new stock / update

We got some of the D3100s we ordered in stock in Philly, in Buffalo and out in Williamsville! If you've been thinking about getting one, NOW is the time to get them-- not only are supplies expected to be very tight for the forseeable future, given the damage Nikon took at their Sendai DSLR plant in Japan, but as of April 30th, Nikon's discontinuing their Instant Savings program. If you've been shopping around and noticing lots of places showing the D3100 on sale for $599.99, that's because of a Nikon Instant Rebate. They do not allow any of their dealers to advertise the cameras for a different price. And as of 4/30, that rebate ends, and there won't be another, so the effective price will return to $699.99.

So save $100 and actually get a D3100, before they go on indefinite backorder: come get one now, while we have them.

Relatedly, the much-anticipated Nikon D5100 has finally been shipped, so we're expecting those to be delivered tomorrow or the day after. We haven't seen one yet either, so we're pretty excited about that.

Supplies are getting a little low on most of our Nikon cameras, but we're expecting deliveries imminently. Call if it's crucial; we can't hold a camera for you, but we can if you pre-pay.

New DSLR from Nikon announced

Nikon has just sent us the information packet containing the official announcement of the newest addition to their DSLR lineup, the D5100. It confirms a lot of rumors and speculation that have been going around online. The general consensus around the store is that this is going to be the go-to camera for the serious amateur videographer-- more full-featured (including a microphone jack!) than the D3100, lighter weight and more affordable than the D7000.

It has inherited an improved version of the D5000's vari-angled LCD screen, a feature that at the 5000's release seemed gimmicky, but now that it's gone, is much missed. (I must admit it's phenomenally convenient for what I call Lummox Mode: primarily useful when lummoxes decide that since you attended this event with a fancy camera, you must be here to film the backs of their heads. With a fixed LCD screen it's a little dicey trying to jump up and take pictures, but the vari-angled one lets you shoot easily over the top of obstinate people who insist on standing in front of you.)

It seems to be continuing a few of the themes Nikon has begun lately with their point-and-shoots, namely the scene recognition system and the 16 scene modes. This is pretty obviously targeted at the DSLR's consistently fastest-growing market: people trading up from point-and-shoots. These folks aren't going to shoot in full manual, and will be less familiar with the idea of the shutter and aperture priority modes than more experienced SLR users. They want the camera to do the metering for them, and benefit enormously from these scene modes, which allow them to give the camera more information with which to make the technical choices for them. It's the no-fuss school of photography: these are also the people interested in a lighter-weight camera body. Some get great results with these program modes, and some grow into the manual modes as they gain familiarity with their SLR.

Of course we haven't seen the D5100 yet-- it was just announced, not shipped-- but we hope to get our hands on it soon and see how it really stacks up. We'll keep you posted on what we think!

spring update

Two quick things. We got an update from Nikon, that most of their facilities are expected to resume production this week. (They sent out a press release, which you can find here.) Unfortunately they did experience a few personal tragedies, and our heart goes out to the families of the lost.

They went on to say,

Even after operation resumes, we have a concern that the situation may happen where our production cannot fully satisfy our customers’ requirement due to inability of full swing production caused by problems such as the planned blackouts of electricity and procurement of components from our business partners. While we will do our utmost effort to overcome such expected difficulties, we will be most grateful if our customers could understand such circumstances.

It's safe to say that the world of camera manufacturing may look a little different for a while, and we hope shortages don't have an adverse affect. Most of all, however, we send our continued sympathies to the people of Japan affected by the tragedy.

But, life continues apace, and the best thing we can do is keep living it. So for a little more cheerful note to end this, we're continuing our film developing and print scanning specials.

Life is too fleeting not to preserve your memories, your personal history, your family's moments. Turn those mystery negatives into pictures; turn those pictures into digital files you can share with the extended family.

So, until March 31st, a reminder:

Up to 1200 prints in a shoebox, scanned to CD for $99.

$1 to develop, $3 develop and CD, $5 develop and prints for color film, minimum of 3 rolls

Bring 'em in. The time is now. And enjoy spring. It's been a long, gloomy winter, and we're ready to celebrate life and sunshine and healing.

Crossing Our Fingers For Our Friends

As anyone involved in the imaging industry knows, the biggest powerhouse in the photographic market is Japan. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, Tamron, Sigma: all, despite their global presence, are at their hearts Japanese companies. The earthquake and tsunami of March 11th, and its terrible aftermath, have left us holding our breath, waiting to hear from our manufacturers, suppliers, and friends.

Tamron e-mailed us to let us know that they sustained some damage to their manufacturing facilities but have so far had no reported injuries to their employees. They are shutting down for several days to deal with the rolling blackouts and assess their damage, but expect that they will be able to resume operations in the near future. A bulletin from their CEO and president, Morio Ono, concludes:

We would very much appreciate your understanding of the situation we are up against, and will definitely keep you abreast regarding the operations for rest of the week.

Last but not least, we sincerely appreciate your kind support and encouragement received right after the news hit the world. We will overcome this difficult time working together.

Sigma also contacted us, saying that while their Aizu manufacturing facility was damaged, it will be repairable; they likewise have not suffered any loss or injury of personnel. They expect to resume operations shortly but are not sure of the long-term implications of the disaster. (More here, if you can read Japanese or rely on Google Translate.)

Nikon has had an office in Tokyo since 1917. Delaware Camera has been a Nikon dealer since 1951. Nikon, known for their cameras but also involved in other precision optical applications, has manufacturing facilities in several countries, but in Japan they have five plants in four prefectures, and over 26,000 employees. There's a bulletin posted on their website explaining that there is damage to numerous of their facilities, and reports of injury to personnel, but the full impact is not yet known. Operations are suspended at their manufacturing plants and at their corporate office until the damage can be assessed. They have also posted a bulletin that they are making a cash donation of 100,000 yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society to provide immediate relief to those in the affected areas.

