========================================================== News from the Nikonians community http://www.nikonians.org 18-DEC-2004 Thank you for your interest in our community, a home on the Internet for over 24.000 Nikon(R) users. =========================================================== CONTENT =========================================================== * EDITORIAL NOTE * D2H KIT PRICE DROP - NOW BELOW 2,000 USD IN THE USA * IN THE FORUMS - Getting the most out of your D2H - Removing dust from D70's CCD - The sturdiest image tank? - THE Imaging Workstation - Fuji S3 Pro - User impressions - Shooting panorama - Using nodal adapters and more - Which general purpose MF Nikon to get? - December Wildlife Challenge * PICTURE OF THE WEEK * WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY ON HELGOLAND APRIL 2005 * ARCHITECTURE, MODELS AND LANDSCAPES - MEXICO IN APRIL 2005 * WIN A MARKINS M20 BALL HEAD WITH ACCESSORIES * NIKONIANS CONTEST DECEMBER CONTEST AND FINALS * IMAGES FROM THE 4TH ANNUAL NIKONIANS ADVENTURE TOUR * D2X AND F6 NEWSLETTERS * LARGE AMOUNTS OF CLASSY, USED EQUIPMENT AT NIKONIANS EDITORIAL NOTE =========================================================== Dear Nikonian, This has been a very exciting and rewarding year for our community. We have grown faster than anticipated and our team of 48 photographers has had more to do than ever before. The level of interaction between members has seen a tremendous increase and a lot of new information has been added to our resource section. By October this year, each member read approximately 250 community pages of information per month. That is more than 20 times the pages read by an average reader of a well-known monthly photography magazine. This "stickiness" has made our traffic triple that of December 2003. Fortunately we were prepared for this growth and seamlessly migrated into faster and bigger servers in July, in less than half a day, proving that good planning pays. In April we celebrated our 4th anniversary with an expeditionary task force into the Mayan Riviera and Jungle in preparation for our Spring Mexico 2005 Mayan Tour & Workshop. What a trip! In October of 2004, our 4th Annual Nikonians Photo Adventure Tour (ANPAT) took place in the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, USA. The breathtaking scenery and the accumulated experience of the previous ANPATs, made this the best ANPAT ever according to the testimonials received. The main theme for Nikonians in 2005 is "learning and sharing in an inspiring environment" and we are expanding our workshops both in the Americas and in Europe. An example of this is the Spring 2005 Tour and Workshop to Helgoland, Germany, a birders paradise. So what brings the near future? The list of our projects is long, but all are to contribute to increase the community's reach even further: An interesting and fun place to be, the Worldwide Home for Nikon photographers. We thank you all for making it possible. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! Bo Stahlbrandt & J. Ramon Palacios Nikonians Founders D2H KIT PRICE DROP - NOW BELOW 2,000 USD IN THE USA =========================================================== Announced December 14th, the minimum advertised price for the D2H kit is now 1999.95 US Dollars. If you've waited to buy yourself a D2H, this may be the perfect time to do so http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=3400&forum=DCForumID71&viewmode=threaded See also: All Nikon DSLR in a comparison chart http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/nikon_articles/body/chart/nikon_dslr_chart.html Nikonian Victor Newman takes D2H for a test driving http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/nikon_articles/body/d2h/index.html The Nikkor AF-S VR 200/2.0G IF-ED First user impressions http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/nikon_articles/nikkor/af/200mm_f2VR/index.html IN THE FORUMS =========================================================== Getting the most out of your D2H - Noise performance at high ISO, colors and workflow http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID71/3391.html Removing dust from D70's CCD - Using "SensorBrush" http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=3135&forum=DCForumID86&viewmode=threaded The sturdiest image tank? http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=1505&forum=DCForumID11&viewmode=threaded THE Imaging Workstation - How should it look like? http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=1504&forum=DCForumID11&omm=23&viewmode=threaded Fuji S3 Pro - User impressions http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID75/275.html Shooting panorama - Using nodal adapters and more http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=DCForumID114&archive= Which general purpose MF Nikon to get? http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=1074&forum=DCForumID68&viewmode=threaded December Wildlife Challenge - Post your wildlife image, but in alphabetic order! http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=1555&forum=DCForumID74&viewmode=threaded PICTURE OF THE WEEK =========================================================== Each week the Nikonians Team selects one member's picture as the "Picture of the Week", shown at the main page of Nikonians. This is done to highlight some of the excellent work being submitted to the member galleries. The Picture of the Week is not necessarily the "best" picture submitted - but it is one that caught our eye, and we thought worthy of some attention and perhaps discussion. http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=DCForumID115&conf=DCConfID11 Also, be sure to drop by the Members' Galleries