Nikon recently (and quietly) updated the D4's A firmware to 1.03.
Stated to improve autofocus with lenses having a maximum aperture of F8 it also seems to reduce the focussing system's tendency to jitter backwards and forwards when using faster lenses in conjunction with AF-C and a non-moving subject. Winter light levels in the UK prevent any investigation of whether the performance in very bright sunlight has also improved (the latter being a long-term problem - the D3 series focussing system was never at its best in brighter conditions).
Also worth mentioning, the battery charger for my personal D4 has been dogged by an irritating problem since new, namely it will routinely reject an inserted battery and cease charging within a few minutes of commencing a charge. The charger alternately flashes the CAL light and the charging light and according to the manual this indicates a fault in the battery itself. Since this happens with every battery I have for the D4 I've always considered this unlikely but have never been able to find time to take the charger in for repair. The short term fix incidentally is to remove and reinsert the battery, whereupon normal charging will resume. I've now found a better solution, which is to plug the charger in to the mains a few minutes before it is needed. Having done that, everything works as intended.
Tom Parkes is a London based corporate and editorial photographer
Friday 14 December 2012
Sunday 2 December 2012
Elinchrom Quadra Head Caps
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| ©Tom Parkes - Wilson head cap for Quadra |
When they were first introduced, the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra heads shipped with no protection for the flash tube when packed in a bag or case beyond that afforded by the standard reflector. These caps, designed by photographer Les Wilson neatly fill the gap in the market. The design is similar to that of Elinchrom's own head covers as supplied with the larger heads with the addition of a nice textured finish for extra grip when removing the cover.
Sunday 28 October 2012
Pictures, Or It Didn't Happen....
Chances are you won't recognise this man or have heard his name. He is Gustave Whitehead.
How about this pair of brothers?
You may need help with the faces though they would once have been instantly recognisable across the world, but you know their names. They are Orville and Wilbur Wright. That's Orville on the left and almost everything you think you know about them is probably wrong.
Here's an easy pair:
No help from me this time.
So who was Gustave Whitehead?
In 1901 and two years before the Wrights pushed their aircraft out into the freezing headwinds at Kill Devil Hills, Gustave Whitehead, a German born aviation pioneer, piloted his Number 21 aircraft on a flight which exceeded the Wright's 1903 attempt in both distance and altitude.
The Wright brothers however had the presence of mind ask to John T Daniels to accompany them that day.
And Daniels was a photographer.
How about this pair of brothers?
You may need help with the faces though they would once have been instantly recognisable across the world, but you know their names. They are Orville and Wilbur Wright. That's Orville on the left and almost everything you think you know about them is probably wrong.
Here's an easy pair:
No help from me this time.
So who was Gustave Whitehead?
In 1901 and two years before the Wrights pushed their aircraft out into the freezing headwinds at Kill Devil Hills, Gustave Whitehead, a German born aviation pioneer, piloted his Number 21 aircraft on a flight which exceeded the Wright's 1903 attempt in both distance and altitude.
The Wright brothers however had the presence of mind ask to John T Daniels to accompany them that day.
And Daniels was a photographer.
Saturday 27 October 2012
What, No Cookie Policy?
Visitors to the main site may notice no "Cookie Policy" message appears when they first enter.
For the purpose of transparency, a cookie is stored on your computer in the form of a token which is used to maintain the password you entered to view or download images. Without it you would need to re-enter the password each time you moved to a new page.
Such cookies fall into the category of "strictly necessary" for the site to function and provide you with the service and as such the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) states that it is not necessary for the site to obtain consent or provide the option to decline the cookie.
Source:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx
For the purpose of transparency, a cookie is stored on your computer in the form of a token which is used to maintain the password you entered to view or download images. Without it you would need to re-enter the password each time you moved to a new page.
Such cookies fall into the category of "strictly necessary" for the site to function and provide you with the service and as such the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) states that it is not necessary for the site to obtain consent or provide the option to decline the cookie.
Source:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx
Friday 6 July 2012
D4 Noise Levels - High ISO Performance
A number of claims are circulating regarding the high ISO performance of the D4 compared with the D3 and D3S, notably that the D4 offers around a one stop advantage over the D3S despite the former's higher pixel pitch.
My own tests suggest in general terms the D4 actually offers around the same noise levels across the image as a whole as the original D3. This is by no means a poor performance, the D3 continues to be an excellent high ISO camera. So what is the basis for claiming the D4 offers a one stop advantage? Remember the D4 offers around 40% more resolution than the D3. Once the D4 images are downsampled to match the resolution of the D3, the D4 emerges as the better performer, possibly rivalling the D3S, but not exceeding it. Looking closely at the character of the noise, the D4 has more chroma noise and Capture NX2 reports the camera is always performing some noise reduction at high ISOs on NEFs, even with 'off' selected in camera. Significantly though, the D4 does have far less noise in the blue channel than the D3, meaning high ISO shots under tungsten light sources will have lower noise.
At the other end of the scale though, noise levels at lower ISOs are virtually non-existent. Overall, it looks as though Nikon has delivered its promise to produce a more rounded camera with a better balance of high ISO performance versus resolution.
