DR KOH KHO KING

Just received a new toy today from Malaysia…

Yeah! Crumpler the Seven Million Dollar Home!

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When shooting…Megumi was kinda curious about the black thing that point towards her…

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Canon EF 50mm F/1.2L USM vs Nikon Nikkor Ai 50mm F/1.4S

(Size Comparison)

Here’s some photos of the two lenses side by side. Canon 50mm 1.2 is really huge…not a lens that you will want to carry everyday/everywhere…but the huge size also reflects how much Canon has put into the lens, for the $$$ that one paid!

Click the thumbnail below for big images (1000px width):

I got two items on ebay now…will end in a week time.

Many might not know…as this has not been widely advertised or promoted by Nikon themselves.

See:

http://www.mitsubishi.com/php/users/category_search.php?lang=1

Yeah…Nikon is actually a subsidiary company under  Mitsubishi Group.

Tokina AT-X PRO DX 35mm F2.8 Macro

Available in Dec 2007 for Nikon and Canon Digital SLR.

1:1 Lifetime magnification. Front filter size = 52mm. Read More

Is it a Nikon DSLR? Is it their secret Nikon DSLR? Is it D2Xs? Is it a Canon 1Ds MK II?

Nah…it is a medium format with Phase One P-45 back! (Ok, we don’t know what camera they are using with the P-45 digital back). Nikon forgot to delete the exif info in their D300 product shot. Click on the file/photo below and check out the exif. Guess what software they are still using nowadays to edit the photo?!

See the link below:

http://cliffmautner.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/09/ok-its-after-1a.html

Though the files/photos are small, but it still amaze me that the photographer used very high ISO is most of his shots. If he dared to use it, I am sure the quality is just going to be stunning and very usable for his clients!

Now my new dream camera…forget about the D300…let’s dream for D3!

I got the chance to test out a Nikon D2X today. It was a dream camera for me long time ago…whenever I saw people using it…my eyes would just follow the camera. Yeah…a handsome nice piece of art technology machine.

People were complaining about the NOISE of D2X photos, so I thought of checking and seeing it myself.

Original photo but resized to fit the web (D2X):

100% crop (D2X ISO800):

100% crop (D200 ISO800):

D200 seems to be sharper with more details, but it could be due to my handholding shot that moved the focus area differently.

Both D200 and D2X have about the same noise. D200 might be even smoother than D2X.

During the test, I do fine D2X focusing to be more accurate and faster than my D200. Shutter sound is also very different. Shutter count is very short, my guess is that the reflex mirror returns to its original position FASTer than D200. D200 sound is a bit longer, and as if there are two sounds. D2X is just like having ONE sound. This is quite hard to explain, one have to listen to both to differentiate and know the difference.

In my opinion, a very important new technology in photography these few years is Vibration Reduction or Image Stabilization or Shake Reduction. It makes shooting at low shutter speed possible, with acceptable sharp and good results.

I got the chance to test and try out one of the Nikon best telephoto zoom today. The Nikon Zoom Telephoto AF VR Zoom Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8D G-AFS ED-IF Autofocus Lens!

I did a simple test on a easy to identify subject in my room, a wall clock.

Here’s the results:
Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon Zoom Telephoto AF VR Zoom Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8D G-AFS ED-IF Autofocus Lens
Shutter Speed: 1/2s
Focal Length: 200mm
ISO 100
Hand-holding, took a deep breath and hold it when clicking the shutter.

VR OFF

VR Normal

VR Active

No editing was done other than resizing the photo to 700 pixels width for web purpose. VR really does make a BIG difference. This kind of shot would be IMPOSSIBLE in the old days without a tripod, but now VR has made hand-holding at low shutter speed on long focal length POSSIBLE!

For 70-200mm focal length, VR does prove itself to be very useful. A definite must have and must upgrade for those who are still planning on those without VR.

One of the most important aspect of a Photo Storage Device is the download speed of photos to the device or so call backup of memory card during shooting. Some device can take upto 20 mins to backup a 1GB memory card, while the fastest that I have known to date is NEXTO Ultra ND-2525 which can backup a 1GB memory card in less than a minute. Since I got some extra mood today, so I tested the speed of ASKA Tripper V. Backup memory card data to Tripper V is very very easy. Insert the memory card and press the COPY button, copy will start immediately.

