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Nikon Upgrades D90 Quite A Lot: New D7000

Nikon this morning has finally updated it’s D90, apparently cleaning up the line name so that it fits in with the rest of their consumer line. They’ve also apparently pushed the quality of the camera even further, with it blurring the line for now between itself and the higher level D300s. So, let’s get into things, shall we?

The D7000 remains a DX shooter, so it’ll have the crop factor of 1.5x and work with both full-frame and DX lenses. It’s 16.2 megapixels pushing through a new EXPEED2 processor, and has an ISO range (once expanded) of 100-25,600. Weirdly enough, the native ISO rage purports to be 100-6,400, and it’s a bit odd to see Nikon starting it’s native range at 100, I have to admit. It’s got a brand-new 39 point autofocus system, nine of which are cross-type. The HD video is 1080 and records to h.264, with full-time autofocus. The 3″ 921,600 dot LCD remains, but the viewfinder has been upgraded to 100% coverage. The body has an port of an external mic, dual SD/SDHC/SDXC recording slots, and the top and rear plates are now magnesium. Nikon’s also claiming the body is dust and moisture sealed, and features in-body dust-reduction systems.

It uses a new EN-EL15 li-ion battery, and can work with the MB-D11 grip. Pricing is around $1,200 body only and we should start seeing some leak out next month. As always, you can get your name for one on our preorder list as of now.

More pics and press release after the jump.

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Nikon Product Support Pages: 85 Micro and 1001 nights

What to do if you’ve got a D90 and an 18-200 VR II but you want to get closer than 20in to a flower, a grape, or the crud collecting on the charging base of your electric toothbrush? What about that thing, which might be part of your prom keepsake, that your dog just coughed up?

For around five Franklins the AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85 f/3.5 ED VR will put you as close as 11 inches to the object whose details you must see at 1.0x magnification. It incorporates Nikon’s VR II technology for a 4 shutter speed advantage over your coffee addiction. You’d do well to toggle it off when you’re working from a tripod, as it’ll incorrectly adjust for no motion. For more reasons why you’d want to use the DX 85, click over to Nikon’s Support page, which is surprisingly amiable.

If you’re a glass buff, a fan of The Decarmeron or Arabian Nights, or just need something to read that isn’t about the iPad or Gerard Butler’s Roman hands, check out “NIKKOR -The Thousand and One Nights,” where Haruo Sato and Kouichi Ohshita chronicle at random the history of NIKKOR lenses.



Kodak Discontinues Kodachrome, No One Under 25 Cares

1935 - 2009

1935 - 2009

Kodachrome, which I have of course heard of but never even had to use myself (being quite the young whelp), has given up the ghost and put another nail in the nice little coffin film photography has been building itself. Strangely enough, this announcement occurred the same day that Popular Photography’s “Flash” blog highlighted one of the most famous photos shot with Kodachrome. This marks the end of its apparently 74 year production life.

For those of you under the age of about 25 or so, Kodachrome was a color-reversal film. Film, in turn was this strip of light-sensitive material we had to load cameras with before Ashton Kutcher found the D90 intriguing. Archaic, I know, but there it is.



Memory’s cheap, kid

I have a steal for you – for $149.97 (plus shipping) you get a Hitachi Microdrive equipped with a cyclopean 2 gigabytes of storage. That’s a basement price $.074 a megabyte.

Shudder.

I’m not kidding about having Microdrives lurking in our warehouse (I think I’ll start referring to them as the Great Old Ones), gathering dust (or inspiring early twentieth century horror). My E-410 will take a Microdrive, but even my chimp-heavy shooting habits beg for better than 2mb/sec transfer rate. And how could I excuse that, what with our steal price of $39.97 for 4gb Ducati CF cards and persistent rebates on Sandisk extreme III and IV cards. And we’ve just added a new family of what I think I’ll have to call candy SDHC cards from easystore (no caps, really).

The easystore SDHC line consists of 2, 4, and 8gb cards for 6.97, 9.97, and 19.97 respectively. That makes for a wallet-busting $.0035 a megabyte on the 2 and $.0025 a megabyte on the 4 and 8 gigabyte units. Ouch.

I understand that they’re rated as SDA2.0 class 2 devices. I figure that means unless you’re the proud owner of a D5000, D90, or Rebel T1i and keen on using that video function or you really like continuous drive -these cards are A-OK for throwing in the bag as a back-up. Or at your 75 year old grandmother who owns an AE-1 and a Kodak Easyshare so old it’s got pictures of your last two ex-girlfriends on it…not that I know anyone like that.



