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In the name of being a professional shutterbug, I broke down and bought a point and shoot camera to keep in my pocket at all times. I’ve already got a Nikon D70s along with a full compliment of lenses and other accessories that I use for all my product and event photography, but it’s not always convenient to lug around thousands of dollars of heavy camera equipment in order to fire off a few quick shots.

Not only that, chances are even if I did have all my equipment with me, whatever I was wanting a picture of would have probably already passed by the time I was able to set everything up for the shot.

Enter the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX7.

True, it’s not the latest and greatest of the Lumix offerings, but for my purposes it’s fitting the bill perfectly. It’s a 5 megapixel camera sligtly larger than a credit card and just under an inch thick at its girthiest point. It shoots in an ISO range of 80-400 with a shutter speed varying from to 1/2000 to 8 seconds, which is perfect for freezing action and sports and long enough for night photography (most compacts won’t allow the shutter to stay open nearly that long for night shooting). What’s amazing about this line of point and shoot cameras is that they are one of the few that offer in camera image stabilization. Many lines don’t offer this feature until you reach their digicam or prosumer level cameras. SLRs only have this option available in certain lines of lenses.

In addition to image stabilization, the Lumix line also comes equipped with Leica optics. For those not in the know about Leica, they make some of the most expensive, sharpest and well color-balanced lenses on the market, their cameras are world-class as well. This combination of image stabilization and lens quality make the DMC-FX7 a heavyweight contender in the world of compact cameras. I was floored when I saw the quality of the images coming from it.

The lens is a 3x optical zoom, and has some digital zoom reach as well, however the image quality degrades noticably when the digital zoom is used. I avoid using it at all costs. The lens is rated at 5-17.4mm f/2.8-5.0 aspherical, which would be a 35-105mm lens in 35mm film format. The somewhat fast f/2.8 rating allows for good low-light use at the wide angle setting.

The smallish looking flash proves to be absolutely bright enough to work well with the lens even at the widest zoom setting. I’ve noticed no indication of light fall off to date. It is important to note, however, it works best with subjects that are no more than about 13-15′ away. The flash is a little too close to the lens for my tastes, I realize it’s hard to move it much farther away in such a compact design, but it’s close proximity does tend to increase the dreaded red-eye that’s common in compacts. There is a red-eye reduction option for the flash, but as many photographers will tell you, red-eye reduction is a double-edged sword. Yes, it reduces the red flares, but it does so by pre-flashing, constricting the pupils, which is undesirable as eyes look more attractive when dialated.

The 2.5″ LCD display takes up about 2/3 of the back of the camera, and so far proves to be nice and bright (without being too bright in low-light conditions) as well as fairly color accurate. There is an option to gain up the LCDs brightness to aid in visibility for bright outdoor conditions. The large LCD screen eliminates any extra space for a traditional veiwfinder, which is a slight bummer, but livable nonetheless.

This camera has more than it’s fair share of built in features including 11 preset scene shooting modes as well as a macro mode and an option to take videos. The length of video you can take depends on the size of your memory card.

Buttons and controls are simple and straight forward on the camera. I have fairly long and slender fingers, so moving around the keypad layout is easy for me. Those with larger fingers may have problems as the buttons are spaced somewhat close together.

The in-camera menus are well thought out, easy to navigate and not too confusing. When initially setting up my camera the only question I had about any of the options was regarding image compression, which was not clearly defined in the menu but a quick read through the well put together manual set the record straight.

The DMC-FX7 records to SD cards, which was a bit of another downer for me. I have tons of compact flash cards laying around becuase that’s what my D70s takes. It would have been great if I could have used them in this camera as well, but it seems that the SD format is becoming the norm for this size camera so I guess I can’t complain too much. It merely means I’ve got to invest into some SD cards (which is the same format my wife’s Canon SD550 takes, so for now I can just steal her card’s when she’s not looking).

Startup is quick at just under one second. You’ll have little to no excuse for not capturing that precious moment. Battery life is more than adequate. I’ve yet to miss any shots due to the battery dying, that’s even with using flash the entire shoot.

