A DSLR Fanboy's Rant...

2015 is NOT a good year for my Photo Blog, two months ago, I was told by the person who loan me test cameras and lenses that his "bosses" do not like what he did; so no more toys for me :(

Oh well, I knew good things don't last...

Looking at the brighter side, I noticed this long comment from "Rob" in Adiós DSLR!, a September 2014 post.

I love the way he express his dissatisfaction with my "test"...

"This is the most biased review I have ever read. Never mind that you're comparing a 1 year old pano with upgraded glass that's arguably the best pee-wee you can get, to a 5 year old mid-range nikon with a bargain-box lens. Despite all this you failed to note the colour depth in the nikon being far superior to the pano, and there's at least 10m difference of effective shooting distance in your "Sharpness Test"... Whether it was the zoom or the standing position it still skews the outcome. 

Don't get me wrong. I agree that there's way too many people in the world lugging around slr's they really don't need to. But to try and give the impression that a pee-wee is better than an SLR is preposterous.

"review" blogs like yours are half of the reason it was so hard to make someone buy the correct camera for their needs when I sold them for a living. Because people who don't know any better read this drivel and actually believe it.... 

you want to do this test for real? try using two cameras that were actually built in the same generation of digital technology for a start. The GM1 is an impressive camera for what it is, but it isn't better than an EQUIVALENT D-SLR, and it never will be. Stop talking garbage."

The cameras that started Rob's comment, on the left, in Rob's words, the "PANO PEE-WEE" and right, my 5 year old Nikon D300 with a "BARGAIN-BOX" lens.

In reality the small "Pee-Wee" was my feather weight Lumix GM1 with the Panasonic 7-14mm f/4 ASPH LUMIX G VARIO ultra wide zoom.

The 5 year old Nikon was once the Camera Of The Year, the zoom lens was a Nikon 12-24mm f/4 AF-S DX, an expensive highly praised and reviewed ultra wide zoom; never in the "Bargain Box"!

Adiós DSLR!

I have friends who go on extended travel lugging their big bag of photo gear, usually a DSLR and two or three zoom lenses. Don't laugh, I use to be like them because 5 years ago DSLR give you the best performance; that was before, how about now?

During our last gathering, my DSLR die hard friends were shocked when I told them I only took my little Lumix GM1 when we went to Malaysia and Taiwan this year!

They all sneered at the small wonder, to them, nothing but their HEAVY DSLR can give them the travel pictures they are proud of!

Mind you, as you can see from the picture above, I still have my DSLR; a Nikon D300 that I bought 5 years ago. The zoom lens attaches to this once the Camera Of The Year, a Nikon 12-24mm f/4 AF-S DX , this Nikon has an equivalent field of view of an 18-36mm lens.

When you are on a shoot-n-run travel, to me, this is the best lens to have on your DSLR!

On the left of the heavy weight D300 is my feather weight Lumix GM1 with the
Panasonic 7-14mm f/4 ASPH LUMIX G VARIO ultra wide zoom.  This incredible optics behave like a 14-28 mm equivalent!

Nikon 1 V3, a Speed Freak!

Do you know of any mirrorless "compact" WITH interchangeable lens that can shoot at 20 frames-per-second (fps) AND with full autofocus?

No?

Until now!  Presenting the new Nikon 1 V3...

The New Df, Nikon's Wet Dream?

Wet Dream? In this respect, after all the excitements and climaxes; Nikon might discover their euphoria was just a dream :(

The new Nikon Df has created excitement where ever it was launched, but after the initial euphoria subsides; how many photographers will plonk down their hard earned cash  to own this retro wonder?

Who is Nikon targetting this full frame machine anyway?

One reviewer reckoned the huge population of over-60 photographers will shake with excitement, finally; a DIGITAL SLR with shutter speeds and ISO DIALS... just like the good old days of FM and FA!  We will feel like, we came home!

YEAH RIGHT!

Nikon Df Arrives, Fanboys Rejoice!

So the much anticipated Nikon Df  is officially announced today, however; the excitement and thunder were dampened by Amazon's accidentally (or maybe not) published the Nikon Df sales page in their site for a short while before it was taken down!

I am not going to waste my breath telling you what Nikon Df is, you can Google it yourself and go over the 66,100,000 results ;)

According to Nikon...

Rediscover the joy of photography.

 

As digital camera technology has evolved, so has the way we control our cameras. Mechanical dials have given way to buttons, menu systems and LCD displays. But what if we could blend the elegant, simplistic control and styling of classic Nikon film cameras like the F, F3 and FM/FE series with the advanced technology of Nikon's exceptional new D-SLRs?

 

Nikon Coolpix P7800, Same Old; Same Old!

Yesterday Nikon announced the new Coolpix P7800 to replace their one year old P7700.

