Nikon Blog
August 2021 CIPA data: Demand is (mostly) steady, but production appears affected by global chip shortage
The Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has published its August 2021 production and shipment data for digital still cameras, revealing shipments were steady across the board year-over-year (YoY) in August, while production slightly decreased YoY in August, likely due to the ongoing global chip shortage. According to CIPA’s August 2021 data, 233,028 digital still camera units were produced and 249,804 units shipped worldwide, a decrease of 4.3% and 20.8%, respectively, compared to August 2020. Despite the decrease in both units...
read moreThese incredible images of Earth were captured with an iPhone 12 by an Inspiration4 commander
Last week, we wrote about photos that the Inspiration4 crew captured using Nikon cameras aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The images were shot from 575km (357 mi) above Earth, which is about 166km (103 mi) higher than the International Space Station (ISS). The commander of the crew, billionaire Jared Isaacman shared another photo from the mission over the weekend, this time captured using an iPhone 12. Image credit: Jared Isaacman / SpaceX / Inspiration4 Per Digital Trends, Isaacman captured the image ‘through the all-glass dome...
read moreRoundup: Six Large Tripods For Heavy Duty Use
Roundup: Six Large Tripods For Heavy Duty Use From left to right; ProMediaGear TR344, Really Right Stuff TVC-34, Sirui SR-3204, FLM CP34-L4 II, Leofoto LM-364C, Gitzo GT3543LS. (Pro tip: keep the leg locks away from sand if possible.) There is a saying about tripods; ‘Cheap, light, stable – you can pick only two’. And maximizing one aspect will minimize the others. This roundup covers tripods that emphasize stability over affordability, and make what concessions they can to portability. Further, these tripods represent ‘once...
read moreVideo: Nikon confirms its Z9 mirrorless camera will have a dual-pivoting display
[embedded content] Nikon Japan has published a new teaser video for its forthcoming Z9 mirrorless camera. Little information is shared in the 30-second video, but we do get our first glimpse of the backside of the camera from Nikon itself, revealing at least one detail we haven’t yet seen before. Back in July, during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, we got our first glimpse of the backside of the Nikon Z9, which we confirmed was being tested by various photographers at the event. While those images showed the button layout and...
read moreArca Swiss Quick Link Set Review
Arca Swiss’s “Quick Link Set” is a duo of lightweight plates that go between your tripod and your tripod head, letting you attach and detach the head quickly. I’ve been using the Quick Link Set recently and wanted to cover my impressions in today’s review. Table of Contents What Is the Quick Link Set? The Arca Swiss Quick Link Set consists of two plates: a disk that attaches to the bottom of your tripod head, and a receiver base that attaches to the top of your tripod. They look like this: Once you’ve attached these two plates to your tripod...
read moreVideo: An angry raven nearly takes down delivery drone
[embedded content] Wing, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has been regularly making deliveries of lightweight goods, via drone, for some time. The service was first tested out in Australia’s capital city of Canberra, back in 2017, and has been going strong since. Recently, a man named Ben Roberts caught a raven attempting to take down a drone, delivering his coffee, on video (seen above). The brief clip shows a raven latching on to the back of the aircraft with its claws. The bird then pecked at it relentlessly with its...
read more39th Leitz Photographica Auction will include rare Leica MP, prototype prime & much more
The 39th Leitz Photographica Auction is coming up, taking place on November 20 at the Hotel Bristol in Vienna, Austria. Ahead of the auction, Leica has highlighted various rare Leitz/Leica camera equipment people will be able to bid on next month. Among the collection due for auction is a rare Leica MP Black Paint No. 55 camera. It has an A- condition grade and was built in 1957. The serial number is MP-55. Leica writes, ‘With a total number of only 412 units produced, the MP is among the rarest Leica models of all time. The black-paint...
read moreVideo: a Retro Review of Sony’s 24-year-old Mavica FD5 camera, which used floppy discs for storage
[embedded content] Gordon Laing has shared another episode of Retro Reviews, this time reviewing the 24-year-old Sony Mavica FD5, one of Sony’s earliest digital cameras that recorded cameras directly to 3.5” floppy discs. The Mavica FD5 was released in 1997 and retailed for around $600. While not the first Mavica camera, it was the first digital Mavica camera. As Gordon explains in the 13-minute video, the selling point of the FD5 was its use of the ubiquitous 3.5” floppy disc as a storage medium. Whereas most other digital cameras in the...
read moreCanon EOS R3’s OVF Simulation: What it is and why it matters
Canon is the first company we’ve seen to take advantage of the greater dynamic range of the latest OLED viewfinders. Almost paradoxically, OVF Simulation mode, a new feature on the recently announced EOS R3, delivers a more advanced, more naturalistic viewfinder experience than previous mirrorless cameras as a result of Canon trying to make users of an older technology (optical finder) feel more at home. Let’s take a closer look. Canon essentially said ‘We have an HDR display that can better represent the world…...
