D800 review coming soon...

I haven't been able to update my blog in quite a bit. I've been spending a lot of time preparing for my upcoming mission trip to Malawi, Africa, and have been doing some video reviews on some outdoor gear I use when hiking.

I wanted to post a quick update to 1.) let you know I'm still alive and 2.) to let you know that I'll have an in-depth D800 camera review coming in the next few weeks.

I've been testing the RAW and JPEGs as well as video. Once I've concluded my testing, I'll put some samples up along with some comparisons between the D800 and the D3s and D700 - sorry, still on the waiting list for the D4. I'll give you my thoughts on how it performs relative to the other cameras with regard to image quality (including metering, WB, color, detail, high ISO performance, etc.) and handling.

As always, I'm not an analyst for DPreview.com or DXO. This is simply a first hand experience as a real-world shooter who will put the camera through its various paces. It will be my opinions only, but I'll try to offer evidence to back up my claims when possible.

Until then, be safe and happy shooting!

- R

BTS: Faulkner Women's Soccer Brochure Cover Shoot 2011

Here's another BTS video I shot several weeks ago, but am just now getting to post. This is a look at the setup and shoot for the cover of this year's women's soccer brochure for Faulkner University.

This is perhaps the most minimalistic setup I've ever used for a promotional product piece. It's about as easy as you can get; a Nikon SB-800 with a CTO gel fired remotely on a stand about 45 degrees to camera left.

I used the CTO gel to balance for the setting sun that was already turning orange/gold. I obviously used the sun as the main light and simply added fill from the left with the flash. The flash is set to remote mode and I believe it was set to 50mm zoom with about 1/8th output. I pushed the shutter up to 1/400th and had the ISO at 400 and the aperture parked at f/5.6. I used continuous focus tracking and simply tried to time the shot where I wanted it.

The video doesn't show the cutout process of each player like the football video, but you still get the idea. Feel free to post any comments or questions.

Enjoy!