Oct 30 byThom Workshops
If you're interested in Thom's future workshops, be sure to check out the new menu item in the gray bar above.
Oct 30 The Full Frame Debate
At least amongst the serious enthusiast market, there seems to be this
growing groundswell of "I'll be shooting full frame some day." Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 30 Bonus Photos
It seems I have a few photos supplied to me that didn't make it into the daily blog postings or came to me after I'd already posted a day, so I'm going to put those here with a bit of commentary. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 29 The Olympus Stylus 1
The Stylus name returns, but it comes looking like a small DSLR. Read the full article on gearophile.com.
Oct 29 Day 13 — Livingston Falls, I Presume?
We're nearing the end. Today we break camp one final time and make the multi-vehicle move to Livingston, Zambia, where Victoria Falls happens to be. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 28 The Future of Cameras
For a camera company to grow in the future, it must acknowledge the world in which we now live. Virtually none do, though a few now provide awkward ways of getting by. Read the full article on gearophile.com.
Oct 28 Sakar Shakes Things Up Some More
At last week's Photo Plus Expo in New York, Sakar was there…[but] what do they mean by m4/3? Read the full article on sansmirror.com.
Oct 28 Bonus Afternoon — On the Chobe River
One of the great things to do in Chobe is to get on a boat and head up the river. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 28 ThomBay Restocking
More items have been added to ThomBay today, with more coming later in the week. ThomBay
Oct 25 DxO Optics Pro 9 Goes Prime
DxO Optics 9.0 has a new noise reduction engine built into the
demosaicing called PRIME (Probabilistic Raw Image Enhancement), which
analyzes up to 1000 neighboring pixels to try to determine what's fine
detail and what's noise. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 25 Day 12 — Driving Chobe
Water is life in the wild. So where there's lots of permanent water, there's lots of wildlife. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 24 Day 11 — Wake-Up Lion; Savute to Chobe
It's move time again, with today's goal of seeing a few remaining things we've kept in our back pocket for the morning, then a longish but mostly pleasant drive up to Chobe, our last tent camp for this trip. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 24 Of Personal Computers and Cameras
Sitting through Apple's big product roll-out yesterday I had a lot of
thoughts beyond what Apple was announcing. One thought was "two
industries as I knew them are now marginalized and dying." Read the full article on gearophile.com.
Oct 23 Massive Apple Software Updates
Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 23 Nikon Germany Goes FX
I can always tell something is brewing in Europe when my In Box is filled with pointers first thing when I wake up in the morning. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 23 Bonus Day — The Night
I've been holding out on you. Way back in Moremi each evening I tended to introduce a new aspect of shooting at night to the students. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 22 "NEX" is Gone, So What Do We Call It?
Sony's marketing department seems a little behind all the new product action. At the A7/A7r introduction, Sony said that they will longer be any NEX-branded cameras in the future. Read the full article on sansmirror.com.
Oct 22 The FM Numbers
So yesterday's poll (still live) gives us a snapshot into serious Nikon user's minds, and there's no real surprises in the numbers. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 22 Day Ten — The Lion Buffalo Standoff
It's another great day in Savute, with lots of action all over the savannah and marsh. Every vehicle went its own way this morning, with one heading out to try to find the illusive cheetah, me looking for more honey badgers. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 21 The Return of the FM?
Everyone else is talking about it, so I guess I have to, too. ;~) Read the full article and take the poll on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 21 Day Nine — Wild Dog Sunset
The Savute channel didn't start running this year until late. Thus, the flooding that creates the marsh is relatively recent to our arrival. That has a number of impacts. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 21 Why the Sony A7 Doesn't Crush the Olympus E-M1
The spec-lovers are going crazy. "24 or 36mp! Full frame! Sony is going to crush Olympus!" Read the full article on sansmirror.com.
Oct 19 Interpreting an Interesting Week
With seven cameras and six lenses announced in five days, coupled with other recent launches, we're now seeing some clarity about how the camera makers are attacking the declining market. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 18 Fujifilm Introduces the X-E2
Fujifilm added phase detect autofocus to the X-E1, improving the video capabilities to include 1080P/60 and 720P/60…Read the full article on sansmirror.com.
Oct 18 Let's All Chase the Sony RX100; Fujifilm's XQ1 Appears
Sony's modest success with the RX100 has attracted all the other sharks swimming in the pool that keeps getting smaller. Today Fujifilm introduced it's answer, the XQ1. Read the full article on gearophile.com.
