Weekly Nikon related news/links #89

By [NR] admin | Published: December 18, 2010

I will be out of town next week with limited Internet access and probably there will be few days without a posts (I do not expect any interesting news). Here are the Nikon related links for this week:

  • A new “Subjectiv” 4-in-1 lens kit for Nikon mount available at Photojojo. The kit contains five modules: pinhole, plastic, glass, zone plate, and aperture:

  • Duclos offers custom cinema conversion for the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 lens with extended focus throw, aluminum housing and even interchangeable mount.
  • Smart Shooter is another remote camera control and tethering solution for Nikon cameras (runs on both PC and Mac).

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Posted in Weekly Nikon News Flash| 60 Comments

New rumor wave is starting: Nikon D5500

By [NR] admin | Published: December 16, 2010

D5500

Nikon D5000 is already discontinued and a replacement is expected. The D3000 was released in July of 2009 (three months after the D5000) and it was already replaced in August of 2010. All that means that the Nikon D5000 should be updated any time now. The rumor is that the D5000 will be replaced by the D5500. Here are the D5500 basic specs:

  • Same metering and AF modules as the D3100
  • No AF motor.
  • 1080 HD video with manual controls
  • 16MP sensor
  • Large detachable screen, that can be kept attached like a fixed screen or detached and connected to the camera via a cable, or mounted on the hot shoe.
  • Some interesting alternative accessories for the detachable screen may be offered, namely an EVF for video shooting. Remember the Nikon Media Port? It was already demoed with the Nikon D90. Nikon has also filed numerous patents about various wearable displays (headset).
  • Similar to D3100 in shape, just a bit larger.

[NR] rating: 40% just because I want to hear those specs from few more places.

Posted in Nikon D5100| 133 Comments

Nikon AF-S 200mm f/2G ED VRII lens review

By [NR] admin | Published: December 15, 2010


I am continuing with the tradition to have a brief hands-on for every new Nikon lens. Next in line is the Nikon AF-S 200mm f/2G ED VRII lens which I got for few days from Borrowlenses. The lens was announced on September 15th, 2010 and is an update (VRII) of the previous version.

Size, controls and ergonomics

This lens is massive – it has almost the same length as the 70-200 f/2.8 VRII but twice the diameter and weight:

Nikkor 200 f/2 VRII compared to 70-200 f/2.8 VRII

Nikkor 200 f/2 VRII compared to 70-200 f/2.8 VRII

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Posted in Nikon Lenses, [NR] Reviews| Tagged , | 101 Comments

Guest post: Nikkor 19mm f/2.8 Macro lens review (part 2)

By [NR] admin | Published: December 15, 2010

This is just a continuation of the previous guest post with some setup and real life pictures. More photographs taken with the Nikkor 19mm f/2.8 Macro lens can be found on fabriziobelardetti.com under the “Macro” section.

Equipment used:

  • Nikon D3s
  • Nikon PK 11-12-13
  • Nikon PB 6
  • Nikon PB 6E
  • 3 Nikon PB 6D
  • Nikon RMS-39 adapter
  • Nikon 39. F-mount adapter
  • Nikon AR 10
  • Nikon MC 26
  • various Bowens lights

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Posted in Nikon Lenses, [NR] Reviews| Tagged | 57 Comments

Guest post: Nikkor 19mm f/2.8 Macro lens review

By [NR] admin | Published: December 14, 2010

Today’s guest post is from Fabrizio Belardetti (www.fabriziobelardetti.com) who will review the rare Nikkor 19mm f/2.8 Macro lens (you can click on all images for larger view):

Macro-Nikkors comprises four lenses made for the Nikon Multiphot: 19mm, 35mm, 60mm, 120mm. Each lens is optimised for a restricted range of magnifications and together they cover the entire range from 1:1 up to 40:1. The optics are designed to yield top results wide-open and stopping down only serves to increase depth of field (and diffraction effects). Within their specified magnification range the lenses will cover up to 4×5″ format with ease.

The 19 mm Nikkor comes in RMS microscope screw mount and you will need an adapters to convert RMS to Leica thread and then to Nikon mount. The 19 mm f/2.8 Macro-Nikkor has working optimum at 20x and should be used indoor only, as the focusing distance is about 20mm. It is designed to be mounted on a bellow, and it’s range is from 15x to 40x at the maximum extension.

Macro-Nikkors are hard to find today and really expensive (my gem cost me over 1500 €). This lens was made in Japan almost 40 years ago. I usually mount this on a PB-6 with PB 6E, sometimes with PK rings too!

Here is the lens with the original case and Nikon RMS to Leica and Leica to F mount adapters:

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Posted in Nikon Lenses, [NR] Reviews| Tagged | 47 Comments

Nikon Coolpix P7000 firmware update v1.1

By [NR] admin | Published: December 14, 2010

The new firmware update v1.1 for Nikon Coolpix P7000 is now available: Mac | Windows.

What’s fixed:

  • Total image recording times for NRW (RAW) files have been reduced.  This includes image recording times for NRW+JPEG file recording options

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Posted in Other Nikon stuff| Tagged , | 37 Comments

New Nikon patent: Nikkor 100-400mm f/4-5.6G VR ED lens

By [NR] admin | Published: December 13, 2010

Nikon filed a patent application in Japan for a AF-S 100-400mm f/4-5.6G VR ED lens. Here is the lens design:

Rumors about this lens have been floating for a while. At one point it was expected that this lens will be the replacement of the current Nikkor 80-400mm, but later Nikon filed two different designs for new 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 lens (see here and here).

An updated version of 80-400mm or a new 100-400mm are high on my list of expected lenses for 2011.

Details after the break:

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Posted in Nikon Lenses, Nikon Patents| Tagged | 62 Comments