In The Picture

Nikon D5100 – second thoughts

All positive, mind you. The more I get to know this camera, the more I think it's close to perfect - the soft, almost sensuous shutter, the snappy response to commands, the new high-res screen, finally articulated the right way out to the side, and the astounding image quality that pushed APS-C sensors to new heights.

My friend Kit Laughlin sent me a link to a fascinating thread at Fred Miranda on the subject of the D5100, started by a pro D3 shooter looking for feedback on the D5100 as go-anywhere camera in his leisure time. There are many replies, but RRRoger simply says this:

'When I went down to my local camera store, they got out a D3100, D5100, and D7000 and put them on the counter. 

Hands on is so great! I went home with the D5100.
I had already tried a D3100 (too small, & too light for me to hold steady).
The D5100's articulating LCD is way better than I expected.
Easy to use and strong connection.
For my work, Video it is a must. Also the D5100 shoots HD 1080 at 30fps.
This is now also my dedicated trip and hiking camera.'

This is a long and rambling thread but it explores a lot of fascinating lens options http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1027444

The competence Nikon has squeezed into this little body is just astonishing. And this new body is surprisingly little, as this comparison from dpreview shows http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond5100/.

The D5100 in the middle is a lot smaller than the Canon T3i/600D - it's almost closer to the Panny G2 in size. That's pretty good going for a camera is essentially a D7000 repackaged. Here's a comparison with the D5000 it replaces:

On the flipside, the Canon T3i/600D's body has the same depth, and it has a shorter kit lens. I've always thought the Nikon kit 18-55, good as it is - too long for the rane it covers. Nikon's own 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED DX is actually shorter (and better).

courtesy of http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/Canon-Rebel-T3i-EOS-600D-Compared-to-Nikon-D5100.shtml

This last image was posted on the FM forum thread mentionened above, and compares a D5100 kit with a D3s kit

I think that's the mighty 14-24mm FX crazy wide $2000 lens on the D3s, and it's a big tool. Can't quite make out the other lens, a Tamron, obviously. But the picture tells the story, doesn't it?

Kim

 

Compact cameras – once more with feeling

Out of the fog of noise emerges a surprising contender

Curiosity

The tiny sesnors in digicams are noisy even at ISO 100. Weighed down by ridiculous pixel to sensor ratios - 14mp is about 50 mp/cm² - their sensors struggle to make sense of what the lens sees. The firmware works overtime to intepret the image data, and to represent it in a flattering way - enhancing colours, reducing noise and sharpening details. That creates what we know as image artifacts - when you view the image at 100%, it looks like someone not very skilled filled in the details with an edgy paint brush. Here's a crass example where the firmware had no idea what to make of the plastic weather shielding. (Click on any image for a bigger file).

To an extent, all digicams have this problem so we shouldn't expect DSLR or Micro 43 image quality. Dynamic range is clearly compromised, depth of field is not a real option with tiny sensors and lenses, and blowouts occur as soon as you're anywhere near a light source. Add to that painfully slow focusing, shooting and shot-to-shot times, and you realise that you're not going to find camera perfection in this realm. The best you can hope for is an acceptable compromise. I just wanted to make that point before we go on.

A while ago I read that a Canon IXUS 300HS – known as the SD4000IS Digital ELPH to its fans in America – had been chosen by the UK’s PC Advisor magazine as the best digital camera of 2010. The mag said the 300HS ‘delivers clean and clear images and video footage across a range of shooting and light conditions and is a joy to use. With some fun functions to try out, you get to experiment with photography styles, but you don't sacrifice optic quality or manual functions for the sake of gimmicky extras. In short, a lovely camera ...’ http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/pc-peripheral/3227211/canon-ixus-300-hs-review/ 

Looking for a second opinion, I checked with Photography Blog, a pretty reliable source. ‘With a 10 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor and fast f/2.0 lens,’ Mark Goldstein sums up, ‘the IXUS 300 HS was always going to deliver the goods in terms of image quality. Noise doesn't rear its ugly head until ISO 800, with even the fastest 3200 setting proving usable, something that you can't say about too many compact cameras, and chromatic aberrations are also well controlled. Only a slight softness in the corners and some barrel distortion at the 28mm wide-angle setting detract from an otherwise stellar performance.’ 

