Collected Articles and Opinions about Photography

Jay Caline posts:


Nobody likes to be limited by a budget, especially penny-pinchers like me. But hey, that’s a story for a later discussion. Let’s stick to talking exclusively about digital cameras here, and more importantly Nikon digital SLR cameras. It’s no secret, that Nikon creates many of the best digital SLRs out there, and there are plenty to choose from.

For such a discussion, we’re staying away from beginner entry level SLR models, and focusing on those cameras that allure to individuals with more photography skill, or simply a bigger budget that compensates for a lack of skill. I do not really fit into either of these categories at the moment, but hey, things are changing.

Lets start by dealing delving into the Nikon D90. A camera which just beats the $1,000 entry barrier, but comes amongst a generous 12.3 megapixels. Now I know you may have read other discussions in the past about how megapixels truly don’t matter, but that runs best for consumers who don’t own many cameras. The D90 comes with other nice appealing features like dust control, updated live view (all you purists out there just need to get over it), and outstanding detection abilities

For the more advanced photographer (not the same as the guy with the larger wallet), you will need to look at the D200. If your seeking out speed from a camera, this baby’s got it. By speed, I’m talking about a fast and versatile shutter speed, and the ability to take rapid fire pictures one right after the other. It’s been available for a while, since 2005, which explains why it’s at only 10 megapixels, but it is also a testament to how good a camera it really is. To still be a viable model, nearly four years after the initial launch.

Josh White posts:

Tips on Creating Awesome Night Vision Digital SLR Photos

Today’s digital SLR cameras offer the photographer full control of aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings enabling the capture of excellent usable images in low light that were not otherwise possible. However, in many situations such as photographing scenes at night with very little ambient light, or telephoto photography at night at a distance, even the best digital SLR cameras simply do not have sufficient sensitivity to capture adequate images. In these situations, night vision modules such as those described here are the ideal accessory. This article provides important guidelines for producing awesome night-time photos when using a night vision module-enabled digital SLR camera.

 By adding a night vision module to a digital SLR camera, night turns into day. Follow these guidelines to assure the best possible image quality.

Because of the increased availability of high performance digital SLR cameras, capturing excellent photographs at night is now easier than ever. With full control of aperture and shutter speed settings as well as electronic gain (ISO), the photographer has the opportunity to capture images in low light that were not otherwise possible.

However, in many low-light and night-time situations, digital SLR cameras simply do not have sufficient sensitivity to capture adequate images. For one thing, with the ever-decreasing size of pixels, it’s remarkable that light sensitivity has not substantially worsened with each new generation of camera (since light sensitivity is directly proportional to detector pixel area). But, fortunately, there’s been a lot of camera development on noise reduction so sensitivity has kept pace if not improved slightly with the decreasing pixel area. Regardless of these changes, it remains that a sufficiently long exposure time cannot be used because either there is movement in the scene or the camera is moving (by being handheld or on a vehicle in motion) so long exposure times would result in blurring. For situations such as photographing scenes at night with very little ambient light, or telephoto photography at night at a distance, even the best digital SLR camera will be unable to produce adequate photographs without blur.

 In these situations, a night vision module such as those described here are the ideal accessory (www.nightvisioncameras.com). Such a device fits between the SLR objective lens and the camera body and amplifies the light that is captured by the objective lens, projecting an amplified (but entirely green) image onto the digital camera’s image sensor. The result is up to 10 F-stops of improvement, a dramatic change enabling many applications that are otherwise impossible to photograph. The module transforms moonlit or starlit scenes into bright, high resolution images that are easily photographed.

HOW IT WORKS

AstroScope transforms dark scenes into bright, high resolution images that can be easily photographed without the need for additional lighting or longer exposure times. The objective lens focuses the minute amounts of available light onto the faceplate of its internal central intensification unit that converts the photons to electrons. The internal electron flux is then amplified and the electrons are accelerated so that when they impinge on the output phosphor, a bright green image is created. The image is then focused onto the internal detector of the digital SLR camera.

 Learn more at:  www.hownightvisionworks.com

The following are some guidelines to help assure that the Night Vision digital photos are the best possible.

