Frank Nürnberger

Valet Parking  & More aus Berlin - http://www.valet-parking.de/ - stellt wieder den Fahrdienst für die Berlinale im Jahr 2010.  Ich durfte die Fahrer in ihren blitzblanken neuen BMWs der Luxusklasse einen Tag begleiten. Hier einige Eindrücke:

Als Hochzeitsfotograf in Berlin durfte ich am 29. Dezember noch eine wunderschöne Hochzeitsreportage fotografieren.
Hier ein paar Fotos:

I’m quite happy wit the performance of my Nikon D3s at my latest wedding in Berlin. As The official Hochzeitsfotograf in Berlin I was assigned to document the couple’s day from the early morning until the end of the night of this marvelous wedding. I can’t stress too much how lovely the couple and their families were - aside from having one gazillion still and video cameras at the wedding ;-))

Kidding aside: I don’t mind having guests, uncles, fathers or even ministers to use their cameras whenenver I’m the “official” photographer. It all just becomes part of my coverage. It rather makes me more alert and attentive in order to find the best position for my self and my camera in order to break away from the crowd and get better angles. Just as a preface: all images are purely documentary and not prompted - except for one with the couple standing in the window of their honeymoon suite. This one was directed by myself standing in the cold outside.

Full technical disclosure: all images were capture as NEFs, converted with View NX and went through Jeff Ascough’s action set (I mostly used his first set of actions (http://jeffascough.typepad.com/ascough_silver_actions/ ) - color tone adjust, heavy vignette for color) and selectively sharpened the images within photoshop in two passes) This time, I’m not trying to show what the “camera can do”.  It’s rather about what a semi-skilled post-producer can do with these files very quickly.

Nitpicking: it might have been user error on my side - however, I did get a couple of shots where the camera had grabbed the more contrasty background instead of the foreground. I’ll have to investigate this issue some further. Also: I’m wondering whether I could such a wedding with a digital rangefinder. I would lose some of the high-iso noise suppression but might gain in terms of f1.4 lenses and less camera vibration due to the lack of a mirror. I hope I can present a comparison some time later this year.

Now, here are some images and their respective 100% crops (BTW: when judging 100% crops inside a web-browser, it really matters if you have your web-browser set to the right magnification - hold down the CTRL/STRG key and move your mouse wheel up and down til you get a good picture)

ISO 6400, f11, 1/80th, 70-200 @ 78mm

The 100% crop

ISO 1600, f4.5, 1/125th, 24-70 @ 34mm

100% crop

ISO 2500, f 3.2, 1/125th, 24-70 @ 24mm

100%crop - this is one example where I had the camera focus on the curtain instead on the groom, but it’s not that bad.

ISO 5000, f2.8, 1/100th, 24-70 at 27mm

100% crop

ISO 5000, f2.8, 1/100th, 24-70 at 55mm

100% crop

ISO 5000, 3.5, 1/60th, 14-24 at 16mm

100% crop

ISO 4000, f2.8, 1/80th, 70-200 at 105mm

100% crop

ISO 1600, f5.6, 1/20th,  24-70 at 24mm, SB-800 flash

100% crop

ISO 6400, f2.8, 1/60th, 14-24 @ 14mm

100% crop

Here’s a preview image. I’ll be adding some more soon.

Preface:
There are excellent technical reports on the Nikon D5000 at the usual places:
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3981
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0906/09061201nikond5000review.asp

This report here is just a compilation of my purely personal observations. I’m a corporate event-, convention and wedding photographer in Berlin/Germany. Currently, I use a pair of Nikon D3 cameras with assorted lenses. I also have a couple of D40 cameras and a couple of years of experience with Canon cameras. In a nutshell: I try to address the question whether a Nikon D5000 – together with some excellent lenses – is up to the job or could even replace my heavy and loud Nikon D3 cameras.

THIS ONE OR THE ONE BELOW (An unfair comparison: You should never ever try to cover a corporate event or wedding without proper back-up gear (a second camera and some primes that cover your range in case one of the zooms stops working).)

