Nikon
September 3rd, 2010 by D-Photo
Many will find the very idea of a lens costing well into five figures outlandish, but professionals exist on a different plane to even serious amateurs. The more specialised the photographer, the more specialised the gear in their bag. A 300mm fixed lens like this one has a limited range of applications, with pro sport, news and wildlife photographers its primary targets, along with creative fashion shooters and well-paid (or desperate) paparazzi.
It’s possible to pick up a perfectly serviceable 70-300mm Nikon zoom for around a thousand dollars, so what makes the 300mm f/2.8G ED VRII worth 12 times that price? Primarily, the many grams of state-of-the-art glass in that big lens barrel – maintaining a maximum aperture of 2.8 at 300mm is no picnic for a lens maker.
Nikon has also thrown all of its considerable technology and expertise into the design and construction of its flagship 300mm lens, so it’s blessed with the latest vibration reduction (VR) system and 
advanced coatings including ‘nano crystal’.
Not much has changed from the previous version of this lens (released in 2004), although the new model claims four stops of effectiveness on the VR system, rather than three.
The first thing you notice about this lens is that it’s huge; once mounted on Nikon’s full-frame D3s, the length from the camera back to the lens front approaches 40cm (without a lens hood), and the combined weight of the two is more than four kilograms. It’s an unwieldy thing to lug around and a beast to shoot handheld for any length of time – be sure to factor in the cost of a monopod.
Build quality is exemplary, the controls are smooth and easy to use and the lens feels as if it may last forever, assuming it’s well treated. It’s also tightly sealed against moisture and dust
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June 23rd, 2010 by D-Photo
Pro dSLRs such as Nikon’s new top-of-range D3S exist in a rarefied atmosphere. Ashley Kramer samples the oxygen
If amateur photographers choose their cameras based on desire, then professional photographers select their tools based on need. When you make your living with a camera, you generally buy the best you can afford. If you’re successful enough, then you own flagships such as the two cameras in Nikon’s D3 series, which are the absolute top-of-the-range, no-expense-spared full-frame statements.
The D3 range consists of the D3X, which has been around since 2008, and the new D3S. They’re more or less the same camera except for one vital element: the sensor. The frighteningly expensive D3X uses a 24.5 megapixel unit and is orientated more at studio and static work such as fashion, landscapes and architecture, where every last iota of detail is critical. The relatively more affordable D3S features a 12.1MP sensor, which is optimised for a wide range of circumstances including high-speed shooting (nine frames per second) and low light conditions, where it truly excels.
Not much has changed in the update from 2007’s D3 to the D3S, either. The big news is a state of the art sensor with a dust removal system, HD video recording as well as dedicated info and Live View buttons. The full-frame (FX format) sensor found in the original D3 and D700 is known for its high ISO capability, but this updated model is even more sensitive. It has a native ISO range of 200 to 12,800 and can be hustled right up to 102,400.
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April 20th, 2010 by D-Photo
Ashley Kramer gets touchy-feely with the new Coolpix
Here we have a compact camera with just one control button on it, which is a huge departure from the button, lever and dial-laden norm. But this isn’t the world’s simplest camera. Nikon’s Coolpix S70 is actually a fully featured compact that uses a big, bright 3.5-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen to provide camera control.
There isn’t even an on/off switch; that’s done by sliding the lens cover up and down, so the little Nikon has a very plain, unadorned appearance that some will consider boring and others minimalist or even elegant. At any rate, it’s small, slim and smooth, so it fits into the tiniest of cases, purses or pockets.
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March 18th, 2010 by D-Photo
Harley Ogier on Nikon’s quick-draw compact
Nikon’s Coolpix S640 is a truly pocket-sized digital compact camera, optimised for the quick-draw shooting most compacts just can’t manage.
At just 0.7 seconds, the S640 boasts the fastest start-up time in its class. In the automatic shooting mode you really can take a shot less than a second after pressing the power button, with reasonable results. The key is leaving the camera in the auto mode – if you turned it off in another mode that’s not so quick to focus, the result won’t be as speedy.
To complement the quick start-up, the S640 also features extremely fast autofocus. I found it comparable in speed to a dSLR’s phase-detect autofocus, definitely much faster than the average digital compact. A subject-tracking mode further enhances the autofocus, allowing you to lock on to a moving subject. Results vary depending on the situation, but I had consistent success tracking human faces and small animals – for photographing kids and pets as they run wildly about the place, the S640 is a clear winner.