My biggest complaint for this camera is a lack of more manual options. I’m used to having complete control over all settings of my D70s; shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc. The Lumix is made to be a little more automated, which is great for the casual user and makes the camera a bit more transparent in the photography process, just not what I’m used to…

All in all this camera packs a huge punch. The combination of the 5.0 megapixel image sensor, image stabilization and Leica optics allows me to make acceptable quality prints at up to 12×18″ and high quality prints at 8×10″. The Lumix has more than enough features and options for the average user. It would be the perfect point and shoot camera to me if it had an optional viewfinder in addition to the LCD and stored to compact flash cards.

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Each day I’m becoming more and more a photography junkie. Just the other day I broke down and bought a Lumix DMC-FX7 camera (more on that after I’ve had enought time to thoroughly test it) to add to my arsenal. I love my Nikon D70s, but carring around 50lbs of camera equipment isn’t always fun or practical, nor easy to set up to get those quick snaps. Now I’ve got something sleek, portable and spyish to carry around in my pocket 24/7.

That said, however, I did make my first pinhole lens for the Nikon. It was painlessly easy and cost me a whopping $7.84 (by far, the least expensive lens in my collection)! I’ve known of pinhole cameras since my first shoebox and piece of film, but never considered digital pinhole cameras…

I ran across a few sites describing do-it-yourself instructions on making a pinhole lens using a body cap. So I broke the bank, found the best bargain I could on eBay and paid my $4.85 plus $2.99 shipping for my brand new Nikon BF-A1 body cap.

For those not familiar with pinhole photography, it’s the simplest camera to make and operate. You can make a pinhole camera from nearly anything. I’ve heard people using shoeboxes, cardboard boxes, buildings, even their own mouth!

The technology is simple; use some type of container for your camera body, fix a piece of film to the inside back wall and punch a small hole in the opposite end. There are many ways to calculate how large or small a hole to use. For my lens, I went with a hole a little larger than .25mm. The smaller and more perfectly round the hole, the sharper your image will be. In fact, there are companies out there that make precision, laser-cut pinhole lenses that are incredibly sharp (considering there’s no corrective glass lens!), but that’s too high falutin for my first pinhole lens, and a little to rich for this project (they usually go in the neighborhood of $35-65).

Making the necessary modifications was a no brainer. The trick with making one of these is to center your hole for the “lens.” If the hole is not centered, you’re likely won’t achieve proper exposure across the frame of your image.

To do this, I simply measured the width of the cap at it’s widest point and etched a line arcross the back of the cap at this diameter with an exacto knife. I did this several times in several different directions. The place where the lines intersect should be the dead center of the cap. To make the actual hole, I used a push pin from my memo board and started boring into the plastic cap. It took me all of about five minutes. When I managed to work the pin completely through the cap, I sanded down both sides of the hole and made sure I didn’t have any obstructions in the hole. Here’s the finished lens:

I made quite a few test shots from the studio, here’s one of Bobula, my wooden people model… and yes, he does run like a girl.

To make this shot, I set up my D70s on a tripod and used a shutter release cable. I set the shutter speed to 15 seconds. I’m planning on using this one a good bit. I love the soft edges and the diffused colors. It reminds me a bit of my Lensbaby, without the extra work of manually focusing the bellows-stlye lens. I’ll post more sample pics up here as I capture them.

One thing to keep in mind when using a pinhole lens on a digital camera, there’s nothing to protect the insides of you camera from dust. Additionally, I did notice that the long exposure times needed to take a picture with this lens allows any dust on the camera to show up extremely well in your pictures. Make sure you’ve got good Photoshop skills for processing!

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Sure, any of us can open a web page in our favorite browser, go File>Print and print what’s on the screen to our desktop printer. It looks OK, you can pass it around to your friends, read it, admire the super saturated colors your uncalibrated inkjet gives and throw it in the shredder. All’s well and good.

Ever look closely at the pictures and graphics after they’re printed though? Notice the graininess of the photographs and logos, and in some cases even the text? Whatever, right?

