Nikon released a Lens Positioning Map, which graphically represents their Nikkor lens lineup. Thom Hogan has a very good analysis on his site about the holes in Nikon’s lens lineup based on this information and what lenses he thinks Nikon will release next to plug these holes.
Nikon's Lens Lineup
The tool itself is written in Flash and depicts lenses by focal lenght (X-axis) and aperture (Y-axis). The lenses themselves are represented by a spot, a bar or a rectangle; depending on whether we are talking about a prime, a zoom with a fixed maximum aperture or a zoom with variable maximum aperture. Filters on top allow you to narrow down the selection.
Please note that the Flash animation only worked on my Windows machine; it did not work in any of my browsers on my Mac despite running the latest version of Flash for MacOSX.
Nikon recently released an educational iPhone app called Learn & Explore.
As the title suggests, the app puts quite some educational information at your fingertips. While mainly conceived as a learning app for photographers, it’s also suitable for more experienced photographers. While obviously geared towards Nikon shooters, the tips, reference and glossary also apply to photographers who use cameras other than Nikon’s.
According to Nikon, the app contains the following features:
- Images and Video: Scroll through galleries of images and view videos that both educate and inspire.
- Insights & Techniques: Learn the fundamentals of photography and get advice on shooting techniques that will help you improve your skills and take better pictures.
- Nikon World: Nikon’s quarterly print magazine is available complete with stunning images and audio slideshows from some of the top professional photographers working today.
- Photography Glossary: An easy way to find a definition for the photographic terms you’re interested in.
- Favorites: Store and retrieve your favorite images and articles for fast and easy access.
If you are connected when accessing the app, Nikon Learn & Export will access Nikon’s site for new articles and information.
Price: Free from iTunes.
On the day of the release of Windows 7, Nikon released an update of its ViewNX software. Of course, no Nikon user should expect support for a brand-new operating system on the day of its release, so the update supports XP and Vista, but not Windows 7. To the same tune, Nikon users should not expect support for a 2-month old OS version – Snow Leopard is not supported by this update, either.
If I were a Nikon user, I had abandoned their software years ago – no matter how good it is. This kind of OS support is simply not acceptable, esp. when Nikon’s competition (Adobe) supported Snow Leopard and Windows 7 the day it was released!
Details on the ViewNX update can be found on Nikon’s website.
Nikon just announced the long-awaited D3S and it looks like there is one real piece of innovation in this camera.
I’m not talking about Nikon boosting its already best-in-class low light sensitivity to a staggering extended ISO of 102,400. Nor that they bumped frame rates to 9-11fps, added 720p video or left the megapixels of their sensor unchanged at 12MP.
Their true innovation is their new 1.2x crop mode. While full-frame is great for wide-angle photography, such as taking landscapes, the crop sensors shine in Action and Wildlife photography, when you need every millimeter of telephoto reach that you can get. With their new crop mode, you can reduce the area of the sensor that will be used to take the image to 30×20 mm. Your megapixels will go down as well, from 12 to a bit more than 8x. But you get the benefits of a 1.2x cropped sensor, so your 400mm telephoto lens becomes an effective 480mm lens. If you don’t need it any longer, simply switch back to full frame resolution. Effectively, this will eliminate the need to carry two camera bodies, one for wide-angle and one for action/wildlife.
I hope Canon will implement crop modes into its bodies as well, preferably into the Canon 5D Mark III, whenever it’s coming out.
Price: $5,199.95 from Amazon
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