedented among the Nikon line and fits it right between the D90 and the D300s, not quite pro-level, but definitely a step above mid-range. In reality though, this camera beats the pants off of either of the existing cameras. Let's take a look at some of the key features of this break-though camera.

16.2 megapixel CMOS sensor. This is an all new sensor with the highest resolution of any Nikon camera save for the D3X. In conjunction with the new EXPEED 2 processor this gives the D7000 an effective ISO range if 100-6400. Nikon claims that the new processor offers a "higher level of noise reduction" which doesn't give me confidence in the low-light abilities of the camera. I never use in-camera noise reduction due to the fact that it softens images quite substantially.
2016 pixel RGB metering sensor. This has been due for an upgrade for a very long time. Nikon has been using the same 420 pixel RBG sensor for their metering systems for their entry to mid-level since the early 90's (it was actually introduced in their mid-level film camera the N90/F90) and the 1005 pixel RBG sensor in the high-end cameras since the F5 was introduced in 1996. This new sensor will allow for more accurate metering and will improve on the 3D focus tracking, iTTL flash, AF and white balance.
39 point AF system. The brand new Multi-CAM4800DX autofocus sensor module promises is a great step up from the old 11 point system on the D90 (but less than the 51 point on the D300s). In conjunction with the new RBG sensor focusing should be much more accurate and possibly faster when using AF-S lenses.
Magnesium frame. The D7000 gets a body upgrade from the D90, but not quite the level of the D300s. While the D300s has a full magnesium frame the D7000 gets a magnesium top and botton with a polycarbonate midsection. This adds some definite strength and durability to the camera, but also cuts down on some of the weight. The new MB-D11 grip also features magnesium and polycarbonate construction.
Full 1080p HD video. Not so surprising since the introduction of the D3100 a couple of weeks ago is the addition of full 1080p HD video with full-time AF. The addition of a microphone input will definitely make the full-time AF feature more useful than on the D3100 which only has the onboard mic which is sure to pic up chatter from the lens AF motor.

From what I'm looking at the D7000 completely eclipses the D90. It has all of the features of the D90 and more with some serious upgrades. In comparison to the D300s the difference isn't as vast but the only features that I see where the D300s bests the D7000 is the full magnesium body, the 51 point AF system, and the available 8fps with the MB-D10 and EN-EL4 battery. That's stuff isn't a huge selling point for me and if I had to choose between the two I'd definitely go for the D7000 over the D300s.

Also on the list for last nights announcement is the SB-700. This is an upgrade from the SB-600 and features all of the great improvements in handling that Nikon introduced with the SB-900 plus a few more like the addition of slider switches for flash modes and and lighting patterns. Also new to the Speedlight are the hard plastic light balancing filters which are automatically detected by the SB-700. Of course the the SB-700 can be used as an off-camera wireless remote flash, and surprisingly enough the SB-700 can also be use as a Master flash although it's limited to controlling only two groups of flashes as opposed to three groups with the SB-800 or SB-900. This is a definite plus and a very cool move for Nikon to make.

Lastly, Nikon also thew out a couple of lenses for us. First off the 200mm f/2G VR prime lens. This is a super fast telephoto lens, great for low-light sports and sure to be a seriously amazing portrait lens. This lens is HUGE!

On the more practical side Nikon has also released a new 35mm f/1.4G lens. Unlike the 35mm f/1.8G this lens is designed to work with full frame. Providing a nice moderate wide-angle lens. This is an all-pro lens, unlike the 50mm f/1.4 this lens has a magnesium body and the optics have been redesigned from the ground up. The lens has 10 elements is 7 groups with a 9 bladed aperture that promises to produce some great bokeh. I'm thinking that my 35mm f/1.8G and my 50mm f/1.4G are going on the chopping block and the 35mm f/1.4G is in my future. At $1800 this lens isn't cheap, but you pay for Nikon pro lenses and this one looks like a real winner (plus it's $600 less than the next comparable lens the 24mm f/1.4G).

Nikon annouces the D3100 with full HD video!

2010-08-19T10:02:00.000-05:00

In a highly unexpected move Nikon finally released a DSLR with full 1080p video in an ENTRY-LEVEL camera! Not only that, it features full-time autofocus similar to a camcorder. Nikon is breaking barriers once again with the AF video! Nikon claims that this is possible due to the EXPEED 2 processor.

The D3000 which is barely a year old received a full workover. The 10MP CCD sensor has been replaced with a 14.2MP CMOS which has the highest resolution of any Nikon camera save for the D3X. Let's hope that the D3100 is better in low-light than the D3000 which was abysmal. We can assume the the EXPEED 2 processor makes the most of this CMOS sensor since the ISO range was greatly enhanced. The ISO range is a native 100 - 3200 and you can push it two stops to 12,800.

The best thing about the D3100 in my opinion are the redesigned features of the buttons and switches which ad more functionality and ease of use than is commonly found in a camera of this level. A function button has been added, it has limited settings, but something is better than nothing.

One very cool addition is the Drive Mode switch which allows you switch from Single, Continuous, Self-timer, and Quiet mode. To access these you used to have to go into a menu. I really hope this trickles down (or up?) to the pro models in the future. This is a good spot to have those settings at.

Probably the best new switch is the Live View / Video switch. Very conveniently set right by your thumb for quick access. A quick flick turns on the Live View and a press of the button starts the video.

Along with the D3100 Nikon also announced four new lenses aimed at the FX market. The most awaited for lens is the 85mm f/1.4G. It's gotten a complete redo as well. Magnesium body, weather sealing, Crystal NanoCoat, and a 9 bladed aperture for super silky bokeh. Nice...

The other lens of note is the 24-120 f/4. Canon has had these types of constant f/4 mid-range lenses for awhile. Nikon's first foray into this region was the 16-35 f/4. This lens has an impressive range and would be a great all-around lens for any D700 user. This lens has VR which will help a little with the not-super fast f/4 aperture and also received the Nano CrystalCoat treatment.

The other two lenses are pretty standard fare. The 28-300 f/3.5-5.6 super-zoom and the super slow 55-300 f/4.5-5.6. This is Nikon's way to get some affordable glass for the hobbyist who just must have the full-frame camera.

Of course with the release of all these new FX lenses one could also speculate that an affordable FX camera body is on the way...

D300s, D3000, and D5000 Digital Field Guides for free!

2010-07-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

I have a few review copies of the Nikon Digital Field Guides for the D300s, D3000, and D5000 available. If you have an Amazon.com account you live in the US or Canada and you will be willing post a review I will send you a review copy of one of these books at absolutely no cost to you!

The number of copies is very limited and this will be on a first come first serve basis!

Send an email with:

first and last name
which DFG you want (D300s / D3000 / D5000 only!)
shipping address

Reply to: NikonDFG@hotmail.com

Polaroid goop!

2010-07-08T17:55:00.002-05:00

Most of my blog posts here are about digital photography, and for good reason, digital photography is the here and now. Today I want to talk about something different, GOOP.

Now you're probably wondering, what the heck is "goop"? Well, that's a fair question. And here is the short answer. Goop is the leftover part of a Polaroid print. That doesn't really tell you much now does it? Well, let's start at the beginning.

When most people think about Polaroids, the first thing that pops into mind is the SX-70 type of film. You know what I'm talking about, the square film with the white borders that pops out of the front of the camera. This is commonly known as "integral film" because everything that's needed to develop the print is integrated into the film itself (including a battery!)

Well, that's not the type of film you use for this. For this we use "peel-apart" pack film. As you might guess you peel this type of film apart. After you expose the image, you pull the film out of the camera through a set of rollers that breaks a pod and spreads the developing chemicals evenly over the image. After you wait the allotted time the film is peeled apart and you have two sides. The positive (the picture) and the negative (the goop). The "goop" refers to the slimy part which is the leftover part of the picture. Most people throw this part away, but some weirdos, like me, actually give away the print part and keep the trash.

The cool thing about the goop side is that it's basically unpredictable. Usually it's negative, sometimes it's positive, sometimes it has negative and positive parts all on one, and sometimes it solarizes. It's weird stuff. Another thing that I've notice about the goop side is that it usually retains more fine detail than the actual print!

Now, back to the film. In the past there were many different types of films that you can use. Not so much anymore. For the interest of simplicity there's basically only a few films that are commercially available to use and they're all made by Fuji. Fuji FP-100C (color / ISO 100), Fuji FP-100B (B&W / ISO 100), and Fuji FP-3000B (B&W / ISO 3000). Personally, I prefer the FP-3000B and have gotten the best results from it.

As far as cameras go I use two very different cameras, a Polaroid 250 which dates from 67-69 and a Bronica SQ-A with a Polaroid back. If you're looking for a camera almost any Polaroid 100 series packfilm camera will do. See here for a good list: The Land List -- Packfilm Cameras

Alright, so what do we do with the goop side once we have developed the print? Well, the first thing is to let it dry. Depending on the environment goop can dry quickly or slowly. It relatively humid areas it generally takes a few hours. In a dry environment like the desert it might only take 15 minutes. You want to be sure the goop is dry before you try to do anything with it. The goops are pretty fragile when when wet. Below is a goop that I stuck in my bag while it was still wet. I still think it's cool though, so do whatever works for you.

After your goop is dry it needs to be scanned. So in a sense we are now leaving the analog set and entering into the digital realm! Some people like to remove all of the extraneous paper from the goop side and just scan the image so it looks like the photo above. Personally, I like to keep all of extraneous stuff. I don't know why. I just like the way it looks.

This is what your scanned image of the goop is going to look like:

Open up the scanned goop negative in Photoshop and invert it (cmd+i). You will get a positive that looks like this:

Usually these come out looking a little flat with little contrast. What I generally do is select the image area and do a contrast adjustment. Auto-contrast works OK, but I like to do a Curves adjustment myself. Levels also works quite well. Just drag the white point and black point sliders until the histogram looks even.

This is my own personal tweak. After the image area contrast is done I invert the selection and then I invert the image again. This leaves the image area positive and inverts the paper area which actually turns it back to positive, so now the whole image is a positive which looks like this:

When scanning these goops I generally scan them as a greyscale image to avoid any weird color shifts. Sometimes I will convert them to RGB and throw a bit of a tone on them, sepia is good or sometimes a cyanotype tone works well.

Here's an example of a solarized goop:

The inversion came out very neat, almost ethereal:

Another thing, the goop is a negative so anything with words will read backwards. Most of the time I flip my images, but if there aren't any words a lot of times I'll leave the image as is. Below is a goop that was shot on my Bronica. Notice that the image area only comprises the same amount of area that would be on a 6X6 negative.

The Polaroids from my Bronica usually get cropped and flipped like this:

So yeah, that's fun with goop.

Auto-ISO - a very underutilized feature

2010-06-16T20:26:00.000-05:00

One of the things I really liked when I made the transition from film to digital photography was the fact the you could switch between ISO settings on the fly. If the light changes suddenly as it often does especially when shooting on location you don't need to switch out film, you just press a button, rotate a dial and there you go. Easy.

Auto-ISO is perfect for days where the sun is periodically behind the clouds

The one drawback to this was that now you have a third setting to mess with when setting your exposures, the first two being shutter speed and aperture of course. This can take up a bit of extra time when shooting in an environment where the light is changing very rapidly from extremely bright to extremely dark. I photograph a lot of live music and the time it takes to adjust the settings can cause me to lose a shot.

Of course I can just set the ISO to 1600 or 3200 and just shoot as normal, but I don't always need to shoot at that high of an ISO. Sometimes the light is bright enough where I can use an ISO setting of 400. Why get stuck with every image suffering from high ISO noise if you don't have to?

A lot of professional photographers look down upon anything labeled as "Auto" dismissing it as a gimmick for amateurs to use, but the truth is Auto-ISO is a great tool to use to get the most out of your camera and to make a greater number of your images usable. Being that you, the photographer, sets the parameters of the Auto-ISO sensitivity settings it's not just another "dumb" auto setting. You tell the camera what to do and it helps out by automatically changing the ISO when certain conditions are met.

The key to controlling the Auto-ISO feature lies in the Shooting Menu under ISO sensitivity settings. This is where you plug in the parameters that control how the ISO setting is changed and how high the settings go.

ISO Sensitivity auto control
The first option is On or Off. This is pretty self-explanatory. I don't keep Auto-ISO on at all times. If I'm out shooting in the daytime or indoors with nice consistent light or if I'm using a Speedlight or some sort of external lighting setup, I'll set the ISO manually. This gives you even, predictable results.

A couple of tips I'll offer here is to add ISO Sensitivity control to your My Menu. Although you can't change the other settings you can use the My Menu setting to access it quickly to turn it on or off. If you want really quick access to this you can set it to the top item in My Menu and you can go into the CSM and set the Preview or Fn. button to Access top item in My Menu. This allows you to access the ISO Sensitivity auto control with the simple press of a button.

Maximum sensitivity
The second setting is Maximum sensitivity. This is where you decide how high the ISO setting can go. This is set in full one stop increments. My maximum sensitivity setting depends on what camera I'm using at the time and how well it does at high ISO settings. This is a matter of personal preference which depends on how much noise you're willing to live with. Some examples of my maximum ISO settings are below.

D3s - 6400
D3x / D300 / D300s / D5000 - 1600
D700 / D90 - 3200
All other Nikon camera bodies - 800

One thing to be aware of when setting the maximum ISO sensitivity is that you can still change the ISO by pressing the ISO button and rotating the Command dial, BUT the camera will not select an ISO lower than what is set when Auto-ISO in On. For example, if you have the Auto-ISO set to On, the maximum sensitivity set to 3200 and the ISO is set to 800 the camera will ony select ISO speeds from 800-3200. So be sure that you set your camera to the native ISO setting which is ISO 200 for most Nikon cameras to get the full range.

Minimum shutter speed
The minimum shutter speed setting is the shutter speed at which the camera ups the ISO setting when it falls below the parameters. For example, if you set the minimum shutter speed of 1/80 the camera will up the ISO to hold that shutter speed. This however, is not the absolute lowest shutter speed that the camera will choose. The camera will attempt to keep the shutter at the minimum setting, but if the light levels fall below what is needed and the camera is maxed out at the ISO a slower shutter speed will be chosen. Conversely, in bright light the shutter speed with be faster.

When choosing the minimum shutter speed I take a couple of things into consideration; the lens focal length and the action. You're probably familiar with the reciprocal rule of focal length which in a nutshell says that to handhold a shot without blur you're shutter speed needs to be at least the reciprocal of the focal length setting of the lens. For example using a 28mm lens you can safely handhold at 1/30 while using a 200mm lens requires a shutter speed of at least 1/250 to ensure a nice sharp shot.

I generally use two lenses when shooting an event, a 28-70mm and an 80-200mm. I set the the minimum shutter speed to 1/80 for the 28-70mm and 1/320 for the 80-200mm (I choose 1/320 just to be safe). As I said before I also take in account the action. If there's a lot of fast movement I will chose a faster minimum shutter speed to freeze the action. If there's plenty of light I'll often select a higher shutter speed just as an added measure.

I don't normally set the minimum shutter speed slower than 1/60 eve when using an ultra-wide lens like the 14-24mm, just for the simple fact that even slight subject movement will cause motion blur when shooting at shutter speeds slower than 1/30.

Keep in mind that the minimum shutter speed settings are only taken in account when shooting in Aperture Priority or Programmed Auto mode.

Fast action requires a faster shutter speed, even 1/100 wasn't fast enough to freeze the action in this shot

The bottom line is that Auto-ISO is a real time saver and allows you to get the most detail from your images especially in a situation where the light is changing quickly.

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Experiment with backlighting for dramatic images

2010-06-03T21:11:00.002-05:00

Backlight. This word brings dread to most photographers ears. In photo class when I was young I remember being drilled not to shoot into the sun, over and over. "Keep the sun over your shoulder" or "never shoot into the sun" was the mantra.

For most subjects this is true. Backlighting usually isn't the ideal shooting scenario. With backlighting you run the risk introducing lens flare and reduced contrast, but if you're willing to spend a little extra time composing your images and choosing the right settings backlighting can add creativity and drama to your images.

Shooting subjects that are backlit requires a different approach to metering and composition. Some photographers consider shooting with backlight one of the more difficult or advanced techniques in photography, but it doesn't really need to be so. A few simple guidelines are all you need to get started and with some practice you'll find that you will become quite adept at knowing which settings to use or how much exposure compensation to apply to get a specific effect.

Simply put, if the light source is behind the subject then the subject is backlit. What this means to a photographer is that the background will be exposed correctly, but the subject will be too dark. One of the easiest ways to remedy this situation is to use fill-flash. That will ensure that the subject and the background are both properly exposed resulting in a nice picture. I'm not going to cover that here because the point of this article is to think outside of the box to create interesting and dramatic images as opposed to your run of the mill photo.

