Cameras

If you’ve always hungered for a DSLR and more importantly, a Nikon DSLR, but never had ‘the ready’ to fill your ambition The could be your opportunity.

It’s hard to quantify the allure of the breed but undeniable is the bloodline, the technical excellence and innovative achievements of Nikon cameras and lenses. Priced just above point-and-shoot fixed lens digicams and well beneath the semi pro and full pro model DSLRs, the D3000 is an excellent pathway to the higher quality such a camera can deliver.

Nikon D3000 DSLR Features

In the hand, the camera is delightfully compact, light and to the novice’s eye ‘unsplattered’ by intimidating external controls. You view via an optical turret viewfinder or the rear 7.6cm LCD screen.

The review camera was supplied with the f3.5/18-55mm VR lens that handles hand-induced vibration. With this lens attached the gear weighs just under a kilo no penalty in my book.

Of course, there are a few issues when you deal with a Nikon DSLR: image stability is provided by the lens’ internal optics, and some of the attractively-priced kit lenses usually offered with the D3000 do not provide this.

With 10.2 million pixels on its CCD the camera can shoot a maximum 3872 2592 pixel image; when printed this accounts for a 33 22cm output at 300 dpi.

The mode dial has settings for auto, Program AE, aperture and shutter priority as well as manual exposure plus a number of scene modes (landscape, sports, portraits etc).

The built in flash can be useful especially as a ‘fill’ for portraits; the more adventurous can also experiment with light trails thanks to the flash’s ability to sync with the rear shutter curtain.

And note: DSLRs at this level have a macro mode, not available on the upper level reflex cameras. So, if you’re into ECUs (extra close-ups) of bugs and beetles, a camera like the D3000 is ideal.

Fire up the camera and the first thing you see is the LCD display confirming that the CCD is being cleaned pre-shoot; post-shoot, cut the power and the camera cleans the sensor again. With an interchangeable lens camera, this function is important, eradicating dust that may enter when you switch lenses.

Right from the start the beginner can feel at home, thanks to the Guide, selectable from the mode dial and shown on the LCD display. This will hold your hand through the various shooting modes and even help you move through some of the more advanced techniques. As well as this, settings made with Guide mode can even be tweaked before making the shot.

There is a Scene Recognition System that optimises exposure, white balance and autofocus; continuous shooting can be made at up to 3 fps and an 11-point selectable autofocus scheme tracks focus in any of four modes (static or moving subjects, auto area and 3D tracking).

The D3000’s photo editing functions give you in-camera retouching, and here again is a Tilt-Shift mode that I first encountered in the Ricoh CX2 it creates a miniature mode effect from normal shots. Cute.

The ISO range runs from 100 to 3200.

Optimum ISO at 100.

Still very clean at ISO 400.

Minimal noise at ISO 800.

Noise becoming evident at ISO 1600 but still useable.

Hitting its straps at ISO 3200 this is only when you really have to!

A movie house foyer, shot at ISO 3200 with the right subject, quite a useable setting. Detail in the picture covers the noise.

Photography at this level lets you into the exalted arena of RAW capture, where you can manipulate your shots to a degree not achievable with JPEG shooting. However, the D3000 will still shoot JPEGs, if you sometimes need only snapshot quality.

Digging around the manual I found a terrific mode that can shoot stop motion clips from a series of stills. You can make short video sequences from puppets or even hand-drawn animation that will run successfully on an SD TV set at 640 480 pixel res or you can even smaller create clips for use on the Web. Magic!

Comment

A great piece of kit. Beginners star here!

Why you would buy the D3000: attractive price for a DSLR; entree to Nikon system and lenses; RAW capture.

Why you wouldn’t: no Live View; no video capture (but you can make a stop motion movie from still shots!); low resolution LCD.

I figure the D3000 is a perfect entry-level camera, with some modes (like stop motion movies) that will give you a lot of fun, without the need for a lot of techy knowledge. Good one Nikon!

Nikon D3000 Specifications

Image Sensor: 10.2 million effective pixels.
Metering: Matrix and centre-weighted metering, spot.
Effective Sensor Size: 23.6 15.8mm CCD.
35 SLR Lens Factor: 1:5x.
Compatible lenses: Nikkor AF-S and AF-I.
Exposure Modes: Auto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Shutter Speed: 30 to 1/4000 second, Bulb. Flash sync: 1/200.
Memory: SD/SDHC cards.
Image Sizes (pixels): 3872 2592, 2896 1944, 1936 1296.
Viewfinders: Optical pentamirror, 7.6cm LCD (230,000 pixels).
File Formats: RAW, RAW+JPEG.
Colour Space: Adobe RGB, sRGB.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 3200.
Interface: USB 2.0, AV, DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, AC adaptor.
Dimensions: 126 97×64 WHDmm.
Weight: Approx. 485 g (body only).
Price: At Amazon the Nikon D3000 is or .

