Nikon D4 – Nikon’s Answer to the Canon EOS 1D-X

The Nikon D4 (pre-order here) represents the next generation flagship camera in Nikon’s line-up replacing the already amazing Nikon D3s. Here are some of the key points of the Nikon D4:

• 16.6 MP full-frame sensor
• 10 frames-per-second
• 91,000 pixel sensor for metering
• ISO 100-12,800 (with 50-204,800 as expandable options)
• 1080p HD 24-frames-per-second with uncompressed video output
• Twin card slots: one Compact Flash and one XQD
• Expeed 3

Most of all the specs sound very good, but I’m actually quite disappointed that Nikon has opted to do away with the dual Compact Flash slots in the Nikon D3 and Nikon D3s. I understand how amazing XQD can be, but Nikon should have made the XQD in addition to the dual Compact Flash slots.

Canon has been owning the HDSLR market very successfully for the longest time now. With the release of the D4, Nikon is saying that they aren’t ready to concede HD video to Canon. Here’s a sample of HD video shot with the D4:

Click here to view the embedded video.

One other noteworthy feature is if you opt for the optional WT-5 wireless transmitter, you can use a smart phone, tablet, laptop, or any other wi-fi device to access a special website built into the camera that allows for almost full remote control of your camera such as remote firing, changing aperture, shutter, and etc. with no software or app to download! That’s a pretty awesome, making the WT-5 a worthwhile consideration for purchase for landscape and/or studio photographers who use remote triggers. It will be interesting to see if Adobe develops a plugin to their Lightroom software to allow for control of the camera via Lightroom.

There are other changes, such as the look and feel of the D4 is not as sharp and rough as the D3s, but more curvy like Canon’s 1D series. I like it, has a more futuristic, smooth feel to it. Nikon has also added a Canon-like joystick, which is a welcome addition. The LCD screen size increased by 0.2-inches (to a total of 3.2-inches) but retains the same 921,000-pixel resolution unlike Canon’s 1,040,000-pixel resolution. There are many other features and improvements, too many to list, but we’re betting the D4 will be amazing.

Nikon D800: Nikon’s Answer to the Canon EOS 5D Mark II (and possibly the Mark III)

The Nikon D800 (pre-order here) has just been released and there are two big things that people have noticed and noticed big: a) it has a 36.3 MP full-frame sensor and b) it costs $3,000. Once you get over that shock, the Nikon D800 will most likely be Nikon’s most popular DSLR. With 1080p HD video like the more expensive Nikon D4, the D800 has everything any professional photographer could want at a relatively affordable price. Here are some of the most noteworthy features:

• 36.3 MP full-frame sensor
• 4 frames-per-second
• ISO 100-6400 (with 50-25,600 as expandable options)
• 1080p HD 24-frames-per-second with uncompressed video output
• Twin card slots: one Compact Flash and one SD/SDHC/SDXC
• Expeed 3

Again, we’re very confused about Nikon’s choice to move away from dual Compact Flash slots. This was one of the most annoying things with Canon, the different media type memory slots. This means one more type of media to buy and pack.

What we’re waiting to see is how well controlled noise is at ISO 6400-25,600 at full-resolution. With three times the resolution compared to the Nikon D700 but the same high ISO, this is truly some amazing evolution.

The Nikon D800 also has the same 1080p HD video options as the Nikon D4 which will make many people happy as now they can have the video quality (and performance?) of the D4 for about half the price. Here’s a sample video from the D800:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Curiously enough, Nikon also offers an “E” version of this camera, essentially the identical camera but with a modified low-pass filter (commonly called the anti-aliasing filter) that is supposed to result in higher sharpness at the cost of more moire.

Also as many people have observed, the D800 has the DX-crop mode that allows it to mask the sensor to 1.5x of the full-frame sensor at the cost of half the megapixels (a feature I use a lot on my D3 and was introduced in the D700). Previously before, that cost was a big disadvantage to many, but now with a 36.3 MP sensor, using DX-mode results in a 15.3 MP image which can keep much of its quality. As one person on the internet had pointed out, it’s almost like getting a Nikon D7000 for free and we agree. The D4 and D800′s crop mode means you’re one camera is really like two.

