Nikon D5000

The D5000 is ideal for casual photographers who would like a small DSLR with current sensor technology as well as a few more controls and customizable features. The more advanced amateur photographers who prefer more manual controls will likely appreciate the additional features on the D90 and D300s.

• simplification of the menu navigation (ISO sensitivity is set by holding down the ISO button while turning the dial to select the desired setting)
• automatic lens recognition via 6-bit coding
• ISO range from 80 to 2500, selectable in 1/3 ISO increments
• new, microprocessor-controlled, metal-leaf, focal-plane shutter that enables shutter speeds of up to 1/4000 seconds
• new UV/IR filter cover glass: no need for lens filters as on the M8

During the press conference this morning, Rudi Spiller (CEO of Leica) stated, “Our users choose products with value. [For Leica enthusiasts], it’s about seeing something and capturing it in that moment without delay, and later bringing the viewer into the exact same moment without obstruction.” He also stated that, “We desire to create photographic tools—like an artist’s fine brush or a mason’s level.”

This was followed by a surprise appearance by Seal (Leica photography enthusiast, Grammy award winning singer, musician; photography enthusiast), also at the conference. Ever since he first saw a photographer shooting in near darkness and discovered that photographer’s setup, he’s been hooked on Leica ever since. Seal has about 50 cameras in his collection. Usually any trip of his to Germany includes a lengthy visit to the Leica manufacturing plant. Due to his tight relationship with Leica, he has been using an M9 prototype for the past month or so. He was floored at the end to receive than an S2 handed to him by Rudi Spiller. My favorite quote by Seal was, “Many years ago, I saw a guy taking photos at a candlelight dinner in the dark. I asked him what he was using—an M6 and Noctilux. I went out to buy the same setup and a few hundred thousand dollars later, I’m still doing the same thing. Leica camera is a part of my lifestyle. It allows me to look at the world in a different way.” He also describes his Leica camera obsession as his only vice.

How do you choose which one to buy, and in what ways are they different? With so many different cameras available and new models being announced every few months it’s not really possible to make specific recommendations on which one is “best”. The term “best” will depend on many factors unique to the user. However, I will attempt to outline the various factors that you might want to take into account when deciding which one to purchase.

Lens Compatibility

Bob Atkins

If you already own any SLR lenses, that may influence your decision on which brand of DLSR to buy. In the case of Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony (Minolta), their DSLRs are fully compatible with lenses used on their autofocus film based SLRs. The Olympus 4/3 system is new and earlier Olympus lenses require an adapter to mount on Olympus Four-Thirds DSLRs. Most Nikon manual focus lenses will mount on most Nikon DSLRs and most Pentax bayonet mount lenses will mount on Pentax DSLRs, so for those systems there is good compatibility with older lenses. Mounting old FD lenses on Canon DLSRs or old Minolta MD lenses on Minolta DLSRs requires the use of an optical adapter, which lowers image quality, so that route is not really recommended. You can also mount many older manual focus lenses on Canon DLSRs with mechanical adapters, including Nikon, Pentax screw mount, Leica R, Contax and Olympus OM lenses.

If you are considering using 3rd party lenses such as those made by Sigma, Tamron and Tokina, make sure that the lenses you are interested in are available for the camera you are considering. Just about all such 3rd party lenses are available in mounts for Nikon and Canon DLSRs, but not all are available in Sony and Pentax mounts and few are available in the Olympus Four-Thirds mount. So, for example, if you really like the Tamron SP AF200-500/5-6.3 Di lens, you should be aware of the fact that it’s not currently available in a Pentax (or Olympus) lens mount, but it is available for Canon, Nikon and Sony DSLRs.

What Kind of Camera

Point and shoot digital cameras can have remarkable macro capabilities, but for best results you want a single-lens reflex camera. These allow you to attach special-purpose macro lenses and show you in a bright optical viewfinder what you will get on the sensor.

A typical setup might be a Canon Digital Rebel XTi (Black) (review) with a Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM (review). This lens is designed for the small-sensor Canon cameras and gives a working distance equivalent to 100mm on a full-frame camera. The lens is specified to focus down to “1:1″ or “life size”. This means that the smallest object you can photograph that will extend to the corners of the final digital photo will be the same size as the sensor inside the Canon Rebel camera, 15x22mm. A professional photographer might use Canon EOS 5D (review) and a lens designed for full Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM (review). Confusingly, this lens is also specified to focus down to “1:1″, but this time the sensor is 24x36mm in size, the old 35mm film standard. So you can’t take a photo of something quite as small as with the cheaper equipment.

In the film world, the 35mm camera systems had comprehensive range of macro lenses and accessories and some medium format systems, such as the Rollei 6008 would have at least a few lenses and extension tubes. Only the extremely patient ever did macro photography with a 4×5 inch view camera.