Body only: $799. With Nikkor f3.5/18-55mm VR lens: $949.

digital-photography-school.com

40 Reasons why you don’t need 18mp

In February 2010, Canon released the EOS 550D with an 18 megapixel sensor, HD video and a $900 price tag. Will Canon tell the folks lining up to buy this camera how much extra work it will add to their simple lives? And how much pain it will bring to their photo hobby? Not likely.

The was released late in 2006 and remained on the market until late 2009. Three years in production is a long time in the land of digital, where 18 months is about the average life of a camera body. What was so special about the D40? For once, there’s a simple answer: the D40 set a new standard for entry-level DSLRs in terms of size, cost, build quality and performance.

In a nutshell, the D40 was affordable, weighs less than 500g and can make great photos. Build quality is better than you’d expect from an all-plastic body and a dinky 18-55mm kit lens after two years and 50,000 shutter actuations, there isn’t a scratch on my D40’s body or the LCD, and everything still works with crisp enthusiasm.

D40, D59, D80 size comparison. Photo courtesy of Thom Hogan http://www.bythom.com/D40REVIEW.htm

Nikon D40 Features

I bought the D40 when it was already obsolete, just after the D60 was released. The speeds and feeds were never much to drool over and now look decidedly crude:

• 6 megapixel DX format CCD (1.5x FOV crop, as D50)
• 3D Color Matrix Metering II, 420 pixel sensor (as D80 / D50)
• ISO sensitivity range 200 1600 plus HI 1 (3200 equiv.)
• Custom Auto ISO (selectable maximum ISO, minimum shutter speed)
• 2.5 fps continuous shooting (as D50), unlimited in JPEG
• Large 2.5 230,000 pixel LCD monitor
• Viewfinder with x0.8 magnification, 95% coverage
• Support for SDHC (SD cards over 2 GB in capacity)

Nikon D40 Lens Options

The D40 achieves its compact size by doing away with the focusing motor that graced the D50, D70 and D80 (and graces the current D90). That means you’re limited to lenses in Nikon’s AF-S and Sigma’s HSM line if you want auto-focus. If you don’t mind doing everything yourself, as we used to a few decades back, you can mount any Nikkor lens on the D40.

The more recent AF Nikkor lenses will meter okay and give you a focus dot in the bottom left of the viewfinder. There’s no anti-shake (Vibration Reduction) technology in the body either, but Nikon has been building VR into most of its lenses for years. Even the cheap and kit lenses have VR, and they’re the lenses you’ll use most of the time. Yes, they’re cheap and they look it and feel it but Nikon is good at making great lenses at the plasticky bottom end of the price scale. The new follows that tradition.

If you want to go beyond 200mm, there’s a cheap option without VR or a more pricey . There’s a , which is less than $300, auto-focuses on the D40 and is as sharp as a tack but has no VR.

A word of caution: these are full-frame (FX) lenses so they’re equivalent to 105 450 mm on APS-C sensor (DX) cameras like the , and due to the 1.5x crop factor.

Navigation

The D40 body has very few buttons and knobs to confuse the unwary, and it does without the small LCD that sits atop older and bigger Nikons. The dial that takes the LCD’s place has the usual MASP modes, plus Auto and a few scene modes I never use.

The main screen gives you all the settings you’re most likely to need in a single window you can navigate and dig into. Nikon is well-known for its standard-setting ergonomics, and deservedly so. The rest of the menus are almost as easy to get around. You can check them in detail here.

Handling & Performance

This is one of those rare pieces of equipment where everything just falls to hand, and nothing gets in the way. Intuitive is the word that comes to mind taking photos is point & shoot easy but a hell of lot quicker. You turn the D40 on and it’s on, bang, just like that. You focus, press the button and it shoots. And it’s ready to shoot again. Even when you’re using flash, there’s little of the frustrating lag you get with digicams.

The D40 is always ready to catch the action with kids, pets or sports. Continuous shooting is only 2.5 frames a second but, if you’re shooting JPEGs, the D40 will keep going until the battery runs out. It helps to use a fast flash card, of course. I’ve never come near filling up the 4GB card I use, even shooting RAW + JPEG, and the battery is good for about 500 shots.