Exposure Mode

Select Manual exposure mode (“M”). Not “Automatic”, “Aperture Priority”, “Shutter Priority”, “Program” or any of the other special modes. In low light, you’ll want to manually open the lens iris to permit the most light to fall on the night vision module’s sensitive photocathode.

Shutter Speed Setting

You’ll want to set the camera’s shutter speed so that it is just long enough that there will be no blur due to motion, usually about 1/30th second. Longer exposure times will usually result in blur (for handheld applications). Shorter exposure times may provide some improvement if excessive motion is a concern but could unnecessarily darken the image due to the reduction of light being acquired from the night vision module’s image intensifier. While the output brightness from an image intensifier increases with increasing scene illumination, at higher scene illuminations, the image intensifier’s output brightness reaches a maximum value and remains constant as shown in the accompanying chart. (The limitation on the output brightness protects troops wearing night vision goggles from being blinded when viewing a bright light). Since this maximum brightness is not very bright (about 2 foot lumens), it is unlikely that the digital camera’s sensor will be saturated as a result. So, faster shutter speeds are not necessary as a method to limit the light accumulation.

ISO Setting

While back in the days of photographic film, ISO was a characteristic that described film sensitivity to light, today, ISO is related to electronic gain of the digital camera’s sensor. Since increasing the gain will amplify the low light level images, even with a night vision module, lower light scenes will become visible. However, there are disadvantages to setting the ISO too high. As with all electronic circuits at high gain, image noise can degrade image quality. As such, set the camera’s ISO to a value as high as you can while still acceptable image noise levels. Usually, the minimum value would be 800, but some cameras deliver perfectly usable images at ISO 1600, 3200 or even 6400 (on some recent Nikons).

Manual Focus

When using a night vision module, select Manual Focus mode (usually a small lever switch on or near the objective lens mount). Manual focus gives you greater control over how the focus appears. Since night vision modules are generally grainy, the image grain can confuse the SLR camera’s focus sensors. Also, realize that these focus sensors will be staring at the output of the night vision module so the grainy artifacts will not be affected by the focus position of the objective lens (which is located on the front of the night vision module).

Use Stabilized Lenses

A camera’s image stabilization feature permits the photographer to use slower shutter speeds without resulting in blur due to camera shake. Note that there are two primary techniques for image stabilization: optical stabilization (where a small element inside the lens moves in order to stabilize the image projected on the camera’s detector) and digital stabilization (which take advantage of extra rows and columns on the perimeter of the detector, shift the image an appropriate amount to stabilize certain types of motion).

Normally, the optical image stabilizers, though more expensive, are preferable since they better remove the blur component of the motion. When using a night vision module, the main disadvantage of the digital stabilization is that the image is blurred on the input of the night vision module resulting in some blur on the intensified output image. So, optical stabilization is preferred.

Lens Aperture

The basics still apply for night vision intensified low-light photography. In low-light situations, you’ll want to select the fastest objective lens set to the lowest F-stop setting. (The lowest F-stop value indicates that the iris is opened up fully and will gather the most ambient light possible for that lens).

Nikon and Canon offer fast stabilized telephoto objective lenses that are ideal for night vision applications.

Infrared Illuminator

Sometimes, even with a night vision module, it’s simply too dark to obtain a good quality photograph at night. A dark and cloudy night with no ambient light is one example. Since the night vision module is merely a light amplifier, if there is no light from the stars and sky or from city lights reflecting from clouds, the night vision module will not be effective. In order to photograph without the use of a flash or visible light source, a near-infrared light source can be used that emits light that can be seen by the night vision module but is invisible to the ***** eye. Unlike some digital camera sensors which have some near-infrared response, night vision modules are most sensitive to the near infrared wavelength range and consequently these light sources can significantly enhance the night-time image and render night photography possible despite the lack of sufficient visible illumination.

Invisible near infrared illumination can be used to brighten scenes that are otherwise too dark.

