Impending Nikon announcements? You don’t have to tell the British Journal of Photography, who today published an article dated for tomorrow (oops!) all about its time with the as-of-yet unannounced D3s. So what can we glean from this report? For starters, standard ISO settings go as high as 12,800 (low is 200) and can be further boosted to an incredulous 102,400. The 12 megapixel DSLR also touts a 720p 24 frames per second HD video capture mode, and as far as price and release date are concerned, look for it this December, at least in the UK, for £4200 (about $6,685 in US). Nikon Rumors is expecting an official announcement from tonight, so perhaps we won’t be waiting too long — in the meantime, that site’s also hosting pics of the camera supposedly in the wild doing a photoshoot in Barcelona. Enjoy!
Sure, we’d heard of indie flicks and rumors of studio films being shot on Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, but DSLR video just got a big kick into the mainstream: Saturday Night Live’s new opening title sequence was shot using an EOS 7D. SNL director of photography Alex Buono saw that Dublin’s People short and was so impressed that he switched over — and what’s more, he’s even using the 5D and 7D to shoot various segments, like the faux-mercial for “Bladivan” embedded below. That’s a big win for this new breed of video cameras — and while we’re stoked to see new tech take over the old, we’re also patiently waiting for someone to start a site dedicated to identifying jelly-motion on network television.
Nikon’s D300s is the very same camera we loved two years ago, but with a few new tricks to try to stay relevant in this crazy video-shootin’ DSLR world we live in. Namely, 720p video.
Same Ol’ Same Ol’
The D300s remains a capable, even impressive camera. I mean, it’s not like it got worse: The D300 retains the same sensor, excellent 51-point autofocus system, fantastic chassis build quality and ergonomics—just about the same everything—as the D300, and it still holds up 2 years later, mostly.
Low-light performance is solid, as you can see in the giant sample gallery here that walks through ISO ranges. We’re talking fairly good-looking stuff up through ISO1600, though noise starts to creep in there, finally getting oogly around ISO3200. It’s no 5D Mark II or D700, but it still stands up. Color saturation remains top-notch, and it seemed to handle white balance even a bit better than 5DMkII we shot alongside it at Giz Gallery last week. Bottom line, though, you’re getting the same D300 performance. (Which means D300 reviews are still worth reading.)
So What’s New?
• 720p video recording • Extra SDHC slot • More Active-D Lighting controls • Tweaked button layout
Oh Hey, Video
What’s majorly new in the D300s is video, and even it’s not a whole lot different than what you saw with the D90, which also shot 720p video (and had a similar 12.3MP sensor). But, there’s stereo input, and you can autofocus during recording—it’s god-awful slow, so you’re better off doing it your own damn self. Not to mention movies are capped at 5 measly minutes. And if you’re still in live view, you can’t actually watch the stuff you’ve just shot, since the playback button is how you adjust the display’s brightness in live view mode.
The video quality itself is good, generally, but pushing past ISO1600, it starts getting a little dicey (Brian’s shirt makes my eyes and ears hurt it’s so noisy in this clip): Beyond video, my favorite new addition to the D300s are the dual memory card slots, which were formerly a super pro feature. The extra slot holds an SDHC card, which you can use a number of different ways—continuing the storage over from the CF card, duping whatever goes to the CF card, or to save JPEGs from RAW+JPEG shooting. (Handy, since OS X and Aperture don’t support D300s RAW files yet.)
And of course, one of the best things about Nikon cameras is that since the lens mount for their SLRs hasn’t changed in about 50 years, you can use seriously vintage lenses (and save money), which is something we definitely took advantage of while shooting.
The Value Shopper’s Verdict
Here’s the thing about the D300s: It’s a great camera, no doubt. The problem is two-fold: At $1800, it costs the exact same as the D300 did when it was released two years ago, but beyond video, delivers no major advancements. There’s no new pixel-squeezing camera tech here. The other part is that the very shortly forthcoming 7D from Canon is their first direct competitor to Nikon’s D_00 semi-pro cameras, and it may make the value proposition look even less fantastic with what appears to be the most advanced video features of any DSLR yet. As it stands, the D300s is a tough purchase call (you can pick up a D300 for $150 less if you don’t need video), and certainly not a necessary upgrade. But we hope to head-to-head the 7D and D300s very soon to figure out the best camera you can buy for about $1800.