The D800 is very impressive.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

The refresh for the workhorse lens, the 24-70mm, has been a lens that people have waited for and speculated on for years. One of the incessant rumors was that it will have Image Stabilization on it, something which we believe wouldn’t happen as it would needlessly drive up the price an additional $500. The time came and Canon released the Mark II version of their 24-70mm mid-range zoom and guess what, Image Stabilization was not included. So what has changed? It has gotten slightly shorter, but fatter, weighs slightly less, and the hood is mounted and functions differently. It also includes a single Super UD (Ultra Dispersion) as well as 2 UD elements that reduces chromatic aberrations and color-blurring around the subject. It will also cost about $1,000 more for a total MSRP price of $2,299… You can pre-order one here. And if the price doesn’t shock you enough, the 24-70mm II uses 82mm filters, which can be quite expensive.

Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM and Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM

Canon also released two consumer grade prime lenses, the 24mm and 28mm. Generally speaking, nothing terribly exciting about either lenses except for the cost of $849 and $799.99, which to us sounds quite high for consumer grade prime lenses. We’re guessing what drove up the price is the interesting inclusion of Image Stabilization. While Canon opted to leave IS out of the new 24-70mm, they seem to have included in the 24mm and 28mm with no second thought. Prime lenses, especially in the less than 100mm range, rarely, if ever need IS as the lens is smaller and weighs less meaning hand-holding slower shutter speeds is not an issue as it is with the larger zoom L-lenses. Not entirely sure why Canon did that, but feel free to order the 24mm or 28mm if this is what you’ve been looking for. Looks like pre-ordering is not quite available yet.

So to really take Bui Photography to the next level, we needed to bring our branding and marketing to the next level. We turned to Inky Livie’s Workshop, as many of you may recall they are part of our family of vendors. We tasked with creating a new logo for Bui Photos as well as the look and feel of the entire brand. Their only requirement was that the new design reflects our commitment to wedding photography, a contemporary look, and timeless appeal. True to their skill, Inky Livie’s Workshop delivered exactly what we wanted and hoped for. If you need beautiful RSVP cards for your wedding, events or birthday cards, definitely contact Asa Montenejo of Inky Livie’s Workshop; their work is nothing short of amazing. Below is a sample of our new letterheads, envelopes, business cards, and stickers. Moo printed the business cards and stickers, and Inky Livie’s Workshop printed and designed everything else.

Our other equally amazing vendor, COVERITALLCO, is busy running their machines non-stop to make sure we have the proper company apparel to photograph weddings, events, and fashion shows! They have been our go to apparel decorating company since the beginning of Bui Photography and continue even today with Bui Photos. If your company is looking for professional service with excellent quality, definitely contact them to see what they can do for you. The offer many services such as embroidery, screen printing, and more. Photos to come once the new apparel is ready!

I think after all years Canon has finally got it: we don’t need more megapixels, we need higher ISO performance. The Canon EOS 1D X is the most significant release by Canon since the original Canon EOS 5D back in 2005. Reading the specs of this thing and I feel like I’m dreaming, but it’s actually all true! It looks as if Canon is back in the race against Nikon. And while the Canon EOS 1D X is quite amazing (on paper so far until we see actual use reviews), it’s certainly not ground breaking compared to when Nikon released the D3 and practically changed the landscape and redefined what it is to be the king of low noise as the Nikon D3 was totally unexpected whereas the 1D X was a long time overdue.

The biggest things that stand out right off the back to me: the three DIGIC processors (!), Canon’s first camera that can meter in color, the 61-point autofocus, the new ISO 204,800 ceiling, dual CompactFlash card slots (FINALLY!), wired LAN port and the more appropriate price of $6,800. Canon finally pulled out all the stops and built a true flagship camera reminiscent of when they were the market leader in the professional market.

THREE DIGIC PROCESSOR

So the back-bone of the system, the Canon EOS 1D X’s primary functions are all controlled by a pair of Canon’s new DIGIC 5+ processor. What’s makes it really interesting Is that Canon has opted to add a third processor, a DIGIC 4, purely to power autofocus and metering. It remains to be seen if this helps speed-wise in reality or just overkill. But it does sound very impressive to have a dedicated processor for autofocus, an area that Canon has been taking a reputation beating in for awhile.

100,000-PIXEL RGB METERING SENSOR

While Nikon has been putting RGB metering sensors in its camera since the Nikon F5 and is now on all it’s dSLRs, this is a first for a Canon SLR. While in reality, RGB metering vs non-color metering in field-use isn’t a huge difference from what I can tell, it does seem to help.

