I received my lens today and quickly started putting it through it’s paces. I captured the above shot at f/2.4, added a little texture to it using OnOne Software and Flypaper Textures. It doesn’t really demonstrate what this lens is capable of, but it turned out pretty nice. I’ll have more later as I start to gather notes and use the lens. The bokeh sure looks great though.

I received notice today that my credit card has been charged. Does this mean that the delayed Fujinon 60mm is on it’s way? I should know shortly.

UPDATE:  I just received word that the lens and I should have it tomorrow.

Nikon Inc. is asking your cooperation in connection with a voluntary recall of certain lot numbers of its Nikon Model EN-EL15 rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. The battery pack can experience a short circuit causing it to overheat and possibly causing the outside casing to become deformed, posing a potential hazard to consumers. There have only been seven (7) confirmed reports of incidents of the problem worldwide, and while no injuries have taken place, Nikon Inc. has initiated this recall of the affected lot numbers as a reflection of its commitment to safety and product quality. We are asking that owners of the affected battery pack return them to Nikon Inc. for a free replacement.
The Nikon EN-EL15 battery pack is provided as a supplied accessory with the purchase of Nikon’s digital SLR D800, D800E, D7000 cameras and the Nikon 1 V1 advanced camera with interchangeable lens. It is also sold separately at retail under Nikon’s model number 27011. The EN-EL15 battery pack involved in this recall was first distributed by Nikon in March 2012 and is still being sold at retail.
This voluntary recall is limited only to those units of the Model EN-EL15 in lots E and F.
To determine whether a battery pack is in lots E and F and among those being recalled, first confirm that “EN-EL15” is written on the name plate on side of the battery pack, as shown on the photo below. Then on this same side of the battery pack, locate the lot number for your EN-EL15 battery pack. Lot numbers are alphanumeric characters printed in blank ink at the bottom of this name plate as shown in the photo below. Tilt the battery pack so that light shines directly on the area to see the lot number. If you have an EN-EL15 battery pack with the 9th digit of the 14 digit lot number with either the letter E or F, you should immediately stop using it and remove the battery pack from the battery compartment. EN-EL15 battery packs with which the 9th digit is an A, B, C, D, G or any subsequent letter in the alphabet are not affected and not subject to this recall.

To return and receive your new EN-EL15 battery pack, click here or call toll free 1-800-645-6687.  Nikon will then send a UPS courier to the address provided, bringing a new EN-EL15 replacement battery at the same time. At this time, UPS will collect the recalled battery for safe return to Nikon. Your EN-EL15 battery pack will be replaced free of charge within approximately 7-10 days of our receipt of your request for a new EN-EL15 battery pack.
If the lot number of your EN-EL15 battery pack does not indicate as determined above to be in lot E or F, your EN-EL15 battery pack is not subject to this recall. No other Nikon battery packs are involved in this recall. Nikon’s digital SLR D800, D800E, D7000 cameras and Nikon 1 V1 advanced camera with interchangeable lens as well as any other Nikon cameras are also not subject to this recall.

Fuji has released an update to the X-Pro 1 today. This firmware addresses the following issues with the camera.

1.Reduction of chattering noise from iris of lenses in shooting mode.
2.Improvement of phenomenon that parallax compensation does not work under condition of manual focus with OVF bright frame mode.
3.Improvement of phenomenon that OVF quality as low visibility due to too bright OVF under the condition of power save mode during pressing the shutter button halfway.
4.Improvement of phenomenon that delete function does not work after viewing continues shooting mode images.

To realize this improvements you must not only update the body, but each individual lens as well.

You can download the new firmware for the X-Pro 1 BODY is here.

Fujinon XF 18mm lens is here.

Fujinon XF 35mm lens is here.

Fujinon XF 60mm lens is here.

I can also tell you from experience that the firmware updates for each lens are different.  The good news is that it appears that you can’t install the wrong firmware to any of the lenses or the body.  Another annoyance is all of your settings are wiped on the body even after a lens firmware update.  I will look into if you can save your settings before you do and update, but I had to redo all of them from memory.  I expected this after a body update, but not after each lens.

I am really looking forward to the first one. The others I haven’t yet noticed in my own camera currently. I will offer an update on the chattering after I perform the update.