It all began with Ken Rockwell’s  blog post  where Ken considers the Nikon D5000 to be as the world’s quietest camera. (not counting digital point and shoots or the Konica Hexar): http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d5000.htm#quiet.

Using two of the almost perfect Nikon D3 cameras on my job, I have always wished having a silent camera at my disposal. The Nikon D3 cameras are really loud. I received remarks by workshop participants on a regular basis on this “feature”. Having owned some Canon 1D MK2 cameras in the past, I really miss their “silent mode” - which on the MK2 was achieved by slowing the mirror movements down and keeping the mirror up until my finger released the the shutter button.
Now, at the store - http://www.foto-hess.de - I began playing with the D5000 and wasn’t completely convinced with the sound levels of the Nikon D5000 in  “silent mode”. Still, at about 700 Euro for the camera body, I gave it a try and decided to give it a go at my next corporate event.

The event / photographic challenges
My client held their annual conference in Berlin last week. Lots of slide-show presentations in a conference room, coffee and lunch breaks and a nice social function in the evening. Lots of different settings and technical challenges  - low light auto-focus in particular.
The main conference room is beautiful for the naked eye, but quite difficult in terms of colour balance / widely differing light levels for the camera. The room has about 6 different lighting zones:

I) A lot of incandescent light for the speaker at the podium

ISO 1000, f3.2, 1/125th - 100% crop not sharpened in post (but read paragraph about image quality)

II) lower light levels next to the podium

ISO 1600, f3.2, 1/125th - 100% crop not sharpened in post (but read paragraph about image quality)

III) Interesting light once the speaker enters the projection

LCD beamers can be quite similar to old fashioned CRT-TVs: don’t use shutterspeed faster than 1/80th or you get funny rainbow artefacts

IV) audience

ISO 1000, f3.2, 1/60th - 100% crop not sharpened in post (but read paragraph about image quality)

In order to capture all the relevant moments at such a conference, you need to be able to switch your setting quite quickly from one situation to another. So, let’s have a look at the different aspects of the Nikon D5000’s performance:

Quietness
My main reason for getting this camera. In a small silent room the new Nikon D500 is clearly quieter than my D3 cameras. However, it is still noticeable. At the conference I had three participants walking over to me asking why they couldn’t hear my camera click. That’s quite something for a change. Basically, this means, this camera is quite enough. Although, I’m quite thrilled with new reports about how to make use of the Canon 5DII’s silent mode in live view. First, I thought this kind of a silent mode is rather useless, as you can’t actually shoot with a DSLR holding the camera in point-n-shoot-style. Now, as some companies begin to ship diopters for the display, an almost completely silent DSLR becomes a real option. For now, being invested in the Nikon system, I have decided to wait a little more.

The Form Factor
The Nikon D5000 is not quite a Leica M-series camera with a super-mini-sized 35 Summicron. Still, even with Nikon’s big 24-70/2.8 it is a lot smaller than a D3. This helps with not being taken serious, therefore getting one or the other “off-guard” picture. And it’s lighter, too. You do feel that after two days of shooting.

Handling:
First and foremost, the D5000 doesn’t have a hand-grip for vertical shooting. Photographers with big hands beware! Two days of shooting big lenses with this “toy camera” just hurt. At the moment, there’s just one lonely third-party-hand-grip on Ebay for the D5000. However, the vertical shutter button is said to be in-operational. I guess it will take some more months until we have a properly working grip available.
Then, the D5000 sports only one control wheel on the back – to use with your thumb. The front control wheel (as existent on the bigger models like the D3, D300 and even the D90) is missing. Interestingly, that doesn’t bother me much. 99% of my pictures are taken in manual mode, so it would be nicer to have one wheel for choosing the shutter speed and one for choosing the aperture.
The D5000 has about the same control button layout as the D40x – so you use the thumb-wheel in order to change the exposure time. In order to change the aperture you have to press the +/- button with your index finger and then move the thumb-wheel. However, one aspect is different from a d40x: the +/- button on the D5000 has a precise pressure point that gives you confidence in operating the camera.