The most important thing you can know about photographing backlit subjects is SPOT METER! That's right. Spot metering will tell you where you need your exposure needs to be. The only thing you need to do is point the spot meter in the right direction depending on the effect you after.

Portraits
Using backlighting in a portrait can really make the subject (and your images) stand out. For this first example I simply spot metered on the model Toni's face. This allows her face to be perfectly exposed which is the most important part of the portrait. Sure the background gets a bit blown out, but the background isn't important in an image like this.

What the backlighting does is provide a halo of light around the models head which provides a good separation from the background. In studio portraiture this would be called a hair light, a rimlight, or sometimes it's called a kicker.

For this next example I pretty much shot the same way, metering on the face, except that I allowed the sun into the frame to introduce more lens flare into the image. A lot of photographers concentrate on keeping lens flare out of their shots, but as you can see lens flare can add an interesting effect to the shot. Lens flare is caused by the light reflecting and bouncing around the glass elements of the lens.

Silhouettes
One of the most popular ways to incorporate backlighting into photography is the silhouette. This type of shot is epitomized by a bright well exposed background where the subject is completely in shadow, often with no shadow detail in the image at all.

While you can do silhouettes when shooting portraits most often this type of image is seen in landscapes.

As with backlit portraits when shooting a silhouette spot metering is the key. The main difference is where you meter. Since the subject is to fall into shadow you will want to meter on the brightest spot in the background. This gives the background nice saturated colors and allows the subject to stand out against the background by being underexposed or even completely black as in the image of the Huntington Beach Pier at sunset below.

Another tip for shooting landscape silhouettes is to use a small aperture to ensure both the foreground and background are in focus. A poorly focused silhouette is very noticeable.

Translucence
Backlighting is also very useful when shooting translucent subjects such as flowers, plant leaves, or ice. Backlighting allows translucent materials to glow and it's also great for highlighting details in a translucent subject as you can see of this photo of the ice drop. The strong backlight highlights all of the tiny bubbles trapped in the ice as well as providing a rimlight for the subject which allows it to pop from the relatively dark background. This type of subject is the exception to the spot meter rule and generally works best using center-weighted metering.

These are just a few hints on how you can use backlighting to make your images more interesting. You can be conservative in your use of it or you can push the envelope. Sometimes I like to allow the background to almost completely blow out (my photo professors would have really frowned upon this). I like the way the blown out background allows the model to stand out and the decreased contrast gives the image an ethereal look. The bottom line is the choice is yours, break some rules and break out of the box!

Concert Photography Tips

2010-03-28T14:20:00.005-05:00

Hot on the heels of shooting the SXSW music festival here in Austin TX I'm going to give a few quick pointers on how to get the best live music photos.

1. Composition. In my opinion this is one of the most important aspects of concert photography and usually where I see beginners making the most mistakes. Often people get so caught up in the immediacy of the event that they forget to look at the small details of the composition.

The most common thing I see is people cutting off hands and arms of performers. Just as with portraiture you don't want to sever limbs. Another very common mistake I see is cutting off the guitar headstock. Think of the guitar as an appendage of the performer and try to include the whole instrument.

Another very common mistake has to do with microphones. The singer is often photographed with the microphone obscuring the face. Again, think of it in terms of a portrait. The face is a very important part of the image. I wait for the singer to back away from the microphone a bit before snapping the shot.

Here are a couple of different images that demonstrate the previous tips:

Don't: block the face with the mic

Do: wait for the singer to pull the mic away from the face.

Don't: cut off the guitar headstock or other appendages.

Do: try to include the whole guitar in the composition.

2. Exposure and Metering. Every photographer likes to set the exposure in their own way. A lot of photographers prefer to set the exposure manually because flashing lights tend to confuse the camera's metering system which can cause wild fluctuations in the auto-exposure. There are no typical exposure settings for concert photography because each venue is different and the lighting changes from moment to moment.

If you prefer to use auto-exposure the best setting to use is spot metering. This is actually the method I prefer. The spot meter is linked to the active focus point so you can choose the focus point and shoot. For the most part I tend to focus on the performers face (again, think portraiture). Once again, the lighting can change very fast so sometimes you will get over or under-exposures. This is just one of the pitfalls of using auto-exposure.

When shooting using the spot metering for auto-exposure I generally set my camera to Programmed mode. While some may say this is just letting the camera do all the thinking for you that's not necessarily the case. I also use the Auto-ISO function which allows me to set limits on what exposure settings the camera chooses. In the Shooting Menu under ISO Sensitivity Settings, you can choose the settings. For the D700 I set the Max. ISO setting to 3200 and the minimum shutter speed to 1/125. This tells the camera to try to hold a shutter speed of at least 1/125 which allows me to freeze most action, but if the light is low the shutter speed can fall below that, still allowing me to get a good exposure. The aperture will generally fluctuate between ƒ/2.8 - 4 which is usually about the norm for this type of photography.

Knowing your camera and how each mode performs allows you to predict how your camera will react even when using Programmed Auto mode.

These two shots taken a fraction of a second from each other show you how your exposure can change very quickly.

The one time you don't want to use spot metering is when the event is outdoors in the daytime. In this situation you can use Matrix metering with great results. You can see some examples of daytime shots below.

In conclusion, concert photography isn't super hard to do, but it takes some practice to get really comfortable with it. Every concert will have different challenges. Each venue, each lighting setup, each performer will be completely different, so be ready for a challenge. Of course the challenge of getting a great shot in the face of adversity is part of the fun of live music photography.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from recent shows.

Smokey Robinson @ Austin Music Hall

Courtney Love @ Stubb's BBQ

Zooey Deschanel / She & Him @ Stubb's BBQ

Megadeth @ Stubb's BBQ

Nikon announces two new FX lenses...

2010-02-09T11:33:00.003-06:00

Nikon announced a couple of new high-end lenses aimed towards the pro and advanced amateur market. Both lenses are weather-sealed and feature durable construction with a magnesium alloy barrel.

Let's start with I find to be a very odd choice for a wide-angle zoom, the AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR. This is the first Nikon wide-angle zoom to include VR II Vibration Reduction which Nikon claims allows you to hand-hold shots at 4 stops slower shutter speeds than normal. So at 16mm you should be able to hand-hold shots a full 1 second exposure!?! (I'm pretty skeptical on this one).

Nikon claims this lens "addresses market feedback for a more affordable alternative to the professional AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED or more recent AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED ultra-wide-angle lens”. At $1259 I don't really see this lens as affordable.

Personally, I'm surprised at the addition of VR in a lens this wide. In the press release they pair this lens with the D700. Being that the D700 is such an awesome low-light camera it renders the need for VR on a wide-angle completely obsolete. I mean let's face it, if your exposure is 1/35 @ f/4 ISO 6400 then you're probably in complete darkness.

On the plus side, I'm sure this lens has gotten some trickle down technology from Nikon's 14-24mm f/2.8 which should definitely make this lens sharp as a tack. Of course this lens has the Nano-Crystal coating which helps tame lens flare and ghosting and the super-fast and quiet AF-S focus motor. So IQ should be pretty good on this lens.

Most of my low-light shooting comprises moving subjects so the VR is relatively useless to me. I'd rather have the faster aperture to bump up the shutter speed. However, I do think this might make a great lens for my D300s.

Onto the next lens, the AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED. Now this is a lens I can really sink my teeth into. Nikon hasn't an fast wide-angle prime since it discontinued the 28mm f/1.4. The 28mm became so sought after prices skyrocketed into the $4-5K range. Although this lens is expensive it will be half the price of the 28mm (although it will probably drive the 28's price way down possibly making it more affordable).

I think the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G will make a great walking around lens, perfect for photojournalistc shots and street photography, especially at night. This lens will also be great for DX cameras as a moderately wide-angle fast lens. It will be the equivalent to a 33mm focal length.

Keeping with all of Nikon's new lenses this one also sports the Nano-Crystal coating and the AF-S focus motor.

Nikon announces firmware updates for the D300s, D700, D3, and D3x

2010-01-07T14:13:00.003-06:00

Nikon has announced a slew of firmware updates for their upper-echelon camera bodies.

The firmware updates for the D300s and D3x are minor, but the D700 and D3 get quite a few upgrades including enhancing the performance of the Auto White Balance feature. Here's the rundown of the firmware changes for each camera and a link to where you can download them.

D300s:

- Support for 64 GB memory cards has been added.
- When the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10 was used with AA batteries, the battery indicator showed that MB-D10 batteries were exhausted or power supply switched to the battery inserted in the camera even when sufficient charge remained with the MB-D10 batteries. This issue has been resolved.
- When some memory cards were inserted in the camera, “CHA” was displayed in the top control panel and images could not be captured. This issue has been resolved.

Windows Mac

D3x:

- Support for 64 GB memory cards has been added.
- When some memory cards were inserted in the camera, “CHA” was displayed in the top control panel and images could not be captured. This issue has been resolved.

Windows Mac

D700:

- Auto white balance performance has been improved.
- Support for 64 GB memory cards has been added.
- When ISO sensitivity settings>ISO sensitivity auto control in the shooting menu is set to On, the Maximum sensitivity option can now be specified in steps of 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV or 1 EV, according to the Custom Setting b1 ISO sensitivity step value setting.
- The length of time the camera waits before adjusting focus in response to sudden changes in the distance to the subject can now be selected from 5 (Long) , 4, 3 (Normal), 2, and 1 (Short) from Custom Setting a4 Focus tracking with lock-on. With the increase in the number of options for Custom Setting a4 Focus tracking with lock-on, this item will be set to 3 (Normal) after firmware upgrade. Adjust this setting as needed.
- When the camera’s AF-ON button is pressed, the monitor turns off and a focus point can now be selected using the multi selector.
- When the MB-D10 AF-ON button is pressed (with AF-ON selected for Custom Setting a10 AF-ON for MB-D10), the monitor now turns off and a focus point can be selected using the multi selector.
- A Use GPS to set camera clock item has been added to the GPS item in the setup menu. When Yes is selected, date and time information acquired via connection to a GPS device is used to set the camera’s internal clock. After selecting Yes for the first time, turn the camera off and then on again to reacquire GPS data.
- When Enable is selected for GPS>Auto meter off in the setup menu, the time until meters turn off is now extended by up to 1 minute to enable camera acquisition of GPS data immediately after the camera is turned on, and immediately after meters turn on. (only with GPS Unit GP-1)
- When On is selected for Long exp. NR problems were experienced when shooting at shutter speeds slower than 1 s but faster than or equal to 8 s. This issue has been resolved.
- An issue that prevented display of the focus point with playback of images captured with continuous shooting has been resolved.
- When the virtual horizon was displayed with shooting in live view tripod mode and live view was then cancelled, the focus point displayed in the viewfinder could not be moved. This issue has been resolved.
- When some memory cards were inserted in the camera, “CHA” was displayed in the top control panel and images could not be captured. This issue has been resolved.
- When [M] exposure mode was used in live view shooting via Camera Control Pro 2, the electronic analog exposure display did not function. This issue has been resolved.

Windows Mac

D3:

- Auto white balance performance has been improved.
- Support for 64 GB memory cards has been added.
- When ISO sensitivity settings>ISO sensitivity auto control in the shooting menu is set to On, the Maximum sensitivity option can now be specified in steps of 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV or 1 EV, according to the Custom Setting b1 ISO sensitivity step value setting.
- The length of time the camera waits before adjusting focus in response to sudden changes in the distance to the subject can now be selected from 5 (Long) , 4, 3 (Normal), 2, and 1 (Short) from Custom Setting a4 Focus tracking with lock-on. With the increase in the number of options for Custom Setting a4 Focus tracking with lock-on, this item will be set to 3 (Normal) after firmware upgrade. Adjust this setting as needed.
- A Dynamic AF area option has been added to the FUNC. button + dials (Preview + command dials, AE-L/AF-L + command dials) item for Custom Setting f4 Assign FUNC. Button (f5 Assign preview button, f6 Assign AE-L/AF-L button).
- When AF-ON is selected for Custom Setting a9 AF-ON button or a10 Vertical AF-ON button, the monitor now turns off when the AF-ON button is pressed, even when shooting information is displayed.
- When AF-ON is selected for Custom Setting f6 Assign AE-L/AF-L button>AE-L/AF-L button press, the monitor now turns off when the AE/AF lock button is pressed, even when shooting information is displayed.
- A Use GPS to set camera clock item has been added to the GPS item in the setup menu. When Yes is selected, date and time information acquired via connection to a GPS device is used to set the camera’s internal clock. After selecting Yes for the first time, turn the camera off and then on again to reacquire GPS data.
- When Enable is selected for GPS>Auto meter off in the setup menu, the time until meters turn off is now extended by up to 1 minute to enable camera acquisition of GPS data immediately after the camera is turned on, and immediately after meters turn on. (only with GPS Unit GP-1)
- When On is selected for Long exp. NR problems were experienced when shooting at shutter speeds slower than 1 s but faster than or equal to 8 s. This issue has been resolved.
- An issue that prevented display of the focus point with playback of images captured with continuous shooting has been resolved.
- When some memory cards were inserted in the camera, “CHA” was displayed in the top control panel and images could not be captured. This issue has been resolved.

Windows Mac

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II VC LD Aspherical IF Review

2009-09-25T20:16:00.004-05:00

I went out and picked up Tamron's newest offering, the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 with Vibration Control (VC) today. I was looking for a lightweight alternative to the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G for my DX cameras when out kicking around town. This lens also offers Tamron's relatively new built-in micro-motor which allows focus with Nikon's smaller cameras the D3000, D5000, D40, etc...

Generally, I prefer Sigma lenses for the superior focusing motor to Tamron's offering. Sigma's Hyper-Sonic Motor (HSM) is almost as fast and quiet as Nikon's Silent Wave Motor (AF-S). Sigma also has a sturdier build quality that any other third party lens. So anyway, I must admit I was taken in by marketing and even though I was pretty sure I didn't need VR with a lens of this focal length I decided to just go ahead and buy it. I can't hurt, right?

Well, first things first. This lens is pretty expensive as far as third party lenses in this focal length range go. At $650 it takes a good bite out of your wallet, especially in this economy. That's $150 more than the non VC version.

Is Vibration Control it worth the extra $150? I guess it depends on what you shoot. It doesn't help for moving subjects, but if you shoot a lot of still stuff at night without a tripod it could be beneficial. Does Tamron's VC work? Absolutely. I find that I'm able to consistently hand hold at 1/2 second at 50mm and still get a pretty sharp image. That's pretty good. That is probably the absolute limit though. I will say that I have pretty steady hands so your experiences may differ.

Before I go into this I want to put this out there. This is just a quick test. I shot these images outdoors with no tripod. It is not a scientific test of the actual sharpness of the lens but it will give you an idea of how this lens performs in the everyday circumstances under which the lens will most likely be used.

OK, let's get to the sharpness. I shot two sets of images: 17mm at all apertures and 50mm at all apertures. I then cropped at 100% on the top left corner and in the center. The lens was used on a Nikon D300s.

Here's the original shot:

17mm f/2.8

17mm f/4

17mm f/5.6

17mm f/8

17mm f/11 top left corner:

17mm f/16

17mm f/22

17mm f/32

As expected the lens was a little soft in the corners wide open. Although I will say it's not bad at all for a relatively wide setting this is very good. By f/5.6 it's pretty sharp and from f/8-f/16 it's sharp as a tack all around. At f/22 you see some softness of the whole image due to diffraction and f/32 is very soft all over. Of course the sweet spot of this lens is f/5.6-f/16. I don't recommend using this lens at f/22 or smaller, but I wouldn't recommend using ANY lens stopped down that much.

As far as center sharpness goes, the lens is tack sharp from f/2.8-f/16. although it does get a little sharper at f/5.6. Again due to diffraction f/22 and f/32 are pretty soft.

At the 50mm setting everything was pretty consistent with the 17mm setting, so I'm not going to bother posting those up to save space.

As we all know lenses at this focal length tend to vignette at the wide open setting. The Tamron isn't any different, but the vignetting is very slight wide open and is pretty much gone by f/4. If vignetting bothers you it's a quick fix in Adobe Camera RAW by adding about +50. No big deal. I did notice however that at f/2.8 the exposure was consistently off by about -0.75 EV. Shooting wide open you may want to add some exposure compensation.

Another thing third party lenses have issues with is distortion. I'm pleased to say that this lens has very good control of the distortion. At the 17mm setting you have a bit of barrel distortion, but it's barely noticeable unless shooting straight lines near the edge of the frame. Using the Photoshop Lens Correction filter adding +3.5 takes care of it. At the 24mm and 35mm settings there is little to no distortion and at the 50mm setting you get a very minor pincushion that can be fixed with a -1 using the Lens Correction filter.

I didn't really have a chance to check for Chromatic Aberration, so I'll get back to that later.