and see what your fellow Nikonians are photographing. http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY ON HELGOLAND APRIL 2005 =========================================================== April 25 to April 29, 2005. Join Nikonians to one of the best bird photography areas in Northern Europe. Spring time on the Helgoland island, Germany. Very few seats left! On Helgoland, we have: - Intriguing landscape - Excellent shooting locations - A superb hotel. - Take this opportunity to get the best shots of Guillemot, Kittiwakes and Northern Gannets, to name a few of the birds, courting in April there. - Photograph Grey and Harbour seals at The Dune. - Learn with fellow Nikonians on this magnificent North Sea island. For more information, please see: http://www.greaterphoto.com and https://www.photoproshop.com/index.php/cPath/38 ARCHITECTURE, MODELS AND LANDSCAPES - MEXICO IN APRIL 2005 =========================================================== Visit millenarian monuments and photograph them in light conditions seldom available due to permit restrictions. Practise model photography. Choose from any of three options: A - long weekend, April 13 to April 17 B - full week, April 17 to April 24, or C - Both, April 13 to April 24, since options A and B will be consecutive, in different locations. For more information, please see: http://www.greaterphoto.com and https://www.photoproshop.com/index.php/cPath/38 WIN A MARKINS M20 BALL HEAD WITH ACCESSORIES =========================================================== If you buy in the Nikonians Photo Pro Shop between December 4th 00:00 GMT and December 23rd 00:00 GMT, you have the chance to win a Markins M20 ball head with accessories: 1 x M20 1 x MP-2 protective pouch 1 x Markins camera plate of your choice It is a nice Christmas gift valued at ca 500 US Dollars. We are drawing the winner on December 24th. The professional M20 has received raving critics amongst its users and it is one of the finest photography ball heads around. https://www.photoproshop.com/product_info.php/cPath/21/products_id/29 NIKONIANS CONTEST DECEMBER CONTEST AND FINALS =========================================================== The 2004 Nikonians Photo Contest has proved very popular. The contest runs in two division – color and black & white, and a monthly winner is selected for each division. The competition is open to all Nikonians with Silver, Gold or Platinum membership and has drawn entries from a diverse group of photographers. The standard of entries has been very high and the judging panel of accomplished amateur and professional photographers has had a tough job selecting a single winner each month. Each of the monthly winners is automatically a finalist in the Picture of the Year competition, to be judged by members of the Nikonians Masters Society during January 2005. We are pleased to announce that generous sponsorship has made a range of excellent prizes available, including: - From GretagMacBeth, an "Eye-One Photo" color management tool - Courtesy of Adobe, Photoshop CS (in the winners language and operating system) - From Nik Multimedia, two copies of Color Efex Pro 2.0 Professional Photoshop Plug-In-Filters - From Wacom, two Intuos3 A5 tablets. Our thanks go to the generous sponsors, and congratulations to each of the finalists. For those who want one last chance to compete, make sure your entries are in before the end of December, to be eligible for the finals. http://www.nikonians.org/html/contests/index.html IMAGES FROM THE 4TH ANNUAL NIKONIANS ADVENTURE TOUR =========================================================== With smiles on our faces and many great pictures we returned from the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and this year's annual adventure tour. You can see the best nine images from each participant in our commemorative 4th ANPAT CD-ROM (due out soon) and a few first impressions in the galleries: http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=3750 D2X AND F6 NEWSLETTERS =========================================================== We have two new newsletters for D2X and F6 users. No nonsense information for anyone interested in the latest pro digital and film Nikon SLR's. http://www.nikonians.org/html/whatsup LARGE AMOUNTS OF CLASSY, USED EQUIPMENT AT NIKONIANS =========================================================== As one member said: "Never since I've been a Nikonian has there been such a great selection of fine gear for sale on Nikonians. F5, F100, D1X, D2H, D100, 3 S2s, a 35 TLR, a 645, 80-200 AFS, 16, 20, etc. Merry Christmas, I can't stand it. This is wonderful" http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=DCForumID23&conf=DCConfID2 =========================================================== If you have any questions regarding our newsletters, or if you want to advertise with us, online or in our publications, please get in contact with us here: http://www.nikonians.org/contact.html You receive this newsletter because you requested it. We hope you find it useful. However, if you'd like your name to be removed from the newsletter, you can do so at any time here: http://www.nikonians.org/html/whatsup/index.html The nikonia, nikonian, nikonians domains and THE NIKONIAN are not associated with Nikon Corporation nor with any of its subsidiaries or affiliates in any way. All registered trademarks mentioned in this newsletter are owned by their respective owners. Nikonians is a registered trademark of nikonians.org Nikonians and its owners do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within this newsletter. Nikonians and its owners shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of the information held in this newsletter.