Nikon DSLR system: My rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated

Last week I noted how I hadn't used my Nikon D90 and lenses in many moons, in favor of the Fuji X-Pro1 and three excellent prime lenses (18mm, 35mm, and 60mm). Is the Nikon system on it's way out? Not so fast! (April 2014: see update here)

Larry Sparks (70-300mm VR @300mm, f/5.6)Having just returned from a weekend of music and photography at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, the D90 was awesome, capturing most of the images in my album from the gathering. While I've primarily been shooting with the X-Pro1 at concerts recently, in many ways that's a function of the discreteness of the Fuji when paired with one of the prime lenses in the system. At the festival I was able to wander around shooting with whatever camera I wanted without attracting my attention since there were tons of other photographers there. My D90 with 70-300mm VR lens was relatively small compared to gripped bodies with 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses I saw and I fit in with all the casual shooters with prosumer bodies and kit zooms.

For daytime shooting, the 70-300mm VR lens worked like a champ. Sometimes the images it produces seem a bit washed out, but that's usually fixable in post-processing. But the range it offers for outdoor shooting was just about perfect. Once the sun went down I switched to my 135mm f/2 DC, which is becoming one of my favorites on both the D90 and adapted on the X-Pro1. It's nice and compact and produces awesome images. One of these days when I when the lottery I'll pick up a 70-200mm f/2.8, but for now I like my kit.

Since I don't see myself abandoning the SLR platform and moving exlusively to the Fuji stytem, here's what I want in a future Nikon body: 

• As much I'm tempted to upgrade to a full-frame body, I like the extra reach of a crop-sensor system. I could always go with a high-resolution camera like a D800 and crop when needed, but that seems like overkill, and generally I'm not so interested in the huge files that the D800 outputs. Plus I'm somewhat invested in DX lenses, primarily with my Tokina 11-16mm (my favorite!) and 10.5mm fisheye.
• Speaking of lenses, any future Nikon I get needs to have an in-body motor, since three of my favorite lenses are the older-type that don't have in-lens focusing motors (just for review, those three are the Tokina 11-16mm, Nikon 10.5mm fisheye, and 135mm f/2 DC).
• Improved high-ISO performance. I like shooting concerts and other low-light situations.
• I don't care about video capabilities, but I know that this is probably something that all future DSLRs will include. Hopefully Nikon will at least keep the video functionality out of of the way and won't go overboard and make it a central feature of the camera.
• This seems like the mythical D400 which has been hotly anticipated by Nikon shooters.

Photo of the week - May 21, 2013

At the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, May 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 with a Nikon 135mm DC lens @ f/2 (Novoflex Nikon to Fuji adapter). Processed with Snapseed on an iPad. See more pictures from the festival here.

Surprise arrival: F-Stop Loka backpack

I recently received a few hundred dollars out of the blue for some work I did a a couple of years ago (the gift that keeps on giving!). Earlier this spring, when looking for a new camera backpack, I debated between the F-Stop Loka and Kenti, with the Kenti eventually winning out due to its smaller size (i.e., fitting under an airplane seat). Given that F-Stop bags and accessories are perpetually backordered for months on end, I decided to order a Loka and small professional ICU (more on the ICU system below) with my new found money, figuring that it wouldn't be here for many months. Much to my surprise, it shipped within a few days of my order, and was delivered from their warehouse in Hong Kong in under two weeks. While the Loka was in stock on their website, the ICU was out of stock, so I'm shocked that they were able to deliver so fast (i.e., their website and actual inventory seem out of sync). As awesome as their products are, there are chronic issues with availability and I seemed to have lucked out. (note: as a social psychologist, I know that scarcity impacts desirability!)

There are lots of reviews of the Loka online so I'm not intending to do that here. The key thing to note about the F-Stop system is the Internal Camera Unit (ICU). I got the small pro size, which holds my Nikon D90 and 3-4 lenses, or will easily accommodate my Fuji x100 and X-Pro1 system. If it ever is released and becomes available, the mythical large "LT" ICU is next on my list, for holding even more camera gear and a laptop. I like the idea of the large LT because should my Loka ever have to be gate-checked while flying, the ICU full of gear could be removed and I could keep my breakables under the seat in front of me.

