Digital Photography Review has published an article with the views of four professional photographers about the new Nikon D4 and D800 SLRs. The photographers come from different genres of photography and are: Leon Neal (sport and news), Dan Chung (multimedia journalist), Neil Lupin (music) and Andy Sheppard (music). Overall, the reception to the new cameras is positive, and Dan Chung in particular seems to feel that the Nikons could now replace his Canons. The lack of a headphone jack and clean HDMI out on the EOS1-DX counts against it he feels, when compared with the D4 and D800. Neil Lupin is very positive about the increased low-light performance of the new cameras.

Although interesting, the article is only a pointer towards what the pros are thinking, as at the time of publishing, none of them have actually used the new cameras.

Continue Reading

The Veolia Environnment Wildlife Photographer of the Year is making its final call for entries. The contest has David Doubilet as one of the judges this year, and includes categories for animal portraits, behavior, animals in their environment and underwater worlds.

Full details are on the contest’s website, and the deadline is at 23:59 GMT on 23 February.

Continue Reading

In an article on his blog, Wetpixel moderator, Shawn Heinrichs, gives a personal perspective about the controversy around the feeding of whale sharks at Oslob, South Cebu, Philippines. Shawn’s group were amongst the first people to witness the interactions between the local fishermen and the sharks in early December 2011, and initially withheld information out of concern that the absence of regulation could cause a free-for-all to the sharks detriment. Once the story broke, he has been lobbying for regulation of tourism activities, and since late January, regulations have been in place. In his article, Shawn is optimistic about the long-term future of the whale sharks and their fishermen “companions”.

Continue Reading

PBS Nature is set to screen Ocean Giants, a three-part series previously aired by the BBC. it was filmed by Doug Allen and Didier Noirot and looks at how cetaceans hunt, mate, and communicate, and follows scientists as they strive to uncover new insights about these animals. The first episode, Giant Lives, enters the world of the great whales. The second, Deep Thinkers, explores the cognitive and emotional lives of dolphins and whales while the last episode focuses on marine mammals’ extrasensory perceptions and communication skills in the Voices of the Sea.

Ocean Giants will air on PBS Nature on 22 February.

Continue Reading

Nikon USA has posted a technical guide to the new D800/D800E SLR as a pdf download. The guide includes tips on high ISO shooting, using auto ISO and improving optical performance. It also has information on high resolution shooting and dealing with color artifacts and moiré.

The guide also suggests that the high megapixel count in the new SLR may cause problems for some users:

“While its high pixel count of 36 megapixels gives the D800/D800E resolution unrivalled by previous digital SLR cameras, a side effect is that bokeh and blur are made that much more obvious.”

Continue Reading