Reading emails today and seeing wonderful news! Nikon finally has announced the small sensor nonDSLR mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses that opens the door to creativity anywhere. Built around new small body, 10Mpx C-MOS sensor, new lens mount. Ladies and gentlemans fastest mirrorless cameras Nikon 1 line are here.

There are two cameras from Nikon 1 line, V1 and J1. The V1 is high-end model in the lineup and features magnesium alloy body and electronic viewfinder. It also has a special port allowing the connection of new special speedlight or GPS unit (later probably other accesories). The Nikon V1 kit with 10-30mm (27-81mm 35mm eq.) lens will be $899.95, the Nikon J1 camera with 10-30mm lens kit will be available at a suggested retail price of $649.95. Nikon also announced an adapter allowing the use of Nikon F-mount lenses. The question is if AF will be available through adapter or not.

Official PR says: From Nikon, a company with more than 75 years in imaging excellence, the Nikon 1 J1 is an advanced camera with interchangeable lenses that opens the door to a fresh way to capture pictures and High Definition (HD) movies. This Nikon 1 system represents a new category of camera that challenges conventional thinking, emphasizing a pocketable form factor with unbelievable speed, combined with the high image quality that only Nikon could create. Thanks to a wealth of innovative technologies, the Nikon J1 camera is a simple to use conduit for creativity, seemingly anticipating a consumer's needs in any situation. Moments are instantly captured using amazingly fast new hybrid Autofocus (AF), and blazing fast speed with continuous AF. Users can also shoot with confidence knowing that the Smart Photo Selector will automatically capture the best possible image without a second thought. Furthermore, just a touch of the shutter button instantly captures a high quality image while simultaneously recording Full HD 1080p movies, and the exciting new Motion Snapshot mode captures fleeting moments like never before with a combination of moving and still images, bringing memories to life. To accompany this exciting new form factor, Nikon created the entirely new 1 NIKKOR lens system that seamlessly integrates powerful precision optics into a camera platform to capture more of the world around the user.

"The needs of the consumer are changing and the world is becoming one of visual conversation, which paves the way for the next chapter in image capture devices. The new Nikon 1 system is the culmination of more than 75 years of optical excellence and relentless pursuit to the unrivaled technological advancements in camera technology," said Bo Kajiwara, Director of Marketing, Nikon Inc. "Nikon's new 1 J1 camera allows consumers to have confidence in a new way to express themselves, with amazing speed, versatility, ease of use and portability."

I have been reading several discussion about what is the future Nikon product. Are we going to see an upgrade like Nikon D700s or fully working new model which could be called Nikon D800? I am going to make my personal bet not only for cheapest full frame dslr however also for top model which for sure will be Nikon D5 and not D4.

D700s vs D800

General live cycle of the Nikon cameras are slightly more than two years. So when we see current portfolio we should expect new model in full frame range, mean exchange for Nikon D700. When we see its parallel Nikon D90, it has been already exchange for D7000. Now we have two options how Nikon make it successor.

1. Updated product, thats D700s
2. New product, D800

And why D5 and not D4?

And why not D4? Asian are very much into the number and its meaning. Almost none of the asian manufacturer use number 4 as a primary digit. Simply because it is bad luck number such as 13. 40 and 400 is ok. Just 4 is not. Remember that there is no Fuji S4, Lumix LX4, Tungsten T4 etc..

Specification of D700 successor

More less the same things we see now on D3x. The only question is the price and if Nikon keep D700 in production. AF: 51 points. CAM3500FX same as D3X with Shutter: 1/8,000 ~ 60 sec, B Flash Sync: 1/250, no more Built-in Flash: GN 12, same as D700. Sensor type: 24Mpx CMOS, same as D3x Sensor resolution: 24Mpx in FX and 10Mpx in DX. Frame Rate in machine gun mode: 3 fps. 8 fps in DX mode. ISO range: hopefully 50 - 6,400 with boost up to 25 000 and no noise. :) Build in wifi or GPS could be a nice add on. Possibility of electronic viewfinder for live mode as well.

I am probably not the only one who said when first hear about Panasonic Lumix LX4 "Thats it!" LX4 was probably first compact camera with all manual feature any even DSLR user can imagine. What is more finally with real wide angle fast lens. Lumix LX3 so become another camera along with my Nikon Dslr. Now we have an upgrade: Panasonic LX5... reason enough to upgrade or not? How about LX6 rumours? :) UPDATE: Fuji X100 i is here... new man in the town?

Panasonic LX5 (or LX3): first compat camera for DSLR users

Remember the times when I almost crash my compact camera because of impotency to make pictures i want. No manual, no manual focus, no bracketing, no histogram. I always miss all potential what I have with my Nikon DSLR. I saw LX3... I bought one. And from that time, my Nikon has much more free time... Belive or not but most of the time i shot at full auto called iA. Really, unbelievable. The auto mode is so good here that I do not use all features I cried for that much as I expected. Of course the picture quality is something different... it is still just compact camera. However I do not want to write review of this camera, you can find much better articles. This is about latest comparison... the new one vs old one. Until Lumix LX6 arrive. :)

What I hate on my LX3

Well... not too many things. Just two:

• Lens distortion at wide angle - you need to be careful not to have people in the corner. They do not look good. And they will hate you! :)
• Zoom - 2.5x zoom is not enough when you start at 24mm. Sometimes I have been cheating with digital zoom, sometimes i just cried.

