Tag Archives: Nikon

Nikon D40 DSLR Stocking Filler?

By Chris Garrett | Published November 20, 2006

Nikon have done it again. I am a Canon fan but I have to say Nikon has done something pretty cool with their new D40 DSLR. $600 including kit lens? Bargain!

It’s not just a cheapo budget faux DSLR that you will quickly grow out of either

  • 6 megapixel, same as D70s
  • Same processing engine as D200
  • 2.5fps, same as D50
  • 2.5″ LCD as opposed to D50 2″
  • SD card slot, same as D50, plus SDHC
  • USB 2 (D70s is USB 1 I believe)
  • 18-55mm DX kit lens

The main “low” points are stuff that a beginner wouldn’t consider anyway such as no ISO 100 and only 3 area AF. The high points make it a very attractive camera. Makes me wonder if there is any point to the D50 now …

See the press release at Nikon USA

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DSLRBlog Updates – In the post

By Chris Garrett | Published October 3, 2006

Every day for a couple of weeks has been like my birthday, I have gotten to look forward to the postie arriving every morning to see what he might bring me. This has mainly been because of my (admittedly excessive) eBay activities, but also this morning two special deliveries cheered me right up.

My latest eBay arrival was actually one of my first purchases. Big tip, if you want something quick do not pay by cheque, move on to the next auction where paypal is accepted. I “won” this SB-28 flash on the 9th of September, it arrived on the 30th! I will be doing a review of these flashes along with the SB-26 and how they compare to my 580ex soon now I have got some use out of them.

The surprise parcels this morning were my moo cards and my first ever published photograph.

First the moo cards. They are really really nice. I will definitely be buying a set even though I don’t really have a pressing need for them like Mark.

I’m not sure what the done thing is with these cards, do you just take a random selection of your recent pictures (as I did with the free 10) or choose only your best work (if not your own choice, in who’s opinion? interestingness?) or is it better to actually design an image to use?

The best parcel has to be the British Airways in-flight magazine with my picture in it! For the professionals who see your work in print all the time you will probably think this is really lame but it was quite a moment for me when I opened up this magazine and saw my name under my photograph.



Maybe next time someone might be willing to even pay me…

Seeing as I didn’t win the Strobist competition (boo!) I have ordered a set of Dean Collins DVDs and am also considering buying a set of “ebay radio slaves” so hopefully soon I will have another “birthday moment” soon, heh.

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Canon, Nikon Lens Image Stabilization

By Chris Garrett | Published September 4, 2006

PhotographyJam has picked up from a Canon white-paper their rationale for not going the Sony “in-camera” image stabilisation route

Some of Canon’s competitors have chosen to use in-body image stabilization. The technique involves moving the image sensor in a controlled fashion, based on signals from movement detecting sensors in the camera body. The obvious advantage of this system is that users have some sort of stabilization available with almost any lens they connect to the body. Short focal length lenses require smaller sensor deflections; 24 or 28 mm lenses might need only 1 mm or so. Longer lenses necessitate much greater movement; 300 mm lenses would have to move the sensor about 5.5 mm (nearly 1/4”) to achieve the correction Canon gets with its IS system at the same focal length. This degree of sensor movement is beyond the range of current technology. Short and “normal” focal length lenses need stabilization much less often than long lenses, so the lenses that need the most help get the least.

There is probably equal amounts of truth and spin going on here, I imagine Sony’s system for some scenarios works better and for others Canons provides the best results. It seems though Canon and Nikon are going to provide the greater quality where it counts for me. I see no great need for image stabilisation for normal shots outside of long focal lengths. Perhaps macro photography would benefit, I don’t do much of that. Low light/long exposure photographs suffer as much from motion blur than camera shake in my experience.

I actually believe in future we will see software playing a much greater part with algorithms able to remove camera shake and perhaps even motion blur if required.

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Sony Alpha DSLR Sales Cut Into Canon, Nikon

By Chris Garrett | Published August 31, 2006

StudioLighting reports that the Sony Alpha 100 DSLR launch was better than anticipated, slicing 21.6% out of the total DSLR sales in Japan for the month of July.

Canon still holds on to the top spot but only barely beating Nikon into second place. Should be real interesting to see these giants jostle for position once all three consumer-level cameras are out in the marketplace.

Vendor July June
Canon 33.3% 51.6%
Nikon 27.4% 32.6%
Sony 21.6% 2.3%
Pentax 14.0% 7.6%
Olympus 2.8% 4.8%
Matsushita 0.8% 0.1%

Data from Bloomberg.com.

