Nikon D4 Mini Review

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Master Photographer

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Nikon D4 – Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 – Nikkor 1.4 TC – ISO 280 – 280mm focal length – Shutter Priority – 1/4000th Sec – f/4 – hand held

NOTE: All images captured in RAW – Adobe RGB color space. Colors, clarity and apparent exposure may vary depending on your monitor – All images converted using Aperture with minimal adjustments such as cropping, basic edge sharpening, exposure correction. On average less than 30 seconds was spent on each image in post.

If you’ve been paying attention here at Photofocus you know I am in Alaska testing both the Canon 5D MK III and the Nikon D4.

I’ve had enough time with the Nikon D4 to formulate some opinions about it that I think might be valuable to others.

As with all my reviews, I base my review on actually using the camera in real-world situations rather than reading and relying on press releases or fancy tests. (I’d like to thank my pals at BorrowLenses.com for getting me the first D4 they had shipped to them. It made doing this test so much easier than waiting for the camera I have on order.)

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Nikon D4 – Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 – Nikkor 1.4 TC – ISO 400 – 270mm focal length – Shutter Priority – +067 EV – 1/750th Sec – f/6.7 – hand held

I shot the D4 with everything from a Nikon 300mm f/4 to a Nikon 500 f/4, Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 zoom and a couple of Sigma zooms; the 50-500 f/4.5-6.3 and the 120-300mm f/2.8 respectively.

What’s new about the D4? It’s $6000! Oh and it’s bloody fast. The new Expeed 3 processor has really made this camera sing. I set mine to 11 FPS and NEVER once on the trip filled the buffer. You can keep your finger on the shutter button for what feels like an eternity and never fill the buffer. If you’re a wildlife or sports shooter this WILL impress you.

If you’re used to shooting D3 or D3s bodies (and I am) you have some new ergonomics to learn, mainly two mini-joysticks and some new buttons and menus. These were hard for me to master. My muscle memory needs to be re-trained because so many of the controls are new. There are all sorts of jacks, ports and plugs including an ethernet port. Yep – an ethernet port. Ummm wi-fi anyone?

There’s a fancy new option that lets you illuminate all the buttons on the camera which is sort of like having a backlit laptop keyboard. I really like this feature.

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Nikon D4 – Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500 f/4 – Nikkor 1.4 TC – ISO 400 – 700mm focal length – Shutter Priority – 1/2000th Sec – f/6.7 – Mounted on Gitzo tripod w/gimbal head

The camera is, as you may expect, rock solid. It’s well built with an anti-reflection LCD that is an improvement. The camera has an improved Auto ISO and it also has better autofocus. Unlike the 5D MK III which has a monumentally-better AF, the D4′s AF is only incrementally better than the D3 or D3s. But that said, it’s an amazing and capable autofocus system that just works every time. The new AF works better in low-light and will not disappoint even the most demanding user. Subject acquisition is rapid and reliable. The dynamic mode works. That’s saying something.

Nikon is finally waking up to the fact that photographers now often need to shoot high-quality video on DSLRs so the D4 has better video shooting ergonomics. There are true HD capabilities but sadly, no SMPTE time code. There is uncompressed HD out and better audio control. I shot only a few minutes of test video to confirm Nikon’s advertised specs and the video looked great to me. I am sure the full-time video experts will have more to say about this feature than I do.

What really made me happy was that there is more detail in the images coming from the D4 than the D3s. In the past, Nikon’s had the reputation for making the best low-light cameras, but that has come at the expense of detail. With slightly more resolution than the old camera and the new processor, image quality has been improved, but not by a huge amount. Low-light performance on the D4 is perhaps not quite as good as the D3s. Some would say it’s almost JUST THERE but the added pixels mean more noise. The additional detail gained may come at some low-light response. I’d say that for me, it’s a push. Either way, I think Canon is catching up when it comes to low-light performance. The differences aren’t as vast as they used to be in this area but Nikon still has a very, very, slight edge. (That said – I haven’t tested the 1DX yet so I reserve the right to re-evaluate that opinion.)

