The Crayford telescope focuser design – developed in 1971 by John Wall and named after the Crayford Manor House astronomical society – has a number of important advantages over rack-and-pinion and can be home built out of wood by almost anybody with a bit of patience and the right tools at hand.
Although some prefer to build the design in metal, with the associated advantages, that approach requires specialized metal working tools, generally out of scope for most home builders.
The 2” woodshop design presented here is scalable, has proven to be sturdy, reliable and, most importantly, when built to tight enough tolerances, allows for very precise focusing, even under heavy loads.
I designed this focuser specifically to carry the weight of a Nikon D7100 camera on prime focus (± 800 gr), which is considerably heavier than even the largest eyepieces. So far, it is holding up admirably.

Even though building this design is probably possible utilizing hand tools only, for tight tolerances the following specialty tools are recommended:
Electrical table saw and/or
Miter saw: electrical table top (enhanced precision wood cutting) and/or manual (PVC cutting)
Jigsaw
Belt sander (80 grit belt)
Vertical drill stand
Drill press vice
Glue clamps
Hole saw, 54mm (2 1/8”)
Wood drill bits: 1mm, 3mm, 4/4.5mm, 5/5.5mm and 8mm
Thread tapping set

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When I started this blog, over seven years ago, the camera industry was in the middle of an authentical revolution, that started with the launch of the 2,7 Mp. Nikon D1, almost ten years earlier.
I bought a digital compact in 1999 and a Nikon D1X in 2003, and soon became part of a small, but quickly growing learning community of digital camera users.
With falling prices and the rise of the entry level DSLR, some three years later, came the opportunity to help out others, a cause that I embraced with much enthusiasm and frought virtual friendships that last until this very day.

Those were exciting times. With every – rumor laden, feverously awaited – camera launch, something new happened.
Vastly improved low-light performance, radically improved AF, full frame, dramatically improved resolution, life view, incorporated video, far better battery life and, last but not least, a rapidly expanding assortment of very necessary, crop-sensor UWA and motorized (AF-S) lenses, among others.

Not any more.

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Latest articles:
Is my camera motorized or motor-less, compatible with NAI, AI, AI-S, AI-P, AF-D, AF-I, AF-S lenses and GPS or not? Answers.
The Nikon F-mount. Manual focus NAI, AI, AI-S, AI-P, Series E and auto-focus AF-D, AF-I, AF-S, D- and G-Type lenses. A compatibility inventory

This month’s most read. Last month’s position between ( ):
1 (1) Compatibility chart for Nikon DSLR and Adobe Camera RAW & DNG Converter (Updated)
2 (-) Can I use Nikkor AI and AI-S manual focus lenses on my Nikon DSLR? Yes, you can!
3 (3) Geotagging test of the Nikon D7100 and the Promote GPS N-90
4 (-) Nikon EN-EL3e false low-battery warning problem. Possible solutions.
5 (5) Got a new camera? Problems with Photoshop or Camera RAW? Check out Nikon Capture NX-D. FREE!

Quite a few people end up here to try to get answers to their million-dollar questions, such as: “Is my D50 motorized or not?”, “Can my D100 focus and meter with manual focus lenses?”, “Is my D3100 geo-tagging (GPS) capable?”, and so on.
I have concocted a compatibility table that pretends to answer these questions all at once. One-stop shopping to solve your Nikon DSLR doubts, so to say.
It is so large that it does not fit my standard blog page, which is why I’m providing the table both in HTML and PDF.
Because to err is human and to forgive divine, I would greatly appreciate you dropping me a line if you find any errors.
Thanks!

For the HTML version click here, for the PDF version click here.
Note that cameras are ordered chronologically by launch date.

I’m writing this post nearly 5 years after Can I use Nikkor AI and AI-S manual focus lenses on my Nikon DSLR?, because the interest of Nikonians for legacy lenses is undeniable, while my research into the topic has added some – hopefully worthwhile – facts.
At the same time, the value of manual focus NAI and AI(S) lenses is clearly on the rise, which is good for everyone who has a few of grannies F-lenses lying around, either for proper use or sale.