Once it finished, it will play a nice piano sound twice (no, the sound is not disturbing). Then it will show a message Completed. You must press the OK button before you can continue. There are two types of COPY function in ASKA Tripper V: Normal or Quick Copy. Normal copy is the slow type. During copying, the LCD screen will still remain ON and you can see the copy status bar showing in real time how many files or data has been copied. Quick Copy is also called as High Speed Copy. During Quick Copy, the LCD screen will go black and the Copy button will flash the blue light. Default is Normal Copy, but can be changed in SETTING to Quick Copy.

80 Files 988MB Data (Imation CF memory card, 2 years old, maybe around 60X):

• Normal Copy = 3 mins 12 seconds (http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp shows similar results of 3 mins 23 seconds in their test. Not extremely fast in today’s standard.)
• Quick Copy = 1 min 52 seconds (http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp shows similar results of 1 mins 34 seconds in their test. Pretty good by today’s standard.)
• ASKA website claims the time to be 88 seconds with high speed CF memory card, which must be in Quick Copy mode. Memory card does play an important role in backup/download speed, so with faster card, the time should reduce. Read More

I have bought many…yes MANY Tamron SP 17-50mm F2.8 lens. Most are in Canon and Nikon mount, a few in Sony/KM mount.

Every unit I tested them myself for focus accuracy. From my previous experience, I found this lens is seriously having QC issue with focus accuracy. My most recent experience testing 6 units of this lens in Nikon mount that I ordered, 2 of them are having front focus problem. I have spent more than 2 hours in testing them, comparing against my own copy that is sharp with focusing.

What is front focus?

Front focus of a lens is when you focus on subject A, in the photo captured, the sharp focus patch is a few cm or even meters in front of subject A. Back focus simply means in actual photo the sharp focus path is a few cm or meters behind subject A.

When testing for front / back focus issue of a lens, one need to test with far subject as well as near subject. This is to make sure that the focus accuracy is not just for close-up shot but problematic on far/infinity subjects.

I use a few methods in testing focus. I find the focus test chart in the internet is not entirely accurate, especially if your DSLR focus sensor is not exactly in the middle or center of your viewfinder, then you might be in trouble. So, I prefer to use top to bottom or depth of field kind of testing technique. With this I can be sure that what I focus doesn’t get affected by the variation of focus sensor.

I will share with photos in future my testing technique.

Today I tried CLS (Creative Lighting System) on my D200 + SB-800. Got to learn on how to set the camera and flash into REMOTE mode.

Here’s the instruction that I thought of sharing and keeping reference for myself:

on D200

• Menu
• Pencil Menu
• e Bracketing/Flash
• e3Buil-in Flash
• c Commander Mode

on SB-800

• Press SEL button for 5 seconds
• Flash menu
• REMOTE
• Press SEL button for 5 seonds

Some tips:

• You must have your built in flash pop up, else it will not trigger the SB-800.
• You can set to have the built in flash disabled, so all flash power will only be from the SB-800 and no light from built in flash.

Another leak photo of the possible Press Release by Sony.

It seems like there will be TWO new DSLRs from Sony. One seems to be the A300 (on the left) and there seems to be another more PRO body on the right. Could it be in the Minolta 9 series range?!

As for lenses, there might be 7~9 new lenses from Sony. Still, Sony lenses are way too expensive in my opinion. Their 70-200mm F2.8 lens is about 15% more than Nikon and Canon equivalent, and that is in the RM8k~9k region!

One must considered deeply before wetting on Sony DSLR…

Found a BIGGER image from the net:

Click to view…

There are rumors that Sony will announce a new Alpha on 5th September 2007, which is next week.

A photo showing possible Alpha A300 is flying in the net…

It is said to have 12MP sensor, possible the same sensor used in Nikon D300. It supposed to be a model higher than the current A100, possible in the Minolta 7 series.

The vertical grip looks great in the photo, Minolta used to make the best vertical grip for their SLR back in the film days, giving the best ergonomic and functionality to users.

Let’s wait for further news in September…

While trying to share two big Nikon D3 files that each contains over 6MB size just now, I have encountered a problem in WordPress. Not really a wordpress problem but this is the message I received:

wordpress The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini.

