Nikon Rumors » Other Nikon stuff

Annular solar eclipse with Nikon D7000 and Nikkor 300mm f/4.5

[NR] admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:06:22 +0000

Here are some images of the annular solar eclipse that took place this past weekend. The photographs were taken by a reader in Yokosuka, Japan with a Nikon D7000 camera and Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 lens with IR filter:

Images credit: gqtuazon

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Will Nikon enter the video camera business?

[NR] admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 02:15:55 +0000

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Nikon S100

In an interview with TechRadar a Nikon UK spokesperson said that they are not a broadcast company yet, but they are exploring video options for the future:

"We're not a broadcast company - yet. We're still listening and as our relationship between third parties grows, hopefully more features will be incorporated in the future."

In the past few months I have received some tips that Nikon indeed is considering to enter the pro video camera market. There were even rumors that Nikon was working very closely with RED. Another rumor indicated that Nikon showed a few top cinematographers a new full frame camera concept, specially designed for video.

At that point I would rate those rumors at 30% probability.

Image credit: NikonWeb

Nikon reported better than expected financial results for 2012

[NR] admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 18:00:04 +0000

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Nikon announced their financial results and new cash dividends for the year ending on March 31, 2012. The company again reported better than expected financial numbers even after the series of disasters in Asia last year. As a result, the stock price went up over 8%. Nikon remains a profitable company in times where almost every other major camera manufacturer announced losses:

In 1st half, all product groups sold well. In 2nd half, although SLR cameras were affected by Thai floods, new “Nikon 1” launch was successful. Compact camera continued to expand the market share throughout the year. These helped minimize the amount of sales/income reduction from the previous year.

Summary of Nikon Imaging Company estimations for next year (ending March 31, 2013):

"Aim to bring SLR cameras back to the expansion path and focus on sales expansion of “Nikon 1” and compact cameras. Both sales and income are expected to rise 24% and 48% each."

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NikonRumors is 4 years old today

[NR] admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:15:52 +0000

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Four years ago, exactly at 7:39:29 am (EST) I purchased the domain name NikonRumors.com. It has been one hell of a ride ever since. I am a bit embarrassed about my first blog post, but at that time I really had no clue what I was doing. Anyway, thanks for being a reader over the years and stay tuned - I think we will have an interesting summer ahead of us.

Rumor: Aptina developing a new full frame CMOS sensor for Nikon

[NR] admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:52:51 +0000

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The Italian website marsicalive.it published an article about Aptina Imaging - a company that produces sensors for digital cameras. Aptina confirmed the development of a new CMOS full frame sensor for DSLR cameras and "according to some unconfirmed rumors", this sensor is designed specifically for Nikon:

Google translation

I was told that this is going to be the first full frame sensor produced by Aptina.Could this be the sensor for the rumored Nikon D600?

FYI: the sensor inside the Nikon V1 mirrorless camera is produced by Aptina.

Nikon in space: new NightPod intelligent tripod compensates for motion when taking images from space

[NR] admin — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:01:19 +0000

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Credit: ESA/NASA

The European Space Agency published the article "Tracking cities at night from the Space Station" where they describe a new NightPOD intelligent tripod head used to take long exposure photographs by eliminating the motion blur from the International Space Station:

"To help astronauts take better pictures, ESA developed a motorized tripod in collaboration with Dutch company Cosine. Called NightPod, this device compensates for the motion of the Space Station by tracking single points on Earth automatically. The subject stays centered in frame so the final image is in focus.

Astronauts enter data regarding the Station’s orbit and attitude and then NightPod can start taking pictures. It can even be set to run on its own for up to six hours."

Here is an image of Athens taken from the ISS with the NightPod + Nikon D3s camera + 80-200mm f/2.8 lens:

Credit: ESA/NASA

Guest post: Aerial drone photography – when your camera flies without you

[NR] admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:44:59 +0000

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Today's guest post on taking photographs with an aerial drone is by Frédéric Moix (website | gallery).

