Home / Nasim Mansurov

Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR Lens to be Announced

Oct
17
2012
October 17, 2012
By 79 Comments

Looks like Nikon is finally going to announce the long-awaited Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR Lens at the PDN Photo Plus Expo in New York, according to our friends at Nikon Rumors. Many Nikon fans have been complaining for years about not having a cheaper and lighter alternative to the superb Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II (see our Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II Review). Nikon has never had a 70-200mm f/4 lens in its history – a 70-210mm f/4 lens was produced way back in 1986, which was later replaced by a variable aperture 70-210mm f/4-5.6 AF-D version in 1993 (discontinued later). Canon has had its 70-200mm f/4 model since 1999 and an updated (current) IS version came out back in 2006. The Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS has been a very popular lens among the Canon user base ever since, because of its excellent price/weight/performance ratio. It will be interesting to see what the Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR will offer.

Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f4G VR Lens Patent

It is also rumored that the new Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR lens will have a “new generation VR system”. For now I do not know what this truly means and what this new VR system does differently from the current VR II technology, but I am anxiously waiting for details from the official press release. If the VR system does turn out to be new, then we can expect minor updates to the high-end pro lenses fairly soon (Nikon will probably start from the expensive super telephoto lenses like 600mm f/4 first).

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Lens Calibration Explained

Oct
10
2012
October 10, 2012
By 116 Comments

If you are wondering about how to calibrate lenses, this article has detailed explanations and different methods of AF fine tuning. Due to the nature of the phase detect autofocus system that is present on all SLR cameras, both cameras and lenses must be properly calibrated by manufacturers in order to yield sharp images. Various factors such as manufacturer defects, sample variation, insufficient quality assurance testing/tuning and improper shipping and handling can all negatively impact autofocus precision. A lot of photographers get frustrated after spending thousands of dollars on camera equipment and not being able to get anything in focus. After receiving a number of emails from our readers requesting help on how to calibrate lenses, I decided to write this tutorial on ways to properly fine tune focus on cameras and lenses. Lens calibration is a complex topic for many, so my goal is to make this guide as simple as possible, so that you could manage the process by yourself, while fully understanding the entire process. In addition, I strongly recommend to follow these tips every time you purchase a camera or a lens in order to identify and address any potential focusing issues. But I have to warn you – this article is NOT for beginners. If you just got your first DSLR, you might get very quickly frustrated with the calibration process.

Lens Calibration Explained

1) Why Calibrate?

Why is there a need to calibrate lenses? With the release of new, high-resolution cameras like Nikon D800, it seems like calibration is becoming an important and hot topic. Why is that? As I have explained in a number of my photography articles and reviews, while the increase of megapixels in our cameras has a number of benefits (see benefits of high resolution cameras), it can also expose potential focus problems. A slight focus issue might not be as noticeable on a 10-12 MP sensor, but will be much more noticeable on a 25+ MP sensor (assuming both sensors are of the same size). Especially when viewed at 100%, which is what we, photographers unfortunately like to do too much. Hence, the need for a properly calibrated camera setup today is bigger than ever.

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Nikon D600 for Sports and Wildlife Photography

Oct
7
2012
October 7, 2012
By 86 Comments

As I have pointed out in my D600 Review, I am quite pleased with the autofocus performance of the D600. It acquires focus quickly and accurately in most situations and in my opinion works more reliably than the AF system on the Nikon D7000. This past weekend I had a chance to do a much more demanding test on the D600, photographing Colorado wildlife. I wanted to see if the Nikon D600 would be suitable for photographing sports and wildlife, since many of our readers have asked me to do that in my review.

Clark's Nutracker

I started out photographing birds first. Small birds can be tough to photograph, since they move constantly and they fly fast. My primary subjects were Clark’s Nutracker and Steller’s Jay – both were very active, so they were perfect for testing the speed, responsiveness and the reliability of the AF system of the D600. I started out in AF-C mode, Ch release, Dynamic 39 points and Focus Tracking with Lock-On set to 3 (Normal). Focusing on perched birds was very reliable and I got a lot of keepers. I even used other focus points in the extreme corners while composing my shots and the images came out in perfect focus. However, the moment a bird would take off, I had a hard time tracking it in flight with my Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR (hand-held), since they were too fast. Very often they were too close and too fast, which made it harder to get anything in the frame and in focus. Gladly, I was not the only person having this problem – Tom was standing right next to me with his Nikon D4 and Nikon 500mm f/4 VR and he was having similar issues. So I knew it was not the camera at fault.

Nutrackers Fighting

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Review of the Nikon D600 DSLR has been posted!

Oct
4
2012
October 4, 2012
By 4 Comments

After working on it for the last two weeks, I have just posted the review of the Nikon D600. As usual, it is an in-depth review with image samples, camera comparisons (Nikon D7000, D700, D800/D800E and D3s) and other observations. In summary, I am extremely impressed by the Nikon D600 and I called it “a small camera with a BIG sensor”. While it is by no means a small camera, it is smaller than any other Nikon full-frame camera today.

Nikon D600

I am still trying to figure out a way to push notifications to our subscribers when a new review is posted. Ever since we changed to photographylife.com, we changed the location (URL) of all reviews. They are now under “Reviews“, which is a new subsection of the website. Because of this change, I will have to temporarily notify of new reviews to our subscribers through a separate post like this. Hopefully, I will find a workaround to the problem soon.

