Nikon CLS

I have to say, I love the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS.) For those who don't know, this is a system that lets you trigger off camera flashes wirelessly, without the need to buy radio transmitters. Basically, the mid-range and higher camera bodies can use the built in flash to send a series of pulses out that the flash units see. These pre-flashes tell the off camera flash units when to fire, and how much juice to use. While the system has some limitations, it can come in really handy.

This image here was made using this technique. I made it for a challenge over at www.dgrin.com called "Open or Closed." It did not survive the judging, but I am still pretty happy with how I did the lighting. It is supposed to be a little wooden guy opening a box, from which a glowing light is emerging. I think I cropped a little too tight. The box looks a bit more like a book than a box. But the lighting is pretty good, I feel. There is one Nikon SB-600 inside the box with a Gary Fong Light Sphere II clear attached. I also have some white craft foam in the bottom of the box to give it a little boost in reflectivity. There is a second SB-600 behind and below the wooden artists model to give him some separation from the background. That gives the highlights under his arms. The whole thing is shot in front of a big piece of black velvet. Black velvet is a great secret weapon for this sort of shot. Unfortunately, my velvet is a bit dusty and covered in cat hair, and the flash back there picked all of that up initially. So there is a piece of black craft foam between the rear flash and the velvet, to control light spill. I was still having some problems getting definition on his head, so I held a piece of white foam core board just above the frame to reflect the light back onto him. I have also found that the built in flash on my D200 can give some strong highlights when you are in close and use it to trigger like this, even if you have the built in set to zero power. It is as if it does not quite cut off before the shutter opens. So I have a small piece of white craft foam in front of my pop-up flash to bounce the light up instead of directly at the scene.

Nikon D700 and More

Since this is a blog about photography and I am a Nikon shooter, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not talk about the announcement that dropped today about the D700 (and some other stuff.) There are lot's of places you can find out more, like Nikon USA, Nikon UK, and dpreview. Dpreview has a nice hands on first look, so that is your best bet to find out all about it. Since they seem to have the technical aspects covered, I would rather talk about what this means to you and me, the average Joe Shooter on the street.

This is Nikon's first real modern pro-sumer DSLR with a full frame sensor. It was bound to happen sooner or later and we all saw it coming. The D3 and D300 are fantastic cameras, it only made sense to essentially put the D3 sensor in the D300 body. I believe that over time we are going to go away from the DX size sensors and be pretty much all full frame in the not too distant future, say three years or so. Oh there will still be DX form factor DSLRs, but they will all be the entry level models. I also suspect that we will still have DX lenses for quite some time both because of the large base of DX cameras out there right now and the fact that it is easier to make a DX lens that performs well since you are only ever looking at the sweet spot in the middle of the glass.

So you have to ask yourself, what is Nikon thinking with this current line-up? If you look at the top end, you have the following:

D200 - Although a bit older, still a very solid performer. Well designed, well built, priced a little over $1,200 street, as of this writing. DX sensor. I suspect this will go away now that the D700 is here.

D300 - This is the D200 turned up to 11. The CMOS sensor is similar to the D3's sensor in terms of noise, only smaller. Better colors, better focus, better performance, vibrating dust removal for the sensor, and live view. Now if only they hadn't removed the bracket button. Priced just over $1,600 street. DX sensor. I suspect this will see a price break now that the D700 has arrived.

D700 - Take the D300, and turn it up to 12. (Or take the D3 and turn it down to 9.) We haven't really seen these in the flesh yet, but it should take the best parts of the D300 and the sensor of the D3 and put them together. Seems like a match made in heaven to me. Price should be about $3,000 when they become available. FX sensor.

D3 - Fast, fast, fast. Great full frame sensor with noise so nice you will finally use something other than the lowest ISO you have. The dual CF slots are also cool. Priced just under $5,000 and Nikon can barely build them fast enough to keep up. FX sensor.

So now you have to ask yourself, why would you buy a D3 now that the D700 is here? I suspect that is just the question that Nikon wants you to ask. After all, if you have to ask yourself that question, you probably don't need the D3. If you need crazy high frame rates like 9 fps in FX or 11 fps in DX, then you need the D3. If you need two CF slots, for back-up, to give one to a client, or just to keep up with the bajillion frames you just took, then the D3 has your back. If you don't need these things (and most of you don't really) then you were probably very hesitant to part with 5k just to get the full frame goodness. But 3k... that isn't looking so bad, now is it?

And if you bought a D300 and are now thinking of getting a D700, that means you will most likely sell your D300. The D300 and D3 were enough to make some Canon die hards jump ship. The D700 should tempt more of them and the glut of used D300's that is sure to happen now should tempt even more.

So I think Nikon knew what they were doing. The D3 still has a couple of features that are necessary for high end shooters. The D700 is now the top of the prosumer line and the D300 takes care of the rest of us who spend more on our hobby than we should. As long as Nikon can pump out the D700 fast enough, all should be well in Nikon land for a while. Of course this all assumes that the folks at Canon don't have a trick up their sleeve. I fear this is a rather poor assumption. Time will tell.