2011 and 2012 saw big improvements in the RC field, new technologies, new batteries, making the ability to lift a heavier DSLR camera more accessible. The interest is obvious: aerial photography is closer to buildings, objects, rock formations, etc. With this "close aerial photography" or "low altitude aerial photography" you can discover new angles of view for a fraction of the cost of the classical aerial photography performed by planes and helicopters.

It's going to be interesting to see the abilities of the new WT-5 wireless transmitter for remote images transmission from an aerial drone.

The flying system can be basically divided in three parts:

The flying RC drone itself. Different models are available on the market, Mikrokopter seems to be one of the leaders in the field selling different multi rotors engines. I'm mostly working with an hexacopter (6 helix) and an oktocopter (8 helix).
The DSLR camera body (mainly a DX body like the Nikon D7000 for its low weight, the D700 is also "liftable" and maybe very soon the D800 which is lighter than the D700) and a wide angle lens.
The camera mount attaching the camera to the drone and enabling camera movements in different directions: the "nick", "roll" and "yaw" movement which can also be performed by the drone itself.

The ground system is composed of:

The drone pilot and a RC transmitter
The photographer with another transmitter enabling to aim at the subject with actions on the camera mount (as cited above) and even on a part of the movements of the drone itself. The transmitter is also allowing triggering, preferably through the drone in order to avoid the use of classical remote triggers who can interfere with the RC transmission and also in order to have everything on the same command (purely ergonomical).
A screen transmitting what's happening in the air (what the DSLR is aiming at) - live view feeding for example, enabling proper framing as if you were "on board".
A solid dose of experience and confidence (pilot and material)

The links (piloting commands, triggering and VDO feed) between the flying system and the ground system are basically a classical RC transmission system with a VDO sender and receiver.

Nikon 3D mirrorless digital camera?

[NR] admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:49:14 +0000

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A reader sent me this picture of what appears to be a twin lens 3D mirrorless digital camera - it was taken at the 4th Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (Malaysia). Reportedly, the camera had a Nikon label on the back. Has anyone seen this camera? Could this be an old film model?

A larger version of the image is available on flickr.

Nikon currently does not offer any 3D cameras, even though they have already released a 3D digital photo frame and Picturetown 3D in Japan. Back in 2008 Nikon co-funded a 3D R&D project in Japan. Could this be a new digital 3D camera from Nikon?

Update: Busted, this is the Cyclopital3D auxiliary lens adapter for Fuji W3 or W1 3D cameras.

New Nikon F-mount adapter for Coolpix cameras to be announced together with the D3200

[NR] admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 18:15:06 +0000

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Nikon will announce a new adapter that will allow you to attach F-mount DSLR lenses to any Coolpix camera. The idea is similar to this adapter that lets you attach Nikkor lenses to your iPhone. The new Nikon adapter will have a F-mount on one side for attaching the lens and a very strong Neodymium magnet on the other side for attaching the Coolpix camera (click on images for larger view):

Those two pictures show the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens attached to the new Coolpix S30 camera.The exact name/model of the adapter is covered on one of the images - only the "NIK" portion is visible:

The price is expected to be $99. The adapter is scheduled to be announced together with the D3200 later this month. Due to the small sensor size of the Coolpix cameras, the crop factor will be somewhere in the 5x range (depending on the actual sensor size). This will turn the 70-200mm lens into a 350-1000mm monster!

Nikon is expected to announce 39% higher operation profit compared to last fiscal year

[NR] admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:24:54 +0000

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Just saw this article on Reuters:

"Nikon Corp. will likely post a 39 percent rise in group operating profit to around 75 billion yen ($904.81 million) for the year ending this month, beating the standing projection of 72 billion yen...

The company's sales are seen rising 4 percent to come in line with the firm's forecast of about 925 billion yen...

