Star trails have been one of the most interesting subject of night Photography. If you are wondering about how to shoot it, this article post by Nikon on its Learn and Explorer website offers all the details you need to know to get started.

I ordered the Pixel Vertax D12 a while ago from an eBay seller and finally was able to pick it up today from local post office. Like other parcels I received in the past from Hongkong or China, the cardboard box took a beating during transit but the content survived without any issue. The Pixel Vertax D12 battery grip comes in a box about 6″x3.5″x4″ (LxDxH). Inside there are the battery grip, Vt-A12 magazine for EN-EL15 battery, a magazine for 8 AA/LR-6 batteries, and a small carrying pouch. Pixel website claimed that the Vertax D12 can hold two EN-EL15 battery. That is obviously an error. The product box states clearly the Vertax D12 holds one EN-EL15 battery.

I am quite impressed by the build quality of the battery grip that cost only about 25% of the OEM version. The materials used on the Pixel Vertax D12 match the materials on the Nikon D800. The textures and feels are identical. It fits securely on Nikon D800 and feels comfortable to hold. I like the wider grip on the Vertax D12. The grip on the Nikon D800 is too small to feel comfortable in my hand. I noticed the battery magazine is a little bit loose but it is nothing to worry about.

The buttons and controls appear to be well built. The shutter release button appears to be glossy and doesn’t have the matte finish like the shutter release button on the camera. The multi-selector is supposed to have a center button that can be used to center the AF point. It is quite elusive to actually hit the center button. Most attempts are registered as side-way clicks that move the AF point around. The AF-On button doesn’t have a “click” feel to it when pressed, unlike the AF-on button on the camera. The “AF-ON” text was printed next to the button not directly on the button. Since I don’t have an OEM MB-D12 battery grip, I cannot say if the behaviors are consistent or not.

This review might be longer if I haven’t seen another review of the same product. It covers a lot more details than I was planning to post here so you should definitely check it out.

If you aren’t interested in buying it from overseas, the Pixel Vertax D12 can also be found on Amazon. Another option (cheaper than the Pixel Vertax D12) is the Meike, which is for sale for about $60.

The gadget is not particularly expensive with $59.95 list price (Check price on Amazon for Nikon WU-1a Wireless Mobile Adapter for D3200 Digital SLR). The similarly sized WT-5A, wireless transmitter for Nikon D4, costs at least 10x of that.

Exactly how well does it work (with the D3200)? Engadget just published a detailed review of the unit. I am not going to transcribe all the details. It is enough to quote the following from the review.

Nikon has a ton of work to do if it hopes to make the WU-1a truly usable. And if we’re being honest, we genuinely hope it does.

This is obviously not the first fireworks shooting tips article we have posted. Here is another one:

Depending where you live in the US, it could be quite a wait before the fireworks starts. For example in Boise Idaho, the fireworks show doesn’t start until 10:15PM. It is still good to get to the location early in order to take a good spot. Before the fireworks starts, you may be able to take some nice sunset pictures. The following was the photo I took.

Well, Nikon market department may regret their pricing decision soon. Third party battery packs for Nikon D800 start to show up on eBay. There are at least two different versions. One carries MeiKe brand and another Pixel. I was not able to find the Meike product (model D800S) page but the Pixel product page for the Vertax D12 page is here.

Both have the shutter release button, main command dial, sub command dial, Multi selector, and AF-On button. The MeiKe battery pack takes one EN-EL15 battery or 8AA batteries. The Pixel Vertain D12 specification claims 1 or 2 EN-EL15 or 8AA batteries. It is not clear from the product photos how two EN-EL15 batteries can fit.

Both have similar dimensions (MeiKe is 155 x 54 x 77mm, Pixel is 150.8 x 54.8 x 77.4mm) and weight (282g for Meike and 279.4g for Pixel).

From the product images, the Pixel knock-off appears to be a more faithful replication of the OEM version. The Meike version has partial rubber around the thumb grip area while the Pixel version has a single piece rubber that looks like the OEM version. The other clear difference is the material near the tripod mount on the side. The Pixel version again appears to have duplicated the Nikon OEM version more faithfully than the Pixel. A minor difference is that the Pixel version has “AF-ON” printed next to the button while the MeiKe version has it printed on the button itself.

There are some discussions (DPReview, Nikonians) online about the third party battery packs but no actual user reviews or experiences I could find. I am more inclined to get the Pixel version. A review will be posted here after I receive it.

With a trip coming up soon I tried to find one online but I was not willing to reward the bad dealers. Amazon has been my favorite place to shop camera gear. However the Amazon page for the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G seemed to always have “Temporarily out of stock” status. In anticipation of acquiring this lens, I have sold my old 50mm f/1.8D on Craigslist. I already have the AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR as main travel lens but consider a fast prime lens essential for certain shooting situations.