The only downer seemed to be the single control wheel that controls all of the cameras tricks. Oh, and the ‘eye-watering price of £375. Yes, pounds. Mark’s final take is: ‘... while the Canon IXUS 300 HS is an undeniably full-featured compact camera that takes great pictures, it's just too expensive to whole-heartedly recommend.’

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/canon_ixus_300_hs_review/conclusion/

Surprise, surprise

By the time I read this, it's a year after the camera’s release, and the price no longer makes the eyes water. In fact, I find I'm rubbing them in disbelief: the 300HS is less than $200 from my favourite Hong Kong supplier. A year is an eternity in digicam land, and the 300HS has been kicked over the fence by the 310HS – the PowerShot ELPH 500 HS in America. 

This is a pretty typical example of digicam makers losing what looked like a good plot. The new 310HS adds weight, a fancy touch screen and 12 megapixels to the 300HS’s 10. ‘The Canon IXUS 310 HS' swollen proportions suggest a 16x travel zoom capability might lurk beneath its exterior,’ says Gavin Stoker at Photoblog, ‘so it's a slight disappointment to find a 4.4x optical zoom in its place.’ http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/canon_ixus_310_hs_review/image_quality/

Last year, Canon settled on 10mp for serious digicams like the G12/S95. Panasonic did the same with the Lumix LX5, and Olympus followed suit with its new XZ-1. At the gadget end of the digicam market, Canon went to 12 and 14mp, Panasonic to 14, and Sony and Fuji to 16mp. They can’t help themselves, and the average punter who buys these things hasn’t yet worked out that more pixels are bad news for tiny sensors and more work for the firmware.

So the 300HS is looking good with an f/2 lens and a 10mp backlit CMOS sensor, and a great price. But why would anyone in their right mind buy last year’s model? That’s like buying yesterday’s newspaper, isn’t it? Not quite - a camera doesn't go off like food, so it's is just as good as it was last year and, as we’ll see, progress in digicam land is evanescent.

Second Thoughts

As I think about the bargain the IXUS 300HS presents, I remember what’s wrong with all of these toys compared to a real camera. I remember how bad the Canon S95 was at ISO 800 in real life, despite the glowing reviews, and I’m losing interest fast.

Canon S95 ISO 800

Check here for the full review and comparisons http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2011/02/canon-s95-the-search-for-pocket-size-perfection-ends-in-failure.html

Looking for more guidance, I came across a review of the 300HS in the great oracle known as dpreview.com. The guys here only review the crème de la crème of digicams, and the IXUS gets a 74 point rating (these guys have a rigorous point-scoring system for their exhaustive reviews). They write: ‘The SD4000 IS is born into a long and well-respected line of compact cameras and does its family proud. It offers flexibility, image quality and a good level of user control while remaining distinctly easy to use. Only the screen (large chunks of which are regularly unused), is a disappointment.’

It’s a 16x9 screen and a 4x3 sensor, but surely you can set the shooting menu to 3x2 which would be a closer fit. Anyhow, I check the other digicams reviewed at this revered site and find to my amazement that none exceeds the 300HS’s 74 point rating. That’s correct, not one, and the Olympus XZ-1 is the only camera to equal it. Here are the scores:

Canon Ixus 300HS                             74

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd4000is/page10.asp

Olympus XZ-1                                  74

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/OlympusXZ1/page12.asp

Canon PowerShot G12                       73

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonG12/page9.asp

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5                 73

Canon PowerShot S95                       72

Nikon CoolPix P7000                          65

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q42010highendcompactgroup/page18.asp

Nikon CoolPix P300                           70

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikonp300/page10.asp

Kind of helps to put the IXUS 300HS in persepctive.

Entrapment

It’s shame Nikon can’t get its act together with digicams, but that’s another story. Here we have a Canon IXUS lording it up in very elite company, in fact expensive company as all the cameras listed here are $400 to $500. Comparing apples with apples, the Olympus from my favourite supplier DWI in HK (http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/index.asp) is $399 compared to the Canon IXUS 300HS at $197. And the Olympus is bigger and less pocket-friendly. Same with the Panny LX5 and the Canon S95. Same price, same size as the XZ-1. 

If I’m going to buy a new one of these things, it has to fit into a normal pocket (not one of those stupid saddle bags they sew onto cargo pants). The reviews say the 300HS is small and slim and fits easily into normal pockets. OK, I’m convinced.

First Impressions

When I unpack the camera a couple of days later, I have to admit that I love the design. It’s a sleek and elegant piece of metal sculpture, smooth to the touch and nice to hold in your hand. It’s solid but not heavy, compact but not tiny, it feels well-made.

