1. Petapixel’s A Field Test of the $12,400 Nikon 180-400mm f/4 TC1.4
2. And the even better Shooting polar bears with the $12,000 Nikon 180-400mm F4E TC1.4 FL ED VR

Such a beast of lens is not for everybody, but you can’t beat reading real-world testing.

I find several advantages to it:

1. At 5 frames per second on my Canon EOS 70D, the animal moves are decomposed enough to chose the best attitude (e.g. avoiding blinking eyes);
2. I also learned a long time ago that optical stabilization is not the perfect tool to remove strictly all the fuzz and inside a continuous shooting set, the second or the third is often a tad bit more precise, more crispy than the first one (the small move induced by pressing the shutter button will produce a minuscule imprecision that is not welcome on a large-sized  print when the tripod is not available).

Of course, this forces me in comparing thousands of photos. Two by two or three by three, I must choose the best one and dump the other(s). On Adobe Bridge, it goes very fast. But, if -like me) you started regretting the time of simple software prices (instead of monthly license rental costs), you want to go and look elsewhere.

On Windows (it would work on MacOS too), I tried Lightroom but its library management is definitely not living well with my (bad?) habit of transferring files from disk to disk, grouping and backing up in many locations (while handling more than 2 TB of archives). So what can I do? I had to find a better solution, preferably a low-cost one. Since I don’t like the idea of pirating a big executable version (is it still happening today?), I rushed into photo forums  and found FastStone FSViewer which is free for personal use on Windows.

The user interface is not the same as Bridge, of course. But you can easily and quickly compare 4 images. Maybe somewhat faster than on Bridge.

This is a free download and it is a good replacement for Adobe Bridge on Windows (I will no longer need to keep this old version, I can go freeware).

Of course, I must profusely thank Xtian for his considerable help.

When Adobe launched this kind of solution and when they made it compulsory in order to obtain the most recent version of their tools, some people warned that this was a major blow into the capacity to maintain a reliable capacity to work on our photos. Most either ignored the warning, downplayed its importance or or did not understand the full breadth of the risk. Today, the reality check is here; And it’s hurting real bad with thousands of professionnals waiting for the service to come back while trying to explain to their customers that nothing can be done until Adobe finds a solution (
I sympathize sincerely).

Of course, this suspended animation state is bad in itself (nobody missed that). But this is highlighting the issues at hand that were less obvious or more difficult to understand.

1. Unique/single failure point: If/when Adobe fails, we have no other option than wait. We are used to having a computer fail or a software stopping to work and -usually- it’s only (!) a matter of moving the DVD to a new PC, switching over to another workstation or another professional. Now, all Adobe customers fail in the same minute. This is a systemic risk like we are afraid of in the global bank system. No fall back option.
2. Opacity: The fact that Adobe Creative Cloud is far outside the scope of its users (except maybe some global-level customers who may have a direct line with Adobe management) makes it nearly impossible to have visibility. And in this kind of situation, we, the users, want/need to know immediately a/ what is happening, b/ what we can do to mitigate the situation (even if nothing is possible), c/ how/when the solution will be available. [And today, Adobe communication is an exemple… of what should not be done]

Is ease of subscription worht it? Is the flexibility of having always the latest release version at your hand worth it? This is anybody’s choice and the choice cannot be done for you. But, since we have some time on our hands (if your customers are not shooting on the phone right now), it’s time to think about our choices.

This is starting to look like a bring refrain, in these recent weeks: The most recent photo cameras seem to have been launched before all the bugs could be detected and wiped out. As a simple reminder, I would list the following cases:

• The Canon EOS 5D MkIII files are not handled perfectly well in DPP v3.11.10 (the exact nature of the issue is not clear: Something to do with the details and micro-contrast in digital noise management).
• FStoppers seems to have found a light leaks or an exposure algorithm sensitivity to charge conditions of the battery of the Canon EOS 5D MkIII.
• Sometimes, the Nikon D800 does not switch itself OFF.

Canon and Nikon will certainly update soon either the camera firmware or the picture software program. But this is confirming once again that we no longer purchase photo cameras in the most traditional sense (marvelously fine-tuned mechanical systems) but computers (with all its software and… bugs).

We could well ask ourselves if we are not on the verge of waiting several weeks (or months?) before reviewing or even purchasing a new camera. We already knew that a camera firmware could exist as pre-production version (some preliminary tests and reviews are grossly wrong because of this) and that some brands (Sony, for the A77 and the A700?) sometimes take several months before producing a firmware worth describing as final.