If only Nikon had just given us the D400 like we’d wanted.
We’ve already seen some video from a pre-production Canon EOS 7D, but it looks like it’s hitting stores now, and this is the first video we’ve seen from a final retail unit. It’s genuinely impressive, especially since filmmaker Dan Chung says most of it was shot at 1600 to 6400 ISO, but it’s important to realize that he was also using some seriously expensive lenses, a specialized video viewfinder, a wide-angle mattebox to reduce lens flare, and a separate external microphone for audio. Was that enough responsible skepticism for you? Good, because we also think the 7D looks like it’s going to rock, and we can’t wait to try one out. Video after the break, along with a shot of Dan’s video rig.
This sort of burst out of nowhere today, but word is that a new Nikon D3s will hit on October 15 — the crew at NikonRumors puts it at “99 percent probability.” The D3s is expected to add 1080p video and an 14fps burst mode to the D3, as well as a 1.6x crop mode, but other than that we don’t know too much. We’ll keep you updated, it looks like the leaks are coming fast and furious.
It was only a matter of time before these two came to blows.
The Olympus E-P1 and upcoming Panasonic GF1 are the smallest Micro Four Thirds cameras available. They both offer DSLR image quality in compact bodies.
The Micro Four Thirds Olympus E-P1 offers DSLR image quality but is much smaller than most DSLRs. This camera is pleasing on so many levels–but disappointing when it comes to auto-focusing speed. Not only is it not as fast as a tradition DSLR, but even some point-and-shoots offer faster performance. (See our full review on PC Mag.com)
Earlier this month, Olympus released firmware updates to the E-P1’s body,14-42mm, and 17mm lenses. The purpose of the updates: to improve focusing speeds.
I spent some time today with the E-P1, 14-42mm lens, Shooting Digital’s Shutter Lag test, and I’ve come to the conclusion there’s not much improvement in focusing speeds. Before the update, the camera took an average of 1.3 seconds to focus and shoot. After the update, it averaged 1.2 seconds. A traditional DSLR with auto-focus can focus in less than half that time; the Canon D50 averages just .5 seconds.
Olympus’ E-P1 may be cuter, but it was Panny’s own Lumix DMC-GH1 carrying the Micro Four Thirds banner for quite some time. After an excruciatingly painful wait for it to slide from concept to production, it was largely met with praise from the industry. Of course, smaller rivals have since emerged, leaving early adopters with an expensive piece of larger-than-necessary kit. Still, we’re anxious to hear if you MFT believers that jumped at the chance to own a GH1 are still satisfied with your decision. Is the image quality where it should be? Are the controls implemented well? Do you have to keep stealing it back from your lady friend? Rip it or praise it, but whatever you do, do it in comments below.
We just got a quick look at Pentax’s value priced, 720p-shootin’ DSLR, the K-x. Unfortunately, the models we saw were pretty early prototypes, so we didn’t get to really see how the camera performs. Overall the build quality seems solid, but nothing incredible — though quite good for the $650 pricepoint. We were sad to hear that those crazy color options will be Japan only: the US is only getting red, white, blue and black. But how about that red! We can honestly say it’s one of the wilder shades we’ve seen on a consumer electronics product, and our camera seemed have a trouble comprehending the particular shade of red. We look forward to all the curious looks we’ll get when we have a final build of the product to play with in the wild.
Not content with the already generous black, white, red, or navy blue options Pentax is offering on its new K-x DSLR? Then it looks like your persistence has finally paid off for once, as Pentax has now rolled out its own Colorware-type service for the camera — in Japan, that is. That’ll let you choose from twenty different colors for the body of the camera and five for the grip (lens colors are apparently “coming soon”) and, of course, any combination of the two (like the eye-catching number we whipped up above). Best of all, it seems that the customization options are available at no extra cost, other than the hours you’ll spend agonizing over your choice of colors.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Dual memory card slots are a huge win
Good low-light performance, awesome color saturation
Two-year-old sensor costs this year’s money