But you really like the picture they used of the close-up of the model’s face and want to incorporate it into your next mail piece that’s going to be about a new type of makeup you’re promoting.

Uh-oh… Here’s where that next project starts to fall apart. Get a cup of coffee for this post, put on your thinking caps – and for those that may not be very technically inclined, this one could be a doozy.

Without fail, at least once a month or so, I’ll take on an assignment from a client who claims to have most all the artwork “ready to go” and all I have to do is do the final “sprucing up” to get the project ready for the printer.

So the client uploads the files and lets me know the project is “ready to go.”

It never takes long after opening files to realize that the “ready to go” artwork has photography and logos that have been plucked from a website. Any designer worth his salt knows that (in most cases) it’s not possible to repurpose artwork designed for web use to print. There are a couple of occassions where this isn’t entirely the case, but these aren’t the norm, we’ll get to those later. There are, however, many factors that make this task of repurposing fruitless; in this take, we’re going to discuss resolution:

Resolution
No, I’m not talking about the things you avoid making and end up not doing at the first of the year. This time we’re talking image size…

Artwork can be “measured” in a variety of ways. When talking about images displayed on your computer, an image’s resolution is described in PPI, or pixels per inch. A pixel is the smallest single complete sample of an image and is made up of three smaller color emiters; one red, one green, on blue… More on that later.

Most monitors display images at 72 ppi, meaning for every inch of image you see, there are 72 pixels of image in each line. Some newer monitors are capable of displaying images at 96 ppi or even up to 160 ppi. The vast majority, however, are only capable of reproducing at a lowly 72 ppi, which to the naked eye can appear jagged and gradients look choppy and not so smooth.

However, despite being not as good a reproduction, web graphics are made at 72 ppi in order to keep the file size to a minimum to keep you from waiting for them to load while you visit a website.

In print, images are measured in DPI, or dots per inch. Commercial printers will usually require that all art submitted for a print project be a minimum of 300 dpi at finished print size. This simply means that if you’d like a photograph printed at 8 x 10″, the file you submit needs to be at least 8 x 10″ big at a resolution of 300 dpi. Simple enough, right?

Well, it should be… Only problem is, that graphic you love on such and such’s website is 4 x 3″ at 72 ppi, which when coverted to you printer’s specs of 300 dpi shrinks to a measly .96 x .72.” Barely the size of a postage stamp!

Why is this? Print resolution is nearly quadruple that which is required for the Internet, so when you transpose an image for use from the web to a print media, it’s physical size is effectively quartered…

Here’s a 4 x 3″ sample of a web graphic like I mentioned above:

Now here is the same image after it’s been converted to print resolution:

Ok, surely a number of you are saying, “whatever Chris, all I have to do is stretch it out to fill the space I need.”

Sure you can do that, but what you’ll end up printing will look something like this:

Yuck…

The simple way to avoid this? Start with high resolution (300 dpi) images that are the size you want them to be printed, or larger.

Image Scalers:
Yes there are some ways to enlarge an image to larger than its original size, but understand that all pixel-based images contain a finite amount of data, regardless of whether they were shot with a digital camera or scanned from hard copy. When you enlarge an image, you’re essentially making up data to fill the gaps where new pixels will be created. You may be able to acheive an enlarged version of the image you want to have printed at the required 300 dpi, but no enlarged image will ever look as clear or sharp or has as smooth a color range as the original.

You can always go smaller and retain all your image clarity, but not the other way ’round.

So, long story short. If you’ve found art you want to reproduce in print, or you’re developing a website that contains elements you may want to incorporate into a print advertising campaign, remember resolution!

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Looking through my recent posts, I see that in my Resolutions post, I failed to include my resolution to get back to my artistic roots. Believe it or not, before this became a business, I was more than image creator… I used to sit in front of the computer for hours, creating images with no client in mind. I made images for the sake of making images.