The company's camera division's fiscal 2011 operating profit will probably touch around 52 billion yen, mostly unchanged from a year earlier, with compact cameras likely to deliver stronger results..."

Nikon's fiscal year ends on March 12, 2012 when we will have the exact financial results.

For more detailed coverage, follow [NR] on Twitter and Facebook

[NR] admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:26:30 +0000

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For more detailed coverage of the latest Nikon related news, you can follow [NR] on Twitter and Facebook. I usually post much more detailed information on social media and publish only the important topics on the blog. You can also follow [NR] via this RSS feed or email subscription. Those are actually the fastest ways to get the latest updates, because with the current caching setup, it may take few minutes until the website is updated with the most recent blog post. I often publish new information on Twitter and Facebook before I even have the chance to write a post. I am not doing much on g+ lately, but this may change in the future.

What else is new?

Check the new eBay Finds section. You can also check the eBay Finds section on LeicaRumors and PhotoRumors. I will soon be redesigning the entire review section. I am also planning to add the Disqus platform which will make the comments section much more user friendly. An average blog post now generates several hundreds comments and a new solution is needed. I am also playing with the idea for a [NR] iPhone app, but this will take a while.

Nikon lens thermos giveaway

[NR] admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:23:36 +0000

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First, the winner of the last Nikon 1 V1 grip giveaway is Bill Pearce. Congratulations! If you did not win, here is another chance:

What can I win?

In this giveaway you can win a Nikon 70-200mm lens thermos.

How do I win?

The rules are simple: leave a comment to this blog post. That's all. One comment per person please. Don’t forget to add your email address in the provided field (it will not be visible to the public and it will only be used to notify you in case you are the winner). I will close all comments at the end of this week and will randomly pick the winner.

The best part?

This giveaway is open to anyone and is not restricted to US residents only, everyone is welcomed to participate. This giveaway is void where prohibited by law. All taxes are the responsibility of the winner. The price cannot be shipped to countries embargoed by the United States.

Good luck!

Japan one year later

[NR] admin — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:07:30 +0000

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OnlineSchools.org presents Japan One Year Later

Today is the one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.

Check also this update from the Red Cross.

Nikon at Focus on Imaging 2012

[NR] admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:10:25 +0000

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The Focus on Imaging 2012 show is currently ongoing in Birmingham, UK. Nikon does not allow visitors to take sample images with the new D4 and D800/D800E cameras. Only one sample of each D4 and D800 is available on the stand and there is a long line of people waiting to try them out. Here are some images from the Nikon booth sent in by readers (above images credit: Garrett Hayes, Ireland):

Above images credit: Pengranger

Above images credit: Kelly.

The last set of images is by Philip Clark.

Nikon firmware emulator now available

[NR] admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:59:29 +0000

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After the Nikon D5100 firmware was decrypted and we got the first unofficial "Star Wars" firmware update, there is now a full hardware emulator including screen visualizer for the Nikon D3100/D5100/D7000/D* cameras that uses the Fujitsu FR MIPS processor. This will enable anyone willing to write custom firmware routines and then test them without risking their hardware being turned to bricks. See this related flickr discussion and this forum post for more information.

Videos shot with Nikon cameras (and some with Canon 5D MarkII)

[NR] admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:53:35 +0000

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The above video was part of the presentation during the Nikon D800 introduction in Bangkok. A short portion of it (at the 0:18 mark) was taken from the time-lapse the "The Mountain" (see the 2:10 mark) which was shot with a Canon 5D MarkII by Terje Sorgjerd. Oops. Here are some videos shot with "real" Nikon cameras.