My own tests suggest in general terms the D4 actually offers around the same noise levels across the image as a whole as the original D3. This is by no means a poor performance, the D3 continues to be an excellent high ISO camera. So what is the basis for claiming the D4 offers a one stop advantage? Remember the D4 offers around 40% more resolution than the D3. Once the D4 images are downsampled to match the resolution of the D3, the D4 emerges as the better performer, possibly rivalling the D3S, but not exceeding it. Looking closely at the character of the noise, the D4 has more chroma noise and Capture NX2 reports the camera is always performing some noise reduction at high ISOs on NEFs, even with 'off' selected in camera. Significantly though, the D4 does have far less noise in the blue channel than the D3, meaning high ISO shots under tungsten light sources will have lower noise.
At the other end of the scale though, noise levels at lower ISOs are virtually non-existent. Overall, it looks as though Nikon has delivered its promise to produce a more rounded camera with a better balance of high ISO performance versus resolution.
Wednesday 4 July 2012
D4 Firmware Update 1.02 - It's Tough Being Green
Released this morning, the D4 firmware update 1.02 attempts to address the monitor problems detailed in the previous post:
"Gamut for Adobe RGB images displayed in the camera's monitor has now been changed. This enables more vivid display of images."
I've updated my D4 and can confirm the monitor display has improved somewhat, particularly in relation to the rendering of skin tones. The overall green tint is still visible but appears reduced.
My D4 was supplied with firmware v1.01 installed and it's worth noting that the installation process has changed somewhat from earlier cameras. Full details are available on Nikon's support site. The update took a fair while to instal itself, with no visible progress for several minutes after the progress bar had completed its journey across the screen. Just leave it alone and it will complete.
Two things are particularly interesting, first that Nikon appears to be rapidly addressing snags in the D4 and second, for the first time ever, Nikon actually emailed me to inform me of the availability of the update. If you haven't registered your camera on-line with Nikon then its worth opening an account. As an added benefit you will have instant access to the serial numbers of your equipment should anything be lost or stolen.
"Gamut for Adobe RGB images displayed in the camera's monitor has now been changed. This enables more vivid display of images."
I've updated my D4 and can confirm the monitor display has improved somewhat, particularly in relation to the rendering of skin tones. The overall green tint is still visible but appears reduced.
My D4 was supplied with firmware v1.01 installed and it's worth noting that the installation process has changed somewhat from earlier cameras. Full details are available on Nikon's support site. The update took a fair while to instal itself, with no visible progress for several minutes after the progress bar had completed its journey across the screen. Just leave it alone and it will complete.
Two things are particularly interesting, first that Nikon appears to be rapidly addressing snags in the D4 and second, for the first time ever, Nikon actually emailed me to inform me of the availability of the update. If you haven't registered your camera on-line with Nikon then its worth opening an account. As an added benefit you will have instant access to the serial numbers of your equipment should anything be lost or stolen.
Saturday 30 June 2012
D4 Monitor
I'm now working with the D4 alongside my D3 and D3S bodies and one of the first questions I had concerned the colour accuracy of the monitor. I'd read various comments from users who found the display to have a green tint. Nikon says the new display is more accurate than that used in previous cameras but the short answer is, yes it does appear slightly green in some light. The truth is, every iteration of the professional cameras has a different monitor tint. The D1 was very blue, the D2X less so, the D2XS was noticeably yellow in comparison and the D3 tended towards magenta, with the result that moving from the D3 to the D4 the green tint appears greater than it actually is. There is a temptation for camera manufacturers to adjust the display to show the image to best effect and so the slight green tint of the D4's display offsets the very slightly magenta-tending Nikon skin tones perfectly. Does the green tint matter in the real world? No, not in my view. At times you're aware of it, at others not. It very much depends on the ambient lighting and it has to be remembered that the magenta tint of the D3 monitor would often disguise a green tint from fluorescent lamps.
New on the D4 is an ambient light sensor for the monitor, or auto brightness. My advice is to turn that off unless you're using the camera in live view mode on a tripod. The reason being that the reading used to set the brightness level is taken once, using a sensor on the rear of the camera. If anything blocks the sensor, such as your face as you lower the camera, the display will be too dark as a result. The camera also tends to set the display at too low a brightness indoors. It works fairly well in sunlight where it's otherwise very difficult to see at all, but the nature of the system introduces another variable to take into account when assessing the image. I've settled on a brightness level of -1 for indoors and either just accept the image will look darker that it actually is when viewed in sunlight or I'll use a hoodloupe for a better view. If I was working outside for a long period I would consider adjusting the display brightness, or even using auto, especially if clients were viewing the display with me, but otherwise it's one of those setting I don't like to change. It's all to easy to forget you made a change when you move back inside or the sun goes down.