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Nikon D4 – Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 – Nikkor 1.4 TC – ISO 400 – 280mm focal length – Shutter Priority – -0.33 EV – 1/2000th Sec – f/9.5 – hand held

Complaints? Battery life is significantly shorter. In the old days I could never shoot down a D3/s battery in one day. I did that on the first day with the new D4. The new ergonomics of the D4 bother me. I guess I am just too used to the old system and find myself constantly hunting for the right button. The new price is also a problem, given it’s $1000 higher than the D3/s.

And now for the biggie – I just don’t understand the XQD memory slot. NOBODY has any of these cards for sale (at least as of last week.) The format is not widely supported. I’d MUCH rather have a second CF card slot or even an SD slot. I have no idea if this memory format will take hold and I wish that space were better used.

Yep that’s me – And yep it’s cold!

CONCLUSION

Overall, the 16.2 megapixel D4 is an incremental upgrade rather than a major upgrade. It is an excellent camera but it is expensive. For pros with the budget or for those who shoot video, want the incredible 11 FPS with virtually limitless buffer and better autofocus, it’s probably worth considering.

I usually buy every new camera but have decided that I’m going to stick with my D3s bodies with the exception of one D4, just because that 11 FPS with a virtually unlimited buffer is so tempting.

I like this camera but due to the problems I mentioned above and the high cost, I can only give it a Recommended rating versus my highest rating of HIGHLY Recommended. It’s a great camera. If you buy one, you will not be disappointed, but if you already have D3s bodies, I’d think long and hard about waiting for the D4s or D5.

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Canon 5D MK III Mini Review

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Master Photographer

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Canon 5D MK III

Sorry this is NOT an in-depth review. I spent more time working on it than I planned but I wanted to be sure of my first impressions. So it is what it is. Hopefully some of you will find enough information here to make your own decisions. Also note that all the images you see here are JPEGS with minimal processing, virtually straight out of the camera, through 15 seconds of tweaks in Aperture 3.2 and then converted for use in this post. I had no way to convert the RAW files based on the computer and software I had with me in Alaska so I’ll update later on the RAW files.

I can’t think of many cameras that have been more eagerly awaited than the new full-frame Canon EOS 5D Mark III. The Canon 5D MK II was one of the most popular DSLRs ever sold. But let’s face it, it’s a little long in the tooth.

This may come as a surprise to many of you but I was never a big fan of the 5D MK II. I gave plenty of them away on Twitter because THAT is the camera YOU folks wanted, but as for me, well my best reaction to the 5D MK II was “Meh.”

I think the 5D MK II was soft, slow and bulky. The AF was slow and in general, I think there are many better cameras. That said, I was in the minority and the MK II became a fan favorite – so who am I to argue with the fans? Now that the 5D MK III has shipped, the game has changed. Today I have in my hand a new, revamped camera – the 5D MK II’s successor – the Mk III. All I can say is wow!

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Canon 5D MK III

Here are my initial thoughts – I am going to primarily concentrate on new features here and give a summary of my limited experience with the III. (By the way this review is based on me actually using, shooting and owning a MK III not based on the Canon press release.)

Let’s start with the new processor. The new, 30% faster DIGIC 5+ offers many improvements to the Canon line including better chromatic aberration correction, a multiple exposure mode and in-camera RAW conversion. There is also now in-camera HDR and 2, 3, 5 and even 7 frame auto exposure bracketing. It also allows for up to six FPS shooting which is a dramatic improvement from the MK II. In my experience all these claims proved to be true. The camera is noticeably faster.

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Canon 5D MK III – 100% crop of eagle’s eye.

The new magnesium alloy body shell is more waterproof than the old version. It feels beefier in the hand and just a tad heavier than the II. I didn’t personally test the waterproofness – but I did use the camera from a boat for a week and found no problems.

I primarily tested the camera with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II Lens both with and without a new Canon EF 1.4X III Telephoto Extender. The results were fantastic either way, but the camera was (as expected) slower to focus with the 1.4 mounted. The images are crisp and the color rendition accurate. (Thanks to Borrowlenses.com for shipping me the 1.4 TC. I forgot mine and they overnighted me one to Alaska so I could test it for this post.)

The viewfinder now offers 100% coverage and is very bright – I mean REALLY bright. I like this feature because it just makes it easier to find the photograph. There are also electronic levels on display in the viewfinder and LCD. The LCD is 3.2″ and less reflective than the old screen. There’s a noticeable improvement in my opinion.