The above video was shot with a Nikon D700... yes D700:

More than one year ago, Nikon didn't have any good solution for full HD video, but I really wanted to use all the great lenses to shoot a music video, so I "forced" this video out of D700, creating more than 3000 single pictures that were lit with SB 800 and 900 other sources for light painting and later edited into moving pictures. Lens used were, 12-24, 24-70, and 50mm 1.4 and ... so a pure Nikon D700 video job

Next video "Compressed 03" was shot with a Nikon D90 by Kim Pimmel:

Compressed 03 continues my interest in telling stories through analog visual effects - everything in the film was made with physical materials and tools in my studio. By using frame by frame stop motion and time lapse techniques, fluid dynamics and magnetism are transformed into majestic explosions and seething storms.

Sounds best on headphones, and looks best fullscreen!
Shot with Nikon D90, macro lens & custom built timer / trigger
Edited in Adobe Premiere
Scored in Ableton Live

I find analog things appealing - whether it's vinyl or photographic film, there's a certain richness and magic that's difficult to replicate with digital means. The Compressed series showcases analog visual effect techniques, so everything in the films is made by hand, with physical materials and tools in my studio. For each of the Compressed films I try to develop and master a set of analog techniques with which I can craft a narrative.

For the effects in Compressed 03, I was drawn to the dynamic interactions between liquids. I spent about a month playing mad scientist to see what gave the most interesting results. I raided the kitchen for common stuff like milk, oil, and molasses. I stopped at the drug store and buy random things such as witch hazel, nail polish, and bubble blowing mix. I ordered exotic stuff like ferrofluid online. Some liquids repelled each other, some caused coagulation, and some created intricate patterns.

I settled on ferrofluid as my primary liquid, since it yielded some nice interactions with other liquids and could be manipulated using magnetism. All of the black or brown seen in the film is ferrofluid - needless to say it was a very messy few months!

The whole film is shot with a Nikon D90 DSLR, frame by frame, and animated using stop motion and time lapse techniques. This allowed me to control the effects by manipulating various parameters by hand - for example I could blow air onto the scene with a straw to adjust flow direction, or add liquid outside the shot to accelerate an effect. I also hacked a flatbed scanner so I could control it from my computer - and by physically connecting the scanner carriage to other equipment I could adjust parameters of the scene very precisely.

To control the camera for the frame by frame animation, I used a custom timer that I had built for a previous project.

Except for the opening title sequence, everything was shot with a macro lens. While the scale of the scenes in the film may seem grand, they actually range from the size of a post-it, to the size of a playing card. To work at that small scale I used syringes to dispense minuscule amounts of liquids, as well as a whole assortment of tiny magnets to control the ferrofluid. As anyone who has worked with macro can tell you, it's a pain to work with, but it opened up a whole world of visual opportunities for the project.

Once shooting was wrapped, I edited the film with Premiere, while concurrently writing the soundtrack in Ableton Live.

Since I'm kept pretty busy during the day designing software for Adobe, the film was made during my evenings and weekends over the span of about 4 months.

The next two videos were shot by Bruce Brown with a Nikon D7000:

In developing the projects "Fly" music video and "A" student video I needed a way to shoot motion images of high quality, with a lightweight and cost effective tool. I have used digital Nikon Cameras for years as a professional photographer (http://www.BruceBrown.com), but never thought about using them for motion/video. In the past I had used Arriflex Super 16mm cameras with film stock for motion projects - this was time consuming and expensive. I had chosen film mainly because I felt the quality was superior to digital. That changed when I did a video test shoot on the Nikon D7000. The quality was amazing. The 1080P files from the Nikon are excellent video files when converted from H264 into the editing format of ProRes 422. The images are robust and more then adequate for color grading. I was convinced it is the perfect tool for these projects.

In "Fly" the D7000 was used both for the live action/performance parts of the music video as well as the time-lapse shots. The time-lapse was incorporated into the live action with the use of a green screen. Editing with Final Cut Pro X I utilized chroma key to composite the clouds and rain into the window for dramatic effect. One of the best things about using the Nikon D7000 was the lens choice. I was able to use any lens from my kit: Lensbaby control freak, manual focus AIS, AFS Nikkor zooms, primes and macro lens. Utilizing theses tool enabled me to capture images needed to illustrate the point of view of the story.

