Photokina is coming and the pre-announcements are coming with it. Today it’s Nikon’s turn.

I thought I’d pick out one camera to mention: The Nikon Coolpix S10.

It’s only one of many Nikon compact cameras with Vibration Reduction built in. The other cameras are the thin, periscope style S7c and the more standard compact L5. (The S9 and L6 don’t have vibration reduction.)

By the way, Nikon’s designations are quite confusing. The key is understanding that Nikon uses the letter designation to denote the budget for the camera: L = budget, S = stylish, P = professional. Then the number after it is in order by time. This leads to confusion like the L6 being worse than the L5 and the S7c being an S8 with WiFi, and both being better than the S9. And the S10 being completely different than the S8 or S7c… more like a newer S4. Very silly!Continue reading →

Engadget scooped the next Canon Rebel (Canon 400D dSLR) that everyone has been speculated would be released for Photokina.

If the specifications are true, I’ll have to eat a little humble pie. I was predicting the 9 point AF system (as Nikon has switched to the CAM1000 11 point AF system with the D80), but I wasn’t predicting the following:

• 10.1 megapixel CMOS.
• Anti-dust removal. I thought this was a feature that Olympus/Panasonic and Sony would want to keep away from the big boys (Canon and Nikon).
• Shitty shot buffer.

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The New York Times has a wonderful summary article of High Dynamic Range photography.

(I have a strong suspicion that the article is heavily influenced by discussion on the HDR Flickr group.)

This was a little serendipitous because I had a discussion at lunch where I heard the tired old line that “nothing new is in Photoshop since x came out” and I pointed out some of the features in CS2, of which HDR support was one of them.

Continue reading about High Dynamic Range photography after the jump

Here is a camera review where I lifted this summary from PhotographyBLOG.

“Bottom line, the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L is a really excellent optic, but one that struggles a bit along the edges and in the corners with full-frame bodies. As such, it’s an almost ideal candidate for use with DxO Optics Pro, particularly if you’re shooting with a full-frame dSLR.”

Translation: “This lens sucks for its intended market.”
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Last week, Dave told me about “chimping”.

I am soooo guilty of this.
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Microsoft is working on Microsoft Live Labs photosynth, which sounded like a version of AutoStitch on steroids, but is actually something else entirely.

Watch the video.Continue reading →

With two cameras now, I needed a third memory card. Now I have a Lexar Professional 133x 4GB CF card to complement my other two: a 2GB SanDisk Extreme and a 1GB SanDisk Extreme III.

With the announcement of the SanDisk Extreme IV I realized the whole deal has gotten quite confusing to the average photographer, and there are more of us every day.

We have a simple question: What CF should I buy?Continue reading →