Image Cropping

Because image intensifiers have automatic electronic gain features to maintain a constant light output, the presence of bright lights in the field-of-view (such as headlights or street lamps) may have the affect of decreasing the unit’s overall light gain. This is similar to back-illuminated scenes for un-intensified photography, but even more important because of the significant impact on light gain that could result. This affect may cause the other regions in the image to darken to an unacceptable level. If possible, do your best to exclude non-important bright lights from the field of view.

Turn Off All Camera Visible/Audible Functions

For covert night vision photography, don’t forget to disable all camera lighting and sound functions. (For example: disable flash, any red eye reduction mechanisms, auto focus assist, LCD preview, and all audible signals).

Use a Tripod

When handheld use is not required, select an exposure time long enough that the movement of objects under observation does not result in image blur. As with un-intensified photography, long exposures require that you hold your camera perfectly still to avoid blurring. A tripod is a perfect accessory. If one is not available, try bracing your camera against a stationary object like a tree or wall. In order to avoid the blur that results from finger pressing the camera shutter release (which can cause enough movement to blur a photo), use the camera’s timer.

For more comprehensive White Papers visit our online Knowledge Center.

www.electrophysics.com/night-vision

373 Route 46, Fairfield, NJ 07004

Phone: 973-882-0211 Fax: 973-882-0997

www.electrophysics.com

© 2008 Electrophysics Corp. All rights reserved.

An ISO 9001:2000 Certified Company UKAS #7096 – ANAB #A060693

Jayson Pablo posts:


Japan based Nikon Corporations rule the digital photographic devices market for its razor sharp clarity and fineness. Nikon’s trustworthiness and creativity with its products coupled with strategic marketing propelled it to the top. It’s the obvious virtue of customers to expect very high quality stuff with simple operability and Nikon supersedes all expectations with élan.

The latest digital SLR camera from Nikon, the D40x is the epitome of simplicity delivering excellent shots. It is touted to be the lightest digital SLR camera weighting less than 500g. This 10.2 mega pixel CCD is an updated version of its predecessor D40 which had a 6.1 mega pixel CCD. It has the trademark simple and intuitive operability of any other Nikon digital camera, designed to capture outstandingly detailed photo shots.

Fitted with AF-S DX 18.55 mm zoom Nikkor lens, this ergonomically designed 2.5 inches LCD offers a large viewing and setting space allowing even novices to click better. Professional photographers on the other hand swear by its speed that allows them to act on the moment with ease. It has a less than 1 second power-up time, something very crucial for die-hard photographers. Easy seamless control over the various settings has won the hearts of most users of this digital SLR camera.

Though the multi functionality of Nikon D40x is a dream for its users, the need to program the function button afresh each time is the only negative review highlighted by them. Otherwise there is hardly anything to complain about the Nikon D40x DSLR. It aims at filling the vacuum between D40 and D80 DSLRs in terms of resolution. It has proven to be amongst the best Nikon digital cameras in market enjoying acceptability by one and all.

Dave Simpson posts:


The Nikon D70 SLR is ideally suited to Digital Infrared Photography mainly due to the power of its custom settings. I’m going to take a few moments to show you what camera settings I use for my digital infrared photos and hopefully help you get the best results from your Nikon digital SLR.

First thing – get a tripod, this is pretty much a must  for perfect infrared shots, and the infrared filter of your choice – I like the Hoya R72.

Next, take some time to plan your digital infrared photograph. Taking the time to do this upfront will help eliminate some of the uncertainties of digital infrared photography, which can result in only an ok photo, rather than a WOW! photo.

As always with these kinds of things, there is no one right way to achieve results. But these steps are the ones that I have had the most success with, using my D70 so far.

Image Type

For digital infrared photography I  really prefer to shoot in RAW mode. Although Nikons native  NEF format is so versatile, it just doesn’t come up to the high quality of RAW mode, and any imperfections can always be edited out using Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.

ISO

Good results can be achieved by increasing the ISO setting, but I’ve had the best results when I leave it at 200. Otherwise the noise is just too great – at least in my opinion. I also do a fair amount of post processing in Photo shop , so noise is a problem when working at higher magnifications. Remember, unlike infrared film, where the graininess is part of the look and feel of the image, digital infrared “grain” or noise really degrades your image. If you want to add the look of grainy film, do it in Photoshop, or other image-editing program.