SIXTY-ONE POINT AUTOFOCUS

Wow. When Canon first introduced their 1D line, 45-point autofocus was a huge thing and no one challenged that until Nikon released their D3. Having lots of focus points is a great thing in my opinion as I’m not a huge fan of focus-and-recompose especially when using a fast prime wide open (>f/2.0). With lots of focus points, it allows for very precise focusing and the freedom to frame as you want while maintaining focus accuracy; very useful when you have a razor thin DOF. Having loads of cross-type sensors means you can acquire much faster focus acquisition when shooting with the camera’s portrait oriented.

ISO 204,800

Canon has been losing the low noise battle since Nikon released the NIkon D3 and hasn’t had a real shot to claiming it back until now. I’ve longed believed and have said this repeatedly, Canon had the magic formula to the lowest noise possible with the introduction of the original 5D. With only 12-megapixels on a full-frame sensor, the original 5D was the pinnacle of low-noise. That’s why the Nikon D3/D3s and Nikon D700 only have 13-megapixels. Canon had it right, but went overboard cramming more and more megapixels into their bodies. More megapixels is fine, but if your a wedding photographer like us, lower noise is almost always more important than higher megapixels except for during the formal portraits (12-megapixels has always been more than plenty for us). I doubt any of my bridal clients would accept and appreciate that they can blow up to poster board sizes the shot I got of them kissing in the dark church with no lights on an overcast day which looks like a Pointillism painting taken with a 100-megapixel camera. This was the very reason why I, and perhaps many other wedding photographers, left Canon for Nikon.

DUAL COMPACTFLASH SLOT

While Canon was the first to introduce the very cool feature of dual memory slots, Nikon made it useful. I hardly ever used the SD slot of my 1D bodies because I didn’t really have any SD memory cards and I didn’t want to spend money on SD cards when I already had a stack of CF cards. That’s why I love Nikon’s dual CompactFlash slots; I can use the many CF cards I already have! I love not having to fiddle around and worrying about swapping memory cards and missing a key moment. I can just keep shooting away.

WIRED LAN PORT & BLUETOOTH

This is one of those “why didn’t they think of this sooner”. Rather than forcing people to use the often slower transfer speeds of wireless, Canon took it one step further and put an actual LAN port on the camera! Tethered shooting might not be something you may do often or at all (and the reason why tethered shooting is not more popular is the difficult to setup and the painfully slow transfer speeds), but having the ability to transfer your photos quicker from camera to computer while shooting might make you consider or shoot tethered more often.

Bluetooth will probably be too slow to transfer photos over, but if you can control your camera over Bluetooth either through your computer or a Bluetooth remote, that would be ultra cool. No more concerns about line of sight or USB cables everywhere.

THE PRICE TAG

This may not seem like much, but Canon positioning this dSLR at about $6,800 might still be a bit high, it’s not anything like being priced at $8,000. Typically, you could get the 1D-series for ~$4,000, but you have to pay double that for double the resolution (1Ds-series)?! That never made any sense as both the 1D and 1Ds used the same exact body/frame and partsright down to the mirror; the two big differences was the viewfinder and sensor.

As a wedding photographer, equipment backup is key. So getting two 1Ds bodies meant $16,000 on camera bodies alone…. For that price, I have two Nikon D3 and a couple of lenses.

CONCLUSION

I think this is certainly going to make a lot of professional Canon users very happy. Hell, I can’t wait to see what Vincent LaForet does with this; Impress us with another Reverie type video? When Canon kept upping the megapixels but losing in the low-noise area, it left many of us photographers such as photojournalist, event photographers, wedding photographers, and etc. scratching our heads wondering “what about us?” Fortunately Canon has finally opened its eyes and said, here it is. And prior to the release of the 1D X, you had to choose between speed and noise (the 1D-series) or full-frame and more megapixels (1Ds-series). Nikon made the better decision: let users choose between low noise (D3) or higher megapixels (D3x) and not crop sensor or full-frame.

One thing I didn’t hear anything about, but a feature I love on my D3 (also available on the D700) is the DX-crop mode. With a flip of a switch, I can go from full-frame to 1.5x DX-crop for tighter in-camera compositions, at the cost of half the resolution, but it would be the same penalty doing it in post-processing later. At least this way, I crop how I want it in-camera and don’t have to think about it again. I use this mode all the time, especially when shooting with prime lenses; it’s almost like having two lenses.