Sadly, function has been sacrificed at the altar of minimalist design. On the top plate from the right, we have the shutter with the zoom ring around it, the power switch, and a 3-way switch for AUTO, Program mode and video. On the back, a huge 16x9 screen takes up 80% of available space. To the right is a control wheel with a Func Set button inside, flanked by 2 buttons – one for replay and the other for Menu. 

Courtesy of Imaging Resource http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/SD4000IS/SD4000ISA.HTM

The design may be slick, but the navigation is as clunky as it gets. If Canon had cut the screen size back to 3x2, there’d be room for an MASP/modes wheel plus 3 or 4 more buttons. As it is, the unused bits of screen left and right mostly function to explain what the single control wheel is doing or not doing – it’s a bit like Alladin’s lamp: you have to rub it just the right way.

Pressing left, right, top or bottom will give you quick access to flash, distance and exposure settings. The function button opens a quasi-manual mode lets you choose things like ISO and White Balance and even aperture and shutter speed. Once you set it on AV mode, you then use the same control wheel as a dial to

The IXUS 300HS features an f/2 lens at the wide open end, which goes to f/5.3 on the far side. Zoom range is 18-70mm in APS-C DX speak or 28-105mm in 35mm film/FX jargon. It’s the first Canon digicam with a backside-illuminated CMOS sensor, but the size is just 1/2.3 inches, not the ‘larger’ 1/1.7 sensor of the S95. The gravy on this dish is a high-speed burst mode up to 8.4 frames per second, high-speed movie capture for slow-motion video clips, and improved low-light image quality.

It doesn’t shoot RAW, and I really don’t care. It springs to life quickly, which is more important, and it focuses and shoots fairly fast as well. Shot-to-shot times are still a yawn but you can always use drive mode for multiple shots - it's very fast. If you use a decent spec SD card and shoot JPEG (Fine) between ISO 125-400, you get close to 4 fps and unlimited frames

Rest of the specs here (and an editor’s choice award):

http://www.photoreview.com.au/Canon/reviews/slimline/canon-ixus-300-hs.aspx

So this is the first IXUS the first in a long line of resolutely automatic models to give us A and S modes. I should know: I own one. An old IXUS 960IS

This shot was taken with the IXUS 300HS, reminding us that digicams are much better shooting close-by objects than distant landscapes. The old IXUS from 2007 in the picture was no slouch in its day: it scored a 9 out 10 for image quality at Trusted Reviews.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/Canon-IXUS-960-IS_Digital-Camera_review

Comparing Canons with Canons

That’s right. We have the old IXUS 960IS, the new IXUS 300HS and the ghost of the S95. Here are a few samples from the new 300HS:

A tough shot with extreme contrasts testing dynamic range - not bad

this one's tougher and we have some blow-outs

Bad light at ISO 800. Not good but the 300HS does no worse than the S95

A shop window 'en passant'

Big shot, wide angle, bad light, not bad apart from the blowouts

Very poor light and the 300HS holds things together pretty well at ISO 1600

A real surprise

The 300HS does better in poor light than the S95, no question. Must be that HS sensor - never mind the size, feel the sensitivity. So what we have here in effect is an improvement on the S95 at half the price - from the same maker. You work it out, I can't. This is a slicker and smaller package as well, and the battery lasts longer - about 250 shots. It looks good, it feels good, it works better than I expected. I think the boys a dp.review are right on the money with that 74 point rating.

There's only one problem: it doesn't really improve on the overall image quality of the old IXUS 960IS. Yes, it's faster, more responsive, and offers more control, but the IQ is not that different. Here are some of its images:

Sydney from Cremorne Point at sunrise

Another weekend, another wedding

Magnolia

Ivan and Beth's old Beetle in fading light at ISO 800

 There be Dragons

Summing Up

The overall impression that formed in my mind when I looked at the image files from the three cameras wasn't how different they were but how similar. Yes, all that propaganda about advances in capturing digital images is just that: propaganda. Not much has changed since 2007. And all that talk about sensor sizes is rot: on the whole, the 300HS does a better job in poor light than the S95, but neither is a real advance on the old IXUS 960IS.