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Canon 5D MK III

There is a CF AND an SD slot onboard along with all sorts of improvements to the audio including a dedicated headphone jack, mic jack, and input level control (using a touch sensitive dial). Moire and aliasing problems are mostly gone.

HDSLR movie shooters will love this camera since shooting video was factored into the design of the III where it was more of an afterthought on the II. There is a well-placed, video start stop button and there is less rolling shutter effect. Canon has also added SMPTE timecode recording, maximum 29:59 minute files, a better CODEC and better HDMI out options.

I only shot a few minutes of video on the camera and that just to test the manufacturer claims as best I could. I do see a decrease in rolling shutter – not a dramatic decrease mind you – but noticeable. The overall video quality seems about the same to me.

The autofocus has been beefed up significantly in the MK III and frankly it’s about time. The 61 point AF on the new MK III is identical to the 1DX except that it does not include face detection. (Boo!) It’s fast, reliable and much easier to customize than the MK II’s AF. I cannot stress enough how much I like this new AF. If I had to decide on upgrading to this camera and money wasn’t a factor, I’d do it on the basis of the new autofocus alone. I photographed eagles, flying erratically and straight at me and the new AF stuck with them every time. I had about a 92% keeper rate on the toughest shots – compared with about 85% on the 1D MK IV and 60% on the 5D MK II. This autofocus rocks. Period.

Yep that’s me!

There are other small improvements. You can now set a minimum and a maximum range in the Auto ISO and Auto ISO can now be used in manual shooting mode. One thing I really like is that Canon kept the battery the same for both the MKII and the MKIII. Since many of you have multiple MKII batteries, then you won’t have to waste that investment if you upgrade. I also really like the fact that Canon didn’t take the bait and increase the megapixel rate on this camera to match the D800. It isn’t necessary.

What I don’t like? The price increase is dramatic. Those of you with less-expensive glass are going to complain about your images on the MK III because Canon reduced the thickness of the anti-aliasing filter so cheap glass will be found out quickly here. With 22 megapixels and full-frame resolution, you’re going to want to limit yourself to “L” glass on a MK III. I also think Canon could have thrown in just a few more goodies for video shooters like peaking and focus assist. Some will also complain about the lack of an articulating screen but I don’t think that is that big a deal. The eyepiece comes off VERY easily so I’m ordering several replacements since I know I’ll eventually find one missing.

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons – Canon 5D MK III

As far as accessories go, the 5D Mark III works with a new grip, the Canon BG-E11 Battery Grip for Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera. It replicates most of the main shooting controls for portrait format shooting, and can accept either two LP-E6 batteries or a tray full of AAs. Canon is also offering a new flash. The Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Flash is the new flagship flash which comes with a guide number of 60, a fully-articulated head, zooming that now covers 24-200mm and weather sealing. If you want to shoot off camera you’ll need the Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter to work with the new flash.

NOTE: All these new accessories are very expensive. (The trio listed above will set you back about $1500!) This will no doubt influence the third-party developers to make similar, compatible devices costing less. So if you’re on a budget, and can wait, you might want to wait a few months to see what companies like Pocket Wizard for instance do with the new flash and a wireless way to trigger.

CONCLUSION

At $3499, the new MK III is about one thousand dollars more expensive than the 5D MK II. Is that a good investment for YOU? It depends. If you shoot video on the DSLR then it’s a no brainer. Absolutely. The video improvements in the 5D MK III make upgrading an easy decision. If you just want the best AF Canon has ever built – upgrade. The handling, interface, etc., are all improved. The camera is faster, beefier and offers a solid full stop of improvement in its already stellar low-light shooting capability. (Canon claims two stops improvement which hasn’t been borne out in my early tests but I’ll continue to evaluate on this front and update here if my opinion changes. I think it’s about a stop better – but it’s still great low-light performance no matter how you slice it.)

All-in-all I think serious shooters will want to consider this upgrade, even with the significant price increase. If you’re a casual shooter or you can’t afford “L” glass, or just don’t ever plan to shoot movies on your DSLR, then you might want to stick with the 5D MK II, especially if you can manually focus.

For me, the Canon 5D MK III is a keeper. Highly recommended. I can even see some wildlife and sports shooters finding this to be a good compromise if they can’t afford the 1DX. It’s that fast.

