Nikon D300 has not yet been released for sale but there are already lots of sample pictures making the rounds on the Internet. Some might be Nikon sanctioned tests, others appeared to be unauthorized releases by people who sneak into exhibits with CF cards. Lots of attentions are paid to high ISO performance of Nikon D300. Some say the high ISO images look great, others say they are still not as good as Canon’s. Well, go check them out yourself. 
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Posted in Digital SLR Cameras on October 15th, 2007. No Comments.
For users of digital cameras with interchangeable lens, dust can be a real problem. This is especially true for photographers who shoot at smaller apertures (large f/stop numbers). Why? Because the dusts are not sitting directly on the micro lens of the sensor but on the anti-aliasing (AA) filter. The typical distance between the AA filter and sensor surface is much greater than the size of typical dusts. At large apertures, the light rays that pass through different part of the lens surface can go around the dust and focus on to the pixel. The dust may not be visible at all or appears to be a fuzzy dot in your photos. When shooting at small aperture, the light is restricted and therefore more directional (coming through a smaller hole). It causes the dusts shadow to show up clearly and sharply in the photo.
It is not a good surprise when you come back from shooting then found out there are dark spots on the exact locations of your otherwise great photos. You cannot completely avoid getting dusts on the sensor even if you seal your camera in a air-tight bag. The moving parts on your camera and lens can also generate some particles. So, what are the options? Read More…
I heard numerous praises for the ergonomics and rich feature sets of Nikon’s SLRs. I personally think their digital SLR offerings are great, especially for the high end products such as Nikon D200, D300, D2x, D3, etc. However, a DPReview visitor has come up with a list of things that Nikon should have made it right. Many agreed and some have also contributed to the list. I think some of them really make sense but some are probably user preference. It is still great if Nikon would listen and offer more customizable functions in new digital cameras.
Posted in Digital SLR Cameras on September 13th, 2007. No Comments.
Nikon Japan has posted the official D300 sample photos. The photos were taken at ISO200. People have been anxiously waiting for a high ISO sample so they can find out the noise performance of the new CMOS sensor. The lack of high ISO samples for D300 have fueled some speculations that the performance might not be very good. Join the discussions at DPReview.
Posted in Digital SLR Cameras on September 13th, 2007. No Comments.
DPReview got their hands on a pre-production version of Nikon D300 and produced a detailed hands-on preview. Still no full size sample images though. The 922,000 pixel display looks great. The inclusion of the HDMI port may change the way people use the video-out port on the camera. Personally I have never used the video-out on my D70 or D200 due to its poor quality. Nikon paid great attention to details. No more tiny 10-pin connector screw cap to lose as it is replaced by an attached rubber cap. There is no need to remove the battery door to attach the vertical battery grip. On one down side, the exposure bracketing is still 1 EV maximum step size, just like D200. I wished they could make it possible to do 2EV/step, which is more practical for HDR photography.
Posted in Digital SLR Cameras on September 10th, 2007. No Comments.
Digital SLRs with APS-C sized sensors currently dominates the DSLR market. The smaller sensor size translates to lower cost and compact/light weight cameras for photographers. Macro/wildlife and sports shooters love the benefits of more DOF and reach, landscape and some former 35mm film photographers hate them because their wide angle lens is no longer wide enough.
In response to the market demands, many manufacturers have produced ultra wide angle lens specially for DSLRs with APS-C sized sensors. They include the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED, Tokina AT-X 124 AF PRO DX 12-24mm f/4, Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM, Tamron SP AF11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di II LD Aspherical [IF]. The first two are for Canon and Nikon photographers, respectively. The other models offer versions that are compatible with various camera manufacturers, such as Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, etc. Read More…
No surprises here. Electronic giant Sony is now said to be number three after Canon and Nikon in global DSLR shipments. The aforementioned report quoted last year’s IDC analysis data saying Canon had 47%, Nikon 33%, and Sony 6% (once as much as 10%) of global DSLR shipments. With a strong offering in the new Sony Alpha DSLR-A700, we will see some more competition in the DSLR market, which is absolutely good news for consumers.
Imaging Resources has a very detailed coverage of the Nikon D3/D300 press conference. You can read about Nikon’s market share, the sensor technology in D3, Live View, active D-Lighting, some hands-on impressions of the high ISO performance, viewfinder, and the stunning LCD display, as well as the new lenses that Nikon will release. At the end, Nikon showed a impressive 4.5 stop improvement of shack reduction from the in-lens image stabilization technology compared to ~2.5 stop improvement of competitors’ in-camera image stabilization technology.
Posted in Digital SLR Cameras on August 24th, 2007. No Comments.
