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At the 130th birthday party (combined ages of my Mum and Grandma) on Saturday I spotted that a certain brown roll seemed to have gone uneaten and was making its way slowly around our table.

One thing led to another, which in turn led to another thing, which led to the bap being named Billy… anyway, every single person (young to (very) old) at the 130th birthday party took part in a sensational photoshoot with Billy.

To see the full set visit http://www.fajita.org/billy/

Chris has put up a quick comparison between the D40 and the D80 over on his blog.  You can read the entry at www.christalbot.co.uk/?p=77

His MB-D80 came today so he’s included some basic info about this.  I’ve also arranged to borrow his D80+MB-D80 sometime next week so I can add it to my D2X/D200+MB-D200 comparison.

There are a few things that I’d like to point out:

The EOS-400D is Canon’s low-end DSLR, but it’s aimed more at the D80 market.  I believe that Nikon are currently selling one of the cheapest DSLRs going, the D40.

Canon changed their lens mount from EF (I guess?) to EF-S, which in many ways is similar to the AF-S F-mount glass we see over in the Nikon world.  Specifically all Canon glass made in the last n years has a built in motor.  I think.  But this should mean that there is very little practical difference between AF speed on Canon and Nikkor glass at a given price range.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canon L glass AF speed was better than the Nikkor offering, given that they’ve been doing it longer.  Again, I think.  I can’t claim to know more than the very basics about the Canon line-up or recent history.  If I’ve got it wrong, add a comment.

These days it would be crazy to buy the D40 over the D40X (10MP with better high ISO, etc. instead of 6MP).  Given the price difference between the D40X and the D80… I’d argue that those people are also crazy not to buy the D80.  But it is definitely horses for courses, and if you want a compact, cheap yet powerful DSLR, the D40 is the way to go.

The D2X is Nikon’s current* top-of-the-line digital SLR, announced in late-2004, which features a 12MP DX sensor. The D200 was announced a year later and comes equipped with a 10MP DX sensor.

D2X and D200+MB-D200 not to scale (but close)

I’ve borrowed a D2X, Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 and 80-200 f/2.8 from Vlad for a week. At the same time I’ve managed to get a hold of a D200 with the MB-D200 vertical grip and dual-battery pack from Neil Hutchinson who works in the BT Group of the Solutions Centre at Sun.

After playing around with both cameras independently and in a mini-shoot I’ve decided to discuss my findings. Please bear in mind that two or three hours isn’t enough to judge any camera, no matter how much time you’ve spent reading about it. In addition the 17-55 is a totally new beast to me. All in all, beyond my experience with the D70s this kit is all new to me.

First off, I’d like to point out what key features I look for in a camera:

• Big, bright viewfinder that display all of the info I need


• Good performance at higher ISO levels


• Outstanding ergonomics and overall performance


• Build quality

I picked the D70s over the Canon EOS-350D solely on the viewfinder… by comparison the 350D’s viewfinder was dim, small and cramped. In the meantime Canon have really upped the ante… the EOS-5D provides a truly stunning viewfinder in terms of size and brightness, while delivering some of the very best high ISO performance (performing well all the way up to ISO1600-3200).

So, first off… buttons...

D2X buttons

D200 buttons

The D2X is considered by many to be the pinnacle of camera ergonomics. The right controls are in the right place and they can be configured to meet the most demanding of situations. In fact, I spent well over an hour going through the D2X custom settings before I was satisfied I had them right. No doubt with extended use these will continue to be tweaked and changed.

Fortunately the D200 menu layout is very similar to the D2X… if you’re going to be shooting with both, you’ll have no trouble adapting to the slightly different controls.

The front of both cameras is the same… the mode button, exposure compensation button, on/off and LCD illuminator knob, DoF preview, a FUNC button that can be configured to do a variety of tasks, focus servo switch (manual, single and continuous), not to mention the main command (aperture) dial.