So lets see, what are the main difference between these two great cameras...

• Longer zoom, 30mm more... great!
• Better dynamic range
• Better video rec options
• Some new control buttons (jog dial vs joystick), battery life etc.

	Panasonic LX5 / Leica D-Lux 5	Panasonic LX3 / Leica D-Lux 4
Sensor	10 MP / 1.63″ CCD	10 MP / 1.63″ CCD
Lens	Leica Vario-summicron 24-90 mm F/2-3.3	Leica Vario-summicron 24-60 mm F/2-2.8
LCD	3 inch 460k px	3 inch 460k px
Dimension/weight	109.7 x 65.5 x 43.0 mm / 271g	108.7 x 59.5 x 27.1 mm / 265 g
Battery	battery life 400 shots	battery life 380 shots
ISO	up to 3200, expansion up to crazy 12800, usable up to 400	up to 3200, usable up to 400
Movie mode	HD 1,280 x 720 px, 30fps, AVCHD Lite	HD 1,280 x 720 px, 30fps
Continuous shooting	2.5 fps (can be more in lower res.)	2.5 fps (can be more in lower res.)
Other improvements etc.	improved(?) hand-grip, jog-dial, 1:1 ratio switch, movie recording button	strange joystick

UPDATE: Leica D-LUX 5 vs Panasonic LX5

Ultimate battle: Panasonic vs Leica. What are the difference... not much. The basic camera hardware and lens are the same. The main difference is in final design and whole bundle. So what are the main diferences between LX5 vs D-LUX5?

• Better software: Leica has Adobe Lightroom worth $200
• Better warranty: not real difference in EU, however in US it is a great value. Leica has 3 years limited warranty.
• Different design: some people like it some not. Panasonic has small hand grip on right side of the camera for better handling. Leica users do not like it... and their version is much simpler when we talk about design. I like Leica D-LUX 5 design more.
• Different menu layout. I can judge this.
• Different setting: It said that Leica has different setting of the final JPEG processing.
• Leica keep value: when you sell your camera after 5 years on ebay... you probably not get anything... until you sell Leica D-Lux. Leica is really strong brand... even very old camera such as Leica Digilux 1 is still keeping even $400 value.

UPDATE: Fuji X100 vs Panasonic LX5... or Fuji X100 vs D-LUX 5 Leica

This is the question nowdays and probably it is a topic of my next article. Fuji X100 with its APS-C sensor looks like a dream machine. There is no question about image quality and high iso performance. Panasonic LX5 is probably more versatile due to its zoom optics however AF performance could be weaker compare to X100. No personal expirience here so far.

Leica D-LUX 4 vs Panasonic LX3... or Leica D-LUX 4 vs D-LUX 5

Well... it is the same: D-LUX 4 and LX3 is the exactly same situation as D-LUX 5 and LX5. Read section above. When we compare D-LUXes... we get also the same like with Lumix. So D-LUX 4 vs D-LUX 5 is the same as LX5 vs LX3.

What about Panasonic LX4

I have been asked several times about Lumix LX4. Probably not every knows... asian people are very much into numbers and its meanings. 8 mean luck/fortune in money terms. 98 mean "forever rich", 28 "easy to get rich"... 668 "all the way to get rich" ... 58 "not getting rich" ... and our number 4? 4 means "dead" ... 48 "dead rich" etc. Thats why you do not see even Palm T4, Nikon D4 etc... it is similar as EU/US number 13.

Final verdict: enough to buy one?

No. Clear answer. Even I really miss that 30mm+ of the new LX5. Everything else remain the same. What I really appreciate from Panasonic was the fact that they really care about LX line. They made several firmware updates and add many features during product life of LX3. They probably do the same just for LX5 which is a pitty. However I stay with LX3, waiting for Panasonic Lumix LX6. Some one maybe asking what is the difference between Leica and Panasonic bundle. Well, first of all price, then better software include (Leica include Adobe Elements), nice box, red dot logo and cool image. :) Not worth of money when its arrive on the market. Later on great deal. As always with Leica compat cameras. :)

One more thing I am really looking forward to is to see lumix lx5 firmware update. Updates of my LX3 brings a lot of new features... it will be interesting to see whats new come soon and how it will look in 2012 when we see Lumix LX5 vs LX6 comparsion. Or maybe whole LX series disapear by new fight: Fuji X100 vs LX5. Just look at Fuji X100 review and you know what I am talking about.

