Nikon D5000 Preview at Ace Photo

Ace Photo in Ashburn Virginia held their semi-annual "demo day" today. IDIC Photo had posted a hands-on preview of the Nikon D700 at Ace photo last year right after it was launched, and this morning we had the pleasure of playing around with the just-announced Nikon D5000! For an added-bonus the lens mounted on the D5000 was the new AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8. Derek, the Nikon rep, informed us that we had in our hands one of the first production models. Here is a brief summary of our impressions and some quick shots taken with the D700.

- The D5000 is bigger than the D40/40x/60 but smaller than the D90. This has been clear from the DPreview analysis but holding it in our hands it definitely seemed smallish but not to small. A nice package with just the right heft for a vacation/street photography/around-the-house camera with awesome image quality.

- The swivel screen is nice but the lower resolution as compared to the newer models is disappointing. We have gotten used to the sharp resolution of the D300/3/700/90

- The sensor is the supposedly the same as the D90 and the quick shots we made with the 35mm f/1.8 were sharp and clear and free of noise upto ISO1600. According to Derek the initial batch of 35mm f/1.8 sold out everywhere and they should be shipping new batches soon.

- The 35mm f/1.8 itself is a beauty and provides the "normal" 50mm-equivalent fov on the DX sensor. It balances very nice on the D5000 and this could be all the camera someone could need for street photography.

- The video mode is pretty much the same as the D90 and not something to get very excited about. However, it can come in handy for the quick movie clip when you do not have a camcorder around.

D5000 as captured by the D700 w/ 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro

The new AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens

Size comparison: D5000 w/ 35mm f/1.8 (and hood) and D60 with 18-55 Kit lens

Size comparison: D5000 w/ 35mm f/1.8 (without hood) and D60 with 18-55 Kit lens

Many more scene modes than the D40/40x/60

Washington D.C. Auto Show 2009

IDIC Photo got a chance to take some shots at the 2009 Washington D.C. Auto Show held at the Convention Center. Not in any official capacity but as a visitor on a regular weekend day. Covering a car show is interesting and presents its specific sets of challenges. One has to ensure that the car shots are "clean" and composed in a way that people milling about or getting in and out of cars do not ruin the shot. The lighting is less than ideal so fast glass and a good (read Full frame) camera body are very helpful. We took along the FX Sensor Nikon D700 and decided to use two lenses: 1) Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 Ai-s (a more detailed review of this manual-focus Nikkor gem will follow in the blog in the future), and 2) the venerable Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 IF D.

Here are a few shots from the car show that came out nicely and show the sleek cars in all their colorful glory.

Rocklite performs at Gloria Jean's Coffees in Lahore

IDIC Photo had the opportunity to capture a live performance of an up and coming "underground" rock band in Lahore Pakistan -- Rocklite. We were getting a latte at the newly opened Gloria Jeans Coffees cafe in DHA Lahore and noticed that Rocklite were the performers for the open mic night the cafe holds on Saturdays. Luckily we had our Nikon D700 with us and decided to stick around for a few songs and capture the mood of the band. The D700's low-light performance shone through and we were able to get some excellent results even at ISO 4000 to 5000.

Rocklite members:

• Rizwan ul Haq - Guitars & Vocals (Rizwan was a guitarist for the pioneer Pakistani band Vital Signs)
• Allan Smith - Drums and Vocals
• Pietro Tilli - Keyboard & Vocals
• Imran Hanan - Bass & Backup Vocals

The band can be reached at rene_allan@hotmail.com

Engadget.com's roundup of Nikon D700 reviews

Engadget posted an excellent round-up of Nikon D700 reviews here:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/08/nikon-d700-review-roundup/

As we had previously posted in our hands-on with the Nikon D700, it is essentially all the features of the bigger, heavier $5,000 D3 in a D300 body. Follow the review pointers in the Engadget post for more detailed analyses.

Hands on with the Nikon D700

I just got back from Ace Photo in Ashburn, Virginia where they had arranged a hands-on with the brand-new full-frame Nikon D700 (read preview at Ken Rockwell) and what an awesome camera it is! I played with it quite a bit; they had a bunch of lenses and a D3 and D300 for comparison. It is essentially a D3 in a D300's smaller body. The only negative I could see with the D700 was that the D3 and even the D300 have 100% viewfinder while the D700 is 95% (though the D700's viewfinder is physically bigger and brighter almost like the D3's which is beautiful). Like the D3, the D700 is a low-noise wonder at high ISOs and it ideal for low-light photography. As Derek from Nikon USA aptly put it -- "ISO3200 is the new ISO800".

A lot of prosumers showed up to check out the D700 and some had even ordered it already. it should be shipping by end of July for a street price of $2995.95 -- about 2K less than the D3.

Check out some of the shots I took of the D700 with a variety of lenses.

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations Photoblog

Hello world! I'm AJ and I recently launched a photography website - www.idic-photo.com and thought having a blog focused on photos and photography would complement the site perfectly. IDIC Photo strives to provide excellent photography services at extremely competitive rates in the Washington D.C. metro area (Virginia, Maryland, D.C.).

I have also maintained a pro Flickr account for several years and my photostream has received about 30,000 views. I'll use this blog to showcase portfolio photos, other interesting shots from everyday and also to comment on photography technology in general (e.g. I plan to attend the Nikon D700 hands-on at ACE Photo tomorrow in Ashburn, VA).