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D4 in the Smithsonian Collections
Before nearly every Photoshop World (which starts tomorrow, today are Precons), my bud Russell Brown and us take on some adventure. This time, Russell suggested we take advantage of his friendship with the two official photogs at Smithsonian NHNS. Well, I was all over that so today we basically spent the whole days cruising the collections. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Dr. Dove had pulled out some great bird skins for us to examine. Those collected by John James Audubon and Teddy Roosevelt to examples of the extinct Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet and Ivory-billed Woodpecker. If they had taken away my D4 and walked away with it, I’d still be there!
We walked and walked and walked going from the collections to the exhibits and back to the collections. Absolutely the most amazing tour! This was also my first shoot with the D4. I have my initial settings in the camera and just shot normally just to get a feel for the camera and its default nature. I was impressed with the AWB working in all the mixed indoor lighting. What you see here is what the camera delivered, I didn’t clean up colors in any way. The top photo is ISO 1600 and next, ISO 100, the results are what you expect, really quite fine!
We went a lot of places the public doesn’t have access to. One of those was near the top of the dome and man, what a view! I did some HDR here and tried to process them in Photomatix Pro but it’s not liking D4 nefs. The D4 has a HDR setting but it only works when shooting Jpegs only, I was shooting NEFs.
The metering in the D4 I’m finding so far is slightly better then the D3, at least when coming to my style of photography. I’m not having to dial in minus exp comp like I did with the D3. The AWB like I mentioned is nailing stuff which is cool. The LCD has a manual and Auto LCD brightness control, I’m not so sure about the Auto yet. The Sensor clean more doesn’t do dittilly but didn’t expect it to. I have dust with it turned on. And while I’ve not printed any files yet, the file quality is at least as good as D3s and at ISO 1600, a tad better. The one thing I wasn’t prepared for is the change in the shutter noise. The D4 sounds totally different and it could just be me, but seems to be a little quieter. I have a ton more shooting and field work to do with it, but so far I can honestly say I’m seeing better results that I didn’t expect. Oh, and I shot 767 Nefs using just 23% of the battery. That’s a good thing! And I’m lovin seeing r50 in the viewfinder when i depress the shutter release! You can see a little of our day from the photos Jim took, check them out here. I wanna thank Don & Jim and all the curators who gave so generously of their time and knowledge today. One helluva experience!
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In the Bag
- D4
- 24f1.4 AFS
- 50f1.4 AFS
- 18f2.8 AF
Photoshop CS6 Beta is HERE!
Yeap, you can download and use beta Photoshop CS6, now! So go, it’s great! Check out Russell’s video on Top 6 CS6 Features video!
B&H Blog – Light is Our Inspiration
I’m incredibly fortunate that B&H continues to afford me a HUGE space to present some thoughts on photography! This month is Light is our Inspiration. This is the third in what is in my mind a series on the building blocks of great images, I hope you enjoy! And in their continuing and growing effort to educate photographers even more, B&H just published a piece I was a part of, From Start to Finish: How to Get More Accurate Color From Your Images that you might want to read as well. Enjoy!
Yes, I Have a D4!
“Are we there yet?” I think the pilots on my flights from Orlando were ready to shoot me but my D4 had been sitting in my office for 4 days, I wanted to get home. I can’t thank enough Gabe at B&H and NPS who got this gorgeous body into my hands. After getting through the 3feet of new snow at 1:30 this morning, I was able to open the box and take in that special smell of a new camera body. I was up early this morning dialing in settings and thinking about how I was going to start testing. We leave o:dark thirty tomorrow for PSW so it’s a challenge, not going out now shooting rather then getting work done. Not the testing, that’s a snap!
There are a number of new features and updates in the D4, the most important for me to first master is the updated AF system. The lever I relied on on the back of the D3 is now gone. We have more settings in the menu system driving the AF system, all to be tested and mastered. What I did was to download the D4 Instruction Book PDF to my iPad and then flying back yesterday, I read the whole thing and marked the pages of updated, new or interesting features I want to test. I’ll start getting those 2000+ email questions answered and post more as I learn more. To answer a common question, the accessories I’ve ordered for the D4 is a DK-19, Nikon EN-EL18 and RRS plates (though D3 plates fit really nicely) Stay tuned, it will be fun!
Intuos 5 Rocks!
March 14, 2012 by Moose
Filed under Digital Darkroom, Just Out!
The Intuos 5 reached my office and it was love at first…stroke! Already handed down the Intuos 4s and fully adopted the 5s, they simply speed up the workflow and even better yet, they speed up everything. Watch the video, you’ll understand how.
Nikon – Moire and False Color
Good stuff, knowledge always makes you a better shooter. Click on banner to read article.
Wayne Lynch eBook is Out
Wayne Lynch, one of the finest wildlife photographers I know just came out with an eBook. Just click on the banner and check it out for yourself!”
Where’s the Wacom?
Ever since the NAPP boys Wacom love fest with my bud Wes last week, I’ve been getting emails asking where are my settings, video and product info? Well, I was wondering the same damn thing so over the weekend I left one of my traditional phone messages for my bud, the one and only Wacom Joe. Now there is no nicer person on the planet, I love him to death but if I was waiting for take out delivered by Joe, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t have a weight problem!