Oct 17 Data pages: GM1, 12-32mm, D5300, 58mm f/1.4G
Oct 17 Panasonic GM1 Likes Big Pockets
While we can't quite call it a pocket mirrorless camera, the new Panasonic GM1 with the collapsing 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS kit lens sure seems to come close. Read the full article on sansmirror.com.
Oct 17 Nikon Drops the D5300 On the Market. Thud.
Earlier this week in anticipation of the D5300 announcement I wrote an article about single product introductions and their implications (or lack thereof) on a company's fate. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 17 The Nikon Otus? — Nikkor 58mm f/1.4G
Along with the D5300, Nikon introduced the 58mm f/1.4G AF-S lens. Given the US$1700 price, one would have to expect this to be the best performing normal lens Nikon has produced. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 16 A Sensor Does Not a Camera System Make
I've been hearing from both current and prospective D800E owners about
the new Sony A7r. Same 36mp sensor, same lack of AA filter. Gotta be a
slam dunk for Sony, right, as their camera is less expensive, smaller,
and lighter than the Nikon DSLR. Read the full article at dslrbodies.com.
Oct 16 The Sony Fan Boys are Whooping it Up
"Canon and Nikon were caught napping." "Game over." "Sony is going to crush Leica M, high-end APS, low-end FX, and maybe even high-end FX competitors." "m4/3 can't compete." Those are some of the comments rolling into my InBox today. I'm sure there will be more. Read the full article on sansmirror.com.
Oct 16 Sony Adds Another RX
Sony has added a third RX to the lineup: the US$1300
RX10. Read the full article on gearophile.com.
Oct 16 Sony Takes Mirrorless Cameras Full Frame with A7 & A7r
The A7 is a 24mp full camera with on-sensor phase detection focus
support and an AA filter. The A7r is the same camera but with a 36mp
full frame sensor that doesn't have on-sensor focus support nor an AA
filter. Read the full article on sansmirror.com. Also A7, A7r, 24-70mm, 35mm, and 55mm data pages.
Oct 15 Sony QX-10 Review — The Lensor Returns
The Sony QX10 is Sony's attempt to make a smartphone accessory that gives you a better camera option than the built-in one. Read the full review on gearophile.com.
Oct 15 Protection by Lawsuit
Nikon today announced in a press release that they are suing Sakar. Read the full article on sansmirror.com.
Oct 14 The Camera Makers Dress Up for Halloween
I don't usually publish rumors, but I've gotten wind of what the various
camera makers are going to dress up as at the Halloween party this year
at PhotoPlus, and I thought I'd share the information with you. Read the full article at dslrbodies.com.
Oct 14 Nikon ViewNX2 2.8.1 and Sigma 24-105mm
Oct 14 Day Eight — To Savute
Today's another of those "moving" days. This time we take a short walk behind the Camp O lodge to the airstrip, where we have three small planes waiting for us to take us to Savute. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 14 Risk and Reward — More D600 Thoughts
It seems from a number of emails I've received that a number of people didn't see or didn't understand my point about buying a D600 is like placing a bet. So let me explain. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 14 I Hope that [Camera X] will save [Company Y]
For the last year I've been seeing a lot of variations of the headline: "I think that the E-M5 will save Olympus" or "The next Alpha is going to save Sony" and so on and so on. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 14 I'm Sorry, I Can't Let That Pass
"Note that it's not always necessary to position things precisely on hot spots or third lines." This comes in a section that starts with "[The Rule of Thirds] is the most fundamental of the rules of composition" Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 12 Bonus Day — Of Antelope and Birds on Sticks
Yesterday I ended by challenging folk with an antelope identification. There are about 70 species of antelope in Africa which have full-grown sizes from about 16 pounds to a half ton. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 11 Day Seven — Warthogs and Rest
I didn't say much about Camp O in yesterday's entry, so I need to make up for that today. It's a very pleasant oasis in the middle of the delta that has a motto. Read the full article on bythom.com.
Oct 9 What Should D600 Owners Do?
Now that the D610 appears to be Nikon's solution to the D600
debris/splatter problem, that leaves a lot of D600 owners asking what
they should do about their cameras. Indeed, that's been a common email
I've gotten for awhile now. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 8 The Early Nikon D610 Headlines and Quotes
If anyone at Nikon were to do a Google search today to see how the D610 rollout is going, this is what they'd find…read the full article on dslrbodies.com.
