Montour Trail- National Tunnel in Cecil Township, PA

Above is the result of a 5-stop pull in ACR! It's amazing that there was this much data in the shadows.

The top frame are my standard ACR settings, which are pretty much what you'd get SOOC. The bottom shows the settings for the pull. Still this isn't as good as a real HDR image but I think it's fine for low-rez instagram or web stuff.

Nikon D610 + 18-55mm VR II FX Mode

Here is a test of my D610 plus 18-55mm VR II in FX mode. It's easy to see that the corners are not great at or around 24mm. BUT it's not completely unserviceable... like who cares about the crap in the corners of the frame anyway. I took this combo with me short bicycling trip. This is the first time I've taken a DSLR with me on such a ride as they are too clunky and I am far more interested in cycling than landscape photography.

Anyway here is Fall on the Montour Trail. 

100 mbps out of a Nikon DSLR!

Trying the 64 mbps hacked firmware on my D5200 and made the following observation-

93mbps peak bit rate! Incredible.
Recording duration is approximately 8.5 minutes and the camera wrote a 3.99 GB file.
HDMI Timeout is now disabled.
During the brick wall test I was NOT able to produce moire! *LOVE THIS*

Eye Candy

The Nikkor 35mm f1.8G DX looks great on the little D3300. Handles pretty well too.

GH1 + 50 f1.8

I'm liking the results from this combo. The Nikon 50mm f1.8 effectively becomes a 100mm lens and is a bit harder to manipulate but the results can be very rewarding. Again I used the EVF for all of these.

This camcorder CAN make portraits!

Here is a candid portrait of my son taken with a new to me Panasonic GH1. I'm surprised this old video camera can also take stills. XD

This sweet vintage camera will record 1080p for as long as the battery and memory lasts. New Nikon DSLRs can't do that! It also offers direct controls to most important functions, unlike my $800 "prosumer" Canon G20 camcorder which is a touchscreen nightmare.


Info on custom firmware can be found here- 75Mbps Peak Reliability Patch v2

Nikon hacks get a little better.

Just had a look at Nikon-Patch and found a few new tweaks for my D3200 and D610. Not sure if I missed the D3200 54mbps option but it's still nice surprise. The D610 BETA 54mbps HQ has been running without issue but keep in mind that if you install/select that option, you will lose in camera playback.

• D3200 1.03
• Multi-Language Support
• Video 1080 HQ 36mbps Bit-rate
• Video 1080 HQ 54mbps Bit-rate
• Video 1080 HQ 36mbps Bit-rate NQ old HQ
• Video 1080 HQ 54mbps Bit-rate NQ old HQ
• BETA - Video 1080 HQ 64mbps Bit-rate NQ old HQ

• D610 1.01
• ALPHA - Multi-Language Support
• BETA - Video 1080 HQ 36mbps Bit-rate NQ old HQ
• BETA - Video 1080 HQ 54mbps Bit-rate NQ old HQ
• BETA - Video 1080/720 HQ 64mbps Bit-rate NQ old HQ

Head over to http://simeonpilgrim.com/nikon-patch/nikon-patch.html for more info.



Update 9/29/2015

I gave the D610 1080/64mbps setting a go and it looks great. Below is a screen shot from Bitrate Viewer. ***Be warned that you will lose playback functionality with this hack. Also recording time will be knocked down to just ~8.5 minutes. 1080 NQ is still good for ~22 minutes.