Since I'm late on a number of reviews, I've been getting prods in the InBox (ouch!) about various Nikon products I'm overdue in writing about. Here's some quick takes on several recent products:
- D3s. Wow. If six months ago Nikon had said to me that they could improve the high ISO output of the D3, I would have said maybe. But if they had said they could do it by a stop or more, I'd have called them nuts. Well, the joke's on me. I've been photographing in my gym at ISO 12,800 and liking the results. Yes, liking. The D3s is a game changer (pardon the pun). We sports guys always used to have to work at maximum aperture and find faster lenses. For the first time we can actually think about using a smaller aperture for a bit of depth of field. That's new. And useful. And welcome. Nice job, Nikon. And the little changes also improve the D3 experience, too. If there's a category above Highly Recommended you'll find that I give that to this camera when I review it.
- D300s. It's a D300 with video and some minor differences. I was a little disappointed in that I don't see any image quality change two years down the line. But I do like the small UI changes (moving Live View off the Mode dial, for example), and the extra card slot is potentially useful. Still, it doesn't really matter to me whether I pick up the D300 or D300s off my gear shelf to use. That's not a strong endorsement of the "s". Fortunately, the original was a dang good camera, and Nikon's done nothing to mess that up. The D300 is still a near state-of-the-art DX camera, so the D300s inherits that. I would have liked to see a little more IQ progress, though.
- D3000. An interesting idea that doesn't quite live up to its promise. Basically, like the D300s versus D300, the D3000 doesn't represent any change in image quality from the original D40x that started the 10mp lineage that the D3000 is in. Yes, the D90 autofocus sensor is a step forward, but it's about the only step forward. The "GUIDE" aspect of the camera is an interesting idea, but perhaps next time they ought to have a photographer who's also a teacher think this through for them. When you set Easy Operation/Distant Subjects the camera reports "The camera is now in 'Sports' mode. Choose for fast shutter speeds with low blur." What? Likewise "Sleeping faces" sets Child mode. Are you kidding me? That's supposed to be useful help? The thing about help guides is that they should actually help you learn how to get to the next level. If they don't, well, you're stuck in those modes forever. But beyond that, I don't really see how the GUIDE setting does anything except confuse you about the Scene exposure mode icons that are already on the Mode dial. Apparently the engineering interns were allowed to play with the menu system. The D3000 gets the first Not Recommended rating I've given to a Nikon DSLR.
- 35mm f/1.8 DX. A nice, affordable, competent standard lens for DX. Think of it as the DX version of the 50mm f/1.8D.
- 60mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor. I never really understood the 60mm for macro work. There's just not enough working distance. Yes, back in the days when we used our 55mm Micro-Nikkors on copy stands to duplicate flat works, the focal length made sense. But not for general close up work. Still, it's a sharp lens, just like it's predecessor. I just don't know what I'd use it for. The Tamron 60mm f/2 Macro seems more promising. At least it substitutes as a reasonable portrait lens, too.
- The PC-E lenses. Superb optics. Having both tilt and shift are a step forward from just shift. The only problem is that Nikon didn't quite hit the mark with build quality or flexibility. You absolutely need to tighten down tilts and shifts with these lenses--there's a bit of slop in the mechanism otherwise. That's disappointing, as it would have been nice to be able to leave the positioning mechanism loose for fine adjustments between frames. But doing that risks both vibration and slight alignment changes. Also, what's with the restriction of tilt only being on one axis relative to shift? No, I don't want to send my lenses into Nikon to have the axis changed. I want to do that in the field. Absolutely great lenses otherwise. So great lenses marred by sloppy execution of detail. These optically fine lenses already need updates!
- 18-200mm II. Nothing to see here, move along. Oh, okay, one thing to see here: no more zoom creep during transport. Otherwise, it's the same lens as before. Doesn't deserve a II. More like a I.I.
- 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR II. Oh, the controversy! Nikon giveth and Nikon taketh. It giveth us far better optics on FX bodies, including but not limited to better corners, less vignetting, and even better central sharpness. But it taketh away magnification and focal length when used at close focus distances. Sorry, but after using the lens a bit, I'm simply going to say it's a better lens than its predecessor. If you're using only a DX body, it's not worth the upgrade because you never saw the corners of that lens. But if you're on an FX body and you value edge to edge performance, this lens is a must try. Just get a 12mm extension tube for close work ;~).