Nikon equipment

Are you interested in hearing some thoughts about Nikon equipment from a Canon point of view? Well you just might get it on this blog. I recently purchased some Nikon gear to better understand my customers' needs. I was able to buy a decent kit used from one person, so now I have a Nikon outfit along with all of my Canon gear. I am not sure which system I will keep, and that includes looking at some of the Sony equipment.

So why did I make the purchase? A number of reasons come to mind. Let me list the ways:

• I need to understand how the Nikon cameras and lenses work together, primarily for the benefit of my safari customers. Reading a manual out in the field is no fun, and hopefully if there is a question about a button or function, I can help out.
• The Nikon flash system is far superior. Far superior. Have you seen the new SB900? I thought the Nikon Creative Lighting System was incredible with the SB800, but now the SB900 just makes the system so amazing.
• The 200-400mm f/4 VR lens. This is exactly what Canon needs to be manufacturing, and this lens is a wildlife photographer's dream. Sometimes it isn't enough reach, especially out on the open savannah in Tanzania, but that can be overcome in a few ways: buy a 500mm VR (expensive, and more gear), use a 1.5x crop D300 type camera or just put more megapixels on your subject with the new D3x 24.5mp camera body and crop later (if needed).
• Ergonomics. The Canon 1 series cameras right now are so much better than the last generation, but Nikon has figured out the ergonomics game. They feel good in my hand, and some buttons are just where they need to be. Some not, but overall the Nikon ergonomics is pretty hard to beat.

So am I going to switch completely? Perhaps. Perhaps not. We shall see. I need to sell off some of my Canon gear to help pay for the new Nikon equipment, for sure. I leave for a three-week safari in Tanzania next month, and I am planning on taking all Nikon equipment with me. Here is what I will take:

Nikon D300, D700, D3 camera bodies. The 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR and 200-400mm f/4 VR lenses. Oh, and a 1.7x teleconverter. Why so many cameras? Because this was how my purchase planned out. I bought the D300 from a friend just so I could try the camera out with another friend's 200-400mm. Then another friend announced that he was selling his D700. And then the huge package deal was presented to me and I bought a D3 with some amazing lenses. There are some lenses that I am not prepared to keep, such as the 105mm f/2.8 VR macro, 24mm Tilt/Shift and perhaps the amazing 28mm f/1.4, and I will be listing some of these lenses on eBay or an online forum in the coming days. On the Canon side I might sell my 400mm f/4 DO and 24-105mm f/4 L IS.

I plan on writing about my experiences with the Nikon equipment. For those that are thinking of switching from Canon to Nikon, you might be interested. For those who are already on the Nikon platform, you might hear some things of value, as well.

So Andy, what is so wrong about the Canon system? Pretty much nothing, actually. Like I said before, I would like to have more knowledge on the Nikon system for my travelers. Yes, the Canon system needs a better wide angle lens, an update to the ancient 100-400mm lens, also known as the 'Dust Sucker', and a lack of a 200-400mm f/4 zoom. But that is fairly nitpicky.

Inside Digital Photo Radio Interview now available

I was recently interviewd by Scott Sheppard over at Inside Digital Photo Radio, and we chatted about my photography, my African safaris, photographic equipment, and of course my camera backpack company Gura Gear.

You can read more about the interview, as well as listen to the interview on Inside Digital Radio's web site by clicking on the logo below. The interview was on the November 29 episode.

Update on Friday, December 12, 2008 at 09:41AM by Andy Biggs

There are 2 ways to listen to the interview:

1) Follow this link to the Inside Digital Photo web site.

2) Listen to the podcast from within iTunes. Here is the link.

Photo of the Day

Kongoni, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. September 2006

Canon 1DsMkII, 400mm f/4 DO, 1/320 @ f/11, ISO 160

Have you ever taken an image and processed it a different way about every month or so for the next year or two? Perhaps three? Well, this is one of those images that bugs me to death. I am not sure why. Sometimes it is the toning, sometimes it is the contrast, sometimes it is the crop lines. I just cannot get comfortable with any of the different versions that I have. It is a good exercise in editing, for sure.

Workshop opportunity in Moab, Utah

Since I am not running a landscape workshop in 2008 or 2009 in the Moab, Utah area, I wanted to mention that my good friend Bret Edge is running an exciting workshop in March that is sure to please all that attend. Bret is calling his workshop 'The Desert Landscape: From Capture to Print', and here is a quick blurb about it:

"Visit Moab. Photograph Arches & Canyonlands National Parks. Learn Lightroom and Photoshop. Make beautiful prints. All of this and more are packed into one, intensive five-day photography workshop that’s uniquely designed to take your photography to higher levels.

