Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re going to go to the trouble of sending a camera to the edge of space, you might as well send one capable of doing the trip justice, right? That hasn’t always been the case with similar DIY attempts (for obvious reasons), but the team behind the so-called Cygnus “spacecraft” decided to go all out when they sent their weather balloon / beer cooler contraption aloft this month to photograph the curvature of the Earth. In this case, going all out meant sending a Nikon D300s DSLR equipped with Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens, which managed to capture some stunning pictures like the one you see above — although some got a bit obscured by ice build-up. There’s more where that came from at the Flickr link below, and you can check out a video of the launch after the break.

[Thanks, Udi]

Continue reading Nikon D300s travels to the edge of space, survives to share the results

Nikon D300s travels to the edge of space, survives to share the results originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DIY Photography  |  Erich Leeth (Flickr)  | Email this | Comments

Offering to play matchmaker between your high-end camera and smartphone, XEquals has extended support for its BlueSLR remote control beyond iOS. Yes, Blackberry and Android users can now download their respective app and pair this Bluetooth dongle to their (still Nikon-only) DSLR. The compatible dongle and free app will land later this month, but before you lay down the requisite $149, it’s worth checking that both your camera and phone models are supported. As it stands, compatible Android phones are limited to some HTC or Samsung models. While Android support is likely to expand in the future, there’s no word on a Pre 3 version.

Continue reading BlueSLR dongle arrives for BlackBerry and (some) Android phones

BlueSLR dongle arrives for BlackBerry and (some) Android phones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BlueSLR  | Email this | Comments

So, Nikon finally has a mirrorless camera, after what was quite possibly the most dramatic launch event the company has ever conducted. Sure, competing models from Panasonic, Olympus and Sony have already reached the second, or even third generation before Nikon lifted the veil on its J1, but did last month’s long-awaited announcement bring us the ILC to rule all ILCs? Well, no, not at all. Nikon isn’t targeting pros or even advanced amateur shooters with its latest addition to the interchangeable lens camera family. Instead, the company is marketing its J1 to soccer moms (and dads), fashion-conscious young folk, and casual shooters who want some of the versatility of a DSLR, but are willing to sacrifice excellent image quality for a more compact design. But what about the rest of us? Will Nikon one day reward our patience with a true class competitor? Perhaps, but that’s definitely not what we have here.

Nikon built the $650 J1 “from the ground up” — a reference to its 10.1 megapixel, CX-size sensor with a 2.7x crop factor, along with a handful of quirky features that we probably won’t use, but that some of you (or perhaps your family members) may love. Jump past the break to see what we really liked about the camera, and what left us rather unimpressed. And it you’re dying to judge its performance for yourself, you can check out a handful of untouched images at the coverage link below the conclusion, along with a variety of sample videos spattered throughout.

Continue reading Nikon 1 J1 review (video)

Nikon 1 J1 review (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

With their tiny sensors and slow lenses, it’s hard to see the appeal of Nikon’s new ‘1’ range

Nikon has at last gotten in on the mirrorless camera game with the launch of the “Nikon 1″ range. Currently consisting of two bodies and three lenses, the system will soon include an adapter to allow the use of Nikon F-mount SLR lenses.

First, the most important part: The sensor. Nikon has put a small 10.1MP one-inch sensor into the cameras. It is half the size of a Micro Four Thirds sensor, and roughly four times the size of a regular compact camera sensor. And this is where things start to go wrong. One of the best features of large sensors is that they allow photos with a shallow depth of field — pictures where the subject is sharp and the background blurred, for example. Coupled with the rather slow new lenses, you’re not going to be able to get much separation.

There are two bodies, the smaller J1 and the fancier V1. The J1 is a tiny thing, barely bigger than a decent compact, and shoots stills at 10fps, video at 1080p, and has a maximum ISO of 3,200.

The V1 is a lot more interesting. It adds a 1.4 million dot viewfinder, an accessory shoe which works with an optional flash, microphone or GPS unit. The V1 also has a hybrid AF mode which uses both phase and contrast detection for high speed and good low-light accuracy.

The V1 will also shoot a still photo while you record video, which leads to the rather gimmicky Motion Snapshot feature, which I like to call the Harry Potter mode. This “unites a frozen still image with a slow-motion movement set to a built-in audio soundtrack.” Tacky, right?

On to those lenses. The lineup consist of a 10mm (27mm equivalent) ƒ2.8 pancake, a 10-30mm (27-81mm equivalent) ƒ3.5-5.6 and a 30-100mm (81-297mm equivalent) ƒ3.8-5.6. These are sloooow. Even when the F-mount adapter arrives, you might not want to use your super-fast SLR lenses — with a crop factor of 2.7x, that nifty 50mm ƒ1.4 lens you own will turn into an almost useless 135mm ƒ1.4.

Lastly, prices. With the 10-30mm lens the J1 will cost $650 and the V1 $900.

Who will buy these cameras? I would seem to be the perfect target. I own a Nikon SLR and a clutch of great Nikon lenses, and I already use a Micro Four Thirds Panasonic GF1. But these Nikon 1 cameras don’t interest me at all. My lenses already work great on the GF1, and would be useless on these small-sensor bodies (the 85mm ƒ1.8 particularly so, turning into a 255mm monster), especially as the shake reduction is in the lenses, not the bodies.

Sure, these are a step up from the Nikon P7100, the Canon G12 and the Lumix LX5, but if you have to buy a whole new range of lenses anyway, why not go for the already established Micro Four Thirds system, or the giant APS-C sensor Sony NEX cameras? I think Nikon may have screwed this one up.

Available end of October.

Nikon J1 product page [Nikon]

Nikon V1 product page [Nikon]

See Also:

• Sony Fights Micro Four-Thirds With Lens-Changing Compact …
• Leica 25mm ƒ1.4 Lens for Micro Four Thirds
• Pinwide: Wide-Angle Pinhole Lens for Micro Four Thirds Cameras …
• Sony's NEX Mirrorless Cameras Are the Smallest in the World …
• Sony NEX Update Adds Autofocus for Alpha Lenses

Tiny cameras with big sensors and swappable lenses are like, a big deal. How big? Nikon just built their first brand new camera system for the first time in practically 50 years. It’s the Nikon 1. And yeah, it’s kind of awesome. More »