New on the D4 is an ambient light sensor for the monitor, or auto brightness. My advice is to turn that off unless you're using the camera in live view mode on a tripod. The reason being that the reading used to set the brightness level is taken once, using a sensor on the rear of the camera. If anything blocks the sensor, such as your face as you lower the camera, the display will be too dark as a result. The camera also tends to set the display at too low a brightness indoors. It works fairly well in sunlight where it's otherwise very difficult to see at all, but the nature of the system introduces another variable to take into account when assessing the image. I've settled on a brightness level of -1 for indoors and either just accept the image will look darker that it actually is when viewed in sunlight or I'll use a hoodloupe for a better view. If I was working outside for a long period I would consider adjusting the display brightness, or even using auto, especially if clients were viewing the display with me, but otherwise it's one of those setting I don't like to change. It's all to easy to forget you made a change when you move back inside or the sun goes down.
Friday 1 June 2012
Selective Batch Download Added
Just added to the main site, clients can now select a group of images to download in a batch. Instructions for using this new feature have been added here:
Image Viewing and Download
Image Viewing and Download
Wednesday 16 May 2012
Image Viewing and Download
This post provides guidance for visitors to the main site on viewing and downloading images
- Click the link to enter the gallery
- Enter the password if prompted (passwords are always lower case and with no spaces)
- Please ignore any options to sign in or open an account, these are for a different client group. The password is all you will need
- Moving your mouse around the gallery will trigger larger roll-overs for a better view and enable the full caption to be read
- Click on an image to open it in the full window
- Click 'Download' and choose a size for the image. This will immediately initiate the download to your default location for downloaded files
To download all of the images:
- Click 'Batch Download'
- Select Images to Download - Either 'Select All' then 'Continue' or choose a group of images to download together. The window will scroll, supports shift-selection, dragging a box around a group of images or CTRL + Click on a PC or CMD + Click on a Mac to select a discontiguous set of images
- Choose a size for the downloaded images from the drop down menu and click 'Proceed to final step'
- Click the link which appears. In the case of a large gallery, several links will appear. Click ALL of them
- The download will be to your default location for downloaded files and will be in the form of a zip file which will decompress when complete.
Nothing happening? Some browsers, notably Safari, will give very little indication that a file is downloading. Rest assured the download has initiated. The file will be quite large and this is a good time for a screen break.
Still not convinced? Try this small gallery of three images:
Click the link and enter the password: test
- In the single image view, you can use the left and right arrows on your keyboard to advance to the next image
- You can return to the gallery view by clicking the title of the gallery
- Selecting 'original file' where it is available as the download size will generally be faster as no additional processing of the image will need to take place before it is transmitted
Password not accepted? If you copied and pasted the password from an email, please retype it. Some email applications will add invisible data which will be picked up along with the visible text
Are you logged in? The password system covered in this post does not require you to be logged in or open one of our free accounts. If you have an existing account, please log out from the system via the 'My Account' tab in the top right of the screen. This will avoid any conflicts
Download speed - the system will send images as fast as you can receive them. An individual image should download almost instantly. Users in corporate environments may experience lower speeds due to local bandwidth and security restrictions but a good average speed for batch downloads is five to ten images per minute. Clients with high speed connections not being shared with other people should see download speeds of better than 20 images per minute
Can't find the downloaded file? - Search your computer for the file name of one of the images
'Right clicking' is not used anywhere in the system
Browser related issues. The system works with the current versions of all popular browsers but if you do have a problem you can't resolve it's always worth trying another browser available to you on your system
Still having problems? Please use the contact form or give us a call and we'll help
You will have received an invitation to view a gallery of images in the form of a link and password
- Click the link to enter the gallery
- Enter the password if prompted (passwords are always lower case and with no spaces)
- Please ignore any options to sign in or open an account, these are for a different client group. The password is all you will need
To download individual images:
- Moving your mouse around the gallery will trigger larger roll-overs for a better view and enable the full caption to be read
- Click on an image to open it in the full window
- Click 'Download' and choose a size for the image. This will immediately initiate the download to your default location for downloaded files
To download all of the images:
- Click 'Batch Download'
- Select Images to Download - Either 'Select All' then 'Continue' or choose a group of images to download together. The window will scroll, supports shift-selection, dragging a box around a group of images or CTRL + Click on a PC or CMD + Click on a Mac to select a discontiguous set of images
- Choose a size for the downloaded images from the drop down menu and click 'Proceed to final step'
- Click the link which appears. In the case of a large gallery, several links will appear. Click ALL of them
- The download will be to your default location for downloaded files and will be in the form of a zip file which will decompress when complete.
Nothing happening? Some browsers, notably Safari, will give very little indication that a file is downloading. Rest assured the download has initiated. The file will be quite large and this is a good time for a screen break.
Still not convinced? Try this small gallery of three images:
Click the link and enter the password: test
Power user tips:
- In the single image view, you can use the left and right arrows on your keyboard to advance to the next image
- You can return to the gallery view by clicking the title of the gallery
- Selecting 'original file' where it is available as the download size will generally be faster as no additional processing of the image will need to take place before it is transmitted
Having Problems?
