Probably this camera is the most highly anticipated camera and rumors around it has been online for the past few months and some started even last year. The Nikon D800, showing off with its 36 MegaPixel full-frame sensor & Full-HD video capabilities all comes at a price tag of $3000 . Targeting mostly professionals and top-end enthusiasts. 

Nikon say it's not a replacement for the Nikon D700 model, but sit alongside with it.

What's new with the Nikon D800?

36 Mega Pixel of details, almost similar to some of the medium format cameras. Cropping is not a matter and large prints with rich details, I would assume that landscape photographers will love this camera for this fact. Yet I believe it will create an issue in terms of storage as the 14-bit full size photo will be around 74 MB in size. Which will mean, the need for more storage, longer time to transfer the photos and longer time to post-process the images. Yet,  It seems like the megapixel count still dazzles the photographer's heart and it will satisfy the never ending crave for more and more details and quality.

Check the sample gallery provided by Nikon

Full HD Video with Broadcast quality:

I will not go into details with this one, but the camera video samples show that its a promising camera in this field, and I am sure it will compete head to head with the Canon 5D Mark II.

* Full HD 1080p at 30/25/24p or 720p at 60/50p in AVC format

Nevertheless, Nikon claims that the Nikon D800 has 36 new features/improvements compared to the Nikon D700.  Personally I think that the additional MP count and the HD video are the two main improvements that Nikon users were waiting for. Although, I was craving for higher performance at high ISO, performance close to the D3s or D4.

Finally, Nikon has decided to introduce another model which is the Nikon D800E and Nikon claims that the E version give a little bit more sharpness then that "standard" model. The difference is that the Standard model comes with an Optical Low Pass Filter (OLPF) in front of its sensor to slightly blur the image at a pixel level in order to reduce the occurrence of false colors and moiré that can appear when shooting repetitive and/or fine patterns.  (Click here to know more about Moire` And false color)

The E version is specifically targeting landscape and studio photographers who aim for that extra bit of sharpness, but as a tradeoff it increased possibility that moiré and false color will appear. And Nikon decide to include a new filter in its CaptureNX application to remove the effect. So, which one is for you, it's your decision.

Nikon D800E Sample Gallery from Nikon

In conclusion,

Many will be dazzled by the 36 Megapixel sensor the D800 provide and many others will buy it for the HD video capabilities. It's a great camera and an impressive addition to the Nikon DSLR family. 

Two years ago I came to know about Lensbaby and their optical system which gives the photographer the ability to have selective focus on the subject , which blurs the photo except for the "SWEET" spot you select. I was not really interested at that time since the "APERTURE" is changed manually by inserting a different aperture every time.

Lensbaby introduced last year the Composer Pro with the sweet35 optic which allows you to change the Aperture from the lens itself without the need to change the aperture disk. I was interested in it and thought of giving it a shot. I bought it from adorama.com at $400.

My personal Experience:

I have received the lens last week, and today I tested it in the field as it's the first day I go shooting in Muscat Festival, as it's a place where I love to shoot portraits and people. And here are my PROS & CONES of the lens from my personal perspective.

PROS:

• Well built and easy to tilt around in a smooth motion
  
• Light and compact which makes it easy to go around with
  
• Easy way to change the aperture from the top ring of the Sweet 35 
• The selective focus along with the wide aperture give a new experience in isolating the object. which makes it easy to shift the viewer's eye to your subject.
  

Cons:

• Overpriced for its optic quality, which for me I think the quality at F2.5 is not usable as you can never get a very sharp image, that's why I use it at F4 and F5.6 most of the time.
• All manual function, the camera couldn't give me any readings and I had to use the Manual mood and the light meter doesn't even help you, thankfully in the digital era you get to experiment.
  
• Dim Viewfinder : While you go to F8 the viewfinder becomes dimmer and it will be difficult to use, that's why I had to move the the Liveview mode.
  
• Evil focus and sweet spot: It's really hard to focus and set the sweet spot and it takes real effort to do so, shooting people is not practical with it unless the model/person is willing to cooperate and stay still for 5 minutes till you get it right. (I wear glasses and I almost got headache after half an hour of shooting)
  

My Final Verdict:

I would say the lensbaby is a great lens to play around and have fun with or to produce a theme in your mind. It works well, at F4 and F5.6 the sharpness is not an issue as long as you get the focus right. I would prefer it on static objects rather than shooting people since it will be very hard to focus while people are moving. And I think by time you get used to it. Finally, it's a lens that you either like it or not, there's nothing in-between.

In this article I am going to talk about Exposure Fusion (EF). A lot of photographers nowadays are familiar with High Dynamic Range (HDR) Techniques. Which is mostly used to capture the high contrast scenes by taking a series of "Bracketed" exposures or shots that capture a wider range of light than the camera can handle in a single shot. After that the photos are blended using any of the HDR software (e.g. Dynamic Photo HDR). Mostly the result with have high level of color saturation along with extraordinary shadow and highlight details. Which again is tone mapped to create the final result.

Exposure Fusion (EF) is new approach to blend the bracketed image. The EF does not require tone mapping step as the result does not produce a photo with excessive dynamic range. Yet the result appears to be more realistic and tends not to exaggerate the tones, colors, shadows and highlights. For me I find EF to be more practical and produces results in which I can feel more natural to the eye.

The example above is made by blending (5 photos of the same scene) of a scene from Bediah Sands at sunrise.  Below you can see a sample of the overexposed and underexposed shots, I have taken 5 bracketed shots then exported them to 16bit TIFF files. After that I used Photomatix Pro 4.0 to blend the bracketed exposures.  The final result of the shot (above)  shows more balanced light in the scene yet looks very realistic and natural. Nevertheless I made little final tweaks and adjustments to the photo in Photoshop CS5 .. From my personal experience sometimes you just need 2 shots to make a perfect blend.

Go ahead try it , it's fun and it expands the limitations of the light range the camera can take.

Happy Fusion to everyone

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens : Nikon 16-35 F4 VR
Tripod : Manfrotto 055 ProB

“ I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good. – Anonymous

 I have been doing photography for the past 5 years, I consider my self a beginner in its vast world. Yet I cannot recall the countless times that I hear my photo friends comparing camera brands and makes (classically nikon vs canon). Or new photographers ask me , why do you use a Nikon?

My Simple Answer is , I use a Nikon camera because I bought a Nikon camera. As simple as that, then arguments come with how few additional MegaPixels can make one better than the other. I find these arguements to be endless and aimless by most of the photo enthutiasts.

What I have learned in my short 5 years is that camera brand doesn't matter. For beginners in terms of buying an SLR camera, whatever brand you pick it will be 100% the right choice and you can never go wrong. New SLR cameras are really excellent and of high quality. They produce photo quality that will never fail to impress you or your friends. It's you (the photographer) who make the difference between a good photo and a bad one. Don't get caught in brand and make fights.

People have different tastes and that what makes one prefere one against the other. Instead of researching brands, spend the time researching about PHOTOGRAPHY.

And remember, camera is the tool and you are the artist, you the photographer is the one to feel the scene or the moment to capture.

Your comments and arguments are welcomed :)

Camera : Nikon D700
Lens : Nikon 16-35 mm F/4
Filters : Nikon Polarizor II