Night photography by Max Seigal

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In this post Max Seigal (www.maxwilderness.com) will talk about his night photography:

It was the most difficult shot I’d ever created. I sat, huddled in the cave, wondering if the stars would ever creep out on that cloudy night. It was the Milky Way, after all, that I was hoping to photograph that night, while light painting the kiva in the foreground. Midnight…still no stars… 1am, 2am… then I hear something in the distance. Thunder. I look out, hoping my ears had deceived me, and there it was. A bright flash of lightning, miles away, crashing over distant canyons. The first thought that came into my mind – panic. Here I was in a very remote location in Canyonlands National Park, alone in the darkness of night, and a massive thunderstorm was rolling in my direction. Did I have enough time to pack up my gear and run to my car? I waited for the next bolt of lightning, which flashed only moments after the first but seemed much, much closer than the first. The storm was moving fast, there was no way I could outrun it. I had to stand my ground and wait it out.

The raindrops started trickling around the edge of the cave, then with almost no warning, rain and hail smashing everywhere, and lightning crackling almost directly overhead. It all happened so suddenly, this storm was moving incredibly fast. The wind picked up and started howling, blowing sand, dust, rain, and hail all over the place. My camera was already on its tripod, so I figured I would open the shutter just to see what happens as I curl into a ball to stay dry. I knew the intensity of the lightning would require a much lower ISO than usual for my night shots, so I dropped the camera all the way down to ISO-400 (usually I stay around 6,400 for night shots), and stopped the lens to F5 (usually I’m at 2.8). I had no idea if these settings were appropriate, as I’d never tried taking photos from the middle of a lightning storm before.

Suddenly there was a massive crack of lightning a few miles out, so bright that it lit up the canyon light it was daylight. I jumped up from where I was huddling up, and I knew that if I had any shot to make this photo work, it was now. I grabbed my flashlight, and began light painting the cave. Usually just a few seconds of light is enough, but with my camera all the way down to ISO-400, I quickly calculated that I would need several times the average amount of light needed to paint at night. I was running left and right, painting everything I could, trying to remember how much light I had applied to different areas in the cave so that the exposure would come out evenly. I had no idea if this was going to work… I had never tried anything like this before! Finally I turned off my flashlight, crossed my fingers, and clicked the shutter closed. I held my breath and clicked the review button on the camera. Unbelievable!!!! The shot was more amazing than I ever could have imagined… what a reward for such effort to capture the shot.

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This photograph would later on win second place in the 2013 National Geographic Traveler photo contest, which received over 15,000 entries this year.

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Nikon US deals of the week

Nikon-deals

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YouTube videos: Nikon Df video reviews, D5300 skydiving

Hump-Day
Just few interesting (and funny) videos to get us trough Hump Dayyyy:

Funny Nikon Df:

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Posted in Nikon D5300, Nikon Df | 56 Comments

Nikon D4s spotted in the wild, first shutter burst video available online

Nikon-D4s-camera
This is the first picture of the Nikon D4s camera spotted in the wild. If you are one of the D4s testers and want to share some of the specifications, you can contact me anonymously here. Here is a video of the Nikon D4s shutter burst:

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Sponsorship is why Scott Kelby switched from Nikon to Canon and that’s ok

Don’t be fooled folks – no matter what they tell you, there is only one reason why Scott Kelby switched from Nikon to Canon: sponsorship and there is nothing wrong with that. Blame the Nikon USA marketing department for that. Of course this is just my own opinion.

Posted in Other Nikon stuff | 370 Comments

Nikon announced new compact cameras in Japan: Coolpix S3600, Coolpix S6800 and Coolpix L30

Nikon-Coolpix-S6800-camera Nikon-Coolpix-S3600
Nikon-Coolpix-L30-compact-camera
Today Nikon introduced several new compact cameras in Japan (the same models were announced in the US few weeks ago).  For more details, see this press release for the Coolpix S3600 and S6800 and this press release for the Coolpix L30.

Nikon representatives recently stated that the company still sees future for compact Coolpix cameras.

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New firmware updates released for Nikon Df, D5200 and D3200 cameras

Nikon Df firmware update
Nikon released firmware updates for the Nikon Df, D5200 and D3200 DSLR cameras. Here are the details:

Nikon Df C:1.01 firmware update modifications (download links: US | EU)

  • When Press for Custom Setting f4 (Assign Fn button) , f5 (Assign preview button) , or f6 (Assign AE-L/AF-L button) was set to Preview, and the camera’s Fn button, Pv button, or AE-L/AF-L button was pressed, while viewfinder shooting using a Speedlight SB-800, a preview was not displayed in the camera monitor and a modeling flash was not fired. This issue has been resolved.
  • When a Speedlight that does not support Auto FP high-speed sync was used with Custom Setting e1 (Flash sync speed) set to 1/250 s (Auto FP), the maximum shutter speed was 1/200 s. This issue has been resolved.
  • When images captured with Auto ISO sensitivity control in the shooting menu set to Off were displayed in ViewNX 2 or Capture NX 2, Auto (ISO XXX) was incorrectly displayed for ISO Sensitivity in Metadata. This issue has been resolved.

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Posted in Nikon D3200, Nikon D5200, Nikon Df | Tagged | 41 Comments