Dear camera manufacturers, be more cautious: You will soon see customers become much less faithful, much more troubled. Your brand value could erode quickly if you do not stay faithful to the image the photographic industry had all along the XXth Century. This image could be lost easily…

Since a lot of information reached our ears already through a number of different leaks, it is now possible to make a few educated guesses and to attempt a comparison with the older Sony Alpha 700 (many of its owners are impatiently waiting for its successor(s)) and the direct competition in the Nikon and Canon ranges.

Legend: Green means “best in class”, Red means “worst in class”.

Let’s not forget that this comparison is still based upon rumors (which will or will not be confirmed in the coming hours).

Lightroom 3 sees its price lowered slightly at Amazon.

This is a great idea for Mothers Day or Fathers Day: A point-and-shoot photo camera to snap pictures of the kids and grand-kids. But how do we pick the best one? There are thousands of them, the largest brands launch new models each and every week. So, let’s follow simple rules (They’re always the best ones).

A nice lens

Whatever the other qualities of a photo camera, I can’t repeat it enough: The lens is critical. The digital sensor may have millions of pixels, in a mobile phone, the poor plastic bit that is sold as a lens is the limiting factor.

Watch for cameras whose lens opens wide (it may be f/2.8 or f/4 maximum) because this allows to shoot with less light. If it feels useful, the zoom amplitude may be worth looking at, but the widest amplitudes generally go with (relatively) bad quality. On the opposite, a short focal length (35mm or 28mm, as film equivalent) is also a safe way to shoot a good picture when there is not enough space to move back. All this will secure a good image success rate in the usual conditions of a kid’s birthday party or a family dinner.

Cute or robust?

The compact photo camera market has progressively split itself between small jewel-like cameras (often quite fragile) and more robust cameras (whose appearance makes them far less cute).

You will have to choose depending on the desired size (according to the person who will receive the gift) and the kind of use (a grand-dad may not lend his camera as easily to a young kid depending on the kind of camera).

LCD comfort

The next most important item is the LCD screen on the back of all the point-and-shoot cameras. This display must be as readable as possible, even in the sun light. This is never completely true (the right technology is just not there yet) even if the OLED displays are not far from perfection. But if you can test and compare at the door of the shop, you will immediately see which one to choose.

The digital sensor

Finally, you can have a look at the image sensor. The best solution is still to have a very large-sized sensor (usually described as APS-C format or SLR-size sensor). In this case, the camera is slightly bigger but the image quality is notably improved. You’ll get a sensor normally found in a Digital SLR photo camera.

With all this, you’re ready to go and pay a visit to the windows of the point-and-shoot camera shops in your city. Just in time for Mothers Day and Fathers Day.

Amazon USA

• Nikon D5100 (pre-order)

B&H

• Nikon D5100 Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
• Nikon D5100 Digital SLR Camera With 18-55mm Lens

Amazon France

• Nikon D5100

First, it appears clear that the already existing equipment of a photographer has an inordinate weight in everybody’s choice (you can dream of the Canon 300mm f/2.8; But if you are a Nikon lover, this may stay quite theoretical). Nevertheless, we must not mix our priorities: The presence of three or four “normal” lenses and of one or two SLR bodies in your photo bag, will not weight a lot in the decision to buy a 300mm or a 400mm prime lens. Do the math! You’d better sell everything if the aim is to get the best photo gear. Worse, it may seem hard but if you’re in Olympus gear (maybe with Pentax too, except if you’re both optimist and patient), your only path goes through “moving from that brand”.

Even more, we are often immoderately attached to our SLR bodies while they are obsolete after five years (and already late after a year). Sorry, but an SLR body is nothing more than consumable. On the opposite a good lens is bought for a long time (a kit zoom lens may be also considered as with no value on the second-hand market).

This is more or less the question that Sony is personally asking me. While I have a nice set of excellent lenses from Minolta-Sony-Zeiss, I start to hit the limits of the currently offered lens range that Sony moves only very slowly to the pro side. However, it’s still of small importance while my main body is a Sony Alpha 700 which can easily be described as “no longer top technology”. Since its launch, it has been distanced by the competition and Sony should seriously replace it as soon as possible.

It is often said that buying an SLR photo camera is more or less contracting a marriage. This is less and less true now that most people buy a kit including a long-range zoom and that they are ready to do the same three or five years later. On the opposite, investing a few thousand Euros (or Dollars) in lenses to satisfy your wildlife photo passion does not allow a quick and easy change of opinions. It’s not enough to see the launch of the EOS 5D MkII to leave Nikon or to discover the D7000 to drop Canon. Or you would have to seriously consider (and why not? We may may come back later to this) reselling all old gear on eBay.

