New discovery - Nikon D300s Allows Movie Editing!

Unlike the Nikon D90, I notice there's a new feature found on this new camera - video editing. I am definitely expecting that we can now stitch up all video clips into one proper movie? That's sure sound like music to my ear!

Now, I am off to review what's the smallest stereo microphone that can be properly attached to the Nikon D300s. (I am not exactly thrilled to see what Nikon featured on the Microsite [here] to do their stereo recording).

Has Nikon D300s HD Video Recording Being Revamped?

You be the judge on this one...

Let's Get Down to Business - Shooting

Enough of whining. Let's start planning trips to shoot with the Nikon D300s when it arrives. First off, I am converting part of my October month to a 10-day shoot trip. Coinciding with the China's National Day, I am planning to take two cities with it - Macau and Hong Kong SAR.

It would be nice as it will be my visit to China's largest gambling den on this trip - Macau! Both flight tickets and hotels have just been booked tonight. So, planning will start as soon as possible after I return from India. A tentative trip to Seattle USA has also been announced by my client, so I am hoping to squeeze that into perhaps, late August or early November 2009.

Home turf wise, it will be covered on my more fun site - Nikon D90 Lab, where I will seek to cover more pro-family journals...

Glass Ceiling of Digital Camera Performance

I guess you can only pack so many pixels on a given physical sensor size! And the ratio between Signal to Noise calculation has caused Nikon Engineers to ignore the pixel chase and focus on what's more important - pixel light-gathering performance. Last week has been unusually newsy. Every manufacturers seem to get ready to capture the Summer/Fall season with their own releases, and I think the economy is still ready for them if they are any good.

Likewise, for the continuous firing speed, which has been hovering at 6 to 10 fps, they seems not to go any faster in each new camera release. Body miniaturization is also somewhat restricted by mirror-clad DSLR, with only recent development in the four thirds format camera product yielding a smaller form factor. Shutter speed has been maxed out at 1/8000 second since the bronze age. (most subjects captured tends to grind to a freeze at that speed already) Sensor ISO performance is only being improved gingerly on each new camera release. 16-bit image processing seems not to move towards 32-bit or 64-bit anytime soon. 14-bit A/D signal conversion should further be refined to 24-bit or 36-bit?

Magnesium alloy body too has been magnesium alloy for the last twenty years. Are we seeing a leveling off of the brain juice in these Engineers?

I guess the slow Monday is allowing me to let off some steam.

Additional Reasons for Not Going Full Frame

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

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

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

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.

About Nikon D300s Lab

So, for someone who already owns the Nikon D90, there must be a clear distinction and purpose set if an additional camera was to come into the picture of his lifestyle. Obviously, an additional body will fulfill the availability of a backup. But it must do more, much more.

The additional of a new body or class of camera must first also be accompanied by clearly defined role it will play. It kinda follows a similar decision making pattern when my second, third and fourth laptops come into my possession. So, in short, I have to be quite clear what this new camera has to do, in order for it to co-exist, complement and enhance my photography work flow.

So, this is where the Nikon D300s lab comes into the picture, to assist me in carving out a new road towards a higher standards in photography, while still retaining the fun factor with my Nikon D90 and Nikon D300s.

Enjoy a new journey and join me if you are in a similar shoe as I.

Welcome to the Nikon D300s Lab!!

Welcome to the Next Evolution in DX Camera Supremacy

So, the launch is complete. Nikon has surfaced the Nikon D300s on the last day of July 2009. Only a few sites on the Internet got preview sets to write about it. At this point, it is quite pointless to ascertain how strong this successor to the Nikon D300 really is.

Photography is an evolving art, that requires two main component to tick - equipment and time to sustain this art. And you have to make time in life to get both on the same time and space. An order has been placed by me to get the Nikon D300s the day it was announced.

I am taking photography into the next level that requires a tougher machine and sure am looking into shooting with this beast very soon... But before I get hold of this machine, let's attempt to discover what and why this camera is designed for, while attempting to use it for that very purpose.