PhotoPlus Expo 2018

some dude with the D5 and 800mm

seems like i can just upload HEIC file format, wonder if Google just changed it to JPEG or not.  Oh well it "works"

Another year, another PhotoPlus Expo.

The show just got a little smaller each year.  It's is gradual but you can feel it.

Nikon this year gave out its Z launch T-shirt.  I went on the third day and L was gone.  I got an XL but sadly I dropped it.  So in the end I just got a medium.

Nikon, Canon and SONY pretty much took up all the space.

Nikon took a page from Apple resale.  The cameras and lens were just on a bench maned on one or two Nikon staffers.  Gone were the "treasure island" kind of setup where cameras and lenses were behind and under the counter and manned by a team of staffers and were made available upon request.

I got to play with some Z camera and the 24-70 f/4.  Overall I wasn't too excited.  I hand-held a 300mm f/2.8 which was like exceptionally heavy.  This is the kind of lens that I don't think it's practical for how and what I shoot even I have the money.  If I don't need to walk around then maybe it works.  I also played with the D5 and 800mm, that's right 800mm.  For what I have and shoot, I still prefer the SLR kind of cameras.  Between a D5 or D850 and a Z7, I have no doubt want a D5 or D850.  All of my AF-D lenses or older would become manual focus.  And I wonder if my AI or AIS lenses can do matrix metering or not on the Z body.  I think some people may prefer to use native Z lenses anyway.  I am a hoarder and I like my old lenses.  I have not sold any one of my old lenses.

I briefly played with some SONY model and used the eye focusing.  It was pretty good.

I also quite liked the Fuji XT-3 with the motor drive or sorry the grip.  It was really a nice compact camera.  I got to try it with the 200mm f/2.

Nikon D800 Announcement?

This is a copy and paste from Nikonrumors.

Dear NPS Members,

Nikon cordially requests the honour of your presence at the “Nikon Product Announcement Party”, the details are shown as follow [red added by me]:

Venue: The Diamond Ballroom Level 3,
The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, International Commerce Centre,
1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Date: 7th February 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 15:15 – 16:00 Reception
16:00 – 16:45 Product Presentation

*Refreshments*
We look forward to your participation.
Nikon Hong Kong Limited.
NPS Section
R.S.V.P.: by reply E-mail
*The product presentation will be conducted in Cantonese only.

親愛的專業攝影師會員：

尼康香港有限公司誠意邀請　各會員出席「Nikon相機發佈會」，詳情如下：

地點： 香港九龍柯士甸道西一號環球貿易廣場

香港麗思卡爾頓酒店三樓

耀鑽宴會廳

日期： 2012年2月7日(星期二)

時間： 15:15 – 16:00 接待來賓

16:00 – 16:45 產品介紹

*茶點招待*

我們期盼你的出席

尼康香港有限公司

尼康專業攝影服務

敬請電郵示覆

*產品介紹將以廣東話進行

Read more on NikonRumors.com: http://nikonrumors.com/2012/02/02/nikon-event-in-hong-kong-on-february-7th.aspx/#ixzz1lKh5KaH8

I guess I have become a Nikon grammar police, irrespective of how unqualified I am.  But here it goes.

I always think it is "as follows," period.

Wow, Nikon really gets it.

*The product presentation will be conducted in Cantonese only.

I guess it can be in English and Mandarin as well, so long it's not in Putonghua.

Nikon USA

Nikonusa is no better than Nikon-Europe.  They simply don't care what appears on their websites, at all.

For better explanations of the above, see here and here.

Nikon D7000 Firmware 1.03

From Nikon rumors I learned that Nikon is rolling out a new firmware for the most beloved D7000.  Anyway I don't think I experienced any of the stuff it's supposed to fix.

However I do experience what I believe is a quirk of the system.  At aperture priority, ISO 100, ISO auto, flash on.  I was shooting about 5 feet from the subject.  However the system had the audacity to pick ISO 4000.  The picture was "acceptable" but unnecessarily grainy.  With the flash up I see no reason the system has to up the ISO to 4000, I think that's absolutely crazy.