Not in terms of Image Quality, or build quality - the 960IS feels like it's cut from a solid stainless teel billet. In speed of operation, the IXUS 300HS is a big step forward, except for the rebound after a shot which still takes seconds. The design offers much to admire, and this is what the IXUS range has always been about. It really delivers on that score, and the camera grows on you in a special way because it's just nice to have and to hold if you pardon the expression, but I wish Canon had stuck with traditional navigation. 

Kim

 

P.S.: I have to eat some of my words here: wondering why that old IXUS 960IS/ PowerShot SD950 IS produces such great images, I re-read a couple of reviews and discovered that it has inside it a 1/1.7 inch sensor. Mind you that still doesn't explain the good performance of the 300HS.

Winter Down Under

There's plenty of colour if you just keep your eyes open. Click on images for a larger file.

Just plain bark

And full-on green

And life of all kinds

This next shot was taken with the D5100's special effects mode - selective colour

And this is Nyssa Sylvatica, the tree with those glorious autumn leaves, in winter

A rare black swan

The Magnolias are about to pop out in all their glory

The early ones aren't always the best

Spring is only a month away

Kim

Another EVIL Camera Update

Not sure how they did it, but the guys at DxOMark have already tested the sensor in the just announced Olympus E-P3, and the micro43 camp still doesn't look like it's making much progress.

The old Nikon D40x still wins on dynamic range and colour depth.

NIKON
And while we're talking about Nikon, the company released new lenses just now. Great, except that these aren't the lenses Nikonites have been clamouring for. One is an AF-S 50mm f/1.8 prime designed for FX, the other an AF-S 40mm f/2.8 micro for DX format bodies.

What was the pressing need for either of these? There's a perfectly good, small, sharp 50/1.8 FX in the catalogue. No, it doesn't have an inbuilt SWM motor. So what? Every FX body Nikon makes has a screwdrive AF motor so you don't need the AF-S on the lens.

And what do you do with a 40mm Micro (when will Nikon call these macro lenses like everyone else?)? Magnifying the dates on coins and stamps? 40mm is much too close for anything else, macro-wise. And as a normal prime, the current 35mm f/1.8 is cheaper, faster and smaller. 

A 135mm macro would've been a whole lot more use.

Thom Hogan recently published a list of DX lenses we really want:

http://bythom.com/

• Wide Angle: 16mm, 18mm, 24mm.
• Normal: 35mm f/1.4 or faster.
• Mid-range zooms: 16-50mm f/2.8 VR, any f/4.
• Telephoto zooms: 50-150mm f/2.8 VR, any f/4.
• Macro: 135mm.
• PC-E: 18mm.

I'd add a quality walkabout like a 16-70 with a constant aperture of f/2.8.

Why are the people at Nikon not asking their users what they want?

Kim

 

This winter is cold – longing for summer

It's the coldest winter in many years down under. One way I'm keeping warm is by checking last summer's photos. Yes, I know I'm strange but I miss the weddings we get down by the Rotunda at Balmoral.

And the colorful bridesmaids and visitors

And the kids clowning around
And some of the locals

And the beach, of course.

Keep warm!

Kim

Nikon D5100 – as good as it gets?

Bargain Time, upgrade time

Prices for camera gear have come down a lot since the Aussie dollar has muscled past the greenback. For the first time in a long time, we can buy camera gear cheaper than Americans - as long as we buy it from Hong Kong, that is. The local retailers have yet to give up their fat margins - $1000 for a D5100 body - while reliable HK sellers charge around $700 including freight.

My old D5000 went for $400 on eBay (paid $650 for it 15 months ago), along with a spare lens for $200. I made the move because the D5000 had some shortcomings for me:

• It’s a little too big and heavy compared to the old D40
• The articulated screen is hinged at the bottom, a dumb idea
  
• The live view AF is ‘please work before I die of old age’ slow
• The sensor (in common with the Nikon D90’s) gets noisy at ISO 1600

In addition, the new camera offers 14-bit RAW and ISO expansion to 25,600.