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Nikon D80 Release Pushed Back

By Chris Garrett | Published August 25, 2006

Nikon D80 delayed? Who would have guessed? Well, we did. It seems we were right in predicting Nikon wouldn’t be able to meet demand (although there are some suggesting it is a marketing tactic to spoil the Canon 400D announcement …). Nikonians has the news …

The release of the Nikon D80 in Japan is pushed back from September 1st to September 15th, due to “orders which exceed expectation.” (note: the link is in Japanese and we are relying on machine translation)

Well, it’s only a couple of weeks and anything good is worth waiting for right? You could always buy a 400D instead, or get a great deal on a D70s …

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Nikon DSLR feature comparisons

By Chris Garrett | Published August 22, 2006

If you are considering buying a new Nikon DSLR, be sure to check out the new feature comparison table over at Nikonians

Click for enlarged view
Click for enlarged view
Click for enlarged view
Click for enlarged view
 
Nikon D50
Nikon D70s
Nikon D80
Nikon D200


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Nikon D200 Gathers Awards

By Chris Garrett | Published August 22, 2006

Cameratown has pointed out how well Nikons D200 DSLR has done recently in the awards. While it has been the D80 getting all the fan attention, industry seems smitten with the D200!

The D200 digital SLR camera was designated European Camera of the Year 2006-2007, and the Nikon’s photo finishing software Capture NX was named European Photo Innovation of the Year 2006-2007. The D200 had already earned the Camera Grand Prix 2006 award from Japan’s Camera Press Club, as well as the Best D-SLR Expert Award 2006 from Europe’s Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), giving it a total of three major photo industry honors to date. Moreover, Capture NX has become the first Nikon software package to garner an EISA award.

The camera is a great piece of kit so very well deserved. Of course I am a fully paid up member of the Canon fanclub so too late to turn my head even something so pretty, heh.

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Nikon D80 – Announced!

By Chris Garrett | Published August 9, 2006

We have been following the Nikon D80 rumours, the teaser countdown and then the leaked D80 pictures and now it is finally announced the server goes down!

When it is back you will be able to find out more at the Nikon D80 website here but there is also a dedicated site at Nikon-d80.com with a prize draw.

D80 front view D80 left view D80 front view flash D80 right view flash
D80 top view D80 right view D80 left view flash D80 front view body only

DPReview have managed to get their hands one one though and we have the press release to draw details from. Expected price, £949 or $1299 with kit lens.

First the bad news,

  • according to DPReview the sensor might be the same as used in the Sony A100 – let’s hope not as that sensor has been criticised as noisy
  • shutter and flash are slightly slower than the D70s (down to 1/4000 from 1/8000).
  • Strangest choice is SD rather than CF slot, putting it in “consumer” territory.

Good news,

  • obviously more megapixels which is always handy for bigger prints and more generous crops. (funny how Nikon used to say megapixels don’t matter when the 350D had more, heh).
  • More AF points, 11 as opposed to 5.
  • ISO from 100 to 1600 (again Nikon used to say you don’t need ISO 100) with up to 3200 with boost. 
  • TTL can now act as commander. 
  • Multiple exposures in-camera. 
  • 2.5″  LCD. USB 2.0 at 480 Mbps. 
  • The new kit lens is a 18-135mm beast. Will be interesting to see what the quality is like of such a wide range.

On with the specs:

  • 10.2 megapixel DX format CCD (1.5x FOV crop)
  • Image processing engine (similar to D200 / D2X)
  • 3D Color Matrix Metering II, 420 pixel sensor (same as D50)
  • 11-area AF system (new version of Multi-CAM 1000, similar to D200)
  • Auto ISO (selectable maximum ISO, minimum shutter speed)
  • Configurable high ISO and long exposure noise reduction
  • Mechanical only shutter (maximum 1/4000 sec, flash sync to 1/200 sec)
  • Quoted 80 ms shutter lag (short viewfinder blackout; 160 ms)
  • Larger, brighter pentaprism viewfinder (x0.94 magnification)
  • Support for SD-HC (SD cards over 2 GB in capacity)
  • In-camera retouching
    • D-Lighting (shadow / highlight enhancement)
    • Red-eye reduction
    • Trimming
    • Monochrome and Filter
    • Small picture
    • Image overlay
  • Multiple-exposures
  • Compact body (smaller, lighter than D70/D70s)
  • Improved menu user interface (same as D200)
  • Higher capacity EN-EL3e battery (provides detailed information, same as D200)
  • Wireless flash integration (same as D200)

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Flickr Fight

By Chris Garrett | Published July 31, 2006

I am sure you have heard of Google Fights where you face off two searches to see which returns the most results? Here is the Flickr version, FlickrTagFight for example, Canon vs Nikon!

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Nikon DSLR Camera Rumours – New D70s?

By Chris Garrett | Published July 20, 2006

I don’t know if the Nikon fans amongst you have gone to the Nikon Site lately but they have a flash teaser there about a new 10.2 megapixel Nikon DSLR due in 20 days. A replacement for the D70s? With the release of the Sony Alpha sporting the same sensor as the pro line of Nikons (but hundreds of dollars cheaper) hurting Nikon marketing machine that is where I would put my money right now …

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