Notice the new EVF (Electronic View Finder) on the P7800, photographers must have asked for this feature. The view finder was completely removed in P7700. It is strange though that Nikon does not publicise this feature in their web site!

Nikon P7700 One Year On

I bought my Nikon Coolpix P7700 to replace the Canon G12 which I adored, until I discovered the dreaded "Loose Screws Syndrome" which plagued the G series. Mind you, my G series fanboyism attracted a total of 15,000 page views on this rugged looking compact!

Two days ago, one of the reader comment in my blog...

"I loved my G12 until it intermittently freezes whenever it feels like after about 15 months. Canon says"What?" ...we don't know anything about that. Search "Canon G12 freeze" you'll see. Love your tests on both P7700 and G12 thanks. I just bought me P7700."

Wow! Apart from the "Loose Screws" problem, the G series are getting  intermittent freezes problem!

One year on, I am still using my Nikon P7700 and it is still going strong :)

Here's what how I feel about this G-replacement...

My one year old P7700, look wise; it is more refine looking, none of the chunkiness of the G-12. However, like a magnet; the sticky rubberised cover over it's strong alloy body attracts grime and it is a pain to remove! Plus side, it grips better in your palm.

Nikon COOLPIX A, the New KING of P&S!

 Exactly one year to the day after Canon show off the G1-X, their "King Of P&S", a compact with large 1.5" CMOS sensor; Nikon decided to join the fray and launched their NEW COOLPIX A.

Nikon went one step further by shoving a larger (than Canon) 16.2 MP DX-format CMOS sensor into the compact body.

This sensor is designed without an optical low-pass filter, it should achieves consistently high levels of sharpness and image quality than conventional compact cameras! A mini Nikon D7100? The "A" come in black and silver guises.

NEW Nikon D7100,The Baby D800E!

Nikon launch the new D7100 to replace it's popular D7000 today!

Put the two model together, without the model numbers; you will be hard press to see the differences ;) They look exactly the same!!

So what is so big deal about this NEW D7100?

According to Nikon...

It is lighter than the D7000 (780 g), the D7100 weighs a mere approx. 675 g or 1 lb 7.8 oz (body only).

The D7100 come with a larger 23.5 x 15.6 mm, 24.71 million DX CMOS sensor, the D7000 only command 16.9 million pixels.

WC-P7700 - Ultra Wide Nikon Coolpix

Turn out to be a very pleasant cool but sunny Wellington Saturday, I had two hours to kill before picking up Le General at her line dancing. I decided to test out my new WC-P7700, an ultra-wide Nikon Coolpix point and shoot.

Don't bother searching for this Nikon model because Nikon DO NOT have such a model... bear with me ;)

If you own a Nikon Coolpix P7700 AND a Nikon WC-E75 Wide angle converter lens, you already own a WC-P7700 ultra-wide point and shoot!

I bought my WC-E75 with my Nikon Coolpix 8400 in 2005.

The optional WC-E75 wide-angle converter lens took the build in 24 mm_e zoom lens of the 8400 even wider to an unmatched 18 mm_e of ultra-wide coverage!

The same WC-E75 was used on my favorite Canon G-12, converting the 28 mm_e to a very wide  21 mm_e!

Of all the wide angle conversion lens ever made, Nikon's WC-E75 is; as far as I know; optically, the best!

Is Nikon P7700 Sharp Enough For You?

MOST PHOTOGRAPHERS are obsessed with sharpness their cameras and lenses able to produce.  Not that it is a bad thing, most photos look better when it is sharp; especially when it is enlarged.

In my younger days as a newspaper photographer in the 70 and 80s, I was super obsess with sharpness of my shots; for a reason.

Ink on news prints was NOT a effective way to display your masterpiece in all its sharpness and glory, to get a "nice" rendition of your work on Page One; your shot better be damn sharp to begin with!

Photoshop? What Photoshop?

Nikon P7700 v Canon G12

The Nikon Coolpix series is the point and shoot series of digital cameras produced by Nikon.  - Wikipedia

Nikon call their  Coolpix "P" series the Performance Series, they compete directly with Canon's Powershot "G" series. But year after year, Canon Gs lead the prosumer market while Nikon play catching up!

Until now?

Like the Phoenix in mythology, Nikon latest Coolpix P7700 rises from the ashes of the P7100 to compete with the Canon G12 (old enemy) and G15 (new foe)!

In 2010, out of desperation; Nikon released their Coolpix P7000 which not only look like the Canon G12, it even have near-identical top-level specifications! Sadly, the P7000's slow operational speed and confusing on-screen menus caused it's early downfall.

The replacement P7100 failed to topple the G12 superiority either!

Nikon D600 The Disruptive Full-Frame DSLR?

By now the whole world know Nikon has launch their "affordable" D600 FULL-FRAME DSLR!  Priced at US$ 2,099 (body) it is a thousand bucks cheaper than big brother the D800.