Seeing further in the Dark

I’ve written more than once that it’s not about the camera, but I shoot landscapes, often before sunlight or with night approaching fast. Also, I shoot music gigs my son mixes the sound for in dimly lit venues, and the D5000 really struggles here. The sensor of its successor produces cleaner images at ISO 3200, and even ISO 6400 is usable. It’s wide dynamic range puts it right up there in the top 10 next to the Nikon D3 and D700 in DxOMark’s sensor rankings, ahead of the Sony a900 and various Hasselblads and Phase Ones: http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Ratings

Here’s one of many interesting comparisons you can get DxOMark to run for you:

 

I thought the Canon’s numbers would’ve been closer to the D5100’s. Last year, I tested the Canon T2i/550D which shares the 18mp sensor with the newer 600D, the 60D and the 7D. I'd expected the image quality to be compromised by two many pixels on too small a sensor but I was wrong. ISO 3200 was better than I expected, and ISO 6400 was usable in a pinch. Thus I'm surprised by the big difference in the DxOMark comparison above. Check the 550D image gallery in the pages section in the right margin, or click on this link http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/canon-eos-550d-gallery.html.

A second opinion from dpreview.com says: ‘At ISO 1600 and above, the D5100's image quality is more or less the same as the EOS 600D and Sony SLT-A55, but at ISO 3200 a gap appears between the D5100/A55 and the EOS 600D, which only widens as the ISO sensitivity gets higher. At ISO 6400, the D5100 gives class-leading performance ...’ DPReview also says: ‘The Nikon D5100 is the lucky owner of one of a new generation of sensors that show exceptionally low shadow noise at base ISO. In fact, the D5100 has the same sensor that impressed us so much in the D7000, and as such, it has a considerably lower noise floor than the entry-level D3100 and the last-generation D5000.’

High ISO Reality Check

DPreview is a serious outfit that carries out exhaustive tests, but life is not a well set-up studio. shooting carefully lit wine labels on a tripod is one thing, shooting all kinds of stuff in mixed conditions and poor light is another story. Here’s an ISO 6400, 100% crop (click on the image), the kind of shot you’d see in most reviews. Almost perfect.

And here’s an image shot at ISO 3200 out there on the street - it’s a different story, isn’t it? You can already see the noise creeping in. Click on the image for a 100% file.

At ISO 6400, the noise is too loud to be ignored, and detail is lost.

Neither of these shots have had NR or sharpening applied. Once that’s done, there’s no question that we’ll come up with decent quality images at ISO 3200 and usable ones at 6400.

Image Quality

On the whole, it’s excellent if not clearly superior to D5000’s IQ in any area other than low light/high ISO. Images seem to come out a little more polished, that is they look a little smoother perhaps due to the extra resolution and detail in the images. They’re a fraction sharper as well, but you’ll have to stare hard at the screen to see that. On the down side, skin tones can come out with an orange tint in bright sunlight (easily corrected in PP).

File size has gone up again. Who on earth needs 16 or 18 megapixels? Pro shooters do but they would never buy a camera like this or the Canon T3i. Thankfully there’s a medium size option that produces 9mp image files. Perfect for day to day shots. The options are:

NEF (RAW) + JPEG Fine
NEF (RAW) + JPEG Normal
NEF (RAW) + JPEG Basic
NEF (RAW)
JPEG Fine                Large
JPEG Normal            Medium
JPEG Basic               Small

I ended up shooting JPEGs because my favourite ACDSee image editor doesn’t yet support D5100 NEF, nor does Adobe Elements 8. Curiously, Google’s Picasa does, and so does Nikon’s ViewNX2 which comes in the box, but I don’t like either much for RAW conversion. Simple question, Nikon: why is D5100 NEF not the same as D7000 NEF? And do we really need another new battery? The D5000’s was compatible with my D40.

When shooting JPEGs, I turn all the processing options off or set them to zero or neutral. The only exception is Active D-Lighting, which reduces highlight clipping and brightens shadows. Nikon does this really well.

Shooting action

The D5100 is fast enough. Ready in an instant. Responsive. AF is snappy, except in very poor light. Only 11 points? Do you really need 167? The ability to shoot at higher ISO ratings also helps with indoor sports. Great AF-system. Autofocus in Live view is still a bit slow but a lot better than it was. Acceptable. Works during video recording too, or rather full HD movie making, not something I do much of.

The D5100 can shoot at 4 frames per second, not that fast these days, but it can do so in any file format, and Active D-Lighting no longer makes a difference to the number of frames the buffer can handle. Shooting JPEGs, the buffer can accommodate 100 frames. When shooting RAW, the buffer chokes after 15. When the buffer is full, the camera begins to stutter and spurt out shots whenever more space is freed up.

