Thom Hogan and the Nikon D800: review and book

The highly valued Thom Hogan has posted his D800 review. I quote from his verdict:

“The D800 and D800E are demanding cameras. If you’re buying them for image quality (and I’m not sure why you’d be buying them otherwise), the possible output can be spectacular, but getting there takes work. I suspect the Big Croppers will poo-poo that. They’ll think that they can just treat the D800 like a point and shoot and then crop to get the picture they want. They’ll be disappointed, as diffraction and sloppy camera handling can make those 12mp crops look worse than if you had just used a 12mp camera with the right lens in the first place”

Read the full review here. I only wish he finally would use a better software for creating his website.

He also starts sellings his “Complete Guide to the Nikon D800 and D800E“. In the past I’ve already bought some of his books, they are so much better than the Nikon manuals and you will learn a lot by reading them.

New Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR

Nikon announces the AF-S NIKKOR 24-85 / 3.5-4.5G ED VR, a new FX lens with VR (image stabilization), very versatile and affordable at a suggested retail price of $599. They also announced the production of 70 million lenses – that means they produced 5 million more since October 2011 when they announced the 65 million lense anniversary.

New Nikon superzoom lens for DX

Nikon announces the new AF-S 18-300 / 3.5-5.6G ED VR lens for DX – a 16.7x supperzoom featuring the second generation VRII.

Nikon 18-300 superzoom lens

New Nikon AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 G

Nikon launched the AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 G, an improved version of the popular AF 85 f/1.8. The new lens will be available for $500 in March.Nikkor AF-S 85 1.8 G

Nikon D7000

Nikon announces the new Nikon D7000 DSLR camera, the perfect upgrade for all D5000 and D90 users and even attractive to a lot of others:

  • 16.2 MP CMOS sensor
  • 3″  921k dot LCD
  • 1080p full HD video with full time autofocus
  • 39-point AF with a new 2,016 pixel RGB 3D Matrix Metering System
  • ISO 100-6400 with up to 25600 HI-2 previously available only in Nikon FX cameras
  • 6 fps for up to 100 images
  • Quiet single frame advance mode
  • 14-bit RAW mode
  • Two SD card slots
  • Camera body with a magnesium-alloy top and rear covers
  • Shutter built for at least 150,000 cycles

Links: Nikon press release, Nikon fact sheet, Nikon D7000 pictures, first preview at Dpreview and an interesting test including D7000 videos.