dpReview posts a nice review of the Sony a900 and includes a wad of shots for comparison at the different ISO’s from 50-6400. But come on, it’s unfair to compare the D3/D700 sensor to anything else at high iso!
And while Sony’s clearly kicking ass and taking names in the megapixel race, it still isn’t up to the competition provided by the Dynamic Duo- Nikon and Canon.
Sony a900 @ 6400iso
Nikon d700 @ 6400iso
I’ve been looking at getting a PC-E lens recently and they’ve been a bitch to find in stock.
Nikon tends to make the more advanced lenses in small batches- so when you see them, you want to JUMP on them (or wait 3-6 months sometimes- good luck finding a 200mm f/2, for example).
But right now, BHPhotoVideo (one of the few very reputable, large resellers) has the 85mm in stock for $1,739.95.
If you like this site, and you’d like to buy one and throw me a couple of bucks, do me a favor and click on the this picture below, then buy it and I’ll get a tiny cut:
If you don’t want the 85mm (I’m looking at the 24mm), then Calumet Photo (also reputable, but I prefer B&H and their lower prices and better service) has the 24mm for $1,899.99 and the 85mm for $1,949.99. They’re both currently in stock (according to their system) but it’ll cost you more than you’d pay at B&H. The 45mm is marked as out of stock.
Reports are that Nikon is moving their mysterious BIG! announcement from October 22nd to November 20th:
Nikon’s expected MX press event delayed until November Just one day after an announcement of a planned press launch of what many expected to be Nikon’s new MX format comes news that the event has been postponed…. the event is now on for November 20th, though no location has been announced and may point to a location change.
The rumored MX format from Nikon that is likely to be unveiled at the event is believed to either be larger than the company’s existing full-frame FX format or simply upgrade the existing D3 and D3x DSLRs to a sensor with 25 megapixels. Nikon has not informed the press about the reason for the delay.
There’s also been some speculation that Nikon may simply be announcing a printer… also a rumor that it’ll simply be some amateurs.
Apparently, Nikon has been sending out messages to various people asking them to take a survey:
It was a pretty nice survey. It got a bit weird at the end with the Myers-briggs mini-test, and the “what does the D3 make you think?” Round and Playful definitely what come to mind when I think of the D3. (?)
Wonder what else is on there- it didn’t seem to have any interesting questions on it since there’s been only a tiny bit of chatter about it.
Upgrade and save some cash (link takes you to the Nikon Mall):
Just keep reading down the page if you don’t care about Capture NX.
Nikon Capture NX brings out the angry boy in me
Install Count Limits
I’m a software developer- I get machines and reinstall my OS on a rather regular basis. Each time I do this, I reinstall Capture NX - the last time, it told me that my key was invalid (it’s not). I presume that I’ve hit the install count maximum.
This pisses me off. Over the course of the 2 years (or so) that I’ve had it, it’s been on 2 different machine and about 4-5 different OS installs.
I’ve paid for it and I shouldn’t be treated like a pirate just because I reinstall my OS or upgrade my machines. I’m actually more of a Ninja anyway.
Version Checks During Install
I installed NX2 since I couldn’t get NX1 to activate. Then NX2 expires and I realized that I got a copy of V1 with my D3. So I try and install that only to get an error telling me that a newer version had already been installed on my system! Right- I had installed NX2 and I’d also run the UNINSTALL before trying V1.
Turns out that the only way to reinstall V1 was to nuke \program files\nikon\* and ALSO nuke \Program Files\Common Files\Nikon\* . Then I could finally install it.
Faster vs Better
I didn’t buy a fast machine and a D3 with nearly $2000 lenses because I wanted low-quality shots. For some reason- there are several areas where you can choose between Fast and Better quality. Why can’t I set it up for best quality all the time?
Online Key Purchase
You can buy the activation keys online (despite what I’ve seen on some forums). I put in my credit card, bought the upgrade to V2 and the activation key worked.
30″ Monitors Are Crucial!
This sounds stupid- and it is, but a 30″ monitor at 2560×1600 is finally just about big enough to have most of the tool windows (contrast, Camera corrections, etc) on my screen and see my shots big enough to edit them without having to move stuff around or reduce the size of the image.
Nikon D90 Review
dpReview has checked out the D90 and gives you a 37 page review! They give a nice comparison to the d80, and overall appear to like it. Surprise.
We’re seeing a lot of nonsense rumors around the D3x and various other potentialy Nikon DSLR’s like the D1000 and D800. I’m skipping most of them because they’re completely implausible- but since this one is so specific, I’m going to pass it along:
“Nikon USA’s PR Dept. [said] D3X is coming…slated for December at the moment. Full Frame, Crop features…24.4 megapixels 9 fps and a host of other features. The price? $6499.99 USD (U.S. Dollars) Its supposed to look identical to the D3, and use many of the same D3 addon’s…but have more megapixels, better noise-reduction software and faster high-speed for sports. …”
That all sounds essentially plausible- I doubt the high ISO performance can be far better than the D2x/s, but I’m sure it can be better, I can’t see it matching the D3’s performance though.