Having less then a day of access to a classroom location for the "A" student video, speed and ease of set up was essential. The video was completed in a 5 hour session with 38 different scenes and 200 takes not to mention the cooperation of the two dozen 5th grade students. The D7000 gave me the flexibility to move the camera rapidly and effectively; shooting from a ground level position for a dolly move on a Konova K3 slider in one take, and then jumping up on a 8 ft. ladder for an overhead jib move in the next scene. Ease of mobility was the key to the success of this video. Having this versatility and agility of use was incredible.

I am a big fan of this new DSLR technology I can’t imagine going back to the old production ways.

More info about Bruce Brown:

http://www.BruceBrown.com/
http://brucebrownphotography.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BruceBrownPhoto
https://twitter.com/ - !/BruceBrownPhoto

Nikon at Focus on Imaging 2012

[NR] admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:49:51 +0000

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Nikon UK confirmed that they will be exhibiting at the 2012 Focus on Imaging show that will take place from March 4th-7th, 2012 in Birmingham, UK. If you are visiting the show and would like to share some images on [NR], please contact me.

Here is the full list of guest speakers at the Nikon booth:

Online Nikon Stores coming in Europe by the end of 2012

[NR] admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:30:18 +0000

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Hybris Software issued a press release that it has developed an e-commerce solution for Nikon Europe that will include online stores for selling Nikon equipment directly to consumers:

Hybris, a leading provider of multichannel commerce and communication software, has announced that it has developed a B2C and B2B multichannel commerce solution based on the hybris Multichannel Commerce Suite for Nikon Europe (www.europe-nikon.com), one of the world’s most recognized brands for state-of-the-art imaging technologies. Nikon’s new multichannel commerce initiative, underpinned by hybris, will see the company roll out its ‘Nikon DealerNet’ (B2B) and ‘Nikon Store’ (B2C) online retail sites for its imaging business across more than 35 European geographies by the end of 2012.

The German Nikon Store is already online at http://store.nikon.de:

Via Photoclubalpha

Guest post: “Astronomer’s Paradise” time-lapse video

[NR] admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:05:14 +0000

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This week I will publish several guest posts on NikonRumors. If you have an interesting Nikon related topic you want to share, contact me. You can see all previous NR guest posts here. The first article is about the time-lapse video “Astronomer’s Paradise” by Christoph Malin (images by Christoph Malin and Babak Tafreshi). Here is the video (click on images for larger view):

"Astronomer's Paradise“ is the first episode of a three parts Atacama Desert Starry Nights time-lapse series, starting with footage on the ESO* (European South Observatory’s “Cerro Paranal” site). The series will be included as a bonus on the ESO's 50 years anniversary DVD/Blue Ray disc expected to be released this summer. This time-lapse movie was made from DLSR still images from the November 2011 TWAN imaging expedition to Paranal assigned by the European Southern Observatory.

The first week of shooting took place at ESO’s famous Cerro Paranal site. The second week, we travelled to the ALMA OSF facility, near San Pedro de Atacama, where we were scheduled for imaging sessions at the 5000m high Chajnantor Plateau, the site of the ALMA radio telescope array.

In total Babak Tafreshi** and me*** photographed 14 nights in a row from usually 05:30 p.m. to 08:00 a.m. This was demanding, especially the second week at 5000 m. But even during our two days off, we continued photographing the stunning Chilean night skies on several locations, as they had been steady and clear all week.

Cerro Paranal is an astronomers paradise with its stunningly dark, steady and transparent sky. Located in the barren Atacama Desert of Chile, it is the home to some of the world's leading telescopes. Operated by the European Southern Observatory, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located on the Paranal mountain, composed of four 8.2 m telescopes which can combine their light to make a giant telescope by interferometry.