The third basic parameter in today’s digital cameras is ISO-speed. Having assigned ISO to the self-timer-button makes ISO changes on the fly easy – just press the self-timer button and turn the thumb-wheel in order to change ISO: simply a breeze..
For all other things you might want to change on the fly you have to use the camera’s menu system. Changing the white balance takes about 5-6 clicks, same story for changing focus mode, metering, active D-lighting mode.
You could opt to change all these things later in your RAW-converter, but I prefer to get it right in camera in order to reduce the time I have to spend at the computer later on.

Responsiveness
If one is to believe technical reviews, shutter lag (time from pressing the shutter (pre-focussed) to the actual opening of the shutter, the Nikon D3 is about twice as fast: 0.037 sec compared to the D5000’s 0.085 sec. In other words: 1/27th of a sec versus 1/12th . That doesn’t sound like a lot. Although, if you’re trying to capture a couple of good images of a speaker (eyes open, mouth open but not too much) every bit helps. In practical terms I had to overshoot my speakers a bit in order to get a decent number of good shots per speaker. Other than that: the camera is fast enough for my needs. I don’t really use continuous mode much anyway. Having set the advance to “silent”, I can take about one image per second, which is plenty for almost all I do.

AF capabilities
My chosen field of work (dark conference halls, dimly lit speakers, I-forgot-about-the-candles-social-functions) demands for excellent low light abilities of the AF sensor. It’s one thing to have a “noise-free” image at about 2000 ISO; and another to have that shot at f1.4, 1/30sec in focus. The D5000 has one cross-type AF-sensor in the middle of the frame and 10 additional single-directional sensors in a diamond shape around it. Altogether, these 11 AF-sensors cover most of the overall viewfinder estate.

For the majority of my images, I focus on a face in the upper area of my viewfinder. With my D3 I use the upper AF-sensor in the middle which happens to be a cross-type AF sensor. I would – now – advise against using the single-directional AF sensor on the D5000 in the same way. This non-cross-type sensor tends to to grab a textured background  every now or then – so you have to focus on the tie knot instead of the eyes. But, if my memories serve me well enough, it’s not much worse than my old Canon 1D MK2.
Micro focus adjustment is missing on the D5000. Maybe, it’s just a coincidence, but I haven’t really seen the need for micro-adjustment on the D5000. However, I do have a higher percentage of slightly out-of-focus images with the D5000 than with my D3. Maybe this fact stems from a combination of all the factors mentioned above. Basically: the AF is good enough if you overshoot a bit. It’s not a deal breaker, but one of the areas where the D5000 deviates the most  from the D3.

APS-C chip – the half-frame-difference
At first, there’s an advantage to the 1.5x crop of the Nikon D5000: my 24-70/2.8 “becomes a” 36-105/2.8 and my 70-200/2.8 becomes a 105-300/2.8 IS. Very, very useful for my type of coverage. I can get closer to the speaker with the tele-zoom even from the back of the conference room and can stand a bit further away when taking “walk-around” shots of people talking to each other in the coffee-breaks – which helps to get a couple of truly camera-unaware candids. The disadvantage: my 14-24 becomes a 21-36 – I could use something wider for those room overviews.
The real difference between APS-C and full-35mm-format, however, is not about reach, but about depth of field. In practical terms, you’re not further away or closer to your subject when taking shots with an APS-C camera. In order to get the same viewing angle / the same composition, you simply use a shorter focal length which results in greater depth of field – roughly 1.5 stops more DOF. This can be handy in some situations: you’re already at ISO 3200 and want to take a shot of that group of three people talking to each other. With the APS-C chip you just need f3.5 in order to get ‘em all in focus. The full-frame chip demands f5.6. This can make a difference between a sharp shot at 1/90th and a blurry one at 1/30th. That’s the  upside of the greater DOF of APS-C. On the downside: corporate events can be quite messy in visual terms with too much stuff going on in the background. Sometimes even shooting at f2.8 still gets you too much stuff in focus that you would rather not like to have. Thus, for my own taste: give me a full-frame 28-105mm/2.8 lens and good high-ISO (for more DOF at smaller f-stops) and I’m set.

