So, while PocketWizard’s two TTL solutions for Canon have been available for a while now, but the often-promised Nikon ones seem to keep encountering constant delays. So, it’s with much joy that a video showing them surfaces. OK, sure, they’re apparently pre-alpha, which leaves some time before we get our excited little hands on any, but it also puts them a step farther from vaporware. So, yay, all around.
Posts Tagged ‘Nikon’
Lee Filters Coming Out With Adapter for Nikon’s 14-24mm Leviathon
March 10th, 2010 by DerekSo, this is up on El YouTube, voyeuristic capitan of everything video, but doesn’t seem to be up on Lee’s site yet, but apparently Lee Filters hasn’t taken the conundrum of how to put a filter over the bulging eye of Nikon’s 14-24mm f2.8 lens lying down. No sir, showing a resolve the likes of which is unknown to lesser men, they walked away from the intimidating lack of filter threads unscathed and instead created a three-piece compression mount system. Very clever. Don’t believe me? Check out the video here:
Gadget Lab Casually Reviews Lensbaby Fisheye and Soft Focus Optics
March 9th, 2010 by Derek
Lensbaby Soft-Focus Optic
So, Charlie Sorrel, Gadget Lab’s resident camera nut, has finished his casual hands-on review of Lensbaby’s two newest optics, the soft-focus and fisheye swappable optics for all of the current generation Lensbaby lenses. And, he tries them on a D700 and a Panasonic GF1, so you get both ends of the sensor-size spectrum.
Now, maybe it’s just my love of everything Dave McKean has ever done, but I do think the soft-focus lens is more useful and desirable than Charlie does, but I agree whole-heartedly with his assessment of the fisheye optic as a cheap route for those who want that and already have a Lensbaby.
Also, I never found the optics to be all so finicky to swap around, but your mileage may vary, of course.
Anyway, not much to say otherwise, if you want to know his thoughts you should really just hit the external link below.
Nikon 70-200mm VR II Gets Thouroughly Reviewed
February 25th, 2010 by Derek
AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
So, Nikon’s new top-pro standard telephoto zoom, the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G ED VR II, has been reviewed by the venerable review staff over at DPReview. The conclusions are so unsurprisingly positive as to be pedestrian, but they’ve got their really useful sliding charts for sharpness at all focal lengths and apertures, so that’s worth checking it out alone.
If ya wanna read it yourself, your hyperlink chariot awaits: http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/nikon_70-200_2p8_vrii_n15/
Nikon D3s firmware now v1.01
February 23rd, 2010 by Nick
From Nikon’s Firmware update page:
The following improvements have been made in A and B firmware Ver. 1.01
- Movie recording specifications have been modified as follows and an issue that, in some rare cases, caused movie playback to appear to have stopped has been resolved.
- When exposure preview is enabled in live view tripod mode, information + histogram display is possible, but the histogram is no longer displayed while movies are recorded.
- When the live view button is pressed with the Audio Video Cable EG-D2 connected, the image is displayed in both the television and camera monitor, but the camera monitor now turns off during movie recording. The camera monitor turns on again when the Audio Video Cable EG-D2 is disconnected from the camera.
- Some simplified Chinese menus and help displays have been revised.
- 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.
Woo hoo. As always, check your current firmware version prior to downloading and installing the update because if it ain’t broke…
Nikon Loves You All, Rewards You With New Wide-Angle Lenses
February 9th, 2010 by DerekNikon has today announced two new lenses, the AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED and the AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR. Now, those of you used to Nikon’s nomenclature will already know all this, but for those unsure, the AF-S designation in both of those means they’ll auto-focus on any body, and the lack of “DX” anywhere means these are designed for use on FX (and will still work, albeit with crop factor, on DX). They’re both G series lenses and both use ED and aspherical elements and Nikon’s new nano crystal coating to handle optical phenomenons like diffraction, ghosting, etc…
As those of you with a grasp of modern optics and physics might expect, the 24mm f1.4 is rather chunky, basically a 3.5″ cube and weighing in closer to 1.5 lbs. It’s also not a budget prime, and it’ll enter the market at just under $2,200. The 16-35mm f/4, being a slower aperture zoom, slots in as Nikon’s affordable alternative to the 14-24mm f/2.8 (well, sorta, it’s obviously not apples-to-apples), weighing in at $1,260, or approaching 600 bucks cheaper than it’s bigger bro.
They’re both up on our preorder waitlists, so you should go here and add your name: https://www.robertsimaging.com/preorder.jsp
P100, other Coolpix point and shoots announced
February 4th, 2010 by NickToday Nikon announced their refresh for the Coolpix line by adding the P100, L110, L22, and S3000, S4000, S6000, S8000 compacts. The P90 is to cede to the P100, and it looks like it’ll be a doozie of an upgrade. The Nikon Coolpix P100 will have a 10.3 megapixel back-lit CMOS sensor and a 26x optical zoom (26mm-678mm equivalent) Nikkor ED lens. It’ll also be able to churn out 10fps at 10MP, and near 120fps at 1.1MP. No idea how the 3200 ISO setting will perform yet, but maybe you won’t need to use it given the sensor-shift VR system. There’s a host of other software functions to make “minimal user intervention shooting” produce good looking pics. It’s also got a macro focusing distance of .4″, though no word on what the maximum reproduction ratio. Oh right, 1080p HD video is also on the menu.