White Balance

In my experience, setting a custom white balance is a key to GOOD Digital Infrared Photography with the Nikon d70. Because you are using a filter that blocks most “regular” light, the camera’s internal white balancing mechanism cannot provide you with an accurate measurement of the colour temperature of your environment. Since foliage reflects IR light, making it the brightest, whitest part of your photo, you’ll need to “calibrate” your D70 to let it know that visible light green is equal to infrared white.

There are a couple of ways to do this.

NUMBER 1: The simplest white balance method using the D70 is to open your menu, use the control button to flip down to the white balance setting, and change it to fluorescent +3. Since for infrared photography you’ll be most likely shooting in bright sunlight with a “red” filter, adding some false color correction in the camera, seems to give your final IR images more “punch.” I have also found the incandescent setting works too.

NUMBER 2: Another way to adjust white balance for digital infrared photography with the Nikon D70 is to take a photo of green grass at midday in full sun. Just the grass – no feet, no trees, no sky. Just point your camera at the grass looking straight down, and click! Now, in your menu, you’ll set the white balance from this photo. So, go to your menu, select white balance, >preset> use photo>select image> use your control dial to navigate to the image of the grass (hopefully it is the only one on your card to make it easy). Your menu should now say “this image>set.” Now you’re ready to shoot infrared!

Brandon York posts:


The Nikon D80 digital SLR camera is perhaps not exactly what Nikon fans were expecting. It’s meant to replace the D70, yet it’s strikingly similar. This brings to mind an interesting issue. All companies, electronics or otherwise, are under constant pressure from their shareholders to release new products. Even you produce the enormously popular “super widget” your stock holders will darn well expect you to produce “super duper widget” in the next fiscal year. In this sense, the D80 might be Nikon telling us that the D70 was a great camera that needed few improvements.

The D80 offers a new “kit” lens, the 18-135mm f/4-5.6G AF-S ED DX, and a new vertical grip, the MB-D80. The kit lens is, by definition, fairly low-end, made to keep the price of the camera affordable to the photography newbie. The zoom has a considerably slower shutter speed than the D70 – 1/4000 compared to the previous 1/8000.

I was happy to discover that there were also some welcome improvements. The D80’s viewfinder is larger and brighter than the D70’s, and the sensor has around 30% more resolution.

The sensor in the D80 is an ICX493AQA CCD made by Sony. The same sensor is used in the Sony Alpha 100 and Pentax K10D. 10.2 megapixels translates as 3872 x 2592 pixel images, enough to produce straight-from-camera prints up to about 11×16″ without resizing. The base ISO of the CCD is 100, with third-stop increments up through ISO 1600. You can also boost ISO one more stop, up to an effective ISO 3200.

Noise in the D80 sensor stems mainly from three design elements: the APS frame size, the smaller overall size of the photosites as compared to the 6mp sensors, and the lack of in-sensor NR electronics. That said, Nikon has integrated a number of things into the D80 to address the potential for increased noise over the previous consumer cameras. For example, once again data is kept in 12-bit space right up until the final compression to an 8-bit JPEG. Second, the internal digitization engine has a noise reduction component in it. All in all, low light images are easily comparable quality to the D70. This is perhaps primarily due to the larger CCD sensor.

The camera body is technically slightly smaller in all dimensions compared to those of the D70s, but current owners will find the design very similar. Most of the buttons are the same and in the same places, and there are dedicated buttons for many commonly used functions. For example, a cluster of buttons next to the shutter let you change metering mode, exposure compensation, drive mode, and AF mode. Meanwhile, the buttons to the left of the 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD screen let you change white balance, ISO, and image size and quality settings without diving into menus. About the only function without its own dedicated control is AF zone selection, though the camera’s programmable function button can be programmed to cover that if you so choose. The default for this button is to display the current ISO setting.