The Loka arrived just in time for my 3-day campout at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival. On the trip the small pro ICU held my Nikon D90 with attached 70-300mm lens, 10.5mm fisheye, 50mm f/1.4, 135mm DC, and Tokina 11-16mm lenses (with their respective hoods reversed), and there was still plenty of space in the bag (i.e., above the ICU) for my Fuji X-Pro1 with one lens attached and the other two lenses in small cases, iPad, sweatshirt, and a stack of exams in file folders, all with room to spare. Yes, I'm a geek and had to grade while I was away...

See a picture of the pack and full ICU here.

Photo of the week - May 14, 2013

Steve Earle (and bassist Kelly Looney) at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA. May 3, 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 @ 3200 ISO with a 60mm lens @ f/2.4. Processed with Aperture and Snapseed (Mac version). See more pictures from this show here.

The symbol for this summer

Love for the Fuji X system

Ever since getting my Fuji X-Pro1 last July (along with the x100 the previous fall), I've hardly touched my Nikon D90. Although I did use it extensively in Amsterdam, Germany and Austria, and Italy last June, since the arrival of the X-Pro1 my Nikon gear has been largely dormant. Why I've bonded with the X-Pro1: 

• Size and weight. This is the obvious benefit. The X-Pro1 body is smaller and lighter, as are the lenses. It's awesome for travel.
• Discreteness. Similar to the size and weight advantage, but having more to do with others' responses (or lack thereof) to me shooting with the X-Pro1. This is even a bigger deal for me than the actual size of the camera. In particular, I've taken it to a few concerts recently and have shot from my seat with excellent results (see here, here, and here). My guess is that an usher would have stopped me if it was my D90 because it looks "too professional." 
• Manual controls. Selecting shutter speed with a dial? Check. Setting the aperture by turning a ring on the lens? Check. A dial for exposure compensation? Check. I love the old-school controls.
• Adapted lenses. I dig that I can use my Nikon lenses with it. In particular, I figured that my 10.5mm fisheye would be really useful; the 135mm f/2 is surprisingly good too. I like manual focusing; if Fuji implements focus peaking or some other way of confirming focus, the X-system will be awesome.
• The optical viewfinder. I love the OVF, especially with the 35mm lens, because you can see outside of the framelines to get a better sense of the scene. As much as I love the OVF, the electronic viewfinder is growing on me, having used it a lot recently with the 60mm lens and adapted Nikon 135mm.

Things the Nikon still does better:

1. Long telephoto lenses. I have the Nikon 70-300mm lens; I don't use it much, but it's nice to have that flexibility when the situation calls for it. The forthcoming Fuji 55-200mm should cover this, so disadvantage #1 will been moot soon. And a ~135mm fast prime would have me opening my wallet in a heartbeat.
2. A super-wide zoom. My favorite lens on my Nikon system (especially for travel) is the Tokina 11-16mm. With the Fuji platform, the only lens in that range is the lauded 14mm 2.8. It's apparently a spectacular lens, but is it wide enough? I do shoot the Tokina at 11mm quite a bit; but also at 16mm (about 75% of my shots with that lens are at one end or the other). There's also a 12mm lens coming from Zeiss soon; maybe that will suit me? Both the 12mm and 14mm lenses are pricy too. If it's optically excellent, the 10-24mm that's coming at the end of the year probably is the best fit for me (even though it's likely to be expensive too. But that means waiting! Basically, overcoming disadvantage #2 just requires a bit of patience or committing to either the Zeiss 12mm or Fuji 14mm. Update: Decided to go with the Fuji 14mm, and will think about the 10-24mm zoom when it comes out...
3. Macro. Yes, the Fuji 60mm does allow close focusing, but it's not as long as other macro lenses (like my Nikon 105mm). And it's EVF only. Then again, see the argument about size and weight above. The Nikon 105mm micro is not a small lens. And if I want to manually focus, I can use the Nikon 105mm lens with the Fuji with an adapter.
4. Speed. Quibbles #1 and #2 above are all well on their way towards being addressed with the growth in the number of lenses available. The one place (at least for me) where Fuji lags behind SLR systems if in shooting fast-action sports. I don't do a lot of this, but as a cycling fan, I like to shoot bike races when I can (see here and here).