The Nikon D40 is all about light and easy, so it comes as a surprise that it’s one of the few DSLRs on the market that supports flash synch speeds of up to 1/500 sec. Why is this important, you ask. One answer is that you need to shoot at 1/500 or faster to freeze action so, if you want to shoot your kids doing crazy things, faster is better. What if the sun’s bright enough for 1/500 without flash? The problem is that you’ll get harsh contrasts, that’s why you see a flash atop every wedding photographers’ camera. ‘Fill flash’ softens harsh sunlight and is essential when you’re shooting against the sun.

The other reason why 1/500 synch speed is useful is that faster synch speeds let you shoot at larger apertures, which gives you more depth-of-field potential, requires less flash power, lets your flash recycle faster and lets you shoot more frames per second.

Larger apertures also let in more light from the flash which allows you to get further away from the subject. For a two stop increase (from 1/125 to 1/500 for example) you effectively double your maximum flash range. It also means you can make do with a cheaper flash unit, like the compact $150 Nikon SB-400. Read more about it here.

With the D40, even the image files are easy to handle: JPEGs are about 2-3mb and RAW files tend to be around 5. RAW + JPEG is a practical option with the D40, and the combined file size is just under 6mb. That’s one third the size of the Canon EOS 550D’s 18mp files.

Image Quality

The sensor in the D40 is the same 6mp CCD Nikon used in the D50 and D70s. Less than 6 months after the D40’s release, Nikon announced the D40x which borrowed the 10mp sensor from the D80. The reason? Competitors were pushing up the pixel ratings on their cameras, making buyers think 6mp wasn’t nearly enough. That’s rubbish. At 100%, a full size JPEG from the D40 is almost 90 cm wide, much too wide for my 24″ screen.

The textbooks say that the D40’s 3008 x 2000 pixel images will let you print up to 30 x 20 cm (12 x 8″). Don’t believe any of it I have a number of 75 x 50 cm prints from the D40, and they don’t lack detail. If you don’t believe me, different megapixel prints are put to a very public test here.

How good is the sensor?

Resolution (pixel count) by itself doesn’t equate to sharpness. Image sharpness is more to do with the lens you’re using, your shooting technique, and how steady your hand or tripod is. Image quality overall has a lot do with the sensor in your camera.

DxO labs publishes ratings for digital camera sensors using DxOMark, a new scale for measuring RAW digital camera image quality performance.

Let’s come back to the Canon 550D we started with, and do some comparisons:

Comparing the Nikon D40 with the Canon 550D shows us that, no matter how huge the gap in specs, the actual difference is remarkably small. In terms of colour depth and dynamic range, there not much in it but the Canon’s low-light performance is clearly a step ahead of the D40.

When we compare the D40 to Canon’s 15mp Powershot G10 (last year’s pocket wunderkind), we see that the biggest gain in image quality is seen when going from a digicam to a DSLR.

G10 (15mp) G11/S90 (10mp)

DxOMark Sensor 37.8 46.5

Colour Depth 19.5 20.2

Dynamic Range 10 11

Low-light ISO 157 185

I copied the DxOMark for the G11/S90 to show that Canon saw the light on megapixels with its digicams late last year, settling for 10mp sensors in the G11 and S90. Why Canon’s DSLR division hasn’t done the same is puzzling.

The Nikon D40 is not perfect

It uses the sensor from the older D50/D70s, while the D40x uses the D80’s 10mp sensor. The D5000 uses the new generation sensor from the D90. The improvement is less to do with the 12 megapixels and more with Nikon getting better at sensor design and image processing.

I’ve used a friend’s D90 and it does produce more detailed images, and cleaner ones in low light situations. It also has three times as many settings to waste time with because 98% of them are just techno-clutter (the user manual is several hundred pages long). If only they’d make a version of this sensor with 6 or 8mp it’s low-light performance should rival that of a D700.

What about live view and video?

Live view is as yet a clunky affair on DSLRs but I admit that there are situations where I’d like the flip-out viewfinder from the D5000. Video? It holds no interest for me, and Thom Hogan calls Nikon’s DSLR video ‘toy video’. Canon is probably ahead on that score.

The dark side of megapixels

I might buy a Nikon D90/D5000 for the sensor, not for the extra pixels. All the files are twice as big, and your PC will be slow to open the RAW files. Imagine what happens with 18 megapixels: your PCs knees will buckle unless you have a serious graphics processor in it. Remember, the ability to record quality RAW files is one of the key reasons for lugging a DSLR around.