On the rear of the body things are again very similar: the AF-ON, sub-command (shutter speed) dial, joystick, focus mode (i.e. closest subject priority, group, etc.) and LCD buttons (menu, grid, lock and enter) are the same. Between the D2X and D200 the playback button has switched around (on the D200 it returns to the more familiar location above the menu button, while on the D2X it sits next to the delete button to the left of the viewfinder).

The main real difference is the AE-L/AF-L button… on the D200 it is slightly further away from the AF-ON button; I personally find this makes it easier to distinguish between the two.

In addition the exposure calculator (spot, matrix and centre-weighted) button rotates around the AE-L/AF-L button. On the D2X it lives at the right-hand-side of the large viewfinder prism and is operated in a rather clunky way. Again, the D200 wins here… switching between the available metering modes is quicker and more logical. It is also easier to view at a glance and so far I have not accidentally switched (and I don’t see that I would).

Below the D2X’s LCD display is a smaller LCD that displays various camera settings (notably the ISO which can be seen on the D200 only by pressing the ISO button or looking through the viewfinder). The D200 doesn’t have this at all.

On the top of both cameras to the left of the viewfinder lives the mode selection dial. The D2X dial includes the BKT (bracketing), flash and a lock button, while the D200 has quality, ISO and WB (white balance).

On the D200 the flash button has been moved to the left side of the viewfinder, but unlike the D70s it does not also act as the flash pop-up button. I don’t personally have any preference here… I’m used to the D200/D70s way, but both are good.

On the D2X the ISO and WB buttons are on the smaller LCD on the back. This leaves space for the BKT button… on the D200 this is above the play button… again familiar for D70s users.

This leaves the lock button, which exists on the D2X only. This button allows the shutter speed and aperture to be locked (in much the same way as AE-L/AF-L)... sounds useless until you’re in a studio. I could feasibly see myself missing this on the D200.

Finally the D2X and D200 share identical settings on both the rotating shooting mode dial (S, Cl, Ch, timer and Mup (mirror up)) and the vertical grip: a shutter release, front and rear command dial and AF-ON.

So, ergonomics and handling...

Unsurprisingly both are very similar. I’ve already pointed out that the metering mode dial on the D200 trumps the D2X, but otherwise things are more or less the same. In landscape both cameras are a joy to use… once your fingers learn where all of the buttons are.

In portrait both cameras have their advantages/disadvantages. The D2X’s joystick can just about be operated in portrait mode, while it is totally out of reach on the D200 (thanks to the larger grip). I don’t believe the D2X’s joystick was designed to be used in portrait, but it is handy and noticeably lacking on the D200. However, the D200 claws back by having a more comfortable grip in portrait… my thumb feels far more comfortable at the back and there is more purchase at the front. If you’ve managed to cope with using the AF-ON button and a command-dial to select focus point, then the D200+MB-D200 is for you.

So far my experience with using the joystick for selecting AF spots has been a bad one. Both cameras have 11 points and navigating between them is painful at best. I hope this will get better with practise and once I’ve learned the patterns. I’ve messed around with a Canon 5D recently and I’d like to point out that the nipple solution they have is absolutely outstanding… by having just nine AF spots and a nipple with centre, N, NE, E, SE, S, etc. it is possible to switch from any of the AF points directly to another one. I’d settle on two less AF points without any hesitation if such a system were implemented.

D200 viewfinder

The D200 viewfinder is slightly larger and brighter than the D2X viewfinder, while the D2X offers a 100% view of the frame. The D2X includes information (ISO, WB and quality settings) to the right of the viewfinder, along with the useful information along the bottom, which is shared with the D200. Overall I prefer the D200’s view… it doesn’t include quite as much information, but it meets my needs very well. Having the ISO setting at the bottom of the viewfinder rather than the right hand side in the D2X is another big plus for me… I find reading the right-hand readout unnatural and more difficult.

D2X viewfinder

I expected the slightly larger, brighter D200 viewfinder to be a really big thing for me, but it isn’t. Neither camera really offers anything that would sway my decision. Both are very good, very big and comfortable to use, although I have to admit I prefer the smaller non-active AF spots in the D200 viewfinder (you can’t see them well in the viewfinder photos I found on Google).