What's next: 

• Zooms: I have the 55-200mm lens on preorder (update: now arrived); my fingers are crossed that it will arrive before we leave for vacation, although right now I have it shipping to my parents' house so I can get it while I'm there. And I really want the upcoming 10-24mm offering, but that's not due until the end of 2013 and sits behind a couple of other lenses in Fuji's "roadmap." As much as the 18-55 "kit" lens is appealing, I'll probably hold off on that one. Update: This last sentence turned out to be untrue.
• I'm trying hard to resist the 14mm lens, even though it get rave reviews. Ditto with the promising Zeiss 12mm, although if the distortion is limited with this one, it would be tempting. Update: Resistance is futile. The 14mm is on its way...
• The 56mm 1.2 is interesting. I've been using the 60mm macro for shooting a concerts, but the two extra stops of the yet-to-be-released 56mm lens is attractive. Update: It is great!
• There are 23mm and 27mm lenses on the Fuji roadmap but at this point I'm less interested in those (at least while I have the x100). Update (12/7/13): Found a great deal on the 27mm pancake lens, so that's on the way...
• I'm thankful that Apple is now supporting RAW files from the X-Pro1!

Photo of the week - May 7, 2013

Chris Masterson (playing with Steve Earle) at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA. May 3, 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 @ 3200 ISO with a 60mm lens @ f/2.4. Processed with Aperture and Snapseed (Mac version). See more pictures from this show here.

Star Wars + Relationship Research + Facial Hair = Awesome.

Photo of the week - April 30, 2013

Aimee Mann at the World Cafe at the Queen in Wilmington, DE. April 24, 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 @ 3200 ISO with a Nikon 135mm DC lens @ f/2 (Novoflex Nikon to Fuji adapter). Processed with Aperture and Snapseed (Mac version). See more from this show here.

My photo on davidbromberg.net

A photo I took last month was selected to be used as the background image on David Bromberg's website!

Aimee Mann @ The World Cafe Live at the Queen

I had my first opportunity to try out my Fuji X-Pro1 with a Nikon lens (using a Novoflex adapter) last night at the Aimee Mann show in Wilmington. I originally bought the adapter because I wanted to use my Nikon 10.5mm fisheye with the X-Pro1, but I haven't had the opportunity to do so yet. Given that we had balcony seats, I took my Nikon 135mm DC f/2 lens (rather than the Fuji 60mm that I used at the David Bromberg Quartet show last month) for the extra reach and large aperture. The downside to this lens, at least when attached to the Fuji, is that it's manual focus only. I was worried that it would be hard to get images that were in focus, but it ended up being okay. Sure, it's not as easy to manually focus as with my FM3A, but it's certainly more than useable. I hit focus about half the time, which doesn't seem to be so bad given the circumstances (i.e., long lens, large aperture, moving target, handheld from my seat). While it's certainly a bulkier lens than you'd usually want to use regularly on a small-bodied camera like the X-Pro1, it wasn't too unwieldy.

This has me thinking more about the just-announced 55-200mm Fuji zoom. I wonder how it would have autofocused in these conditions (especially in the low light)? At 200mm it's 2.5 stops slower than my 135mm, but with stabalization it should be fine in reducing camera shake, although there would still be motion blur. If Fuji released a telephoto prime (somewhere between 135mm and 200mm) at f/2 or f/2.8, I'd be all over it as an awesome lens for concert photography.

Bluegrass as a second career

It's heartening to know that one can have a successful second career playing bluegrass. Something to aspire to!

"These are a few of my favorite things" #3 - AirPlay + Apple TV etc.

So this isn't one thing, but instead a system of interconnected gizmos:

At the heart of the system is the Apple TV, which can stream content from Netflix, Hulu, and dowload TV shows and movies from iTunes. But more importantly, it can receive content from your iPhone, iPad, and Mac (assuming that Mac is relatively new, running OS 10.8 "Mountain Lion") via Airplay and play it back on your TV. This means that anything that's on your Apple phone, tablet, or computer can be easily sent to a large display.* Also in the mix is my Denon receiver, which is also Airplay enabled, along with a series of Airport Express units connected to speakers in each room. So music from any of these devices can be piped directly into the stereo or any room in the house. Along with a big music library and Spotify subscription, this means you can listen to whatever you want, wherever you want.