Three dials adorn the camera body. The mode dial lets you choose between program, aperture- or shutter-priority, full manual, full auto, or any of six preset exposure scene modes. The other two dials, located on the front and back of the grip, let you change aperture and shutter speed. Together, they make full manual shooting quick and easy, with a menu system that is easy to use.

For the most part, Nikon has negotiated the quality trade-off well in order to offer a DSLR camera for under $1000. It’s still slightly pricier than comparable Canon or Petax models, but with Nikon’s imaging reputation, it can easily charge a touch more without anyone blinking a eye.

Fazal Zubair posts:


Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera

12.3 Megapixel , 2.7-in. Vari-angle LCD, D-Movie capability

Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the newest addition to its family of quality DX-format digital SLRs, the D5000. With a robust feature set and simple operability backed by Nikon’s superlative technology, the D5000 is the ideal choice for both entry-level digital SLR users and those looking for an upgrade to raise their level of photographic expression.

The D5000 features a versatile Vari-angle LCD monitor that can be viewed in normal position flush against the camera back, or swung out and rotated and/or tilted. This unequaled freedom of movement adds a unique level of creativity to Live View shooting, allowing easy viewing from virtually any perspective. When not in use, the monitor can be stowed with the LCD panel facing the camera back, essentially becoming its own rugged monitor cover. Measuring 2.7 inches with 230,000-dot resolution, the monitor provides 100% scene coverage in Live View and assures accurate image review.

The D5000 inherits the same brilliant image quality from Nikon’s highly regarded DX-format digital SLR, the D90. Featuring a 12.3 effective megapixel CMOS sensor, Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED image processing system, and compatibility with a comprehensive selection of NIKKOR lenses, the D5000 produces highly detailed images that exhibit smooth tonal gradation, outstanding color reproduction, and low noise across a wide ISO sensitivity range. EXPEED also contributes to streamlined handling of advanced imaging features such as Nikon’s original Scene Recognition System with Face Detection and Active D-Lighting.

In addition to superior imaging capabilities, the D5000 offers excellent photographic performance thanks to continuous shooting as fast as 4 frames per second, advanced 3D Color Matrix Metering II for outstanding exposure accuracy, 11-point selectable autofocus, and four Live View AF modes, along with automatic exposure and white balance bracketing functions. There is also a new Quiet Shooting mode that reduces mirror cycling noise for quieter shooting in environments where minimal noise is desired.

See complete details with images at

http://nikon-digital-camera-02.blogspot.com/

Jessica Thomson posts:

For the past many years, camera hut, has preserved their status in the bazaar as the ultimate camera destination for you. Camera hut has always succeeded in achieving their idea of providing the newest cameras having the diverse technological innovations at a great economic price.

Camera hut is a household name for the photographic aficionado for their superior assortment of handy cameras and its allied abettor. In simple words, camera hut is an accepted, approved and the appointed distributor of the top camera brand producers, and they candidly get the most modern cameras in large volumes in order to candidly cater the needs of the customers from all across the country. Moreover, as they directly get from the creators, they are largely benefited from the kinds of discounts they get and also sense great in distributing their products to the regulars as well in the discount rates. Thus the numerous offers at the cheapest prices become the main key mystery to their large client in the marketplace.

They reserve and offer the widest array of photographic products like latest version of digital cameras like Nikon, Olympus, Canon digital SLR, Canon EOS, Pentex, Yashica, Chinon, Casio, Sony and many other world class digital SLR cameras. Besides the digital still cameras, they are also flooded with the large diversity and all kinds of movie and video cameras like JVC handycams, Hitachi, National, and many other superior world well-known brands. Moreover, along with their wide range of products, they have also attained a character for the proper repairing and the maintenance of all the branded cameras with their expert technical staff.

At camera hut, you can also find a huge reserve of all the spares and other camera abettor such as the filters, camera lenses, flash guns, trolleys, photo albums, frames, etc. In the field of photography, digital cameras are a unique revolution. The photography was never so simple using the best digital SLR cameras. Most modern version of digital cameras offers the better result than the normal cameras with their inventive technologies. Today, photography has become more effective and a lot easy than earlier through the complete atomization of the digital cameras. Once the memory card is full with the images the cameras proffers the amenity to off load all the shots either on the digital video disc or the hard disc of the computer. Thus, you can also edit your shots in the way you want very straightforwardly and thus get the expected result.

