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

There have been touch screen cameras and camcorders before but none has approached the level and elegance of control of the Samsung ST550. In many ways, the camera parallels the touch experience of Apple’s iPhone and iPod devices. And that’s saying something!

Confession: I’ve never been a great fan of touch screens before, finding them confusing, hesitant and a little challenging. But this time Samsung has done it right. If your experience follows mine you’ll find yourself playing for hours with the screen, exploring its nooks and crannies.

It goes further: the camera captures 12.2 megapixel pictures, its maximum image size of 4000 3000 pixels is enough to make a sharp 34 25cm print. Movies have an HD res of 1280 720 at 15/30/60fps.

The lens has been designed by German optical company Schneider, offering a 4x zoom range that equates (as a 35 SLR) to 27-124.2mm. The lens is a little ’slow’ with an f3.5 maximum aperture, so for low light photography you’ll have to rely on a slower shutter speed or lift the ISO setting.

Ok at ISO 80.

On the borderline at ISO 800, getting noisier.

Not a good look at ISO 1600

Well over the hill at ISO 3200, with noise, colour artefacts and lowered resolution.

Choose a higher ISO speed? A little touchy, as my ISO test shots reveal that when the camera is set to ISO 800 and higher the shots are virtually unusable, due to the lack of definition, noise and general blockiness of the image. So the f3.5 maximum lens aperture is a problem.

The camera offers only auto or Program AE exposure options, so choosing a specific shutter speed is out of the question.

However, the ST550 is a great snapshot camera, easy to use and what is even more delightful is the second screen (a small 3.8cm LCD panel) mounted on the front panel of the camera. Now you can shoot people and let them see how they look before you snap the shutter. What an innovation!

Delightfully, you activate the screen by tapping on the camera’s front surface, left of the lens. Note: I said tapping not touching. This is a clever camera.

The only trick with this I discovered is that it’s better to step back from the subject and zoom the lens out to the tele end. The reason? If you shoot people close up as they look at the panel, their eyeline is off to the right of frame a dodgy look!

The main screen is a 7.6cm LCD of high resolution more than a million pixels! It’s ideal to assess image sharpness before you shoot and large enough to accommodate the various menu icons sprinkled around its borders. There is no optical viewfinder.

Getting around the menu was easy: I was surprised at how simple it was to select the various metering modes, auto focus options, image size, etc. If you think I’m sold on the touch screen system you’re right! Far, far better than dithering around a screen menu and whiddling with various knobs and dials to get where you want.

And each time you make a selection the screen vibrates! Samsung calls it a haptic vibration effect. The word haptic refers to touch that’s all. But the effect is really cool!

Then the thought occurs to me: why didn’t those clever South Korean camera designers take the ultimate step and give you zoom lens control via the screen a la the iPhone/iPod? Next model, please?

There’s more: tilt the ST550 to one side, and the camera starts the slide show; in Smart Auto the adjusts settings for the optimum shot; by recognising up to 20 familiar faces, it sets focuses on them; a helpful touch is the Recycle Bin, where every shot is stored in a temporary folder just in case you accidentally erase the main memory. Got me!

Distortion

A good performer: no problems at the zoom’s wide end but a tiny amount of pincushion distortion at the tele end.

Startup Time

Not the fastest: two seconds from power up to first shot, follow-ons about two seconds each.

Comment

Quality: average snapshot quality, not too good in the dark, prefers bright sunny days!

Why you’d buy the ST550: twin LCD views, slim profile.

Why you wouldn’t: no optical finder, slow lens.

Samsung ST550 Specs

Image Sensor: 12.2 million effective pixels.
Sensor Size: 8mm CCD.
Lens: Schneider-Kreuznach f3.5/5.9/4.9-22.5mm (27-124.2mm as 35 SLR equivalent).
Shutter Speed: 8 to 1/2000 second.
Focusing Range: Normal 80cm to infinity; macro W/T 5/50cm to infinity.
Exposure Control: Auto, Program AE.
Metering: Multi zone, centre-weighted; spot.
LCD screens: Rear 7.6cm (1,152,000 pixels); front 3.8cm (61,000 pixels).
Memory: microSD, 55MB internal memory.
Image Size (pixels): 4000 3000, 3894 2656, 3840 2160, 3264 2448, 2560 1920, 2048 1536, 1920 1080, 1024 768. Video: 1280 720, 640 480, 320 240 at 15/30/60fps.
File Formats: JPEG, MPEG4, AAC.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 80 to 3200.
Interface: USB 2.0, AV (PAL/NTSC), HDMI, DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery.
Dimensions: 99.8 59.8 18.6WHDmm.
Weight: Approx. 165.7 g (body only).

Get a Price on the at Amazon.

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This is a guest post by professional photographer, Joe Graziano.

Low light photography can be a lot of fun. And you don’t need to trade your soul for an expensive camera to do it. You just need to have one that has some manual setting options. I’m focusing on digital here, but I think most of what I’m going to talk about will apply to film cameras too. The only real difference is that with digital you get to view your results instantly, which allows you to adjust your settings on the fly and you can switch ISO without changing your roll of film.