Users will find the system to be highly reliable and simple to use, but occasionally problems can occur. The notes below will help to answer the most common questions:Password not accepted? If you copied and pasted the password from an email, please retype it. Some email applications will add invisible data which will be picked up along with the visible text
Are you logged in? The password system covered in this post does not require you to be logged in or open one of our free accounts. If you have an existing account, please log out from the system via the 'My Account' tab in the top right of the screen. This will avoid any conflicts
Download speed - the system will send images as fast as you can receive them. An individual image should download almost instantly. Users in corporate environments may experience lower speeds due to local bandwidth and security restrictions but a good average speed for batch downloads is five to ten images per minute. Clients with high speed connections not being shared with other people should see download speeds of better than 20 images per minute
Can't find the downloaded file? - Search your computer for the file name of one of the images
'Right clicking' is not used anywhere in the system
Browser related issues. The system works with the current versions of all popular browsers but if you do have a problem you can't resolve it's always worth trying another browser available to you on your system
Still having problems? Please use the contact form or give us a call and we'll help
Friday 4 May 2012
We're Jammin'
"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 is investigating a
permanent solution to this issue and will update users accordingly. To immediately resolve this issue, users can turn off both the
'Highlights' and 'RGB Histogram' display options in the 'Playback
Display Options' sub-menu found in the 'Playback' menu" Source: Nikon USA
Flashback to the late 80s and the FM2's MD12. A photocall (remember those?) never passed without at least one photographer exclaiming loudly before wrenching the motordrive off the base of the camera to push down the protruding pin which had jammed in the 'up' position and rendered the camera inoperable.
A "small number" can be interpreted as all D4s and D800s shipped to date and given that the majority of those units will be in the hands of professional photographers who received their cameras first through the NPS priority scheme, it's a serious fault. Professional photographers are most likely to be working with both the highlights and RGB histogram displays turned on and pulling the battery to free the camera will of course mean the loss of any images in the buffer.
This speaks to a lack of adequate beta testing and in particular, testing by professionals in the field prior to release where this would have been quickly unearthed.
Flashback to the late 80s and the FM2's MD12. A photocall (remember those?) never passed without at least one photographer exclaiming loudly before wrenching the motordrive off the base of the camera to push down the protruding pin which had jammed in the 'up' position and rendered the camera inoperable.
A "small number" can be interpreted as all D4s and D800s shipped to date and given that the majority of those units will be in the hands of professional photographers who received their cameras first through the NPS priority scheme, it's a serious fault. Professional photographers are most likely to be working with both the highlights and RGB histogram displays turned on and pulling the battery to free the camera will of course mean the loss of any images in the buffer.
This speaks to a lack of adequate beta testing and in particular, testing by professionals in the field prior to release where this would have been quickly unearthed.
Monday 30 April 2012
17 Inch Macbook Pro Speed Test
Since 2007 I've used Apple's flagship 17 inch Macbook Pro models as my primary computers both on location and back in the office. The move from a desktop plus laptop combination was made possible by Apple's switch to Intel processors and in particular the Core 2 Duo which made working with the D3s 14 bit NEF files a realistic proposition for a laptop. Shortly after, I moved to a cloud-based image storage and file delivery system with the result that wherever I could connect to the internet I was effectively in my office with everything at my fingertips and back at base I could connect my superb Eizo display for critical colour work and retouching. The Eizo is capable of displaying the full range of colour in the Adobe 1988 colour space commonly used in professional imaging and the publishing world.
Five years is the right time to replace a laptop and gain best value in terms of speed improvement versus cost though and I've now added the latest 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 version alongside my existing Core 2 Duo model.
Next to colour accuracy, nothing matters more in a photographer's workflow than speed and so I was interested to discover just how much faster the new computer would be. I devised a series of tests based around typical real-world procedures to compare the two Macs.
The contenders are a 2007 model Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro 2.33 GHz, 3GB RAM (the maximum) OSX 10.6.8 and the new 2.4GHz i7 with 8GB RAM (again the maximum) and OSX 10.7.3.
PhotoMechanic 4.6.8:
Time to ingest 20 Nikon D3S 14 bit NEFs (288GB of data) using an ExpressCard 34 compactflash adapter, write an IPTC caption and rename the files:
Core 2 Duo - 18 sec
i7 - 12 sec
Copy the files to a new folder:
Core 2 Duo - 8 Sec
i7 - 2 Sec
Nikon Capture NX2 2.3.1:
Process 20 Nikon D3S 14 bit NEFs - convert to jpeg and save:
Core 2 Duo - 1 min 40 sec
i7 - 50 sec
Process 20 NEFs - apply noise reduction (better quality), USM and save as losslessly compressed NEF:
Core 2 Duo - 8 min 49 sec
i7 - 2 min 21 sec
It's clear that PhotoMechanic is gaining a useful increase in speed but NX2 is the real beneficiary of being free to run in 64 bit mode, with a tremendous boost in productivity. It's also interesting that the new Macbook is noisier than its predecessor, with the fan running gently at all times, causing a detectable exhaust flow from the left side of the case and the last batch test really causing it to pour on extra coal and immediately run the fan at full speed whereas the old model would have to be running at full capacity for an extended period before audibly fanning.