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March 3rd, 2010 by D-Photo
Harley Ogier trials a camera that doubles as a projector
Miniature LED-based projectors have appeared in recent years. Nikon has applied that technology to the Coolpix S1000pj, bringing photography and projection together in a camera body.
At a glance the S1000pj looks like an average midrange digital compact camera. The layout and controls are relatively standard and although the camera is a little heavier than its contemporaries, that may just be a product of its solid construction. The only thing that really stands out is the extra lens for the projector, located on the centre-front of the camera.
The camera’s imaging lens is the non-extending type, zooming and focusing entirely within the body. When the camera is off the 
lens is well protected by an external shutter. This makes for a particularly robust lens: you’ll never suffer motor damage when the lens extends in your pocket. That’s great for parties and travel but the flattened optics have a cost in terms of image quality.
Overall, image quality is reasonable – exactly what you’d expect of a midrange compact camera. Dynamic range is good and can be improved further with Nikon’s D-Lighting feature. However, noise can be a problem, even under good lighting conditions. If you’re shooting for the web (Facebook, Flickr and the like), this is fine. The noise disappears when you resize the image to more screen-friendly dimensions, leaving you with rich, well-contrasted photographs. If you’re hoping to use all 12 megapixels for extensive cropping or detail work, expect to be disappointed.
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February 16th, 2010 by D-Photo
Harley Ogier trials the latest DX format Nikon
The D300s is Nikon’s latest digital SLR, replacing the D300 at the top of the company’s DX format range. Packing a comprehensive feature set behind its 12.3 megapixel crop sensor, the D300s is likely to appeal to serious amateurs and upstart professionals who can’t quite afford to go full-frame.
Image Quality
The D300s produces images of near-professional quality. The level of detail captured by the sensor is excellent, but I did find slightly 
more image noise than I would have expected. The noise is present across the ISO range when shooting with either automatic or manual settings in a variety of lighting conditions.
Image quality is otherwise very high. Dynamic range is good, assisted by Nikon’s ‘D-Lighting’ feature. It helps even out tones in highly contrasted images and can be applied automatically as shots are taken. This does tend to amplify any noise already present in the image, relative to the level of D-Lighting applied. I had some issues with dynamic range when shooting in extremely bright sunlight, but all digital cameras on the market suffer this problem to some degree.
Low-light performance is excellent, especially with a good wide-aperture lens. The low level of noise found in daytime shots is still present, but this doesn’t appear to increase as the light level goes down. Black remains black, without a hint of visible noise in darkened skies.
Performance
Start-up time is great; there’s no discernable delay between powering on the camera and taking the first shot. Shooting speed is high at up to seven frames per second using the camera’s battery, or up to 8fps with the optional MB-D10 battery grip. The image buffer is a reasonable size, allowing sustained shooting for several seconds depending on image quality and format.
Battery life is rated at approximately 950 shots on a full charge. This is completely believable — I managed to take more than 700 images while keeping the battery just over 50 per cent full. Liberal use of the built-in flash would bring the numbers down, but battery life is definitely impressive.
Useability
The D300s provides dedicated buttons and dials to control most of the critical functions without having to dredge through the menu system. This is great when you’re rushing to set up a crucial shot and don’t want to take your eye off the viewfinder.
The menu system itself is customisable, as are many of the camera’s controls. Four sets of custom settings can be saved, letting you define the best settings for the studio, landscapes, nightscapes or whatever else you care to shoot.
Some may find minor annoyance in the camera’s grip design. The thumb space on the D300s is noticeably reduced from that of the D300: with a weighty lens attached, I found it difficult to get a comfortable grip on the camera body. With smaller and lighter lenses, this isn’t so much of an issue.
Live View
Live View is well implemented on the D300s, making use of the camera’s 920,000-dot (VGA) monitor. Two modes are provided: Handheld and Tripod.
In Handheld mode the camera’s fast phase-detect autofocus is used. The mirror comes down to allow focusing when the shutter is half depressed, temporarily interrupting Live View. While this isn’t ideal, it beats the extremely slow autofocus found in many Live View implementations.
In Tripod mode, slower contrast-detect autofocus is used. This maintains Live View during focusing but doesn’t work across such a wide range of scenes as normal phase-detect autofocus. Manual focus can be used in either mode, but in Tripod mode you can zoom in considerably tighter on-screen to check the focus before shooting.
HD Video
The D300s records high-definition video up to 720p. The results are good, in line with the video performance of other HD-capable 
digital still cameras.