Both cameras come equipped with a large 2.5” LCD review screen. While the D2X sports a colour calibrated display, the D200 provides a much brighter, clearer display. The D200 wins hands down for me, but if you’re shooting straight to JPEG in a studio environment, then that colour calibration may be useful to you. The content display seems to be the same, although the D2X seems to offer the old-style yellow luminosity histogram overlay, which I haven’t got the D200 to do yet. I should probably move into the 21st century and learn to use a full RGB+luminosity histogram, so this is no big plus for the D2X. Fortunately both cameras provide a high-powered zoom feature, something sorely lacking from my D70s. Final note about the LCD display… the BM-6 cover that comes with the D200 is far better than the D2X’s BM-3: it fits much closer over the display, appears to stop more dust, cause less reflection problems and critically does a better job of keeping my hot steamy breath from clouding things up.

A final ergonomics note… a big win for the D200 over the D2X is the ability to remove the vertical grip. With the grip removed the camera is lighter, smaller and less conspicuous. You might think that the flip side of this is that the D200 with vertical grip doesn’t deliver the same comfort as the D2X with built-in grip. I argue that this is not the case… while the MB-D200 does look like it was bolted onto the base of the D200, it doesn’t handle that way, and that’s what counts. Again, if you spend plenty of time shooting with long lenses in portrait, this is of no use to you, but for me, I think it’s something I might benefit from.

Auto-focus performance...

The long and short of it: the D2X blows the D200 right out of the water. With the 80-200 AF-D attached the D2X runs rings all around the D200 thanks to a super-powerful motor and better CAM auto-focus system. If you spend all of your time tracking birds in the flight or cars in motion, just go and buy the D2X.

That’s not to say that the D200 doesn’t do a good job… it does. The D200 is such a massive improvement over the D70s that it just isn’t funny. But the D2X combined with the high-speed crop is a winner in all situations.

Personally, I don’t do much of this… from time to time I think it’s fun to play catch with the birdies, but it never goes beyond that. I like to think I do people-shots (where AF is important, but the D2X offers no real advantage over the D200) and some landscape stuff (manual is fine here :).

Making exposures...

I haven’t had long enough to decisively address this. I was surprised to find that I found both cameras lacking…

I know my D70s more or less inside out and I can operate it very quickly (currently faster than I can operate either a D2X or a D200, but that’s just a matter of time). In many circumstances I can compensate an exposure before taking the shot, just because I know what the matrix metering will make of the scene.

I had a challenging scene involving two white swans on a lake and neither camera made it easy for me to achieve what I wanted. I can’t guarantee my D70s would have either, but I like to think it would.

Overall I’d say that the D200 did better than the D2X, but not enough to count. Really it was a tie… for moderate to unchallenging scenes both did perfectly.

In terms of what I look for this leaves two main areas: high ISO performance and build quality. The D2X is a first-class professional camera body designed to cope with the most challenging situations. NASA use them in space, pros operate them in deserts, the Arctic and hot and humid climates. They handle this because they were designed to. I haven’t dropped the D2X as part of any tests, but I would be surprised if it didn’t fare considerably better than the D200.

Again, as with auto-focus performance, this is definitely not to say that the D200 isn’t rugged and durable. It is and it will take many of the same knocks the D2X will take and keep going. It’s worth pointing out that the MB-D200 seems a little less solid than the D200 body itself, but not enough to matter in 99% of situations you might find yourself and your camera in.

As for high ISO performance... I’m not going to get into this. I haven’t done the research into it. I’ve personally read conflicting views… some people say that if handled properly the D2X does a good job, while others say the D200 is better. What I do know for sure is that neither are great… stick them up against the EOS-5D and they look very poor. If high ISO performance is critical to you, consider the Fujifilm S5 Pro, which is based on the D200 body but incorporates a Fuji SuperCCD delivering high ISO performance on a par with the 5D. Expect to pay £200 more than your standard D200 body.

Canon EOS-5D and Fuji S5 Pro

In conclusion...