Doing it all with a Normal Lens

In the good old days a 35mm single-lens reflex camera came with a 50mm “normal” lens. These lenses were extremely light, rugged, and high quality, so naturally the consuming public abandoned them for heavy, fragile, low quality zooms. But that’s another story… Anyway, suppose that you are out in the woods with your Canon EOS 5D, a full-frame camera and a 50mm normal lens, and you want to take a picture of the tip of a pine needle. [Everything in this section applies equally to using a 30mm prime lens, e.g., Sigma 30/1.4, on a small-sensor camera such as a Canon Rebel or Nikon D-series.]

First, though, you want to take a picture of the moon. That’s pretty far away, so you feel comfortable setting the lens focusing helical to “infinity”. The “nodal point” of the optics will now be 50 millimeters from the plane of the sensor. [Note: exposure for the moon should be roughly f/11 and 1/ISO-setting.]

The effort of setting up your tripod is so great that you become tired and fall asleep. When you wake up in the morning, there is a bear standing 10 feet away. You refocus your 50mm lens to get a picture of the grizzly. As you turn the helical from “infinity” to “10 feet”, notice that the optics are racked out away from the sensor. The nodal point is a bit farther than 50 millimeters from the sensor plane. The lens is casting an image circle somewhat larger than the 24x36mm sensor. Some of the light gathered by the lens is therefore being lost but it isn’t significant.

After snapping that photo of the bear, you notice that his fangs are glistening. These aren’t going to appear very large in your last shot, so you move up until you are about 1.5 feet from the bear. That’s about as close as the lens helical will let you focus. The nodal point is now pretty far from the lens. Extra light is spilling off to the edges of the frame , but still not far enough to require an exposure correction. The bear’s face is 1.5 feet high. You’ve oriented the camera vertically so that the face fills the 36mm dimension. 36mm is about 1.5 inches. So that means you are working at “1:12″. The subject is 12 times the size of the subject’s image on the sensor.

You’re losing some light, but also you notice that you don’t have too much depth of field. A 50mm lens focussed down to a foot from the subject only has a depth of field of 1/16th of an inch at f/4. No problem. You haul out a big electronic flash and stop down to f/11. Now your depth of field is a whopping … 1/2 inch.

Looking down, you become fascinated by some pattern’s in the bear’s claws. Each one is about 1.5 inches long. You’d like to fill the sensor’s long dimension (36mm) with a claw, which means that the subject and its image will be the same size. You want to work at “1:1″. But the folks at the lens factory skimped on the helical. You can’t rack your optics out far enough to focus at 1:1. It looks like that pine needle tip photo is completely out of the question.

Why did Canon limit your ability to focus close? For starters, at 1:1 the lens would be so far away from the sensor that it would cast a huge image circle. The standard 24x36mm frame would only be a tiny fraction. So only about 1/4 of the light gathered by the lens would reach the film, i.e., you’d have a two f-stop underexposure if you used the same exposure setting that you’d used for the picture of the bear when he was 10′ away. A scene that required a lens setting of f/16 at infinity would require a lens setting of about f/8 at 1:1. All this other light would be bouncing around inside your camera and lens, reducing contrast. Finally, a fixed stack of optical elements can’t be designed to form sharp images at so many different focussed distances.

In this article, Marc Williams discusses his unique digital workflow process tailored to meet the needs of his professional wedding photography career, the set of software and tools he prefers to use, and goals he accomplishes with his digital workflow. The article is enhanced with illustrative figures and screen shots, and includes example images from Marc William’s portfolio. Whether you are just entering the world of digital photography and need some tips and advice on how best to post-process your images, or are a seasoned pro, the insights shared here should be helpful with your own digital photography workflow.

Pre-capture & Capturing

Figure 1: packed Kata roller bag

Like with any photo job, preparing for the shoot is half the battle. On the day prior, I set everything up, charge the batteries for the cameras and flashes (2 batteries per camera, 3 sets of NiMH AAs for each flash,) and pack the roller bag. I use mostly Prime lenses so my gear bag may be larger than someone using a couple of zooms. I use a Kata system roller bag because I like the yellow interior that allows me to better see the contents in dim reception hall lighting. I also use a Boda Lens Bag so I can select from the main roller in order to wander around. (Figure 1: Packed Kata Roller Bag)

I’m going to note right at the beginning that, yes, all of these lenses CAN be used on a film camera. So if you are the kind of person who gets all twisted about that sort of thing, please don’t twist. I’m writing the article from the viewpoint of a DSLR photographer because that is the camera that I used with the lenses. Simple as that. If you would like to try Lensbaby photography on your film SLR, the Lensbaby people will be more than happy to have you in their club.

Josh’s Quick-Take

Josh Root

So, you’re too lazy to read the whole article huh? Typical. Kids these days, I tell you. Back in my day we would read an article for two days straight just to figure out what the author was talking about. We even did it uphill in the snow both ways home from school.

Anyway, here’s my take on the Lensbaby lenses. These things are really fun. Photography has gotten to far into the “which sensor gives me the most resolving power for which lens at what aperture” side of things. Sometimes you just need to get out there and make some photos and surprise yourself with what you end up with.