They also further improved upon the layout of the 1D-series. There also appears to be a couple extra buttons, one next to the DOF preview button and two up near the shutter button. This is certainly something that I have always liked about Nikon how they have two configurable buttons on the front next to where your fingers would be so you could program a function to them and use it without taking your eye away from the viewfinder. Canon appears to have taken it another step and added more buttons. How configurable it is, remains to be seen. They also got rid of the useless print button after all these years. I do like how the rear’s layout is visually cleaner.

The name is also quite interesting. Rather than calling this the Canon EOS 1D Mark V, they opted to go with 1D X, which has been said to stand for Xtreme performance, Xtreme speed, and so forth.

The Canon EOS 1D X definitely blows the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV clearly out of the water but is it enough to make me want to switch back to Canon? Probably not. But for many current Canon users on the fence, this will no doubt keep them Canon users. Canon does still have a few lenses that has no Nikon equivalent, one being my absolute favorite of all time: the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. And there is the 85L as well. Nikon’s superior CLS flash system is plenty enough to keep me Nikon, but that’s a whole different story. At least Canon is back in the game now.

Accapella Apartments and their management staff certainly know how to throw a party. With plenty of great food catered by Mollie Stones, plenty of alcoholic drinks, and amazing prizes such as an Apple iPod, an American Express $1,000 Gift Card (!!!), a few American Express $100 Gift Cards, and more. If you’ve been looking for a place to stay with great community, great views, quick and easy access to the freeway, nearby shopping centers and grocery stores (such as Lucky’s, Mollie Stones, WalGreens, and etc.), and much more, look no further than Accapella Apartments. You certainly won’t be disappointed, you can read the Yelp reviews here.

Below are some photos from the event. Enjoy.

Camera(s) used: Nikon D3
Lenses used: Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED and Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF
Location(s): Accapella Apartments, San Bruno, CA

All work and no play makes for a boring day.

So I snuck some time out of my busy schedule and decided that a mini break was needed from photo processing weddings and events; staring at a computer screen all day isn’t terribly exciting compared to photographing. So what better way to unwind than to check out big guns, hang out on an helicopter carrier, chat with our brave heroes at this year’s Fleet Week. I’ve missed the last four years and so I was really excited at the opportunity to finally be back. This year we were joined by our good friends and Recommend Vendors, COVERITALLCO.

Our first stop is the ship tour of the USS Bonhomme Richard, a LHD class carrier. I have always been super fascinated with carriers, this is the very definition of sea superiority. And having never done a ship tour before, it was a great experience that I would highly recommend to anyone on the fence about doing it or not. The wait for us was quite long, a bit over an hour and half, and we arrived around 10 AM, so if you can arrive early, you should. But once you’re on the ship, it’s a self-guided tour letting you roam a few decks, the main one being the helicopter deck. On the deck where you come aboard, you’re able to check out some of the light armored vehicles as well as go inside and sit in the driver’s seat. The next deck up is the hangar bay, which is empty because everything is on the helicopter deck, but they have setup a mini-store where you can buy USS Bonhomme Richard themed goods as well as other Navy apparel and accessories. The helicopter deck is quite a sight to behold; especially with all the ships up there. You’re able to sit in any of the helicopters and vehicles. Also definitely ask questions of the Marines and Navy men and women as they are more than happy to answer any and all your questions. We definitely spent a considerable amount of time on the USS Bonhomme Richard as the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was sadly not for public tour.

We went to grab some lunch and off to catch the Blue Angels perform. As a spur of the moment thing, we decided to take a risk and head to Treasure Island to see if we could get a better vantage point as well as a different perspective and we lucked out as it provide a great backdrop. The crowds on Treasure Island was nowhere as nearly crowded as on the Piers.

Thank you to our heroes, the US armed forces. Enjoy some of the photos below and you can see tons more photos in our Events Gallery here.

Davis & Dyke Winery is a new winery, having only started in 2009, and located in the beautiful, picturesque St. Helena, heart of the Napa Valley. A partnership between two life-long friends, Jim Dyke and Jiggs Davis, Three Hoots wine was born. With their commitment to nature and sustainable farmed vineyards, Three Hoots wine is the result of a life-long passion and dream.