I spend a good bit of time nowadays looking through design books and trendy art magazines doing research for this project or that, admiring the work of other designers, photographers, and artists, missing the joy to just put my work out there…

Like many designers, I became a slave to my work… Book keeping, collections, proposals… No longer excited about designing because it’s become more about clausterphobia inducing parameters than self-expression. I’m in the middle of great book (look for a review soon) called “How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul.” Despite the title, it’s not about being successful without having to make a deal with the devil, but more about how to maintain a level of personal satisfaction in doing corporate design.

One of the key elements I’ve picked up on throughout the book is a need to keep the most mundane of projects “personal” on some level.

I like that. So though my schedule may not allow me to freely walk the town like I used to, taking random snapshots of beautiful architecture or people, or design a new wallpaper for my computers every week, or paint like I used to love to do. I am going to try squeeze a bit more of me into the work I do. And yes, I am going to do my best to make more time for personal work and to just put it out there, because as an artist I believe this is how we grow to become better artists.

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Not enough can be said about the importance of archiving… For any one in any industry that involves the use of computers and sensitive data.

Personally, I look after hundreds of business logos, advertising pieces, databases, websites and photo assetts… not even including my own personal work. If I didn’t have an effecient way to archive my assets that allowed me quick and easy retrieval, I’d probably spend more time looking for art than actually working on the project. Or even worse, if a computer were to go down in my office, I’d be in a little more than a serious bind if I didn’t keep good backups.

There are several great ways to make sure you never permanently lose anything you’re working on, however it’s frighteningly suprising how few people actually implement some sort of archiving system. I can remember talking to a screen printer who called me regarding artwork I’d done for him about a year prior. One of his clients wanted an exact reprint of that job and he was having trouble finding the artwork. When I asked him how he kept track of past jobs, there was silence at the other end of the line. After probing a little further, I realized that my printer friend had no means of documenting what art went with each job, or any type of digital storage system.

Archiving is easy, and it’s like insurance. Sure it’s a pain to while you’re doing, it’s not much fun, but when (not if, when) something goes wrong, you’ll be covered and back in the driver’s seat in no time.

These systems can by complex, involving specialized software and dedicated computers and expensive media, or as simple burning your important info on a CD or DVD.

For my small home office, I employ a more simple set up involving an organized folder structure on my main computer, and external hard drive and a collection of CDs and DVDs. I keep a single folder for all my Studio’s Work in Process (WIP), one for all my financial data and one more for estimates. At the end of each month, I move all completed jobs from my WIP folder to another folder on my external hard drive, aptly named “Archives.” In this folder is a series of folders named by the date they were added. So at the end of this month, I’ll create a new folder in “Archives” named “January 2007,” and add the completed projects to it.

To add a level of redundancy to system, I then burn a copy of the new archive folder to CDs or DVDs, whichever is more appropriate, and label it according to its contents. That CD then gets cataloged in an neat little utility called DiskTracker, after which it lives on my desk until I need to retrieve any artwork from it.

DiskTracker is a simple cataloging system that keeps track of all files on a CD or DVD and allows quick searching for accurate and easy lookups. Simply open the volume you want to search (in my case, I organize my volumes by year - 2004, 2005, etc…) and do a search for whatever piece of art or information that I’m looking for. Once it locates the art, it tells me exactly which CD it’s on.

Simple, easy… essential for business. And all this setup cost me was the $30 for the software are $75 for an external hard drive! There are plenty of upgrade options from a system like this that include varying levels of automation, as well as multiple hard drive RAID configurations with mutliple levels of redunancy. If you have questions on implementing an archiving system for your business or organization, drop me a line. Can you really afford not to have some sort of archiving system in your business or organization?