We could see that Canon and Nikon are nearly perfectly armed to satisfy the wildlife/nature photographer. Maybe Canon has a slightly richer (or slightly more finely cut) range than Nikon. Sony is still quite insufficient and can only survive here with the enormous help of the second-hand market of Minolta. But a simple poll in the SUV/trucks of Objectif Nature, Amawanda or Terres Oubliées, in the hides of the Pyrénées or the Carpathian Mountains will confirm it: Canon and Nikon are the real masters.

This being said, let’s go and shoot some photos!

The articles themselves:

• Top SLR lenses for Canon
• Top SLR lenses for Nikon
• Top SLR lenses for Sony

You can also request the assistance of many web sites to evaluate the quality of SLR photo lenses.

Photo Marc Wunderlich – I’m on the left, along with Alain Saunier, our photo guide from Objectif Nature.

Photo-shooting big mammals (mainly in Africa) is one of these activities which feed the fire of passion in many photographers (me included), and have most others dreaming. But you soon discover that lenses are more important (or critical) that the camera itself. If light conditions are often favorable (except in forests), getting top-quality pictures while staying far from the subject is requiring nice glass gear with long focal length. This is why so many wildlife photographers are equipped with enormous tele-lenses. Of course, most professionals will simply choose the best gear for their needs. But most of us mere mortals, up to the Big Cash Prize on our next casino rampage, will be willing to optimize the investment (we will be speaking in thousands of Euros, mind you).

Generally speaking, if you can’t buy true monsters like the 600mm f/4 from Canon or Nikon, the use of an APS-C digital photo sensor (instead of a Full Frame) is assuredly recommended. But what are the best solutions offered by the major brands on the market?

In several posts, I am going to propose recommendations (it could be easy since I won’t pay the final bill) for one of the following photographers: An amateur willing to go on safari but going light (both on the shoulders and the credit card); An expert shooting for the best image quality (often ready to switch to prime lenses instead of the all-in-one zoom lens); or a Pro grabbing the best of the best.

As a matter of fact, in the coming days, we will be publishing a series of articles, one for each of the big brands:

• Top SLR lenses for Canon
• Top SLR lenses for Nikon
• Top SLR lenses for Sony

This is at GAP, it’s everywhere in the wolrd on the Internet, but also in all the GAP shops, in London, in New York or in Paris.

This is definitely not viral marketing.

photo credit: Don Hankins

It appears that -at least in some cases- many ads from Google (like the ones I display on my web sites) are presenting fraudulent business proposals. Usually they are recognizable by the fact that they makes too-good-to-be-true offers (half-price photo cameras or basement-sale prices for pro equipment).

But it is not always easy to recognize this kind of situation. This is where Exposed Scammers comes handy. This is a small web site that is browsing the ads and tries to identify the scammers from our photo-related ads.

One useful thing is that they also provide factual data to support their verdict (it’s not only a way to blindly flog a web site).

Recommended reading. Not only because you may recognize an ad you noticed, but also because it shows how to detect your own scammers.

If you want to avoid those scammers, you can also go directly to those companies that I directly partner with:

• Buy it from B&H (The Professional’s Source)
• Buy from Amazon.com
• Acheter sur Carrefour online

It is often a little difficult to compare two cameras feature by feature. I’ve come to a web site which does that (and only that), but does it nicely: SnapSort.com.

Nice.

I invite you to read to the conclusion which should please some of the admirers of Pentax.

The reviewed cameras are:

• Sony Alpha A230
• Sony Alpha A550
• Pentax K-x
• Canon EOS 1000d/Rebel XS
• Nikon D3000

Cheap cameras are cheaply built. Though the least expensive cameras are quite sturdy, it’s true that they are not as strong as the expert cameras. If you accidentally drop your beloved camera, it may make a hell of a difference.

Furthermore, there are places where you don’t want to see plastic in your camera. For example, the metal mount ring to hold the lens will sustain a lot more lens exchanges than the plastic ring only adequate to permanently hold in place a standard zoom lens you would never replace. And if you intend to attach a big tele-lens, the lens mount will be stressed by the unusual weight (even more if you do not quickly acquire the habit of holding the camera by the lens rather than by the camera body).

Additionally, more expensive photo cameras have some useful features like larger LCD screens and who doesn’t want the added comfort when viewing pictures or setting options?

If you’re not asking for comfort, the high resolution sensors come only at a high price (The cost of the sensor still is a significant part of the full camera). Don’t expect today’s best digital photo sensors on anything less than the best (and highest priced) cameras. The same is true for camera speed: You have to pay a lot for higher shooting speed (useful for sports and wildlife photo) and a lot of processing power (used in the most complex noise reduction algorithms).

And don’t stop there: Some critical features only come with the more expensive price tag. Most entry-level cameras do not have an DOF test push-button; The best quality viewfinders are only present in the high-end segment of the market.

