Review Nikon D700
This is just an excerpt from a lengthy and in-depth review at The Blog at Wired.com of the Nikon D700, a total wow of a camera.
There are plenty of reviews and incredibly detailed spec sheets for the D700 already online, so I’ll just cover a few of the quirks and delights I have found so far. In short, though, the D700 kicks ass. It’s easy to use, and takes an incredible picture, even in the dark.
That Sensor
The headline feature of the D700 is its full-frame sensor, which is the same one you’ll find in the flagship D3. You only get 12 megapixels, but they’re big pixels, and their light-gathering ability is extraordinary. The top ISO available on the D700 is a staggering 25,600, a full eight stops faster than ISO 100.
At that setting, though, the pictures are terrible. Convert them to black and white and they look exactly like they have been through a photocopier. A photocopier that is running out of toner. That said, even this is better than the results that the Canon G9 gives at just ISO 1600.
Drop just one stop, to ISO 12,800, and things are a lot better. The pictures are still noisy but Nikon has tweaked its noise reduction algorithms to mimic film grain, or so it seems. The EXPEED processor has no mercy with color noise, but is a little easier on the luminance noise. What does that mean? It means that the nasty stuff is cleared out, leaving a grainy but pleasing result.
Drop the ISO to 6400, the highest setting with an actual number (Nikon uses names like H0.3 for the more sensitive settings) and you’d never know you were shooting at more than 800. This, combined with a fast lens (a 50mm ƒ1.8, for example) means you can shoot in ambient light, handheld, at night. And coupled with the heavy body, which steadies things, you can handhold to some pretty slow shutter speeds, too. If you were to add a shake-reducing lens into the mix, you’d likely have no trouble with shooting 2001’s monolith in a black hole. At midnight.
Read the rest of the review HERE.
The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge: Onlooker
Onlooker says this is Goa – and while there is sand and surf, he also throws in a sunset for free – is it not gorgeous?
There is so much going on, it is easy to forget that The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge continues! You have but one week! The challenge closes next Saturday, when all contestants will go up for a ballot on who wins the Sand and Surf challenge.
It is perfect Sand and Surf weather. There is even surf! Go forth and photograph!
Meanwhile – HHOOOOAAAHHHhhhhhhh! Onlooker!
Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge: Teagirl
Wooo HOOOOO Teagirl, and her very disciplined, very artistic sand and surf entries, each more beautiful than the last:
What do you think, Kuwait? Soulful? Beautiful? 🙂 YOU have two more weeks to get those Sand and Surf photos in before the voting begins!
Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge: Q8Geek
Wait until you see these entries in the Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge. The Q8Geek RULES! These are going to take your breath away.
Look at the gleam on sand and log!
Oh! Oh! Well done, Q8Geek!
GQSSC – Hot on Her Heels – Q8Dutchie!
I don’t know why I find these photos so moving . . . so poignant . . . but I do! New contestant Q8Dutchie is close on the heels of our first entrant, Ansam, with these great sand and surf photos:
What I don’t understand, and what I marvel at, is why when we know the footprints are indented, do they look the opposite, as if they are coming out of the sand? It must be a trick of the shadows. Woo Hooo, Q8Dutchie!
Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge – Our First Entry: Ansam
Mere minutes after the Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge was launched, we had an entry.
Wooo HOOOO, Ansam, our very first entrant! And what a day at the beach this was. Can you guess my very favorite?
Ansam, you truly capture the joy of a day in sand and surf! (I LOVE the first photo!)
The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge
OK, so here it is, the new photo challenge. You will have three weeks. All your photos must be in to me or posted on your blog and linked to me by Saturday, November 22. The poll will go up then, and voting will continue to November 29, when the polls will close and new winners will be announced.
Sand and Surf can be anything related to beach activities – tidal pools, boating . . . this contest is open to Kuwaitis, residents of Kuwait, and people who have an attachment to Kuwait. We don’t require that the scene be recognizably Kuwait, because well, sand is sand and surf is surf. The photos do not have to be Kuwait, but we want them to be entered by someone remotely Kuwait-related.
Ready on the right!
Ready on the left!
Photographers, take your target!
Fire!
Off topic but related – on the top floor of the Al Rayya Shopping Center (attached to the Marriott Hotel near Dasman Circle) is a really intriguing photo exhibit. It looks to me like all Kuwaiti, and some of the photos are purely spectacular. Some are very moving. I don’t want to give too much away, but if you enjoy photography, this exhibit is worth a visit.
Menace on the Roads
LOL, AbdulAziz sent these fabulous close-to-sunset-in-Kuwait photos. Here is the first:
Isn’t that beautiful?
And here is the one taken just before it:
AbdulAziz, I hope you were at a stoplight when you took these photos! I imagine you driving down the road, camera in one hand, one eye on the photo and one on your rear view mirror and you might come into conflict with one of those bus drivers! Watch out!
Not-Your-Kuwait-Sunset
Blogger Someday (Red) sent me a not-your-Kuwait-sunset to post now that the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge is officially over:
How incredibly beautiful is that? Does anyone recognize where it is?
Winners! Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge
As promised, here are the winners of the Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge, in the order of the votes received:
Mathai
Bu Yousef
Teagirl
AbdulAziz
Congratulations to all! I think everyone who got to see your stunning photos were also winners.
Thank you all for participating, thank you for submitting your photos, and thank you, too, for voting. This was a lot of fun.
Next Saturday, we will introduce the new challenge. 🙂
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