Nikon Reviews in a Nutshell

Many of you are probably aware that a devastating 8.8º Richter earthquake hit Chile at 03:34:14 am on Saturday, February 27 last.
What you’re probably not aware of is that I actually live there, and was still awake at the time to live a – hopefully – once in a lifetime event.
Surely, few volunteers would step up to witness the fifth largest earthquake in recorded history...
Even though I told my friends that it feels more or less like being out on the open sea, trying to stay afoot in a small boat during a flying storm in the pitch dark, that does not quite do it.
What makes it terrifying is the noise.
The subterranean racket, the sound of a solid, armed-concrete house moving like a leaf in the wind, roof beams screeching against their foundations, tiles rattling; but most of all: things crashing down all around you…
For us, arrogant humans – accustomed to dominating nature – it is a mind-numbing experience to be overcome by forces that are completely out of our control.
Inevitably, post-traumatic stress sets in only a few hours later.
What is amazing to observe though, is how differently people react.
On the negative side, we sat astonished in front of the TV watching middle class families in 4x4’s looting supermarkets, pharmacies and department stores.
Someone on the street commented: I can understand those in need, but with plasmas or washers you cannot make chicken soup...
On the positive side, we now know that an entire country has learned overnight how to work together, join forces and share.
The newspapers and reportages on TV are jam packed with stories of heroism, collaboration and unselfishness, while the national movement “Help Chile get back on its Feet” was born on the very same day.

Every disaster has its Icons.
In the day and age of channel TV, YouTube and Twitter, photography as a medium is largely under estimated IMHO.
However, with most every citizen armed with a photo camera these days, press photogs and aficionados are very much on par when it comes to documenting current events.
I need only say 9/11 and a powerful, instantaneous and “amateur” picture comes immediately to mind.
In the end, icons of events – be that disasters or happy ones – are created by photography, not video.
Story telling is best done in motion picture but, on the other hand, icons are created by photography.
Therefore, I’d like to share the 2 foremost icons of the Chilean earthquake disaster here.
Special kudos to AP photographer Robert Candia for a capture that has become a symbol of hope overnight.

Photo: Robert Candia - AP

Photo: AP

Nikon have published updated versions of the following programs, which are now compatible with Apple OS 10.6.x (Snow Leopard):
Nikon Capture NX2: download here (EN, ES).
Camera Control Pro 2 (2.7.1 updater): download here (EN, ES)
Nikon Transfer: download here (EN, ES)
Nikon View NX: download here (EN, ES)
NIK Color Efex Pro 3.0. More information.

Nikon WT-4 Setup Utility and Nikon Scan are not compatible with either OS 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
Nikon recommends the use of a third party program, like Vuescan, to replace Nikon Scan on these operating systems.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs

From Wired Magazine's Epicenter.
This is what Steve Jobs thinks about Adobe:
They are lazy. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it.
They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon.
Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy; whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash.
No one will be using Flash, the world is moving to HTML5.

And this is what I think of Adobe: 
Now officially worse than MS

On February 2, 2010, Nikon officially launched 7 new Coolpix cameras, with rumors about more news to come shortly.
As P&S is not the main focus of this site, it suffices to say that the new cameras have resolutions from 10,4 to 14,5 Mp., an optical zoom range from 3,6 to 26x, while all include movie mode. 4 Models offer HD 720p and one – the P100 – Full HD 1080p.
I will not go in-depth on these new models, with the exception of the P100, not only because it may be an interesting DSLR back-up, but also because it introduces us to a few exiting technologies, which - although not entirely new – appear for the first time in a Nikon camera. For more info on the other models, click here; for a Coolpix comparison chart, click here

P100 basic characteristics.
• 10.3 Mp., backside illumination CMOS sensor.
• 26x Optical Wide-Angle Zoom-NIKKOR ED Lens (26-678 mm. eq.).
• 3.0-inch vari-angle high resolution 460,000-dot Clear Color Display.
• Full 1080p HD movie recording at 30 fps.
• HDMI output.
• 5-way VR Image Stabilization System
• Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual Exposure.
•17 scene-modes
• Smart Portrait System
• Active D-Lighting
• Macro shooting down to 6 mm. (0.4”)
• Approximately 43 Mb. of internal memory
• No NEF (RAW) format – an obvious flaw, IMHO.

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Nikon D40 with manual focus, AI 50 mm. f/1.4 lens

Virtually all Nikkor lenses produced since the introduction of AI in 1977 can be mounted and used on virtually all Nikon cameras produced since 1977, because the Nikon F-Mount has remained fundamentally unchanged since 1959.
In other words: Nikon DSLRs are almost 100% backwards compatible with Nikkor lenses back to 1977…
That this is no small feat, is particularly well demonstrated by the fact that Canon have had to change their mount 5 times in the same period (R, FL, FD, new FD y EOS), while these mounts are not always backwards compatible.

Mounting a lens on a camera is one thing, however, can you actually shoot with it? Yes you can!
The following manual focus (non-CPU) lenses and accessories are compatible with the D40, and if they are compatible with an entry-level camera, they ought to be compatible with most everything else.
• AI, AI-S, E-series
• AI-P (post-chipped AI)
• Medical 120 mm. f/4
• Reflex Nikkor
• Nikkor PC (perspective control)
• AI tele-converters
• PB-6 bellows
• PK-11A, 12, 13 and PN-11 extension rings.

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