The viewfinder
[sarcasm mode on] There is a tiny hole in the back of the D5000 (“view finder”) that allows you to peek through a small pentaprism and sub-sized mirror directly through your kit-lens. In contrast, the D3 sports a gigantic cinematic viewfinder. [sarcasm mode off]
On the one hand-side, having a smaller picture area in your viewfinder should give you a better overview without having to let  your eyes wander around too much. On the other side the D5000 viewfinder is a bit dim, which doesn’t help with getting good results. It can be done, but it’s quite  cumbersome. Precise manual focus is no option with the D5000.

Pop-up flash
The pop-up flash is the epitome of “unprofessional” for a good number of fine photographers. Myself, I quite like it. Can I please have one on the D4? In earnest: I don’t use my SB800 flashes much anyway – just for some look-and-grin-shots if the client insists or if I find myself in one of these tungsten, yellowish/green walled hotel ballrooms that do have just enough diffuse light if you like to shoot at for ISO 6400. However, sometimes, you don’t really need some full-power bounced flash, but only a bit of a flash-kick in order to compensate for some heavy back-lighting. In these situations the pop-up-flash is just wonderful. In addition, not having one of those huge SB800 or super-huge SB900 flashguns on your camera takes some fear away from your subjects that you would like to capture in their natural environment.

A pop-up-flash can come quite handy and won’t attract the subject’s attention.

Battery life
dpreview has found the battery is good for 510 shots. I believe I took a couple more, maybe that’s due to less power consumption in “silent” mode? With these EN EL9(a) batteries being so small, it’s perfectly fine for me to carry 3-4 spares with me for a day of shooting

Sensor Cleaning
Works just fine. Can I please have that for my D4?

Data Security
The Nikon D3 series and the Canon 1D series offer dual card support. For my peace of mind this is an enormous advantage: I can’t re-stage my events – if a card should fail I’m pretty much toast. Also, for some events my clients want their files ASAP for their intranet or their press-photo-section on their website. It’s quite comforting to be able to hand my clients a card with just the JPGs while I keep my other cards with my RAWs/NEFs in my camera or on my body at all times.
Having just one SD-card slot, the Nikon D5000 is clearly a bit under-spec’ed for professional use. However, you can do something that raises the file security by 100%. I shot the complete event in RAW-plus-large-JPG. So, if one file on the card gets damaged, I would – in most   cases – still have the other file. That, and preferably working with a second camera which should be used to take a couple of duplicates of important moments, should be at least half-a-solution.
Another aspect is the size of   SD-cards – they are smaller and lighter – easier to drop if you have big hands. CF cards in a think-tank 12-card pouch are as safe as it gets.

Dynamic Range
Quite good, not a show-stopper for my work. The D3 files certainly have a better dynamic range, but that’s not really a big factor for 95% of my images.

I believe I had set Active D-Lighting to “Strong” in order to squeeze in  all the different brightness values. For my taste: almost too much.

File Quality
For the last couple of years this topic should have been renamed to “file quality it ISO higher than 800”. For all ISO-sensitivities below 800 almost any 35mm/APS-C DSLR is good enough for professional use.

If there is anything wrong with this image, it’s not the lacking technical quality of the APC-C sensor at ISO 320.