*I can report that AirPlay is awesome for teaching (especially seminar classes) since you can project PDFs to the overhead projector in a classroom...

Tim O'Brien, Bryan Sutton, and friends do "I've Been All Around This World"

"Skydog" - A new appreciation for Duane Allman

I like the Allman Brothers Band. They aren't my favorite group, and they probably wouldn't even crack the top 20 if I was making my desert island list, but I do dig their stuff and will queue up Eat A Peach from time to time. And I've always been aware of Duane Allman's legacy; that along with the Allmans Brothers, he played on a lot of classic R&B records (e.g., Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin), and contributed the soaring guitar solo to the end of Derek and the Dominos "Layla." But I've never sat down and put all the pieces together to fully appreciate the magnitude of his musical contribution in his short life...until now, with the release of the Skydog retrospective.

 

Most of the Allman Brothers stuff I'd heard before; what's special about this retrospective are all of the tracks by other artists that Duane Allman plays on. A few of my favorites:

• Lulu - "Marley Purt Drive" (I've since learned this was a Bee Gees song. Here's another version by the Les Humphries Singers)
• Clarence Carter - "Light My Fire"
• The Duck & Bear - "Hand Jive"
• King Curtis - "The Weight"
• Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - "Sing My Way Home"

And if this stuff is important to you, you'll be impressed by the packaging of the box set; the interior of the box is lined with gold velvet (or some such material), much like the inside of a guitar case, and the discs themselves come in paper envelopes that are similar to how guitar strings are packaged.

F-Stop Kenti: What's in there?

I posted a few weeks ago about the search for a new camera backpack and my first impressions upon receiving the F-Stop Kenti. Today I had a chance to load up the Kenti and take it for a short walk (~2 miles), and I thought it might be useful to list what fit in the Kenti. It's surprisingly big!

• Left side compartment (divider set with this side slightly larger)
  • Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR, lens hood reversed
  • Nikon D90 with a mounted 50mm f/1.4G, lens hood reversed
  • Nikon 105mm f/2.8G micro, lens hood reversed

• Right side compartment
  • Fuji x100 in case
  • Nikon 85mm f/1.4D, no lens hood
  • Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, lens hood reversed

• Top compartment
  • Nothing in there now, but it could fit another lens, my Fuji X-Pro1, and/or a Clif Bar or two.

This is more gear than I'd typically carry on a hike (e.g., the 85mm wouldn't be in there; the 105mm or 70-300mm, but probably not both; maybe add my 10.5mm fisheye), but it's a good illustration of what fits. I'd also likely move one of these lenses to a lens case on the hipbelt for easy access. Speaking of the hipbelt, it does a great job transferring the load from your shoulders.

Daniel Roberts discusses his custom guitars

Photo of the week - April 2, 2013

David Bromberg (and Nate Grower) at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA, March 24, 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 @ 3200 ISO with 60mm lens @ f/2.4. Processed with Aperture and Snapseed (Mac version).

Lovin' the Les Humphries Singers

Man, I miss the 70's...

Why are colleges still in the email business?

This might be news to those of you born after 1985: once upon a time, the only way to get an email account was through your university or work. I got my first email address in 1992 when I was a freshman in college (remember Pine?), and until services like AOL and CompuServe became widely available and adopted, work or school was the source of your email account. I've had a .edu account ever since then, although with the rise of Hotmail, Yahoo!, and now the king of them all, Gmail, clearly email is accessible to everyone. So why is it that colleges still give students email accounts when they arrive on campus? They all already have accounts on their preferred platforms. Why not follow Boston College's lead and stop hosting email? Instead, @bc.edu email address simply forward to students' existing accounts. This simpifies students' lives since there's one less account to check (how many students are simply forwarding their college email to their other accounts already?) and gets colleges out of the business of administering email accounts.

I'm also ready to be in control of my own data; I don't want to trust a school or employer with my email any more. After learning that a friend lost all of his achived email after he was unexpectedly terminated by his employer (they shut off his email just as they were delivering his pink slip, so he never had a chance to recover his data; how uncool is that? This is actually the second time I've heard about this happening in the last couple of months at different institutions), I want to be the keeper of my own email. Not that I'm planning on getting canned anytime soon, but I suppose stranger things have happened. I'll let you know how my migration to a Google Apps account goes...

Update: see here...