Bottom line is that this is an extraordinarily sharp lens, on par with the Nikon 17-55mm at half the price with Vibration Control. It has very little distortion and what distortion it does show it can easily be fixed in post. It's light-weight and has a fast maximum aperture of f/2.8 for shooting in low-light. It's got a built-in motor for use with all levels of Nikon cameras.

The drawbacks? Well, the lens is obviously plastic and it feels like it. It's not built like a tank like either Nikon's or Sigma's offerings.

While I like the built-in motor for focusing on my D3000 it does have a major problem. Tamron's built-in motor is SLOW. And it's pretty loud. The built-in motor is actually slower to focus than the screw-drive motors on the older models. So, if you're looking for a speedy lens this might not be the one for you.

I do not hesitate to recommend this lens for anyone who wants a fast, constant aperture, light-weight standard zoom lens. The image quality is great and the VC works good.

Adobe updates Camera Raw and DNG

2009-08-24T15:11:00.006-05:00

Adobe has updated it's popular RAW file converter to version 5.5. This update allows you to open RAW files from the soon to be released Nikon D3000 and Nikon D300s.

This is very good news since more often than not users have to wait for Adobe to catch up once the camera is released. This might mean that Adobe and Nikon are working together more closely than they have in the past.

Maybe in the future we'll be able to apply Custom Picture Controls in Adobe Camera RAW. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, but it sure would be nice...

Get the ACR and DNG updates here:
Mac
Windows

Here's a fun picture I shot this week.

This is a picture of smoke from a stick of burning incense. It's a simple technique that allows you to get some cool abstract shots. Basically, I set up a stick of incense in a holder on a piece of black poster board. The poster board was gaffer taped to a table at the bottom and to the wall at the top giving me a nice seamless background.

Next I placed a Speedlight behind the burning stick of incense. I used a snoot to direct the flash at the smoke and to keep the flash off of the background which I wanted to stay completely black. The Speedlight was controlled by an SU-800. If you don't have an SU-800 you can use the built-in flash with the SG-IR3 or another Speedlight commander with the flash disabled.

This technique is easiest when using a tripod. Focusing manually, set focus on the end of the stick of incense. You'll want to set your aperture to a very small setting to be sure that the smoke is completely in focus since it's not going to be flowing perfectly in the plane of focus. I suggest f/11 or smaller.

It's not very hard, but it does take quite a few shots until you get a smoke pattern that's interesting. I used my hands and fingers to gently guide the smoke in different directions.

Have fun!

Nikon announces the D300s and the D3000

2009-07-30T13:12:00.002-05:00

Although this has hardly been a secret Nikon has finally announced the upgrade to the the D300 and has also announced a brand new entry-level camera the D3000.

D300s

Of course we all expected D-Video to make an appearance on the D300s, but I think the shocker was that Nikon has finally implemented Auto-Focus with the D-Movie mode. This is a serious breakthrough and of course Nikon was the first company to do this as they were the first manufacturer to add video to a DSLR (D90). Of course I don't expect the AF to be fast at all, but it's better than nothing. They've also included a way to edit videos in camera which is a great feature for folks who just don't have the time or energy to spend hours using video editing software

Another great thing that Nikon has added to the D300s is the addition of an external microphone input. Nikon shooters have been wanting this since the release of the D90 so it goes to show you that Nikon does listen to their customers. Then again they have also added the crappy latch-less card door that was a major complaint from D700 users such as myself.

Nikon has also added a dual card slot that accepts both SD and CF memory cards. This is a nice feature that's similar to the dual CF card slots of the D3. Of course you can customize what information is written to which card which is a pretty handy feature. You can shoot RAW to one card and JPEG to another, backup your images as they're shot or record stills to one card and video to the other.

The D300s shares most of it's ket features with the D300 such as the sensor, the monitor, the EXPEED processor, the AF module, and the battery. The D300s does get a boost of one frame per second continuous shooting up to 7fps from 6fps. With the MB-D10 you can get an extra boost allowing you to shoot at a blistering 8fps. I assume that an EN-EL4 battery will need to be used as with the D300 and D700 to get the extra speed.

While the D300s doesn't appear to be a major upgrade from the D300 there are some significant changes which should allow the D300s to do pretty well and I think it will be a pretty good buy for anyone looking to get into shooting video with a DSLR.

D3000

Nikon's newest entry-level camera, the D3000 appears to be a severely crippled version of the D5000 with an additional feature that's brand new to Nikon's line; the Guide Menu. This menu supposedly helps you to understand the settings making it easier for novices to understand and learn while taking better shots.

Surprisingly, the D3000 has lost video and Live View. For an entry-level camera I'd expect Live View to be a big selling point considering the majority of buyers are making the step up from a point and shoot. Another disappointment is although the LCD is 3 inches (up from the 2.7 from the D5000) it's a 230,000 pixel screen. The D90 has a 920,000 pixel screen and it's amazing. The lower resolution is very apparent. I don't think it would have been a problem to stick a D90 LCD screen on the D3000.

On the upside the D3000 has 11 AF points, which is better than the D60 or D40 offered. It's also got 3D AF tracking which is a good feature especially if you've got kids that are always running around. This is just conjecture, but I imagine that it has the D5000 imaging processor which probably gives it decent images in low light.

All in all, I think the D3000 will be great for first time camera buyers, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone looking to replace a D60 or even a D40.

Possible Nikon D5000 recall...

2009-07-16T11:43:00.001-05:00

The following is an excerpt from a notice that Nikon has issued to D5000 owners:

Notice to users of the Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera

While Nikon takes great measures to assure high quality in its imaging products, it has come to our attention that an electronic component related to power control in some Nikon D5000 digital SLR cameras does not meet factory specifications and may, in certain circumstances, prevent the camera from turning on, thus preventing operation of the camera.

D5000

Indications of this issue include:

1. The camera cannot be operated when the power switch is on, even with a fully-charged battery.
2. The camera cannot be operated with the EH-5a AC Adapter connected through the EP-5 Power Connector and the power switch on.

The solution:

Nikon has isolated the issues related to this and is effectively resolving them. Preparations are under way at a special Nikon repair facility to streamline the processes associated to the solution and Nikon will be equipped to correct D5000 cameras at this facility, beginning July 23, 2009. Service related to this issue, including the cost of shipping affected D5000 cameras to Nikon, as well as their return to customers, will be free of charge. To further minimize customer inconvenience, Nikon will return serviced cameras to customers promptly, employing (whenever possible) transportation that limits transit time to two days.

Is your D5000 affected?

Your D5000 serial number will make it easy to determine if your D5000 is affected by this issue. A serial number look-up tool will be available on our Service Advisory page beginning July 23, 2009. Therefore, we kindly ask D5000 users to visit this page on the Nikon USA website or after July 23 to establish whether or not your camera requires the complimentary service related to this Service Advisory.

If your serial number indicates that your D5000 requires service:

Beginning July 23, 2009, the D5000 Service Advisory web page will include easy-to-follow instructions for customers whose D5000 cameras have been identified (by serial number as noted above) as needing service related to this Advisory. The instructions will include shipping tips and a shipping label generator will be provided. Using the Nikon-generated label is both convenient and relieves you of the expense of shipping your camera to Nikon.

We apologize for any inconvenience that Nikon customers may experience as a result of this issue. Nikon remains committed to providing only the highest quality photographic products and hopes that you will continue to choose Nikon for your imaging needs.

For additional information, please see the Frequently Asked Questions provided with the Service Advisory on the NikonUSA website.

Bonnaroo 2009

2009-06-16T14:17:00.007-05:00

I just got back from Bonnaroo 2009 in Manchester TN. It was 4 days of music, art and craziness. Bonnaroo is pretty much a 24 hour festival. Music starts at about noon and goes until 6:30 am sometimes. It was a pretty crazy experience to say the least.

Basically, being a photographer for a wire service you are either shooting or editing and uploading. You have no time for anything else. There were days that I never even got a chance to eat!

That being said, I had a lot of fun and also got to see a lot of great music.

Here's some of the highlights:

Public Enemy. By far this was the best act I saw all weekend. Chuck D and Flavor Flav were on the top of their game. Complete with the S1W's and a full band they performed the entire "It Takes a Nation of Millions" record. It was simply amazing.

Jenny Lewis. A member of Rilo Kiley, her music is kind of in the alt country / indie rock vein. She's got a great voice and stage presence. I'll have to admit that I had never listened to her before, and this was a nice surprise for me. I'll definitely be checking her at when she plays at Stubb's BBQ in Austin next week. Another cool thing was that Elvis Costello was grooving to her and singing right along!

Al Green. Yep, that's right the legendary Al Green. This dude looks great and puts on a hell of a show. His voice is phenomenal, he belted out the tunes just like he did in his 20's. He was impressive to say the least.

There were many, many more great artists and I wish I could cover them all, but as always I'm way too busy! Some of my favorites were: Merle Haggard, Booker T, Todd Snider, Robert Earle Keen, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen.

Adobe releases Camera RAW 5.4

2009-05-22T11:28:00.003-05:00

Adobe has released a new version of Adobe Camera RAW. This is version 5.4 and now supports the Nikon D5000 NEF files.

Note that this version of ACR only works with Photoshop CS4.

You can find the updates here:

Adobe Camera RAW 5.4

Here's a recent shot from my Nikon D5000

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G tested on the D700 in FX mode.

2009-05-12T18:56:00.005-05:00

A lot of people were a little peeved when Nikon introduced the 35mm f/1.8 as a DX only lens. Nikon is lacking in AF-S primes and there are no wide-angle AF-S primes at all. A lot of folks were expecting an AF-S replacement for the 35mm f/2D, but nope. It was all DX.

To be fair Nikon needed this lens. There was no standard fast prime that could be used with the D40 / D60 / D5000. It made total sense from a marketing standpoint. Making it DX kept the price low which allows for more sales.

Anyway, the 35mm f/1.8G is a great lens on DX. It's relatively sharp wide open and seriously sharp stopped down. It does suffer from moderate barrel distortion (this can be fixed in PS by adding +2 to +3 using the Lens Correction filter). There's quite a bit of Chromatic Aberration as well and not all of it can be fixed easily in post.

At the $200 price point you can't really complain though. It's a great little lens and I highly recommend it for anyone with a DX camera that wants a great little lens for shooting in low light.

What I really wanted to do though was to stick this thing on my D700 and see how it fared using it in FX mode. What I discovered was that it works pretty well, all things considered. I spent a couple of days roaming around Cleveland with nothing but the 35mm f/1.8G and came up with some interesting stuff.

First and foremost, if you want to use this lens with an FX camera, you MUST shoot wide open. Shooting wide open gives you a slight vignetting which is reminiscent of a Holga or Lomo LC-A. Personally, I like this effect and I think it looks pretty cool.

If your image has a dark background the vignetting isn't quite noticeable as you can see in the photo of Morty the Rooster above, however when the scene gets brighter the vignetting really stands out. Below are two shots, one taken at f/1.8 the other at f/11. You can see that at f/1.8 the vignetting is very mild and nicely fades. The shot at f/11 however shows very abrupt vignetting.

One thing you need to be aware of is that your exposure should be spot on or slightly over-exposed. If your image is under-exposed the vignetting gets progressively worse and it's not a very pleasing effect.

I found the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G to be a great little walking around lens. It's small and light and as long as you're willing to work with the inherent quirks of using a DX lens on an FX camera you can make some great photos. Personally, I like shooting wide open and taking advantage of selective focus, although in bright daylight you can be pushing the limits of your cameras settings. I found myself at ISO Lo-1 at 1/8000 at times. If you're the type of person who needs to stop down to get the maximum depth of field you probably shouldn't use this lens in FX mode, either switch to DX mode or buy the Nikon 35mm f/2.

Bottom line. The Nikon 35mm f/1.8G is definitely usable on a FX camera. Is it perfect? Of course not, it wasn't made for FX. Given the right situation and used as a sort of toy camera for a Holga or Lomo like effect this lens is fun. The 35mm focal length is great. Not to wide, but not too tight. Perfect for street photography.

Shooting on a dark background renders the vignetting almost invisible as you can see in the food shot above so it can definitely be used for more practical applications. If you DX users are skeptical about buying this because you're thinking of upgrading to DX in the future, don't worry about it. It works fine and at $200 you can't beat the price.

Coming soon , my review of the brand new Nikon 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ultra-wide lens. Stay tuned!

Nikon D5000

2009-04-13T23:28:00.006-05:00

Not much of a surprise, just as predicted, the Nikon D5000 dropped this evening. What is much more surprising are the specs. The Nikon D5000 is a D90 jammed into a D60 body. Whats more is that the D5000 adds an articulated screen. It's a little smaller than the D90 screen and has a significantly lower resolution, but it moves! This is perfect for using Live View and shooting video with he D-Movie feature.

The D5000 has most of the major features of the D90.

12.3 MGP CMOS DX sensor.
D-Movie.
Live View.
11 area Multi-CAM 1000 AF module.
Native ISO settings from 200 -3200.
Active D-Lighting with Auto, Extra High, High, Normal, and Low settings.
12 bit EXPEED image processing.
GPS ability with the GP-1.
Image sensor cleaning.

Some of the things that D5000 lacks in comparison to the D90.

No focus motor. This means only AF-S lenses can autofocus with this camera.
No LCD Control Panel. The current settings can only be viewed on the main LCD by pressing the info button.
No vertical grip. The D5000 doesn't fit the MB-D80 grip and Nikon is unlikely to produce a grip for this camera.
4 fps. This is down from the D90's 4.5 fps which isn't that big of a deal.
Sub-command dial. This is one of the things that I didn't like about the D60. When shooting in Manual or Programmed Auto it's more time consuming to change settings.

A few things the D5000 has that the D90 doesn't.

Articulated screen. This is a no-brainer. I've wondered why Nikon didn't do this sooner.
Airflow control system. This further helps to reduce dust on the sensor by channeling it away from the sensor when the mirror flips.
Subject Tracking. When using Live Mode the AF can track moving subjects.
Bigger buffer. The D5000 allows you to shoot 63 JPEGs or 11 NEFs before the buffer is full, the D90 gets 25 JPEGs or 7 NEFs.
19 Advanced Scene Modes. The D90 only has the standard scene modes.
More in camera retouching options. The D5000 offers color outline and perspective control options.

Apparently the D5000 isn't replacing the D60, but it fits in right between it and the D90. I find this an odd choice for Nikon as it may cannibalize some sales from the D90. I mean if you can get all of D90's features in a smaller less expensive package, why pay more for the D90? Unless you've already got a bunch of non AF-S lenses the D5000 can do almost everything the D90 can, and in some instances such as Live View and D-Movie it can do it better in a smaller package. Personally, I like the idea of a smaller camera. The D60 was my favorite grab and go camera and I'm sure I'll like the D5000 even better if it can actually perform as well as the D90 in low-light.

Along with the D5000 Nikon has released their second new DX lens of the year, the Nikkor AF-S 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G. Nikon has been losing market share to the third party lens makers because they haven't been keeping up with the ultra-wide offerings. Currently Nikon's widest lens is the 12-24mm f/4. On a DX sensor 12mm is equivalent to 18mm, not ultra-wide and these days everybody has been swept up in the ultra-wide craze.

All of the major third party manufacturers offer lenses that are wider than 12mm, Sigma and Tamron both offer a 10-24mm and Tokina offers the 11-18. Nikon is losing a huge amount of sales to the third parties who are marketing to the ultra-wide crowd. With the 10-24mm lens DX users can get almost as wide as FX users with the 14-24mm (but not nearly as wide as the Sigma 12-24mm on FX).

I expect this to be a middle of the road lens performance-wise. It appears to be a plastic lens with a metal lens mount (thankfully). As with most lenses of this caliber there will be some barrel distortion at the wide end and the corners will probably have some softness. But then again, maybe Nikon will integrate some of the technology from the super-sharp and amazing 14-24mm f/2.8, which would make the Nikon 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G a great performer. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope that the Nikon 10-24 will be better than the any of the third party lenses which are all marginal performers.

Look for my Nikon D5000 Digital Field Guide coming soon from Wiley!

Surviving SXSW or Fear and Loathing on the Music Trail

2009-03-24T13:59:00.010-05:00

For those of you who don't know SXSW is a conference and festival that includes interactive, film, and music portions. SXSW is held annually here in Austin TX during spring break. Imagine the spring break beaches filled with drunken college students in bikinis and swim trunks. Now replace that with bar bands and drunken hipsters. That's SXSW in a nutshell.

Although I've lived in Austin for over a decade, I've only stayed for the festival a handful of times. I usually prefer to stay clear of crowds and during SXSW I can usually be found off in the west Texas desert communing with the lizards. Since my work is now syndicated by the Retna agency I felt that it was now my duty to cover this thing for better or worse.

