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Additional Reasons for Not Going Full Frame August 2, 2009

Posted by Lawrence Oei in Editor Notes.
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As we know, the gap to cross into full frame photography is approximately at $1200 for body (from a Nikon D90) but much more for lens acquisition. And that’s something I currently do not see in investing in a wide angled full-frame lens. My current lenses that does FF are the 50mm F/1.8D, 60mm F/2.8D, Lensbaby Muse 50mm and the 70-300mm F/4-5.6G. I would at least need a prime 35mm if I would to survive with say, a Nikon D700. That’s an additional $400!

I would also dearly like to leverage on all my current DX/FX lenses I own today and would not wish to lose reach and flexibility by going full frame, all for the sake of killer low light performance.

Hence, TCO stands at three Gs for a new Nikon D700 with a 35mm FX-ready prime lens. TCO stands at just $1600 for the Nikon D300s body. I would simply need to forego my own 2009 laptop renewal purchase to get the $1600, which is still quite realistic.

Nikon D300s Versus Nikon D700 Features August 2, 2009

Posted by Lawrence Oei in Benchmarks.
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Another natural question one would ask – how then is the elite Nikon DX camera compared to the Nikon D700 camera, full frame sensor aside? Almost nothing. And is it really worth $1200 worth of difference?

In fact, the Nikon D300s has the following additional items to offer against the full frame sibling

  • HD video capturing with stereo sound recording
  • 7 fps continuous shoot rate
  • 155g lighter
  • Dual memory card slot bays (like the Nikon D3)
  • 100% coverage viewfinder
  • In-camera retouch capabilities (Like the Nikon D90)
  • Quiet Shoot mode (Like the Nikon D5000)
  • Supports both DX and FX lens without loss of image resolution
  • 0.3 megapixel more on sensor

Objectively, it seems that the strong low-light performance of the Nikon D700 is worth that $1200. But not to me…

New Firmware Dictates Better Low-light Performance on Nikon D300s August 2, 2009

Posted by Lawrence Oei in Nikon D300s.
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With an identical hardware component, we have already witnessed the vast difference in low-light performance between the Nikon D300 and Nikon D90 camera, with the latter leading the pack by over 33% improvement.

So, that argument, without hesitation should be applied to the Nikon D300s camera too. The hardware can often be further exploited with the right, optimized software, to progressively introduce stronger all-round performance.

In my opinion, the key difference between the Nikon D300s and higher class Nikon DSLRs lies in the Low-light performance department. And it’s seriously up to discerning buyers to decide if that is all critical.

Proposed Purpose for the New Nikon D300s Camera August 2, 2009

Posted by Lawrence Oei in Editor Notes, Nikon D300s.
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It’s all about fun and families over at Nikon D90 lab, where I dedicate my shoot towards my everyday lifestyle – kids, family events, holiday trips, simple work trips. And I think that’s the way I will leave that untouched. The Nikon D90 is superb in getting those nailed.

But here, with a new semi-professional camera, images achieved with this camera would normally be from dedicated shooting trips, commercial projects that are clinched (only over the weekends) or stock photography meant for intensive post processing and sale.

It is on this site where each featured images are most likely post processed and enhanced by me. Well, after all, these images are all meant to be sold and not simply displayed (I sure hope so!). Hence, I will still leave ALL my images on the Nikon D90 lab untouched, unprocessed, as it is. So, if you want images that are straight from the camera, you would still want to go there regularly…both blogs will serve their own functions and objectives.