UD On The Df

Move over, Ken.

Uncle Dick has had two days to play with the new Nikon Df camera - we got them on Wednesday of this week and held a big launch for them after 6:00 on the night. Today he gives his verdict.

As a quick aside - I scored a bottle of beer and a piece of sushi on Wednesday and  thoroughly enjoyed the picture presentation by David Dare Parker. Other people were faster with the food. A LOT of people crowded into the shop and a goodly number of cameras and lenses were sold. The buyers are all out there right now skiving off work so that they can go out with their new cameras...and who could blame them.

To quell your fears, the device is a good one. It is an interesting take by Nikon on what people MIGHT want in a digital camera. I would be fascinated to see who they surveyed and how they asked the questions to arrive at their design plan. The aesthetics of it argue that they are targeting a particular market - the operational characteristics may am at something else.

Here - what I mean is that it has been constructed to look like a film camera of the 1970's and 80's - not a dead simulation, but a design that has a great deal of mimicry about it. Not a new thing to do - think of Fuji's X100 and X100s camera and their echo of the 35mm rangefinder camera. This is Nikon trying the same thing with the big DSLR.

Students of the camera will remember that Nikon replicated some of their 35mm rangefinder cameras just at the turn of the millenium for nostalgic collectors. They were available in Japan, and B&H, and ECS for some time but have now settled into eBay and Uncle Boris' various shops. Pursue them if you will - they work about as good as ever they did.

This new camera is of another stamp. Nikon don't want the collectors to buy it - they want to sell this one to users. They have pitched the appearance to those of us nostalgic for the older gear, but the guts of it and the functionality are right up with the best new practise. One point to mention: if you want to do video you cannot do it with this device. It is pure still photography.

Okay - Nikon takes the body style of the film SLR and puts the sensor and computer processor of their best full-frame camera in it. The legendary D4 sensor - thing that has improbably high ISO and impossibly low noise combined. They put the controls for the thing up on metal dials like the old days. They lighten the body by making the panels of magnesium. They opt for a smaller battery than the big cameras - so that it can go in a slimmer hand grip. No pop-up flash. Traditional PC connector and mechanical cable release.

But remember that this is a digital camera and modern users are used to adjusting the shutter and aperture with thumb wheels - so they put that on there as well. You don't need to use them - you can do your adjusting on dials. You can also add all your old Nikon-mount lenses from the film era - they have incorporated the special little dedicated tab on the lens mount that talks to the lenses. You might be scrapping to put 1962 lenses on it but all the later ones go very well.

The battery compartment bears an EL-EN14a battery and an SD card slot and WHOA NELLIE there is a heavy rubber seal and metal locking key to get into it. It speaks well for the weather sealing of the rest of the body. Retro-look notwithstanding this is going to be a camera that can can withstand hard service.

Hard service: Can't tell whether people who get shot at for profit will be taking this out amongst the rockets and machetes. David Dare Parker said he would - he has been using the big D3 and 4 series for just that for a number of years. Now he'll get a chance to get that level of performance at a very much lighter weight. He will be wise to take a couple of spare batteries on a bandolier, however - the EN-El14a is a 1230 mAh pack.

Soft service: This is all any amateur photographer will ever need - as long has it as a good selection of Nikon lenses. I do not wish to suggest that the amateur should stop buying cameras - this is a business and we want to eat...but if you get this one you have a vast vista of capability in front of you and you will be working long and hard to exhaust the possibilities.

Pose service: This is new and if you are fast you will have it before your brother in law. Hurry in and bring your card.

Uncle Dick

NIKON Df

Nikon Df digital camera.

Yes, we have them.

Here - 230 Stirling Street, Perth.

Now - 9:15 AM Thursday, 28 November.

Ready for sale.

08 9238 4405

The All-Time Undisputed Best Lens In the World

We have just received a shipment of the all-time undisputed best lens in the world - acclaimed by international superstar mentors and multi-award winning iconic ambassadors. This lens is so good that federal law prohibits allowing any other lens in the same camera bag - there are stiff gaol sentences for people who contravene this.

The lens is so sharp that it has been constructed without a filter thread on the front - lest anyone be tempted to degrade it with another layer of glass. Some of them are made without a camera mount on the back incase the user selects an inferior camera. It is a pure lens for pure photographers who take pure photographs.

This is a lens so good that Ken Rockwell has liked it for longer than a week.

Most lenses have an aperture system inside them. This on has four. One to take the picture and two to make sure that the first one is doing the right job. And one spare in case it is needed.

When you use this lens you immediately are accepted into Magnum, The MOMA, and the Tate gallery. Portraits taken with this lens are so good that the Tate throws out their Constables and Whistlers to make room for the prints. Some of the pictures have been worshipped by cults.

Chuck Norris wants one of these lenses but his application for ownership is still pending...

People don't ring us up about these lenses - we ring you. If you haven't had the phone call yet...you never will.

And there is a MkII model coming out in January. Be the first on your block to lose sleep about not being able to afford it.

Wow! Look At This! The New Camera!

Wow! First pictures of the new Nikon DF camera - right here on my blog! And I took the picture! I can hardly contain myself.

Oops. Didn't. Back in a minute.

Now, where were we? Oh, yes, the new Nikon DF camera that everybody in the town will be crowding in to see tonight - we're hosting a tease-a thon between 6:00 and 8:30, whereupon we will start selling the camera and taking orders. People finally get to see whether the rumours were true. They get to see and touch and spend.

I'm counting down to 6:00 and so should you.