New Nikon

Nikon D5000Everybody  talkin’ at me, but I don’t hear a word they’re saying.
At least not until I can actually handle the new D5000 Nikon Digital SLR camera offering myself. The previews do look good for this soon to be in stores replacement of the much lauded D80.  Many of the features that are in the D90 are going to be available for shooters on a tighter budget soon.

The D5000 keeps the D80′s 11 point AF and gains a little more continuous shooting speed at 4fps. Another improvement is on the back of the camera, Nikon’s first swivel screen on a DSLR, couple that with Live View and that makes this camera a serious contenderand gives it an advantage ofer it’s direct Canon competition (even the Rebel T1 which is also coming soon).

Nikon also switched to a CMOS sensor instead of the CCD and upped the pixel horsepower at the same time. The D5000 Nikon Digital SLR shares the same 12.3 megapixel sensor as the D90 but gets the latest firmware version on the Expeed processor which features improved Auto Active D-Lighting and face-priority AF) and enhanced Live View AF.  Other neat Nikon Digital SLR accessories that work on the D90 also move down to the D5000 like the GP-1 hot shoe which tags GPS location information directly into the EXIF file data. Nikon’s industry leading wireless flash system also works on the newbie.

The new D5000 is expected to ship at the end of April.
Body only for $729.95 . Body/lens kit with the 18-55mm
VR lens for $849.95.

I’m going to let the D5000 do the talkin’ just as soon as I can get
my hands on one, then we’ll talk some more, cowboy.



Nikon D5000: What’s Up With It

D6000 (Body Only)

D6000 (Body Only)

Well, because Jody in his infinite brilliance managed to accidentally delete the first version of this post, here we go again:

There it is kiddies! The D5000! I’ve seen this bouncing around rumor town a bit, and it’s nice to see it’s true. For those not up with the jazz, it’s a slightly stripped down D90 with a smaller bod and a new and happening tilt/swivel LCD (which I love, and which brings the DSLR market up to 4 current models with it, 6 if you count the Sonys with tilting screens, 7 if you add the lonely E-330 down on our shelf that someone needs to take home.)

So, in the interest of public service, here’s a breakdown of the pertinent differences (also known as “why this isn’t going to kill the D90″), comparing the new and shiny D5000 to the D90:

Pros:

  • Tilt/swivel LCD
  • Smaller body (though not by much, apparently)
  • Lighter body (fairly notable, actually, 100g or so)

Cons:

  • Smaller LCD (2.7″ @ 230,00 vs the D90′s 3″ with 920,000 dots. BIG difference.)
  • No built-in AF motor. That’s right, the D5000 has the same lens compatibility issues as the D40-D60 bodies.
  • Smaller viewfinder (approx. 95% coverage at .78x magnification vs 96% coverage at .94x magnification.

Both bodies have 720 video at 24 FPS, 11 point auto-focus systems, 12.3 megapixel imagers, and play nicey-nice with the GP-1 GPS dongle. I’m taking it on faith they also have varied delete functions, which unfortunately my editor also does.

Click the picture above for more info. To get your hot little name on our waitlist email info@robertsimaging.com.



That thing got HD in it?

So we all remember the “That Got a Hemi” Commercials right? Well this years  “Hemi” in  digital cameras is High Definition output. The higher end DSLR’s have HDMI slots on them along with standard video outputs so you (and hopefully your high paying clients) can view the images you shoot at their pristine best. Now, some DSLR cameras; notably the “Hot New” Canon Digital SLR camera the 5D MkII, and the advanced amature Nikon Digital SLR camera, the D90 actually record High Definition Video: both firsts for interchangeable lens still cameras. I’m not the only one to notice this inevitable trend here is a link to a recent USA today article.

For the past couple of years Sony Cybershot Cameras have enjoyed HD output with an accessory HDMI cable.  But that’s to be expected from the worlds largest electronics company, it’s in their DNA.
Now, more point and shoot cameras are adding HD output and even better HD video recording. Panasonic and Leica have it in the LX3 and D-Lux 4 respectively, and Canon’s SX 1 has it as well.  Expect to see more High Definition video and output on the next generation of DSLR and lens shutter point ad shoot cameras.
It’s the future, it’s electric.



Elements of Design (and Art): Color

Color is pretty darn important to most people, and for most photographers it is probably the most consistent element to deal with. But, most people don’t really know how the aspects of color work. Again, the following ideas are universal and don’t care if you buy Sony Alpha DSLRs or Panasonic camcorders. Light is light, color is color.

Of course, it turns out that color is also light. You probably know that color is visible light as we see it reflected off of things. This fact leads to color having three primary attributes:

  1. Hue (also called Tint)
  2. Saturation (also called Intensity, or Purity)
  3. Luminosity (also called Brightness, or Value)

If you’ve ever been in a photo editor (or manager, like Lightroom) and seen HSL or HSB, those are ways of managing color based on those 3 principles (there are two other common managements, RGB and CMYK which deal with light in different ways, but that’s another post).