I tried several times, but still couldn’t get the files uploaded. Did a search via Google and linked to WordPress site, with suggestion of adding the following commands to php.ini file.

upload_max_filesize = 10M
post_max_size = 10M

I tried locating my php.ini file but not avail. Manually created a php.ini file and save it to my public_html folder but still can’t do, same error at WordPress.

So, I tried my WebHostManager (I owned a dedicated server with full access to it). Viola! I found the dummy windows style of editing the php.ini file via WHM! Here’s the screenshot of it:

Default was 2MB maximum file size upload allow, and now I have changed it to 50MB.

Problem solved.

Here’s two photos that have been floating around in the internet that were supposed to be captured by Nikon D3 at ISO3200. I have no idea who is the original photographer, obtained from dpreview Nikon forum.

Each of them are over 6MB file size, so make sure you have high speed internet connection or lots of patient before you attempt to download and view the file in full (Click the file name to download full file fize).

nikon-d3-iso3200-01.JPG

nikon-d3-iso3200-02.JPG

For those who can’t download the full size, here are some of the 100% crop: Read More

After the D3…another exciting news in the Nikon world or even the whole photography world now is the Nikon D300! Successor to the Nikon D200.

Nikon D300 shares many of the similar features of D3. Here’s what I think worth noting:

• 12MP CMOS sensor with 1.5X FOV.
• 3.0? 922,000 pixel LCD monitor.
• EXPEED image processor.
• UDMA CF support.
• 51-point Multi-CAM 3500DX.
• 15 cross-type sensors.
• Contrast detect in Live View mode.
• 100% frame coverage viewfinder.
• 6 frames per second continuous shooting mode. Read More

Finally…

Many have been waiting for the Vibration Reduction update from Nikon on their Telephoto lenses. Nikon has finally updating them…after many many years Canon has their IS lenses in their 400mm, 500mm and 600mm.

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Nikon has just announced their first full frame DSLR! Nikon D3!

Some interesting features which I think worth noting:

• 12MP CMOS full frame sensor.
• Dual CF memory slot.
• Live View.
• 51-Point AF
• Colour AF tracking.
• 3.0″ 922,000 pixel LCD monitor.
• 9 frames per second.

Nikon has just released an update to their award winning software:

Nikon Capture NX Version 1.2

Improvement / Changes:

• Speed improvement when opening images.
• When any of the operations listed below are performed, “Updating image” is now displayed in the image window title bar. Enhancements and other operations can still be performed while “Updating image” is displayed.
• An image is opened. Read More

When I first start up photography in year 2000, before I bought my first film SLR and my first lens, I did some search in the internet on lenses.

I want to get a Nikon SLR and I want to get original Nikon lens.

I searched for Nikon lens…but couldn’t find Nikon lens. What I saw and read was Nikkor. So, what is Nikkor? Is Nikkor = Nikon?

The answer is YES. Nikkor is the lens brand that Nikon use for their lenses. All Nikon lenses are called Nikkor. So, next time when you went to buy a Nikon lens and the shop keeper gave you a Nikkor, don’t be surprised! It is NOT third party brand but official Nikon lens!

I have the chance to see the Canon EF 85mm F/1.2 L II lens for a while, at the same time having the Nikon AF 85mm F/1.4D lens myself.

Both of them are said to be the BEST portrait lens in its own brand (Nikon and Canon). I do not have Canon DSLR, so not sure how is the image quality. Still, I thought of taking some photos comparing their physical size and share them with you all.

Nikon one is 551 grams while Canon one is 999 grams! When holding the Canon 85mm L II lens in hand (with glove), it felt considerably MUCH heavier than the Nikon counterpart.

When putting these two lenses side by side, the Nikon becomes so small and considerable “cheap”. The Canon version is like a totally different class!

The Canon lens is F/1.2, the brightest 85mm lens in 135 format! It needs lots of light to enter the lens, hence the very big glass at the rear element, till no place for the electronic circuit and has to be built onto the glass itself. I guess the process require very high precision cutting, hence adding extra cost to the production of the lens.

The Canon 85mm L II lens is really the lens to own. If I were a Canon user, this would definitely be the DREAM lens for me. The price is nearly double as of the Nikon AF 85mm F/1.4D, only for those “RICH” or “HIGH FEVER” Canonians.