Update:  I have spent a little time with my camera and yes the chattering is much quieter.  For some reason Fuji didn’t stop it at all, but just lowered the volume.  I had to listen closely, but it is still there.  Regardless I think most will be happy with the results

When my Nikon D800e arrived on Friday I was surprised to find that they RAW files didn’t open up in Aperture 3. I had incorrectly assumed the recent Apple RAW file update a few weeks back that supported that D800 would also support the D800e. Well it doesn’t. I thought that if I was able to alter the camera designation in the RAW file from Nikon D800e to Nikon D800 then Aperture would see the files fine. After some web searching on how to hack the RAW files came up empty. I remembered that Aperture also supports DNG files. Adobe is doing only slightly better than Apple with RAW support for the D800e. They have their latest ACR update version 6.7 that includes the Nikon D800e available as a release candidate, which means you are using Beta software. With that is a dng converter and when I applied that to the Nikon D800e files and then imported those dng’s into Aperture 3 I was happily going about editing my RAW files in Aperture. Hopefully Apple will support the D800e soon. Either way this is much better than the other camera I received this month the Fuji X-Pro 1 which I still don’t have RAW support for ANY RAW converter. You can download the ACR release candidate here.

If you know how to hack a RAW file to change the camera designation please email me. This would be good information to keep since I’m sure it will happen in the future.

With the rumor mill being flooded with information that the Nikon D800e had shipped out to dealers on April 12. I spent quite a portion of this past weekend working towards a decision.  Frankly I still didn’t get there at the end of the weekend. Had I not already purchased the Fuji X-Pro 1 this would be a much easier. However, with that money already spent it became that much more difficult. That changed on Tuesday. On Tuesday I received the call from my dealer of choice Allen’s Camera. He let me know that the Nikon D800e arrived and did I want one? That’s when the sweat started pouring out and the legs got a little weaker and well the next thing I knew yes was flying out of my mouth. Allen was thanking me, I was thanking Allen and we hung up the phone. Decision made. Well that was easy. Guess what! It’s on the UPS truck now making it’s way to the house. I may be sweating later when my wife sees it.

I have looked through many articles on the D800.  As most know from my posts here and here. I am looking seriously and have already ordered one.  It’s now early April and it’s getting close to crunch time.  Soon April 12 will be here and a decision will have to be made.  This means a significant amount of money will be spent.  I don’t take that lightly.    Is the added megapixels and the ability to make movies worth the upgrade?  My interest in the D800e version of the camera has everything to do with it’s lack of Anti-Aliasing filter.   My love of the files that I see coming out of my Ricoh GXR A12 M-Mount camera has caused me to wonder how much my style of photography has a need for an AA filter.  In over 5000 photos with the Ricoh I have not had an issue with Moire yet.  The files also show more detail and micro-contrast than any other files I have seen.  Even in RAW form they come out of the camera looking perfectly sharp and usable.  The contrast between focus and out-of-focus looks…..exceptional.  How will that translate to a camera with a full-frame and significantly more megapixels?  Will the file sizes cause me to have problems that I haven’t foreseen with my current computers?  One advantage I have in delaying this decision after the D800 release is some of these answers are now known.  From all reports I shouldn’t have a problem with the file size on either my MacPro or MacBook Pro systems. Storage is of course another issue, but hard drive space is cheap. I am certain that if Nikon hadn’t offered the D800e I wouldn’t be thinking of upgrading.  The lack of AA filter caused this camera to be considered.   The D800e offering changed my mine and because of that I started looking into what this camera might do for me.  Research before the camera was limited to special people picked by Nikon. Their comments and file images helped, but still weren’t enough. Then the Nikon D800 was released. Those reviews have not only helped, but shown that the product is not only good, but excellent.
My need for a camera where I can use the bulk of my lenses to take movies is critical.  Currently, I don’t have that functionality on any of my Nikons.  I think I will always be a still photographer, but for family events it has been nice to have a movie mode on a camera.  Little events in family life were stills only work so well.  I already have many cameras that can do movies.  Even my iPhone can capture a movie.  I would like to capture it with my Nikon lenses though.  Eagles soaring.  The sun rising.  My children singing, acting, playing celebrating….well you get the idea.  Outside of movies the allure of the added detail for my landscape work also has me interested.   I am not sold yet that it will replace my D700.  The larger file sizes will be a bonus when I need to crop or for extra length.   They will be very useful when wanting to capture detail.  I will have gobs more detail then I have ever had before.  What does that mean for my D3/D700 combo I have had for the last 4 years?  If I were to settle on a single camera I believe I would be disappointed with the D800e.  For those times when I photograph wildlife I need the fast frames that the D3 offers.  The D800e just isn’t fast enough.  My D3 flies through shots at 9fps.  The D700 with MBD grip does 8fps.  The D800 only 4fps(some will point out that it does 6 in DX mode).  It also doesn’t have the buffer that the D3 has.  The D3 got 18 images.  The D700 I get 16.  The largest advantage the D3 though is how fast you can clear the buffer and get shooting again, although slowly.  You’re at least shooting.  For wildlife that is a huge advantage.  There are many times I have filled the buffer of the D3 while photographing eagles and missed out on action.  The D3 however is a large DSLR.  The D700 & D800 are much smaller.   I certainly don’t need a D3, D700 AND a D800.  So which camera goes?When I want to photograph wildlife I wouldn’t want to sacrifice that speed.  I also will like the smaller file sizes of the D700 for those times that I don’t want all that information and file size.  (Frankly I don’t know if those situations will exist, but they do exist conceptually now.)  As much as I love my D3 and for me it was the 2nd great Nikon camera that I purchased right after the F5.  Several months later I am not any further along in deciding than I was in the beginning.  Crunch time is coming and decisions will need to be made.  Mulling can only last for so long.