So, weirdly enough, the best visual example of how hue, saturation, and luminosity work together is the color mixer from… Microsoft Paint!

MS Paint Color Picker

The main field is hue (pure colors formed by different wavelengths of light), and saturation, the slider on the right is luminosity.

As you might notice, Luminosity/Brightness/Value is the basic gradtion of white to black, which is the foundation of black-and-white photography (and also Notan theory design). This aspect of color is so important that it’s beyond being just a subset of color and counts as its own design principle. The gradation from light to dark (referred to by the fancy-schmancy term “chiaroscuro” in the art world), is the primary source of visual contrast and drama in a scene. Luminosity is the single most important aspect of color to a photographer, then followed by hue and saturation. But, if the light ain’t there, the color usually won’t help much.



Industrial Design, Anyone Remember This?

http://robertsimaging.com/cmItemDetail.jsp?pid=12153So, month’s ago when the new Sony digital camera, the A900, was being introduced I wrote a blog where I started touching lightly on my love of industrial design and the different approaches to camera designs. I promised way back when I wrote that I promised I would discuss the that famous red triangle that adorns the grips of the Nikon digital SLR cameras.

So, let’s talk about automobiles. I’m sure everyone here has heard of the DeLorean (at the least everyone knows Doc Brown’s car in Back to the Future), and most probably know the Volkswagon Golf. These cars, as well as dozens of others (including many highly celebrated sports cars dating back to the 70s), have something in common with Nikons dating back to the F3. Namely, an Italian designer named Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Now, if you believe the internet (and for now we’ll assume it’s not lying to me too horribly), Giugiaro designed the first Golf, which used a red line around the grill and the headlights for emphasis. When he designed the F3 for Nikon, the brought that same simple concession to color to the world of black professional SLRs.

This line, once dated, would expand into the ellipse found vertically beside the grip on the F5 and the D1, and would with the D2 series condense into the red triangle that adorns so many cameras right now, including the D40, D60, D90, D300, D700, and the once-again Giugiaro-designed D3.

So, there we go, modern Nikon cameras come from a design heritage that also includes several iconic cars like Lotuses, BMWs, Alpha Romeos, Bugattis, Mustangs, and more. Addressing Nikon’s continued use of an element introduced back with the F3, Giugiaro said this:

“For the Nikon F3, I added a red line to the professional-use camera, which used to be entirely black. I sought to make that the hallmark of the Nikon F3 through a bit of graphic flair. In other words, I added a bit of fun to it. Fortunately, the company likes the addition of the red line. I am delighted that the company still uses it extensively to give a family feel to Nikon’s camera line.“

Next time, we’ll look at the history behind the current, sleek legacy of Canon digital SLR cameras, and continue my push into digital camera comparisons via industrial design.

Further reading on the Nikon designs can be found here and here.



New Lensbabies Are In

Jody Grober: Taking Care of BusinessI was downstairs playing with some new equipment while waiting for the next batch of Raw Footage clips to render, and I caught this shot of our own Jody Grober. It was shot with our display D90, newest of the Nikon digital SLR cameras in the prosumer tier. But, it wasn’t shot with any of our usual selection of Nikon lenses, instead I used our new Lensbaby Composer to catch this.

I talked about these waaaay back when they were announced, excited about the interchangeable optics and the simplified functionallity over my own Lensbaby 3G. The Composer uses a simplified ball-joint system with a traditional focus ring. It was pretty easy to use on the D90, with the usual Lensbaby caveat that if you point it too far off axis you can never achieve true focus. Within range, however, the Lensbaby doesn’t exhibit bad focus wide open (and I mean f2 wide open here). You can see a crop below taken handheld at 1/100 at f2, focused using live view magnification to assure the best focus I could get. I’ve pulled out a detail of the shot to show the focal point.

Sharpness and Focus

As you can see, the Lensbaby won’t win any awards for tack sharp focus wide open, but it’s certainly not bad and a little post sharpening helps it a lot. But, that creamy out of focus background is hard to imitate, look at the phone (maybe 8″ away) dissolve as it extends out of the frame. And, as you’d expect, stopping the lens down a bit will help improve sharpness across the board, and you can stop down to f22 using the provided aperture discs.

So, make sure to check out the Lensbaby, one of my favorite digital camera accessories and one of the most fun and challenging lenses to use. It’ll make you see differently. Check out all our Lensbabies here. If you shoot Olympus digital cameras, or  are looking to buy Sony Alpha cameras instead of Canon or Nikon call us up, we can get you a ‘baby in the mount you need.




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