UPDATE 11/11/11:
The update was painless.  It doesn't fix anything I wanted to fix (auto ISO flash and skin tones) nor does it break anything so far.

pdn PhotoPlus Expo

Nikon always has the best models each and every year.

The Nikon 1 camera seems pretty nifty and speedy in operations.  I was shooting with the Fuji x100, I had some unrealistic expectation of that thingy.  And it turned out not what I thought.  I am old school and I thought the camera doesn't have the right mass for its size to inspire confidence, I'm sure it's easy on the hands and shoulders.  The write speed is just atrocious.  Everything seems slow.  But I do like the view finder.  And Nikon 1 seems pretty smart or I am just not so informed and aware of current technology, the viewfinder just comes to life when I put my eye and look through it so I think that's pretty darn smart.  I always enjoy a good viewfinder.

1 in vomit pink

V1 in black and with flash

Nikon 1 in Vomit Pink

Pepto-Bismol should make it their house camera.

Gotta have it.

from dcwatch via nikonrumors.

Nikon Lens Super-quite[sic] Autofocus - 1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm

1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM


Snipped from Nikon-Europe

It is super-quite[sic].  Despite the super superlative.  It's still quite, meaning not really there yet.  So be prepared to manual focus.  Or simply buy a manual focus lens on eBay or Craigslist.  If you want quiet autofocusing you have to get the STM lenses.  All other lenses that have the Stepping Motor (STM) are written as super-quiet.  Though I don't understand why Nikon put the (STM) after "Stepping" instead of "Stepping Motor."

UPDATE: 12/30/2011
It's still "super-quite."  It looks like that's the correct way to say it as Nikon Europe has no problem with it.  Or they think the lens will be so short lived or nobody is buying or researching it so why bother correcting it. Bravo.

D7000 Firmware Upgrade A:1.02 B:1.02

I skimmed through what the firmware is supposed to do.  I don't think it fixes anything that's wrong with my experience.  Essentially I think my D7000 is flawless as it is given I knew exactly what I got myself into, that's it's a DX sensor camera so I don't expect all of a sudden the firmware will make it a full sized FX sensor or it will take 10fps or 30fps at 1080p though they all will be nice if implemented but that would be like a dream comes true, somewhat scarily unrealistic.  And the AF and all those finicky stuff?  I think the AF works fine with my camera.  I myself need a better pair of eyes for sure.  I need better AF lenses but given the astronomical and never comes down Nikkor prices lately, I think I will stick with my good old manual AIS lenses for a long long time.  It's just economically not feasible to me.

Nikon D7000

Let the Nikon D7000 shitstorm begin.

There is hardly any camera launch without any online incident. Invariably there are some problems, perceived or real. As it is, there is a myriad of problems experienced by early adopters of the newly launched Nikon D7000. Some of them are subjective while some aren't quite.

Images are soft.
Well, what can I say, this can be subjective. If the image is soft it can be a few things. Lens is no good. Camera shake. Focus is off. Most lenses are good. Unless you jerk your camera when depressing the shutter release button, I don't see how you can have camera shake and I don't subscribe to the notion that you should shoot with a tripod, like all the time. If I "have" to shoot with a tripod then I shoot medium/large format. If focus is off then yeah, the image can look like poop. Some experts suggest it maybe because of the densely packed pixels, 16MP in a DX sensor, that may cause diffraction even at f/8. Well that would be a disaster if I have to shoot at f/5.6 or larger in order to just get sharp images. I refuse to believe that.

Camera won't autofocus.
Well this is either or, so there is nothing subjective about it. Some owners of course got the insulting response like did you turn on AF? You have to be an idiot to turn off the AF and complain the camera can't AF. People say it's oxidation on the contacts. So cleaning the contacts should help right? I don't know I don't have one. My D70 don't ever have this contact problem, so lucky me.