The Nikon F-Mount was launched with the Nikon F camera in 1959 and has remained virtually unchanged since, making it the only camera mount still in production over 5 decades after its introduction.
The F-mount can be found in five versions: F, AI, AI-S, AF and Non-MF (Fig. 1).
The latter made its debut on the F-401 (N4004), in 1987, is used on the D40 to D100, D3K and D5K series and essentially a downgrade back to the original F-Mount, because it lacks the meter coupling lever to interface with non-cpu lenses. This is why none of these cameras exposure meter with MF lenses.

The F-mount has only seen two major updates.
The first from the original Auto-Nikkor to Auto-Indexing (AI), with the addition of the meter coupling lever – introduced on the Nikon F2 Photomic A in March 1977 – and the second from AI-S to AF, with the launch of Nikon’s first flagship auto-focus camera, the F3-AF, in April 1983, followed by the popular Nikon F-501 (N2020), two years later.

Where the manual focus system update from F-Auto to AI was basically oriented at making existing technology (aperture indexing) more user friendly, the update to AF may be considered break-through.
With it, Nikon replaces mechanical camera-lens coupling with a cpu-driven, electronic camera-lens interface, allowing for many posterior innovations such as aperture control from the camera body, electronic range finding, distance metering (with D and G-type lenses), EXIF data recording, AF-S, VR, iTTL flash, etc.

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Those of us who look at DxO Mark to help us decide which lenses are “best” for our particular cameras have been lead astray for too long already.
One particular testing item that has always called my attention, but had never bothered to research – until now – was the infamous DxO Mark “best at” Score, which, without exception, suggests that lenses ought to be shot wide-open for best performance.

Shooting lenses wide open might be interesting in certain situations, but in general does not make much sense, because they are typically at their optical best at between 2 and 3 stops down from their maximum aperture.
It also called my attention that lenses we all know to be average keep picking up DxO score on newer, higher resolution and/or full-frame cameras, while some legendary ones keep getting below average scores, independent of the camera they are “tested” on.

As it turns out, and I quote:
“DxO Mark Score is measured for low-light conditions: 150 lux and 1/60s exposure time. Such conditions correspond to a correctly lit living room (with no daylight). It is a difficult, but rather typical photographic use case.”

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UPDATE (25/01/2016): The NX-D software has recently been updated to v. 1.3.0 (Windows) and v. 1.3.1 (Mac), including a host of bug-fixes and some minor improvements.
The program runs native on x64 systems (WIN 7 and later) and can be downloaded here

Since I upgraded to Windows 10 I have been using this program regularly and, in absence of an in-depth review as of yet, it suffices to say that the conversions are very good (once you get the hang of it), that lateral and axial CA is virtually absent and - most importantly - that you can extrapolate any NEF to a 19.999 px. long end TIFF (267 Mp.), without notable punishment.

This is pretty big news. The kind you get once every ten years or so...
When the new Nikon NX-D software got out of beta, I was kinda skeptical, to say the least.
But the release of Capture NX-D could not be more opportune and the program is good – as far as I have been able to review – which is news in itself.
From where I am standing, Nikon has not given us any productive RAW processing software since Nikon View 6 and Capture 4, way back in 2004.
Although it is indisputable that Nikon software does – for obvious reasons – a better job in converting NEF files than Adobe (article), every next version of Nikon View or Capture stripped out more functionality, was an even bigger memory hog than the previous one and, without distinction, slower than a snail on a barrel of tar.

Meanwhile, Adobe keeps milking the Photoshop cow not by significantly upgrading the program, but just by not supporting our new cameras in the next incarnation of Adobe Camera RAW (ACR), thus demanding an upgrade of Photoshop or CS.
Many of you, as I, have decided to stop giving our money to the boys from San José, because they have not added anything useful for – like – the last ten years or so.
Question was: where do we go from here?
The jury has been out on this matter (article), until now.

Because now Nikon have done something unheard of.
First, they developed a piece of software that actually works, and second: they made it FREE! (For now, at least).
Nikon Capture has always been, and still is, the very best RAW converter for NEF files on the planet but also, sofar, expensive.
Capture used to set you back about 300 bucks and, more importantly, gobbled up precious time and CPU cycles, which is invaluable.
Not any more.