Oct 8 I Don't Think a D610 Solves all of Nikon's Problems
Read the quote from a Nikon dealer that I received and my commentary on dslrbodies.com
Oct 8 The "New" Nikon
Before they added the D610 to their "DSLR Lineup", I was struck by something on Nikon Japan's Web pages…read the full article on dslrbodies.com
Oct 8 Day Six — Ten Spots in a Tree; Onto the Boats
Today as we broke camp we started with a quick hunt for the two-minute leopard. Even our best guide was amazed that we found him. Read the full article on bythom.com
Oct 8 Meanwhile, Meet the Pentax D400
While Nikon dithers on replacing the D300s, we're slowly seeing other
companies sneaking into the high-end APS territory. Today it's Ricoh
with the Pentax K-3. 24mp, 8.3fps, an improved AF system…Read the full article on dslrbodies.com
Oct 8 "Concentrate on the Clarity" of the Nikon D610
Nikon today announced a new camera, the D610, which should be on dealer's shelves by the end of the month. The question is "why"? Read the full article on dslrbodies.com Database page for the new D610 here.
Oct 7 "They're Not Going to Be Around in Five Years"
The Financial Post has gotten around to writing about the state of DSLR sales,
and some of the facts, quotes, and claims in the article need some
clarification, as they're viral-prone if left unchallenged or
unexplained. Read the full article on dslrbodies.com
Oct 7 Samsung Announces Korea-only NX300m article and data page on sansmirror.com.
Oct 7 Day Five: Baby Ele and The Two-Minute Leopard
It's our last day at Camp 9, so maybe it's a good time to talk about the camp. Our camp faces out onto a small pond, and conveniently faces the sunrise (and moonrise). Read the entire article and see the photos on bythom.com.
Oct 7 Zeiss Introduces Otus with 55mm f/1.4 Lens
Zeiss today announced the 55mm f/1.4 Otus lens, a close-tolerance and
no-compromise image quality optic for Nikon DSLRs (a Canon version was
also introduced). Read the entire article on dslrbodies.com and see the database page for the lens there, as well.
Oct 7 Welcome to ThomBay
Every year I do a spring cleaning. This year I've started only six months late (I'm usually later ;~). The second set of items is now on the Welcome to ThomBay page. There will be more. I've just scratched the surface, so check back each week for more.
Oct 5 Day Four: First Lion
You always remember your first lion in the wild. Here are just three of the shots from students of the male that was our first lion sighting on this trip…Read entire article and see the photos on bythom.com.
Oct 4 My teaching assistant Tony's items added to ThomBay sale.
Oct 4 Day Three: Into Moremi and the Lost Elephant
The early part of the day was hurry up and wait. Waiting for bags to get collected and moved to the front of the lodge, waiting for bags to be put into the trailer, waiting for everything to get sorted out before we had four Land Cruisers loaded with all students, teachers, and our gear. Still, we were headed out of Tree Lodge by 9:30 am and on the long 150km worth of road that would take us to camp and the animals. Read entire article on bythom.com...
Oct 3 State of Mirrorless Cameras, Fall 2013
Something I wasn't expecting to think about [during my Botswana photo workshop] popped into my mind during the trip: these mirrorless systems are real "keepers" and most of them can now serve real photographic purposes for a broad section of photographers. Read entire article on sansmirror.com...
Oct 2 The Modular Debate — Nikon DX
In my previous article, I made the case for a modular D4-type camera. I believe a D5 that is communicating, programmable, and modular would rule the roost in the pro market, and attract quite a few prosumers, too. Today I want to write about the DX cameras, because they are a different breed, and they are the core of Nikon's sales and profitability. Read the entire article on dslrbodies.com...
Oct 2 Day One and Two at Royal Tree Lodge
Today's mostly a snapshot day. Tony and I have come out of the park and back to Maun to meet our students. We have a full house, as usual, with 12 students rambling into the Royal Tree Lodge today. Read the entire article on bythom.com...
Oct 1 The Modular Debate — Nikon FX
I've long written that I want a communicating, programmable, modular DSLR. I even presented my thoughts on this to Nikon executives back in early 2010. With the recent posting by Nikon Rumors of another modular DSLR patent by Nikon, the debate about whether "modular" is a good idea or not has reopened. Read the entire article on dslrbodies.com…
Oct 1 Pre-Workshop Scout
Tony and I have arrived in Botswana a couple of days ahead of the students, and immediately headed into Moremi to a primitive camp to do some pre-safari safari-ing. Read the entire article on bythom.com...