On the subject of colour accuracy, the display on the i7 as shipped was excessively blue, too contrasty and delivered over saturated colours. It looked wonderful, but it wasn't accurate. After profiling with my i1 Display Pro it was near identical to the earlier laptop which was always within a whisker of the profile it shipped with following calibration. The resolution of the i7 is 1920 x 1200 which is a nice resolution for a 24 inch display but leaves text too small to be read comfortably on the built in 17 inch display without risking eye strain. Fortunately, many applications, including browsers, now support zooming and CMD + scales the text up to a comfortable size.
Five years is the right time to replace a laptop and gain best value in terms of speed improvement versus cost though and I've now added the latest 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 version alongside my existing Core 2 Duo model.
Next to colour accuracy, nothing matters more in a photographer's workflow than speed and so I was interested to discover just how much faster the new computer would be. I devised a series of tests based around typical real-world procedures to compare the two Macs.
The contenders are a 2007 model Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro 2.33 GHz, 3GB RAM (the maximum) OSX 10.6.8 and the new 2.4GHz i7 with 8GB RAM (again the maximum) and OSX 10.7.3.
PhotoMechanic 4.6.8:
Time to ingest 20 Nikon D3S 14 bit NEFs (288GB of data) using an ExpressCard 34 compactflash adapter, write an IPTC caption and rename the files:
Core 2 Duo - 18 sec
i7 - 12 sec
Copy the files to a new folder:
Core 2 Duo - 8 Sec
i7 - 2 Sec
Nikon Capture NX2 2.3.1:
Process 20 Nikon D3S 14 bit NEFs - convert to jpeg and save:
Core 2 Duo - 1 min 40 sec
i7 - 50 sec
Process 20 NEFs - apply noise reduction (better quality), USM and save as losslessly compressed NEF:
Core 2 Duo - 8 min 49 sec
i7 - 2 min 21 sec
It's clear that PhotoMechanic is gaining a useful increase in speed but NX2 is the real beneficiary of being free to run in 64 bit mode, with a tremendous boost in productivity. It's also interesting that the new Macbook is noisier than its predecessor, with the fan running gently at all times, causing a detectable exhaust flow from the left side of the case and the last batch test really causing it to pour on extra coal and immediately run the fan at full speed whereas the old model would have to be running at full capacity for an extended period before audibly fanning.
On the subject of colour accuracy, the display on the i7 as shipped was excessively blue, too contrasty and delivered over saturated colours. It looked wonderful, but it wasn't accurate. After profiling with my i1 Display Pro it was near identical to the earlier laptop which was always within a whisker of the profile it shipped with following calibration. The resolution of the i7 is 1920 x 1200 which is a nice resolution for a 24 inch display but leaves text too small to be read comfortably on the built in 17 inch display without risking eye strain. Fortunately, many applications, including browsers, now support zooming and CMD + scales the text up to a comfortable size.
Tuesday 24 April 2012
The Edge of the World
 |
| © Tom Parkes |
 |
| © Tom Parkes |
Two pictures inspired by the Michael Powell film The Edge of the World. Both were created using the D3s monochrome mode with red filtration. Colour filters used in black and white allow light of their own colour to pass while darkening opposite colours. In this case the edge of the "world" is the southern edge, the dunes at Littlehampton's West Beach, a nature reserve and site of Special Scientific Interest.
Thursday 29 March 2012
Thumbnail captions restored
14:05 BST
Thumbnail captions are now restored and all galleries are displaying correctly.
Thumbnail captions are now restored and all galleries are displaying correctly.
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Missing captions from thumbnails
Wednesday 28 March 10:55 BST - Main website
A problem with the new back end interface this morning means captions are not displaying correctly or at all below thumbnail images in galleries. This will be resolved in short order. Any clients experiencing difficulty locating images in the meantime can contact me by email or telephone for immediate assistance. My apologies.
A problem with the new back end interface this morning means captions are not displaying correctly or at all below thumbnail images in galleries. This will be resolved in short order. Any clients experiencing difficulty locating images in the meantime can contact me by email or telephone for immediate assistance. My apologies.
Saturday 24 March 2012
Comment - Unlucky number four
In China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan the number four is considered unlucky by many people because it sounds like the word "death". Buildings either have no fourth floor or use the letter F instead and some product lines avoid the number four, skipping from version three to version five. Camera manufacturer Fuji has done this, but Nikon has never appeared superstitious, producing both F4 and now D4 cameras. Today it appears that may be about to change. 11 weeks after the product launch and a week after the first units reached dealers, Nikon UK astonished customers by announcing the original price had been a "systems error" and increased the RRP by £500. Both Jacobs and Jessops immediately raised the price of the camera to £5289 and other dealers have now followed. That's US$8394 against the US price of US$6000. That's quite an error. You'd think someone would have noticed before now? It's hard to see how this can be anything other than a PR disaster for Nikon. Time for a four letter word?
Update 26 March: Having spoken to both my dealer and Nikon Professional Services this morning it appears Nikon may yet honour the earlier price for anyone who placed an order before the weekend.
