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DxO Mark gives a 95 to the Nikon D800

DxO Mark likes the Nikon D800, placing it ahead of several medium format sensors and everything else tested to date by the lab. Here are the test results. The Canon 5D Mark III sensor has not been tested yet.

Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 VC lens

Tamron has patented a 70-200mm f/2.8 VC lens so look for that to hit stores sometime in the future. I'm a bit shy about purchasing Tamrons (having been burned by them several times), but the non-VC version of this has always been optically a good lens, albeit with fairly sluggish autofocus- if the new version speeds up the autofocus, that could be as significant as the vibration compensation.

The lens I am really eager to see is the announced by not yet released 24-70mm f/2.8 VC. With the new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 II priced up in the utter stratosphere and lacking image stabilization, I'm going to be giving the Tamron wide angle zoom a long hard look. While most people emphasize image stabilization for telephoto lenses, I find it more critical on the wide end. With a telephoto lens, I'm likely to be shooting 1/1000 second or faster anyway (I shoot action), but being able to shoot at 1/15 or 1/30 second in dark interiors with a wide angle lens is a very useful feature to me. No price information is available yet on either lens. We will post information about price and availability as soon as that information is public.

Hand-holding a digital camera at slow shutter speed

I like a lot of what Thom Hogan writes but I don't agree with his column today. Today's column is addressing complaints from users about the focus on the Nikon D800, Nikon D7000 and other high pixel density cameras. In Hogan's opinion, the reason for focus trouble on hand-held shots is two-fold:

1. Users of the D7000 are not taking into account the crop multiplier of the D7000, which turns a 200mm lens into a 300mm equivalent, requiring faster shutter speeds.
2. Users are older and their hands are less steady than back in the 1980's. He writes, "They've lost muscle mass and sometimes fine coordination, but that happened so slowly that they are probably wrong when they think they can still do what they did 30 years ago."

My hands weren't big enough to hold an SLR in the 1980's. I will say that I have noticed a dramatic difference in the quality of shots between photos taken with a film SLR and a digital camera at 1/30, to 1/125 second shutter speed, particularly with any shots containing subtle motion. Quite frankly, the blur on digital camera photos is ugly- and with the super high pixel density cameras such as the Canon 7D or the Nikon D800, it only gets uglier. Image stabilization may help, but I'm not sure how much- in my experience, it's often light motion blur that is causing the problem and image stabilization won't assist in that case.

The adjustment I've made in my own shooting is to be more cautious about shutter speeds. Whereas with film I wouldn't hesitate to shoot at 1/60 second (sports aside), on digital I find I have to make a concerted effort to try to keep the shutter speed up around 1/200 second if there's any possibility of movement in the picture whatsover.

That's what I do as a general principle anyway- occasionally, I will deliberately shoot action at around 1/15 second for a more artistic effect.

[Hogan hasn't introduced permalink to his blog yet but if you're looking for this article at a later date it will be with March 22, 2012 in the archives.]

Battle of the Cameras: Thom Hogan calls the Olympus E-M5 over the Fuji X-Pro1

On his new mirrorless camera blog sansmirror.com, Thom Hogan posted an extended series of camera faceoffs this week between close competitors in the mirrorless realm. Many of the conclusions are obvious but one that might take a few people by surprise is Hogan's preliminary preference for the Olympus E-M5 over the Fuji X-Pro1. Hogan writes:

"Still a little early to call, but initial impressions say E-M5 hands down. The X-Pro1 is a big camera, as big as a Leica M9. It has a limited (and expensive) lens set. It has poor autofocus performance. It has a large, eccentric sensor (APS, non-Bayer). It has a retro design with a hybrid optical/EVF viewfinder. The E-M5 is a smaller camera than it looks in photos. It has an extensive lens set. It has faster focus performance. It has the best of the m4/3 sensors so far. It has a very usable EVF. The problem I have with the Fujifilm is that it is really only great for one (slow) style of shooting, and it's doesn't take advantage of the size benefit that removing the mirror gives you. The hybrid viewfinder is fine, but it's a bit of a gimmick. A good EVF is enough, which is exactly what the E-M5 has."

Back from the past: Steve Huff reviews the new Pentax K-01 that looks like it came straight out of the 80's

Steve Huff has gamely posted a review of the new Pentax K-01 mirrorless camera on his blog. I say gamely because the specs indicate that this camera doesn't have much to offer and Huff's review confirms that.

Beyond the fact that the Pentax K-01 is just fugly, it doesn't bring anything new to the table. I really don't understand what Pentax was thinking. All kinds of advantages can be imagined with mirrorless cameras. The most obvious one, size, is largely neglected by this fat monster- I'd be curious to see if it's any smaller than a Sony a35 translucent mirror camera. I also like mirrorless cameras for their electronic viewfinders- it's a lot easier to manually focus on an electronic viewfinder, especially one with a zoom option, than it is using any APS-C optical viewfinder camera on the market. But this camera is no Panasonic GH2 or Olympus OM-D E-M5 and it doesn't have an electronic viewfinder.

Nikon D800 videos: camera had been in testing since last summer (and a fashion shoot)

Selected extracts from What Digital Camera's interview with National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg, who spent a month with the Nikon D800 last year. In the interview he discusses his first impressions of the camera. 

The Nikon D800 and Photographer John Wright from Hungry Eye TV on Vimeo.

A short film made by fashion photographer John Wright shown at the UK launch of the Nikon D800. All stills and moving image in this film was shot on the D800.

Purchase: Nikon D800 SLR Digital Camera (Body Only)

Nikon D800 vs. Canon 5DIII at high ISO: my initial observations

Imaging Resource has added some image samples from the Nikon D800 to its "comparometer" web page. It is easy to spend way too much time staring at these things but here are my quick observations in comparing the Nikon D800 to the Canon 5DIII.

Canon 1D X available for pre-order at B&H

The new Canon EOS-1D X flagship camera is now available for pre-order at B&H. If I had $6,800, I would buy one of these in a heartbeat. Link is below:

Canon EOS-1D X Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)