• http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19454
• http://www.digital-photography-school.com/3-quick-newborn-photography-tips
• http://www.digital-photography-school.com/photographing-babies
• http://www.shootbaby.com.au/
• http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/235159-first-newborn-shoot-c-c-please.html

Everyone who shoot especially unexperience models probably find difficulties how to explain and get good poses. Sometimes it is even worse like lack of ideas of the photographer. It is also common situation when someone wanted to start doing portraits or scenic photos. I have tried to find some good resources on the net and this post is just about my results: model posing guides to download and print etc.

Posing tips and tricks for photographers

They are several good sites with posing tips for photographers of any level. Usually it is set of rules which is good to follow or at least perfect tips how to be aware of common mistakes. Unfortunately most of the good sites nowdays are paid or just a promo to book with this topic. Here is one free link with poses tricks I found very useful, free and with examples. Second part can be found here. Some other tips can be also find at photographycourse.net even not that detailed. Last article is more less for models to read. There are much more very similar, sometimes is just a copy of previous articles. I personaly like the freedigitalphotographytutorials.com one even I do not agree with everything written there. Last thing is small text from closed site nowdays however worth to read.

Posing tips and tricks for photographers

What I find very useful is to print/show pose figures or even whole photos to the model. It accelerate communication and you can get better result much faster. Especially with newbie models when you simply give them an option even to choice poses they like for beginning and then you can work on the others. Here are some poses guides which you can print easily, it is more than 400 poses all together for female and male models and for pairs. This resources I have found on the net, some of them such as "legendary" photocrack.com (site closed nowdays... yes again) I downloaded from internet archive.

Belive or not however there are not many free sites with such material. Most of them are simply promo to book or what ever paid site where you have no idea what are you going to get for your money. So enjoy and if you find more, please send me a link (post to discussion). Lets start here, more links bellow.

Click on links bellow to download...

1,378 poses for use on the iPhone or iPod Touch	Poses Tips PDF	New Pose	Model Pose Exe

Update: Posing Techniques Videos

Just few days after I made this post I got some infos about video tutorials of posing techniques and photographing model portfolios on youtube. Here are some interesting ones:







]]> http://www.howtoshot.com/135/posing-guides-how-to-poses-for-female-model/feed/ 6 http://www.howtoshot.com/82/how-to-fix-front-focus-nikon-d90-d80-back-focus-problem/ http://www.howtoshot.com/82/how-to-fix-front-focus-nikon-d90-d80-back-focus-problem/#comments Sun, 26 Dec 2010 22:01:07 +0000 admin http://www.howtoshot.com/?p=82 Front focus and Back focus manual adjustment

Front or back focusing can be a serious problem. You buy new Nikon camera and suddenly does not focus properly with old lenses. Very frustrating. And even more when you take all to the Nikon service and after one month they will send it back with result "everything is in limit". So lets talk about D90 back/front focus adjustment. How to adjust autofocus of your camera in 30 minutes.

Nikon DSLR Autofocus and View Finder system

This article is based on several forum posts and especially original article of Sergei Khizhiy about back focus problem on Nikon D70 and later leongoodman.com. Links to the original articles are at the end. Important thing is that this method is not just for really strong back/front focus problem however also for fine tunning the camera. Even if you get the answer that everything is in limit or your camera works fine with expensive ethalon prime lens (which you obviously dont own). This can help you to get better focus with your current lens (if it has some focusing problem). Important note: AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BY NIKON

On the left you can see basic design how the autofocus system of the D90 works. There are two mirrors. One for autofocus (AF) and one for manual focusing - viewfinder focus (VF). The general idea is that screw 1 and 2 are easy possible to adjust by hex key screw driver (also called Inbus or Imbus). And because they are even not hidden or covered, obviously they are here for adjusting purposes of the service.

When you frame a picture, the light from the lens travels along path A (green). A fraction of the light beam goes through the semitransparent rectangular window in the main mirror and is reflected to the auto focus detectors (path C, magenta). When you take a shot, both VF and AF mirrors lock at the upper position, and the light hits the CCD directly by path B (yellow). Distances A, B, and C must be equal to some base distance D defined by Nikon engineers for their SLRs long time ago.