If you need to grab lots of shots in fast series, use JPEG and set the size to medium for best performance. Or take a video. The D5100 inherits the D3100’s AF-F continuous autofocus mode for live view and movies, which tries to keep a moving subject in focus. It works, but very slowly. You can see AF-F trying to keep up (and failing) when you watch videos taken with the D5100. You can refocus with a quick touch of the shutter, and you can select AF tracking mode for faster focus, but it’s still pretty clunky. I think I’ll stick to my $150 Kodak Playsport for video.

Design and build

The D5000 felt a little half baked, but the D5100 feels fully done from the moment you pick it up and hold it. The first thing that strikes you is the size of this camera: it’s visibly smaller than the D5000, almost as small as a D40 in fact but a bit heavier.

This is exactly what I’ve been chasing: the best possible sensor in the smallest possible package. For my shooting, the D7000 merely adds bulk I don’t need and takes away the articulated screen I want. The D5100 is the only Nikon DSLR with an articulated screen, now a gorgeous high resolution 3-inch screen that’s articulated just the right way. You can even turn it forward for self-portraits or group shots with you in the group.

Yes, the D7000 body is tougher but build quality is hardly an issue with small Nikons: I took 35,000 shots in all kinds of places on my first D40 before selling it to my son. It still works fine. The D5100’s shutter, one of the quietest I’ve put my finger on, is rated for 100,000 actuations (and it’s one of the sweetest shutters since the F80). Unless you’re a reporter or mountain climber who is rough on gear, the D5100 is tough enough.

Handling

Reviewers have picked on the lack of drive motor with the D5000. I have no idea why, since these cameras are clearly designed for minimum size, and Nikon has made enough DX lenses with inbuilt AF motors in the last decade. So have lens makers Sigma and Tamron. In a any case, the older non-AF-S Nikon lenses are Full-Frame or FX lenses. On a DX body, their geometry gets messed up so that wide lenses look normal, normal ones look like short-tele lenses and so on. Only long tele lenses benefit from the 1.5 crop factor, with their reach increased by 50%.

Reviewers also pick on the lack of function-specific buttons on these small bodies. There is an Fn button, which I assign to ISO since that’s the number I change most often. I also use exposure compensation a lot, but there’s a button for that so I have no gripes. Why Nikon persists with 2 Info buttons is a deep mystery - why not make one of them a second Fn button?

The revised layout of the buttons that used to grace the left back side of Nikon bodies, which is now occupied by the LCD hinge, has caused more gripes. The new arrangement does look a bit messy at first sight, I admit, but you soon get used to that. The switch for Live View on the right side of the top control dial doesn’t bother me. What took more getting used to was the heavily sculpted grip around the shutter button. It’s a bit overdone for my delicate fingers, and much more pronounced than any other Nikon body I’ve handled. The other serious gripe I have is that Nikon took away the grid option in the viewfinder. Why?

How much better can it get?

Nikon has squeezed a great deal into the D5100's compact body. Mind you, we could say the same about Canon who managed to get this right 18 months ago. It took Nikon two attempts, but at least it got there. The 5100 feels more solid than the Canon. It’s a camera you love to hold in your hands, near D40 size but a little heavier. That makes for better balance with bigger or heftier lenses. The D5100 is a perfect match with my favourite Nikon 18-70mm.

In sum, most of the gripes you’ve read about are a bit rich, given the D5100’s size and price. Yes, it would be nice to have a DOF preview and a wireless control for distributed flashes. Sure, a 100% viewfinder would enhance the framing experience but the body would put on bulk. You can’t have it all, and what we have here is a whole lot that works really well. The fancy effects, plus HDR and HD video, will please many aspiring shooters, while those of us just looking for the best image quality in the smallest package at the best price will be over the moon. The D5100 is as good as it gets in my book.

I’ll only add one caution: Despite the mighty specs and the tall claims of their makers, progress with DSLR cameras doesn’t come in great leaps and bounds. The D40x produces good quality images up to ISO 800, the D5000 raised that bar to ISO 1600, and the D5100 to ISO 3200. That covers a span of 4 years. It really is one slow step at a time, but let’s not forget that we’re already on a pretty high plane.