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Ten Things People Don’t Know (Or Have Wrong) About The New Lytro Field Camera

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Master Photographer

Most of the people opining about the Lytro have never seen one, never held one, never used one – but these days, I guess authority doesn’t count for much in a culture where everyone’s entitled to their opinion even if it’s not based on a single fact, completely wrong and slung with bad intent.

Now that I have that off my chest let me continue by saying I do have a Lyrtro. I’ve used one on multiple occasions and now I actually own one. I have owned one for several days now. So what you read from me is based on my own experience. You may disagree – that’s cool – but if you DO disagree, ask yourself what the basis of the disagreement is. If you haven’t ever seen, touched or used the camera you might want to ease up until you do. That said, here are 10 things that people don’t know or have wrong about the Lytro FIeld Camera.

1. They expect a launch product from a startup to be the be-all, end-all under $500 camera the world has been waiting for on day one. Silly – that’s just silly. The company is just getting started. This first camera is a mere proof of concept. It’s a way of demonstrating the technology and teaching people to think differently about photography.

2. Those who say the camera will fail because the launch product isn’t perfect have no idea what they are talking about. Lytro is very, very well funded. They are in it for the long haul. Their business is probably safer than many of the big name companies you can mention.

3. The Lytro is not intended to take the photographer out of photography. It’s in fact just the other way around. To use a Lytro properly, you must learn to see and think differently. It requires skill to use properly and those who think the “focus in post” trick is all this camera is about are sorely lacking information.

4. The Lytro is eventually going to have more features. The company will slowly unlock and rev features that make the camera more and more useful. They rightly focused on one thing to get the ball rolling. Once people get used to the idea of light field photography, they will be ready to take next steps and I’ve seen with my own eyes evidence that Lytro is ready to offer those steps. They won’t happen overnight – but they will happen.

5. Some say the Lytro photos can’t be shared – WRONG. Here are all the ways you can currently share a Lytro photo (that I know of.) You can print it on any printer (makes a good 5×5 print) you can save it as a JPG and share that like any JPG. You can send it to WordPress or Facebook via a plugin or upload to Lytro.com (free). Using Facebook, WordPress and Lytro.com you retain all the post-capture functions.

6. Some think that $500 for a first generation camera with this radical technology is too much. If they only knew that less than two years ago it would have cost tens of thousands of dollars to do the same thing, they might have a different opinion.

7. People who think in terms of shutter speed, low-light capability, depth-of-field, i.e., all the normal “camera” stuff are missing the point about the Lytro. It’s about the immersive experience. It’s not like any other camera so all the usual camera measuring sticks are pretty much meaningless.

8. The Lytro’s importance to us as photographers is more closely related to the impact it will have on photography’s future than it is its immediate ability to make cool photos.

9. Some people don’t like the shape of the camera. I have been saying for the last 15 years that there’s no reason for a digital camera to look like a traditional film camera. Marketing departments have demanded that because they knew digital would achieve quicker uptake if the cameras resembled film cameras. We’re past that. The digital v. film war is over. Digital won. There’s no need to make cameras that look like film cameras of old.

10. The complaints that have been voiced about the camera to be too small to be rugged are misplaced. We did a test (not on purpose) where dropped the camera five feet onto a tile floor. Not a nick. Not a scratch. No problem. Nothing broke. The camera works 100% as it should. It’s a tough little cookie.

Comparing Teleconverters In Africa

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Master Photographer

Comparing Teleconverters In Africa

Hey guys!

Benjamin Von Wong – Montreal Based photographer here to talk about a couple neat devices I borrowed from the nice fellows over at B&H for my trip to Africa. I figured that a nice little trip around Namibia would be the perfect opportunity to try out some gear that I had never previously had the use for – Teleconverters! (The Sigma 1.4x DG EX APO and 2x EX DG APO spesifically)

Teleconverters are these great nifty little devices that actually add range to your lenses at the expense of losing some light. Depending on how big of a zoom factor you go for, you losie more light as well as focus speed and overall sharpness – a little more on that later. What does that mean in terms of actual numbers?