The first week kicks off with the film and interactive stuff. To be completely honest I skipped most of the interactive stuff and went straight for the film. The film festival is relatively low key. I went to a lot of movie premiers shot the red carpet entrances and went to a few parties and hob-nobbed with some A-listers. Austin is a town where celebrities can feel comfortable. We have no paparazzi and for the most part we Austinites tend to ignore celebrities. That being said, the celebrities usually let their guard down and act like human beings.

While the film festival is laid-back and fun when the music festival starts, being a photographer becomes some new kind torture where you shoot for 14 hours running from venue to venue then after that you spend 6 hours editing and captioning photos so you can have them uploaded by the time the media offices open in the morning. As for the remaining hours 3 of them are for sleeping and 1 hour is spread out across the day for grabbing a bite to eat or a shower if you're lucky.

Day 1: This day started off pretty easy. I shot a few panels on the music industry, most notably Martin Atkins speech "Tour Smart". After that it was off to the mayor's reception party to pick up my credentials. While there I took some random photos of the mayor and the party and did a group shot of the Black and White Years, Austin's hottest new band.

After the reception it was off to the Austin Music Awards. The AMA kicks of the SXSW music festival every year. This is where Austin honors it's own. While there I photographed The Dicks. This is an Austin band that formed in the early 80's that influenced a lot of punk musicians and was instrumental in helping to keep the punk scene alive and well in the middle of Texas. The Dicks were joined on a song by David Yow singer of Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard.

Following the Dicks (after more awards were handed out) was Roky Erikson. This man is best known for his work with the Austin psychedelic band the 13th Floor Elevators. He is also well known for his legal battles as well as his struggles with mental illness. It's great to see him almost fully recovered and back to performing. His set was amazing. He was backed by Austin's The Black Angels.

Next it was across town to Stubb's to catch the Decemberists. They're an indie rock band I guess, not my cup of tea, but I was on assignment. I don't let my feelings get in the way of doing my job. After that I was off to Emo's to catch Echo & the Bunnymen. There were a couple of other shows I wanted to catch there as well (Circle Jerks and H.R. Band), but AMA ran late and I missed them. Emo's was too packed and I couldn't elbow my way up to the front. N0 big loss, the lighting there is terrible and I knew I'd have other chances to shoot Echo so I split. I headed over to Beerland which is a non-SXSW venue. There I shot my friends the Chumps doing a reunion show. They were the first band I saw when I moved to Austin. It was a blast. Great way to end the night.

Day 2: Got up around 9 and edited images for upload. I edited, captioned, and uploaded until about 2 pm. I got a call from Retna telling me that my images need to be in earlier. Yikes, that means I'll have to do it after the shows at night. I shot a few more panels during the afternoon.

The first band I shot today was the Oak Ridge Boys (you know, Elvira...). I didn't even know they still existed. They were good for what they do. The lighting was great. Easy stuff. It was broadcast live on Direct TV. After that I headed over to Antone's to catch the Doug Sahm Tribute. The first act was Jimmie Vaughn, Stevie Ray's older brother. This guy can play the blues proper. Very pure, not flashy, just good straight up blues, just the way I like it.

After Antone's I jumped next door to catch Ian McLagen, best known for his work with the Faces and the Rolling Stones. He's an amazing musician who proudly calls Austin home. I've hoisted a few pints with him and he's a great bloke who will regale you with stories about the Stones in the 70's. Not many people can claim that. Now it's back across town to Stubb's to catch the Meat Puppets another local band that made good. It's great to see the Kirkwood brothers back together and rockin'.

Again, it's back across town to La Zona Rosa to catch Tori Amos who was introduced by celebrity gossip moron Perez Hilton. We got to shoot one song so it had to be good. There were a ton of photographers jockeying for position. I got a decent spot and got some salable shots off. I guess she was good. It sounded a bit shrieky to me though...

Back to Antone's to catch Justin Townes Earle, son of legendary singer/songwriter Steve Earle and named after Townes Van Zandt another legendary singer/songwriter who lived here in Austin. This dude was GOOD. His guitar playing was amazing (sounds a lot like Townes) and his singing and songwriting were top-notch. I didn't hear any of his father in his voice that night, although when I got the CD I could hear it a little. JTE is his own man though and his work stands on its own without being derivative at all.

After that I hopped on my bike to head way across town only to find I had a flat tire! Not good. I was headed to Playboy's private party "Rock the Bunny". The headlining act was none other than Jane's Addiction! I was pretty stoked about shooting this show. I had to meet the press people at 1 am to be escorted into the venue and I had a flat! I luckily grabbed a cab and made it just in time. There were dozens of photographers there each one pushing towards the front. I ended up near the end of the line which was fine by me. I had seen Jane's before and I knew that the left side was where Dave Navarro is and Perry and Dave like to ham it up. I ended up right in front of Dave Navarro and got some amazing shots even though the lighting wasn't the best. After Jane's I was too tired to stay for the rest of the party and even though there were free drinks and playmates hanging around I walked the 2 miles back to my car. I drove the last mile to my studio where I got down to some serious editing. I knew I needed to get those Jane's pictures up right away. I got down editing at about 7 am and I headed to my place to crash.

Day 3: I got up at 10:30 am giving me about 3 hours sleep. I headed back to my studio to finish up editing some of the less important stuff. I headed back downtown to pick up my pass to the Spin party and to shoot Little Steven from the E-Street band give a panel, then it was off to the airport to pick up a friend. I dropped him at the hotel and headed down to the Spin at Stubb's party. I hadn't eaten in something like 24 hours and I was tired and cranky. I grabbed a couple of free beers at the party then went into Stubb's and after much confusion on the workers part ordered some tasty BBQ while watching the bands play through the windows. There were bands that I should have been shooting, but I couldn't be bothered until I got my strength back up. After I was done eating Echo & the Bunnymen hit the stage introduced by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell. I shot Echo and upon exiting the photo pit I ran into Perry Farrell and his wife Etty Lau who graciously allowed me to shoot their portrait. A lovely couple. Echo & the Bunnymen were OK, but seemed un-inspired. Maybe because Ian McCulloch was wearing a freaking peacoat when it was 89º...

I head across the street to the Red Eyed Fly to catch Little Steven from the E-Street band, but he never showed. I was already there so I figured I'd shoot what ever band showed up. I sweated in the the midst of a huge crowd and fired off a few frame of the White Denims and split.

Off to Emo's to catch the legendary garage rock proto-punk band the Sonics. I had some time to kill so I went up to the Camel lounge and grabbed a couple of brews and chatted with the dudes from Fastball. It was then time for the Sonics. The line to get in was HUGE. Luckily, I was able to get in early with my press status and my connections in Emo's. I got right up front for the show. As I mentioned before the light at Emo's sucks. I managed to get some decent shots but spent most of my time just enjoying the band. When they played my favorite song "Strychnine" I was happy. I didn't want to ruin the moment so I left with the riff ringing in my ears.

After leaving Emo's smiling, I headed off to an easy gig. Shooting some comedians. First up was Janeane Garofalo. I had never seen her stand up before and she was pretty hilarious. She has a sense of humor quite like mine. Next up was Margaret Cho. I was surprised at the number of tattoos that she has, quite attractive actually. Although she was funny her bits included quite a bit of penis humor that I really didn't find funny only a bit gross. I guess if you're a chick it's funny but I don't really want to hear about huge wangs, thanks.

Now off to Stubb's for the super-secret (?) Metallica show that everyone seemed to know about. This is where my night went south. There were too many photographers there and I couldn't get in because of the SXSW volunteers who swarmed the damn place. I was pissed. I shot a few pictures in between peoples waving arms and around point and shoot cameras held high in the air. Disgusted, I stalked off. I'd seen Metallica before, big deal. I missed out on some serious money shots though. I did end up getting a few usable shots, but they weren't my best work.

After that fiasco I grabbed a pedi-cab and headed across town to Austin Music Hall to catch DEVO. I arrived for the last couple songs of Tricky. I have never heard anything so horrible in my life It sounded like a rapper trying to play rock music, but failing miserably. OH WAIT! That's exactly what it was. Hey Tricky! Stick to your own music. Now DEVO was up, more trouble with SXSW volunteer "photographers". I won't go into details here, but it was ridiculous to say the least. I ended up dropping my 105mm f/2.8 VR lens to the ground and destroying it. $900 down the drain. DEVO was OK. They were as good as any middle-aged men in costumes can be. I just found their set kind of awkward. Their type of music only makes sense coming out of the mouths of 20-somethings. It just looks weird when old men do it. Sorry DEVO fans.

After yet another fiasco I head over to catch the New York Dolls, one of my favorite bands. They were proto-punk glam rockers and they influenced most punk and glam bands from the Sex Pistols to KISS to Mötley Crüe. They are less than half of the original members since most of them are dead, but they still seem to keep the spirit alive. David Johannssen was reading off of a lyric sheet and the music seemed a little uninspired. They were just missing that something they had when they were young, dumb, and full of drugs. RIP Johnny Thunders and Killer Kane.

The last three shows were running late so by the time I got to the next show it was too crowded to get close enough to get my shots. With my 105mm freshly broken I retreated into the closest bar to drink a Guinness and a Powers and lick my wounds while enjoying the sounds of Dinosaur Jr. playing in the courtyard. I decided to skip my last show, go to an all-night diner and eat a huge meal. It was then off to my studio for more editing until 7 am.

Day 4: Up at 10 to shower and drink a quick cup of chai. I was feeling pretty bad. My voice was hoarse, my throat was sore, I was feverish. Not enough sleep was wearing me down. Down to the convention center to catch a few shots of Daniel Johnston sign copies of his new book. Daniel has been playing a few shows during SXSW already and I can tell he just isn't feeling great about this. I say "hi", grab a few shots and leave him be. He's truly a genius and it's a shame about the state he's in.

I head down to south Austin to photograph a singer/songwriter I met earlier in the week. Her name is Kristin Diable. She has an amazing voice and she can play a mean guitar. She's a Gibson artist and recently moved to New Orleans from NYC. I arrive to catch the last few songs and afterward we shoot some portraits. She's got a great smile and a pleasant demeanor, a real joy to work with.

Time to head back down town to catch another movie premier. This one is Neil Young's Rolling Trunk Show. There is no red carpet, but we're taken up to the green room to wait for director Jonathon Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Manchurian Candidate) and a possible Neil Young. Demme shows up and he's funny as hell. We shoot some portraits. Neil is a no-show.

Off to the Austin Convention Center's Bat Bar for another Direct TV live performance. This one is Ech0 & the Bunnymen. Although I shot them the day before I decided to shoot them again. Good choice. The lighting was excellent due to the TV cameras and the performance was much more inspired than the day before. There were some technical difficulties and Mac seemed a bit peeved at times, but it peeled of nicely. I sat down on the floor and enjoyed the whole show from the front. It was one of the few shows that I stayed for the whole thing. They played all of the classics and a few new ones which are great as well.

Next was Juliette Lewis and the New Romantiques. Of course we know Juliette best as her work as an actress most notably in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. The bar was small and crowded and I had to push my way to the front only escaping harm by promising I'd be gone in two songs, fierce crowd. We were kept waiting for awhile and I was about to split when the crowd parted and Juliette came by me poking me in the eye with her feathers.

To be honest I didn't expect much, but when the New Romantiques fired it up it was GOOD! A nice guitar based noisy rock band. Juliette's voice may not be the best but she growls and yells with conviction and she doesn't seem to be putting on an act. She is 100%. I'm generally against celebrities who try to make a crossover into music because it almost always sucks (Shaq, Scarlett Johanssen, Billy Bob Thornton, Russel Crowe, etc...), but Juliette stands out from the crowd.

Over to Red Eyed Fly to catch Exene Cervenka perform. She's best known for her work with LA punk band X. These days she does an Americana kind of thing. The songs are excellent as is her voice. She was joined on stage by some people from another band but I didn't catch the name. There was a Hammond organ that was great and a girl who sang amazing harmonies with her.

Next was another catastrophe. Another big show, another case of too many photographers. PJ Harvey at Stubb's. Without going into details I got screwed out of this one. I was able to shoot about 200 frames off from the side with my 200mm before being shut down by security. I got some usable stuff, so all was not lost, but it was still a thorn in my side. If security was doing their job right (checking badges thoroughly) I would have been in the photo pit covering my assignment.

Next I was off to catch the Proclaimers best known for their hit "500 miles". I loved that song as a younger man so I wanted to shoot these guys. It was a good show. Straight ahead folk music from Edinburgh, Scotland. Like almost all musical brothers these guys do great close harmony.

Up next was my last assignment. Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction doing his solo act with his wife Etty Lau. The show was being held at a club called Pangea. This place is absolutely the STUPIDEST place in Austin. It's a "bottle bar" where yuppies go to pay $200 for a $40 bottle of booze and be separated by velvet ropes from everyone else. Of course it's a SXSW show and it's PACKED, but these idiots insist on maintaining the "VIP" area. Now VIP doesn't mean famous here. It's just a few 30 something "professionals". I know this because I happened to know some of the morons in the VIP area. The whole thing is classist, snotty, and ridiculous. Anyway, I digress. I somehow ended up right at the corner of the stage in front of the Mac computer used for sampling or whatever. It wasn't a prime spot but it was the best I could do. It didn't hurt that there were smoking hot girls pressed up against me. So the guitarist comes out and starts playing (he runs the computer as well), then out come some super-hot nearly naked go-go dancers, followed by Etty Lau (who is smoking hot as well), then Perry Farrell. The music was good. Electronic stuff with samples and live guitars (there was a hot chick bongo player too, as I recall). It wasn't my kinda of stuff, but it was alright. The crowd seemed to dig it, except for the one dude who stood in front during the whole show with his middle finger up. Seriously dude? You could easily have walked out...

I stayed for about 3 songs and fired off about 8 GB worth of shots at 8 fps. The lighting was horrible and I was just throwing $*@& at the wall hoping something would stick. I climbed up on the stage so I could get a better perspective. I actually got some great shots believe it or not. After the third song I was done. Literally. I couldn't hang anymore. My sanity and heath were hanging by a thread. I couldn't look through the viewfinder again or press the shutter release one more time. Of course when I turn around to leave the path of least resistance was through the VIP area. The gorillas wouldn't let me through. I literally had to punch and kick my way through the crowd to get out. Good riddance to that place, I hope it goes out of business.

Feeling sick, tired, broke, and disgusted I limped my way through the drunken sorority girls and frat boys in the warehouse district nearly getting run over by drunks a couple of times. As dead as I was what I really craved was a beer. I saw my haven ahead, Dirty Bill's. I rolled in there and the bartenders Pants and Randy hooked me up with a couple of Lone Star tallboys. I slammed them down then headed off to Secret Hideout Studios for another round of editing.

7 am. I crawl to my car and head home for the comfort of my bed. I take some Ny-Quil to ease some of the sickness. You'd think I'd sleep all day, but nope. I'm up at 10:30 and I can't sleep. I head back to Secret Hideout to finish some editing...

Nikon 28mm f2.8D vs. Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8D @ 28mm

2009-02-18T23:01:00.009-06:00

Because I happen to have both lenses, I decided to do a quick shoot-out between the Nikon 28mm f/2.8D prime lens and the 28-70mm f/2.8D zoom lens @ 28mm.

A lot of people assume that prime lenses are sharper than zooms so I wanted to see how this relatively inexpensive prime lens fared against this huge professional zoom. I chose to only show the corners since the center sharpness was pretty much even across the board.

One reason I did this test was because I use the 28-70mm / D700 combo for most of my concert shots. I noticed that I only shoot at the extreme ends of this lens. All of my shots are at either 28mm or 70mm and rarely anything in between. I was thinking about using the 28mm f/2.8D prime on the D700 and the 50mm f/1.4G on the D300 using two cameras with smaller lenses rather than one camera with a cumbersome zoom lens.

Vignette. The first thing I noticed was that the 28mm f/2.8D had severe vignetting. At f/2.8 the vignetting was so bad that it was more like an overall underexposure than a vignette. The corners are about 1 1/3 stops darker than the center of the image. At f/2.8 the 28-70mm showed minor vignetting. At f/4 the prime lens was still vignetting pretty badly, the zoom lens however showed very slight darkening of the corners. At f/5.6 the vignetting was gone from the 28-70mm, but the prime still showed a little darkening. At the rest of the apertures the vignetting was completely gone.
Sharpness. At f/2.8 I was surprised by the softness of the prime lens. It was very soft. At f/4 the prime wasn't much better and only started to improve when stopped down to f/5.6. At f/8 the prime was good and at f/11 and f/16 it was sharp, with f/16 being the sharpest. Which is odd considering that by f/16 you should see some softening due to diffraction. The zoom lens was as sharp at f/2.8 as the prime at f/8 and only continued to get sharper. The 28-70mm f/2.8D is an amazingly sharp lens at all apertures.
Distortion. The prime lens showed a surprising amount of distortion in the corners. With an ultra-wide lens you expect to see this type of distortion, which looks like the corners are being stretched out, but with a moderate wide angle like the 28mm you shouldn't see it so much. With the zoom lens the distortion is controlled better and it looks exactly as it should. Both lenses show moderate barrel distortion, but unless you're shooting brick walls or a lot of straight lines, it's not really gonna show. You can fix it pretty easily in Photoshop using about a +2.5 - 3.0 correction on the lens distortion filter.