We heard from our NikonUSA representative, who is concerned but still waiting for more information. Undoubtedly there will be interruptions in business, but for how long, and to what extent, we just don't know yet.

This is a natural disaster of unprecedented scope, and the full impact is not yet known. All we can do is extend our sincerest condolences and sympathy, and hope for a good outcome.

Nikon D3100 Seminar!

Nikon is sending a representative to host a seminar on digital photography, featuring their new D3100 SLR camera, exclusively for Delaware Camera! This class, taught by a professional photographer from Nikon's stable of skilled and talented representatives, will cover many topics of digital photography, and will focus especially on the D3100. We're always excited when Nikon comes to visit; their pros are uniquely equipped to offer insights like no other into the workings of their cameras, along with being phenomenal and experienced photographers themselves.
This class will be different than the ones we teach in our stores, but we're offering it for the same low price of $25.

Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm
Place: Harlem Road Community Center, 4255 Harlem Rd Amherst NY
How to reserve your space: Call either of Delaware Camera's locations, either Delaware Ave. at 716-877-3317, or Transit Rd. at 716-631-5600.

Space is limited, so sign up now!

Spring Cleaning in earnest

So I can finally announce our special for March:
Spring Cleaning!
We have some fantastic deals on getting your memories sorted out and taken care of. First off, if you've got any film hanging around, it's time to get it handled. Latent images on exposed but not developed film will degrade over time, so the longer it languishes in a drawer, the fewer decent pictures you're going to get out of it. The time to develop it all is NOW.
So we're offering a really good set of prices on 35mm C-41 process (color) film. Bring in a minimum of three rolls (no maximum!) and get:
* $1 for develop only (you get a set of negatives: good way to find out what's on that mystery roll!) (regularly $2.99)
* $3 for developing and putting it onto CD-- you get digital pictures! (regularly $6.99)
* $5 for development and one set of prints (regularly $7.99)

For the record, even though it's not included in the special, we can also process C-41 or black-and-white 120 film, black-and-white 35mm film (we're the only area processor still handling true B&W process, I believe), and we can even still do E-6 slide film, though it takes us a little longer. We can process APS film. We can also process C-41 process 110 film, but usually it's so old that by now there are no images remaining. We'll give it a shot, though. Whatever you've got, bring to us.

So-- what about prints?
Do you have all your precious family memories stored in shoeboxes? Agonizing over splitting up your childhood photos among your siblings? There's a better way than fighting. Get them digitized! Then everyone can have a copy, and it's all in one place, and you can share them over email, or make a family website, or add them to your genealogical pages. When your mom gets Facebook, like everyone's does (hi, Mom!), she can use her high school yearbook photo as her profile pic.
Bring us a box of photos, up to 1200 prints-- and each print can be up to 8x10-- and we'll digitize it for you. Everything goes onto a data CD, and you get your originals back with no worries.
For the month of March, we're offering this service for only $99.99 (regular price $149.99).

So don't put it off any longer! There's no time like the present to get your irreplaceable memories sorted out. Once the snow finally melts, you're gonna have other stuff to do!

D7000 video: focusing noise comparison

Video's pretty tough for me. Some of my coworkers are talented at it, but I always absent-mindedly swivel the camera vertical, or say something, or God forbid, laugh, which always sounds terrible right in the microphone.
But. All other matters aside, video is obviously the way of the future in DSLRs, and is one of the features most earnestly reviewed when a new one comes out.

The D7000 shoots video, and it has full-time autofocus while in video mode. Having watched a lot of videos I know that this is not something you want to use often. It's going to look unprofessional, and it's going to be noisy. And the camera's definitely going to be slower to autofocus when it's in live view or video mode, since it has to use a different and less-efficient method while the shutter's open than it does when in the normal mode. But it's good that it has the possibility-- if you're just trying to document something, you don't have time to manually focus. And you can always edit out the part where the camera's hunting for focus later.
All that aside, though, how loud is it? I know that you can get an external mike for the D7000, so all of this is irrelevant if you're serious about being professional. But it's worth comparing, so you can take it into account while you're learning how to use the thing.
What am I comparing? I'm comparing an AF lens, with no motor, to an AF-S lens, which has its own motor. The difference is the camera's in-body focus motor. Guess what? It's a big difference.

Here is a brooch of my grandmother's, a little gold rosebud. I took a pretty picture of it first, playing with a Sigma macro lens (it's their 50mm f/2.8, which is a wonderfully-affordable little number). This lens does not have a built-in motor, but is AF.
Still shot:


Then I switched to manual focus, cranked the focus way out, put it back in auto, turned the video on, and recorded while pressing the shutter button down to focus. I was doing this in a room with other people; when I played the video back on the camera, everyone turned around to ask what that awful noise was. It's way louder on playback than it was while the camera was operating. Why? Because the focus motor is right there, and the microphone right there. So it chatters and clunks and generally sounds astoundingly loud.


Then I switched back to the D7000's kit lens, which is the Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6. This is an AF-S lens, meaning it has its own motor built in. It has a characteristic squeaking sound while it focuses. Turns out that's way less offensive in video. I did the same thing-- switched to manual, cranked the focus way out, put it back in auto, started recording and pressed the button down to focus.


So there you have it. If you've got to rely on the autofocus during video shooting, be advised that AF-S lenses will still make noise, but it's significantly less noise than AF lenses will, particularly non-Nikkor ones.