I've put up a D5100 gallery of sample images under PAGES on the right. Here's the direct link http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/nikon-d5100-sample-gallery.html

Kim

Additional resources

In-depth comparison with Canon T3i/600D http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/Canon-Rebel-T3i-EOS-600D-Compared-to-Nikon-D5100.shtml

The dpreview review http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond5100/

Ephotozine http://www.ephotozine.com/article/nikon-d5100-digital-slr-review-16109

DCresource http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/d5100-review

 

MANLY – A GEM FROM EVERY ANGLE

We love going there, but prefer to do that on a Saturday because of the number of tourists heading there on Sundays, even in winter. It's a perfect Sunday outing for the family - go to town, take the ferry from Circular Qualy out across Sydney harbour all the way past the heads. Half an hour later, you're in Manly where you have a choice of ocean beach and harbour beaches for the little ones.This is Manly Cove and the Ferry terminal. Click on the images to see a larger file.

Manly Cove on the other side of the ferry terminal

And here's a big family enjoying Sunday at Manly

A lone seagull

One of the water features on the Corso, which connects Manly Cove with Manly Beach on the oceanside

Resting on the Corso

Time to go

Kim

EVIL CAMERAS UPDATE AND OTHER NEWS

After I dumped on Olympus for dragging the chain for re-releasing essentially the same camera in three different guises over the last two years, the company announced 3 new cameras and some new lenses, accessories and flashes. Here’s the short version:

• The E-P3, a new high-end PEN
• EPL-3, a new high-end PEN that replaces the E-PL2. It sports a tilt/swivel rear LCD
• PEN Mini, an XZ-1 sized Micro Four Thirds camera at the entry level
• New 12mm f2.0 lens (24mm equivalent in 35mm) with retro styling.
• Fast prime lens - 45mm f/1.8 (90 equivalent)
• optional hand-grips for the E-P3 (fashion accessories?)
• Two new flashes
• New UI with touch control and navigation via new 3 inch OLED touch screen
• Revamped 12-megapixel Live MOS sensor
• New image processing engine, TruePic VI.

Olympus claims that its new FAST (Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology) provides faster autofocus faster than the Panasonic GH-2, Nikon D7000, Canon T2i, and a Nikon D3x!? There’s also a new 35 point target area AF system with improved AF tracking performance and a new full time AF mode for video. Maximum ISO has been boosted to 12,800, and you’ll be pleased to know that there are some new Art Filters, including a new 3D Art Filter for use with 3D TV screens. The E-P3 will sell for about US$900.

What do we make of all this?

The new sensor and image processing engine are overdue, as I suggested in my EVIL update a couple of posts ago. We don’t know how much that will improve the currently poor M43 dynamic range. The new AF system sounds too good to be true, but Olympus has a track record of innovation. We’ll have to wait and see. The rest of the changes are mosly cosmetic. Here’s a new vs old picture – E-PL3 vs E-PL2 – body shrinks, lens grows.

Courtesy of Imaging Resource http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EPL3/EPL3A.HTM 

Sadly, every system has hard limitations, but marketing doesn’t. We have three models with slightly different body shapes and slightly different feature sets. Thom Hogan sums it up: ‘They all use the same sensor, have basically the same core feature set. The LCD varies between the three, the flash sync (and internal flash) varies, and the frame rate is different (5.5 fps for the lower models with IS off, 4.1 with it on, 3 for the higher end E-P3!). How you control the cameras is basically the same in the menu system, but each model up the line has more external controls and user-customization capability.’

After commenting on the marketing challenges that lie ahead for Olympus – phasing out the old gear over the next 3 months until the new gadgets are ready to go – Thom comes up with something that closes the loop for me: ‘I like the way one person put it: Olympus has released the same camera in three different bodies.’ There you go: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,’ as the French used to say. More of the same. Here’s the E-PL3 as a fashion accessory:

courtesy of ephotozine.com http://www.ephotozine.com/article/olympus-pen-lite-e-pl3-hands-on-preview-16847

Pentax, a great name looking for a home

The story goes that Hoya bought Asahi-Pentax for its medical products four years ago, but Pentax camera sales continued to slide. Now Hoya has sold Pentax for $124 million to Ricoh, a huge document management company with a tiny but well-regarded camera division. Ricoh makes digicams loved by some enthusiasts, and the GXR modular system which I dismissed as truly original but impractical.

Pentax makes good DSLRs and added the almost medium frame 645D to the top end of its range. What will happen to the Pentax Q in this new environment is anyone’s guess. Pentax has some highly regarded lenses, primes most of all, and perhaps Ricoh can provide an K-mount so these can be used on the GXR system. Who knows? They might rescue the GXR system from novelty doom.