Click on the images to view large

This lens test was performed on a full-frame D700. On a DX camera such as the D90 or the D300 the corner performance will be much better and the distortion almost undetectable. Vignetting on the 28mm prime will be evident at f/2.8-4, but you won't notice any vignetting with the 28-70mm.

The 28-70mm f/2.8D is an extraordinary lens. It's almost as sharp wide open as it is stopped down. The 28mm f2.8D isn't very sharp wide open and has pretty bad vignetting, but it also costs less than 1/4 of the price and weighs almost nothing.

Nikon 10-18mm f/4G for FX ?!?!

2009-02-17T01:57:00.003-06:00

There's a pretty hot rumor floating around the internet about a supposed super-ultra-wide-angle aspherical lens. The Nikon 10-20mm f/4G...

Apparently this rumor surfaced on some Chinese chat-room or something. Of course it was forwarded on to Nikon Rumors and there you have it. I'd say that any info you get from there should be taken with a big grain of salt. They'll pretty much post anything. I do believe I recall one of their posts bragging abut being the first to call out the Nikon D10, yeah good job on that one...

Anyway, there is a pretty convincing looking photo of this fabled lens, but I'm gonna call bullshit on this one. First of all, looking at the lens it's just way too damn big. It's damn near as big as the 14-24mm f/2.8 (if not bigger!). The only reason I can see Nikon making this lens an f/4 is to reduce the size.

From the pictures I've seen on the internet, including one where the 14-24 was overlaid on the supposed 10-18. The lens bodies are almost exactly he same until you get to the lens hood which is suspiciously curved. A curved lens hood would most likely mean that the front element does not move as the lens is zoomed. This would be very strange indeed as all Nikon ultra-wides and even standard wide zooms have a moving front element.

It seems to me that this would be a strange offering from Nikon considering that the 14-24 is one of their most amazing lenses and it's only been out for about 1 1/2 years. The focal range makes no sense in Nikon's current pro lineup (14-24, 24-70, 70-200). It seems like in Nikon was going to add to this lineup they'd just go ahead and make it a 10-14 f/2.8. It would be smaller and there would be no overlap. Now if the 10-18 was a DX lens, yeah I'd believe that.

Well, enough of my musings on this subject. Do a search for this and check out the images for yourself. With that I leave you with an image of Jeff Keith of Tesla taken with the very real and very amazing Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G.

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX AF-S lens

2009-02-11T00:33:00.004-06:00

FINALLY!

10 years after Nikon introduced their first DSLR with a DX sensor, the D1, Nikon introduces a normal fast prime lens specifically for DX DSLRs. The 35mm focal length is equivalent to about 52mm on a full-frame camera. 50mm is a standard "normal" lens for the 135 format, which Nikon has termed FX for it's DSLR line. Since the inception of 35mm film the 50mm lens was the standard lens that was paired with most cameras since it approximates the same field of view as human eyesite.

When Nikon introduced it's DSLR line in 1999 they used a smaller APS-C sized sensor that was substantially smaller than a frame of 35mm film. This introduced what is known as a crop factor. Since the frame was smaller the field of view that sensor captured was reduced, resulting in the lens acting like a lens of a longer focal length.

For all these years Nikon has continued to manufacture DX cameras yet they have ignored the fact that there was really no option for someone who wanted a fast, "normal", inexpensive prime lens. The closest options were the 28mm f/2.8 (42mm equiv.) or the 35mm f/2. Both of these lenses worked OK, but weren't optimized for digital sensors.

The new 35mm f/1.8 was completely designed for DX cameras and bears no resemblance to the dinosaur 35mm f/2. The DX 35mm is smaller, more compact, and has newer and sharper lens elements that have a completely new design. The new lens also has the AF-S "Silent Wave" motor, which allows for super fast, super quiet focusing. This is also great news for D40/x and D60 users. Finally there's a cheap fast prime lens that can autofocus with these cameras.

No longer are DX camera users stuck with the 50mm f/1.8 as a good affordable prime lens. The 50mm is one of Nikon's most amazing lenses, but on a DX camera it's a short telephoto which makes it great for portraits but a little too long for most typical shooting scenarios.

The 35mm f/1.8G is the perfect light-weight, affordable, fast prime lens for all Nikon DX users from the D40 all the way up to the D300.

Nikon also ensures us that this is just the first of a new crop of lenses. I look for Nikon to unveil a few more gems during PMA this year.

Thanks Nikon, better late than never!

Nikon D700 firmware update!

2009-01-23T12:07:00.004-06:00

Nikon has announced a new firmware update for the D700. This minor update fixes a few minor problems that were found.

When Custom Setting a4 Focus tracking with lock-on was set to Off in Continuous-servo AF, the lens drive moved gradually without achieving focus. This issue has been resolved.
When the Speedlight SB-800 was mounted on the camera with flash mode set to Distance-priority manual (GN) mode, and then the exposure meters were reactivated or the camera was turned on, the distance information displayed on the SB-800 changed. This issue has been resolved.
When the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10 was mounted on the camera and an EN-EL3e battery inserted in the camera but no batteries inserted in the MB-D10, and SB-900 flash mode set to TTL auto flash mode, the flash mode changed to A mode when the exposure meters turned off or were reactivated, or the camera was turned off or on. This issue has been resolved. (This issue has also been resolved with SB-900 firmware Ver. 5.02.)
An issue that, in extremely rare cases, resulted in noticeable black dots in images captured with Long exp. NR in the shooting menu set to On has been resolved.
Manamah, displayed in the Time zone options for the World time item in the setup menu, has been changed to Manama.

You can find the updates here:

Windows
Mac

This is my new puppy Maddie, taken with the Nikon D700 and the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8.

AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G Review

2008-12-13T20:54:00.010-06:00

I finally got my hands on the new highly anticipated AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G. So far I'm pleased with the performance of this lens.

At first glance you can tell this lens has been completely redesigned. It's much bigger than the old 1.4D, with a 3 inch diameter and 2 inch length, but surprisingly enough it weighs only about 1 0z. more so it's not going to change the balance or feel of your camera if you've gotten used to using the old one.

On the inside the lens has gotten a major overhaul. Nikon has redesigned the lens giving it 8 lens elements in 7 groups as opposed to the old one with 7 lens elements in 6 groups. Of course the biggest change is the welcome addition of Nikon's venerable Silent Wave Motor. This allows the lens to focus almost silently and much faster than the old "screw type" autofocus of the previous model.

Other than these changes the general specs stay pretty much the same with the exception of the increasing the size of the filter thread from 52mm to 58mm. This isn't much of problem for me since I always used 58mm filters with a reducing ring, but may be an issue to some people who may have quite a lot invested in their filter collection. The minimum focus distance is the same at 1.5 feet, the minimum aperture f/16 and it has a Super Integrated Coating to reduce ghosting and flare.

As far as performance goes, as expected, the Silent Wave Motor definitely increases the focusing speed noticeably. The redesigned lens elements seem to add some sharpness. It's not obviously noticeable, but it's there if you look close enough. Considering Nikon's 50mm lenses are considered some of the sharpest that they make adding even a little sharpness to images taken with this lens is pretty impressive.

There's some vignetting at the widest aperture settings, but it's pretty much gone by f/2.8. This new model has rounded aperture blades to give the bokeh a more pleasing look.

There's not much you can really say about this lens. It is what it is. Even with the complete redesign of this lens it's not groundbreaking. It's a great normal focal length lens on a FX camera such as the D3, D3X or the D700 for everyday and low-light shooting. I prefer this lens on a DX camera such as the D90 or D300 which gives it an equivalent focal length of 75mm making this a perfect portrait lens.

Bottom line, is it worth the $439 price tag? Maybe not. The AF-S motor is nice, but I wouldn't say it's an absolute necessity, unless you're using a D40/X or D60.

Should you run out and trade in your f/1.4D? Nah... hold onto it. For all practical purposes these lenses are pretty close in quality.

That being said, I'm keeping mine. I happen to really like the quiet focus. I would prefer an internally focusing lens though...

Nikon D700 Digital Field Guide

2008-12-05T10:17:00.003-06:00

UPDATE: Thanks for the overwhelming response! We have all of the reviewers we need!
My new book the Nikon D700 Digital Field Guide is due to hit stores in a couple of weeks. I'm looking for a few people to review the book on Amazon.com for me. In return I will have an advance copy of the book sent right to your front door before it's even on the shelves!

That's right! I'm offering a FREE copy of the Nikon D700 Digital Field Guide! Of course this a limited time offer and my supply is limited as well, so act now.

All you need to take advantage of my publisher's generosity is:

You must have valid Amazon.com account
You must send me your email address
You must provide me with a mailing adress

It's that simple! Just send me an email and I'll have a free copy of the D700 Digital Field Guide on your doorstep!

For more information on the book (or to pre-order a copy to help me out) click here:

The Nikon D3X at long last!!!

2008-12-02T05:01:00.004-06:00

Nikon has finally released the D3X. We've been waiting for this ever since Nikon slipped with the D3 firmware update that showed a 24MGP setting. Then Nikon slipped again by putting the camera in their own Nikon Pro Magazine before it was officially released. Here we are and the D3X is a reality!

Is this an exciting release from Nikon? Hardly... We all suspected it was coming. And now that it's here what can we expect from it? Well, it's not groundbreaking to say the least. Believe it or not for the first time since Nikon has been releasing Digital SLR's they have actually put out a camera that I do not lust after. I guess this good. I really don't want to spend $8000 on a camera. That's right. This is not a typo. $8000.

The Nikon D3 was a revolutionary camera for Nikon. After years of saying that they were sticking with the DX format they threw down the gauntlet with a full-frame camera. AND it was great. Never before could you shoot at ISO 6400 and get perfectly usable images. Nikon broke the rules by refusing to play the "megapixel game" with Canon and their strategy worked. 12 MGP is the perfect amount. Good resolution for making large prints, but it allows the pixels to be large enough to collect enough light to make almost noise-free images at high ISO's.

So what does the D3X offer consumers above and beyond the D3? Not much. For $3000 more than the D3 you get double the resolution. That's right, $3K gets you an extra 12.5 MGP. What's worse is that you lose more than you gain.

ISO - top ISO is 1600 down from the 6400 that the D3 offers.
Frame rate - the frame rate drops to 5 fps / 7 fps in DX. Even the D700 gets 8 fps in FX mode with an EN-EL4 (or AA's) and an MB-D10.

These are pretty important factors.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the D3X is a crappy camera. Quite the contrary. It's nearly the same as the D3 which is an incredible camera. The D3X isn't really made for photojournalism or sports. It's basically a studio camera to be used with ample lighting for making images that will be blown up extremely large (think billboards). Professional stock photographers and commercial photographers with clients who require large scale images will be pleased with the higher resolution.

Is it worth the extra $3000 over and above the price of the D3? Not for me. Most of my work is done on a small scale. I could shoot with a 6MGP camera and I would be fine. As a matter of fact, if I could get a 6MGP D700 I would be ecstatic. You could easily shoot at ISO 25,600 with minimal noise. But I digress...

The D3 is definitely aimed at high end pros, but I think Nikon missed their mark. They are once again competing with Canon by taking part in the megapixel wars.

Bottom line is that the D3X is here. It will fill the super-high megapixel niche that Canon has long since dominated, but the D3X isn't the revolutionary camera that the D3 was (and still is).

In conclusion I have to say that the D3X is a bit overpriced for what it is. In my opinion the D3 (or D700) is a much better camera for the money. Of course I value low-light capability over megapixel resolution. If I need high resolution I'm gonna go with the new Hasselblad H3DII-50. It's a 50 megapixel camera with a 36X48mm sensor. At only $28,000 it's a steal...

Take that Nikon!

Gretsch Electromatic G5222

2008-11-18T15:47:00.008-06:00

Yes, I know this is primarily a photography blog. I also have other interests as some of you might know, and playing guitar is one of them. Don't fret, there will be a photography lesson after the amp review.

I'm a big fan of vintage guitars and amplifiers, Fender and Gretsch in particular. With the recent purchase of my big orange Gretsch 5120 I decided it needed to be paired up with a Gretsch amp to get the ultimate tone from the twang-machine. It sounded pretty good, but it sounds really good through my '65 Fender Twin Reverb.

Today I was taking a break and trying to learn (successfully) Howlin' Wolf's I Asked Her for Water. I was playing my Les Paul and it sounded pretty sweet, but the ground wire was loose on the Les Paul and it was buzzing like crazy so I grabbed up my Tele. Damn! That amp made that guitar growl and sing like I never heard before.

Now, everybody knows that a Telecaster through a Twin Reverb is the ultimate in guitar tone (right next to the Les Paul through a Marshall). This little amp created some sweet tones and I was so blown away that I decided to do a review.

The Gretsch G5222 Electromatic guitar amp is just a little thing. Maybe 12 inches high and wide at the most. It pumps 5 watts of pure tube tone through a special design 6" inch speaker. Yep, you heard right. This is an actual tube amp powered by a 6V6 with a 12AX7 for the pre-amp.

This classic design is pure Fender (the Fender Champion 600 shares nearly the same circuitry) so it's no wonder this amp sounds so good. The controls are simple, one knob. That's right, one knob that controls the volume. There are 2 inputs, one a high gain for those growly dirty blues tones and the other for clean tones, although when the amp is cranked you can get some growl out of this channel too. To control the tone you use the tone controls on the guitar.

Usually on my guitars I just leave the tone knob up all the way. With the Tele's 3 position switch set to the neck pickup the tones were muddy, not good at all. Switched to the middle position with both pickups working it sounded great, some good growly low end with a nice bright highs mixed in.

Set to the bridge pickup it was awesome. Every Tele picker knows that this is where the twang comes from. It was sparkly, spanky, and growly all at once. It was sounding a little too brittle at times so I backed off the tone knob about 1/4 of a turn and there it was. The sweet spot. It sounded like I've always wanted my tele to sound. Pure heavenly tone. If this amp had an Accutronics spring reverb to add a little sparkle this amp would be the Holy Grail.

Of course, being only 5 watts this amp isn't going to be showing up on any stages, but for practice or quiet jam sessions this amp will rock. Where this amp will really shine is the recording studio. Mic this thing up for the ultimate tone. At less than $200 this amp is worth every penny ($195 MSRP). I found mine on ebay for $129.

I highly recommend this amp for any Tele player who wants great tone in a small package for little money.

Now for the photography part. How I lit the shot:

First off, I knew that I wanted some directional yet soft lighting. I grabbed an SB-900 I placed it in a Photoflex shoe mount bracket and attached it to a small 3X3 softbox. This is the Main light. Smaller softboxes allow you to get a diffused light source, but still give you some directionality. Initially I placed the light source on a light stand and angled it down, but I was getting a shadow from the guitar neck that I didn't like. I lowered the stand so that the softbox was on the same level as the amp. I was still getting a shadow. I the removed the softbox from the stand and set it on the floor. The natural position of the softbox was angled up so I gave it a shot. Perfect. It lit up the face of the amp nicely.

With only the Main light in place the amp was casting a shadow over the guitar body. Obviously, some fill was needed. I didn't want the fill to create any shadows or to add too much light to the scene. I just wanted to fill in the shadow while not lighting it too much to keep the dimensionality that the shadow area creates. I grabbed a piece of white foam core and faced it into the shadow area. I then aimed an SB-800 at the foam core to bounce the light to make it very diffused.

Everything was looking pretty good, except that the top of the amp was too dark as was the top edge of the guitar. I grabbed an SB-600 placed it on light stand and raised it about 3 feet above the amp's height. I pointed the flash head straight up and bounced the light from the ceiling for a nice diffused fill.

All of this was done using the Nikon Creative Lighting System's Advanced Wireless Lighting feature. I used an SU-800 to command the three Speedlights. The SB-900 Main light was set to Group A - TTL. This setting is a no brainer for getting a great exposure from your main light without doing any calculations.

The SB-800 used for the Fill light was a little more tricky. I set the SB-800 to Group B - TTL, but the exosure was too much. Even setting the Flash Exposure Compensation(FEC) to -3EV was still resulting in an overly bright image. I switched Group B on the SU-800 to Manual mode 1/8. This was the perfect amount of light to fill the shadows, but still keep the area low key.

The SB-600 was set to Group C - TTL. The exposure was spot on, but it was taking away too much of the shadows on the top of the amp and along with the shadows went the dimension. The image was looking flat. From the SU-800 I set the FEC to -1EV and there it was the perfect balance of highlight and shadow.