Update 26 March: Having spoken to both my dealer and Nikon Professional Services this morning it appears Nikon may yet honour the earlier price for anyone who placed an order before the weekend.
Thursday 22 March 2012
Site maintenance Saturday 24th March
All clients please make a note that this coming Saturday 24th March the main website will be unavailable for a short period. This scheduled full site downtime is to allow for the upgrading of the code running the system behind the scenes and is the first stage in a series of improvements aimed at bringing a more efficient service to everyone. Please schedule your downloads accordingly.
Thanks
Thanks
Friday 16 March 2012
D800 Price rise!
In a bizarre turn of events this evening, Amazon has now increased the price of the D800 by £300. On the plus side, you are still saving 99p off the RRP.
Update 20 March: Amazon has once more lowered the price of the D800 by £300 only to return to the RRP (-99p) within hours.
Update 20 March: Amazon has once more lowered the price of the D800 by £300 only to return to the RRP (-99p) within hours.
D800 Price drop
Photographers interested in the D800 might like to note that Amazon has today reduced the price by £300, before the camera is even on the street. Taken together with the inclusion of £200 worth of XQD card and reader in the D4 it suggests Nikon may be rethinking its recent UK price moves.
UK D4s to include XQD card and reader
It's just been confirmed that the initial supplies at least of the D4 arriving in the UK include a complimentary 16GB Sony branded XQD card and USB 3.0 reader. That's a nice gesture.
That could have your eye out
From the pages of the D4 user manual.....
Using the viewfinder diopter adjustment control
When operating the viewfinder diopter adjustment control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger in your eye accidentally.
Good try, Nikon, but Sekonic still holds the title with its entreaty not to swallow a flash meter.
Using the viewfinder diopter adjustment control
When operating the viewfinder diopter adjustment control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger in your eye accidentally.
Good try, Nikon, but Sekonic still holds the title with its entreaty not to swallow a flash meter.
Monday 5 March 2012
Client News - Streaming Zip File Delivery
Coming to the main site starting later this month a series of changes will improve the way clients view, select and download images. Many of the changes will be behind the scenes such as a move to solid state drives on the servers used to store and prepare images for download, bringing even greater speed to the service. Among the changes sure to be popular will be the ability to select a number of images in a gallery and download just those images in one go. As part of this process a streaming zip file downloader will be introduced. Previously it has only been possible to batch download an entire gallery or take the images one at a time. Hopefully the new option will not only save your time but will also end the problems a very small number of clients experienced with the present Java based batch downloader.
Wednesday 29 February 2012
First look at the D4 and D800
Earlier this week I was part of a group of professional photographers invited to Nikon UK's Kingston-upon-Thames headquarters for an advance look at the new D4 and D800 series cameras.
As you'd expect, there was a presentation covering the headline features of all three cameras together with an exclusive film shot for Nikon UK with the D800 at the end of which we were asked an interesting question given Nikon's marketing thrust of late: "How many of you are interested in the video features of the new cameras?" Around one third of the audience raised their hands. Bear in mind this was an audience of serious professionals, nevertheless I was slightly surprised. When asked how many people were undecided, the video camp expanded to around half of those present.
The decision to move away from the popular configuration of dual compact flash card slots on the D3 series came under some scrutiny from the audience. With the D4 accepting one CF card and one of the new XQD cards and the D800 one CF and one SDXC card, photographers with mixed bags of both new cameras may find themselves hitting the road with a minimum of three card readers in their laptop cases. The XQD card in the D4 is touted as the high speed future, although at the time of writing the latest 1000X CF cards from Lexar outpace XQD when it comes to card to computer transfer speeds. Furthermore, Sony is currently the monopoly manufacturer of XQD cards with Sandisk and Lexar reportedly having no plans to manufacture cards in that format. Doubtless both companies can quickly reverse that decision if the new card becomes widely adopted but the cutting edge of new formats is not always the best seat to occupy and it's a position familiar to Apple users, with Firewire 800 ports never attracting much attention from manufacturers and Thunderbolt peripherals yet to become popular. Sony has apparently promised a Thunderbolt XQD card reader will be produced, but for the time being photographers equipped with anything other than Apple's 17" MacBook Pro will be left using slower USB 2.0 XQD card readers.
The excellent EN-EL4a battery, introduced with the D2XS and used by the D3, D3S and D3X will continue to be manufactured, although as we know, it will not fit the D4 or its charger. In my view, Nikon should have worked harder to bring at least some degree of compatibility between the old and new batteries, at the very least as far as the charger is concerned. Add a second, or possibly third charger to life on the road.
The WT5 transmitter on the side of the demo D4s caught many people's imagination, in fact it's small enough to make me wonder if room couldn't have been made for it inside the body of the camera?