This simple non-scientific test is just to give roughly an idea of how good or bad Nikon D200 is in NOISE CONTROL for different ISO shots. All shots are done handheld, hence focus might not be that accurate. No sharpening was applied, no correction in what so ever. All shots on Jpeg directly from D200, cropped to 100% to 700×700 pixels.

Lens used is Nikon Nikkor AIS 50mm F1.4.

Here’s the full view of the overall shot (ISO 100):

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Canon EF Lens Work III – A MUST HAVE book for ALL Canon users! Though I am a Nikon users, I still want and owned this book!

Now, Canon Europe has offered a free PDF version to be downloadable at Canon Europe website!

Contents:

THE EF LENS CONCEPT

CANON’S CHALLENGES

THE EF LENS WORLD (SINGLE FOCAL-LENGTH LENSES)

THE EF LENS WORLD (ZOOM LENSES)

THE EF LENS WORLD (EF-S LENSES)

EF LENS ACCESSORIES & VARIETY IN THE CANON LENS WORLD

THE BASICS OF INTERCHANGEABLE LENSES & CORRESPONDENCE OF EF LENSES TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO TECHNIQUES

EF LENS TECHNOLOGY

OPTICAL TERMINOLOGY & MTF CHARACTERISTICS

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS & LENS MAP

Download link:

http://www.canon-europe.com/Support/Documents/digital_slr_educational_tools/en/ef_lens_work_iii_en.asp

TIPA Award 2007 Winners

The “European ‘Oscar’ of the Photo & Imaging Industry, 2007″ is what TIPA like to call themselves has been announced and the winners in no particular order are :

• D-SLR Entry Level Camera – Nikon D40x
• D-SLR Expert Camera – Pentax K10D
• D-SLR Professional Camera – Canon EOS-1D Mark III
• Medium Format Digital System Camera – Hasselblad H3D
• Rangefinder Digital Camera – Leica M8
• Ultra Compact Digital Camera – Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd
• Compact Digital Camera – Nikon COOLPIX P5000
• Superzoom Digital Camera – Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ3
• Multimedia Digital Camera – Samsung i7
• Entry Level Lens – Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm F4-5.6 G (IF) (ED)
• Expert Lens – Sigma 70mm F2.8 EX DG Macro
• Professional Lens – Canon EF 16-35mm F2.8 L II USM
• Prestige Camera – Rocoh Caplio GX100
• Innovative Design – Olympus µ770 SW
• Flatbed Photo Scanner – HP Scanjet G4050
• Small Format Photo Pinter – Canon SELPHY ES1
• Expert Photo Printer – Epson Stylus Pro 3800
• Multifunction Photo Printer – Canon PIXMA MP810
• Large Format Printer – HP Designjet Z3100
• Fine Art Inkjet Paper – Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl 320
• Imaging Storage Media – Lexar Professional 300x CompactFlash
• Storage Back-up – Epson Multimedia Storage Viewer P-5000
• Imaging Innovation – Samsung Smart Touch User Interface
• Photo Software – Apple Aperture 1.5
• Color Management System – X-Rite i1PhotoLT
• Accessory – Manfrotto 190XPROB
• Digital Accessory – Delkin SensorScope
• Expert Photo Projector – CASIO XJ-S35
• Pro Photo Projector – JVC DLA-HD1
• Film – Kodak Portra II
• Expert Camcorder – JVC HD Everio GZ-HD7
• Pro Camcorder – Sony HDR-FX7E
• Mobile Imaging Device – Nokia N95
• Digital Minilab – Fujifilm Frontier 550
• Photo Kiosk – HP Photosmart Studio
• Monitor – EIZO CG 211

Was hoping to take some sakura flower shots few days ago, but saw a pair a birds on the sakura trees. Shifted my focus onto them instead, and here’s a shot that I feel can share with the world.

For me, close-up of a bird is boring. I hope to capture bird in their nature environment, hope this flower give you some idea of what I am trying to deliver.

Camera: Nikon D200

Lens: Nikon Nikkor AFD 200mm F/4 Macro

Handheld without flash. Auto ISO and fixed shutter speed at 1/360s to avoid handshake.