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Done correctly, a professional newsletter can offer a better ROI than most any other form of advertisement. Not only are newsletters an excellent way to stay in touch with your target audience, by adding a regular newsletter to your marketing répertoire, you can:

• Establish brand loyalty
• Enhance your business’ image and credibility
• Easily distinguish your business from your competitors
• Improve your image to the community
• Help build lasting relationships with your customers
• Establish your reputation in the industry as an expert
• Have the ability to cross sell goods or services or even promote products and services before they come to market
• Expand your existing customer base by targeting new potential customers with your mailing list
• Help retain customers

As great as all these benefits may sounds, there is a bit of work involved to putting together a good newsletter. In order to establish a functionally effective newsletter, there are a few things to consider:

• Frequency - Establish a set time period between issues. An effective newsletter doesn’t have to come out weekly, start quarterly if you feel you need to test the waters, then move up to monthly if the market allows.
• Use Effective Headlines - Headlines should summarize the article and be complete sentences.
• Tease - Whether your newsletter is through e-mail or printed hardcopy, use the front page to tease articles either to your website or to the interior pages of your newsletter. This practice helps ensure that more articles will be read.
• Proofread - Notice I didn’t say “spellcheck.” Re-read your newsletter starting from the last sentence and work your way backwards to the beginning. You’re more likely to catch errors that way, even ones that may slip by spellcheck (such as using the wrong syntax - whose instead of who’s, etc.).

It’s a fact, educated consumers are more likely to spend more, and more frequently. Done correctly, a newsletter is a sure fire way to get paid, which is why we’re in business in the first place right?

“Correctly,” is the key here.

Ready to establish a newsletter for your business? Give me a call.

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I do a good bit of product photography as well as social event here and there, but most of what I shoot is just for me.

I’ve been fairly serious about photography for a few years now. I’ve always had a camera, but broke down and purchased my first film SLR about 8 years ago. Since then I’ve aquired a Holga medium format camera to mess around with, as well as a couple of old Kodak Brownies. I also got my wife a Canon SD550 that I try to steal whenever I can.

The move to digital was a no brainer. No longer to I have to wait for processing. I can shoot, process, proof and print in a matter of a few minutes.

When I go on a shoot, I get a lot of questions as to what all I carry. Honestly, it does tend to look like I’m carrying the kitchen sink on my back when I pack up and go, but then, I don’t want to miss anything while I’m out either! So whether I’m on a job or just out for fun, here’s what I grab for the trip…

Lowepro Computrekker Backpack - Love it, wouldn’t dream of carrying any equipment without it. I don’t always take my laptop along with me, but it’s nice to have the option if I need it. I love the adjustability of the pack, not to mention it’s extremely comfortable!

Nikon D70s- What good would it be to go shooting without a camera eh?

Sometimes if I’m shooting for fun I’ll take along my Holga and a couple of rolls of Illford 120 Color film. Despite thousands of dollars of digital equipment, sometimes nothing beats the beauty the soft focus of a plastic lens in a $12 camera.

As far as lenses go, I’m never without my Nikon primes. I always carry my 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8, and my 120mm f/2.8. Along with these I also carry diffusion, 81A warming, cirular polarizing and UV protection filters. I’m in the market for a couple of good wide angles as well… but until then, I make due with what I’ve got. As Ansel Adams once said “the best wide angle lens is taking two steps back and finding the ‘ah-ha.’”

Another lens I’ve come to love is my Lensbaby 2.0. At first I wasn’t all that impressed with it, but as I’ve learned how to use it better (or should I say, now that I know what I’m doing and can get predictable results…) I abolutely love the possibilities it gives me. I don’t think I’ve done a single portrait shoot without pulling this lens out at least twice!

In addition to the basics, I always keep a cleaning kit with me that includes lens solution and wipes, various types of Q-tips, and the ultimate must-haves: a Giotto Rocket Air - nothing gets rid of particle dust better than this thing!; and a Nikon Lens Pen.

I also bring my iPod along with me, both for tunes and storage if I need to dump some pictures on it to free up my cards.

I usually carry at least 8 gigs of 2gig compact flash cards. Many manufacturers are offering up to 16 gig cards, but honestly, I feel safer carrying multiple smaller size cards. I don’t ever want to get in a bind where a card goes bad and it has 3-4 jobs on it. 2 gig is really the maximum size card I want to deal with.

Depending on what type of shooting I’m planning on doing that day, I may or may not take a tripod, monopod, various cable releases, lights and umbrellas, reflectors etc.