read moreDPReview TV: Ricoh GR IIIx review
Published Oct 2, 2021 | dpreview staff [embedded content] The Ricoh GR IIIx brings a 40mm equiv. focal length to Ricoh’s legendary GR series of cameras. Find out why Chris describes the GR IIIx as a camera ‘…that’s easy to covet and love.’ Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week. Sample photos from this episode Gear in this story The Panasonic GH5M2 is a refresh, rather than complete reworking, of the company’s image-stabilized, video focused GH5. We didn’t find...
read moreRicoh GR IIIx sample gallery from DPReview TV
Published Oct 2, 2021 | dpreview staff This week our dynamic duo from DPReview TV reviewed the Ricoh GR IIIx. Check out their sample photos from this pocketable APS-C camera including portraits, landscapes, sunstars and more. View the Ricoh GR IIIx sample gallery from DPReview TV Gear in this story The Panasonic GH5M2 is a refresh, rather than complete reworking, of the company’s image-stabilized, video focused GH5. We didn’t find live streaming as reliable as we’d hoped but we appreciated the improved feature set....
read moreOmnar Lenses reveals its first lens, a 26mm F6 M-mount lens made from Canon P&S optical elements
Film photography publication 35mmc and manual lens specialist Skyllaney Opto-Mechanics have teamed up to create Omnar Lenses, a new lens manufacturer who has just revealed what will be the company’s first lens, the Omnar CN26–6, a 26mm F6 fixed-aperture M-mount lens. The lens is constructed of optical elements from Canon’s AF-10 point-and-shoot camera. Omnar Lenses says the lens is ‘a simple optic with a combination of [coated] glass and plastic elements.’ While Omnar Lenses claims it’s sharp, it does note the lens ‘definitely gives a strong...
read moreCineStill launches RedRum, an ISO 200 redscale 120 film stock with ‘spooky’ autumn tones
CineStill has released RedRum, a new ISO 200 medium format red scale film stock that will be available in limited quantities. Just in time for Halloween season, CineStill says this monochromatic film delivers red and yellow tones that makes for ‘spooky’ photographs. To achieve this look, CineStill takes its 800T emulsion and reverse rolls it through the reddish film base. This effectively reduces the sensitivity by four times, resulting in an ISO 200 film that cleverly takes advantage of the lack of an anti-halation layer of its 800T...
read moreInspiration4 crew photographed Earth from 575km, more than 150km higher up than the ISS
Last month, the world’s first all-civilian space mission, operated by SpaceX, was launched. The spaceflight aboard SpaceX Dragon was dubbed Inspiration4 and had no professional astronauts on board. The four-person crew included billionaire Jared Isaacman, who acted as commander and is a space enthusiast and seasoned pilot, physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, data engineer Chris Sembroski and geoscientist and science communication specialist Sian Proctor. The flight raised significant funds for St. Jude Children’s Research...
read moreFilm Friday: 5 shots with ‘the worst lens Minolta ever made’
What happens when you combine very expired film with a lens sometimes called ‘the worst lens Minolta ever made?’ You’d get this little 5 Frame feature from Iain Paterson for 35mmc. In this iteration of ‘5 Frames with,’ Paterson takes a look at the image quyality of the Minolta 35–80mm 1:4 (22) – 5.6 autofocus zoom lens as shot on a Minolta Dynax 500si Super SLR camera using expired Truprint 400 film. A nearly forgotten kit Paterson had ordered online, this little misfit kit did its best to make the most of a lens that is consistently...
read moreWhat to Photograph When There’s Nothing to Photograph
I’m on the annual Photography Life fall colors workshop with Nasim, and our group ran into a tricky photographic situation this morning. A beautiful mountain overlook was completely blocked by clouds at sunrise, ruining any photos we had in mind. Time to pack it up and go home? Not quite. Here’s the shot we wanted to take, as captured by Nasim a few years ago: NIKON D850 + 24-120mm f/4 @ 38mm, ISO 64, 1/3, f/5.6 And here’s how sunrise looked today: GFX100S + GF63mmF2.8 R WR @ 63mm, ISO 100, 1/6, f/5.6 It’s hardly the view our group had hoped...
read moreCapture One 21 (14.4.0) update released, brings back Exporter features
Capture One has announced the Capture One 21 (14.4.0) update, which is available now for all Capture One 21 users. The update includes new camera and lens support, new features, plus a significant update to the Exporter, based on user feedback. Looking first at the Exporter. In July, Capture One released 14.3.0, which redesigned the Exporter experience. However, what was meant to be an improvement and overall simplification, was not a universal upgrade for all users. Some users strongly preferred the old Exporter and were upset that their...