Because its is impossible to fine tune or even change the positions of the CCD/CMOS sensor or AF sensor, we have to find another way. There is also no way how to change this by software (so far from what i know), so this is the only way i find on the net. All you can is to change distances A and C by changing just a little bit the working angles of the corresponding mirrors. Basically, the mirrors should be positioned precisely at 45 degrees from the main optical axis of the camera and lens. These angles are maintained by the positions of the eccentrical stoppers, fine tuned by hex key screw 1 and 2. you can easily find them on the right side of the mirror chamber. This general design seems to be the same for Nikon D70 D80 D90. I do not know if its also for D7000. 1. Print a good test pattern like the one used for testing at www.dpreview.com (ISO 12233). Stick it to a flat vertical surface in front of the camera and light it brightly to help manual focusing. 2. Remove the lens, pull up the mirror, lock it in the upper position with an adhesive tape for convenience, mark the initial positions of the stoppers for a roll back, take a 2 mm hexagonal L-shaped wrench and rotate the AF stopper against its axis to a chosen direction by a few degrees. Then unlock the mirror and put the lens back. 3. Mount the camera on a tripod and align it carefully against the test pattern. 4. Set the Aperture Priority mode on the camera and use the fastest aperture available. 5. Let the auto focus do its job and shoot. Then shoot two more pictures of the pattern with a manual correction of the focus by half a notch to either direction of the focusing ring (focus bracketing). The kit lens of the D70 allows you to do so simply by turning the focus ring while pressing the shutter release button half way. Check the user manual on that. 6. Download the images to a computer and see which of the images is better: autofocused or manually corrected. This will give you a clue if you need to rotate the AF stopper some more or if you rotated it to the wrong direction and need to reverse it. Repeat steps 2...6 until you get a perfectly autofocused picture. 7. Now that you have done with the auto focus, proceed to the calibration of the manual focus. It is done by turning the VF stopper to a certain direction by a few degrees. Keep adjusting the VF stopper position until you get the two following things at the same time: first, you must see the test pattern through the viewfinder perfectly in focus, and, second, you must see the confirmation sign of the auto focus (a green dot lit) in the bottom left corner of the viewfinder. 8. Check the result by downloading images to a computer. Use focus bracketing to see that you get the best resolution with auto and manual focusing and without focus correction.

1. Print a good test pattern like the one used for testing at www.dpreview.com (ISO 12233), for more see links at the end of this article. Stick it to a flat vertical surface in front of the camera and light it brightly to help manual focusing.
2. Remove the lens, pull up the mirror, lock it in the upper position with an adhesive tape for convenience, mark the initial positions of the stoppers for a roll back, take a 2 mm hexagonal L-shaped wrench and rotate the AF stopper against its axis to a chosen direction by a few degrees. Then unlock the mirror and put the lens back.
3. Mount the camera on a tripod and align it carefully against the test pattern.
4. Set the Aperture Priority mode on the camera and use the fastest aperture available.
5. Let the auto focus do its job and shoot. Then shoot two more pictures of the pattern with a manual correction of the focus by half a notch to either direction of the focusing ring (focus bracketing). The kit lens of the D70 alows you to do so simply by turning the focus ring while pressing the shutter release button half way. Check the user manual on that.
6. Download the images to a computer and see which of the images is better: autofocused or manually corrected. This will give you a clue if you need to rotate the AF stopper some more or if you rotated it to the wrong direction and need to reverse it. Repeat steps 2...6 until you get a perfectly autofocused picture.
7. Now that you have done with the auto focus, proceed to the calibration of the manual focus. It is done by turning the VF stopper to a certain direction by a few degrees. Keep adjusting the VF stopper position until you get the two following things at the same time: first, you must see the test pattern through the viewfinder perfectly in focus, and, second, you must see the confirmation sign of the auto focus (a green dot lit) in the bottom left corner of the viewfinder.
8. Check the result by downloading images to a computer. Use focus bracketing to see that you get the best resolution with auto and manual focusing and without focus correction.

Some links to useful articles I get most of the information: Here are front/back focus test charts. There are several ways how to do it. Some people like the lines, another tiny texts. My suggestion is that you need both.

• Line based front focus test chart: http://focustestchart.com/focus10.pdf
• Tiny text back focus test chart: http://www.leongoodman.com/d70/focus.pdf
• http://leongoodman.com/sergei/backfocus.htm
• http://www.leongoodman.com/d70focus.html

It is always very interesting to follow whats going on at better-amateur camera market. Especially from Nikon point of view, because this company deliver new model line every year. :) This time they claim Nikon D7000 is not succesor of Nikon D90. Is it true? No one really care, important is a fact if its good camera to buy now days or not. Why I am thinking about? Well.. I have to upgrade my old D70! .

mid-range camera, high-end result

First of all do not be ashamed of buying these cameras. I meet some people who bought Nikon D300s just because they want to look better. From the other I remember several pros who bought Nikon D70 along to their Nikon D2x for just oposite reason: lower weight, low profile and good-enough picture quality. And especially Nikon D7000 is built very well. Well.. .Canon users have much better life here. There are just few models... every one knows that 500D is starter, 50D can be used even by pro. 5D is definitely pro and 1D or Eos 1Ds Mark III... there is nothing to talk about. However even Canon start to confuse their users by new Canon 7D (which is not direct successor of 5D) and Canon 60D which is definitely not better than Canon 50D. So at the end... they have the same. :)

The real difference between pro and non-pro cameras are just few features which are not important for average photographer:

• Megapixels for huge prints and picture quality in extreme conditions - however here it does not count at all D7000 has more Mpx than Nikon D300s
• Autofocus for extreme condition (mean fast and very accurate)... also not a case for D7000
• Anti-dust and watter proof protection
• Fast shutter speed and FPS
• Studio ready features
• fast control layout
• Metal body... shutter with warranty (at least 100 000 pictures)
• And few more...
Well... when I read this... it seems to me the ambitious of Nikon D7000 are really higher. :)