I love the simplicity and ease with which I can control the output of my flashes without touching a Speedlight. The Nikon Creative Lighting System is awesome. It makes my life a whole lot easier.

Nikon SB-900 Speedlight Review

2008-11-06T09:17:00.004-06:00

The Nikon SB-900 was announced along with the D700 so it's release was a bit unnoticed while the D700 got all of the press and fanfare. I got this flash awhile back when it was first released and having used it quite a bit now I decided to give it a quick review.

First of all, the SB-900 isn't simply a re-hashed version of the SB-800. At first glance the most apparent feature is that it's big. Huge, actually. Mounted on the D90 it simply dwarfs the camera. Not only is the SB-900 bigger than the SB-800 they completely redesigned the user interface making it much more intuitive than the SB-800. The SB-900 is also more flexible than the SB-800, it can detect whether it's attached to a DX or FX camera which adjusts the zoom head so that you get the most out of the light output.

The redesigned user interface is the best feature in my eyes. Nikon replaced the push button "power on" with a switch. Very handy. It allows you to power up the SB-900 almost instantly. Probably my favorite feature of the whole Speedlight is that you can use the switch to set the flash to Master or Remote. No longer do you have to press and hold buttons for 2 seconds to set these features. The switch also features a simple lock so you don't accidentally change the setting. Pressing a small button in the center of the switch allows you to chose Master or Remote. Another interesting feature is the addition of a scroll wheel to change the settings. This is similar to Canon's Speedlites and it works great. It makes it so much quicker to scroll through the settings. Great addition Nikon! Entering the Custom Settings Menu is easy, just press and hold the OK button.

Another one of the top new features of the SB-900 is the filter system. With the SB-800 and SB-600 using a filter required you to slip a filter tab in between where the bounce card / diffuser reside. The filter rarely stayed flat and allowed plenty of un-filtered light through. Nikon has given the SB-900 a clear filter holder that snaps on right over the flash head. The new filter also have a code imprinted on them and a special sensor on the SB-900 reads the code so your camera knows which filter is being used and the White Balance can be adjusted accordingly. Very smart. The SB-900 comes with a couple of filters for balancing the flash with tungsten or fluorescent lighting. Nikon list a filter set (SJ-3), which includes additional color balancing filters as well as red, blue, yellow, and amber filters. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find this anywhere. C'mon Nikon, what's the hold up? Additionally, the SW-13H diffusion dome that's included in the box actually snaps on right over top of the filter holder. Genius design.

Some of the other new features I like:

Faster recycle times. The SB-900 recycles nuch faster than the SB-800, giving you a 2.3 second recycle time after a full power shot (using 2600 MaH Ni-Mh recyclable batteries) as opposed to the 3.5 seconds of the SB-800. This is without an extra battery pack like the SB-800 uses (the SB-800 recycles at 2.7 second with the battery pack). Additionally Nikon offers the SD-9 battery pack which allows even faster recycle times.
Better zoom range. The SB-900 allows coverage of 17-200 with a FX camera or 12-200 with a DX camera.
Lighting distribution patterns. The SB-900 allows you to change the shape of the "beam" of light emitted. There are three choices CW, STD, EVEN. This gives you a tightly focused beam (CW), a standard beam (STD), or a more widely distributed light pattern (EVEN). This option is buried in the CSM. I would have liked a quicker way to access this feature.
Improved swivel head. You can now swivel the flash head 180º in both directions making it much more flexible for doing bounce flash in on the fly settings such as weddings or photojournalism.

All in all, the SB-900 is the best flash on the market. It's quite expensive at $500, but you get a lot more features and an easier to use flash in the bargain.

Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G VR

2008-10-21T16:50:00.007-05:00

The Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR is the newest lens in my arsenal. I'm extremely pleased with the performance of this lens so far.

When I bought this lens I was originally looking for a relatively light-weight portrait lens for my D700. I had been using the 50mm f/1.8 on my DX cameras and it wasn't working out quite the way I liked with the FX format of the D700 sensor. I was using an 80-200mm f/2.8 for D700 portraits and the lens was quite heavy (great for portraits, but too heavy).

Initially, I went out and bought the 85mm f/1.4D. It was a great lens. Light-weight, fast, nice bokeh, but I found myself wanting to be further away from the model to get more compression. Looking back at the metadata from previous shoots I found I was shooting the 80-200 mostly in the 100-150mm range. I took the 85mm back and I picked up the Nikkor 105mm f/2 DC. It was a nice lens but I didn't like the de-focus control option. It seemed like I was too busy trying to control the lens and I wasn't paying enough attention to composition or the models.

Next I picked up the 105mm VR. It was the right size (a little heavy, but not too bad), it had a nice fast aperture for shallow Depth of Field, and it had VR for shooting in lower light. Everything I was looking for in a portrait lens. The best part was the fact that it was a macro lens as well. I had already been contemplating buying a new macro lens so this sealed the deal.

This 105mm macro lens is a relatively new update to Nikon's original non-VR 105mm f/2.8D macro lens. It seems as if Nikon completely redesigned this lens. The VR version has 14 elements in 12 groups (as opposed to 9 elements in 8 groups) as well as Nikon's new Nano Crystal Coat which helps to reduce ghosting and flare. With Nikon Silent Wave Motor, VR, and a mostly metal body this lens is much bigger and heavier than it's predecessor. It takes 62mm filters instead of Nikon's standard 52mm like the AF-D version which is a shame because 52mm filters are easier to find and less expensive than the larger ones. Not to mention I already have a bunch of 52mm filters...

For portraits this lens is great. The Silent Wave Motor focuses super fast and quiet and the 9 rounded aperture blades give the out of focus areas a pleasing bokeh.

Of course for macro work this lens excels. It's extremely close focusing and can pull out great detail in the subject with almost no distortion whatsoever. Of course as with all macro lenses there is very little Depth of Field and shooting at f/8-16 is recommended to get the sharpest images possible. Anything below f/8 and the DoF is too shallow (although this can be used effectively) anything above f/16 and you start to lose sharpness due to diffraction.

There are a few things that you should be aware of when doing macro photography with the lens. First of all, VR is less effective at close ranges due to the higher magnification. At the closest focus distance for 1:1 ratio VR isn't going to give you a 4 stop increase in shutter speed. It's probably closer to 1 stop.

Although this lens isn't technically a variable aperture lens, When focused at close range the effective aperture is reduced. At 1:1 the effective aperture of the 105mm VR is f/4.8

This lens tends to lose focus easily and since the focus range is very wide it can be a pain to get back to where you need it. With portraits it's not too big of deal, but losing focus up close can cause you to lose the shot, especially when photographing living creatures. Since this lens focuses so fast it can take a few seconds for the lens elements to get the image back in focus. Switching the focus limiter helps when shooting portraits, but not for close-up work.

All in all, this a great lens. Since it doubles as a portrait lens you can lighten up your camera bag a little by carrying one lens instead of two. It's not a cheap lens, but with Nikkor lenses you have to pay for quality. This is easily Nikon's highest quality lens. It's built like a tank. There is no distortion, no chromatic abberation, and little if any vignetting. This lens is completely sharp from corner to corner even wide open. The Nano Crystal Coat controls flare and ghosting perfectly. You'd be hard pressed to find a lens that performs on the same level as this one does.

Rolleiflex MiniDigi

2008-10-14T13:21:00.010-05:00

Rolleiflex MiniDigi taken with Nikon D90 w/ micro-nikkor 105mm f/2.8G VR

The Rollei MiniDigi is cool little digital camera that's styled after the Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR medium format film camera. Although the MiniDigi is designed to look like an original Rollei, the similarities pretty much end there. This camera is tiny, it's actually shorter than a roll of 120 film! It comes in two colors, vivid red or coal black.

First and foremost, this is a toy camera. Although the camera is quite expensive as far as toy cameras go, this is by no means a professional camera and the image quality isn't up to par with even the lowliest compact point and shoot camera. So if you're a pixel peeper this isn't the camera for you. I paid $329 for mine at Precision Camera, my local camera shop. The going rate is about $300. Stay away from Urban Outfitters who are selling this camera for $400, what a rip-off!

The newest version of this camera is the MiniDigi AF 5.0. The camera claims to give you a 5 megapixel image, but in reality the Rollei MiniDigi has a 3 megapixel sensor (doing the math it actually works out to less than 2.4 MGP). The 5 MGP image size comes from image interpolation. Basically, the camera upsizes your images to give you higher resolution. There are actually 3 image size settings, L - 5MGP, M - 3MGP, S - 0.6MGP. My advice is to use the M setting for the sensors native resolution and upsize in Photoshop if necessary. Photoshop can upsize your image with better interpolation algorithms than the camera can.

The Rollei MiniDigi has a 4.9mm f/2.8 lens which is the equivalent of an 80mm lens on a full-size Rollei which gives the camera a crop factor of 16X!!! Not that this really matters. The cool thing about this lens is that it allows you to focus as close as 10cm. You can get close-up enough to get some degree of shallow depth of field which is almost impossible for a camera with a sensor this small.

Everything on the Rollei MiniDigi is automatic. The ISO, White Balance, and exposure settings are all calcualted by the camera. There's no using creative exposure settings on this camera, it's literally point & shoot.

Just like the original Rollei TLRs to view the image you look down into the cameras waist-level viewfinder from above. Also like the original the MiniDigi has a pop-up viewfinder hood to block stray light making it easier to see the viewfinder when in bright situations. The image is displayed in a small 1X1 inch color LCD. Due to the simple design of the mirror in everything in the original TLR camera's viewfinder was reversed left to right which could make it difficult for composing without a lot of practice.Fortunately, unlike the original, the image on the MiniDigi is flipped the right way so what you see is what you get. I will say that in bright sunlight seeing the screen is almost impossible.

The autofocus on the Rollei MiniDigi is frightfully slow even in broad daylight so shooting any type of action is not impossible, but difficult. This camera is best suited to shooting relatively stationary subjects. As a throw-back to the film camera era after the shutter release button is pressed you must crank the film advance lever forward to reset the shutter release button. This a neat little novelty that doesn't bother me in the least. It's hard to figure out exactly what the camera wants to focus on as well. Even when trying to shoot close-up the camera's AF seems to like to focus on the background, so it can take a few tries to get your shot right.

The Rollei MiniDigi stores images on Mini SD cards and included with the camera is a 256 MB card along with an adaptor so you can use a standard SD card reader to download your images. This is a nice feature since I didn't have a Mini SD card. I would have preferred a standard SD card sice I have a few of those.

As far as image quality goes, as long as you shoot with ample lighting the image quality is pretty good. When shooting in direct sunlight the images are sharp with good contrast. The MiniDigi uses an averaging meter which doesn't always give the best exposures resulting in a lot of blown -out highlights. When shooting in low-light the image quality falls dramatically. The images are plagued by excessive noise and I've noticed horizontal banding in quite a few of the images. I've also noticed quite a bit a moiré in some of the images, the Rollei MiniDigi probably doesn't have an anti-aliasing filter. The MiniDigi also lacks an infrared (IR) hot mirror so by holding an IR filter like the Hoya R72 in front of the lens you can do IR photography pretty easily. So far my IR results have been less than spectacular, but I've only had the camera for a couple of days and there isn't an abundance of good IR reflecting plant life around this time of year.

In conclusion, this camera is a fun little novelty. It's all about making concessions. The only real control you have over this camera is in composition. Most of the images will need post-processing work to make them usable. I prefer to convert to black and white or to simulate cross-processing to add some interesting effects to the pictures. For what this camera lacks in image quality and control it makes up for with a coolness factor. It looks great and it's a real conversation starter.

The Rollei MiniDigi is sort of like a digital Holga. You never know what you might get.

You can get yours here:

ISO test - D90 / D300 / D700

2008-09-11T23:49:00.003-05:00

The internet is all a-buzz about whether the D90 is really better at high ISO settings than the D300. So I set out to see whether it's true or not. Just for good measure I threw the D700 in as well.

First things first. The images are 100% crops, no sharpening, no Noise Reduction, no nothing.

The same lens was used on each camera, the lens was the D90 kit lens, the Nikkor AF-S 18-105mm ƒ/3.5-5.6. The zoom was at 105mm and the aperture was set to ƒ/5.6. Please note that this was just a quick test. All shots were hand held (and I must admit, I got some pretty sharp shots at 1/4 of second @ 105mm). The D700 has a lower resolution at the DX setting so the image looks a bit smaller.

Click on the photo to see it bigger...

At ISO 200 they're all pretty similar.

At ISO 400 there's still not much else to report.

At ISO 800 the D300 is starting to show some noise. The D90 and D700 are noise free.

At ISO 1600 the D300 is showing a fair amount of noise. The D90 is showing slight noise. The D700 not a speck of noise.

At ISO 3200 the D300 is showing quite a bit of noise, the D90 is amazingly clean for ISO 3200, but there is some noise there. The D700 is just starting to show some noise.

At ISO 6400 the D300 is pretty well unusable for practical purposes. The D90 still looks pretty good (about the same as the D300 at ISO 1600). The D700 is showing a fair amount of noise, but its not too bad.

Well, there you have it folks. The D90 actually kicks the D300's butt in ISO performance. (It's pretty damn close to the D700!)

Am I going to get rid of the D300? Nope. It's an awesome camera. The build quality and layout is strictly pro. I need that. The D90 though well built just doesn't function as good as I need it to. There's too much stuff that you have to change in the menus. I can give up a little ISO performance for the pro features of the D300.

Nikon D90 hands on preview!

2008-09-06T15:47:00.014-05:00

Nikon D90 w/18-105mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 set to 42mm - 1/200 @ ƒ/5 ISO 200

So the kind folks at Nikon were nice enough to let me test drive the brand spankin' new D90 today (thanks Shausta). Recently going from the D300 to the amazing D700, I was kind of skeptical, but I have to say it's a great little camera.

It's not built like a tank, but it doesn't feel cheap and plasticky either. The controls are laid out in the typical Nikon fashion so if you're a Nikon user you'll feel right at home.

The 3D Matrix metering is spot on. Almost every time.

Nikon's new 18-105 3.5-5.6 VR is the kit lens that comes with the D90. I have to say I wasn't overly impressed, but, it IS a kit lens. Bottom line on this lens is that wide open it's soft. Stop it down, it sharpens up nicely. Unfortunately, today I was shooting portraits. I generally shoot portraits wide open. Needless to say, not the best portrait lens. It does have a great zoom range though. It's the perfect walking around lens.

One thing I will say about this camera. It is truly amazing at high ISO's. I was floored by the quality. I wouldn't be surprised if it out-performed the D300 in this area. Seriously.

Well, enough chit-chat. Let's get down to the brass tacks. It's all about the images. All of these images are straight out of the camera. No sharpening, no colors, no nothing.

There is absolutely no noise in this image. ISO 3200. Amazing.

Nikon D90 w/18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoomed to 72mm - 1/30 @ f/4.8 ISO 3200

Zooming in to 100% on this you can see just how soft this lens is. On the bright side, you can always add sharpening in Picture Control or post. If you're not a professional, don't worry about it. The metering handled the exposure great considering the background has a lot of bright and dark spots. I wish this lens had a shallower depth of field... er, wider aperture.

Nikon D90 w/18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoomed to 105mm - 1/100 @ f/5.6 ISO 500

Switching over to the dual-purpose macro/portrait lens the images sharpened right up. Sharp as a tack! This lens is super-sweet! I used the 105mm ƒ/2 DC also, but I didn't like the results I got from that lens.

Nikon D90 w/105mm f/2.8 VR macro - 1/200 @ ƒ/2.8 ISO L1.0
SB-900 on camera TTL-BL

Ahh yes... The VR works like a charm for close-up stuff and once again sharp as a tack! And look at those colors! Brilliant! This was shot using a Custom Picture Control that I created.

Nikon D90 w/105mm f/2.8 VR macro - 1/80 @ ƒ/7.1 ISO 200

So much for the straight out of the camera images. Here's what you can do with a little post-processing. Bottom line. This camera is great. Not good. Great. With image quality that can hold up to the D300 + HD Video this is Nikon's best mid-level DSLR yet.

Enjoy!

D90 w/105mm ƒ/2.8 VR - 1/1250 @ ƒ/2.8 ISO L1.0

D90 w/18-105mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 @ 105mm - 1/125 @ ƒ/5.6 ISO 500
SB-900 on camera TTL

D90 w/18-105mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 @ 105mm - 1/125 @ ƒ/5.6 ISO 500

Nikon D90 announced!

