Sure, you can get hung up on megapixels, ISO, and all that jazz–but who knows when your shutter’s gonna croak? Well, photographer and camera aficionado Oleg Kikin is certainly closing in on some solid numbers. His Camera Shutter Life Expectancy Database is a comprehensive collection of user-generated data revealing the number of exposures taken on a given camera and whether or not the shutter continues to operate. Feel free to add your facts and figures and keep this mother going!

Announced at PMA… 2006,  the Tokina AF 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX was and still is a phantom lens for users in many countries. It is now finally around for a review, at photozone.de.

The Tokina AF 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX is a long awaited lens but does it really live up to the high expectations ? Well, partially. Despite a slight centering defect the resolution characteristic is pretty impressive with a generally excellent center performance and very good borders and extreme corners from f/4 onwards. At f/2.8 the border resolution is slightly reduced. The bokeh (out-of-focus blur) is smooth and buttery at 50mm @ f/2.8. Vignetting is well controlled except at 16mm f/2.8 - the competition has more problems in this category.

The release day might be near. A new wave of rumors are cropping up about the new Nikon top-end professional-grade digital SLR, the D3, with some asserting that a new camera will be announced this month and ship in August.

Many of the reports are cropping up on the Nikon SLR message boards. One May posting cited French photo publication Reponses Photo as saying the Nikon D3 would have an 18.7-megapixel built by Sony and, in what would be a significant departure for Nikon, an image sensor nearly the size of a full frame of 35mm film.

A posting on Thursday cited a “Nikon insider” saying the new Nikon SLR likely would arrive in August and would have a full-frame sensor that would better match top-end Canon models. A follow-up post added that the new camera would handle low-light conditions better. Meanwhile, Thom Hogan, editor of the Nikon DSLR Report, advised a forum reader who had expected a February announcement, “Expect a late June announcement with ship in August/September instead, and you might be less disappointed.”

Nikon didn’t respond to requests for comment. And it should be noted that rumors are not reliable: one report of a Nikon D3 with similar specifications predicted that Nikon would announce the D3 at the Photo Marketing Show in March, which came and went without a peep. June is here already, we might be hearing the official announcement in a matter of weeks!

Nikon has updated the Capture NX tutorials on their Digital Knowledgebase to include additional content on printing and color profile management.  The tutorials can be downloaded as Adobe Acrobat files. The new content includes how to make contact sheets, soft proofs, borderless prints, auto levels contrast, and color profile batch conversion.

LetsGoDigital.org has published their much anticipated Fujifilm S5 Pro review.

The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro is not a product for the masses, but will undoubtedly be loved by photographers that want to get the most out of their daily digital workplace.

PC World Canada has compiled a list of what they consider to be the 100 best products of 2007. At #37 is Nikon’s D80 digital SLR camera, reviewing it:  “Ultrafast response time, beautiful photo quality, and convenient, useful features such as in-camera photo editing–what more could you want from a high-quality digital SLR model?” Even more impressive, the Nikon D40X came in at #23 on the list. The Canon 30D also deserves a mention, coming in at #51. You can check out the list here.

Nikon has released several new software updates on its European Support Centre website. An update is available for the wireless connection utility for the WT-2, adding support for Windows Vista and improves support on Intel Macs. Version 1.3.1 of Camera Control Pro is now available for Macintosh Computers only, improving the transferring of images into PictureProject which have been captured using this software. An update for the WT-3 setup utility is also available adding support for Windows Vista and improves support on Intel Macs.

To download the software updates please log in to the European Support Centre: http://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com

Nikon is currently offering a “Buy Both and Save” rebate for customers who purchase one DSLR and one Coolpix camera. When bundled together, customers can receive up to $50 back on select Coolpix point-and-shoot models. 

The mail-in rebate offer is valid from May 1 to June 30. Qualifying Nikon customers will receive $50 cash back on Coolpix P-series and S-series purchases or $25 back on L-series cameras. Read the rest of this entry »