Without any other options, I placed the order on May 24th and hoped for the best. Today I received notification from Amazon that the lens is on the way! Just in time for the trip. I checked the Amazon page again, it still shows “Temporarily out of stock”. Perhaps with a high demand Amazon keeps filling the back-orders and doesn’t have enough stock to sell openly on its website.

For anyone who is interested in a comparison between the AF-D and AF-S version of Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lenses, here is a nice video by DigitalRevTV.

For most users, the new version should definitely be a welcome update. It is quite a huge update though with 700+ megabytes download.

For users who have been having performance issues with Lightroom 4, here is a Lightroom performance tuning guide from Adobe.

The video above was created by taking 569 photos at the rate of 15 second per photo, then played back at 24 frames/second. A CHDK firmware allows the Canon Powershot S95 to run an intervalometer script to take photos at fixed time interval. The camera was set to ISO 100, f/5.6, and 1/500s shutter speed. The video itself was created from the photos using QuickTime Pro.

Just recently I also tried time lapse using Nikon D800. Nikon D800 can create the video without any external software. The problem is some brightness flickering that is said to be caused by aperture inaccuracy. The following is the video created using Nikon D800.

Unboxing and first impressions

Nikon D800 and Canon EOS 5D Mark III are different cameras, which is obvious from unboxing. The 5D Mark III uses the same battery and charger as its predecessor the 5D Mark II while the Nikon D800 uses different battery and charger compared to Nikon D700. The Nikon D800 has a smaller hand grip that many people may need time to get used to.

High ISO performance

In the Nikon D800 review posted on Mansurovs Photography website Nasim Mansurov, the reviewer, showed better high ISO performance with the Nikon D800 when the photos are down-sampled to the same size.

Dynamic range

Various independent measurements have shown Nikon D800 has a very high dynamic range and the comparison (Google translation) done by Dutch website DIGIFOTOPRO.NL shows it.

HD video

Cameratown did a head-to-head video comparison of the Nikon D4, D800, Canon 5D Mark III & Canon EOS 5D Mark II. The Nikon D800 didn’t score well and it was ranked at the last for ISO noise performance. It also performed poorly in moire tests. The possible reasons for the test results? Here is a video review by Philip Bloom of Canon EOS 5D Mark III saying the Canon EOS 5D Mark III produces soft video that a sharpening is needed in post editing. There aren’t many magics when dealing with aliasing and moire other than blurring the pixels. It is unclear what settings were used on the Nikon D800. It does offer wide range of options including sharpening levels during HD video shooting. I haven’t seen a comparison yet but it seems the rolling shutter effect on the Nikon D800 is well controlled.

Portrait

The following is an in-depth look at both cameras for portrait shooting. Nikon D800 has more details without compromising low-light performance. The Canon EOS 5D Mark III seems to have a snappier AF system.

Overall

DigitalRevTV has a comparison of the two cameras for various shooting scenarios. No clear winner is declared but viewers are encouraged to pick the one better suited for his/her shooting needs and style. The Canon EOS 5D Mark III is probably a more balanced camera but the lack of improvement in pixel count and $1000 higher price are disappointments for some Canon users.

The Nikon D800 is a sophisticated piece of electronics. Like all other electronics products, it may be normal for a production line to be unstable at the initial production ramp and issues get ironed out. It may also be common for an issue that wasn’t identified during product development or testing to surface. Among the exciting first impressions and wonderful first shots, there are also some issues reported for the recently launched Nikon D800. Please note these reported issues may not be the case for all users and some may even be simple user errors.

• Green tint on the LCD when using Auto WB. This has been reported by Nikon Rumors as well. It seems to be the case on my D800 as well. After customizing the Auto WB in Shooting Menu the problem went away. A discussion of this issue can be found on flickr.
• Poor LiveView interpolation. It seems Nikon D800 is skipping lines in the LiveView mode and is not showing the full sensor data. This has been confirmed by multiple users and is like to affect all Nikon D800 cameras.
• Wirelss flash issues. Here is a report of unreliable wireless flash issue. I have personally tested this and found no issue.

Are you seeing any issues with your Nikon D800?

Nikon simply describes it as “incredible dynamic range”. Others have some actual measurements. DxOMark recently declared the Nikon D800 as the king of all cameras tested with overall score of 95. The dynamic range of Nikon D800, measured as Landscape score, is 14.4EV, the highest ever measured by DxOMark.

Another independent measurement was done by William Claff. The values cannot be directly compared with DxOMark results but the result is the same. Nikon D800 is the DSLR camera with the highest dynamic range at its base ISO of 100. You can find a chart comparing the so-called photographic dynamic range of Nikon D800, Nikon D4, and Canon EOS 5D Mark III here. The dynamic range of Nikon D800 is even higher than Nikon D4 at low ISO up to ISO 400. After that, it is just slightly lower than Nikon D4.