Megapixels are not a case anymore. Even with 4 Mpx you can make A3 prints. Sometimes I even thing it is worse: more Mpx better computer you need for postprocessing. Come on, i can not edit easily 20Mpx pictures on my PC! Studio is clear and most of the families are not having their own photo studio at home. Fast control layout means more levers and switch which are cool for professionals and pretty confusing for my mother. However this is not about pro cameras, it is about Nikon D7000 and D90

Real difference

As always I am gonna to disappoint everybody who expect long article about technical differences between these two cameras. When we see the price tag, D700 is 500 USD more than D90. What are we paying for here: more Mpx, metal body, faster speed, better AF, better video, more pro controls, better ISO. Well everything which most of the user consider to be a reason to buy Nikon D300s. Here it looks that everything what Nikon says about D7000 to not be direct successor of the D90 is true. However there is another fact: whenever new Nikon arrive it is always a little bit overpriced. Lets see basic facts:

Nikon D7000 performance

when we see it from performance point of view, the only thing what D7000 shares with D90 is the design. It is not like Nikon D80 vs D90, which can be consider to be facelift. New shutter release (better, faster), new expo metering (more segments), more AF points and cross elements, better body, faster fps. In some way it is even better than Nikon D300s. Here Nikon has to reduce ambitious of D7000, so it simply make it slower in machine gun mode and reduce buffer (also important for sport photography... less pictures can be taken in high speed mode). I really belive that D7000 can be easily what I saw in the times of Nikon D70: low cost, low profile, 2nd body even for professional photographers. The ability to use also old Nikkor AI lenses just confirming this theory. The only question is if its worth of money. Well... you get "almost" Nikon D300s, you pay for "almost" D300. It seems to be fair. :)

Final result

Well... after all I am thinking of buy Nikon D90. Why? It is always better to let new model on the market and see. New firmware arrive, they sometimes recall battery to the service. After year or two it is very clear what is real value and potential. If I buy D7000 now, I get for price of Nikon D300 "just better" Nikon D90. For the price different I can buy nice second hand lens such us 12-24/4 ("FX people" now selling that lenses because of their new full frame FX camera like Nikon D3x or D700). I remember that even my Nikon D70 i bought when D70s was already on the market and I did not like the price tag. Maybe there is a question why I did not want to take Nikon D300 or D300s. Here are my thought about: Nikon D300 is cool and nice however it is heavy and I did not appreciate anything it has better than D90. Whats more, it is bigger than D90 and I do not want to buy new bag. Maybe stupid reason however I am getting old and I hate to bulky things. :) Anyway... I am going yo some discussion to let other oppose my ideas.

Every photographer have been thinking about buying softbox lights at least once. However especially for amateurs there is a question of need and if its good idea to spend few hunders bucks for softbox or should I buy new lens instead.

Since I have been thinking in the same way I decided to do softbox by myself and found out that very basic think can be done for 20 USD maximum. How? Lets make a list what we need:

What we need

For homemade softbox studiolight we need following:

• Big Nutella package :)
• 2x "Universal underlay", no idea how its call corectly in english. Anyway It is simply silver underlay that protect you when you sleep in nature (protecting human budy from humidity and temperature when you lay down in the forest).
• 1x light diffuser, simply something what makes light softer. You can use what ever. If you have Collapsible Reflector Disc with semi-transparent white fabric, you win. Easyest way is to buy 1 meter of curtain without any texture/pattern. Such a small piece you can get even free in special shops with curtains.
• 4x wooden Lath (thiniest one), for framing front rectangle of softbox
• Sticky tape, stickers, binder and pencil.
• Flash light

Make a template from paper of final form. You will need for several reasons: first you wanna to make same sides of the softbox, second its better to make a paper model first because its quite dificult to make it right at first try. Do not forget that you need few cm (1 inch) on the borders. I have used A3 paper for template. When you have temlate simply copy it to underlay and make sides of softbox which you can put together by binder. Sticky tape you can youse for finishing. The rest is clear i think, just use tripod as softbox stand and you win.

Results

Its is definitevly not the pro version of softbox which you can use outside however for playing and fun its not that bad. Here are the results:

Landscaapes... most of peoplelove it. There are nice colorful with lot of details. Why in hell none of my picture looks the same? Probably I do not have Eur 5000+ camera equipment. No no. The truth is much simplier. Hot to shoot landscape? Hot to make landscape pictures? Lets have a look hot to do it step-by-step. Simple manual how to make landscape that all of your friends say just wow. UPDATED: 10/2010

Any camera can produce wonderful landscape

I am really sorry but you do not need to buy new camera. Here are list of thing we need to make nice landscape pictures. Basically we have two parts of our work. One is field work - you need to shoot landscape somewhere. You probably can not use any of your older pictures because their are simply bad for this purposes. Two is a bit of photoshop magic or better call that digital black chamber work. Do not worry. It takes 5 minutes no more!

