Backstory

I recently sold all of my Nikon gear so that I could purchase a Leica M9 and lenses.

This had nothing to do with any issues with my Nikon camera or lenses. I have owned the Nikon D90, D700 and D7000 and I enjoyed them very much.

So I bought the Leica M9 and some lenses and I love it. I’ll leave it at that. However even with the M9 there are certain situations that it’s not best suited for.

For example, I can’t take fast moving sports photography with the Leica. I can’t take pictures using ISO 3200 and above, without the pictures being too grainy (Noisy) in my opinion.

Also, I have not found a good solution to taking macro shots using the Leica M9. If there is , please let me know.

Finally, although I love the manual focus on the Leica, there are times when auto focus is needed. Again, I point to moving objects for example.

So all this to say that although I’m in love with the Leica and plan on using it 90% of the time, I feel I still need a DSLR.

Hence, the reason for this post. I sold all my Nikon gear remember. Well the good news is that I had cash left over. I decided to buy a DSLR for that other ten percent of my shooting. I could have easily purchased a Nikon D5100 and probably would be very happy.

i then realized this was an opportunity for me as a photographer and specially as a blogger and podcaster. So I bought a Canon EOS 7D instead. After using it, I want to give you my points as to how they compare. I always believed that the whole “Nikon vs Canon” fanboy discussion was probably not accrete. I believed these cameras to be more than equal.

So after that long back story here are my comparison points.

Why should you buy the Nikon D7000

• Great image quality. Significantly better than the EOS
• very high dynamic range 13.9 EV
• Weather sealed
• Auto focus work in video mode
• 39 focus points
• Long battery life
• Smaller size than the EOS 7D
• Cheaper than the EOS 7D. D7000 is $1,299 body only vs EOS 7D $1,549
• ISO is up to 25,600/ISO

Why should you buy the Canon EOS 7D

• little delay (shutter lag) 131 ms, that’s impressive
• Up to 1/8000 a second shutter speed
• 8 frames per second rapid fire mode
• Higher resolution 17.9 NO
• very thin 2.9:
• 19 focus points
• More cross-type focus. This means it will find focus in harder situations

My conclusions

If I had to give these cameras a score I would say, the Nikon D7000 gets an 8 out of 10, and the Canon EOS 7D gets a 7.5 out of 10. Essentially they are tied. Although on paper the Nikon has better statistics, in my real world experience I call it a tie.

Listener @switchermark asked ”How about the subjective “ease of use” or “intuitive menu” Very good points Mark. I will use the camera for 30 to 45 days and do a follow up post, on those very important categories. I feel i’m to new at the 7D to come to a conclusion on that.

Buying my new rangefinder camera has inspired me to start a new podcast dedicated to rangefinder, and Leica enthusiasts called, Rangefinder Moment.  Please go subscribe in iTunes, and check out the web page too.

Please support this show and help me build an audience.

It’s no secret that ThinkTank photo bags are a part of my arsenal. I have had two review units given to me for review, and I love them both.  However I have bought another two bags and other accessories from them too.

ThinkTank is holding a really unique contest over at Facebook giving you a chance to win some of their gear too. The winner gets to cram as many Think Tank Photo bags as will fit into our humongous Airport Logistics rolling equipment case. So go over to see the rules and a very funny stop motion video.

They are not a sponsor , but I sure love their stuff and would love to see one of my listeners win. Check it out

Wanted to demonstrate with this picture from the Stuck In Customs photowalk last week how using black and white and an alternative look can really impact the look of a picture.

This picture is the normal exposure tonemapped in Photoshop CS4

Same picture this time using Nik Software Silver FX Pro

It was great meeting all of you today during the Stuck In Customs San Clement (L.A.) photo-walk, hosted by Trey Ratcliff.

As promised I’ve created a Flickr group called “Stuck In San Clemente“for this event and you can fin it  here.  Please feel free to add photos and as Trey said don’t be afraid to offer suggestions and critique to those who post.

Thanks to Trey for putting on this fantastic event.

Here is some more Topaz Photoshop Bundle examples that i worked on tonight. Keep in mind these are basically presets with very little tweaking. Really a fun set of plugins to play with

I have been using a review copy of the Topaz Photoshop Bundle in preperation for an interview I’m doing with Eric Yang their marketing manager. To say that I’m impressed with this $179 bundle of photographic joy would be an understatement.

You will here more during the interview but here is one simple example that literally took 10 minutes from start to finish to do. The picture on the left was shot at the Petersen Automotive Museum the very first time I used my Canon Power shot G11 point and shoot.  The picture on top was shot as a JPG not RAW picture. The picture on the bottom was put through just two of the Topaz Photoshop Bundle (Topaz Adjust and Topaz DeNoise).