The special wine tasting event at Bloomingdale’s was a packed house event with many people sampling the amazing offerings from Davis & Dyke Winery. Below are just a small sample of shots from the event. A special thanks to Gershoni and Chi Pak of Three Hoots Winery.

Assistant Photographer: Eric Lee
Camera(s) used: Canon EOS 5D, Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II, Nikon D3, and Nikon D7000
Lenses used: Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8L USM, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, and Zeiss Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 ZF.2
Location(s): Bloomingdale’s Mission View Room, San Francisco Westfield Shopping Centre, San Francisco, CA

© Jonathan Mak, http://linkin.gs/n6cGqJ

I’ve been debating whether or not to post something about Steve Job’s passing for the last day or two and many sites, blogs, Facebook posts, Twitter, and etc. are lit up with words of condolences for Jobs and his family; what could I possibly add. But I feel it would be remiss to not at least post something in honor of someone who has been an inspiration to me and whose products help us daily in our photography from the MacBook Pro, iPad, to iPhone.

I’ll sign-off with this quote that has resonated with me:

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

Thank you Steve. We will miss you.

I was fortunate enough to have a Nikon D7000 on loan from B&H Photo Video for an extended period of time. There are tons of online reviews of the Nikon D7000 and so I don’t want to repeat much of what has been covered already, but I rather wanted to focus on a question many beginning wedding photographers might have on their minds: can I photograph weddings with a consumer Nikon like the D7000? The easy and short answer is yes. You can photograph weddings with almost any kind of camera. But the big question really is, can the Nikon D7000 be the main camera in the bag or is it more suited as a backup camera.

Nikon D7000 Quick Specs

Nikon D7000 as a Wedding Camera

For us, the specs of a camera is very important given our shooting style. Below is a list of the most important features for us and how the D7000 stacks up.

Noise and High ISO Performance. As wedding photographers, we’re often faced with many challenging lighting conditions (dark churches, dark reception venues, and etc.) that we can’t always control so we need a camera that can keep up with the challenge. Our shooting style for wedding ceremonies and receptions is to capture mood. So more often than not, we’re shooting ambient and raising the ISO to compensate for the low light. I was actually surprised at how well the D7000 does with noise. It’s probably the second best low noise performing dSLR next to the Nikon D3/D3s/D700. Despite doing well with noise, when you need to go to the extreme high ISO range such as 6400 and above, it starts getting too noisy compared to the pro bodies; much of it has to do with small sensor and lots of megapixels.

Focusing Speed and Focus Points. It’s very important that you’re able to acquire focus at critical moments during a wedding such as the first kiss, the ring exchange, split second reactions, and etc. and the D7000 does quite well when there is plenty of light. In low-light situations, the auto-focus hunts more than I would like. You can certainly help the camera acquire faster focus by using the focus assist on the camera or on a Speedlight, but I find the emitted light is very distracting to capturing candid moments as it often makes your subjects aware they’re being photographed.

Having used cameras with only 9 focus points, I find it necessary (for me) to have a lot of focus points as I use quite a lot of fast glass (f/1.4 or faster) and being able to put a focus point on an eye without having to do focus and recompose means more in-focus shots (Why focus-and-recompose is a bad technique).

Dual Slot Memory Bays. This is one of the best features ever introduced next to high ISO and auto focus and one of my favorite features of the Nikon D3. Anything can happen during a wedding, it’s stressful and fast moving, so being able to set one slot to backup is a great deterrent against lost or accidentally deleted images. Personally I use the overflow option (when one card is filled, the camera automatically switches to saving the images to the second card) as I don’t want to worry about filling up a Compact Flash card during a critical moment and this has come in handy a number of times. Also when we’re doing Day-Of wedding slideshows, I set my second slot to capture medium JPEG so it’s quicker to get the images off the memory card and into a slideshow in time for the big presentation at the wedding reception.

Dedicated Live View and HD Video Switch. This is Nikon’s first HD dSLR that has a dedicated Live View/HD Video switch. With a quick flick of the switch with your thumb, you’re in Live View mode and pressing the record button will activate the HD video mode otherwise pressing on the shutter button will take a photo. It was more of a time consuming challenge to get into video mode on the Nikon D90 or Nikon D3s.

The Drawbacks of the Nikon D7000

DX Crop. Generally not a problem, but sometimes when your widest lens is 24mm, with the 1.5x crop factor, it’s just not quite wide enough. Getting a wider lens (>16mm) will help, but for what you sacrifice for wideness, you gain more distortion. The DX crop will also mean more digital noise is present in the images compared to images taken with an FX body at the same ISO.