Both cameras are awesome. They both drive all lenses very well and cope with all situations very well.

Which you should pick depends on what you’re doing. I personally feel that now the D200 is out there are only a limited number of reasons to opt for the D2X:

• You’re planning a trip to the Moon/the Arctic/the Safara desert/a warzone (delete as appropriate)


• You spend all of your time catching high-speed action and the AF performance is critical


• You want to build-up your muscles


• You want to have something you can hit attackers with

For all other situations the D200 is a more than adequate competitor.

A D2XS currently retails for £2,479 and a D200+MB-D200 for £959.99. Both can be found cheaper, but the difference is massive. For the same price as a D2XS you can have a D200+MB-D200, a 17-55 1:2.8 and half of a 70-200 1:2.8.

My recommendation would be to go for the D200+MB-D200 unless your needs dictate otherwise, and even then get both and try them out before you buy.

Here’s one shot taken last weekend at Derwent/Ladybower reservoir.  Just finished scanning the first film.  This is Kodak BW400CN, scanned with a Canon FS4000 using VueScan Linux, edited in Lightroom on XP.

I’m back.  All sorts of horrible stuff happened with the return flight yesterday that meant we missed out Amsterdam connection, delaying us by at least three hours and causing us in turn to miss our train to Doncaster.  In the end my Dad and Angie drove to meet us at Manchester airport in two cars: mine so I could then make the drive down to Camberley and another for them to get back.  After all of the necessary shut-eye stops on the way down I believe the drive took me about five hours, leaving me just six hours to sleep off 36 hours of ‘awakeness’ before needing to be getting ready for work this morning.  I’m amazed to say that I managed it and am only now starting to feel very heavy eyed.

It was odd to be back at work, but not quite as much as I might have expected.  I guess the Christmas trip earlier this year helped settle things for me.

I’ve just been browsing through my collection of 1,883/11GB photos I took over the month trip and I’m quite happy with how well I’ve fared.  I had loads of trouble with my D70 this time… the shutter release button (which has been iffy since I dropped it within three weeks of buying it) is very much ready to give up the ghost.  I can more or less get it to focus and shoot in static scenes, but when it comes to capturing that ‘decisive moment’, I’m out in the cold.  Not much fun when you’re trying to capture people’s expressions.

After having seen just how well a Canon EOS 5D performs at high ISOs I’m ashamed to say that Nikon have a lot of catching up to do.  My D70 at ISO400-800 is practically outperformed by the 5D at 1600/3200!  Now I remember why I so very rarely increase the ISO beyond the standard 200.

No doubt it will take me some weeks to properly sort through the photos that I really like, to tweak and adjust them before finally showing them off.  I’m going to do my best to make an attempt at a series of photos for the three-day trip to Angkor Wat; I don’t have thousands of photos to work with, but hopefully with some serious cropping and tweaking I should be able to pull something together.

Some of my washing is in the machine now, after which I’ll have to hang it out to dry.  I’m about to go downstairs to throw some things into the oven for dinner.  Then I’ll likely get a shower and head to bed as early as I dare (I don’t want to find myself waking up at 5AM tomorrow morning!).

Well, today was my last day in the Angkor temple area. Our three-day pass is up and tomorrow we’ll be heading somewhere different. On the cards right now is a trip to the floating village nearby.

Quentin and I got up at 7AM today to head out to a few of the smaller temples. We picked the Roluous group and visited a monastery first. Later on we headed to a temple that was under heavy reconstruction and watched a group of ladies crushing bricks to be used in a mortar made up of brick dust, palm sap and water. The women had been doing the painstaking work for six years on just $40/month!

After heading back to sleep over lunch I arranged for our driver to collect me at 2PM from the hotel for a final trip to Angkor Wat and the Bayon. I was very fortunate to meet a group of five novice monks who were taking in the sights at Angkor Wat. As I had a taxi to myself I was able to offer three of them a trip to their next destination for the sunset.

In the end I spent about three hours with the novices, one of which was as young as 17 years old. He’s the one in the photo at the top of this entry.