But that’s about it for what’s in my bag, what’s in yours?

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Well, the new look is getting closer to completion… Version 8.0 of this site is well on it’s way! I’ve updated just the blog section for now. It’ll be the easiest. I’ve still got some CSS tweaking to do in order to get everything exactly how I want it, but so far I’m digging it.

I’m not huge on the new “Web 2.0″ look for the most part, but there are some things about it that I do like and will implement further as I have time.

All in all, my hopes are that the site will be much cleaner, easier to navigate and focus on content rather than mostly graphics. Loads should be faster and as always, hopefully more usable for everyone (especially my clients).

It’s late. I’m calling it a night.

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Well, another year has passed and it’s time to figure out what to do differently (or better) for this year.

Those of you who know me, know that I got married a couple months back, so inevitably, many of my resolutions are bound to involve family. But as far as studio concerns go, I do have a few changes in mind that I’ll be implementing very soon.

1. Blog Regularly - I’ve tried to make this site easy for me to maintain and keep up-to-date, however, I do put of contributing to my blog entirely too quickly. I’m not going to set myself up for failure by saying that I’ll contribute daily, or even two or three times a week - but certainly more regularly. No more five month gaps between posts. Future blogs will include more diversified topics, tips on working with a designer (preferrably me), as well as product reviews as I upgrade technologies in the studio.

2. Website Overhaul - Yes, I’ve talked about it a couple of times before already, but I’m tired of looking at this site in its current format and will be updating the look very soon. I had a new look for the site planned and nearly implemented, but quickly got bored of it as well… So I’ve been working on another cleaner, more streamlined look that’s growing on me and hope to have the upgrade completed within a week or so.

3. Develop a Plan - Sounds obvious… but I want to sit down and do some hardcore brainstorming about where I want the studio to be one year from now and then develop a plan to make it all happen.

4. Implement New Technologies - Another no brainer, but I’m constantly looking for new things to make me more streamlined. I enjoy the “work smarter, not harder” mentality. There’s a couple of investments out there that I’m considering that will add new services for my clients as well as offer improvements to internal workflows - hopefully making my life simpler!

5. Email Newsletters - This is something I set up last year, but never implemented. Personally I love newsletters and miss the days of working on the newspaper. As a part of my website upgrade, I’ll be adding an area where viewers can subscribe to an HTML newsletter that I’ll regularly (probably once a month for starters) publish. Planned topics for the newsletter will be design related, as well as a review here and there.

That about does it for now. I’m sure I’ll come across more ideas for improvements as the year develops, but I don’t want to overload myself coming out of the gate!

Happy New Year!

-c

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This is a bangin’ DSLR! Many pros prefer it to the more costly “pro” models. When I bought mine, the body only was just under $1000, they’re available now for just under $700. The D70s is an update to the earlier D70. To my knowledge, the main difference between the two is the D70s’ larger screen. There may be some firmware differences as well, however, all buttons, menus and other functions appear to be identical.

Granted the new D80 proves to be the D70s’s successor in the Prosumer lineup of Nikon’s DSLRs, but even in our world of 10+ megapixel cameras, the D70s packs quite a punch.

Don’t believe the megapixel myths about limits on print sizes. Manufacturers and resellers want you to spend the extra bucks on denser megapixel sensors. It’s not about just the megapixels, but moreso the quality of the sensor and what you, the photographer, are able to do with the image both in camera and afterwards that makes the difference (not to mention how you’re printing your photos).

I’m able to get stunning 24 x 36″ prints off my D70s. I’m sure I could get great quality at bigger, but haven’t tried as of yet. There’s far more to consider than megapixels when it comes to the camera; focus, lens selection, lighting, post processing…

Pics look great at most every ISO setting, I don’t start noticing excessive noise until around ISO 1200, and it’s still acceptable even then. Supposedly the D2Hs doesn’t have bad noise at any setting, but then again, it is nearly three times the price.

