Effectively equivalent to the traditional 50mm 1.8 lens that was the traditional "normal" prime in the days when 35mm film ruled, the sub-$200 Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
[Via Thomas Hawk]
Results tagged “nikon” from karlo.org
Nikon has finally released official details of its (not-so-secret) successor to the D80, the new Nikon D90. I've carried a D70 for almost four years now, and I've waited as the D70s and D80 both succeeded it in its place in the lineup. I also resisted the siren call of the D300 -- mainly because it was just so heavy, I couldn't see myself carrying it all the time -- and if you don't carry a camera, what's the point in having it? The D90 is a fantastic "practical compromise" design for amateur photographers -- the image quality of the D300 with the compact size of the D60 and D80. I do wish they would drop the "scene" modes already (in four years, I've never once used them on my D70) but I guess they are compelling enough to a large enough segment of mainstream buyers and don't get in the way of more serious users. I do notice that I see a lot of tourists in my neighborhood carrying the heavier, more expensive D300 (thanks, weak dollar) so the D90 will more than likely be a hit with both the "prosumer" and "prospender" crowds.
Amazon's not taking pre-orders yet, but the minute they start, I'll be getting in line.
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Supposedly being announced next week on November 1
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My source for modified tonal curves for the D70.
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Jersey City over NYC? Not really supported by the real estate values. Best quote: "It's the most vital f------ city in the world," said Al Gordon, 78, of Manhattan.
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Create your own custom postal stamps from personal photos.
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Extended practical guide to using this camera/flash combination
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Interesting essay on various uses of stitched and normal panoramic photos
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Detailed descriptions of the new sharpening (and "deblurring") functions in CS2
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The new glass is probably more interesting than the cameras
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A good idea, but they face an uphill battle. The current situation of RAW files (digital negatives) being in proprietary formats is unacceptable.
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A tried and tested from the days before autofocus, still great for candid shooting.
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Especially useful for those using cameras without built-in exposure meters
A minor note I feel obliged to post after previously recommending Picasa. If you're using it to handle Nikon NEF (RAW fomat) files, be aware that its handling of the files is seriously sub-par. The above is an example of using Picasa's internal NEF reader versus Adobe Photoshop CS. It seems that it's not always great at translating the NEF file into screen images in terms of color balance and contrast. Over the past two weeks I've felt like I'm doing a poor job with exposure, but today I realized it's the changeover to Picasa that's been messing me up. (I don't have end-to-end color management, yet.)
Note this will not be an issue if you shoot JPEGs, which most casual photographers will be doing. In that situation, your RAW file is being converted within the camera to the final JPEG.
For those of you with a digital camera, a pile of images and unhappiness over how you organize and process them, try Google's Picasa 2.0 software package. I've been playing around with this totally free download for about a week, and in my view it beats Adobe's Photoshop Album hands down, despite the latter costing $50 to download.
Not only does Picasa run faster and do a better job of fixing common photo problems (the "I'm feeling lucky" button does a great job 80% of the time) but it also supports Nikon RAW files, something that's been an enormous source of annoyance in the past with other organizing programs. Now I don't have to shoot seperate RAW and JPEG files -- I can just shoot raw, transfer into Picasa, and export nice JPEGs from there. Less memory used, more speed, less hassle.
Highly recommended. It's free -- how can you go wrong?
My family's Christmas present was a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight (flash) for my D70. I'd previously been shooting using a decade-old SB-28, which I rarely used due to the awkwardness of getting a satisfactory exposure (it's not 100% compatible with the D70.)
Not only is exposure great on the SB800, but it comes with a filter to tune its light color temperature to the same as tungsten bulbs, which helps eliminate that funny blue color cast that we all associate with flash photos. I used to do this with Roscoe lighting gels, but it's really even better when combined with perfect flash exposure.
Now that most SLRs come with a built-in flash, the external flash unit is a less common sight. But if you spend hundreds on lenses, you might want to consider dropping the dough on an external flash -- it really does make a huge difference when set up properly.
Coming soon: 2005 photography New Year's resolutions.
Don't you just love group shots? The posed group is a form we see less these days than in the past, but they're often the photos you like the best years later. I took this one last night, finally (after a month) using my new tripod for something other than household decor. Now if I could just get my hands on a Nikon infrared camera remote... but they're rarer than a blue moon.
Usually, unsolicited emails telling me to go to a web site are best ignored, but I was lucky to check out digicam views based on a polite email from the author (who I guess came here looking for The Pixel Foundry, my old site.) Although I'm still not totally happy with the picture quality of my Canon S100 (purchased a year and a half ago), especially in an unfair comparison to my prosumer Nikon N90S 35mm film camera, it's evident that digital photography is well on the way to supplanting film for everyday snaps.