Pros
Detail
Movie mode for my Nikon lenses
Similar ISO performance to D3/D700
Ability to crop images
Dynamic range better than D700
Dual memory cards
SD Card will allow me to use Eye-Fi without a hack

Cons
Upgrade price keeps me from purchasing other things
AF mode is the same
Will have to start investing in SD cards

I’ve listed my original list and then struck through the ones that I didn’t feel had any impact on whether I purchased the camera or not. It looks pretty decisive in favor of. I will need to do some organizing for the next part. Let’s see what the most important facts might be.

1. Upgrade price keeps me from purchasing other things (Con)
2. Movie mode for my Nikon lenses (Pro)
3. Detail (Pro)
4. Dynamic range better than D700 (Pro)
5. Dual memory cards (Pro)
6. Will have to start investing in SD cards (Con)
7. SD card slot will allow me to use Eye-Fi without a hack (Pro)

As can be now seen 4 of the top 5 spots are occupied by Pros. Of course the 1st place is a large one. It appears that I might have more time to decide. Unless I am high on the list for the D800e Nikon just released a statement on 4/11 that pre-orders were far greater than they anticipated and D800e’s as well as D800s will be in short supply. Next week I should know where I stand.

Rayqual made an announcement on their website yesterday they they will soon be shipping an M-Mount adapter for the Fuji X-Pro 1. So they will join Kipon and at some point Fuji with an adapter. I assume when the product is released it will show up on eBay. A quick search shows that the Rayqual adapters are a little higher in price than the Kipon alternatives. You can look through the announcement here. I have translated it from the Japanese. Along with the M-Mount there will also be a number of other adapters available as well. All of the usuals: Nikon, Canon, Leica M, Yashikon, Pentax, OM and Leica R. I don’t think I will be purchasing any of these adapters since I already own the Kipon M-Mount and have had marginal results with it. Maybe there is something Rayqual or Fuji can do to help the lack of sharpness on the edges of the wide-angle lenses, but I’m skeptical.

I have updated my article on using the Kipon M-Mount adapter.  I have since discovered that there is a way to move the focus sensor around during manual focus of the M-Mount lenses.  This will allow you to move the magnification point so focus is fine-tuned.  I have updated the article to reflect that change.  It’s in more detail in the article, but for those that have already read it the method is quite simple.  Select AF on camera left and move the focus point around just as you would if you were using an AF lens.  Have it rest on the selected part of the scene that you want in focus.  Then when you magnify it with your adapter mounted lenses it will magnify that part.

Dear Fuji,

You have released across the world a new camera the Fuji X-Pro 1.  Your first with interchangeable lenses in recent history. You have produced three great lenses the 18, 35, and 60 macro. The camera has wonderful high ISO performance. And the image files coming out of the camera look wonderful! So what is this camera lacking? Simple, a RAW converter. Sure you include Silkypix which is at best a passable converter, but you need at least one of the mainstream RAW converters to help your cause in moving this camera even farther forward. I can understand some stubbornness. You may want us to have to at least try Silkypix. That time has passed though and it’s time to move on. Most of us are not going to make wholesale changes to our workflow. Now it’s time to just let us use as customers what software we want to use. That is not however Silkypix. That is Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom, my choice Apple Aperture. Other good choices would be Phase One’s Capture One and Bibble (errrr AfterShot Pro). Whatever issue that is limiting all the mainstream RAW converters from offering to convert your RAW files needs resolving and soon. This limitation needs resolving because customers whom aren’t early adopters like myself will probably not want to buy a product that doesn’t allow them use of the software tools that they know and love. I’m certain you have contacts at Adobe, Apple, Phase One and Corel. Work with them and resolve the problems. Not resolving them will hurt your sales in the long run. As you might recall Nikon back down from their White Balance goofiness from awhile back. If easier if you could just move away from the RAF format and start using DNG that would solve the problem today. As much as I hesitate to look like an endorser for anything Adobe. I have to admit a standard format does give us as customers access to using RAW from EVERY camera at release. So Fuji, please make this problem go away.

Please sign the letter at the bottom of the page if you want RAW support for the Fuji X-Pro 1 in your favorite software below.