2008-08-27T00:47:00.005-05:00

That's right folks! Nikon has just announced their newest camera, the D90! Possibly the most bizarre feature is the addition of a video mode, the first of it's kind ever. It seems Nikon is breaking all of the rules these days. First the full-frame D700 and now the video capability of the D90. The video mode is reported to be able to capture HD video at 1280 X 720 at 24 fps! Unfortunately, there is no AF capability in D-Movie mode which is sort of a monkey-wrench in the gears of any aspiring Spielbergs out there.

The D90 is available as a body only for MSRP $999.95 USD or as a kit with the brand spankin' new AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR for MSRP $1299. This new lens boasts Nikon's new VR II. This feature is supposed to allow VR even when panning. The 18-105mm (27-157.5mm equiv.) focal length is wide enough to cover most standard subjects, from architeture to sports this lens should have you covered. Nikon claims that this lens has a "refined external design with leather-tone texture will appeal to Nikon users as it will match their camera bodies". I'm not kidding, that's straight from Nikon's press release. No word yet on how this lens performs, but I don't have super-high expectations as Nikon's latest consumer wide-angle to telephoto lenses haven't been the best performers. Who knows? Maybe Nikon will surprise me this time.

The D90 has a 12.3 megapixel CMOS sensor. The first CMOS sensor in a Nikon consumer level which should allow for lower noise levels at high ISO's. Nikon claims that this is not the sensor that is in the D300, but the D90 does inherit the D300's EXPEED image processor which is good news. We all know how well the D300 performs in low-light and the D90 should be comparable.

The D90 also gets the Live View mode, but for some reason it has been crippled to only provide contrast detection AF unlike the D300 and higher models which allow you to choose between contrast detect or phase detect AF. The D90 does one up the bigger cameras by providing a dedicated button to quickly access the Live View function. Also inherited from the D3, D300 and D700 is the awesome 3 inch 920,000 dot LCD monitor. You have to see this monitor to believe the resolution on this thing. It's truly incredible when compared to the LCD monitors on preceding cameras.

Nikon also adds the Picture Control System and Active D-Lighting which goes further than the D700 adding a "Extra High" mode in addtion the the Auto, High, Normal, and Low settings. The Picture Control settings come complete with the Portrait and Landscape settings on the D90 which are available only as optional downloads for the D700 and D300. You can also store up to 9 Custom Picture Controls that you can create in camera or using Nikon's Picture Control Utility in the Nikon View software. As in the D60 the D90 gets an extensive retouch menu for processing images (including RAW files!) right inside the camera. The D90 even gets better as it sports a horizon straightening tool, a fisheye effect, and lens distortion control in addition to the standard stuff. Who needs Photoshop?

A fairly speedy 4.5 fps continuous shooting (7 RAW, 25 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal) up from 3 fps which has been the standard since the D70 was introduced almost 5 years ago. So that's good news for you sports shooters.

Another great thing is that the Nikon D90 continues in the EN-EL3e battery tradition allowing you to use the same batteries in the D100, D70, D80, D50, D200, D300, and D700 cameras.

Nikon also released a GPS system along with the D90, the Nikon GP-1. This geotags the EXIF data of your images wth location information. No word on price just yet...

All-in-all it looks like the D90 is quite a big improvement over the D80 (which is slated to stay in Nikon's current like-up for awhile). Stay tuned for an in-depth review when I finally get my grubby little paws on this groundbreaking new camera!

Nikon D700 Review

2008-08-13T20:29:00.004-05:00

I've been using Nikon's first entry level full-frame camera, the D700, for about a month now and I have to say I'm extremely happy with it.

Basically, what we have here is a D3 jammed into the smaller body of the D300. Inherited from the D3 are the full-frame (or in Nikonese, FX) sensor, the EXPEED image processor, the super fast Multi-cam 3500FX AF, and the excellent 920,000 dot LCD.

First off let's talk about the sensor. The D700 boasts a 12.1 Mp, 36 X 23.9mm CMOS sensor. Nikon's refusal to take part in the great megapixel race has paid off. This sensor has the largest pixel pitch of any full-frame camera on the market (8.45µm) which translates into almost no noise up to ISO 3200, and very little noise at ISO 6400. From the D300 the D700 also gets a built-in dust reduction system to help keep those pesky dust specks out of your images.

The D700 also boasts an DX mode for those who have digital only lenses and may have to wait awhile (after shelling out 3G's for the D700) to purchase FX lenses. Although you take a hit in resolution, 5.1 Mp as opposed to 12.1 Mp, you still get the benefit of the large pixel pitch and resulting low noise. Even at 5 Mp you have enough resolution to print a 16 X 20 inch print. I've actually found myself using the DX mode when using FX lenses for that added "reach". I'd rather compose the image in camera than crop later. I've been using this feature so much that I've programmed my AF-L/AE-L button to allow me to switch between FX and DX. The only drawback to using the DX mode is that the D700 doesn't mask out the unused portion of the frame, it only gives you a black square to go by. This is OK at the time of shooting, but if you put your camera down without switching back to FX it's easy to forget and you find yourself composing for the full frame but only get part of it.

Unlike it's big brother the D3, the D700 has a built-in flash. Although some pros may frown at this feature, I love it. The built-in Speedlight allows you to control off-camera Speedlights such as the brand new SB-900 wirelessly using CLS. This saves you from having to buy an SU-800 commander or using one of your SB-800's or 900's as a commander.

New in the D700 is the ability to set the LiveView feature to the Func. button (or the Preview or AE-L/AF-L button). This allows you super-quick access to the LiveView feature.

Like the D300 and the D200 before it, the D700 has a heavy-duty magnesium alloy weather sealed body and the thick and comfy rubber grips. Needless to say the D700 feels like a solid professional camera. Following in the footsteps of it's predecessors most of the buttons and layout are the same with a few addtions. If it ain't broke, don't fix it folks... Nikon has always (in my opinion) had great intuitive layouts of their menus and buttons and the D700 is no exception. I try not to get my cameras wet, but I was caught in a freak rain storm the first day I got the camera. It got soaked. It still works. 'Nuff said.

Another great feature is the fact that you can use the D300's MB-D10 grip with the D700. Way to go Nikon! I get tired of buying a new grip for each new camera. The D200 grip was plastic and lacked a multi-controller. The MB-D10 is magnesium and has a multi-controller, it actually feels like a part of the camera not just an add on. Although the D700's frame rate dropped to 5 fps (as opposed to the D300's 6 fps) When you attach the MB-D10 and use AA's or an EN-EL4 battery your frame rate is back up to a blistering 8 fps, fast enough for almost anything you need to shoot.

The image quality of the images from this camera are outstanding, especially when the body is paired with one of Nikon's pro lenses. The high ISO capabilites of these camera are no less than amazing. From ISO 200 to ISO 800 there is almost no noise at all. At ISO 1600-3200 there is slight noise, but this is easily taken care of in Photoshop. ISO 6400 is quite usable for medium sized prints. The D700 ISO goes up to a ridiculous ISO 25,600, although it can get shots in near darkness they are pretty damn noisy to say the least. The D700 precision 14 bit A/D converter gives pretty good dynamic range. The D700 also allows you to shoot in 12 0r 14 bit RAW which can help you deal with those tough shots by providing a little more image information so you can recover blocked up shadows in post. It also helps to reduce posterization in the shadow areas.

Nikon D700 w/50mm ƒ/1.8 ISO 1600 1/60 @ ƒ/1.8

Although, the D700 is a great camera it's not without it's faults. Most of the faults reside in changes that Nikon made from the D300. There are no major faults that would prevent me from buying another D700 for a backup.

1. The CF card door is badly designed, it's already popped open on me a couple of times. Nikon has removed the lever to make room for an info / quick settings menu button. The door design and the Quick settings menu are derived from consumer cameras and really don't belong on a camera of this caliber.

2. The rubber flap that covers the USB and HDMI outs isn't a snug as on previous cameras. This too has popped open a couple of times already. If you're out shooting in bad weather this could be a potential problem.

3. The redesign of the CF card door has left less room for the thumb grip. The D300 is much more ergonomically correct.

4. Like the D60 the menu option to set the USB to mass storage is removed from the menu. This means that my camera doesn't show up on my computer and I have to use Nikon Transfer to download if I don't have my card reader (which I sometimes forget to pack when on a trip). Using Transfer adds another step to my post and seriously slows down my workflow.

5. The camera doesn't automatically switch to DX when using 3rd party lenses. Since I've finally sold off all of my DX lenses, this really isn't that big of a deal to me, but it could be for some people.

Other than these minor quibbles the camera is top-notch. It's a perfect camera for pros and amateurs alike. If you were thinking about a D3, but the camera was too big, the D700 is for you. If you already have a D3, the D700 makes a perfect backup. If you're a natural light shooter and you find yourself frustrated with noisy images, you've found your camera. All in all, this is one amazing camera. The D700 is well worth every penny.

Taking Dynamic Action Shots

2008-08-05T18:12:00.008-05:00

There are quite a few different ways to take an action shot. The most straight-forward approach is simply to set your shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action and shoot. Although this approach can work quite well, as you'll see, making a truly dynamic and interesting shot requires a bit more work than just adjusting your shutter speed and firing off a bunch of frames.

This first image was shot using Shutter Priority mode and Matrix metering. This being a high contrast scene with parts of the image in shadows and other parts in direct sunlight the camera has problems trying to decide what to expose for. As you can see the sunny part of the sky is blown out and the subject is quite dark and doesn't really stand out from the background. The shutter speed of 1/640 is plenty fast to freeze the action, but due to the exposure problems the image just doesn't stand out.

To help the subject stand out from the background I switched to center-weighted metering. This mode bases 75% of the exposure from the center of the frame and 25% from the rest of the frame. As you can see this exposure is brighter than the last one. On one hand, the subject is properly exposed and popping out from the background more, but there are seriously blown out highlights in the sky which are very distracting and draw attention away from the subject.

For this next shot I added some flash to help the subject "pop" and adjusted the exposure to rein in some of the blown-out highlights. I used an SB-800 off camera to the left controlled by the D700's built-in flash. The camera is still set to spot meter and shutter priority and the flash is set to TTL with the built-in flash adding nothing to the exposure. In this image the subject is well lit and stands out from the background, but there are still some uncontrolled highlights on the right side of the frame. It's an OK shot, but the blown highlights are distracting and it's just not a dynamic image.

To make this shot work I switched the camera to Manual exposure mode and Spot metering. I pointed the camera at the brightest part of the sky and took an exposure reading. This gives you an exposure that allows you to avoid blown-out highlights and get highly saturated colors. This actually, in effect, under-exposes your image. Next, I set the SB-800 to TTL with +2EV. This allows the subject to be slightly over-exposed causing it to stand out.

The combination of the under-exposed background and the over-exposed subject gives you a dynamic image with punchy colors and lots of contrast. In addition, I panned along with the subject to add some motion blur to the background to suggest movement while the short duration of the flash freezes the actual motion of the subject.

Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 vs. Tokina 12-24mm f/4

2008-07-23T22:22:00.006-05:00

Since I'm upgrading to a new full-frame D700 next week I decided to buy a Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6. This is the widest lens that has ever been made for a full-frame camera. Sigma's current batch of lenses have a great build quality, along with the HSM, and great pricing you so you usually can't beat 'em.

I already had the Tokina 12-14mm f/4 for use with my DX cameras so I decided to do some quick test shots with both lenses on the D300 for comparison.
Both lenses are built quite well, but the Sigma looks and feels more like a pro lens. Since I generally shoot these ultra-wides at the widest setting of 12mm I decided to only test the lenses at this setting (also to save a little time).

At the center of the frame at the widest aperture, f/4 for the Tokina and f/4.5 for the Sigma, the Tokina was sharp, surprisingly sharp. The Sigma was soft, much too soft.

The Sigma didn't show any improvements in sharpness until f/11 at which point it was almost as sharp as the Tokina at f/4. At f/16 and f/22 the Sigma was softening again due to diffraction. This was a disappointing performance to say the least.

The Tokina was sharp at f/4 and continued to get sharp up to f/11, at f/16 it started to soften from diffraction, but was still sharper than the Sigma at f/11. At f/22 the Tokina was pretty soft. The Tokina is amazingly sharp for an ultra-wide zoom at this focal length. Very impressive.

In the corners of the frame the Sigma performed even more poorly than I had expected after looking at the center sharpness. I was very surprised by this since the Sigma is a full-frame lens the corners should be much sharper due to the 1.5X crop factor.

At f/4 the corner of the Sigma image is completely devoid of any fine detail. It also shows quite a bit of CA. At f/5.6 it's a tiny bit better, but not by much. When set to f/8 the sharpness is a lot better. At f/11 it's still pretty good, but at f/16 and f/22 you see signs of softness from diffraction. The CA was pretty much under control by f/8. Again, a pretty poor performance, especially from a full-frame lens. If the corners are this soft on a DX camera, I can't even imagine how bad they will be on an FX camera. That being said, you do have to consider that this is the widest lens available for the FX format and you have to make some concessions for optical quality when trying to build an ultra-wide lens.

The Tokina was pretty soft at f/4 with some serious CA, by f/5.6 the sharpness was great and the CA was under control. From f/8 to f/16 the sharpness was acceptable and the CA was OK. At f/22 the corners were softened from diffraction. The Tokina was a pretty good performer in the corner sharpness, but not awesome.

The Tokina came out the clear winner in my book, something that came as a complete surprise to me. I really expected the full-frame Sigma to be much sharper especially in the corners. Of course both lenses suffered from some CA, but that is to be expected in lenses of this focal length. The Tokina is also about $200 cheaper than the Sigma so you definitely get more bang for your buck.

Although the Tokina is sharper, I'll probably keep the Sigma due to the fact that it will work on my D700. I wouldn't use this lens for critical work or for big enlargements, but the fact remains that this lens will give you a 122º angle of view on a FX camera, which is really wide. You just have to decide which is more important for your work, image quality or the ability to go super wide.

Hopefully, I'll get my hands on a Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8 soon and I'll add to the comparison.

Going on a photo safari at the zoo...

2008-07-02T16:33:00.005-05:00

If you're like me, you like to take photos of exotic animals, but you don't often get the chance to get out to the African savannah, deep in the jungles of South America, or some other far off locale.

Fortunately for us, most major cities have a zoo. This can afford you the opportunity to take some great photos of some wildlife that, unless you're an accomplished world traveler, you may never come into contact with.

Most zoos have a wide variety of animals from all across the globe. From aardvarks to zebras you can get a great wealth of shots from just one short visit to the local zoo. In the wild you'd need to spend hundreds of thousands of hour traveling and stalking your prey, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars in traveling expenses!

Just like when you go on Safari you should pack well before heading out to the zoo for a photo safari. There's nothing worse than showing up and realizing that you don't have the right equipment to get the shot. Now, this is good advice for any photo-taking excursion. Make a list of the equipment that you might need and double check it before heading out!

This weekend I was contracted to shoot a wedding in Ft. Worth, TX. Since Ft. Worth is a good three hour drive from Austin and gas is crazy expensive, I decided to make the most of the trip and get some photos of other things as well as to have a little fun. I've heard nothing but good things about the zoo in Ft. Worth so I decided to check it out.

The first thing we should cover is an equipment list. You don't need to drag out every piece of camera gear that you have, but you do need to make sure you have what you need. Here's a short list of what I packed in my camera bag:

Nikon D300 - Although I have quite a few camera bodies I chose this one mainly for it's high ISO performance. Often times the light can be low in some of the animals enclosures creating the need for shooting at higher sensitivities. The D300 excels at high ISO's with low signal to noise ratio. I almost opted for bringing the D60 due to it's significantly smaller and lighter body, but since I was using a heavy lens, I didn't want to place any undue stress on the D60 lens mount.
Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D - Most people have stepped up to the 70-200mm VR lens, but I've had this lens for quite a few years and it works just as good as it always has. It's a fast, sharp, well-built lens and I'll probably use it for many more years to come. The main reason I chose this lens was simply to get close-up shots of animals that I knew would be pretty far off. A long zoom such as this one allows you to get close-up, intimate portraits of far away animals. Another consideration when choosing this lens was the fast aperture. The wide aperture of this lens comes in handy in zoo situations for a number of reasons. First and foremost a fast lens gathers a lot of light allowing you to shoot at faster shutter speeds to reduce the effect of camera shake and/or allows you to shoot at a lower ISO setting to reduce noise. One of the main reasons I like a wide aperture lens at the zoo is for the shallow depth of field. Having a shallow depth of field allows you to blur out the background details that can make you pictures look like they were shot at the zoo. Of course they were shot at the zoo, but you don't really want it to look like that. The shallow depth of field also comes in handy when photographing animals through fences. Getting the lens close to the fence and opening up the aperture make the fence almost disappear. The image below was shot through a fence with an aperture of f/2.8.