Uncle Dick

Steal Me - I'm Worth It

Look at the heading image. Now close your eyes and tell me what you saw.

You saw a $ 50 bill, didn't you? And a cup of hot chocolate, perhaps...but you did see the $ 50 bill.

People are like that. We focus on what we want, whenever we see it. This is the principle that sells the Louis Vuitton bag and the low cut blouse. It drives the new camera sales whenever the manufacturers release a new compact camera - they flood the market with superb photos of the product. The cynics amongst us in the trade then take bets on which 4 x 5 or 8 x 10 studio monorail was used to illustrate it...

Back to the heading image. Did you see the black jumper draped over the bag? It cost the owner $ 7.00 apparently. A cold wind blowing on the way to work or home and that is the most valuable object in the picture.

No food for a day? Blood sugar level at nothing? There's a cup of hot chocolate there...

Somebody ringing on the phone and you need to write down the phone number before you lose it? Pads and pens are cheap things but they become invaluable in 10 seconds.

So what's the blue bit you missed? A Think Tank Retrospective 5 camera bag. You'd never know that it contains a camera, flash, and spare lens worth about $ 10,000. Neither will the bag snatchers or pickpockets. Keep it strapped over your shoulder and it just looks like a tatty old student bag.

It is padded inside, has a general utility pocket, has a rain coat included, and looks like a tatty old student bag. The webbing straps and buckles are military grade and it look like the ones on tatty old student bags.

If you too, contrive to look like a tatty old student bag, you might get busted but you won't get mugged. And your $ 10,000 camera kit is safe.

Open Wide...

In 2007, having peered down cake-holes for nigh on 40 years on a professional basis ( as opposed to doing it for a hobby...) I sold the old dental chair and retired. It was time to get rid of it - it had had three changes of stained upholstery and the armrests were deeply finger-marked.

 During the 4 decades I attended hundreds of lectures illustrated with thousands of  intra and extra oral photographs. Three of them were good. The rest were masterpieces of illustrative skill but all you could see was teeth. It was like looking at the front grilles of Buicks, but at least the Buicks flossed...Thus my general advice to anyone wanting to take dental pictures is - don't.

If you insist on it, however, the best way I know is to use a digital SLR or mirrorless camera. I used to advise people to use ring-flash units for the illumination but that has stopped with the advent of the white LED light. Nowadays you can get a decent ring-shaped LED set that runs on AAA batteries or a mains adapter and mount it on the front of nearly any decent camera. If you then set the ISO of the camera to 400-800 ( or higher if it is a modern camera ) you can put the mode to "A" and set an aperture of f:8 to f:16. If you put your lens on manual and at the shortest focusing distance you can generally make a rather decent extra-oral shot. An excess of decency.

If you need a closer shot or one that goes far back in the arch, the true macro lens may be necessary. Costly, but close-focussing, and it lets you stand back a bit from the customer as you work... Some of the customers have breath that makes this a relief.

If you need to have more light - really - you can use the ring flash systems. Nikon, Sigma, Canon, and Metz make them. They are in various sizes and degrees of sophistication, and some of them are automatic enough to work most of the time. But there is an almighty pop as they go off that might spook the patient. Plus they generally are more complex so you end up with a system that your staff might not find as easy to use. If you consistently get overexposure or out of focus results it is advisable to beat the nurse with a stick.

What you do with the results is different than the old days. The Carousel slide tray full of VMK preps is long gone. Slide shows on Powerpoint and Show Off can be integrated with text, sound, and music. There is no way to describe the experience of a professional presentation on gingival recession when it is accompanied by John Cage.

Please note that the above notes also apply to dermatology illustration, but with knobs on. Pulsating multi-coloured knobs...

Begone Dull Care - Begone Dull Car

 Did goe to Gillam Drive yesterdaye for to see the hot rods and was greatley entertained.

This follows upon a visit to a celebration of the motor car on a previous weekend. The venues could not have been more different, nor the visitors, nor the cars. Indeed the photographers were similar, but with an important difference.

The venue is a strip of street that is lined with panel beaters, spare-parts yards, and chop shops. If you know what a chop shop is I need say no more about it. The street is hot in summer, cold in winter, and dusty withall. There is a lunch bar, that serves Chiko rolls and pies and pasties. With sauce.

The people who frequent the Gillam Drive show are variously described as rockabillies, rodders, rednecks, bogans, or motor-car enthusiasts - depending upon the prejudices of the observer. They dress well, and not so well, and badly, and appallingly - again based upon the observer. They wear caps, and hats, and mullets. Sometimes all three at once.

They are invariably cheerful, and well-behaved. They respect each other's cars and conditions. They appreciate the opportunity to show and see and cooperate with each other. They may not have as much money as the classic-car enthusiasts who gather under the gazebos of the expensive venue...but by God they have a great deal more style.

On to the photography - several Black Rapid rigs seen. Several people using battery packs - at least three of the experienced hands using fill flash. Lots of mobile phones and one iPad being aimed clumsily. No Hoodman loupes in use, but they were needed. I am still puzzling over the chap with the extreme wide angle lens and the 64X ND filter over the front of it...

For most shows I recommend a wide-range zoom but this time I experimented with a single focal length - the equivalent of 35mm on a full-frame camera. Had to frame tightly in small spaces, and would have appreciated a 28mm for that but still happy with the results. Not having to haul a big rig has advantages, particularly when you are trying to juggle a Chiko roll and a choc milk as well.

Ah, the taste of grease in the morning...