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Lightroom 4.2 and Camera RAW 7.2 Update

Oct
2
2012
October 2, 2012
By 31 Comments

Great news for those of us that use Lightroom or Photoshop – Adobe has just released the final versions of Lightroom 4.2 and Camera RAW 7.2 that add support to a bunch of new cameras, including the Nikon D600 (preliminary suppport). A bunch of Lightroom bugs have been fixed and tethered support has been added to cameras like Nikon D4, D800, D800E, Canon 5D Mark III and 1D X. Many new lens profiles have also been added, including the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 that we recently reviewed. This is primarily a bugfix and camera support release, which means that the final version of Lightroom 4.2 does not contain any new features compared to the last release candidate.

Lightroom 4

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Nikon D600 vs D7000

Sep
30
2012
September 30, 2012
By 111 Comments

In this article, I will show feature differences between the new full-frame Nikon D600 (FX) and the older cropped sensor Nikon D7000 (DX). I have received a number of requests from our readers asking me to provide this comparison, since many photographers are considering to move to the Nikon D600 from their D7000 cameras. Please keep in mind that this Nikon D600 vs D7000 comparison is purely based on specifications. A detailed comparison with image samples and ISO comparisons is provided in the Nikon D600 Review.

Nikon D600 vs D7000

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Nikon D600 High ISO Performance Comparison

Sep
20
2012
September 20, 2012
By 87 Comments

Here is a quick comparison of ISO performance (low ISO and high ISO) between the Nikon D600, Nikon D700, Nikon D800E and Nikon D3s. Please note that all of the images below were shot in JPEG, since Nikon D600 RAW support is not available yet. All images were also down-sampled to the Nikon D700/D3s resolution (cameras with the lowest resolution). Everything was shot in ambient light (lab results are posted in the Nikon D600 review here) with all camera corrections turned off and camera profile set to standard (default, no changes). Cropping and export was performed in Lightroom 4 and I used Photoshop to add the text on the bottom of each image.

1) Nikon D600 ISO Performance

Nikon D600 ISO 100 Nikon D600 ISO 200

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Nikon D600 is here!

Sep
19
2012
September 19, 2012
By 150 Comments

Received the Nikon D600 today. The battery is charging now, but I could not wait and started using my D800E battery. I am pretty excited about the D600, especially after DxOMark ranked its sensor the second best in the world. Now I need to verify that claim with real image sample comparisons, especially at high ISOs. Cameras to be tested today: Nikon D700, Nikon D800E, Nikon D3s. I have access to the D4 and D7000, but most likely won’t be able to do those today, before my trip to San Juan Mountains (the Landscape Photography Workshop will take place this weekend).

Nikon D600 Box

A couple of quick notes before the upcoming Nikon D600 review:

  1. The viewfinder is huge! It is as big as the one on the Nikon D800. If you are upgrading from a Nikon D7000 or any other DX camera, this alone is worth the upgrade in my opinion.
  2. The 39 focus points are not as concentrated in the center as I thought they would be. Yes, the D800 has a bigger spread, but it is not a big difference between the two. Just like I have pointed out in my Nikon D600 limitations article, the Multi-CAM 4800FX is indeed designed differently than the DX version.
  3. Although the analysis is preliminary, autofocus seems to be fast and accurate – I would say on par with the Nikon D800 (yes, that extra light in FX does make a difference).
  4. The – and + indicators are still reversed. I think we will see this behavior as default on all future Nikon DSLRs.
  5. The multi-function button is smaller on the D600 compared to the one on the D800 (not a big deal, but I like it bigger).
  6. Image quality is phenomenal (samples to follow in the upcoming review).

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Nikon D600 has the second best sensor in the world

Sep
18
2012
September 18, 2012
By 36 Comments

When Nikon announced the Nikon D600, I knew the new sensor would not disappoint. Since the D3, Nikon has put a lot of focus on sensor technology and A/D conversion. As a result, almost every single sensor that has been released during the last few years has been ranked very highly by many reviewers and image labs. As you may already know, DxOMark has been testing most new digital cameras on the market today (including medium format) and they crowned the Nikon D800E sensor as the best in the world earlier this year. Today, DxOMark released its rating for the Nikon D600:

Nikon D600 DxOMark

In the new article that DxOMark published today, it says “the D600 is an affordable camera that places a high premium on image quality, as it ranks just behind the top performing Nikon D800 and Nikon D800E. It is also a significant improvement over the high-end professional flagship DSLRs, the Nikon D3X and the Nikon D4″. And here is an excerpt from their conclusion: “As an added bonus, the camera provides users extreme value, as noted through its DxOMark sensor score of 94, which puts it in an elite category currently occupied by two additional Nikon cameras”.

Looks like the sensor on the Nikon D600 is almost as remarkable as the one on the Nikon D800. The overall score of the sensor was just one point below the Nikon D800 and two points below the Nikon D800E (which has the same sensor as the D800, but a different anti-aliasing filter).

Here is a comparison of the D600 with the D800 and D4:

Nikon D600 vs D800 vs D4

Very impressive! Take a look at the Low-Light ISO figures – the D600 has the highest score there. Detailed image analysis and comparisons will be provided this week.

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Chrome Color Management is Finally Working

Sep
16
2012
September 16, 2012
By 18 Comments

From the day it came out, Chrome has been my favorite Internet browser. It is very fast, has plenty of integration with Google services, very few bugs and it is not heavy on resources like some other browsers. However, one of the biggest issues that I have had with it for a number of years now, was its lack of support for embedded ICC profiles on PCs with the Windows operating system. Because of this, I had to switch between Firefox (which is color managed) and Chrome when viewing websites, which was very inconvenient. And now we have great news. Finally, after the last couple of years of customer complaints, Google has now addressed this issue and fixed support for ICC profiles in its current beta version of Chrome (version 22). This means that you can safely use Chrome for viewing all photography websites and the colors will be reproduced properly.

Here is how my page “is your browser color-managed” now looks like in Chrome:

Chrome Color Management

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