The digital cameras offer great amenity to make the picture great and to view the shot instantly after the click

Fazal Zubair posts:


Nikon D90 Digital SLR Camera

12.3 Megapixel , Movie Funtion, High Performance DSLR

with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Stunning image quality, broad control and the world’s first digital SLR movie function

Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the introduction of its newest DX-format digital SLR, the D90. More than just a new camera, the D90 represents a new era of digital SLR fun and creativity

The first thing that will amaze photographers about the D90 is its stunning image quality, which takes its inspiration from Nikon’s flagship DX-format digital SLR, the D300. The D90’s image sensor and 12.3 effective megapixels combine with Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED image processing to deliver outstanding images featuring fine details, smooth tones, rich colors and low noise across a wide ISO sensitivity range.

.The D90 is the world’s first* digital SLR camera with a movie shooting function that delivers genuinely cinematic results, enhanced by the creatively shallow depth of field made possible by the DX-format sensor. This is further refined by the optical quality and broad selection of NIKKOR lenses — the same lenses relied upon by professional photographers the world over. Thanks to the D90’s large image sensor, D-Movie images exhibit less noise than those of a typical camcorder, most notably in low-light situations.

The D90 also provides remarkable performance and operability, featuring Nikon’s exclusive Scene Recognition System that advances precision in auto focus, auto exposure, and auto white balance in diverse shooting situations. Live View mode allows shooting while confirming the subject on the large 3-in., approx. 920k-dot high-density color LCD and offers three contrast-detect AF modes to allow photographers to focus on any point in the frame, enabling a greater variety of composition. In addition to wide and normal area AF, the D90 offers face priority AF in Live View mode for even sharper pictures of people.

See complete details with images at

http://nikon-digital-camera-01.blogspot.com/

Jessica Thomson posts:


Camera hut has kept up their repute in the bazaar as the basic destination to get the paramount cameras of all the forms. Camera hut, has always succeeded in achieving their aim of providing the newest cameras having the assorted technological novelty at a great reasonable price.

It is the household name for all the photographic fans across the world mainly due to their diversity of cameras and their linked abettor. In simple words, camera hut is an accepted, endorsed and the appointed distributor of the top camera brand creators, and they right away buy the latest cameras in large volumes in order to candidly cater the needs of the patrons from all across the country. Moreover, as they promptly get from the producers, they are largely benefited from the sorts of discounts they get and also feel great in distributing their products to the patrons as well in the discount rates. This is the secret key of their massive patrons that they always offer the cheapest prices in the bazaar.

You can find a large store of the widest array of great photographic cameras which includes the most recent versions of the digital cameras like the Olympus, Nikon, Canon digital SLR, Canon EOS, Chinon, Yashica, Casio, Sony, Pentex, and the many other world class digital SLR cameras. Besides the digital still cameras, they are also flooded with the large range and all forms of movie and video cameras like JVC handycams, Hitachi, National, and many other superior world well-known brands. Moreover, along with their wide variety of products, they have also gained a status for the proper repairing and the maintenance of all the branded cameras with their professional technical staff.

They also supply the huge amount of spares and other camera related abettor like diverse kinds of camera lenses, filters, flash guns, connectivity cables, camera rolls, expandable memory cards for the digital cameras, camera cases and carry bags, camera belts, tripods, trolleys, top quality photo albums, frames and many other gifting abettor. In the field of photography, digital cameras are a unique revolution. Through the best digital SLR cameras, photography was never this simple. newest version of digital cameras presents the better result than the standard cameras with their new technologies. The complete atomization of the digital cameras has made the photography more efficient and effortless with just a click. Once the memory card is full with the images the cameras proposes the amenity to off load all the shots either on the digital video disc or the hard disc of the computer. Thus, you can also edit your shots in the way you want very straightforwardly and thus get the expected result.

Thus through the digital cameras and its various facilities, you can now make your picture perfect and also view the shots right away after your clicks