So what it is 12 MP LESS than the 36 MP big brother, who or how often do you need all those extra pixels anyway?

Every photographer worth his/her pixels knew the full-frame DSLR is the ultimate upgrade, trouble is a decade ago; you will have to take out a second mortgage just to upgrade to a full-frame system!  It was that expensive ;)

Prima Facie - Nikon D800 DSLR

After talking and anticipating about it for a week, last Tuesday thanks to Ben of Photo Warehouse, we were given a chance to try out the 36.3MP Nikon D800 DSLR!

Our manager Simon told us we have just three days to play with this "King of Mega Pixels" and he is interested to know how this full-frame DSLR compare to the Mamiya 645DF he bought for the office 3 weeks ago.

Simon's intention is to find out if the D800 can deliver the kind of sharpness and dynamic range like a medium format digital back is able to.

Old Nikkor 35/1.4 on OM-D E-M5

When I joint the newspaper in 1974 as photojournalist, there was one lens that was found in every photojournalist's bag throughout the 70s and 80s; that "standard lens" was the Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 wide angle lens.

The Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 was introduced, in 1969.  It was Nikon's first multicoated lens and it has been used by NASA in space!

Nikon Admit D4 and D800 Lock Up Issues!!

What is going on?  At least now the Canon fan boys are laughing at all the Nikon fan boys! Ha ha ha...

The following is a statement from Nikon Inc. sent to PDN in response to a problem they had with an early review unit of the 16.2-megapixel Nikon D4, which locked up during usage on several occasions. The camera would only start working again if we took out and reinstalled the battery.

"Nikon has received reports of a small number of D4/D800 users who are experiencing 'locking up' issues, where the camera becomes unresponsive until the battery is removed and reinserted," Nikon's statement reads.

Nikon D800E The SHARPEST DSLR!

The Nikon D800E is a special edition of the D800 that minus the effects of an optical anti-aliasing filter.

It is so sharp that the D800E should in theory, rival medium format digital back in resolution!

In digital cameras, the anti-aliasing filter is also known as an optical lowpass filter or blur filter or AA filter.
Such a filter involves a tradeoff among sharpness, aliasing, and fill factor. In a monochrome or three-CCD or Foveon X3 camera, the fill factor alone, if near 100% effective with microlenses, can provide a significant anti-aliasing effect,while in color filter array (CFA, e.g. Bayer filter) cameras, an additional filter is generally needed to reduce aliasing to an acceptable level.  - Wikipedia

My First Digital Picture With Nikon Fujix E2!

FOUND! My very first picture taken with a DIGITAL (DSLR) camera!

Fast rewind to 1995, I was working as a Picture Editor in Singapore.

In 1994,  professional digital photography was more or less dominated by Kodak and Nikon finally realise the needs of photojournalists/publisher's demand for such tools in professional photography! This prompted Nikon to take an initial effort in developing their fist DSLRs.

"Nikon quietly teamed up with their countryman, Fuji Photo Films Co. Ltd. in developing their first digital SLR body which used Nikon system as the frameworks. 

The partnership made a lot of business sense as both can share the initial high cost in research and development for such a new untested product in the highly competitive market place. 

So, the birth of the E2/E2s was not entirely coincidental as Nikon mentioned in their literature "... E2/E2s were co-developed with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. All names of companies and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications and equipment based on November 1995..." and it explained partly why the camera also bear a "Fujix" name tag on top of the hand grip section."

- info from mir.com.my

Nikon D800 is the NEW KING of DxOMark!!

♪♪♪ The news is out, all over town; that you been seen... at DxO Mark! ♫♫♫♫♫♫

In my post on the new Nikon D4, I declared it as the DSLR King. Well, DXO Lab just announced  the Nikon D4 spent only a few days in the top spot for their sensor results before being dethroned by the Nikon D800!

For those that don't know, DXO Mark is:

DxOMark is the trusted industry standard for camera and lens independent image quality measurements and ratings.

The overall DxOMark Score is obtained by combining a series of scores that indicate the image quality of lenses mounted on different camera models.

Nikon D800 - the BABY D4!

The King of DSLR, the Nikon D4 gave birth to a baby; the D800 was born to replace the venerable 30 months old D700.

After the lack luster response to their new "small sensor" Nikon 1, Nippon Kōgaku came back with a vengeance and caress their fan boy with a whopping 36.3 mega pixel CMOS inside a solidly build body!

This is what Nikon said about their new sensor:

"The D800/D800E render levels of texture, nuance and detail to your photography that, until now, have been the exclusive domain of the complicated medium-format system.
 Define every eyelash, every line in tree bark, and every shimmer of light. Savor the exceptional depth in your still images — with the combination of an astounding 36.3 effective megapixels, the world's highest*, and the outstanding performance of NIKKOR lenses, you can.