The american robin I photographed today was actually pretty close. It must have gotten used to be around people so I was able to shoot just a few feet away without scaring it away. The depth of field is quite shallow. The focus was on the bird’s head and the body appears to be slightly out of focus.

All photos were processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.

This has sparked a discussion on DPReview and there is no clear answer. If B&H is indeed no longer an authorized dealer, the immediate concern is Nikon’s grey market policy, which states the following.

Nikon Inc. USA cannot provide any technical support or warranty service on Gray Market items. Additionally Nikon Inc. USA cannot perform any fee-based repair work on Gray Market items. Please do not contact Nikon Inc. USA for help with any Gray Market products.

In that case the service needs to be obtained via the reseller or importer, which will be B&H in this case.

[update]: Henry Posner of B&H added a post to the DPReview discussion thread. Apparently it was some kind of mistake by Nikon.

[update 2]: The list is updated again on March 26, 2012. B&H Poto and Electronics Corp. is included.

How good is the Nikon D800? Time will tell when detailed reviews are posted and people get to know more about it in real world usage. Here are some first impressions of the Nikon D800.

• First Impressions: Using the Nikon D800 – DPReview
• A (very detailed) first impressions review: The Nikon D800 – Ming Thein
• Nikon D800 from a D700 perspective – Nikon Glass

Hello,

We wanted to give you an update on your order for the “Nikon D800 36.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only).” Although we expected to start shipping the camera to customers on March 20, Nikon will be sending us our initial shipment of this product on March 23, 2012. This means the camera will not ship by our original estimate.

Due to the high demand for this item, we may not be able to fulfill all customer orders at the same time. Since product supplies from Nikon will be very limited, we will ship your product as soon as inventory becomes available.

We hope to see you again soon.

Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
Amazon.com

*Update* – A few hours later another email from Amazon showed up in my inbox regarding Nikon D800 order.

Hello,

We’re writing about the order you placed on February 06, 2012 (Order# 002-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX). Unfortunately, we are unable to ship the item(s) as soon as we expected and need to provide you with a new estimate of when the item(s) may be delivered:

“Nikon D800 36.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)”
New Delivery Estimate: April 13, 2012 – April 30, 2012

If you still want us to ship the delayed items when they do become available, (though they may arrive later than expected) please visit Your Orders on Amazon.com address to approve the delay:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/css/summary/edit.html/?useCase=approve&orderID=002-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX

Please approve the delay by April 20, 2012 to avoid cancelation. If the item becomes available before that date, we will automatically ship it to you. By approving the new delivery estimate, you are letting us know that you still want the item(s).

We will make every effort to get the delayed item(s) to you as soon as possible. If there are other items in your order, they’ll be shipped according to the delivery estimates listed in the order details in Your Account (www.amazon.com/youraccount) at no additional cost.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this delay.

If you have more questions about this order, you can e-mail, phone, or chat with Customer Service using the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/contact-us

Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
http://www.amazon.com

Screenshot of Nikon D800 User Manual (D800_EN, p277).

Most likely not. It may not even affect the jpeg output from the camera.

The following chart shows JPEG file size vs ISO for images (Imaging Resource samples) shot with different NR settings (NR0=Off, NR1=Low, NR2=Normal, NR3=High). I also included the data for JPEG files converted using Nikon Capture NX 2 from NEF raw images with default NR setting and with NR turned completely off in the Develop module.

Nikon D800 file size vs ISO (based on Imaging Resource Nikon D800 samples)

With higher ISO, the image will contain more noise. The noise makes it difficult to compress the image data therefore file size increases. If noise reduction is applied to the image data, the file size will be reduced. The more noise reduction is applied, the smaller the file will be.

The chart above shows that without noise reduction, the JPEG (exported from Capture NX 2 at 100% quality) file size increases smoothly with increased ISO. However the exported files have a sharp size reduction at ISO 1600 as shown in the green line. Even though the High ISO NR setting is turned off, Nikon Capture NX 2 still gets a hint to apply noise reduction. It is not hidden though. Under Develop->Camera Settings -> Noise Reduction, Color Noise Reduction is by default set to 3%. At the same time, the out-of-camera JPEG file does not show such a file size trend.

It appears that the manual is not very accurate. Can this be a software bug?

The following is the Eye-Fi icon in the information display of Nikon D800.

Nikon D800 Eye-Fi Icon

One cool feature that may be interesting is the so-called Direct Mode. It allows you to beam images directly to your smart phone or tablet (iOS and Android are supported) by turning the Eye-Fi card into a wireless hot spot. The Direct Mode also works with a computer with wireless networking capability. Here is a how-to article on how to setup the Direct Mode with an iPad. It will definitely be a good experience with the recently announced iPAD with retina display (2048×1536).