Four smaller auxiliary telescopes, each 1.8 m in aperture, are important elements of the VLT interferometer. Paranal was selected by ESO for cutting edge astronomical observations also because of the sky transparency and steady atmospheric condition, which let astronomers peer into tiny details in the deep cosmos.

Babak Tafreshi: “It is an amazing experience to be under an ideal night sky, a pure natural beauty unspoiled by urban lights. On Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert you look all around the horizon and there is no prominent sign of city lights, neither direct lights or light domes. There are not many locations left on this planet where you can still experience a dark sky like this. I have been to similar dark skies in other continents from the heart of Sahara in Algeria to Himalayas or islands in the Pacific. But what makes Atacama beat others is being dry and clear for so many nights per year.”

Walking on the desert near Paranal between the scattered stones and boulders on the pale red dust felt like being on Mars. The clear Chilean night sky with its zillions of stars was so bright that you could see the shadow of your own feet on the ground. Yet the Atacama desert surroundings are unforgiving and zero fault tolerant. Working in the dark was even more challenging. Safety precautions are omnipresent at Paranal and ALMA, and the places are – except the ambient light of the Milky way that over time sets to below the horizon – very dark at night. Cars must drive with parking lights at low speed. If you get lost or have an accident at the driest place on earth without water or rescue, you will die within days because of rapid dehydration.

Some words on how the video was produced:

On Location

We usually started transporting and building up equipment from 05:00 p.m. on at the Paranal Platform. While Tafreshi is known for a lightweight two-camera setup that makes him flexible, I am the time-lapse guy that usually juggles with 3 to 4 cameras, external power sources of all kinds, a dolly and two astronomic heads with their controllers. Moving around the equipment during location changes, changing batteries where necessary, adjusting the controllers etc. kept me mostly busy during the night, although one usually tries to get at least one or two hours nap in between. This helps on staying concentrated for the tasks. Sometimes, when all equipment was running well, we could just hold breath for a moment and enjoy the beautiful skies above Paranal.

After sunrise we disassembled and packed everything back in, which usually took time until 08:00 a.m., then we went down from the mountain to our rooms to recharge batteries, setup image transfers and finally get some sleep until about 12:00. Then we had breakfast with other astronomers (we worked like them in astronomer's shifts). After that we usually went back to our rooms and started processing the footage from the night before until we moved up the mountain for the next night session. Kind of a tight schedule, but on a place like Paranal, where scientific operations are planned 365 days down to the minute, the clock ticks and the output has to be the best possible.

On equipment

I used the following cameras with their built in intervalometers and lenses:

2 Nikon D3s
1 Nikon D700
1 Nikon D7000
2 AFS 12-24/2.8, AFS 24-70/2.8, AF 16/2.8 Fisheye, AF DX 10/2.8 Fisheye

Dolly and astronomic heads:

Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly with MX2
Merlin with MX2 and Astrotrac TT320-XAG

The D3s and D700 were my proven workhorses. The D7000 serves me a lightweight backup, I normally use it for hiking and some HD filming, but also as a time-lapse machine. I like to shoot the D7000 with the fisheye lens. Both D700 and D7000 were used with the MB- D10 and MB-D11 battery grips. Where possible, we used the camera's external AC adapters.

ISO

To my experience the D700 works best up to ISO 2500, with up to ISO 6400 possible for "emergency cases". The D3s is in it's own league. It doesn't matter much if you work ISO 2500 or 6400 with the D3s and ISO 8000 to 10000 are also not much of a problem. Grain on D3s is beautiful and not visible on time-lapse videos, same goes for the D700. The D7000 has different ISO performance due to the DX chip with high density - I usually used it up to ISO 1600 range, above that things get noticeably grainy. This grain is not a problem on stills, but when it gets "moving" on time-lapse it doesn't look good.