The Canon’s RAW files will be around 25mb in size, and bigger if you shoot RAW and JPEG like most of us. Suddenly your PC is too slow, your flash card too small, your back-up drive too cramped and backups take forever. Unless you have a hot-shoe 4-cpu rig with a potent graphics card, editing RAW files will be painful. And what can you actually do with those extra pixels and those huge files? Print wallpaper for your lounge room? My bet is you’ll soon choose medium or small JPEG files on the shooting menu.

Small is beautiful. The D40 is light, easy and quick to start, focus and shoot. You can chuck it into the back seat of your car and it doesn’t mind. It has all the essentials except for DOF preview and a motor drive for older lenses, and it has very few features you don’t need. You can buy a refurbished one with kit lens for <$400. What more can you ask for? Check the photos galleries in my blog, and you'll see why I love my D40.

digital-photography-school.com

The traditional studio shot of families is fine, but boring as call can be! The reason very few people are excited about having a family portrait done is because they usually lack creativity, involve standing around with fake smiles and wearing a matching outfit with the rest of your family. BORING!

Taking the ultimate family portrait is about capturing moments within the family dynamic, it goes beyond lining family members up from tallest to shortest or putting on white button down shirts, khaki pants and sitting on a beach. Think outside the box and look beyond normal standards for ways to get a group shot unlike any other your family, or your client has ever seen!

This great family portrait has some unique characteristics about it. First of all, Flickr user RKHawaii was both photographer and model, this is a self / family portrait. He had a trigger in his hand to take the actual shot and utilized a strobe with a power pack to light it since the sun was at his back and he took an interesting angle, by putting the camera low he is able to capture the foreground, the mountains, sky and some of the solar glare from the sun for a really nice capture. You’ll also notice no one is looking into the camera. These more casual family portraits are the growing trend, they look far less staged and seem to tell a better story.

Flickr user Mhogan35 took a much different approach to shooting himself with his brother. This image has been heavily post processed, but at the core is a rather unique image. Location, attire and posing are the key factors in this photograph. It works extremely well due to the symmetry and emotion.

The anti family portrait! Flickr user 1Happysnapper (photography) uploaded this wonderfully rich photograph of a family where none of the faces are visible, yet this is still a family portrait at the purest sense of the word. Taking some bad weather into account and making the best of it, the use of large colorful umbrellas and punchy post-processing help transform a line of family members into a fun and quirky portrait.

To plan for these types of portraits you need to look for:

• Opportunity
• Location
• Posing
• Focus
• Story

Examining these one by one, you look for opportunity to capture moments between making moments. By this, I mean don’t always expect to shoot the perfect family portrait by staging the shot, sometimes the best portraits are captured between the staging and positioning of all family members, or when someone cracks a joke, or makes a funny face. These idiosyncrasies are what make families, and how they remember each other.

When choosing a location, don’t pay as much focus to where you’re shooting, but how you will capture the family in that moment. Equally stunning photographs can be taken in a living room, garage, open field or studio, it’s how you pose the family and utilize them in relation to the location.

Directly in relation with location is posing, which has been mentioned here a few times. In the first example the family is very casual, almost as if they don’t know the camera is there. This style is often called photo-journalistic, but it can be posed. As a photographer, if this is the style you are after ask that your family just enjoy their company, shoot the breeze and forget you are there. In the second photo is a much more rigid pose, the two brothers are positioned to mirror one another, side by side. This is slightly more classic, but given the dynamic of the image, it works really well. In the last photo the family isn’t even facing in the direction of the camera and their faces aren’t visible. Think outside the box, look towards creative ways to capture people within the environment they are in.

The focus of a family portrait should always be the family but that’s not to say they need to be in focus, or even centered. The last photo is a prime example of this, however utilizing other photographic techniques like wide open aperture for a creamy bokeh can deliver breathtaking photos.

Every photo tells a story in some way shape or form. Each of these three examples tell you something about who the families are, what their relationship is like, where they live or what they like to do, and in the last photos, what happened that day. Step back and try to imagine in your head what words would be used if a monologue was being told while you were shooting this. What would you title the shot and what would a stranger take away from looking at it; more importantly, will the family look back years from now and remember how the air smelled or what the wind felt like by looking at your photographs?

This is a guide on how to shoot with passion more-so then an any particular technique. While specific techniques are required to capture the shot, when shooting people and families, how the moment is captured is ultimately the most import ingredient, and sadly one of the most over-looked by photographers.

lightstalking.com