I also very much doubt the 9 frames per second (fps) claim. I really think that’s pointless- I still have yet to use that mode on my D3, but ok, someone will.
Anyone not running Vista 64 bit can totally ignore this post.
Top .5% and developers still here? Ok- we all know Nikon’s using a 32bit shell extension in order to show the preview thumbnails in Explorer when you select View and the icon sizes (like “Large”).
Unfortunately, 64bit Explorer can’t use 32bit shell extensions (what happened to thunking?) so can’t show anything but the NEF-associated icon itself. But I came across a post that said that we can launch the 32bit explorer like this:
%windir%\SysWOW64\explorer /separate
and heck if I didn’t get my previews back!
[Edited for typos- MUST stop posting near midnight...]
Nikon up300x - Private Pr0n Viewer
This one is really unexpected- the UP300x and UP300. They’re personal media players (PMP) with 4 gigs of memory and motion tracking. This is a very un-Nikon product and it’s hard to see how it fits into their product offerings. The fact that it’ll only be available in Japan (so they’re saying) normally indicates that the company realizes that it’s whacky and isn’t likely to sell in high numbers.
There’s been some conjecture that it could be used as an electronic viewfinder for various future cameras, but that doesn’t explain the motion-sensing (presumably like a Wiimote).
What might be kind of cool is to hook this in Camera Control Pro and put your camera onto a motion-controlled mount on the tripod (does anything like this exist?) then you could wirelessly control your camera from a fair distance. But that’s a bit silly, isn’t it?
I’m thinking the only swell use for this, at the moment, is to allow you to watch pr0n anywhere and everywhere without anyone knowing– but I could be wrong.
No word on how good that display is though- I’ve seen similar devices- the image is universally crap.
Do you like really blurry shots of equipment taken by amateurs with point and shoots? Really?
Well tell me this- do you like close-up shots of the intimate of kit lenses? Really? Ok, well here you go (Engadget):
Nikon D90 unboxing and nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6g kit lens
Mark Cargill has thrown together a comparison of the Zeiss 25mm and the Nikon 24-70mm.
Despite my love for Zeiss lenses, I like the color on the Nikkor, however there’s less distortion on the Zeiss- as you’d expect with a prime, but the Nikon definitely looks sharper to my eyes at 100%.
[Update: due to popular demand, I've added the picture. If this gets me in trouble, for some reason, it your bastards' faults!]
D90 Jello-Shots!
Here’s a great article on why we’re seeing deliciously wobbly jello shots in movie mode on various SLR’s.
I was going to include this picture (mildy racy) to illustrate this story, but decided against it. Leave a comment if I didn’t make the right choice.
The old girl sure isn’t acting her age lately!
Let’s make it another 75!
Nikkor 50mm AF-S MTF Chart
Nikon has put out the MTF chart and the related technical data for the new 50mm AF-S f/1.4g here.
Unfortunately, to my knowledge, we don’t have any test shots.
Hate to be ghetto twice in a row, but you have to admit it’s warranted:
Nikon D60 Gold (Grillz) Edition
Makes me think of:
Get more info and see more pictures here.
PCWorld (huh?) reports that Hasselblad CEO Christian Poulsen says they’ve got a 60 megapixel H3DII-60 that yields 94% fullframe coverage on their 645 format.
Hasselblad 500cm
“We feel that it’s important to emphasize the 94% coverage, because, although we hear the phrase ‘full-frame’ being used quite frequently, no manufacturer has yet achieved true medium format full-frame,” said Poulson at the huge German photokina show.
My 500cm, dejected, weeps on the corner. “Don’t worry little 500cm, you’re still the only Hasselblad I can afford I’ll ever love. We’ll be together as long as they’re making Provia 120, 100iso.” (I’m not very romantic…)
Nikon D90 movies are getting out and we’re starting to see how they handle real-world situations, and I don’t mean during earthquakes! But viewing the footage below, you’d think that house was made out of jello and St. Andreas was happy that day.
If you have a D90, I’m guessing that you’re going to want to use a tripod and I’m also very curious as to how quickly moving subjects are going to show up.
If this “jello” effect is common, then movie mode isn’t going to be too useful.
I’ve read that Canon has similar problems, I’ll try and get some examples for you.
New Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-S G
The Good:
The Unknown:
The Bad:
Price is $439, which is fine.
Here’s a DPReview look at it- no test shots, etc.
engadget has an article on a new camera that Olympus has come out with using their micro 2/3 format. Not too much info on it, but it’s basically a P&S with removable lenses, and it looks pretty sweet.
At the moment, it’s just a concept, unfortunately.
