Photography News - The latest digital photography hardware and software news, reviews, articles, tips, techniques and more!

“On the fun scale, the Nikon Coolpix L14 scores big. It’s light enough to take anywhere and compact enough to fit anywhere, too. Controls are so simple you won’t forget them. And the menu system is the clearest and easiest to use I’ve seen. If you don’t understand an item, there’s a very easy to use help system available, too.

Digital zoom was annoyingly slow and image sharpness too soft for our taste. But color rendition was exemplary and in-camera editing features like D-Lighting really worth getting to know. Movie mode even offers a stop-motion option.”

“The Nikon Coolpix S510 makes a rather unexciting entrance into an already dense market of similar cameras with 3x optical zoom lenses and small portable bodies. The Coolpix S510 has some noteworthy qualities, including optical image stabilization and an innovative rotary dial for easy menu navigation and playback. In general, though, the camera has a bland feature set. The S510’s image performance isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great, either. While the Coolpix point-and-shoot has accurate white balance, a quick startup time, and low noise levels at low ISO speeds, it suffers from extremely high noise levels and poor dynamic range at higher ISO speeds, poor low light performance, and disappointing resolution. Simply put, the Nikon Coolpix S510 does not have much to set it apart from the slew of similar point-and-shoots available on the market. If you’ll settle for a mediocre camera, consider the S510. Otherwise, you may want to look elsewhere.”

Rocky Nook’s newest publication, The Nikon D200 Dbook, is the ideal companion for anyone who wants to get the most from their Nikon camera. With 580 digital pages in Acrobat format, you will discover the fundamentals on all aspects of the digital image creation process: digital photography basics, taking pictures, image optimization, lenses, accessories, and much more.

Rocky Nook Dbooks go well beyond the Nikon camera manuals and are well organized, beautifully illustrated introductions to digital photography with the Nikon system. 

This predictions have come true with the introduction of the ‘FX format’ (new moniker created by Nikon) D3 which features a 36 x 23.9 mm 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor as well as a vast array of new features which absolutely raise it another notch above previous single digit Nikon DSLRs. Important headline improvements include high sensitivity support by default, up to ISO 6400 with 25600 available as a boost option, 14-bit A/D conversion, a new standard image processor, a new shutter, new auto focus sensor, focus tracking by color, nine frames per second continuous, dual compact flash support, DX lens support (albeit at lower resolution) and a 3.0” 922,000 pixel LCD monitor (which it has to be said is lovely).

All in all, the experience of using the D40x is very pleasant. The camera is light and easy to hold, with a sensibly laid out control system that quickly becomes intuitive. Despite its relatively low cost and plastic body it feels very solid and well made, and every inch a Nikon. It’s easy to see the resemblance to the more professional models such as the D80 or D200. It performs quickly and quietly, and even a first-time user should have no trouble producing first-class results.

The D40x in this regard reflects the increasingly schizoid personality of all the so-called entry-level DSLRs: Designed to be non-threatening to the SLR newcomer, they have as few external control switches as possible. At the same time, cameras in this class have added more and more sophisticated functions, which end up hidden under layers of menus. The D40x has nearly the capability of the Nikon D80, but throws some tricky curves when you want to get beyond all-auto shooting.