You will need this:

• Any camera (with some manual control is better)
• Tripod
• Circular polarizer filter (higly recomended)
• Good weather condition (no landscape is nice without clouds, sundown, sunrise... sun and noon-time is not a case here at all!)
• Some software, here we are going to use HDRsoft Photomatix
• Mars bar :)))

Lets go shooting

Go to the woods and find some nice scenery. Put your camera on tripod. Now we are going to shoot more pictures that has to be exactly same except exposition. These pictures we are going to compose to get one which much higher dynamic range. If your camera support bracketing feature use it (set 3 pictures witch step 1 EV). Bracketing means that camera by itself make more images at once with different exposition. No bracketing? Do not cry about. You simply shoot one picture on auto mode then set exposition compensation down (-1 EV) and shoot another one. 2 pictures can be enough however always make 3 (+1 EV). No one never know which one you need. Try to focus on closer subject if you know how (rock on the picture for example).

Important thing is that all pictureas has to be exactly same so do not move with camera. If your camera support bracketing try to use selftimer to avoid any handshaking. Better pictures you have larger landscape you can produce (better details). Result should look like this (yes this kind of pictures we usually get):

Note for the lucky ones who having manual controls: To get best results set lowest ISO (means best quality), high Aperture - f8 on compact cameras (usually maximum) and f16 on DSLR (no more because average lens giving best result around this) and focus on 1.5 m for wide picture (this distance is close to hyper focal lenght which means everything above 1.5 m be sharp).

Honey, I'am home!

So lets start our computer work. Run Photomatix and get this

Our case is probably second option so lets continue. Open pictures you made in nature. Be sure they are the same (if not the result will be pretty blurred. Sometimes you have to use just pictures because of handshaking or wind blowing - it has moved camera or plants on the picture). When you open them it should look like this:

Menu HDRI -> Generate HDR. As result you get very strange looking picture. Do not worry about it.

Menu HDRI -> Tone Mapping. And now we are getting to interesting part which you will like the best:

Now we have to tune our picture. (1) is control of dynamic of the picture. Usually is better to not using max so -5 is best here. (2) is histogram control. Good picture need shades as well as shine parts. Try to make histogram wide by black and white point controls. Last control is whole saturation of the picture. Its all upon you: wanna colorfull picture or rainy-like dark scenery? My setting here are following:

And thats it. Easy, dont you think? The final result in this case is here:

Conclusion

There is nothing to conlcude... I whish you luck!

Tima is running and again, we have the same question however in newer jacket. Which one is better? We are not going to talk about Canon D5. Now it is good time to decide if the older model is good enough to buy or not since the price of the older one will go down very soon. Same story again. :)

Why to buy Nikon D300 now?

Maybe we wanna the best of the best and we want it now. However we should think about the older version Nikon D200 because its price is going down and it could be enough for our needs. Lets have a look on both and try to find difference. I know D200 nowdays is gonne... so D300 is simply best gear to everyone who needs profesional build body. Everyone else should also think about lower models such us Nikon D90 and latest Nikon D7000. Why? They have some easy-to-use features, they are much lighter and result and not that far away. And do not forget about price tag!

Nikon D300 Key Features

These ones you can on Nikon D700 as well however...

• 12.3 megapixel CMOS senso (dx format -> crop 1.5x)
• Self-cleaning sensor (vibration agains dust)
• 3.0" LCD monitor (0.9Mpx), can be used as viewfinder!
• Really fast operation (powerup 13 ms, shutter lag 45 ms, blackout 100 ms)
• Improved autofocus (AF): 51 points, tracking by color, auto-focus calibration up to 20 separate settings by lens
• 6 fps (frame per second - machine gun mode)
• you keeping your DX lens collection :)
• And more...

There is much more I just tried to find the most important features which makes Nikon D700 unique now and especially when we are going to comparte that to Nikon D300.

Nikon D300 vs. D700 main differences

Lets have a look on our difference sheet

Nikon D700

Well... in my opiniom "just" fullframe version of D700. Smallest full frame camera from Nikon now days. If you have an ambitious for full frame... or you want to change almost all lenses you have. D700 is the rigth choice. Why not D3? Simply D3 is very heavy... even withou flash built in. :) I think D3s is to serious for most of the people. Its like 5D vs 1Ds... people often take 5D because they dont like builky stuff.

Nikon D3

The Nikon D3 is the only Nikon pro camera nowdays. It is the biggest, bulkiest, fastest, heaviest, toughest, most expensive with the fattest and longest lasting battery. Newier version is called D3s, as always. I have to admit, after a years... this is a great camera. Not for everyone, however for pros... finally some clear alternative to Canon EOS 1 Ds mark III and for much better price. The D3 is the camera to get for action and sports. Its AF system is superb extra fast. You no longer have to pick and chose AF sensors, or have to focus, lock and recompose. When you set it up as I do, you just compose and fire, and everything comes out perfectly. The frame rate of 9 FPS is the easy part, however not fastest nowdays.

Intro

One day, almost every photographer decide or at least start to think about his own studio. The easiest way is to make some kind of amateur studio (atelier) at home. The problem is to find some relevant info or how tos. There just a few articals about this important topic for beginers or people without good infos or friends whit such know how. I have written this artical in czech years ago however its is still relevant even today.