As you can see the Topaz FX is dramatic and very inspiring to me. Not only did the Topaz DeNoise remove the noise, but using Topaz Adjust with an out of the box smooth preset, I was able to a silky smooth look that goes well with the subject. Look for more in the month of February and the interview with Topaz. Bottom line I highly recommend these products after using them in the last few weeks.

Exposure information of original shot

The Original picture

This is the same picture with the Topaz Adjust and DeNoise filter

On the way to lunch I took this picture with the iPhone out of the window (yes while stopped).

I like it a bit better like this using some Silver FX Pro

Yesterday I finally got to go out and shot the new Canon Powershot G11 point and shoot camera. I bought this camera last week as I wanted a point and shoot camera that would shoot in raw and also have some easy access to functions such as ISO settings, aperture settings etc. I also bought a Canon 270ex small flash as I knew this would be a fun camera to experiment with off camera (and on ) flash. My total investment for these two items was approximately $578 US.

I went with Liana Lehua @fittorrent on Twiiter to the Peterson Automotive Museum in LA which is a wonderful place to take pictures and very photographer friendly. I shot most of the pictures below using the Canon 270ex small flash,and generally found the camera to be a joy to shoot with. The quality of the RAW pictures is excellent, specially at ISO’s below 1000. It was nice not to be hassled because I was carrying a “pro” camera around. This was also a large motivator for my purchase.

I found the camera to be noisy at ISO 1600 (see this shot) and above. The pictures taken with these high ISO’s were simply unacceptable but, the G11 though said to be better than it’s predecessors in low light, is no low light magic box.  It took me a while to get use to shooing a point and shoot camera again. I found the body to be a bit small for my hands, but I was soon adjusting.

While trying to do flash photography, I found it annoying having to go to the flash menu (via the screen) in order to adjust flash power each time I wanted to. It would have been nice if the exposure adjustment dial which is great to go plus or minus up to two exposures, could have doubled as a flash power adjustment function.

As I was reviewing the shots in Light Room I noticed that about half way through my shots all the pictures were jpg not raw. What happened? Well apparently during one of those times when I was messing with the menus to change the flask power, I fat fingered a menu and changed the camera settings from RAW to high jpg. No mind you the high jpgs are really good and I’m kind of glad this “accident” happened as I got to see the quality of jpg files, but it was a disappointing mistake that may have been avoided by better menu management on the G11.

After day one , I would say the Canon Powershot G11 is the best point and shoot I’ve owned despite it’s less than stellar low light performance at about ISO 1600. This may be user error on my part so I’ll hold off judgement until I get to know the camera better. The ability to have ISO 80 however was so great and darn near with the price of the camera. See the pictures below to get an idea of the versitality of the Canon Powershot G11.

Overall, I need to get out and do some night shots, try bracketing and do some plain old day time photography with the Canon Powershot G11, but for day one I’d give this camera four starts. I know it will serve me well.

Here is a slide show from the shots taken yesterday

I got the scoop on this and yes I am allowed to print it early.

Eye-Fi Collaborates With Google’s Picasa to Make Storing and Sharing Memories Easier

Consumers Who Buy 200GB or More of Extra Google Storage Receive a Free Eye-Fi Card 4GB SDHC Home video card ($69.99 value) includes one free year of Web Share and Geotagging ($24.98 value). These services will remain free if Eye-Fi card is used to upload to Picasa Web Albums.

I own an Eye-Fi card and this is a pretty awesome deal. So much so that I upgraded my 2GB Eye-Fi to a 4GB. The only drawback is that Picasa does not allow you to store RAW. That’s too bad , but still very flexible.

Here is some fine print from the Picasa page

Eye-Fi promotion details

• Purchase $50 or more of storage and get a free Eye-Fi wireless SDHC camera memory card to upload photos wirelessly to Picasa Web Albums.
• The Eye-Fi card requires a SDHC compatible camera and a Wi-Fi router. If your camera is more than 3 years old, it might not work! Check your camera compatibility.
• Special, limited-time offer available while supplies last.
• Sorry, no refunds or returns.
• Valid only in US and Canada, only for users buying paid storage for the first time.
• Limit 5 per household.
• Eye-Fi cards will be delivered within 20 business days of purchase.
• Shipping information will be shared with Eye-Fi but will not be retained or used for any purposes outside of delivering your card.
• Have more questions? Read all the details.