dSLR Dad

Photographer Nick Devlin has published his field report of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II dSLR.  What follows are his impressions after a January, 2009 Expedition to the Antarctic:

The 5D Mark II is a hard camera to review. On one hand, it betters its predecessors in every respect and pushes the envelope of 35mm photography to new bounds at a relatively accessible price.  On the other hand, it is not the photographic second coming that its pre-release hype and anticipation suggested.  Given that the original 5D brought full-frame to the masses, the messianic metaphor isn’t altogether misplaced.  With this camera, Canon offers us mere mortals elevation into the exalted air of 20+ Megapixels – previously the terrain of MF backs and the über-pricey 1DsIII.  This is heady stuff, even in the era of camera-a-minute advancements and galloping Megapixel counts. (more…)

Michael Reichmann, creator of the The Luminous Landscape, has published his review of the 24.5-Megapixel Nikon D3x after using it during a January Expedition to the Antarctic:

I am convinced that by just about any measure (except price) this is the most outstanding 35mm format DSLR yet. Build quality, image quality – you name it. No, it’s not the fastest shooting, and no it doesn’t have cleanest high ISO capability of any Nikon – its sister the D3 wears that crown. But other than with these specialized capabilities there’s hardly a camera on the market that can touch the Nikon D3x in overall goodness – except when it comes to price.

Did I mention price? At US $8,000, and a lot more in many other countries, the D3x is the most expensive DSLR on the market by far, and is only exceeded in price by medium format cameras and backs. I’ll have more to say about the price issue shortly, as well as my field experience with the D3x in Antarctica, but first let’s digress into a discussion of digital camera size.

You can read the entire review at The Luminous Landscape. You can also find more dSLR Dad articles about the Nikon D3x here.  For those dSLR Dads who read Chris Sanderson’s struggles in using the Canon 5D Mark II while also down in the Antartic, you can now see where complete weather sealing has it’s benefits.

Chris Sanderson has documented his impressions of trying to use a Canon EOS 5D Mark II to capture HD video while on an Expedition to the Antarctic in January:

Let’s be clear at the outset – the video files from the Canon 5D MkII are very good and very useable, as has been shown by many examples posted on the web. I don’t think anyone needs confirmation at this stage that the Canon 5D MkII produces very good stills and good HD video. Rather, for me the question was whether this camera could be used successfully to cover both stills and video in the field. The answer is ‘maybe...’. Know the limitations of the camera and possibly discover your own – as I did.

Certainly the camera is highly competent for stills. For video it’s a bit of a stretch. A stretch both for the camera and the operator. This then is not really a review but more of a story of one person’s experience with the camera on location using it as the primary capture device to record both stills and video on a trip to Antarctica in January 2009.

You can read the entire story at The Luminous Landscape.  As always, you can find more reviews about the Canon EOS 5D Mark II in the dSLR Dad Resource Guide.  All dSLR Dad articles on the 5D MarkII can be found here.

Michael Reichmann, creator of The Luminous Landscape, has published his review of the 24.6-Megapixel Sony Alpha DSLR-A900 dSLR Camera:

The Sony A900 is a very serious undertaking for that company, and is a camera to be reckoned with. Sony plays to win, and it becomes a dominant force in virtually every segment of the consumer and professional electronics industry that it chooses to participate in. (One of their only failures was with Betamax, but they then transformed that format into a professional product and went on to dominate the broadcast industry with it for the past 20 years.) So, as we look at the A900, think of it not just as a new high-end DSLR, but also as Sony’s stake in the ground – claiming their intention to become a major player in the DSLR marketplace.

You can read his entire review here.

Michael Reichmann, creator of The Luminous Landscape, has published his preview of a pre-production Canon EOS 5D Mark II and it’s 1080p video prowess:

Lurking inside the Live View mode is video capability. Oh your say. That’s interesting. Nikon announced their D90 just last week. Must be a trend.

Well, yes. It’s a trend alright. In fact I’ve been forecasting the convergence of stills and video for quite some time now, as anyone who reads this site regularly knows.

So – let’s see – how does it work and what are the specs?

You can read the entire article here.  You can also find out more about the Canon EOS 5D Mark II in the dSLR Dad Resource Guide.

Michael Reichmann, creator of The Luminous Landscape, has published his review of the Nikon D90’s video capabilities.

This is clearly a first generation product. Nikon saw an opportunity to add video capability to the DSLR and did so in a simple manner with little intention of creating a new type of hybrid camera. The D90 is a stills camera (and a very good one) at a very reasonable price, that happens to also shoot moderate quality video.

There’s little doubt that stills / video convergence is on the way. The Nikon D90 though is simply a harbinger, and shouldn’t be seen as much more than that. As discussed above, while it is no replacement for a camcorder (even a consumer grade one), in the hands of Indy film makers it will likely turn out to be a productive tool, filling in when shallow DOF or special lens use is required.

You can read his entire review here.  You can also find out more about the Nikon D90 in the dSLR Dad Resource Guide.

I just wanted everyone to know that I have updated a few things on The Media Shelf page. Most notably to you regular dSLR Dads is a brief review of From Camera To Print – A Fine Art Printing Video Tutorial by The Luminous Landscape and Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3. I’ll be working on more in-depth reviews of those products at a later date.

For those of you who are new to dSLR Dad (and judging by the incoming StumbleUpon links there are quite a number of you), I have set up The Media Shelf to be a collection of books, video, and all things media that will be of great resource for the dSLR Dad.

Douglas Brown over at the Luminous Landscape has posted a field review of the Olympus Evolt E-3 dSLR (Available at Amazon and B&H Photo):

When you look back at the standout photos you’ve taken in a year most of the major thought process and effort that went into them had very little to do with the technology of photography. Joss Stone starts vamping at a press event, turns and shoots a look over her shoulder that’s pure, delicious trouble, then sticks her tongue out at you, and believe me you aren’t thinking shadow noise, sensor size, or dumping your current system because some other maker’s camera would be able to shoot the images 1 frame per second faster. You’ve got that camera up to your eye, unconsciously moving slightly to keep distracting background elements out of the way, while simultaneously thumbing the focus point over the eyes, firing a burst then zooming in closer for a second one (because closer is always better). You are running on muscle memory.

In too many of these kind of photographic moments the E3 stumbles over itself. Awkward positioning of major controls, buttons that are small or flush with the camera surface making it difficult to positively locate them, (more…)

The Luminous Landscape has an excellent compact tutorial posted on how to get the proper exposure when photographing snow.

You can read the complete tutorial here.

This is the kind of ‘review’ I love to bring to you dSLR Dads. Michael Reichmann has posted his detailed insight into the Nikon D3 and Nikon D300 over at the Luminous Landscape. What makes this article completely different and refreshing from all of the others is the focus on how these cameras compare from the Canon perspective. He also makes it perfectly clear that this is not a typical test report with an abundance of side-by-side comparisons at ISO 3200 with 100% crops. That really doesn’t matter. What does matter is how does a photographer use these new tools for photography.

In this essay I look at the new Nikon D3 and D300 though the eyes (mine) of someone who has been shooting with Canon cameras for the past 8 years. Prior to 1999 I used Nikons, shoot film, and used them to make a living in photography for some 30 years. I also used (and still do) Hasselblads and Leicas, and as a magazine reviewer have probably tested and shot with almost every major camera system available since the mid-1960’s. But for several decades prior to the advent of digital, Nikons were my 35mm tool of choice….. (more…)