During this personal, comprehensive workshop you’ll photograph the dramatic canyons, impossibly perched arches and towering sandstone spires of Arches and Canyonlands, guided by pro photographers/instructors Bret Edge and Nathaniel Coalson. We’ll shoot the landscape in the sweet light of sunrise and sunset. Then, during the day, we’ll work in a comfortable meeting room helping you master the digital darkroom using Lightroom and Photoshop."

Bret has helped me with some of my Moab workshops in the past, and his excellent knowledge of the area, as well as his photographic skills is an excellent combination. Bret also guides one on one trips in the area, and if you cannot make his March workshop you should contact him if you are heading to the area and want to see some out of the way places.

Here is a link to Bret's The Desert Landscape: From Capture to Print

What I use: MacBook Air

When I am out of the country on a business trip or photographic trip, I grab my Apple Macbook Air as my computer of choice. Why? Because it is so darned thin, lightweight and has ample processing power for my needs when I away from home. I don't need a powerhouse of a machine, actually. I need a computer to do the following when I am on a photo safari in Africa:

• Dowload images
• View, rate and quickly process images in Lightroom
• Run slideshows when connected to my digital projector
• Take daily notes
• Send and receive email and surf the web when I have the luxury

I purchased the Macbook Air when they were announced this past spring, and my specific machine has the 1.6ghz processor and the 64GB SSD solid state storage drive. I really do wish I had more storage space, as the usable space after the room for OSX is around 45 GB or so. I would love to have the newer 128GB SSD drive, but my Macbook Air lost so much value in the past 7 months that it is not worth it to sell my unit and upgrade to the newer one. Perhaps I will wait for the next generation when a larger capacity drive is offered.

I think the MacBook Air's keyboard is quite good, the display is a decent size for a 3 pound machine and the processing power meets my needs. What I don't like about the MacBook Air is the lone USB port on the side. With only 45GB of usable space, I need to augment that space with an external hard drive. I have enough CF memory cards to last many many weeks without having to format any cards, but I do like to backup my files when I have the chance. I typically backup daily, but this often happens in the middle of the day. At the end of the day I find myself rushing to get cleaned up after the afternoon game drive and wish to get to the bar for social hour before dinner.

The problem with the single USB port is that my CF memory card reader is competing with my external hard drive for that single port. My solution so far as been to bring along a small USB port replicator, which works just fine.

I chose to have the 64GB SSD drive for two reasons: data security and speed. Since SSD drives have no moving parts, there is less to go wrong with your data. Additionally, SSD drives have faster read/write times when compared to hard drives. The hard drives offered on the MacBook Air are all 4200 rpm drives, if I am not mistaken. 4200 rpm drives are way too slow for my needs, so the SSD drive it was.

The MacBook Air is one of my most favorite purchases over the past few years, and I prefer to use it on trips if I am trying to save weight. I do have a MacBook Pro that I use as my daily work machine, and a Mac Pro desktop as my dedicated photo processing machine. I really don't need two laptop computers, but I bought the MacBook Pro over a year ago and I still use it quite a bit. It has more horsepower, has a larger screen, and I upgraded the drive to 500GB last month. So my primary storage for everything except photos is on my MacBook Pro.

Do you travel much for your photography? Are you looking for a computer for those situations, and is weight a critical factor? You should give the MacBook Air a try at your local Apple store. You might like it. I sure did.

Safari Overview Video

Andy Biggs Photo Safaris

Polar Bear Trip Report and Sony A900 Mini Review (Long Post)

Now that I am back home and back into my daily routine, I have had the time to reflect back on my latest trip to Churchill, Canada. So where do I begin? Well, from the beginning.

A few years ago there was a conversation around a camp fire at some remote bush camp in Africa, and some of the people at that gathering mentioned that they wanted to go photograph polar bears. Well, there are a number of locations that one can visit, but the most productive, safe and predictable location for polar bears is arguably Churchill, Canada. Churchill is on the edge of Hudson Bay, and the location has a high congregation of bears in the area. I can get into a long discussion of actually why the bears are there, but this is for another time.