Tricky Lighting Situations. One of the major limitations of the D7000 in my opinion is how the camera handles white balance in tricky lighting conditions. At one wedding, there were multiple accent lightings against the wall spread throughout the reception room and no matter what I did, such as dial in a custom white balance Kelvin, all the images had a strong overall purple hue, as it was registering the purple accent lights. Finally I ended up having to shoot the shots with my D3 which captured the scene precisely as I wanted in AWB (auto white balance). I also noticed in mixed lighting conditions such as fluorescents and incandescents, the D7000 doesn’t do very well either.

Weight and Balance. My forearms tend to get quite sore after photographing weddings from the weight of the D3 combined with a professional lens such as a 24-70mm or 70-200mm (sometimes with flash attached also). Having a lighter camera when you’re shooting for 8+ hours a day is nice, but sometimes when the camera is too small or light, it doesn’t balance heavier lenses very well; not a huge issue, but when you’re trying to hand-hold a slow shutter speed (>1/15th/sec), it can be tricky.

SD Card Slots. This may not necessarily be a drawback for you, but having only used dSLRs with Compact Flash card slots, I don’t own any SD cards. And actually, in order to use the D7000, I ended up purchasing some Sandisk SD cards; not a huge issue by any means, but can be inconvenient. Also those SD cards are so damn easy to lose and now you have to carry two sets of memory types.

Conclusion

Having used the Nikon D7000 to photograph a number of weddings and events, I have to say this is probably the best mid-consumer dSLR I have ever used. The Nikon D7000 is a great performing and affordable camera that is quite capable of photographing weddings and often times I forget it’s in the sub-$1500 market. With a number of pro features such as 39 auto-focus points and dual SD memory slots, the Nikon D7000 is nothing to laugh at and I would highly recommend it to any amateur or professional photographer. The Nikon D7000 is what I would use as my “everyday” camera rather than get a stiff neck and sore back from lugging around the D3.

Now here’s the thing, just because you can photograph weddings with a D7000, should you? I know there will be people who will argue that its not the gear that makes the photographer, but the vision, and I certainly agree, but having the right tools will certainly make your life easier. When you are entrusted with capturing valuable memories, this isn’t the place to use tools that can potentially limit your abilities to prove a point. The main reason I felt comfortable using the D7000 photographing a few of the weddings was because my D3′s were always at my side ready to step in and save the day. The D3 really shines at the wedding reception when the lights dim to a level that is darker than off and you have tricky mixed lighting scenarios such as accent lighting with the DJ’s disco ball. Sure, I could have thrown on a flash and controlled the lighting situation, but my clients didn’t plop down a wad of cash for their fancy accent lighting only to see none of it in their wedding photos. Our approach to the wedding reception is to capture the emotion, the mood, and the feel, not to just take a photo. Often times that means shooting ambient with little to no light; our cameras are regularly dialed in at ISO 6400.

Now at the end of the day, the client isn’t going to truly care whether you photographed their wedding with a D7000, D3, or even a Nikon or Canon for that matter. All that matters to them is whether or not you captured the moments and memories that are most important to them. And for that reason, I could never use the Nikon D7000 as my only or primary body to photograph weddings professionally.

I had an amazing time watching the dragon boat races and met many rowers, some as far as from Canada. Here are some snap shots from Sunday:

You can see the rest of the photos in our 2011 SF Dragon Boat Festival Event Gallery.

Camera(s) used: Nikon D3
Lenses used: Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED and Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF
Location(s): Treasure Island, CA

Fortunately for us, right across the street is this amazing park forest, Codornices Park. This park has the same out-in-the woods feel as Golden Gate Park except without all the tourist. A nice hole-in-the-wall kind of park complete with hiking trails, picnic benches and BBQ grill, a children’s playground, basketball court, and lots and lots of beautiful backdrops for a family portrait photo shoot. And while exploring, we found this amazing rustic looking outdoor fireplace that it look like it came right out from Hansel & Gretel fairytale. And Barbara dazzled us all with some of her ballet moves! All-in-all, a great time with two great people.

Camera(s) used: Nikon D3
Lenses used: Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
Location(s): Berkeley Rose Garden and Codornices Park