Manfrotto 681B Monopod - This is one of the most important pieces of equipment that I brought with me on my trip to the zoo. When shooting at long focal lengths camera shake is greatly exaggerated, this can cause your images to be blurry. While the telephoto lens magnifies the subject it also magnifies the slight movements of the camera from holding it in your hand. Even the most rock-steady person will get a blurred image if the shutter speed isn't high enough. The rule of thumb is that the shutter speed for hand-holding your camera should be the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens. On the DX format D300 the focal length of a 200mm lens is equal to about 300mm due to the crop factor, so your minimum safe hand-holding shutter speed is about 1/300 of a second. This eagle was in a very dim spot so even at f/2.8 I would have needed to crank the ISO past 1600. This would have resulted in an overly noisy image. The monopod stabilizes the camera, minimizing camera shake, allowing you to shoot at a much slower shutter speed without getting a blurry image. Of course, had I been using a VR lens, I may not have needed the monopod. A good monopod costs around $60, a wide aperture VR lens costs about $1600. You do the math. A monopod is a very affordable way to get sharp images if you don't have (or can't afford) a VR lens.
Extra Nikon EN-EL3e battery - This should be a given. Every photographer should have at least one spare battery in their camera bag at all times. There's nothing worse than losing a once in a lifetime shot because you didn't bring enough batteries.
SanDisk Extreme III 4GB CF cards - I packed 4 4GB CF cards. The D300's uncompressed 14 bit RAW files take up quite a bit of space. You can fit about 150 uncompressed 14 bit RAW images on one card. I shot 540 pictures that day. Needless to say, be sure to bring plenty of memory. Nothing is more aggravating than having to erase images on the fly to make room on your card. I choose to use four 4GB cards rather than one 16GB card because I think it's better to not put all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak. If your card fails and you only have one card, you can lose all of your images. It's better to keep them separate so in the unlikely event of a card failure you'll still have some images.
Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 - I brought this lens just in case I wanted to get some wider shots or some shots of animals that were closer. I didn't end up using this lens at all, but it's better to have something you might need than to need something you don't have.

For camera settings I like to be sure I can get as much image information as I can. For this trip I set my camera to record uncompressed RAW images at 14 bit. This ensures that I get as much color information as I can and gives the images smoother gradation in colorful areas. These parameters can be set in the Shooting Menu under the NEF (RAW) recording setting.

I also set my camera to Active D-Lighting - Normal, this is also found in the Shooting Menu of the D300 and D60. Active D-lighting adjusts the exposure and adds a slight curves adjustment in real time. This allows you to avoid blown-out highlights while giving you details in the shadow area. Active D-lighting expands the dynamic range of your images.

If you choose to shoot JPG's, I suggest setting you Picture Control settings to Vivid and adjust the sharpening +2 and the saturation +1. This also can be done in the Shooting Menu under Set Picture Control. If you desire you can save this setting using the Manage Picture Controls option in the Shooting Menu. I have this saved and labeled as Vivid+. You can also upload these Custom Picture Controls to Capture NX and apply them to images from any other cameras.

That's it for now. Next time we'll talk about composition and other techniques. Have great Fourth of July and be safe!

Film Noir Portrait Lighting Tips

2008-06-16T22:41:00.014-05:00

One of my favorite movie genres is film noir. The term "film noir" is french for "black film". Typically, film noir is characterized as a gritty early Hollywood crime drama. Most of these types of films were shot between the early 1940's and late 1950's with a few popping up here and there even into this millennium.

Film noir had it's own type of lighting, most of which was typified by hard lighting and low-key settings. Often the director used shadows to create shapes in the background or sometimes even on the actors. A familiar one being a streetlight shining through the venetian blinds of a private eye's office.

Although, film noir is a cinematic technique, this type of lighting is quite easily done in still photography. You can achieve fantastic results using as little as one light or more if you have them. I find that using one light on the subject with a reflector to bounce a small amount of light to bring out some details in the shadow areas works great.

The great thing about film noir lighting is the delicate interplay between the light and shadow which can add an air of mystery or even glamour to your subject.

When shooting a film noir type of subject most people opt to go the black and white route. Although you can use this type of lighting in color, black and white gives the images a nostalgic feel and this is the most typical way to go. When shooting portraits I usually shoot in RAW mode. When shooting film noir portraits I still shoot RAW, but I change the Optimize Image (D200 and D60) or the Picture Control (D300) to monochrome. Although the RAW image is recorded in full color the preview on the LCD shows in black and white. This gives you a better idea on how your image will eventually turn out after post-processing. Obviously, you can also shoot JPEG in monochrome to save yourself some time. I've done it this way as well with great results.

For the first example I used a very simple one light setup. Behind the subject (which was me) I placed a 200 ws Smith-Victor monolight. Attached to the light was a shoot-through umbrella. Although I wanted a very hard light source using an umbrella allowed me to soften it a bit and add some directionality to the light. The light was set at 1/4 power and the camera was set to 1/250 @ f/1.8

One thing to remember is that the closer the light source is to the subject the softer the lighting is. Even with a modifier such as an umbrella, which is supposed to soften the light, placing the light further away allows you to get a rather hard light source. In this example the light was placed about 10 feet away just out of sight of the camera.

As is, this simple one light setup gave me a nice rim light that highlighted the side of my face and shoulder giving nice separation from the background, but the rest of my face was in deep shadows and lacked any details. To add some detail to the shadow area I set up a light stand and clamped a reflector to it which bounced some light into the shadow area adding some much needed detail.

Incidentally, this photo was featured in the Photo Workshop series book Photos That Inspire.

For this actor's headshot I used a two mono-light set-up. Although this is a film noir style portrait, I needed a softer light source to show more detail in the face. Similar to the previous example I set up a rim light about 10 feet behind the subject at camera left set to 1/4 power. For a modifier I used a small 24" X 32" softbox. For the key or main light I used a larger 36" X 48" softbox and set the light about 3 feet from the subject just to the right of the camera set to 1/16 power.

Apart from the lighting, another technique I employed here was the use of a dutch angle. A dutch angle, also known as an oblique shot in cinematography, involves the tilting of the camera so that is not straight with the horizon. In this shot it gives the appearance that the subject is leaning back, adding some tension and interest to the image. In actuality the subject was standing straight up and shooting the picture normally would have given the image a rather static business-like quality. Photographer George Hurrell used this technique quite a bit in his Hollywood portraits of the stars of the 30's and 40's and well into the 90's.

For this location shot I used a very simple one light set-up. Setting up a single SB-600 on a light stand at camera right about 6 feet from the model was all that it took to light this shot. I triggered the SB-600 using the built-in flash of the D200. The built-in flash was set to add no exposure while the SB-600 was set to TTL with an Exposure Compensation of +1EV.

Film noir is a very simple yet effective technique that can give your portraits a dramatic edge to them. For inspiration check out some of the great films of John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The Asphalt Jungle) and Robert Siodmak (The Killers, Phantom Lady) . Alfred Hitchcock (Notorious) and Orson Welles (Lady from Shanghai) also dabbled in film noir. For old Hollywood style "noir" type portraits check out the work of George Hurrell.

D300 Digital Field Guide corrections

2008-06-10T21:53:00.005-05:00

As with the first printing of most books, there are some minor errors, this is nothing out of the ordinary and all of the errors will be fixed for the second printing. Writing a book is an intensive project and during writing process and the editorial process sometimes things get overlooked. So there are a few items from the first printing of the Nikon D300 Digital Field Guide that need to be addressed. I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that these oversights may have caused.

On page 7 Figure QT.4 is labeled incorrectly. Center weighted mode is labeled as 3D Color Matrix II, and Matrix metering is labeled as center weighted mode.

On page 18 I mention that you press the WB button and rotate the Main Command dial to change the white balance (WB) setting. In all WB settings with the exception of K or PRE, you can rotate the sub-command dial to fine-tune the setting. Rotating the sub-command dial to the right allows you to add blue to the image making it cooler while rotating the dial to the left adds amber, which warms up the image. You can dial in up to 6 steps of blue or amber. When the WB is set to K, rotating the sub-command dial allows you to set a specific color temperature. When set to PRE rotating the dial enables you to choose from d-0 to d-4, each of which can be used to save a pre-set WB setting.

On page 27 when describing the electronic analog exposure display, I state, "When the bars are to the left you are underexposed; when the bars are to the right, you are overexposing your image." This is the opposite of the default camera setting. This was a technical error on my part. In CSM f10 you can reverse the indicators and I have my personal camera set this way, as it’s more intuitive to my way of thinking.

On page 28 in the explanation of changing exposure compensation value, "When pressing the Exposure Compensation button and rotating the Sub-command dial, the EV compensation is displayed." This should read, “Pressing the Exposure Compensation button displays the EV compensation setting, pressing the button and rotating the Main Command dial allows you to change the EV compensation setting.”

On page 43 in the description of Bracketing I should mention that unlike Exposure Bracketing, when set to White Balance Bracketing the camera only takes on shot, but simultaneously records multiple images with different WB settings.

On page 84 in my description of CSM e4 – Modeling flash, I forgot to mention that this feature also works with the built-in flash.

Once again, these errors only appear in the first printing and your edition may not have these specific errors.

Bo Diddley 1929-2008

2008-06-03T10:25:00.017-05:00

Yesterday the world lost a great and influential musician, Bo Diddley. He was a great blues guitarist and one of the pioneers of rock and roll guitar playing, and was very instrumental in developing the sound of rock and roll. Bo Diddley created the "Bo Diddley beat", a staccato style of playing that has been copied by such performers as the Rolling Stones and many others. Bo Diddley was known not only for the "Bo Diddley beat" but also for his signature square shaped Gretsch guitar which was reportedly designed to mimic the guitar that he had built out of a cigar box as a child.

I was fortunate to have been able to photograph this guitar legend a few years ago at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX. The lighting in the theatre was very dim, so it was absolutely necessary to have a fast lens. To shoot this concert I brought along my D200 with a Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8.

In a situation like this, where the light is dim and you have a performer who is moving quite a bit, Vibration Reduction (VR) lenses are all but useless. Nothing will get a good sharp image but a fast shutter speed. Therefore shooting wide open is just about the only way to go.

Even with a fast aperture lens it was necessary to crank up the camera's ISO setting. To get a good sharp image in dim lighting you sometimes need to make the trade-off of capturing an image with a bit of noise. For this particular venue setting I chose an ISO of 1250, which gave me a shutter speed of about 1/250. This shutter speed was about the minimum acceptable speed I could shoot at without getting camera shake blur from hand-holding the camera with a telephoto lens. With the D200, ISO 1250 shows an acceptable amount of noise and I was able to print this image up to 13X9 with pretty good results.

In order to make the most of the available light I chose to use spot metering. Spot metering reads the light and sets the exposure reading the light off of just a small spot of the intended subject. With the D200 and a CPU lens the spot meter is tied to the active focus point so there is no need to meter using the center point then recompose for the shot.

Using Matrix metering, which takes a reading of the entire scene, would have resulted in the camera trying to expose to capture detail in all of the dark, shadowy areas of the stage behind Bo Diddley. This would cause my exposure times to be much longer giving me shots that had both camera shake and motion blur and also possibly over-exposing the subject.

Choosing spot metering allowed me to control what the most important area of the scene to expose for. Since the main focus of the image was Bo Diddley I wasn't concerned about what was lurking in the shadow areas and spot metering caused those areas to go black giving the image a lot of contrast and allowing Bo to stand out as the main subject.

One of the most important things for photographing in a setting like this is to be sure your exposure is "dead on". Under-exposed images show excessive amounts of noise in dark areas, and it's often almost impossible to correct in post-production, especially if the subject is relatively dark.

Over-exposing the image gives you some of the same problems since the shadow areas will show excessive noise. Fortunately, in a low-light setting such as this you can use curves or levels adjustment or a camera RAW adjustment in post-processing to bring an overexposed back down a bit although any blown-out highlights will still be lost.

The most important thing you can do when photographing a scene like this is to check your histogram to be sure that your exposure is right. Nothing, not even shooting in RAW, will give you a good solid image like capturing the perfect exposure as you shoot.

Wireless flash with the D60 pop-up flash?

2008-05-16T16:44:00.000-05:00

One of the biggest concerns with a lot of potential buyers of the D60 was the fact that the pop-up wasn't able to control any of the Speedlights wirelessly for off-camera flash use. Although for most entry-level photographers this isn't a problem, as we learn and progress we often find certain features (or lack thereof) limiting.

Since some people don't want to go to the expense of buying an SB-800 or SU-800 to command an additional SB-800 or 600 (this is easily $600 worth of Speedlights), I wanted to share a little trick that I learned when I forgot to pack my SB-600 to use as a slave.

First of all, for those who are unfamiliar, off-camera flash is term that's use when you, that's right, take the flash off of the camera! Generally speaking most studio photography is done this way with big studio strobes, but in the past few years it's become more common for beginners and pros alike to use the smaller flashes that are designed to be mounted on your cameras hot shoe as an off-camera light source.

There are many reasons why you would want to take the flash off of the camera the main reason being that if you can move the light you have more control over the quality and direction of the light as well as being able to control where the shadow falls. When the flash is attached to your camera at the hot-shoe the lighting is coming straight at your subject which is usually not very flattering to put it mildly.

Obviously, you can't take the pop-up flash off of your camera (well you could, but then it would be broken), but you can use the pop-up flash to trigger another flash off camera provided that the off-camera flash is equipped with an optical slave. An optical slave is a sensor that detects the light from another flash and causes the unit to, well, flash.

There are quite a few different flashes that have built-in optical slaves, most notably the SB-800 and SB-26. Nikon offers a device called the SU-4 that attaches to some other Nikon flashes and allows them to be triggered optically.

On some of the other Nikon DSLR's (D70, 80, and 200) the pop-up flash can be used to wirelessly control any number SB-800's and/or SB-600's. The D60 along with other entry level Nikon cameras doesn't allow this option. Which is where my story begins:

I was shooting some portraits for the D60 Digital Field Guide, we were mostly shooting outdoors using available light. After the sun went down we ventured into Austin's oldest hotel, the Driskill. This hotel is pretty opulent and decorated with a distinct Western theme. It's very interesting, but there is little ambient light with which to photograph with.

Since I hadn't really expected to be doing any indoor photographs I had only brought one SB-800, I brought this to use for fill flash. We walked around awhile taking some pictures using bounce flash and the SW-10H diffuser when I came across the scene. As soon as I saw it I knew that it would call for very directional lighting and off-camera flash.

D'oh! I realized I only had one SB-800 therefore I couldn't use CLS. I thought on this for awhile and remembered than the SB-800 had an option called SU-4 mode. This mode enables the SB-800's built-in optical slave function. The SU-4 mode has two options, Auto and Manual, for this shot I chose manual the manual setting so that I had full control of the exposure.

So I set the SB-800 to the SU-4 mode and using the handy-dandy AS-19 stand that came with my SB-800, I set it camera left, over on a nearby bench aiming the head slightly up at the model. I set the pop-up flash to Manual mode using Custom Setting Menu #14 (CSM-14) and set the flash to 1/32 which is the lowest setting available. I did this to avoid having light from the pop-up flash falling onto the model. I composed with shot and holding the camera with my right hand I placed my left hand near the lens mount if front of the flash. This allowed me to block the light of the flash from reaching the model, but also allowed the light of the flash to trigger the SB-800. Incidentally, Nikon makes a device, called the SG-3IR that blocks light from the pop-up flash from adding to the exposure, it's available from most camera stores for about $12.

While I found it necessary to block the light from the pop-up flash, for this specific shot, this isn't an absolute necessity, the light from the pop-up flash can also be used for a bit of fill-flash to fill in any dark shadows. Using it as fill-flash will probably work best in instances where the subject is not near a wall or close to the background since the flash can cause unwanted shadows behind the subject.

Although I used the SB-800 as a hard light source in this shot this technique can be easily applied to a flash that's attached to a modifier such as an umbrella or a soft box, you just need to be certain that the optical sensor of the slave flash can see the light from the pop-up flash.

Although this is a very rudimentary approach to off-camera flash, it does work and can get the job done when in a pinch.

Welcome to my Digital Field Guide Companion

2008-05-16T15:38:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my initial foray into the world of blogging. I have written 5 books for Wiley Publishing's Digital Field Guide series and I often get emails asking for specific information on some of the images in the books and for additional tips and tricks for specific cameras. I decided to start this blog as a way of connecting with my readers and to help share any experience or insights that I may have.

In this blog I'll be sharing some little known tricks, tips, and settings for different cameras. I'll also be sharing some of my image settings such as the Optimize image settings for the Nikon D40/x, D50, D60, D70/s, D80 and D200, also I'll be posting some of my custom Picture Control settings for the D300 and D3.

I'll also create some tutorials for various post-processing techniques and I'll even take you inside of some of my shoots offering valuable insight on what steps it takes to make an image from start to finish, beginning with the set-up and lighting on into post-processing.

From camera settings to lighting to post-processing I hope to include a lot more information to help you get the best images that you can.