SmugMug Camera Awesome – The ULTIMATE iPhone Camera Application

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Master Photographer

When I first heard rumors SmugMug was building a camera application for smart phones, my inclination was to think it would merely be a way to easily integrate smart phone camera pictures with SmugMug’s online service. Boy was I wrong.

THIS is the app that makes the iPhone’s camera worth having. It is called “Awesome” because it is. Nothing matches it for features and functionality in my opinion.

It’s simply one of the most fully-powered camera apps on the market and I honestly cannot think of one thing that would make it better. What’s even more impressive to me is the fact that SmugMug used its own engineers to build the app in house. That’s important because all the people who work at SmugMug are very passionate about photography. That makes a big difference when you’re building something like this.

Oh and before you start grousing about needing a SmugMug account – you do NOT! It works with or without a SmugMug account.

There are nearly 300 presets, textures and filters. You have easy access to a popup menu that lets you control camera stabilization, burst mode, flash, etc. It even includes video recording.

One of my favorite features about the “Awesome” app is its ability to reduce the shutter lag you often find when using an iPhone. I find myself able to get more keepers using “Awesome” than I do using the iPhone’s built-in camera application.

It’s very easy to share photos made with “Awesome.” It integrates one-touch sharing and optional automatic instant sharing with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, YouTube and SmugMug.

For now the app only works on iPhones but SmugMug says they are working on an Android version. And you can’t argue with the price. It’s free! I’d easily pay $5 or more for this app any day.

You can get more information on “Awesome” here on the SmugMug site – http://www.awesomize.com/

Highly recommended.

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The Lytro Has Landed!

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Master Photographer

Photo by Scott Bourne – Lytro Unboxing

Special Photofocus Coverage

A while back during CES I told you about the Lytro camera. You can read all about that below.

http://photofocus.com/2012/01/12/lytro-light-field-camera/

I highly recommend you read my previous post if you’re sincerely interested in the subject. I can now tell you more.

I had to back my original test camera but today I got one to keep and at 2:00pm PST the embargo was lifted and I can now tell you about the experience of actually OWNING a Lytro.

Mine is the “Red Hot” 16GB camera. It comes with all the things you see in the above photo. I highly recommend opening the box carefully because my camera came flying out of the box. Good thing it’s sturdy. Also connect the wrist strap. There’s no tripod mount so you’ll need that. It comes with a USB cable which you just plug into your computer – I am using a Mac so not sure of Windows capability. Once plugged in everything just works.

In the above photo you’ll see the box and the items that ship with the camera. It’s a small, lightweight package. It’s incredibly user-friendly. I simply hooked up to my computer, the Lytro software downloaded and installed. I set up my account and my pictures were uploaded and viewable on my Lytro page. You can see my first shot here on the Scott Bourne Lytro Page.

~~The company plans to “unlock” additional features in the camera software later today~~. The company may decide to unlock additional features of the cameras over time. The cool thing is that once they do that, all those features should be available in any existing shot.

The camera is easy to use once you get the hang of it. Tap to focus. Slide your finger across the top of the membrane to focus. Once the pics are online you can manipulate the focus point from there.

It’s fun. But it obviously has limited application at this point. But what I am excited about is what this may lead to in the future. In the mean time I plan to take this camera to every shoot I do and just play around with it trying to figure out new things to do with it.

It’s highly addictive and highly recommended. For more information contact lytro.com

Observations From WPPI

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Master Photographer

It’s WPPI week here in Vegas. Since I live here now, it’s no big deal for me to head over to the show. My pal Skip Cohen and I taught alongside Michele Celentano at the GoingPro bootcamp on Saturday at the same time WPPI was running their bootcamp. On Sunday, Matthew Jordan Smith and I taught a two hour class for SmugMug at the Vegas SMUG and on Monday I devoted myself to looking at the trade show and meeting with vendors, clients, sponsors and friends who in town for the event.

Here are a few observations.

The show is a bit smaller this year compared with last year but there seems to be no lack of enthusiasm. The trade show floor features all the same stuff it does every year, just a few new flavors. There were one or two items I saw that really did impress me and I’ll do some reviews on those items in another post.

As usual, there were quite a few photographers in line to look at and play with all the new recently-announced cameras. Nikon was actually showing some of their video-related stuff which is unusual because they have always been pretty subtle on that front compared with Canon.

