Nikon

All posts tagged Nikon

Image Composite Editor (ICE)

Posted by Ed Zirkle on February 28, 2018
Posted in: Camera, Nikon, Photography, Software. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

If you like doing pano’s and in the digital age who doesn’t, this is, in my opinion, the best stitching program. Microsoft’s Image Composite Editor (ICE) is from Microsoft’s – Microsoft Research Computational Photography Group – AND it is free!

From a recent shoot I had both vertical and horizontal images to stitch and with just a little adjustment to the program I ended up with images that I could not have gathered going to a wider lens and possible distortion. The issue, for this shoot, was having just 2 lens for the cameras given the terrain covered so again this became part of my kit knowing I could shoot for a pano and then make it happen on the computer.

I publish Exploring Ohio online photo magazine and try to get around the state to show off fun places for families to travel to and enjoy. Rockbridge State Nature Preserve has a unique rock structure that faces an interesting waterfall when the weather is wet and the water runs.

The photographic problem, even with a Nikon 24mm lens, is showing the environment to include the rock bridge and the waterfall from top to bottom. Stitching from left to right with a horizontal image is normal and in most instances simple to do.  But going from top to bottom can be a problem. ICE with a great set of support tools to adjust the images and stitching engine the final image looks great with little effort!

Check out the above link, download and enjoy, have some fun.

Finished image on the left after adjusting the vertical overlap.

EdZirkle_2-27-2018__EZ33306_stitch

Horizontal images stitched from top to bottom.

For the image on the left with a wide lens distortion becomes an issue. Ended up with a correct perspective.  On the right keeping a correct perspective without bowing the gentle curves of the hillside.

Nikon App Snapbridge

Posted by Ed Zirkle on November 30, 2017
Posted in: Camera, Nikon. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Nikon has just updated it’s app Snapbridge for iOS and Android.  Full control of certain camera’s like the D850 that have WiFi or Bluetooth. Check out the link below for more details.

https://www.dpreview.com/news/0374605991/nikon-s-redesigned-snapbridge-app-adds-full-manual-camera-control-and-intuitive-ui

MOV to MP4, who knew…

Posted by Ed Zirkle on February 10, 2016
Posted in: Camera, Computer, Software. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

After upgrading to Win10 I have found a few bumps along the way but most of them have been little and solved. Win10 is actually very likable.

On my road trip, We The People 2013 – www.wethepeople2013.us – I used my Asus ROG laptop as my mobile lab for ingesting still and video files and then editing them.  For the video from my Nikon D800 I get MOV files and I would use the MS Movie Maker program to get a quick edit done and posted to YouTube.

After the move to Win10 and keeping the Movie Maker program, part of the Windows Live Essentials package that was not updated for Win10, I find the program will not open MOV files anymore. Sad…

I did find this link, http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-MOV-File-to-an-MP4,  from wikiHow that explained you could just change the extension of the file from a .MOV to a .MP4!  Really… So I did a basic copy/paste in the same folder, got a COPY added to the file name and then changed the extension.  Works like a charm and the ‘new’ files open in Movie Maker just fine.

Hope this is helpful to someone else, have a good one…

Ed

Little bit of help

Posted by Ed Zirkle on October 8, 2013
Posted in: Camera. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Leaving out of San Diego to San Francisco and stopped at the Nikon western regional office, Wilshire Blvd – LA, to get some information on the D800’s. I’d somehow had the camera set to change the ISO from the Sub-command dial. Pain in the butt, changed ISO every time I picked up the camera from brushing against my hip. It took a half hour of digging to get it turned off. Turns out it is d7, don’t use the easy ISO setting. I also learned some interesting things on the metering/focusing from the Focus-mode selector. Always something else to learn. In any event the issues I was having should be easy now. For most of what I am shooting I didn’t need continuous focusing or the multi function of the camera picking what it thought best for subject focus. Found out it is easy enough to change using the Focus-mode selector. I’m still a bit stuck in the D200 mode. Spent years with them and just getting to learn the D800.

Thanks to Vic Zimmerman at Nikon for the help today.

WP_20131007_15_55_31_Pro

Nice display of ‘toys’ at the Wilshire location.

WP_20131007_15_20_00_Pro   WP_20131007_15_19_09_Pro   WP_20131007_15_18_39_Pro   WP_20131007_15_18_19_Pro   WP_20131007_15_17_21_Pro   WP_20131007_15_14_32_Pro    WP_20131007_15_17_50_Pro

Truth in advertising

Posted by Ed Zirkle on October 2, 2013
Posted in: Phone/Camera. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

So we have seen the ads Nokia and/or ATT have running showing that you can crop and image and still have something reasonable to look at.

A friend of mine, Perry, has a bird that would love to take chunk out of me if I got close enough, but he looks great and is a good subject.

As you may or may not know, the 1020 makes 2 files for each image made. The small image of the bird is 1.32 MB 1728×3072  and the larger image is 6.72 MB 4352×7712 and both are 72 dpi & sRGB;  white balance: auto, digital zoom: 1, EXIF version: 0220, flash: auto, metering mode: average, exposure bias: 0, ISO: 100, 1/30 sec. @ f/2.2.

WP_20130928_19_41_00_Pro this is the 1.32 MB image

WP_20130928_19_41_00_Pro__highres this is the 6.72 MB file

CloseUpBird  this is the crop on the bird

WP_20130928_19_41_00_Pro__highres - Copy and what it looks like

very, very slight sharping… all work done with Windows Photo Gallery 2012.  Will discuss WPG2012 later.

So how big a print would you like.

One cravat with all of this. The HiRes image is on the phone so a USB link is required and you will find the file name as: WP_20130928_19_41_00_Pro__highres.jpg  Year, month, day, time.

The image is also imbedded with a Geotag which provides a sort of journal for me to reference on the images I make with the Nikon’s.