Antony John
Lives in
Cape Town, South Africa
Works as a
Divisional Manager/Polymer Chemist
Joined on
Nov 16, 2007
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Comments
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| Date by CarlosU from I get a Long | under construction by hozho from Under Construction | Anna's Hummingbird-5575 by vbuhay from Color me Wild - Shades of Green | Bursting with Joy by TaoVerit from Montage | Pileated Woodpecker in Flight by Fotorequest from A Big Year - Birds 2022 | The inspiration for the Reverend Awdry's Isle of Sodor by cjf2 from My Best Photo of the Fortnight | Into the night by TokyoRohan from Streets of the World - with People! |
Gee, so much negativity. Normally when I view these competition entries/winners I'm left feeling that only a few are actually worth viewing. With this one I have really enjoyed browsing the photos and would congratulate all those who won or received a mention.
Seems to me many are disappointed that the 'travel' pictures weren't of the Grand Canyon, Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Taj Mahal etc on a standard tour program which can be slipped in between breakfast, lunch, 'happy hour' and dinner at the hotel they're booked into.
Many are also concerned more with the equipment than the artistic value of the photograph.
Travel is about new experiences that encompass different cultures and scenery not how expensive or what type of equipment has been used trying to capture a different angle of a well worn, cliched, scene that has been photographed ad-infinitum.
One wonders if the revelations that the CIA can bypass Apple security will have an impact on future sales?
Having read through the comments below one wonders what the comments would be like if it were a Russian or Chinese based internet company that were taking these pictures?
alatchin: This is the only category of camera I own outside of my m43... I have given out to my toddler sons, taken ity on vacation and on hikes and tough mudder challenges... a valuable extortion to my picture taking.
Mind you, it could be useful for extortion ...
Congratulations Sony on raising the bar yet again.
It's insightful to read this review against DPR's D810 review for comparison.
Richard Murdey: "Having used cameras like the Nikon 1 J5, that can fire off full-res bursts with continuous AF and no black out, I was really expecting more out of the RX10 II."
Can you print that out and pin it to the wall of dpreview offices?
Every camera you review should be brought to a soccer game and tested like that. Every. Single. Camera.
Richard,
".. mean every review takes even longer ..."
You mean like the Nikon D810 review, right?
ogl: Made by Cosina in Japan or China?
MJ,
In Timbuktu, not by ...
DuxX: Expensive lens without AF... again... no thanks Zeiss!
Yeh, telephoto lenses weren't available before AF became available.
ogl: Made by Cosina in Japan or China?
If they're made to the correct tolerances, standards and materials in Timbuktu who cares?
Cane: Zeiss loves manual focus.
@ Cane,
Yes, but they have a short throw (as compared to an MF lens) designed to increase AF focus speed and are thus far less accurate when used as a MF lens (and not altogether that convincing when used in AF mode either - and AF is far from infallible)
People took marvellous photographs before AF was invented.
I assume you didn't know this?
Cane: Zeiss loves manual focus.
Some people love Zeiss because they're MF lenses (in addition to build quality and image rendition).
The 50 and 85 F1.4 lenses have been considered the 2 weakest of the range. Nice to see the new range has (hopefully) taken cognizance of this.
topstuff: I think people are so easily suckered into always wanting "bigger, better, faster, more !!".
Sometimes sufficiency is perfect.
The simple truth is that for many of the keyboard warriors on DPR banging on about full frame, the 16mp sensor on the Oly is perfectly good enough.
I bet a lot of you only look at pictures on an iPad anyway... in which case, pixel peeping over FF is a ridiculous waste of time and money.
Take a look at Robin Wong's web blog, and I would wager that many people would be perfectly happy with the IQ he gets from the Oly 16mp cameras....
Robin's portraits in particular are excellent. Many people even with the 'best of the best' equipment would be well satisfied to achieve what he can.
Androole: Is anyone else surprised that this new lens wasn't an f4 instead?
No. Nikon needed to update their old 24-70 for the Pros.
However I agree that they're missing a potential market without an F4 version. As they've been developing a range of good quality affordable lenses then maybe we'll see an F4 variant in a year or 2.