Sure, some people are going to say “well I can make photos that look like that in Photoshop”, but that misses the point completely. The reason that we all loved cameras like the Holga and Diana in the film days is because we gave up some control in order to get some magic back in return. You never really knew what you were going to get with those cameras, and what you did get often made you say “Wow! How did that happen?”. Now, with today’s digital SLRs, you aren’t ever going to have exactly the same experience, you always get to see your results on the screen right away. But the idea is still the same. The Lensbaby lenses bring a little of that old magic back again. Plus, they are really fun to use. When you get away from having to try to make everything perfect, there is a lot of weight off of your shoulders and photography can just happen.

by Shun Cheung

When Nikon introduced the D3 and D300 together back in August 2007, it was major news because the D3 was Nikon’s first full-35mm-frame, FX format (24×36mm) DSLR with a Nikon-designed 12MP CMOS sensor that has a rated ISO range from 200 to 6400. For the D3 product launch, Nikon invited hundreds of representatives from around the world to Tokyo. The amazing part was that the D3 produces very good results all the way to ISO 3200 and is still quite reasonable at ISO 6400 under dim light, thus opening up new ways to photograph indoors and at night, such as weddings and night sports. Now two years later, we are getting used to that type of high-ISO performance so that it no longer seems special any more. Photo.net reviewed that original D3 in early 2008.

Nikon D3s

Improved High-ISO Results

Presenting…the D3S, Nikon’s first FX-sensor DSLR with HD movie mode. For high-tech electronics, two years is a long time. Nikon has improved the 12MP CMOS FX sensor for the new D3S so that its rated ISO is extended by another stop to 12800 with additional Hi 1, 2, and 3 ratings all the way to a whopping ISO 102,400 equivalent. While the high-ISO performance on the D3S has yet to be tested independently, generally speaking, I would use anything above the rated ISO range (i.e. Hi 1, Hi 2 …) from Nikon DSLRs only when it is absolutely necessary, but if the D3S can produce good ISO 6400 and fair ISO 12800 results, it will still be a significant one-stop improvement from the D3 and D700. (The D700 was added in mid 2008 with essentially the same internal electronics and high-ISO performance as the D3.)

The DP2 is the second generation of this camera concept by Sigma. The first generation was 2007’s DP1. The main difference between the two is the fact that the DP1 has a 28/4 lens and the DP2 has a 40/2.8 lens. There are a few functional and handling improvements on the DP2 as well. But for most people, the lens is the thing that matters. This will become particularly true if Sigma releases an upgraded DP1 as I have been told they are going to do. That version of the DP1 will then have all the same improvements as the DP2 does and the only difference will be the lens.
What Sigma says about the DP2

The Sigma DP2 Digital Camera is a high-end compact digital camera equipped with a 14 megapixel Foveon X3 direct image sensor. Featuring Sigma’s unique ‘True’ image processing engine and a 24.2mm (41mm equivalent) f/2.8 lens , this compact camera provides the same superb image quality as found in the Sigma SD14 professional SLR. With the DP2, it is possible to record images in RAW or the widely used JPEG in four resolution modes. Furthermore, it offers five Exposure modes and three Metering modes as well as being equipped with a built-in flash, hot shoe, and 2.5” TFT color LCD monitor.

Rather than list out the full specifications here, anyone who needs that info should follow this link to Sigma’s website.

List price is a shocking $870. Street price is much more encouraging at ~$630 (as of Sept ‘09).
Where to buy

The Sigma SP2 is available at many major photographic retailers. If you are ready to buy now and would like to support Photo.net when doing so, you could order form our retail partner Adorama: Sigma DP2 from Adorama
Appearance and feel:

The DP2 is a camera in the same general size range as cameras like the Canon G10 and the Lumix LX3. It’s body is somewhere in between the size of those two cameras, though it’s lens barrel sticks out a bit further. Probably owing to the fact that larger optics are required to create an image circle that will cover the larger sensor. Aside from an interesting manual focus “dial”, the body is laid out fairly simply with none of the more advanced “joysticks” or other quick ass innovations that this class of cameras has been seeing recently. This can be both good and bad. A camera doesn’t need any fanciness for the buttons if the design is done well enough that the camera feels logical and easy to use to the photographer. How does the DP2 stack up in this department? We’ll get to that a little later. For now, suffice to say that the DP2 looks a lot like a utilitarian prosumer camera. Nothing fancy, somewhat square in shape, but nothing out of the ordinary or crazy either
Josh Root – River rocks
Josh Root

The DP2’s feel is a bit lower than I would have expected for a camera in this price range. Now, to be fair, I think I have gotten spoiled by cameras like the Canon G10 and the Panasonic LX3 mentioned previously. These cameras, particularly the G10, have really raised the bar for this class of cameras in terms of having a solid feel to them. The DP2’s metal clad body is decent enough, but it’s buttons and switches have a rough low-end feel to them. Overall it doesn’t seem to have be poorly built by any means, it’s just that my expectations are higher these days.