read moreTTartisan teases its first AF lens, a 32mm F2.8 for multiple full-frame, APS-C camera systems
[embedded content] TTartisan has announced it will soon release a 32mm F2.8, its first autofocus lens. Very little information about the lens is revealed, aside from the mount options, which will include Canon RF, Canon EOS M, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and Sony E mount camera systems. As it stands, this particular focal length is going up against quite a bit of competition in nearly every lens mount it’ll be offered in. The F2.8 aperture isn’t exactly inspiring, so its selling point across all lens mounts will likely be its price point, which...
read moreUpdated: Sigma 24mm F2 DG DN sample gallery
Published Sep 30, 2021 | dpreview staff Sigma’s ‘I’ line of metal-bodied compact primes continues to expand with the 24mm F2 DG DN ‘Contemporary’, and we continue to be impressed with the sharpness this lens is capable of. From the midwest to the west coast, have a look at what it can do in our updated sample gallery. View our updated Sigma 24mm F2 DG DN sample gallery Gear in this story Sigma has introduced a pair of lenses in its I-series of premium primes: the 24mm F2 DG DN and 90mm F2.8 DG DN...
read moreEyePhone: How one doctor is using the iPhone 13 Pro’s macro capabilities to remotely assess patients
One of the new camera features in Apple’s new iPhone 13 Pro lineup is a macro photography mode, made possible by the devices’ ultrawide camera module. While this new macro capability can be used for your more conventional macro photography, one ophthalmologist has discovered the feature can also be used for the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. In a pair of posts on his LinkedIn profile, first discovered by 9to5Mac, ophthalmologist Tommy Korn, MD shares how he’s been using the new macro capabilities of the new iPhone 13 Pro models in...
read moreSlideshow: Finalists for the Animal Friends Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2021
Today, 40 photo and three video finalists were announced for the Animal Friends Comedy Pet Photo Awards, 2021. Over 2000 entries were submitted from around the world. Created by Paul Joyson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, the competition was created to celebrate the vital role pets play in our lives. A partnership with Animals Friends Insurance will allow the organizers to donate £10,000 to Animal Support Angels. ‘It has been a very odd 24 months for most of us, but one heartwarming life-affirming and consistent presence has kept many of us...
read moreTamron announces 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD and 28-75mm F2.8 G2 for E-mount
Tamron has announced a 35-150mm F2-2.8 fast, flexible zoom for full-frame Sony E-mount bodies, alongside a second-gen version of its 28-75mm F2.8 standard zoom lens for the same system. Tamron describes its 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD as a ‘travel zoom’ with wide-to-telephoto coverage. We’re not sure we’d consider 35mm wide enough to describe it in quite those terms, but it’s certainly a usefully fast zoom that covers a very useful range of focal lengths. It can also be used as an approximately 53-225mm equiv on...
read moreTamron releases 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A travel zoom for Fujifilm X-mount
Tamron has just released the launch date and pricing information of the previously announced 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD lens for Fujifilm X-Mount and Sony E-mount cameras. Offering a 16.6x zoom ratio that translates to a rough equivalent of 27-450mm in full-frame terms, this all-in-one zoom will be an intriguing option for travel photographers and those looking to keep lens-swapping to a minimum. Notable features include a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:2 at the wide end of the zoom range, a 67mm filter thread size that’s shared...
read moreExposure X7 announced: Features new masking tool, customizable workspaces & more
Exposure Software has announced Exposure X7, its latest RAW photo editing application. Exposure X7, which can be used as a standalone app or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic, adds numerous new features, including a new masking tool, improved workspace design, and more. Exposure X7 is an all-in-one photo editing solution, offering users organizational tools, non-destructive RAW editing, layers-based editing, intelligent masking tools, over 500 customizable presets, one-click automatic adjustments and more. Focusing on...
read moreIrix announces new 30mm F1.4 ‘Dragonfly’ lens for Canon EF, Nikon F and Pentax K mount cameras
[embedded content] Lens manufacturer Irix has announced its new 30mm F1.4 lens, a stills version of its 30mm cine lens available for Canon EF, Nikon F and Pentax K mount camera systems. The 30mm F1.4 manual lens is constructed of 13 elements in 11 groups, including three ultra-low dispersion elements, two high-reflective elements and a single aspherical elements. The lens features Irix’s ‘Dragonfly’ nomenclature, which denotes its lightweight design and high optical quality. Below is a sample gallery of images, curiously enough captured with...
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Started out doing photography at the age of 6 using an uncle's old 1940 kodak brownie box camera. At 15 years of age, I decided to buy my very own 1975 Praktica SLR camera. I now shoot with a Nikon D850. I do unpaid TFP and commercial paid work.