In Tripod mode, contrast-detect autofocus can be used. However, the process is slow and the sound is clearly captured by the camera’s on-board microphone. An optional stereo microphone may be used, and capturing audio away from the camera body would help avoid the noise of autofocus, though it wouldn’t make the process appear any smoother on-screen.
You can always pull focus manually when moving around or zooming, though this does take a fair amount of practice. Really, the D300s’s video mode is best suited to fixed-focus recording from a tripod. For truly mobile recording, a dedicated video camera is going to give far better performance in terms of autofocus if nothing else.
Some basic on-camera editing of videos is supported — namely, cutting off the start or end. While it may seem trivial, this can remove those awkward “is it on yet?” moments without the need for video editing software. If you’re going to have any video editing options at all, these are certainly the most useful.
Storage
Like Nikon’s professional D3 and D3X models, the D300s features dual card slots. The primary slot accepts Compact Flash (CF) cards, while the secondary slot accepts SD and SDHC cards. When shooting with two cards, various storage options are available: all shots can be backed up across both, the secondary card can take any overflow once the first card is full, or the primary (CF) card can store RAW files while the secondary (SD) card stores JPEGs. The latter option is great if you want to combine the convenience of immediately useable JPEG images with the post-processing potential of RAW files without compromising on storage space or speed.
The camera’s top LCD shows the images remaining and the status of both card slots, even while the camera is switched off. This is great when you want to check the capacity of several cards in the field: just pop each one into the camera and see the space remaining, without even touching the power switch.
Conclusion
As Nikon’s most powerful crop-sensor digital SLR, the D300s is a fine upgrade for anyone with a stock of Nikon DX format lenses. It’s also an excellent starting point for serious amateurs entering the dSLR market and looking for high-end features but not ready to shell out for a full-frame sensor.
Nikon D300S – Specifications
Manufacturer: Nikon
Model: D300s
RRP: $3659 Inc. Lexar 4GB SD card
Effective Pixels: 12.3 million
Image Sensor: 23.6 x 15.8mm CMOS (Nikon DX format)
Viewfinder: ~100% frame coverage
LCD Monitor: 3-inch, 920,000 dot (VGA) TFT LCD, 100% frame coverage
Shutter: 1/8000 to 30 seconds, bulb ISO: 200-3200 in steps of 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV (also supports ISO100 and ISO6400 equivalent)
Exposure Metering: 3D Colour Matrix Metering II (type G and D lenses), Colour Matrix Metering II (other CPU lenses), centre-weighted, spot
Media: Compact Flash (Type I), SD/SDHC
File Format: NEF (RAW) 12- or 14-bit, TIFF (RGB), JPEG, AVI
Interface: USB 2.0, composite video out, HDMI video out
Batteries: Rechargeable lithium-ion, approx 950 images
Dimensions: 147 x 114 x 74mm
Weight: 840g (without battery or memory card)
Reviewed with Lenses:
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED VR (21-36mm equivalent on the DX format D300s)
Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G
Contact
www.nikon.co.nz
PROS
- Great image quality
- Powerful feature set
- HD video recording
CONS
- Not the most comfortable grip
- Slight image noise
Design 18
Performance 18
Features 19
Image Quality 17
Value for money 18
TOTAL 90/100
This article is from D-Photo 33.
February 10th, 2010 by D-Photo
Nikon’s D3000 offers a great stepping stone to the world of dSLRs, says Harley Ogier
Nikon’s new entry-level dSLR, the D3000 aims to make dSLR photography accessible to the beginner in terms of both useability and price.
The D3000 is a Nikon DX format (crop-sensor) camera, compatible with a huge range of existing Nikkor lenses. The camera is available bundled with a nice 18-55mm zoom lens (equivalent to 27-82.5mm in 35mm film terms). This is a pretty good all-rounder that beginners 
will find sufficient for a wide range of photography.
If you’re looking for an entry-level dSLR as a stepping stone to a more serious model, any Nikon DX format lens you purchase will be compatible with the full range of Nikon’s DX format cameras.
You can go wider, longer, whatever you need without tying yourself to an entry-level camera forever.
Though entry level, the D3000 performs brilliantly alongside Nikon’s existing DX format range. The image sensor is a 10.2 megapixel CCD, as opposed to the 12-plus megapixel CMOS sensors used in higher end models. CCD sensors tend to produce less image noise than their CMOS equivalents but operate more slowly. The D3000 does in fact produce beautifully low-noise images, though the maximum ISO speed is lower than its higher end siblings.
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