Guess the lens of this picture. Nikon Mount.
Ack…monolight blew up
I haven’t had a lot of monolight test pictures for you all because the other Sunday morning we had a disaster with one of the monolights. I was snapping a shot of something…I do not even remember what it was — and all of a sudden — POOF! All the magic blue smoke that makes the monolight run escaped into the room. Once the blue smoke escapes, you might as well as forget about your piece of electronics ever working again. I got lots of beeps out the light and the modeling light still worked, but that was the end of any kind of flash output.
Luckily, I called up the place I bought the lights from and 5 business days later, a new light is on its way. We did a return with no problems.
D400
I’ve got the scoop on the d400. Anonymous sources tell me Nikon’s new D400 will be:
15 megapixels DX
5 frames per second
Up to 12,800 ISO
The 51 point autofocus — like the d3 and d700
Have 1080p video capabilities
I do not know how accurate the source is. The d400 is supposed to be announced here in the next week or so. Oh, and by the way, it is a DX camera, not a FX camera.
I will not be buying it. Everything is going FX eventually and I can not justify buying a new digital camera every 9-12 months. I was talking to a photographer at Mall of America the other day and he is still using a pair of d200’s for all his professional work. His advice? If you have a DSL camera, invest in lenses. The lenses will retain value better as well as be compatiable with whatever camera you decide to buy in the future — as long as it is the same brand.
I would take that a step further — Only buy FX lenses. That way they will work well on any 35mm format camera you might buy from within the same family.
Custom White Balance Lens Cap
This is one of the coolest gadgets I got — a custom white balance lens cap. It works perfect too. Now, instead of using Nikon’s auto white balance, I just keep the cap on the len and change to the Nikon custom white balance menu’s and snap the picture. Presto! Perfect white balance for any situation.
Most of the time, Nikon’s auto white balance works pretty good. The few times I needed to us this were, for example, indoors with mixed lighting (expecially lately with Christmas lights, CFL’s, and incandescent all in one spot) and at the zoo where I was shooting flash through glass and everything was coming out with a green tint. It comes in different sizes for your 
specific lens. Its pretty neat and easy to use.
Canon is for Criminals???
It’s been awhile since I last posted a photography article. I was busy with work and the holidays. But one thing I’ve watched over the last month or two is the website Property Room.com . And while I am not a Nikon fanatic (or lunatic) I am slightly enamored with the Nikon product lines, especially the low light performance of the D700. One thing I’ve noticed about Property Room is that there is never a Nikon camera for sale.
For those of you who don’t know, Property Room is run by Police Departments disposing of evidence and other equipment forfeited in drug raids and other kinds of criminal activity. I keep a pretty close eye on the SLR cameras and Lenses. Since I’ve been watching there has been 1 Nikon and 1 Nikon lens on that site. That compares for 15 or so Canon’s up there right now. Minolta is also a popular brand among criminals coming in at 5 or so. Why isn’t there any Nikon equipment? One lousy D40.
Is this because the criminal element in our society does not use Nikon equipment?
Best Christmas Gifts
The best Christmas gift of 2008 that I received was a year long Netflix subscription. Now, I know that sounds a little materialistic. Should not your best gift be “Peace on Earth” or a “Healthy family?” Sure, but those are so generic and pithy that it sounds pretty silly. Netflix, therefore, is the ideal gift given to me.
Why is Netflix my ideal gift? I have a few reasons. First, I spend a lot of time watching TV and movies on my laptop computer because I often have a hard time falling asleep. I can just basically turn off my mind while I watch TV on the PC and drift off to sleep. The 1 year Netflix Christmas gift gives me an almost unlimited amount of content for a fairly low price. It is much cheaper than buying all those DVD’s and then watching them or renting them one at a time. It is even cheaper than the library because I often have a hard time returning the movies on time and the library fees add up very quickly.
Netflix allows you to keep the movie for as long as you want, but you can not get another movie until you return the first one. Therefore, there are no return fees. Secondly, on the subscription plan given to me, I am able to get one movie or TV series at a time – which means I can potentially get 10 movies a month (one day to arrive and watch, another day to return, and the third day to arrive again).
More importantly, the plan which I received allows unlimited streaming. A few years ago, on one the lower end plans, Netflix limited the number of hours that could be streamed per month . But now that has changed and Netflix claims there are 12,000 items available for streaming. Some videos are very old and uninteresting to me, but there are also some recent ones and some very recent television shows.
With my broadband connection I get very high quality streaming. Getting the steaming to work with Firefox took some work even though their web page says Firefox version 2 was supported. Stick with Internet Explorer to watch the videos and you will not have any problems.
And for the kids, Netflix integrated into the Xbox 360 system so there is the opportunity for my kids to watch streaming video as well. I have already set them up to watch “Black Beauty” and the classic version of “Dr. Doolittle.”
If you want to get the Netflix gift subscription for someone you know, check out www.netflix.com. It is $107.88 for the subscription I received for Christmas and you can easily order online. A free trial is available here. http://www.netflix.com/SpreadTheWord?lnkctr=FAQ
What was your best gift?
Articles
I’ve been writing articles for various content publishers around the net. I’m make a list. Anyone who know of any content publishing housing on the Internet, please post. I’m looking to increase my writing sales.
Post Processing with the D3 and the D700
I’ve never mentioned this, but there is a D3 in my family. My brother-in-law shoots with one. I’ve also got a D2X and a D70 around that he owns. My basic post processing flow hasn’t changed because of the Nikon upgrades. So check out this page to learn about my post processing process which is basically the same for the D70 -> D200 -> D2X -> D700 and -> D3
by thyrymn
no comments
add a comment link to this post email a friend