Since then, Adobe TV has put out their own high quality video which CLEARLY shows how well the module works (watch in full screen HD), and I’m clearly impressed. Obviously this works best with images blurred due to a motion path rather than being entirely out of focus. However, one image they demonstrate at the end does appear to be more OOF rather than motion blur, and it is recovered very well.

Personally, this could save some of those “almost perfect” shots that I had to skip due to the focus being just a bit off. Or while using a long telephoto, I end up with a tiny bit of camera shake which translates into a huge amount of motion blur. Which honestly is VERY difficult to avoid, even with the most sturdy of tripod and mounts.

None the less, here is the link to the Adobe TV video: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/max-2011-sneak-peeks/max-2011-sneak-peek-image-deblurring/

Without going into tons of detail, I will let you enjoy the link to the page with the video here:

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/10/11/adobe-demos-incredible-unblur-feature-for-photoshop/

So these questions, comments and complaints came up pretty frequently in the discussion about the D800, here is my take on them:

“It’s $4000, that’s too much!” – Really? Because I’d GLADLY pay $4000 for better than D3x performance. In fact, that’s nearly half price for 12MP more, full HD video and a smaller body camera. (Which is a plus for some people.) And if the price is too much, you’re probably not making enough money with it to justify buying one in the first place.

“Why no 60p video?” – Honestly, full HD at 30fps is fine. Quite frankly, if you NEED 60p video, buy a real HD video camera. I realize the “DVSLR” or “VSLR” are blurring the lines between video camera and still camera, which is great for some, but I’d much rather have a very good still camera with reasonable video capability than a mediocre still camera with good video capability. Worse yet, paying extra for both functions when I really only want a good still camera in the first place.

“I don’t need 36 megapixels” – Why not? After all, this means you could crop the image significantly and still have plenty of megapixels to spare. On top of that, with super-large prints becoming popular options for studios to sell for big profits, the more resolution means better, sharper, more detailed finished prints. I see no drawbacks here. As for storage, hard drives are so considerably large and cheap these days… I have at least 10TB of storage on my Mac alone and still thinking about adding more.

“I bet ISO is going to be terrible” – How so? Lets not forget how GOOD the D7000 ISO performance is, and that’s a DX factor 16MP camera. Scale that sensor up to full frame and quite honestly the ISO performance could be as good. And lets not forget what I said above, do we REALLY need ISO 25,600 that often? (Or even near that?) In fact, I checked my Lightroom catalogs and less than 2% of my images total were taken over ISO 800. Even then, the ISO performance from 800 to 3200 would be considerably better than my 5-year-old D300 making THAT range good enough for practical use. On that, Nikon hasn’t released any official specs yet, so what’s to say the ISO will be bad?
In addition, if you are using a 36MP professional SLR, odds are you also have a selection of F2.8 zooms and/or F1.8 or faster fixed lenses. In which case, high ISO would rarely be a necessity anyway.

“Only 4FPS oh noes!” – Cry me a tear and turn on the video function if you want to capture action. After all, those 8×10″ sports prints of the Jr league football team you sell, you can just capture the best frame out of the video and use that. Problem solved. You think you NEED 36MP at 8+ FPS? Only if you’re shooting the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA, NASCAR, NHRA or some other pro sport and are being paid handsomely to do so… In which case, get a D3s which was designed for speed. (Correction, I suppose you could add in pro college teams too.) Even then it will have a “DX Mode” when combine with the battery grip, which will boost it to 6FPS. Sounds like a fine compromise to me.

With my thoughts on peoples gripes out in the wind, here are my only thoughts that I hope Nikon has or will address with the D800:

Can we please get more dynamic range? Seriously, I’d trade a few stops of ISO performance for a few more stops of DR.
Video is nice, but PLEASE don’t mess up the controls for the still functions to make room for video features.
Lets get mirrorless already! (or translucent mirror)
Give me the ability to wireless tether without expensive add-ons or proprietary software.
Build in a GPS, I’d love to geotag my files but I’m not going to spend another few hundred dollars on an attachment that just adds to the bulk.
Make it lighter. I’m all about a big, full size camera. I have big hands, I need a big camera. But lighter will always be a pleasant surprise.
Thunderbolt connectivity please! Granted, my Mac Pro tower doesn’t have it yet… The next one I buy will if I can help it. (USB 3.0 does Mac users little good considering Apple doesn’t support it or plan to do so.)

Anyhow, with my list of demands to Nikon out of the way, I’d GLADLY ‘test’ one out before they hit the market… *wink wink* Aw well, I tried!

So now that I am somewhat re-established again, I am currently working on several pet-projects and will have more details on those very shortly. One project took me WAY back to my High School and early College years as a programming major, and after brushing up on code, I will have my first Mac and Windows application available for photographers very shortly. (Stay tuned for more info on this!) The other project is still in the planning stages but will take a considerable amount of work to complete. I do hope to start on it before the fall as the long Colorado winters will be a great time to do some editing on this project.

And at a last note, yours truly received a wonderful honor from the Professional Photographers of America, 2011 International Print Competition in the form of a Silver Metal for “Excellence in Photography”. Congratulations to me!

For readers that happen to reside in the Denver or Aurora, Colorado areas, please feel free to comment here. I am looking to make some connections and LOVE to talk shop with other enthusiast in the area. Plus I’d love to hear about some of the beautiful areas to go and create art around this wonderful state.

As it is, the lens I have been waiting a long long time for Nikon to update is now one of the rumored lenses to be announced this week. That lens is of course the Nikkor 70-200 VRII which will have the following features (from NikonRumors.com):
* Stabilization system VR II
* Nano coating
* New faster Auto Focus
* Weight 1540g (70 grams more than the current model)
* 209mm length (slightly shorter than the current model)
* Minimum Focus Distance: 1.4m (for the current model is 1.5m)
* 77mm filter (same as the current model)

Another lens rumored to be announced this week is an upgrade for the popular all-around 18-200 VRII lens. No real details on what may have been changed or upgrade have been announced yet for this lens. I suspect it may have better control over zoom creep when shooting at midrange zoom levels. (Which is a problem for the current model.)

Of course the D300s specs should be similar to those listed in my previous blog entry a month ago.