The 24HD which you see here is simply a thing of beauty! Replacing my two 21UX units with just the one 24HD is a dream. Getting desk real estate back is just the start, the display which you can calibrate the closest of any monitor to the Adobe RGB color space is to die for. I don’t wanna get you too excited about getting one (the time they save puts money into your pocket) because you might have heard they are hard to find. I heard from a little birdie though you can order then direct from Wacom and they are in stock.
Whata bout the new Intuos 5? Well, I’ve not seen one of those yet but my friends who do have them are sure rubbing it in they do and I don’t! I’m told that mine are “in the mail” so once it is here, I will surely get a video out and setting posted. Talk about not only damn cool but faster workflow! I gotta have! My favorite size is the Large because in its case, it fits perfectly in my check in luggage.Yeah, they travel with me everywhere. These are in stock and you can order yours now direct!
And if that’s not enough Wacom excitement for you in one posting (I know I’m exhausted) did you know they had a blog? Yeap, Wacom Blog is where you can simply learn about how to make the most of this technology and a whole lot more! it’s not where you’re going to get a sales pitch, but rather how to make the most of not only Wacom products but working in the digital darkroom. You might recognize Wacom Joe’s name, together, we’ve created a few unique Photoshop finishing techniques such as putting a light on a lighthouse. So he knows his Photoshop. And if you’re heading to Photoshop World DC, you can see these products and the Wacom Boys personally. And with that, it’s all the excitement I think anybody can handle in one post!
Looking for a Few Good … Testers
Got an iPad / iPad2 (even take an iPad3) and wanna really, really test drive, pick to pieces our app soon to be released? We are looking for just 10 folks as we put on our final touches. If you have a couple of hours, can write descriptive and accurate text describing any issues, email me and we’ll set you up. You must know how to find your UDID. Thanks!
Note: Wow…we have over 200 responses in the first 30min…thank you! To say we got a few is an understatement, we’re good, we’re not lookin for anymore. Look for the real McCoy in the next couple of weeks…we can’t wait!
CS6 Sneak Peek#4
February 14, 2012 by Moose
Filed under Digital Darkroom, Just Out!
This take my “Joe Blow Tourist” video and blows it away. A real reason to update to CS6!
I Know that “Kid!”
but he’s no kid! Jake’s is Scott Kelby’s Guest Blogger today and it’s a great read. Couldn’t be prouder, congrats bud!
The D800E – My Choice
“Why buy a camera missing a filter and pay more for it”? That’s the $64 million question in my inbox right now. Understand, I don’t have a D800, not seen one even, all I know if what you might know reading the material now available from Nikon. I do understand the theory behind removing the anti-aliasing filter and I know the quality hoops Nikon goes through with their products. So if I were going to buy a D800, it would be the D800E to go for ALL the quality that sensor can deliver. I’ve been pounded about the 4FPS…you have to understand that’s radically faster then the D3x 1.8FPS in a smaller and less expensive package. To me, that’s a huge leap forward. This is not a D700 upgrade, this is a whole new camera in a totally different league. Is this the camera for you? There are two reasons why I would say the D800E isn’t for 90% of folks(to repeat, this camera is not for everyone!), it captures too much information and it’s too slow. It’s like what I said about the D3x, it’s a lot of camera for the vast majority of shooters. Being a “D800″ might be confusing, it’s not in the same category as a D700. With that being said, lots of folks will own this bad boy and when you have problems, I’ll be here to help you!
Only New Gear I Know About
We are being flooded today with calls and emails asking about new, rumored Nikon gear. Sorry, but I find out about it the same to as you. I’ve not been part of a new product announcement since 1997 and even then, it’s Nikon to announce and not Moose. I’m using this format for saying this because it’s fast. I know what you know, in 2012, Nikon has announced amongst other things, these cameras:
And I’m told there is some pricing deals right now
But I’m sorry, I have no new gear announcements to make.
Chris Bridges Shares
Photography has brought me many treasured friendships, one being Chris Bridges. Chris and I talk about everything from photography to the Discovery show Gold Rush and History’s Pawn Stars. Chris is an excellent photographer though he won’t say so. I was totally shocked but very pleased that he created a blog to SHARE his talent and thoughts with us all. Click on the photo above and see for yourself his talents!
Meadowland Bird Tour Exclusive!
Unique University is making possible a really unique opportunity! I want to thank them for bringing me back and making this really cool opportunity possible for us. At the height of spring, we’ll be permitted into “closed to the public” areas of the Meadowlands for what promises to be AMAZING bird photography. I simply can’t wait! This page just went live and I’m told it’s nearly full already. I’ll be speaking the night before for a few hours and then we’ll be shooting together on Saturday. I sure hope I cya out there!
Short & Sweet: Great Words of Advice!
Photographytalk.com
Until last week, I wasn’t aware of this great resource for photographer. There are a million shooters there already, you might wanna give it a gander!
His Spreads His Talent to Video
Nobody tells the story of a person’s soul in a click like Joe McNally. Period! He’s now taken his incredible talent from stills to video in The Blues in His Shoes. You just simply got watch it. But I bet you can’t watch just once! Oh, and be sure to check out the AMAZING still he took at the bottom of this page.