You’ll have to adjust your methods to accommodate for film a little and keep better notes to track what you’re doing. I recommend keeping a small notebook with you no matter what you shoot with to track what you did so you know what works and what doesn’t.

OK, so before we get started there’s a few things you’re going to need. Here’s a list:

* Camera

* Tripod

* Flashlight

* Remote shutter release (this is optional if you have a timer on your camera)

* A subject to shoot. This can be anything; a person, landscape, an object, whatever. I recommend starting with landscapes or inanimate objects to keep it simple.

So, get your camera mounted on the tripod and either set it to timer mode or attach your remote trigger. You want to trigger the shutter remotely or use the timer to keep from jiggling your camera when doing long exposures. The remote is the best way since you never actually touch the camera, but I’ve also found that a solid tripod, a light touch, and a two-second timer work just fine. That gives the camera/tripod combo some time to stop moving if you bump it. If it’s not enough time switch to the ten-second timer.

I shoot with a Canon 1D Mk2n in Manual mode, so at this point I’m going to tell you what settings I use and you can tweak as needed to fit your camera’s capabilities. I use the following settings as my starting point:

ISO 100, 20 second exposure, f-stop 22. If you want a shallow DOF, you’ll have to cut your exposure time down drastically when you open your aperture. I use a small aperture to keep the subject sharp and I’ve come to the conclusion that 20 seconds is a good starting point for my camera and lenses. Usually the only thing I change is the shutter speed. I only change the aperture if I can’t get enough light with a 30 second exposure. I don’t use the bulb setting very often. I’m kind of ADD and my mind wanders after about ten-seconds of waiting for the shutter to close.

What’s the flashlight for? Well, it’s for two things. The most important function is for focusing. If you’re shooting in extreme low light conditions you’re going to need some light for your autofocus to work, especially if you’re using a point & shoot camera that won’t allow manual focusing. Even if you have the option to focus manually, you might still need the light to see whether or not your focus is sharp. It’s easy to be close and still be out of focus when its dark.

The flashlight is also for painting with light. This is a lot of fun. You can use a flashlight, a laser pointer, a hand held flash fired manually, basically anything that emits light. I like using a mini Maglite for still life subjects. One of the things I like about the Maglites is that you can adjust the beam diameter from a tight focused spot to a soft wide glow.

So, now you are ready to experiment. Keep it simple to start. Just pick an object from around your house and rig a black backdrop for it. I usually do this after dark so I don’t have any stray window light. I also like to go down to the waterfront late at night. The glow from the city lights and the street lights in the parking lot are more than enough light to shoot by. And experiment with light painting. It can be a lot of fun.

Spider Baby 02

Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)

Aperture: f/5

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 800

Single light source (clamp type shop light) from stage left. Lots of layers and adjustments in CS2 afterward, but no dramatic changes to the basic lighting effects from the original.

Red Queen & Black Queen

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/4

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO Speed: 100

These are the same photo, except I converted one to B&W. This is an example of painting with light. It’s an abstract style and not normally my thing, but it was a fun experiment. I set the camera for a 5 second exposure and waved it around. When I got home I uploaded the photos, picked the most interesting area and then cropped it and mirrored it. Some of them I mirrored bilateral and others quadrilateral. Outside of contrast and curves adjustments in CS2, I didn’t alter anything else.

Reentry

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/5.6

Focal Length: 75 mm

ISO Speed: 100

One of my favourites despite the fact that it reminds me of a Journey album cover.

Skull Baby

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Single light source (3 D cell Maglite) from stage right. I use a large piece of black poster board for a seamless backdrop for small objects like this baby head. The skull face was painted in Adobe CS3 and several layers of grain in opposing directions were also added later.

Deer Skull & Antlers

Exposure: 30 sec (30)

Aperture: f/32

Focal Length: 200 mm

ISO Speed: 50

This is another light painting. Black poster board background, pitch dark room, and a mini maglite. I set my focus with the lights on and then shut them off. I triggered the camera with a remote and then painted the skull and antlers with a mini maglite. This is a perfect example of trial and error. I think it took me around 15 shots to find the right combination of settings to get this photograph. So, if you don’t get it on the first try, don’t be discouraged. Remember that when you’re looking at someone else’s photos they’re showing you the two or three good ones not the five hundred that went in the trash. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more!

Waterfront at Night

Exposure: 20 sec (20)

Aperture: f/4.5

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Tripod, remote trigger, and a hint of sunlight on the horizon. For all intents and purposes it was dark. I mean, we’re talking just barely a glow on the horizon.

Baby Head & Laser Pointer B&W

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

It’s that damned baby head again! I know it’s my favourite subject for low light shots. This was shot with no light. I focused with the lights on and then switched to manual to keep the focus from changing when I hit the remote trigger. Then I just painted on it, scribbled really, with a three dollar laser pointer. It’s not the most exciting photo, but it gives you some idea of what you can do with a laser pointer.

Joe Graziano is a professional freelance photographer who also has some great photojournalism shots worth checking out. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter and check out his page on Facebook!

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