Dead pixels
Everybody wants a perfect camera with perfect pixels. I remember getting an IBM Thinkpad with a dead pixel on the screen. It was very upsetting. It was bullshit. Thank goodness I don't have to pay for it. I would be upset too if I find hot pixel with my $1200 brand spanking new camera even if somebody pays for it.

The rest of the complaints are AF speed; AF speed in video and loud AF noise in video. These I consider understandable. Maybe I shoot "sports" with my D70 so I don't expect much. If you were to shoot for Sports Illustrated then perhaps a D3s should be your weapon of choice. As to AF speed and noise I kind of half expected that so I don't take issue with that. But it's OKAY if others do.

I remember when D70 first came out there was this whole issue about moire effect. I was able to look past it and enjoy the camera until this day. With my declining vision, I wish my D70 has a bigger better LCD screen, better noise handling, meter with AI, AIS lenses, a bump in the mega pixel department, a 1080P video mode. So the D7000 seems to fit the bill very well. I don't upgrade my digital gear every year so I proceed with caution.

Nikkor

The F1 has the best viewfinder in terms of brightness at least.  It is so bright you almost need to wear sunglasses looking through it.  I read from mir that it's largely due to the focusing screen.  Man, don't you wish all DSLR employ that technology or something better?  Or do people simply focus through the LCD screen nowadays?

D7000 Viewfinder and Magnification

It says to be 100% viewfinder and .95 (D300s is 0.94) magnification.  With the 1.5 crop factor, that's going to translate to an equivalent of 0.63 (a better .63 than D300s' because of rounding, ha ha) image magnification for a 50mm lens mounted on a full frame camera.

0.63 is the magic number for Nikon's second tier professional DSLR, the D3 series has a swell 0.7 image magnification which is very close to the 0.75 of the oldie goodie Nikon F5.

So I guess I have to live with 0.63 all things considered.  I expect the viewfinder can provide much needed eye relief and help some what in the manual focusing department.  And the fact that it supports A and M for meter/exposure is just music to my ear--color matrix metering with aperture value display not just center weighted like in F5.  All of a sudden it just gives me more reasons to keep or even acquire older AI or AIS manual Nikkors because compatibility is just getting even better.

Nikon 200mm f/2G Nikon 200mm f/2G AF-S ED VR II

Amazon is accepting pre-order for this, this swell piece of fine equipment.  According to Amazon, you are saving $1,200.05 from the MSRP of  $7,200.00.  Once you bought this monster of a lens, everything else seems so cheap, reasonable and easy.  In case you are a bit slow in the math department, that's $5,999.95 that Amazon is going to charge your credit card, and yes plus sales tax too.  (With the saving of $1,200.05, and an additional of $598.95, you can get the equally swell new Nikkor 35mm f1.4G lens, Wow)

The way I buy lens, is usually from some back alley in downtown Manhattan, from some dubious sellers on craigslist, in the tune of $100 to $200 top.

Note:  image from Amazon, for illustrative purpose.

Nikon D7000 - My Thoughts

I don't think there will be any D300s replacement.  Essentially this is the model that replaces the D300s and D90.  The End.  OKAY, Maybe you absolutely need 51 focus points and 8fps then goes for the D300s, and for me and myself the D7000 is the bomb.

Nikon D7000 meters AI Non-CPU Nikkors

Holy Shitaki mushroom.  The D7000 can meter with non-CPU Nikkor lens.  That puts it on a par with the pro Nikon DSLRs, perhaps it's a pro DSLR, no?  Man, I hope it's not a mis-print like NikonUSA did it with D90.  This is great news for people like me who own some old manual Nikkors.  I thought this would never happen, the fact that D90's replacement will meter non-CPU lenses.  Wow, it seems to me Nikon is listening.  And this just shows wishes can come true, or actually D7000 is really a mashup upgrade of the D300s and D90, Nikon just wants to keep its mouth shut on D300s not to kind of upset those who already bought the D300s not so long ago.  Wow.