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It's been more than five years since I wrote this article (in Spanish) on autofocus and although in many areas the innovation of DSLR’s has slowed down since, autofocus systems are still making unimagined jumps.
I don’t know if this is because we have lost our sense of awe about innovation or because the big camera makers keep devoting considerable resources to AF, but the advances in this area are probably among the most significant in modern DSLR camera development.
If only five years ago we were talking about a second-generation system (Multi-CAM 1000), the latest Nikon models already use fourth generation systems that are considerably faster, more versatile and accurate.

In this article we review the 51-point system, which was introduced in late 2007 with the Nikon D3, D300 and the evolved version of which is used in the D7100, D750, D810 and D4S (Advanced Multi-CAM 3500).
Cameras such as the D5300 and D610, among others, come with the Multi-CAM 4800 39-point system.
Apart from having 12 fewer focus points and the fact that its implementation is slightly less sophisticated in the D5300 –where all modes must be set in the menu– , the two systems are virtually identical in technical terms.
Although the step-in models are still using Multi-CAM 1000, this system has also evolved in comparison with 5 years ago.
Today, its implementation and management is very similar to the more expensive cameras, even though without the convenience of being able to control the AF modes via the command dials.
Still, for the so-called “Baby Nikons” the jump from the 3 focus points available on the D40 (still for sale) to the 11 points in the latest generations can also be considered as a tremendous improvement in operability.

Note that all references to menus are from the D7100 manual. That said, the terms used are universal for all Nikons since the D3, D300, D3000, D5000 and D7000.

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Fill-in flash is useful in many situations, even if we only have the built-in flash at hand.
Even though an external flash offers a wide range of additional options and is recommended to achieve more professional results, the built-in flash is useful in many situations and can be slightly more versatile if we either make or buy an accessory called flash diffuser, which has the objective to soften  its generally harsh light.

What is fill-in flash?
Regardless of whether we are using the built-in flash or an external flash, fill-in flash aims to achieve proper lighting of our main subject, be that a person, a group of people or any other subject we want to emphasize over the environment, ideally in situations where there is a reasonable separation between the main subject and the background.
Although most people believe that flash is only used in low light situations, fill-in flash is useful in almost any daylight situation where we alternatively need to reduce the EV range of shot – like when the subject is back lit –, when we want to illuminate a subject that would be otherwise underexposed or poorly lit – when in the shade, for example – or when we wish to emphasize our main subject and at the same time reduce the brightness of the background which, typically, but not always, involves raising flash compensation (FEC).

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The latest update of the Adobe Camera RAW plug-in and DNG converter – v.8.6 – supports all current and recent new Nikon cameras, including the D810.
The mentioned models are supported since:
Nikon Df, D610 and D5300: ACR/DNG v.8.3
Nikon D4S and D3300: ACR/DNG v.8.4
Nikon D810: ACR/DNG v.8.6
If you own a Nikon that was supported in previous versions of ACR/DNG Converter, and have not yet updated, there is no need to look for that particular version of the plug-in.
Just get the lastest version, instead.

Keep in mind that ACR v.8.x is only compatible with Photoshop CS6 and Creative Cloud, and that installing the plug-in in previous versions of the program will inevitably cause problems in your install.
If you don't own or are subscribed to a recent version of Photoshop (LightRoom, Elements), I can recommend the new and free Nikon Capture NX-D software, which does an outstanding job at converting your NEF files and is, in my humble opinion, a far better alternative than the Adobe DNG Converter.
To download the ACR/DNG Converter package for Windows (7, 8 and 8.1) click here, to download the version for Mac (OS-X 10.7, 10.9) click here

You may also want to read:
Got a new camera? Problems with Photoshop or Camera RAW? Check out Nikon Capture NX-D. FREE!
Compatibility chart for Nikon DSLR and Adobe Camera RAW & DNG Converter (Updated)
Which is the best RAW converter: Camera RAW, Nikon View, Capture or Phase One Capture One?