In the hand, the D4 feels comfortable with only the repositioning of the vertical AF on button feeling strange. The new monitor delivers a crisp and contrasty image reminiscent of the iPad's screen. In other words, superb. The old way of zooming in and out of an image has been replaced by zoom + and - buttons used together with the thumb sticks or joypad. On the subject of which the right rear controls are now becoming cramped with two thumb sticks plus the joypad. It probably would have been better to drop the joypad altogether, the thumb sticks are that good. Otherwise, everything felt fine and familiar. Focusing appeared to be very quick and accurate on static subjects. Shooting my D3S later that afternoon, AF actually felt slow by comparison with the D4
Predictably there was huge interest in the D800, so much so that by the time I had to leave I hadn't managed any hands-on time with the camera. There's very little doubt that the D800 will be a huge success for Nikon. For those of us looking over the D4, many came with the question I've previously asked here: Is the D4 a significant upgrade over the D3S? To a large extent that question remains unanswered, mainly because Nikon still doesn't appear to get photography. To be sure, they understand cameras, but the full size files or prints made from the D4 were nowhere to be seen. In fairness, globally they have made an infinitely better fist of the D800 launch with a feature type film and full size files available from the announcement date. Of the D4 we have so far seen little, at least as far as stills are concerned.
As you'd expect, there was a presentation covering the headline features of all three cameras together with an exclusive film shot for Nikon UK with the D800 at the end of which we were asked an interesting question given Nikon's marketing thrust of late: "How many of you are interested in the video features of the new cameras?" Around one third of the audience raised their hands. Bear in mind this was an audience of serious professionals, nevertheless I was slightly surprised. When asked how many people were undecided, the video camp expanded to around half of those present.
The decision to move away from the popular configuration of dual compact flash card slots on the D3 series came under some scrutiny from the audience. With the D4 accepting one CF card and one of the new XQD cards and the D800 one CF and one SDXC card, photographers with mixed bags of both new cameras may find themselves hitting the road with a minimum of three card readers in their laptop cases. The XQD card in the D4 is touted as the high speed future, although at the time of writing the latest 1000X CF cards from Lexar outpace XQD when it comes to card to computer transfer speeds. Furthermore, Sony is currently the monopoly manufacturer of XQD cards with Sandisk and Lexar reportedly having no plans to manufacture cards in that format. Doubtless both companies can quickly reverse that decision if the new card becomes widely adopted but the cutting edge of new formats is not always the best seat to occupy and it's a position familiar to Apple users, with Firewire 800 ports never attracting much attention from manufacturers and Thunderbolt peripherals yet to become popular. Sony has apparently promised a Thunderbolt XQD card reader will be produced, but for the time being photographers equipped with anything other than Apple's 17" MacBook Pro will be left using slower USB 2.0 XQD card readers.
The excellent EN-EL4a battery, introduced with the D2XS and used by the D3, D3S and D3X will continue to be manufactured, although as we know, it will not fit the D4 or its charger. In my view, Nikon should have worked harder to bring at least some degree of compatibility between the old and new batteries, at the very least as far as the charger is concerned. Add a second, or possibly third charger to life on the road.
The WT5 transmitter on the side of the demo D4s caught many people's imagination, in fact it's small enough to make me wonder if room couldn't have been made for it inside the body of the camera?
In the hand, the D4 feels comfortable with only the repositioning of the vertical AF on button feeling strange. The new monitor delivers a crisp and contrasty image reminiscent of the iPad's screen. In other words, superb. The old way of zooming in and out of an image has been replaced by zoom + and - buttons used together with the thumb sticks or joypad. On the subject of which the right rear controls are now becoming cramped with two thumb sticks plus the joypad. It probably would have been better to drop the joypad altogether, the thumb sticks are that good. Otherwise, everything felt fine and familiar. Focusing appeared to be very quick and accurate on static subjects. Shooting my D3S later that afternoon, AF actually felt slow by comparison with the D4
Predictably there was huge interest in the D800, so much so that by the time I had to leave I hadn't managed any hands-on time with the camera. There's very little doubt that the D800 will be a huge success for Nikon. For those of us looking over the D4, many came with the question I've previously asked here: Is the D4 a significant upgrade over the D3S? To a large extent that question remains unanswered, mainly because Nikon still doesn't appear to get photography. To be sure, they understand cameras, but the full size files or prints made from the D4 were nowhere to be seen. In fairness, globally they have made an infinitely better fist of the D800 launch with a feature type film and full size files available from the announcement date. Of the D4 we have so far seen little, at least as far as stills are concerned.
Thursday 19 January 2012
Editorial Portraits 3
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| © Tom Parkes |
A thoughtful portrait, intended to be used across two pages with room for a designer to drop copy to the left of the subject. With a picture designed to be used in this way it's important that nothing important sits in the centre or "gutter" of the pages where it would be lost. There's also room for text to be placed to the right or below the subject. To light this picture I placed an SB-700 in a small softbox clamped overhead, manual control at 1/2 power, raking the subject's face with light from above and giving me f8 at ISO 200. As expected, this left the eyes in deep shadow and so I added a second SB-700 fitted with a grid at eye level to provide some fill. This flash was set to TTL and powered right down to -3 stops. Why TTL and not manual? I wanted the tiniest pop of flash and I've found that a setting of TTL -3 can produce a lower output than manual power at the lowest 1/128th setting. The shutter speed was 1/125 sec and this coupled with the aperture of f8 effectively kills the ambient light and gives me control. The only light in this picture now is added by me.
