Nikon Learn & Explore iPhone App

Nikon Learn & Explore on the iPhoneNikon (USA) launched their Learn & Explore iPhone app. The application is there for you to learn & explore the magical world of Nikon. Learn about shooting techniques by renowned photographers, see photos taken around the world.

A quote from Nikon USA;

Read an article on getting the most from your travel photography while you’re on vacation. Check information on adjusting depth of field or selecting the right shutter speed when you’re taking photos at your child’s sporting event. Access advice on the right aperture for shooting photos indoors when you’re attending a wedding. It’s all there on the Learn & Explore iPhone app. Photography information at your fingertips.

Nice for those moments when you're not busy at all. Light reading material is always welcome. Especially when you can learn something new. So I want this app.....

BUT unfortunatelly, the app is US only(?????). Why? Don't ask me. I already asked Nikon this, but they haven't answered (yet).

I guess Nikon World starts and ends in the US....

Panasonic Lumix LX3 Firmware v2.1 Released

Panasonic released the v2.0 firmware for the popular Lumix LX3 compact camera in September 2009, but due to some bugs, they pulled it back. Ths week, they released the v2.1 version of the firmware.

I did the update already, and it went as expected; successful.

The list of v2.1 new features are:

1. Improved auto white balance performance.
2. Auto Focus speed-up.
3. Recording function with an aspect ratio of 1:1 has been added.
4. A white balance (WB) bracket function has been added.
5. [HIGH DYNAMIC] has been added to scene mode.
6. [LENS RESUME] has been added to the [SETUP] menu.
7. [MENU RESUME] has been added to the [SETUP] menu.
8. The exposure compensation and the auto bracket compensation can now be set up to ±3EV.
9. Position of the guide line can now be set.
10. It is now possible to display the highlights in playback mode.
11. It is now possible to record the user’s name in the picture.
12. Digital red-eye removal has been modified.
13. Items saved in the custom set have changed.

Expensive Billingham Camerabag

Expensive is not the correct word....

Source

First Review New Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED VRII

It seems that Cliff Mautner is one of the (very, very) few lucky photographers who received his new Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED VRII a month early. His findings can be found on his blog, and I must say..... Those images are awesome (from a image quality point of view). Especially the VRII seems to rock.

/me is looking at his savings.... and cries silently

Anyway, the new 70-200 is a long overdue improvement for the 'old' 70-200mm f2.8G VR lens, since the old one performed not as wel on the FX cameras (D700, D3-range) as some would have liked.

Nikon 100-500mm Rumor?

Nikon AF-S 100-500mm f/4-5.6 IF-ED VR

That would be nice... Really nice.

Where Did the Guy Go?

We went to Doel, Belgium last Saturday with the local camera club. Even though I've already been there before it still manages to capture my attention and imagination. You see completely different things each time.

I did make less photos this time, but not much less :)

All my photos from Doel can be viewed on my flickr page.

Adobe Lightroom Quirks

The reason for using Adobe Lightroom is mainly because of the tight integration with other Adobe products, and a little legacy from my Microsoft days. So I had no real reason to look at the competition (Apple Aperture).... Until now (I guess).

The biggest drawback is that you can't open multiple catalogs at the same time. Something like having multiple personal folders within Microsoft Outlook. You can open them, access the content and if you want you can detach it again to save resources.
So opening a catalog means that you can't access photo's in other catalogs.... Therefor I use one (large) catalog. Mainly because I can't be bothered with the whole exporting and importing scenario to move (or copy) images between catalogs.
By the way, I suggested such functionality to Adobe (along with some other improvements regarding the syncing of catalogs). Now let's hope that they will implement this in version 3.0

This feature is something Apple Aperture since version 1.0 (if I recall correctly), and I get the feeling that I'm near the how far I can push Adobe Lightroom.

For the last couple of days I get the strangest behaviour from Lightroom. Importing photo's normally means you can add tags, and select a way of storing them on the hard disk. Lately it seems that Lightroom is having a mind of its own. Photo's end up all over the place. Tags are getting lost.

These problems are most likely cause by two factors in my opinion;

1. A relatively large catalog which I browse a lot
2. A lot of processing power going to other applications while browsing/editing photo's

I can accept that Lightroom is getting slower with thousands of photo's, but it shouldn't get a mind of its own when my iMac is busy doing all sorts of things.

Scotland Holiday 2009

Two and a half weeks driving around in Scotland. The weather was extremely good, which we didn't anticipate, so we didn't have enough t-shirts etc. Who would have thought that over two weeks of sunshine was possible in Scotland?

Saw lots of ruins, castles, sheep, churches, sun, beer, whisky, ruins, castles and stuff. No need to get bored when you're over there. Only downside to the extremely good weather was that I wasn't able to shoot many of those typical cloudy/rainy Scotland photo's.

The trip started with the ferry IJmuiden-New Castle. After that it was Dumfries, Oban, Spean Bridge, Struan (Isle of Sky), Ullapool, Thurso, Ballater, Glenrothes, and back to New Castle. Basically a trip covering the best parts of Scotland (we did miss the Orkneys though).



Also available on my flickr page or here.

Photofocus Question - Tilted Horizon

Oh yeah... One of my questions was 'answered' in the Photofocus podcast #09 by Scott Bourne and Rick Sammon (last question of the episode).

My problem' is that when I shoot in portrait mode that the horizon is always a couple of degrees off. The right side of the image is significantly lower than the left side. No matter how hard I try. Even though the problem is easily corrected in post-processing, it's annoying as hell.

Scott suggested a using the virtual horizon (which isn't present on the D300.... hmmm which gives me an excuse to upgrade ;-)), or using a hot shoe bubble (which is a whole lot cheaper). Rick mentioned possible lens related distortion. It's not the lens, because the problem exists in the range of 10mm wide-angle to a 200mm telephoto. So I'll be trying a hot shoe bubble for a while. Let's see if that helps.