MarioV: That was awesome. Nicely captured. I assume that retardant exposure is non-toxic..
SmeggyPants. In theory (officially) they should be non-toxic but there's a history of chemicals that get moved from non-toxic to toxic classifications.
MarioV: That was awesome. Nicely captured. I assume that retardant exposure is non-toxic..
If they are using mercaptans (thiols) as free radical scavengers they're probably non toxic - may just smell very unpleasant.
Antony John: Lots of negative comments but:
1) Nikon has provided probably a better performing 24-70 for professionals (albeit at a higher price, size and mass - but if that's what's required for IQ/usability improvement then so be it).
2) Nikon have again replaced ageing prime optics with (assumed once more) a better quality solution at an affordable price and F1.8 (c.f. Nikon 24 F2.8 AF-D)
3) Nikon have developed a new 200-500 lens at an affordable price. If it has similar IQ to the 70-200 F4 then it'll be a winner. Perhaps not as good at 200 & 500 as the Tamron/Sigma lenses, but if one only needs 250 - 450 then my guess it will be equivalent if not slightly better (based on the premise that the extremes of the focal lengths are always the weakest) than the other 2.
It's taken some time but hopefully Nikon have nailed it with these lenses at their respective price points.
@Photomonkey. Sense is inversely proportional to the amount of time spent on DPR.
Also have been under therapy - wondering when it'll wear off :-)
Antony John: Lots of negative comments but:
1) Nikon has provided probably a better performing 24-70 for professionals (albeit at a higher price, size and mass - but if that's what's required for IQ/usability improvement then so be it).
2) Nikon have again replaced ageing prime optics with (assumed once more) a better quality solution at an affordable price and F1.8 (c.f. Nikon 24 F2.8 AF-D)
3) Nikon have developed a new 200-500 lens at an affordable price. If it has similar IQ to the 70-200 F4 then it'll be a winner. Perhaps not as good at 200 & 500 as the Tamron/Sigma lenses, but if one only needs 250 - 450 then my guess it will be equivalent if not slightly better (based on the premise that the extremes of the focal lengths are always the weakest) than the other 2.
It's taken some time but hopefully Nikon have nailed it with these lenses at their respective price points.
Brendon1000 - 400 is short for birds and wildlife. I'd guess the 200-500 has better IQ than the 80-400 @ 400 also - in fact I'd be surprised if it didn't.
Antony John: Lots of negative comments but:
1) Nikon has provided probably a better performing 24-70 for professionals (albeit at a higher price, size and mass - but if that's what's required for IQ/usability improvement then so be it).
2) Nikon have again replaced ageing prime optics with (assumed once more) a better quality solution at an affordable price and F1.8 (c.f. Nikon 24 F2.8 AF-D)
3) Nikon have developed a new 200-500 lens at an affordable price. If it has similar IQ to the 70-200 F4 then it'll be a winner. Perhaps not as good at 200 & 500 as the Tamron/Sigma lenses, but if one only needs 250 - 450 then my guess it will be equivalent if not slightly better (based on the premise that the extremes of the focal lengths are always the weakest) than the other 2.
It's taken some time but hopefully Nikon have nailed it with these lenses at their respective price points.
abortabort - Agree. Easier to make a decent 2.5X zoom than a 5X zoom like the 80-400.
Lots of negative comments but:
1) Nikon has provided probably a better performing 24-70 for professionals (albeit at a higher price, size and mass - but if that's what's required for IQ/usability improvement then so be it).
2) Nikon have again replaced ageing prime optics with (assumed once more) a better quality solution at an affordable price and F1.8 (c.f. Nikon 24 F2.8 AF-D)
3) Nikon have developed a new 200-500 lens at an affordable price. If it has similar IQ to the 70-200 F4 then it'll be a winner. Perhaps not as good at 200 & 500 as the Tamron/Sigma lenses, but if one only needs 250 - 450 then my guess it will be equivalent if not slightly better (based on the premise that the extremes of the focal lengths are always the weakest) than the other 2.
It's taken some time but hopefully Nikon have nailed it with these lenses at their respective price points.