Friday 6 January 2012
UK price for the D4 set at £4799
If you're a professional photographer, particularly in the target group of news and sports shooters you'll have had something of a moment this morning when Nikon announced the expected street price of its new flagship D4 camera. If you're not a photographer, bear in mind that news photographers will carry at least two camera bodies and sports photographers will routinely bring eight or more to major events such as the forthcoming London Olympics, deploying several as remote cameras.
Not that, on paper at least, the D4 isn't a fine camera, offering a little more resolution over the D3S but falling just short of the 40% increase that marks the point generally accepted to offer any noticeable difference in the real world. This isn't a bad thing by any account. Larger files mean more powerful computers and longer transmission times in a business where every second counts. Even photographers working without urgent deadlines will welcome this restraint on Nikon's part. As an illustration of the computing power required by the files produced by the cameras we already have, last night I converted 450 D3S NEFs into 16 Bit TIFFs for final retouching in Photoshop. That batch process alone took more than six hours.
The excellent ergonomics which characterise Nikon cameras also receive a tweak on the D4 with the addition of twin joystick controls for selecting AF points, bringing the most used controls into the same finger positions when using the vertical release.
For film makers there's also a long overdue means to monitor sound levels together with manual controls for recording level.
And that's it, the usual small changes to the focusing system and assorted minor controls excepted, most of the other changes are on the firmware side. So how do we get to £4799 when not that many years ago the then far more ground-breaking D2H was initially priced at £2500?
The answer lies partly in a move by Nikon to match Canon's asking price for the 1DX, just as the D3X was priced in line with Canon's 1DSIII model. I don't think anyone ever really believed the D3X actually cost Nikon £1500-£2000 more to manufacture than the D3S, especially when compared with Sony cameras using the same sensor. But it lies mainly in a strategic move made by Nikon with the introduction of the original D3. With the arrival of the D3, photographers were assured the old distinction of high speed versus high megapixel models was now a thing of the past, there was to be no D3X and because we were accustomed to the £3500 price of the D2X we didn't question the pricing of the 12 megapixel D3.
A pattern has developed lately of Nikon making point increments to equipment and introducing the new model at a considerably increased price. Nikon has badly misjudged the financial health of their market at a time when newspapers and magazines are closing. For anyone currently equipped with several D3S bodies, the D4 may well be the model many will choose to pass over.
Updated 7 January 2012:
It's never a simple matter to compare UK prices with those in other countries due to relative differences in the strength of the local currency and taxes but checking the website of New York based retailer B&H tonight reveals the D4 to be priced in the US at ($800) £522 more than the D3S. In the UK, the price difference is ($1960) £1280. Similar price disparities are being reported across Europe.
Not that, on paper at least, the D4 isn't a fine camera, offering a little more resolution over the D3S but falling just short of the 40% increase that marks the point generally accepted to offer any noticeable difference in the real world. This isn't a bad thing by any account. Larger files mean more powerful computers and longer transmission times in a business where every second counts. Even photographers working without urgent deadlines will welcome this restraint on Nikon's part. As an illustration of the computing power required by the files produced by the cameras we already have, last night I converted 450 D3S NEFs into 16 Bit TIFFs for final retouching in Photoshop. That batch process alone took more than six hours.
The excellent ergonomics which characterise Nikon cameras also receive a tweak on the D4 with the addition of twin joystick controls for selecting AF points, bringing the most used controls into the same finger positions when using the vertical release.
For film makers there's also a long overdue means to monitor sound levels together with manual controls for recording level.
And that's it, the usual small changes to the focusing system and assorted minor controls excepted, most of the other changes are on the firmware side. So how do we get to £4799 when not that many years ago the then far more ground-breaking D2H was initially priced at £2500?
The answer lies partly in a move by Nikon to match Canon's asking price for the 1DX, just as the D3X was priced in line with Canon's 1DSIII model. I don't think anyone ever really believed the D3X actually cost Nikon £1500-£2000 more to manufacture than the D3S, especially when compared with Sony cameras using the same sensor. But it lies mainly in a strategic move made by Nikon with the introduction of the original D3. With the arrival of the D3, photographers were assured the old distinction of high speed versus high megapixel models was now a thing of the past, there was to be no D3X and because we were accustomed to the £3500 price of the D2X we didn't question the pricing of the 12 megapixel D3.
A pattern has developed lately of Nikon making point increments to equipment and introducing the new model at a considerably increased price. Nikon has badly misjudged the financial health of their market at a time when newspapers and magazines are closing. For anyone currently equipped with several D3S bodies, the D4 may well be the model many will choose to pass over.
Updated 7 January 2012:
It's never a simple matter to compare UK prices with those in other countries due to relative differences in the strength of the local currency and taxes but checking the website of New York based retailer B&H tonight reveals the D4 to be priced in the US at ($800) £522 more than the D3S. In the UK, the price difference is ($1960) £1280. Similar price disparities are being reported across Europe.
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