These are important features, but your money will also buy many more gadgets (or useful features not often used, if you prefer). If you shoot a lot in the studio, in concerts, in sunset wildlife photo, you will appreciate the added flash controls, the low light capacity, the better manual or semi-automatic control over exposure or focus. They make the expensive photo camera objectively better and worth the added money.

So, you may reach a point when you will require more. At this moment the expert cameras and the pro gear is right for you. Start budgeting, then start enjoying the new benefits.

For example, ISO sensitivity is over-rated. Today’s performance levels are so high that, out of specialty photography, all Digital SLR photo cameras are more than able to satisfy 99% of our photography needs. They reach ISO levels often compatible with low-light situations with either a reasonable resolution or a small flash.

You may also be tempted by the high resolution sensors of expert cameras, but let’s be fair: Bigger pictures are not useful if you don’t print in large paper sizes (When did you print a poster last?). Worse, they eat memory card space, computer memory and disk storage at a tremendous pace.

If this was not enough, most people tend to forget that big sensors are inordinately sensitive to lens quality: You waste your money on a 20 MP Full-Frame sensor if you buy ordinary lenses. Be prepared for 1000€ primes and 2000€ zoom lenses. As a matter of fact, it is true for photographic hardware that your money is best spent on good-to-excellent lenses that you will keep for years while your photo camera will feel obsolete before three years. While it is often true that the more expensive expert photo camera is an objectively better photo device, you must ask yourself “Do I need it?”

If that was not enough, most of the expert photo cameras tend to expect expert users (They often lack the simpler task-oriented modes of entry-level cameras). So, you will have to invest significant more time before you master it (before you forget about the camera and start concentrating on shooting better pictures rather than on wish knob to turn).

Furthermore, I tend to consider that cheaper cameras are used more because we are not afraid of risking them more than cameras which cost nearly as much as a second-hand car (don’t even think of adding insurance for traveling with expensive gear) and because we keep them with ourselves more often than the heavier equipment (are you ready to keep 1 kg of hardware at the end of your arm for more than a short time?)

All that being said, the best advice is often “Buy a newer camera, but not a bigger one”. You’ll get most of technology improvements without the hurdles. It still is the photographer who frames and shoots, not the camera. Have a reliable camera you feel at ease with, shoot a lot, work on improving your eye and your technique, you’ll buy a bigger camera when you actually out-perform your current one.

[Followed with another post]

• Yearly, professional cleaning of the camera sensor with opening of the mirror cage and removal of the sensor itself
• Repair priority
• Availability of an equivalent DSLR during repair time
• Door-to-door service (the camera is collected and returned at the location of your choice)

This could attract some pros. The amateur photographer could also be interested provided that they need some re-assurance, and they have a Sony Alpha 850 or Alpha 900.

But there is still an open question (for now): Will this be applicable out of France (I only got the confirmation from Paris)?

Source: Alpha-Numérique.

The cash-back on the EOS 450D configurations amounts to £50, whereas it climbs to £65 on a Canon EOS 500D. It will run until 31 October 2009.

Source: www.canon.co.uk/futurephotocashback

Canon information:

From the 11th September to 31st October 2009 if you are a student, lecturer or technician working on a recognised university photographic course you can save up to £65 on a purchase of a new Canon EOS camera.

Purchase either an EOS 450D and claim £50 cashback or an EOS 500D and claim £65. All you have to do is purchase the camera (any configuration) from an authorised retailer in the UK or Ireland, download and complete the claim form from this page, send along with a photocopy of your receipt and photocopy of your academic status (NUS card, Academic security pass or course acceptance letter) to the address on the form. You will then receive a cheque within 28 days.

Let’s admit it, there is always some more expensive hardware that we could buy. Usually, this is a pro SLR camera, a major prime lens or exceptional pro zoom.

Now, in these times of budgeting for students, it is quite important to try and get the best out of a limited amount of money. Michael essentially offers a small set of very sound advice, that I summarize here with my own grain of salt:

• Buy second-hand (everything is much cheaper than top-of-line gadget-freak-oriented new equipment, even if specifications are evolving – but more slowly than a few years ago).
• Invest in lenses more than in camera gear (lenses will have a much longer life span and re-sell much better than camera bodies).
• Be ready to sell back some of the equipment you have.
• Buy your lenses in package deals (they much more interesting than individual lenses) even if you have to sell some. Sell individual pieces, never a package/set.

One of the good things about buying lenses in second-hand markets/fairs/auctions is that when you sell them back (when you reached the purchase power to grab even better equipment), the old gear can be sold without loosing too much (if you kept it in the same good condition as at purchase time).