Many of the photographers who spoke at the conference also spoke at the trade show floor. If you wanted to be cheap, you could get a ton of free education on the show floor with one of the free trade show passes offered by most of the vendors.

The remarkable things – good and bad that I saw were:

1. It’s still about the networking. In my opinion the ONLY reason to go to these big shows is to see and be seen by the movers and shakers in the industry. I was struck by how many new, and very young faces I saw. There are a TON of new people jumping into this industry and by chatting with them I learned a great deal about their needs. Back to that in a minute. The old friends I saw at the show made the trip really worthwhile. Those of us who have been at this a while now have all the gray hair we need, but we have the special memories to go with that gray hair. That part was really fun.

2. It’s also about the networking at the parties. WPPI has become a party show. There are “off the hook” parties every night. My pal Kevin Kubota throws a party every year at Roys. It’s always the most sought-out invitation in town and always a great time. Animoto rented an $8k a night SkyLoft at the MGM and had a small, relatively quiet affair where most of the industry thought leaders were involved. It was my favorite. The youngsters had parties at the various clubs and I’m sure they had a good time too.

3. The print competition – while less relevant than it used to be is still a good place to see what the current trends and standards are in the industry. I saw some amazing stuff from the usual suspects like Jerry Ghionis. The man could make a picture of cow poo into a work of art. He’s probably the most artistic wedding/portrait photographer working in the business right now.

4. The overall attitude of the crowd was upbeat and positive, but the younger photographers have a great deal of false bravado and I worry for the future if this doesn’t change course. I overheard too many conversations that went something like: “Well I saw that new XXX camera in the XXX booth and all I need is that and the marketing course from XXX and I’ll be ready to start booking $10,000 weddings next week.” Umm, might want to rethink that one.

5. The truly great photographers, photographs, teachers and speakers along with the truly great vendors at the show all had one thing in common. Passion. And I mean oodles of it. You could easily sort the wannabes from the folks who are winning simply by judging their passion. I continue to know and grow more and more on this subject of passion in photography and I am starting to think it means more to the industry than ever. The most important weapon any photographer has is his/her heart. If you can’t shoot from the heart your images won’t matter.

My conclusion is that these giant trade shows are a little less relevant than they used to be because of online and social media. But the shows still matter when it comes to seeing who’s passionate and who’s not and who’s a true craftsman or woman and who’s not. These shows still matter from a networking perspective and there’s no reason NOT to go if you’re serious about making a living as a photographer.

Overall, I am upbeat about the future of the professional side of the photography world, but I hope younger photographers don’t loose site of the fact that to really be a success in this business you need to have love and passion for the work and the clients. If you don’t, you’re in the wrong place.

Thanks to everyone who was so nice to me at WPPI. I had the pleasure of meeting many of the folks wbo regularly listen to the podcast or read this site and I really appreciated it.

Lexar Introduces Several Professional-Grade Memory Products (SD and CF cards & new card reader)

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Master Photographer

Photographers use memory cards unless they shoot film. So when a new card comes out I pay attention. I’ve tested a wide variety of these cards over the last decade and here are my general conclusions…

1. Most of the cards perform similarly.
2. All are subject to failure eventually.
3. As long as you are using a well-known brand card (like one from Lexar) you are probably as safe as you can be.
4. Abusing cards can lead to their failure but not always.
5. Most cards offer similar speed, performance and reliability.

That all said, two things do constantly change and that’s the size and speed of these cards. Lexar recently released their 1000x CF card which uses UDMA7 technology to offer claimed speeds of 150MB/s. Alongside that release, Lexar also released the Lexar Professional 600x SDHC card which promises 90MB per second read transfer speeds.

Both these products are top-of-the-line cards offering some of the fastest speeds I’ve seen here in the Photofocus testing labs. While all my tests are real-world, i.e., I don’t have a bunch of fancy scientific benchmark equipment, there’s sufficient anecdotal evidence to say I think the Lexar claims are believable.

The CF cards come in sizes ranging from 16 to 128GB. The SD cards come in sizes ranging from 16 to 64GB. The cards I tested were 32GB.