One potential issue may be the file transfer speed. The Eye-Fi Pro X2 card supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n standards. The speed of 802.11n network is quite good but the images files produced by Nikon D800 can be fairly large. Uncompressed 14-bit RAW files are about 74 MB each. Losslessly compressed NEF is nearly the half at ~ 41 MB each but is still quite big. JPEG files can be a lot smaller. Large/Fine JPEG is about 16 MB. So this option may not be ideal as a replacement for tethered shooting using RAW format but may work well for viewing JPEG files on a tablet or as a background file transfer option when transfer speed is not critical.

Nikon is pretty upfront with the Nikon D800E, warning potential buyers about the false color and moiré. The following is shown on the Nikon D800 product page on Nikon USA website. Nikon offers Capture NX 2 software with a Moire reduction function.

Moiré is not exclusive to cameras without the anti-aliasing filter. In the post Nikon D800 vs. Nikon D700 High ISO Comparison, you can clearly see the moiré pattern in the 100% crop from Nikon D700. The images below show the crops from both Nikon Capture NX 2 and Adobe Lightroom 4. Moiré patterns can be seen over the vertical strip on the left and over the horizontal zipper on the right.

Moire shown at 100%. Processed in Nikon Capture NX 2.

Moire shown at 100%. Processed in Adobe Lightroom 4.

Interestingly the default Lightroom 4 rendering of the raw file has stronger moire pattern than the image rendered by Nikon Capture NX 2. Does Nikon Capture NX 2 have a superior demosaicing algorithm? The image from Nikon Capture NX 2 also retains more highlight details.

How to remove moiré

In Nikon Capture NX 2, moiré reduction belongs to the Camera & Lens Corrections section of the Develop module. If you are not RAW shooter, this function is not available.

A setting of low seems to be all it needs to remove the moire from this particular example. There is no need to select anything. The software automatically removes the moire without user telling it where the moire is.

Lightroom 4 uses a different approach. To remove the moire, you need to first select the Adjustment Brush in the Develop module, select Moiré from the Effect menu, adjust the effect and brush sliders, then drag over the moire area to remove it. One stroke for each moire area is all it takes.

A Romanian wedding photographer took a spin with the Nikon D800 at a local store and came away with raw NEF images from the camera. He also shot the same scene with a Nikon D700. Even though the images were all shot handheld and the white balances also seemed different the comparison should still give you a good idea about how the two cameras compare in the high ISO shooting situations.

From the posted images, the Nikon D800 images downsized to 12 megapixel clearly show better image quality with more details, less/finer noises at high ISO settings. The true 100% crops from Nikon D800 also look very good. Noises at pixel level are about the same but the Nikon D800 images have more details than the Nikon D700 images.

All images shown on the website were said to be converted to JPEG in Lightroom 4 without noise reduction. I found that to be incorrect. There was likely no luminance noise reduction applied but the default color noise reduction setting 25 was most likely left on in Lightroom 4. With color noise reduction turned off, the images would show blotchy color noise at high ISOs (to be expected).

The RAW NEF files from both Nikon D800 and Nikon D700 are also available for download. The download links were found in the comment section of the blog post.

There aren’t much new there. Most are simply reiterations of what are already out there. Chuck is also skillful at answering some tricky questions. For example this one below.

AH: Canon has indicated two stops improvement in high ISO performance relative to the 5D Mark II. We understand this figure refers to in-camera JPEG files with noise reduction. Approximately how much of an improvement in high ISO performance or low ISO dynamic range is expected in RAW (CR2) files when using the latest Canon DPP software?

CW: These figures are not being disclosed, but of course they will be lower than the noise reduction achieved with in-camera JPEGs and EOS Movies.

A great portion of the interview was about the new AF module inside EOS 5D Mark III. Chuck explained the difference between the EOS 5D Mark III and EOS 1DX AF modules and described the improvements over the AF module in EOS 1D Mark IV.

You can read the entire interview here.

[via DPReview]

According to Nikon, the Nikon D800 and D800E are aimed at medium format users and portrait photographers, and are not replacement of Nikon D700.

The report also said the pre-orders for the Nikon D800E is also higher than anticipated but Nikon is cautious about users who may not be fully aware of the consequences of removing the anti-aliasing filter.

The popularity of Nikon D800 can be seen on Amazon. The Nikon D800 is currently the best seller on the Amazon’s DSLR best seller list. The Canon EOS 5D Mark III currently takes the second spot.

In the best selling electronics category, Nikon D800 ranks at #19 and Canon EOS 5D Mark III comes in at #73. That’s two spot below its high end compact camera, the Canon PowerShot S100.

Readers should be aware that the rankings change frequently and at the time of reading the numbers may have changed completely. The above is a snapshot as of 7AM MDT, March 12, 2012.