Nikon D7000 Announced

Just as expected, Nikon gives us the D7000.  Now back to your regular programming ...

Nikon D7000

Wow, more leaked pictures of the soon to be released Nikon D7000, from, where else, Nikonrumors.com which is more like Nikon marketing goes rogue than ever. Earlier I was "complaining" no frontal view of the D7000, now we have more than frontal view of the camera but top and frontal nudity showing the beautifully crafted magnesium alloy body.  And yes the 39 AF points as well.  So it's a lot of camera packed into one neat package.  Especially for me, coming from the oldie but goodie D70, and yes, FE and F5 of the good old film days as well.  39 AF points I wonder how the camera knows what you want to focus on, is it the eyes, the nose, the mouth or somewhere else?

My D70 isn't made of any metal alloy, magnesium or not, but I find it almost indestructible though I never got it dropped accidentally or otherwise certainly no test of fire either.  So I wonder if the magnesium alloy body is more of a marketing ploy or it actually makes the body super duper strong.  Most people just play with their camera in their apartment (hence the demand to have good ISO performance and huge f-stop for lenses) and only a few dedicated professionals actually go to shoot in the Amazon, Antarctica and god forbid war zones.  But magnesium alloy, it is kind of neat and it's a good conversation point.

My wish list that would never come true: metering with non-cpu lenses, .75 magnification factor, full frame FX sensor.  For a price tag of $2,000.

Nikon Random Thoughts

Can you have too many Nikon's?  The answer is like asking can you be too rich?  You simply can't.

Finally Nikonrumors got a credible leaked D7000 picture.  Alas, it's an ass shot, there is no frontal nudity.
Adding to the excitement is the new 35mm f/1.4, 200mm f/2 and a newish speedlight SB-700.  You think the new lenses may bring down the oldie but goodie manual nikkors they kind of replace?  I think it only happens in your dream.  The price would never ever go down.  So when buying Nikkors, go for the better or the best if money is not an issue.  You are like just paying a deposit and rent the lens for free, when you are done, you sell it back, if you are lucky you can even make a tidy little profit--some random guy paid $175 on eBay for a 28mm f/2 and tried to sell it for $300 after using it for a while, no that's not me.  Anyway, the value definitely holds unless you broke it or something.

The D7000 may turn out to be Nikon's best all around DX sensored DSLR.  It has everything and can do anything.  So I am really tempted to upgrade my D70 to the D7000.  With that I also need to upgrade my desktop PC.  So it has this money sucking chain reaction.

For the past week or so, I have been shooting with my manual Nikkor lineup, that's my 24mm f/2, 28mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4 and my 105mm f/2.5.  The focusing on my D70 got very difficult especially for action shots, i.e. my kids doing Kung Fu kind of stuff.  For D70, it's best to shoot with AF lenses because you can hardly see anything from the tiny viewfinder.  I have forgotten my AF cheapo Zoom Nikkors for some time.  And I think I should have used them a bit more as they certainly help big time in the focusing department if not in the image department.  For some reason, I just think it's cooler to use good old manual prime lens.  The D7000 may present better focusing for my manual Nikkor lineup but I don't believe it will meter, the full frame professional DSLR Nikon still has an edge on metering and on better viewfinder experience.

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Note: Sorry dudes, if you are here for any interesting information about the impending release of D7000, there isn't any. You have to go to Nikonrumors.com where all the rumors are. Or just wait another day or so. The D7000 has the potential to be the perfect Nikon DX DSLR. Give me a FX sensor for a price tag of $2,000, I am sold like right away.

D90 Supports Non-CPU Nikkor metering?

This is a screen capture straight from Nikon USA.  The silly No Kidding? highlight is from me of course.