I got mine about 8 months ago and have taken more than 20,000 captures with it. It’s a great do-all camera and highly recommended for anyone wanting to move either from 35mm film or step up from point and shoot digitals. I traded my film SLR in on this and haven’t missed it since, if anything I was kicking myself in the head for not making the switch sooner. Sure, medium format film still reigns supreme for those doing large landscape or high fashion photography, but for the rest of us that need good quality pics, and need a way to incoporate them into a workflow fast and seamlessly - digital just makes sense, and the D70s is a great camera to work with.

A few tricks I use with the camera:

1. Shoot in sRGB mode. This way colors in your camera are far more likely to match what comes off your printer. I use Macs and Apple monitors, so I don’t really have much of an issue with color matching, it just works.

2. Always shoot RAW… yes, the file size is bigger, but you’d be amazed at the processing options that shooting in RAW gives you, especially when using a RAW converter like Adobe’s Lightroom. If the image matters, shoot RAW.

3. If you love wild, over-saturated colors (like me), pump up the saturation setting in the camera’s shooting menu.

4. I find that the D70s pics come out a tad more on the cool side than what I usually prefer, so I use an 81A warming filter almost always, but that’s me…

5. Nikon publishes the ISO sensitivity for this camera as 200 - 1600. By using the camera’s built in EV adjustments, it’s possible to get an effective ISO 50 - 3200 sensitivity!

Vital Specs:

Type of Camera: Single-lens reflex digital camera

Effective Pixels: 6.1 million

Image Sensor: RGB CCD, 23.7 x 15.6mm; total pixels: 6.24 million

Autofocus: TTL phase detection by Nikon Multi-CAM900 autofocus module with
AF-assist illuminator (approx. 0.5m to 3.0m) Detection range: EV -1 to +19 (ISO 100 equivalent, at normal temperature: 68 degrees F/20 degrees C)

Focus Lock: Focus can be locked by pressing shutter-release button halfway (single-servo AF) or by pressing AE-L/AF-L button
Image Size (pixels): 3,008 x 2,000 [L]; 2,240 x 1,488 [M]; 1,504 x 1,000 [S]

LCD Monitor: 2.0-in., 130,000-dot, low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD with brightness adjustment

Storage Media: CompactFlash(TM) (CF) Card (Type I and II ) and Microdrive (TM)

AF Area Mode: 1) Single Area AF, 2) Dynamic Area AF, 3) Closest Subject Priority Dynamic Area AF

Shooting Modes: 1) Single frame shooting mode; 2) Continous shooting mode: approx. 3 frames per second; 3) Self-timer mode; 4) Delayed remote mode : 2 sec. delay; 5) Quick-response remote mode

Focus Area: Can be selected from 5 focus areas
Picture Angle: Equivalent in 35mm [135] format is approx. 1.5 times lens focal length

Lens Servo: 1) Autofocus (AF): single-servo AF (AF-S); continuous servo AF (AF-C); predictive focus tracking automatically activated according to subject status; 2) Manual focus (M)

Remote Control: Via Remote Cord MC-DC1 (optional) or Wireless Remote Control ML-L3 (optional)

Storage (Number of): RAW approx. 44, FINE approx. 73, NORMAL approx. 144, BASIC approx. 279, RAW & BASIC approx. 39 (Number of frames per 256MB CF card, image size L)
Viewfinder Information: Focus indications, AE/FV lock indicator, Shutter speed, Aperture value, Exposure/Exposure compensation indicator, Exposure mode, Flash output level compensation, Exposure compensation,Number of remaining exposures, Flash-ready indicator

Exposure Mode: Digital Vari-Program (Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close up, Sports, Night landscape, Night portrait), Programmed Auto [P] with flexible program; Shutter Priority Auto [S]; Aperture Priority Auto [A]; Manual [M]
Exposure Metering: 1) EV 0 to 20 (3D Color Matrix or center-weighted metering); 2) EV 2 to 20 (spot metering) (ISO 100 equivalent, f/1.4 lens, 68 degrees F/20 degrees C)