The tourist polar bear season last about 6 to 8 weeks each late fall / early winter, and most viewing is done from vehicles that are high off the ground. I presume the primary reason is for safety (duh), as polar bears can stand very tall on their hind legs. These vehicles, sometimes referred to as tundra buggies (and also a name of one of the two operators in the area) have both inside and outside locations from which to photograph from. On the inside, there are slide-down windows from which to put a bean bag and also your camera and lens combination. On the rear of the vehicle there is a platform. There is variability with these platforms, depending on which vehicle and which company you are working with. On our vehicle there was a grate where you could watch a bear go underneath you. Very cool!

The Pirate Ship. Aaaaaarrrrrr.

We stayed in the town of Churchill, and went out on the tundra vehicle during the daylight hours. And one evening we went out for a night ride with wine, cheese and dinner. Oh, and we also saw some wildlife. I must confess that this type of a trip is about as easy as it can get for wildlife photography. The company we used was Natural Habitat, and they did an excellent job at setting up the trip for me, taking phone calls, preparing people for the trip, getting us there, assigning an excellent naturalist / guide to take care of us and pretty much guaranteeing us a good time.

Churchill is a very well known area for polar bears, and for good reasons. I have nothing to compare our experience to, but we certainly had a wonderful time. We had a cast of characters for sure.

The Sony A900 camera goes to the arctic

On the equipment side, SONY graciously loaned my group a pair of A900 24mp full frame cameras, and three wonderful and fast lenses: the 24-70mm f/2.8 Zeiss, the 70-200mm f/2.8 G and the 300mm f/2.8 G. All three of these lenses are very well made, and have a very professional feel to them. I spent some time with the equipment, and I came away very impressed with many aspects. The A900 is a very well-built camera, and reminds me of my old F100 Nikon from the film days. The A900 fits in my hand like a glove and is rock solid. I love the angular design of the prism housing on the top.

The Sony A900 24.6mp digital SLR and 24-70mm f/2.8 Zeiss lens

The Sony A900 and 300mm f/2.8 G in action

The Sony Alpha A900 is a 24.6mp full frame digital SLR, and is one of only a few companies with a full frame sensor inside. Canon, Nikon, Contax (remember them?), Kodak (now discontinued) and now Sony have brought out full frame sensors, but Sony is the king of the hill with a whopping 24.6mp sensor. So only Sony, Nikon and Canon have full frame cameras, and Sony has the upper hand if file size is something you are after.

Sony A900, 300mm f/2.8 G, 1/1000 @ f/3.5, ISO 800

The file size is really nice, and I needed to shoot at ISO 800 for most of the trip, as the available light wasn't enough for a lower ISO value. The viewfinder on the A900 is gorgeous, and is likely the brightest I have seen to date on any camera. The A900, like many of the other Alpha line of cameras, has their SteadyShot anti shake technology inside, and from my limited time with the camera does have some benefit. How much? I am not sure, but it certainly cannot hurt.

In extremely cold environments battery life can be an issue. I had numerous batteries for the A900 on this trip, and even though we were working all day in mostly zero to 5 degrees F, I was unable to draw a battery down more than 50 percent.

Sony A900, 300mm f/2.8 G, 1/1250 @ f/5, ISO 800

There was a learning curve with the A900, just like with any platform change, and I was able to navigate through the menus fairly easily. The rear LCD is bright and detailed, and the menu items are fairly easy to understand what is meant.

All in all it was fun to shoot with the Sony equipment. I look forward to using more of their lenses, flashes and camera bodies. All of the Sony gear was transported to Churchill, Canada in a Gura Gear Kiboko bag, with tons of extra space for accessories and other items.

Here are some other images from the trip:

Shooting off the rear deck of the tundra vehicle. The polar bears get close!

An evening with some of the locals

Smile!

And a larger gallery of images can be found here:

Polar Bears of Churchill

Luminous Landscape reviews my Gura Gear Kiboko bag

Michael Reichmann over at Luminous Landscape has reviewed the Gura Gear Kiboko bag, and his review is absolutely glowing. Here are some snippets worth pointing out:

"..Opening up half of the Kiboko bag is much easier than opening a traditional bag..The Kiboko bag openings just fold over onto themselves..."

"Gura Gear seems to have found the elusive holy grail, a bag this is both well designed for travel and well designed to work out of."

"What I particularly like about the design is that in addition to the required comfort and support, when not in use all of the belts and straps tuck away out of sight so that they can't get caught on airline conveyor system if the bag is checked. Very nicely designed."

You can read Michael's complete review online at Luminous Landscape's web site.