Lighting is the key of a lot of types of pictures. We are not going to talk about expensive soft boxes and pro lighting. The only thing we use is the Nikon DSLR with one wireless TTL comanded flash (Nikon SB-800). The brand here is absolutely not important here, you can get the same with Canon, Pentax, Sony, Panasonic or Sigma. We also use 5-in-1 light reflector / diffuser and some cheap umbrellas (rain umbrellas :)).

What we need here?

Not much and not very expensive staff...

• Nikon D70 - old DSLR as camera and flash commander. aperiture 5,6, time 1/160, iso 200, white ballance - auto, flash in commander mode.
• Nikon SB-800 - our main light source. Setings: remote TTL with difusion dome and adapter (14mm).
• Holder - we need to hold external flash outside camera, the same whit diffusor and umbrella.
• Silver umbrella - original photo umbrella, cost 30,- USD
• Silver semitransparent umbrella "Tesco" - low cost, low quality Tesco umbrella for 2,- USD (or free). The main advantage of this umbrella is the fact that it is half transparent. You can use it as a diffusor or reflect umbrella. The color is about bluesilvergrey something.
• Reflector 5-IN-1 - we use it as diffusor to make "softbox" efect.

Few days ago I have posted small artical about comparsion of Nikon D200 vs D300. Now I found Nikon D300 sample gallery on some chinese forum. So lets heck it out and see its noise and detail capability. Its still good time to decide if the older model is good enough or not. D300 or D200? That is the question...

Nikon D300 sample pictures gallery

Browsing on my favourite forum and finding out nice link with real sample pictures from D300. So ladies and gentlemans here is brand new Nikon D300 sample gallery. Its well done and you can compare details, noise reduction etc. there. Original non-translated link is here.

Anyway... still thinking that buying Nikon D200 in sale is better option for me. All Nikon D200 vs D300 battle seems to be pretty interesting. Btw. Where is Canon and its 40D? Or Canon 50D?

My last post about this topic: Nikon d300 better than Nikon d200?

Israel, small country with high media coverage. Country some people dream about. Some ones hate it. The others fighting for and the rest is afraid of. Me and two friends of mine decided to make a short trip to israel and try to visit all places we have heard about from news and bible. So this is photo report of our israel trip because my camera made me a company of course! So pictures from Israel!

Landing Tel-Aviv straight to Hebron

Its 18.1.2007 arround 5:00 am. We are getting to friends of mine flat. Just quickly throw away our luggage and then directly to Central Bus station.

For everyone who is first time in Israel. Just visit of central bus station is pretty shocking. First of all they the security check is the same like on airport (you get use to very fast because they check you in the same way even at the entrance of every restaurant or club). Secondly young soldiers are everywhere. The israel is the only country which has military duty for man and woman as well. Boys has to serve 3 years, girls just 2. So you see them all around and to be honest they do not lookl frustrated at all. :)

Our destination is Hebron located on west bank (under palestinian authority control) and the way will not be easy because there are no any lines there. It is pretty dangerous place and most of isrealis have never been there during their whole life. We are getting in armoured bus (bullet proof windows etc.) direction the nearest settlement: Qiryat Arba. Btw. We are the only non-uniformed passengers.

There are no real bus stops in settlements so sometimes its pretty confusing to get off at the righ place. Anyway we decided to get out because friend of mine though it is the place. So no we are in the middle of nowhere trying to find a place to hitchhike to Hebron. After one hour we find out we are completly wrong. Qiryat Arba is next settlement around 4 kilometers away and tt is danger to go there by foot so we have to hitchhike to Qiryat Arba first and then to Hebron.

After two hours we are in Hebron. Hebron is one of the most ancient cities in the Middle East. And one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world as well. Population around 150000 palestinians and 500 jews (which are guarded by 5000 israel soldiers). Its is holy city because allmost all patriarchs are buried here (sara, isaac, rebekah, rachel), second holiest city for jews called the city "the City of the Patriarchs". We are staying right in front of the Cave of the Patriarchs. Synague, thomb and mosque at once. Today some muslim festival take place there so there are a lot of policemans and atmosphere is pretty hot.

Very soon we are getting to know some settlers. They are really interested in what we are doing there because not very much visitors comming here in general. Look at picture bellow even ambulance has to be armoured here!

These guys are very nice to use and they offer to give us a tour guide. So we are walking around idf checkpoints. On every second corner there is a story who died here and when. Wanna bit of frustration?

We did not want to go too far from last checkpoint because it was quite obvious that there are some problems all around (shooting can be heard clearly).

When we get back to the cave it was around 6pm. and no car have been parking there anymore. So question was how to get back to Qiryat Arba. After 30 minutes some one give as a lift to the nearest bus station and on the we found out why everybody told us that comming back on foot to Quiryat Arba is almost suicide. A lot of strange people were rubberneck on the streets and so on. 10:00pm we are safe home in Tel Aviv Jaffo which is very nice by night:

Jerusalem, capital of all

10:00 am we are on the way to Jerusalem. No armoured bus anymore. Around noon time we get to the ancient city and we were walking around famous sights and our favoured places and restaurants. Lunch we spent in Praha restaurant eating fake hungarian goulash with dumplings (we got ordinary goulash with potatos something instead however good taste after days of eating just falafel :) ). Here are some pictures next day at night in Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Kotel (western wall of second temple).