It would be good if Ricoh had the balls to back three systems that break the boring camera system moulds Canon and Nikon have forced upon us. The 645D, GXR and Pentax Q are nothing like other makers’ systems, and I admire them for their originality. Let’s hope the camera people at Ricoh know what they’ve bought for $124 million. It doesn’t sound like a lot, does it? Think about the heyday of Pentax, the great film cameras the company made – sad. Frank Mechelhoff has provided a huge resource for those interested in Pentax history here http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Pentax_Main.html . A shorter version of Pentax history here http://www.photoxels.com/history_pentax.html

Hasselblad – a great name being passed around

I know very little about medium format cameras. I remember going to sports events as a kid and seeing reporters with Hasselblads, sometimes turning them upside down and holding them above their heads to get above the crowds. They had big viewfinders much like today’s digicams. 

The Medium Format field has been shrinking and rationalising under pressure from Nikon’s, Canon’s and Sony’s high end machines, and it seems that Hasselblad hasn’t been keeping up with new pacemakers like Phase One. This snapshot is from a member of Fred Miranda Forums: 

Actually, while Hasselblad was the most modern of the MF makers for most of the last decade, they're now the least so, with PhaseOne/Mamiya, Pentax and Leica all delivering more advanced packages than the H4D's. Leica and Phamiya both offer mixed leaf/focal plane shutter solutions giving the best of both worlds with max shutter speeds of 1/4000 and sync to 1/800 (or 1/1600 for certain configurations of the Phamiya's).

Hasselblad's also a generation behind in sensors compared to Phase/Leaf and has no answer to Phase's Sensor+ tech which allows max ISO's 2 stops higher than the ISO 800 most of the H-series backs are limited to via pixel binning. Pentax and Leica also offer usable higher ISO's via improved processing chains. Pentax is offering a true native wireless TTL flash and eclipsed Hasselblad in AF performance and also offers weather sealing, Leica also beats Hassy in AF performance, offers weather sealing and delivers a much smaller package. Leica and Phamiya also offer vertical grips (and the Phamiya grip does wireless flash sync).

Essentially Hasselblad's been sitting still and selling Ferrari-branded collectors items while the rest of the market has been seriously pushing the tech over the last 2-3 years.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1023242

Here is the press release from the private equity firm that bow owns Hassy

http://www.ventizz.de/en/pm110630.php

Kim

 

Malabar – no shipwrecks, just whales

A long time ago, this was where Sydney ended to the south, most likely just 10 - 12 kms from the city. So they built the sewage treatment works here, and Long Bay jail, and a rifle range next to it. The headland is as rough and rocky and barren as any I’ve seen in Sydney, and was given back to the people when the federal government gave 70 hectares of it to the NSW government in 2010.

Preservation campaigners say that the area supports over 283 endemic native plant species and more than 200 bird species, is home to the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub, an endangered plant, plus aboriginal and WWII defence sites. 

Little Bay was almost deserted on this warm winter Sunday. Click on any image for a bigger file.

We headed north to the other side of the same bay, where the southern winds have made quite an impact over the years. We could already hear the rifle shots in the distance.

We walked north from here along the edge of a golf course that seemed interminable – it turned out there were three adjoining courses - past Long Bay, the Anzac rifle range and the old sewage works. The rifle shots were pretty load now, and we weren’t sure whether we should worry more about stray golf balls or stray bullets.

I always worry about rock fishermen.

As we headed for the headland at Malabar, a group of riders came across the ridge above us, and soon disappeared again.

Malabar headland. Really rough. To the north lie Coogie and Bondi. Malabar was named after the MV Malabar, a Burns Philp Company steamer shipwrecked at Long Bay in 1931. By now, Sydney had expanded this far, and local residents campaigned for their new suburb to have a name change from Long Bay (and its jail connotations) to Malabar. A number of other ships came to grief here, the last one in 1955.

Way below us, more rock fishermen.

And at last, in the distance, at the limit of my 55-300 zoom: Southern Right Whales

I was perched on the cliff above the rock fishermen with nothing to lean against, and I was probably shaking with either the fear of falling or the excitement of seeing whales. In these conditions, Nikon’s VR didn’t provide enough stability. To get decent photos, you’d have to sit somewhere like that for hours, staring into the blue distance, with the camera on a tripod. 

It was really good to see the whales, though.

Kim

More resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar,_New_South_Wales

http://www.malabarheadland.org.au/

http://www.malabarriding.com.au/

http://www.nswra.org.au/