Category Archives: Commentary

Commentary, Equipment

I shoot Canon. Nikon is on a roll. I’m glad.

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The big news in the photo equipment world this week is the announcement of the new Nikon D700 camera. This is a 12 MP full frame body that in many ways approaches the performance of Nikon’s more expensive full frame D3 – and in a few ways may even surpass it. And this at a list price of $2900. This really sounds like a very fine camera in every possible way, and Nikon shooters should be very happy to see “their brand” introducing such fine stuff.

I’m a Canon shooter who uses the 12 MP 5D, a camera that the designers of the Nikon D700 must have had in their sights. On a purely feature for feature basis, the Nikon surpasses the excellent but older 5D. It isn’t that the 5D is a poor camera by any means, and I’m not going to sell my 5D to get a D700. However, the Nikon clearly takes advantages of improvements in DSLR technology that have occurred in the three years since the 5D was introduced and Nikon seems to have done less to cripple their $3000 FF 12 MP body relative to their more expensive bodies in comparison to Canon.

So, why am I glad?

Canon now appears to have (or will soon have) very serious competition in the full frame DSLR market at essentially every model level. The Nikon D3 competes strongly against the (1.3x cropped sensor) Canon 1DMKIII; the Nikon D700 competes very strongly against the Canon 5D and its probable successor; and the word on the street is that Nikon will soon introduce a direct competitor to Canon’s flagship 1DsMKIII.

For many years, Canon was essentially the only game in town when it came to full frame DSLR bodies. While the Canon bodies are great tools that can produce excellent photographs, competition is likely to spur all manufacturers (likely including Sony and perhaps others before long) to renew their focus on optimizing camera design and functionality and will likely even create some pricing competition.

To put it simply, the introduction of excellent Nikon full frame cameras will likely lead to even better Canon full frame offerings – and I’m all for that.

Commentary, Photographs: Nature

About NOT Being the Wedding Photographer

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Last weekend was very special for us as our daughter was married to our new son-in-law. My role was to be the “Father of the Bride” – not the “Photographer of the Bride” – so while I took a minimal camera kit along I left it in the car for the main event. I left the photography to professionals and to the many guests who recorded the event – including my brother and his video crew of various talented nieces and nephews, and my sister whose point and shoot camera recorded several of the most wonderful shots I’ve seen so far from the event.

It was interesting to watch some of the methods employed by our photographer Katy Regnier and her “assistant” (otherwise known as her husband Ben) at the wedding. At times the two of them split up to cover different aspects of the event – Katy photographed the bride and “the girls” getting hair done and so forth while Ben photographed the guys getting ready (or, more accurately, “hanging around” ;-) at their hotel. But even when they shot together they worked in ways that complemented one another. For example, it often seemed that Katy would work close in with primes while Ben stood back and worked the same subjects with a longer telephoto zoom.

If you follow this blog, you know that while I do some photography of people I’m certainly no wedding photographer, nor do I aspire to be. However, I have a renewed respect for those like Katy and Ben who do this type of photography well. Good wedding photography requires photographic skills, but it is also requires social skills, timing, attentiveness, knowledge of wedding rituals and traditions, and a good sense of when to step in and direct and when to work invisibly in the background.

Commentary, Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Transverse Dunes, Death Valley

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Transverse Dunes, Death Valley

Transverse Dunes, Death Valley. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of transverse Death Valley Dunes at sunset.

This is another photo from the shoot I described in yesterday’s post – a quick shoot from a roadside pullout as the day came to an end. We just barely arrived here in time (having arrived in the park just hours earlier) and ended up shooting with long lenses from this roadside vantage point.

While many people focus on the taller section of these dunes a bit further west (I’ve shot them also) this section of smaller “transverse dunes” further into the valley provides some very interesting shapes, textures, and colors.

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Commentary, Equipment, Technique

Thoughts About Long Zooms and Primes and ‘Image Quality’

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A lot of photographers sweat the decisions about what long lenses to purchase. Among Canon users a common decision is whether to get a high quality telephoto prime (plus one or more teleconverters) or to get a telephoto zoom. Perhaps the most common question is whether to get a 300mm L prime (f2.8 IS or f4 IS) or the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM.

Many seem to focus on the image quality (“IQ”) issue a lot when trying to figure this out. It is true that the primes have an edge on the basis of pure resolution compared to the zooms. At 300mm the prime will “beat” the zoom at the same focal length. But, as many have figured out, it isn’t quite as simple as determining which lens is “sharpest” – other factors can affect the answer to that question, and sharpness is not the only issue.

Beach and Bluffs, Evening
Beach and Bluffs, Evening

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