High-ISO images are another game. It hasn’t taken manufacturers long in order to get rid of most “noise-problems at 100% on-screen viewing”. With choosing “normal” for your high-ISO-noise reduction, you don’t get a lot of noise even at ISO 3200 on the Nikon D5000. You do, however lose quite a bit of detail and sharpness – compared to the D3. But that’s quite logical: if you cramp the same amount of pixels into half the sensor estate, you get a higher noise level. Nevertheless, the story doesn’t end here. If you’re printing large 20×30 inch posters of your high-ISO images on a regular basis or if you tend to crop 80% away of most of your pictures before printing 5×7 images, the best high-ISO camera is the way to go for you. If most of your high-ISO images end up on a website or in typical 8.5×11 inch sized brochure, the D5000 offers plenty of headroom.

Just a side-note about high-ISO quality: if you have enough signal in your blue-channel, noise won’t be much of a problem. Only, if you stuck with reddish tungsten light, you will begin to see some noise. (or lose some detail if your camera’s noise-cancellation kicks in.)

One word about in-camera-sharpening. I have switched off any sharpening in conversion with View NX. Still, I feel my samples (the un-retouched 100% crops) show some sharpening. I do have to investigate that further. Is all in-camera-sharpening really gone, if you set VIEW NX to zero?

The mode-wheel
I like the mode wheel on the D5000. Selection between M, A, S and P is fast. Most useful of the “scenic modes” for myself is the “auto-everything-but-no-flash”-mode: Think of taking shots of a bridal couple recessing from the altar. You are shooting as ISO 3200, F2, 1/125th while walking backwards. A second later, they’re walking out into the open on a bright summer afternoon. While the pro D3 user is still fiddling with his settings (ISO, shutter-speed, aperture, white balance), the pro with the D500 gives his camera’s mode dial a quick flick and takes a couple of images before he or she does her own settings.

Now, what I would really like to have is a “pro-wheel”, M, A, S, P and 4 or 5 custom settings that simply store everything. That would be so convenient to have those custom settings handy for my different lighting situations as described above. Anyone who has been in “PJ-mode” at an evening function (giving the 50 AFs a workout at ISO 3200, f1.4, 1/60th and 2700 Kelvin) and has been approached by a guest (“Could you please take a photograph of my wife and I?”) knows the unnerving 20-sec ordeal of resetting all the values to ISO 800, f5.6, 1/30th in flash-WB. It would be so nice just to flick a button in half-a-second-take the grin-shot or two, give the guest a smile, flick back to “PJ” and get on with the work.

The missing top-of-camera LCD
Modern man can get accustumed to almost everything - even to back-of-the camera LCD displays. However: it’s much more convenient to have a quick look at your camera’s top LC-display in order to check settings before you raise your camera to your face.

Cost
700 Euro for a Nikon D5000 is about 1/6th of the staggering 4.200 Euro that my dealer expects to collect for a D3 camera. Now, I have already bought two of the big ones, and I don’t think I will sell them. But, if I was just starting out on a tight budget, I would probably start off with a pair of D5000 cameras and use the remaining money on a 24-70/2.8, a 70-200/2.8 and one of these super-wide angle APS-C 10-24mm lenses that everyone seems to offer these days.

Conclusion
There’s one  real advantage of the D5000: it’s much much quieter than my D3 cameras. Everything else is better on the D3. However not by much, really. It’s astonishing how good the D5000 is for such a price. A professional coverage of a low-light event can be done with a Nikon D5000. It is just a bit more tiresome  - you have to overshoot quite a bit in order to overcome the weaknesses of the D5000. I do believe that your clients would be happy with the technical quality. A pixel-peeper at heart, I have to confess that I’m happier when I look at my D3 files at 100%.
For the time being (until a D300s or a D4 with silent mode is released) I guess I will use the D5000 again in sound-sensitive shooting environments. I have come to really like that small camera. It works pretty well and reliable. If you know the restrictions of the camera you can work around them and achieve a professional result that should make your client happy.

“Don’t try this at home”
You might want to think twice about doing such a frightening “small-camera-experiment” at your next wedding / corporate event etc. If you’re not 100% confident about your abilities as a shooter and know where to stand at all times and know what’s going to happen next at your event, the extra stress of operating a “challenging” camera might not be what you need or want.