I always thought D90 can't do such a nifty thing.  Sure you can mount the lens and shoot in M by adjusting the combination of f-stop and shutter speed manually.  But boy am I wrong or what?

UPDATE 9/3/2010:  It took me two messages to persuade Nikon USA there could be something wrong with the content.  They finally acknowledged their mistake and took the entire Non-CPU paragraph out not bother saying anything with AI or AIS lens at all.  I hope they can send me some gift like a D3X, D3s, or D90 or D90's replacement.  I guess it won't hurt to ask.  So that's all folks.

UPDATE 8/31/2010:  Being a Nikon long time customer, I just couldn't help but wrote to tell.  But the tech support says that's right, it's correct.  So there you have it.  In a few months time it probably doesn't matter because the model is phasing out and is gonna become digital garbage.  But I just hate to be wrong when I am right or I just hate to be wrong when they are right.  I guess I hate Nikon USA being so pathetically careless and even pointed out by their customer, me, they still don't see it.  Very very disappointing by how much their tech support don't even know their products.

UPDATE:  I checked out the pdf brochure.  It says no way Jose.  So I guess one way or another Nikonusa messes up.

Nikon D7000

I am getting very excitable with the impending Nikon D7000 rollout.  I didn't know the D90 can meter with AI or AIS kind of Nikkors but apparently it can.  So I assume its replacement, the D7000 can too.  So that's another reason to stock up any good old AI or AIS lens.  I can focus so fast I don't even need auto focus.  No, mostly I take pictures of inanimate objects.  Man, I always know the D90 doesn't meter with AI kind of non-cpu lens and I don't know where I read the disinformation that it does.  But a quick trip to dpreview confirms that it doesn't.  I think the only DSLR that does support old lens metering is the D pro series, like the D300s and up.  Bummer.  I think I just have to use my mental meter between my ears and use the LCD as a feedback mechanism like I've been doing with my D70, it's not great but doable.

UPDATE:
See this post for D90 and non-cpu lens compatibility.
.
UPDATE 8/28/2010:
You know what, I got the information about D90 can meter with AI lens from none other than Nikon USA. Shocking. I mean does it really can meter with AI lens in M or even A mode? If it can it's a piece of shocking news to me, if it doesn't that means Nikon USA made a gross mistake by probably copy and paste it from some higher end model like D300 or higher.

Viewfinder and magnification

I am into a territory that I know little or nothing about. All I know is my D70 has a tiny viewfinder, and a trip to dpreview tells me that the D70 has a viewfinder of 95% coverage and an image magnification of 0.75. With a 1.5 crop factor, making it having an effective image magnification in the 35mm film world of 0.75/1.5 = 0.5! No wonder the image looks so terrible.

Nikon rumors says the D90 replacement shall have a 100% viewfinder, that's great but what about magnification? Assuming it's a 1.5 crop sensored camera, any effective image magnification less that 0.7 would be murder for old folks like me. The D90 replacement at least should have an image magnification like the D300 which is 0.94 making it having an effective magnification around 0.6x. OKAY, I guess realistically speaking, I have to live with this magic number 0.6x because to expect the D90 better than the D300s seems a bit unrealistic.

To keep things in perspective, my Nikon FE has 93% frame coverage and 0.86x magnification. While my F5 has 100% coverage and 0.75x magnification. My Canon P has 1x magnification.

People buy full frame camera because of the better viewfinder not because of better image quality, me think.

Neocamera has a nice summary.

update:
Nikon Rumors says the upcoming D90 replacement will be called D7000. It has the base IS0 100 that all old timers would recognize as the de facto ISO. I remember that's what ISO I began shooting with and that was what the store stocked for amateur photographers like me back then. If the model really comes out like what NR says it will be, this may very well be my next and second DSLR since the D70. I will just blacken the extra 0 to make it the $2300 FX D700. Or I will hold off for the next incarnation of the D700 or I will wait for the side line forever while the world moves on. Who knows and who cares really.