Batteries

When doing time-lapse with sometimes over 3600 images per night per camera, batteries become a problem and it gets worse with low temperatures and freezing desert winds, especially with the D3s. Regardless if new or used batteries, with long exposures the D3s burns amps and doesn't last longer than 3 hours. The problem is that once you change the D3s battery, the interval is interrupted and the sequence finished. So unless you have an AC adapter power source, you cannot go trough the night with the D3s.

The D700 usually lasts 3-4 hours (if you use MB-D10 with EN-EL4a). Changing the battery is not a problem on the D700 because you always leave the EN-EL3e in the body. Hopefully Nikon will think about an external battery source for the D4 in the future. The D7000 is excellent on battery life: one EN-EL15 usually lasts 5-6 hours, double that with MD-D11 battery grip.

Storage

For in-camera storage I use 32 to 64 GB Transcend, Sandisk and Express CF and SD cards as well as FireWire CF card reader for my MacBook Pro. During the whole trip I shot about 520 GB of data, stored on a Raid 1 FW800 disk (NEF and JPG files). Finally, about 35000 time-lapse images were processed on my side, Tafreshi had about the same amount (in between he also did some time-lapses). Altogether we selected 7500 frames for this part of "Astronomers Paradise".

Transporting equipment to Chile

All went well until an Air France employee in Munich checked my LiIon batteries one hour before departure. What followed was bizarre - nobody knew if I can get on the plane with those batteries. Several departments between Paris and Munich got involved and at the end the flight captain decided that I can fly with my original Nikon LiIon batteries in my luggage. He was just as astonished as I was. Incredible.

On processing the time-lapse sequences and the video

I do all transitions, deflickering and other image processing prior to rendering with Apple Aperture (see this videos). The video was edited and rendered with Final Cut Pro 10, motion and compressor were used for all the time-lapse sequence RAW rendering. Final Cut 10 has improved a lot with their latest 10.0.3 update and is fast and fun to work with - much faster compared to Adobe After Effects. No more delays on working with RAW files, no more conversion to JPG or downsizing necessary (like with AE). Motion is ultra fast on rendering NEFs, about 4-5 times faster then AE, it is impressive.

Martin Kornmesser, ESO and Hubble Telescope Imaging Artist also helped on processing and gave some of my footage the distinct dark punchy ESO look.

I hope we captured the magic of this very special place - this is how the night sky looks like without light pollution. We need more people to be aware of light pollution. Waste of light is waste of energy and money and harms the nature and us.

Our next ESO/TWAN time-lapse movie will be released in March and will focus on the northern Atacama, the Valley of the Moon, and the other major ESO observatory - the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA).

If you like, check an article on my time-lapse photography in the current winter issue of Nikon Pro (page 16) or in the Nikon Pro iPad issue.

With best regards,
Christoph Malin

*ESO – the European South Observatory - is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organization in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. From its headquarters in Garching, Munich it operates three sites in Chile — La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. It builds ALMA, the worlds largest radio telescope array at the 5000m high Chajnantor plateau together with other international partners and designed the European Extremely Large Telescope.

**Babak Tafreshi, 32, is an international astrophotography legend (special project coordinator of the UNESCO International Year of Astronomy 2009, Lennart Nilson Prizeholder 2009 and founder of TWAN – the World at Night, an international awarded night sky world heritage photography project).

*** Christoph Malin, 42, is ESO photo ambassador and an Austrian based outdoor journalist and astrophotographer specializing in time-lapse night sky photography of the Alps and other mountain and desert regions.

See also those related National Geographic posts:

Related flickr galleries:

Previous guest posts by Christoph Malin:

You can follow Christoph's work on his website, Facebook and Twitter.

How to spot counterfeit Nikon filters

[NR] admin — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:30:17 +0000

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It seems that in addition to batteries and battery grips, there are also counterfeit Nikon filters. 1kindphotography has a detailed article on what you should look for to make sure your filter is genuine. Always purchase equipment from authorized Nikon dealers (the "fake" Nikon filter was bought on eBay).