If you’ve got to use AA batteries and don’t trust this new-fangled back-lit CMOS business, then step down to the L110 and take your pick between black and red. Your glass is 15x optical from 28-420mm (equivalent), supported by sensor-shift VR image stabilization and a max ISO of 6400. It also has the first ‘cyanotype’ color setting I’ve seen a manufacturer brag over. Ta da. It takes 12.1MP stills and 720p HD video (at 30fps).
The other AA offering is the L22, weighing in at 12MP with a modest 37-134mm equivalent focal range. The L22 has a ‘Big, Bright 3.0-inch LCD’ with an anti-glare coating and a maximum ISO of 1600.
The 000 (Tri-aught?) range of Coolpix this time around are the S3000, S4000, S6000, and S8000. The S3000 (for Style yeah) wields 12.0MP, a 27-108 equivalent focal range, a 2.7″ LCD, some firmware functions to correct for red-eye, florid, staggering friends who neither smile nor cease blinking, and a maximum ISO of 3200.
Next up is the S4000, which looks to succeed the S230 and put a 3.0″ touch screen in your hot, little hands for things like touch-shutter (which sounds like an alt-rock band who should be opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket) and touch-AF. Beyond that it records 720pHD movies, and sidles on up to 3200 ISO. It also has a cyanotype color mode.
The S6000 appears with 14.2MP, a 28-196 equivalent Nikkor ED glass lens, and spits 4fps for up to 45 frames in Sports Continuous mode. It also features the “make your friends look good without trying” firmware functions.
The S8000 crowns the Tri-Aught sorority with a 14.2MP sensor, 10x optical zoom with Nikkor ED glass (starts at 30mm equivalent), a 3.0″ VGA display at 921,000 dots, and Optical VR Image Stabilization and a close focus distance of .4″ in Macro mode.
Canon Hits 50 Million EF Lenses
January 30th, 2010 by Derek
So, Canon has announced the production of its 50 millionth EF lens. I was surprised at this—Nikon did celebrate 50 million first, despite Canon being a larger company—until I remembered that Nikon was celebrating the F mount, which they’ve never abandoned, but Canon’s only been running on the EOS/EF mount for some 20ish years, having used the wildly different FD mount before. So, congrats, Canon, on this your newest milestone, and hopefully many more to come.
Oh, and that 50 millionth lens? It was one of the new EF 100mm f 2.8L Macro IS USMs. Just for the record.
Canon PowerShot Flowchart (January 2010 Edition) Finished
January 26th, 2010 by Derek
Click For Full-Size
So, continuing our series of “Which Point-and-Shoot is right for me?” flowcharts we now have the current Canon PowerShot line-up readied. It’s a biggie, so click on it over there and give it a moment to load.
If you missed it, the Nikon version is HERE
[UPDATE]: The fancybox popup is catching the link, try this one to see it full-sized:
Forumbusters: Don’t Hate on AF-S
January 21st, 2010 by DerekSo, if you own both a computer and a camera, there’s a better than average chance you’ve encountered one of the many online gear forums, where people discuss camera equipment. And, while a lot of useful information can be learned from these forums, they also rival the Mos Eisley cantina for biggest dens of inequity going, and I’ve lurked on them long enough to notice there are several popular fallacies that seem to never go out of style, which is sad because they frequently stand in the way of better customer satisfaction.
So, we’re going to start addressing a few of these as a respected dealer of equipment, with all our insider knowledge and decades and decades of experience with camera equipment over the ages.
And first up is AF-S. AF-S is Nikon’s designation for lenses with an integral ultrasonic motor for focusing, introduced in 1996. Now, if you’re new to equipment, you may not know that auto-focus cameras used to use a body-based focus motor and screw drive system. Nikon’s AF-S comes under fire because starting with the D40, they started leaving a body-based motor out of their cameras, forcing users to buy AF-S lenses if they wanted autofocus. This gets decried a lot as a shameless attempt on Nikon’s part to force new lens sales and cut-off the used market. AF-S gets a lot of hate.
Of course, never mind that Canon switched entirely to in-lens focus motors when it created its EOS system and EF mount in 1987, making it’s entire FD line-up completely unusable with new cameras. Or that Olympus and Sony’s DSLR systems also use only in-lens AF systems. Or that in lens AF systems are faster, quieter, and more accurate. Obviously such technological improvements must be bad, right?
Simple answer: if you’re a new DSLR customer and can afford it, go AF-S. Even though the more expensive bodies still support the body-motor, in-lens focus motors have been the future for the past twenty years. They might cost you more than the old used ones, but they’ll continue to work going forward on all Nikon bodies. Plus, don’t forget that focus motors aren’t all that’s improved in the past twenty years: lens coatings, exotic lens elements like aspherical elements, and even basic lens formulas have all continued improving and the newer AF-S lenses will yield more than just a focus motor for your money.