There is some fine print you should know about. The speeds are guaranteed when using the Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader which offers up to 500MB/s transfer speeds. Not all computers have or support USB 3.0. Additionally, not all cameras are equipped to take advantage of UDMA7 (CF) or UHS-I (SD) so check with your camera manufacturer to make sure that your camera works at these speeds. In some cases, the cards will work fine, but not offer the promised speed improvements. In more critical cases, such as SDXC (which Lexar also offers in this line but which I did not test) there are many cameras that do NOT support SDXC and use of an SDXC card in a non-supported device may result in data loss. ALWAYS test a new card in your own camera before using it for anything critical.

I tested both the SD and the CF cards for several hours, running LOTS of video to and from both. These cards are designed for fast video transfer rates and those of you shooting video on your DSLR will be very impressed with the high transfer speeds. Everything worked as advertised and while I can’t vouch for these particular cards’ reliability since they are so new, I can say that no Lexar card has ever failed me.

The cards come with a limited lifetime warranty and Lexar offers free tech support. For more information visit Lexar.com.

Highly Recommended.

Model Releases in the Cloud – Model Release by Mist Labs – Mini Review

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Master Photographer

If you make photographs that involve people you should probably at least think about getting a release. Carrying around a pad of paper full of model releases is old school. Now, we can do it electronically. While there are two or three well-known apps that already provide this function, one I’ve recently tested and decided to use is called “Model Release by Mist Labs.”

It’s very intuitive, very easy to use and works on and is optimized for iOS5 devices. Unlike some of the older apps, this one is Universal and actually has a good design. One of my favorite features is that it offers iCloud support. So when you have a signed release on your iPhone, it’s also on your iPad, etc.

It offers PDF printing and emailing, a place for all parties (including witnesses if you like) to sign and has a well-designed interface.

You can create a model release on your iPad or iPhone and then view it everywhere else (including your a MacBook Air or other Lion device, completely transparently. No manual syncing needed. Also, everything is backed up on iCloud so losing any particular device doesn’t mean you’ve lost your precious releases.

Some of the other apps are iPad only, while others are iPhone only. This one is universal and works across all iOS devices. The developer promises that an OS X version of the app is coming soon.

Model Releases by Mist Labs is only $4.99 and available in the iTunes Store -
iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id494732564

Highly recommended.

Apple iPhone 4s Camera Review

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Master Photographer

I just finally got an Apple iPhone 4s. The camera included with this phone simply blows me away. I now see why under $200 point and shoot sales are dropping like a rock. The pictures you can make with this phone meet or exceed the quality that you can get out of many of the sub $200 point and shoot cameras. In fact, with proper lighting and technique, this camera can perform up to the level of some of the $400 and $500 point and shoots.

Let’s start with the basics. The iPhone 4s camera is an eight megapixel affair with better dynamic range than the old iPhone camera. The lens is sharper, the camera lag time better, and the lens faster. The white balance is more accurate and the low-light performance (while not up to par with DSLRs) is better than previous iPhone cameras. Both shadow and highlight detail are also better.

The new iPhone 4s has a fixed aperture lens of f/2.4. That’s one half stop faster than the iPhone 4 cameras.

One of my favorite features in the new iPhone 4s camera is the ability to press the volume button on the top of the camera to trip the shutter instead of having to reach around and press the menu button to make a photo.

The overall color and image quality are better than I would expect from a camera phone. The new sensor is completely redesigned and it features larger capacity pixels, gathering more light.

As with other iPhone cameras, there is very little manual control. You can touch the screen to force the camera to set exposure and focus automatically for that area. There is a small flash which can be set to fire manually or on auto – letting the camera decide when it is and is not necessary.

The iPhone 4s is one of the most user-friendly cameras in the world. Since you can access this camera for as little as $199 (including the rest of the iPhone) I think it’s a great value. The best camera is the one you have with you and I never go anywhere without my phone, so I always have a camera. And now – I always have a camera that is competent enough to take photos that could print as large as 8×10″ if properly exposed in good light.

I wish there were more options available via the iPhone’s preferences to control things like exposure, ISO, etc., but since this is after all a phone first and a camera second, I think the compromises are generally fair. Are there better smart phone cameras out there? I often hear that the Nokia phones have great cameras but then again every time someone tries to demo that for me their phone crashes. The iPhone just works. I’m very happy with it and can highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for a smart phone camera.