dSLR Dad

"Mother and Child" by Julie Falk

Popular Photography Magazine has an article by Julie Falk on how to photograph snowflakes:

Shooting snowflakes is easy — just follow these tips:

Get in as close as the camera will let you — usually about 2 inches. Hold the camera steady, and shoot from as many angles as possible.

Aim for snowflakes that are on surfaces with clean lines and that are positioned at an angle so early morning or late afternoon sunlight can bring out details. And, Falk adds, “It also helps to find flakes in the ‘twilight zone’ areas of the snow — not in full sun nor quite full shadow — so the background of the sunlit flake is the cobalt blue shadow that snow has on sunny days.”

Large, soft flakes photograph better than small, bright ones. Falk has found them at diameters up to 5mm. “You need to have a lot of moisture in the air,” she says, “and it needs to be bitter cold.”

Nearly windless days are ideal for snowflake hunting, to up the likelihood of finding crystals intact. Colder temperatures help “to keep their little arms from melting off before you can get to them.”

You can read the entire article over at PopPhoto.com.  You can also view more of Julie Falk’s photography at flickr.

Popularity: 2% [?]

VS.

Popular photography has released the review that every dSLR Dad has wanted to see since last September. American Photo contributor Jonathan Barkey has compared the new Nikon D300 dSLR (available at Amazon and B & H Photo) against the Canon EOS 40D (Amazon, B & H Photo). And even though they named the Nikon D300 dSLR Camera of the Year 2007, head-to-head competition usually produces different results. Just ask the Patriots.

While mid-priced DSLRs from competing manufacturers may excel in different ways, these semi-pro models from Canon and Nikon give you a winning combination of speed, image quality, extensive lens/accessory systems, and an upgrade path to their top-drawer professional brethren.

Of course, pitting the two against each other isn’t entirely fair, since the technology-showcase D300 ($1800), a junior version of Nikon’s tour-de-force flagship D3, costs 50 percent more than the EOS 40D ($1200), which has evolved from humbler “prosumer” models. Still, we found them to be more evenly matched than we expected, based on our evaluations in the key areas detailed below.

You can read the full review here.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let that the Nikon D300 Review Page has been updated.  You can check it out here.

Also, with all of the new camera announcements that have come out this week, check back often to the dSLR Gear page to see what’s new for 2008.

Popularity: 23% [?]

The Nikon D300 dSLR has been out in the wild for some time (shipping now at Amazon). For all you dSLR Dad’s out there who are looking for one more bit of information to justify that purchase, here you go: (more…)

Popularity: 25% [?]

I love this site. If you have never visited PhotoZone, head over there now. They have posted their review of the new Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens (available at Amazon and B&H Photo). Nikon announced this lens earlier this fall along with the D3 and D300.

The Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED exceeds the already very good performance of its predecessor. The center quality is nothing short of outstanding matching or beating the resolution of a 10mp APS-C sensor. (more…)

Popularity: 35% [?]

Popular Photography Magazine has released their review of the new Nikon D300 dSLR (available at Amazon). Let’s just say that they liked it:

…But what (Nikon has) on the inside pushed the D300 to new performance records in the Pop Photo Lab:

• It’s the first DSLR to earn an Excellent image quality rating from ISO 200 all the way up to ISO 3200.
• It sports the fastest (and most sophisticated) AF we’ve tested so far. (more…)
  

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  Tags: AF-s, amazon, APS-C, camera, camera body, D200, D300, DX, fps, frames per second, ISO, ISO1600, live view LCD, magazine, MB-D10, MBD10, nikon, order, photo, photograph, pop photo, pop photo mag, popular photography, price, review, shop

Popular Photography has posted twelve rules to help build up your knowledge base. Good for when you’re caught in that new situation and just not sure which way to go:

1. Sunny 16 Rule
2. Moony 11, 8, and 5.6 Rules
3. Camera Shake Rule
4. Anatomical Gray Card
5. Depth of Field Rules
6. Largest Digital Print Rule
7. Exposure Rules
8. Quick Flash-fill Rule
9. Flash Range Rule
10. Megapixel Multiplier Rule
11. Action-stopping Rules
12. Sunset Rule

You can read them all here.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Attention readers:

Originally, I never wanted this site to devote any space to non-dSLRs. After all, the site is called ‘dSLR’ Dad. Who wants to troll through 16 press releases on little cameras you don’t care about with sensors smaller than your pinky’s finger nail. However, I am beginning to slightly lean the other direction. We all need a pocket camera to act as our take-it-everywhere, backup camera. After all, what’s important is that you get the shot, not what you take it with. Although, any pocket cam that is discussed, must allow you the quality and flexibility to be a photographer that you have with your very own dSLR.

With that being said, I bring you the following post:

As someone who has used the Canon G5, 6, and 7, I am glad to see RAW finally return to the G-series with the just released Canon PowerShot G9 pocket camera: (more…)

Popularity: 3% [?]