Storage System: Compressed NEF (RAW): 12-bit compression, JPEG: JPEG baseline-compliant

Sensitivity: 200 to 1600 (ISO equivalent) in steps of 1/3 EV

White Balance: Auto (TTL white balance with 1,005-pixel RGB sensor), six manual modes with fine-tuning, preset white balance, white balance bracketing possible

Built-in Speedlight: Auto flash with auto pop-up [P], [S], [A], [M]: manual pop-up with button release Guide number (ISO 200/ISO 100, m): approx. 15/11 (manual full 17/12)
Accessory Shoe: Standard ISO hot-shoe contact with safety lock provided

Auto Exposure Bracketing: Two or three frames ±2 EV in 1/3 or 1/2 steps

File System: Exif 2.21, Compliant DCF 2.0 and DPOF

Auto Exposure Lock: Luminosity locked at detected value with AE-L/AF-L button

Depth of Field Preview: When CPU lens is attached, lens aperture can be stopped down and previewed by pressing the preview button

Exposure Compensation: ±5 EV in increments of 1/3 or 1/2 EV

Eyepoint: 18mm (-1.0m -1)

Flash Sync Mode: 1) Front-curtain Sync (normal sync), 2) Red-eye Reduction, 3) Red-eye Reduction with Slow Sync, 4) Slow Sync, 5) Rear-curtain Sync

Self-timer: Electronically controlled timer with 2 to 20 seconds duration

Playback Function: 1 frame: Thumbnail (4 or 9 segments); Magnifying playback; Slide show;
Histogram indication; Highlight point display; Auto image rotation

Delete Function: Card format, All frames delete, Selected frames delete

Power Source: One Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3a or EN-EL3, Three CR2 Lithium batteries (with optional MS-D70 CR2 battery holder), AC Adapter EH-5 (optional)
Dimensions (W x H x D): Approx. 5.5 x 4.4 x 3.1 in. (140 x 111 x 78mm)
Weight (without battery): Approx. 1lb 5 oz (600g)
Supplied Accessories: Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3a, Quick Charger MH-18a, Video Cable, USB Cable UC-E4, Strap, Body cap, Eyepiece Cap DK-5, Rubber Eyecup DK-20, LCD monitor cover BM-5, PictureProject CD-ROM. Supplied accessories may differ in each country or area.

Video Output: Can be selected from NTSC and PAL

Interface: USB: Mass storage and PTP selectable

Text Input: Up to 36 characters of alphanumeric text input available with LCD monitor and multi-selector; stored in Exif header

Focusing Screen: Type-B BriteView Clear Matte screen Mark V with superimposed focus brackets and on-demand grid lines
Viewfinder Frame Coverage: Approx. 95%

Viewfinder Magnification: Approx. 0.75x with 50mm lens at infinity; -1.0m-1

Shutter: Combined mechanical and CCD electronic shutter, 30 sec to 1/8000 sec. in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV, bulb

Sync Contact: X-contact only; flash synchronization at up to 1/500 sec.

Flash Control: 1) TTL: TTL flash control by 1,005-pixel RGB sensor Built-in Speedlight: i-TTL Balanced Fill-Flash or standard i-TTL flash (spot metering or mode dial set to [M]) SB-800 or 600: i-TTL Balanced Fill-Flash or standard i-TTL flash (spot metering); 2) Auto aperture: Available with SB-800 with CPU lens3) Non-TTL Auto: Available with Speedlights such as SB-800, 80DX, 28DX,28, 27, and 22s4) Distance-priority manual available with SB-800
Flash Compensation: -3 to +1 EV in increments of 1/3 or 1/2 EV

Tripod Socket: 1/4 in. (ISO 1222)

Exposure Meter Coupling: TTL full-aperture exposure metering system(1) 3D Color Matrix Metering with 1,005-pixel RGB sensor; (2) Center-weighted: Weight of 75% (8mm dia. circle) given to 6, 8, 10, or 12mm dia. circle in center of frame, or weighting based on average of entire frame; (3) Spot: Meters 2.3mm dia. circle

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