Now we are on the way to Afula to get to kibbutz Ein Harod to visit my realtives. Kibutzs are collective community villages (cities). Its kind of ideology way of living: everybody share everything and no one owns anything. People working for kibbutz and gets everything they need (like house, food, goods). Most of kibbutzs are willage type of setlements around some factory or farm which giving people jobs. They provide corporate dinning hall, swiming pool or car renting (free for members). Around 8% of all israelis living in Kibbutz. Getting less now days because for young people this way of living is not cool anymore. We were quite surprised by visiting nice club near by Ein Harod. On our way back we drive golf car (pretty drunk) which was very funny. :)

Golan Heights

Next day we were going to Golan Heights. Israel captured land during Six Day War in 1967 and Yom Kippur War in 1973. Nice piece of nature full of mines and other war artefacts.

Last picture is from Syrian border with anti-tank barrier. On our way back we went to Kineret lake and Nazareh. Then by bus back to Tel-Aviv.

Gaza, Ber-sheba, Massada, Dead See and back

Gaza strip is very small area with around 1.4 mil residents, mostly Palestinians. Probably most dangerous place in middle east. To be honest I do not know why we wanted to go there. Maybe just kind of adrenalin. Anyway we were able to get just to the border line. No way to get in. Gaza is surrounded by defence wall (security fence), 6 m high concrete wall. It takes exatly 1.5 minutes israeli army HMMWV (idf) to capture you when are waling near by this wall. They were quite angry to us however at the end they were happy to see just stupid tourist and not something else.

Our next steps goes to the judea desert to visit massada and dead sea. Massada is really unique fortrest in the world. It was build on the top of flat mountain and it had everything you need to survive: rainy watter tank, fields. No wonder Romans spent few years at mountin foot and even after that they won just because all of defenders self-murdered.

And this is the end of our journey... just map of travel.

Just 3 days after anouncing brand new Canon D40 new Nikon horse arrive as well. Welcome Nikon D300 successor of the famous Nikon D200. Thats marketing we are not that much interested in. New model come old become to be a part of history. This is the best time to decide if the older model is good enough to buy or not since the price of the older one will go down very soon.

Why to buy Nikon D300 now?

Maybe we wanna the best of the best and we want it now. However we should think about the older version Nikon D200 because its price is going down and it could be enough for our needs. Lets have a look on both and try to find difference.

Nikon D300 Key Features

These ones you can not find on Nikon D200...

• 12.3 megapixel CMOS senso (dx format -> crop 1.5x)
• Self-cleaning sensor (vibration agains dust)
• 3.0" LCD monitor (0.9Mpx), can be used as viewfinder!
• Really fast operation (powerup 13 ms, shutter lag 45 ms, blackout 100 ms)
• Improved autofocus (AF): 51 points, tracking by color, auto-focus calibration up to 20 separate settings by lens
• 6 fps (frame per second - machine gun mode)
• And more...

There is much more I just tried to find the most important features which makes Nikon D300 unique now and especially when we are going to comparte that to Nikon D200.

Nikon D300 vs. D200 main differences

Lets have a look on our difference sheet

Nikon D300 vs. D200 main differences

From average user pespective there are not many reasons to upgrade from Nikon D200 to D300. For pros (especially press and sport reporters) it could be faster shutter and better watterprofing (not everybody likes to handle bulky Nikon D2xs or D3). Everobody who works in studio enviroment enjoy 2 more megapixels. Better autofocus is good for everyone how ever most of people can stay with "just 11 points". The only real feature is live view which most of people find out to be newbie option. I do not agree at all. There are many situations where this can help a lot. I remember few shots I have made in the past with compat camera and I can not make any more with my DSLR.

So nothing special for 500 USD dont you think? From Nikon D200 the only trouble is its battery life: not everyone know that average D200 can shoot just 300 pictures on battery charge. My old D70 can do 700 more (yes, thats why most of the D200 users buying grip! :) ). Lets hope D300 can do better job. I am pretty shure about.

Result

If you want to have latest thing go for Nikon D300. If value for money is the power for you take Nikon D200 in sale (comming soon i think) or Nikon D80. In most cases you can not be disapointed by them.

Its just few days I have started to use WordPress and I am not sure it is right system for me. There are few things I am really missing here like possibility to delete more than one post at once (sometimes delete all posts). I am not real bloger and maybe I need true CMS instead. Anyway... since I am too lazy to do relocate to other system and even one friend of mine having same problem I decided to make my first Worpress hack (or plugin how its cool to call hacks now :) ).

Whats going on here? Select all and delete

Instalation

• Backup everything you have online
• Replace edit.php and post.php files in wp-admin folder
• Enjoy deleting your posts

Download

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