I collected an address and email address from them, so I’ll pass on a few photos when I get back. The sunset from the top of the mountain was truly incredible, but my photos unfortunately don’t do it justice.

It’s about time for me to be getting to bed. See everybody in about two weeks.

Just four days ago we were multi-millionaires.  We had 2.6 million rial in our pockets, but recently we spotted it was going down awfully quickly.

This morning after our 5AM start at Angkor Wat we headed to another temple for an early-morning viewing.  On the way out my Mum stopped to pick up a pineapple from one of the road-side sellers.

It was only after we’d bought the pineapple when I asked for 2,000 rial ($0.5) for a can of coke.  My Mum handed me two 10,000 rial notes… around about three quid.  When I queried this she said that’s what she paid for the $1 pineapple with!

In the end it turned out that we’d paid about twenty times more than we should have!  A pineapple should cost about $0.5, but my Mum isn’t much good at bargaining so she got it for $1 or 4,000 rial… but what she paid was 40,000 rial… about $10 instead!

The seller lady kept very quiet about it but once we realised she did admit it and offered us a “refund”.  Instead we picked up a second pineapple and let her keep the change :)

Everybody stood around found the whole thing pretty funny… no doubt it will continue to be a source of much amusement for weeks to come!

Well, we’re well and truly in Cambodia now. Our hotel is pretty nice and does provide an Internet service… at a price.

For USD4 I can get wireless Internet access for one hour. I’ve yet to actually try it, but it should be quite enough for me to post a new entry, read/reply to emails and generally keep up-to-date.

This morning we were collected by our airport taxi driver at 7AM. We visited Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and towards the end of the day, the Bayon.

Angkor Wat really is incredible… I sort-of knew what to expect, but the photos I’ve seen are really not preparation for what the place is truly like. The only comparison I can think of is Tintin and some crazy jungle adventure.

This photo is one I took at the Bayon… as it was towards the end of the day the light was much improved. Overall I’ve not fared very well with my camera… after using an OM-10/OM-4 for such a long time, coping with a tiny dim D70 viewfinder is really hard work.

On that note, it’s interesting that while in China I had my first hands-on experience with a Fuji S5 Pro. Unfortunately it wasn’t switched on so in reality it might as well have been a D200 with a different logo. Very interesting stuff… the opening price was about 1.2k. More than I have.

Here’s a shot from Angkor Thom… this has got to be one of the most famous shots from Angkor going. I’ve really struggled so far to expose properly to capture both highligh and shadow detail. I’ve been spot-metering in manual quite a bit… the D200 no-blowout mode would be really handy here.

Tomorrow we’re meeting our taxi driver at 5:15AM to get to the Angkor site for opening time at 5:30AM. We’ll visit a temple or two with the good (cool) morning light before heading back to the hotel for a nap over lunch. In the evening we’ll go back around 3PM when the sun brings out the best in the huge sandstone blocks.

Today I’m wearing a stupid-looking pair of cotton baggy pants and Chinese-style cotton top. Quentin and I both picked up a pair of the trousers after a quick wander around Angkor Wat in the morning. Jeans, 36C+, camera bags and sweat don’t go together well. The baggy-pants are pretty stupid looking, but are infinitely more comfortable than the jeans I set off in.

In other news, we’re officially millionaires. Almost three times over.

Last night at the airport we changed GBP400 to the local currency, which is the rial. The look we got from the girl cashier was well worth it, even if we are rapidly getting fed up of carrying around 2,670,000 rial around with us. So far the largest note is 50,000 rial.

Time to prepare for some dinner. Hope everybody is doing well and the France move is almost complete!

Things have been pretty busy… I’m sat now in the Leela Inn off Sukhumvit Soi 3 in Bangkok.  I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that already…

Travelling with Quentin, my Mum and Xiaoxiao is pretty different from what I’m used to.  Yesterday we visited Ayutthaya, which was my favourite destination last time I was in Thailand.  Unfortunately the day before I burned quite badly… last time I was travelling I got burned just once, and that was after plodding around on a beach.  Obviously going from very cold in China to around 36-37C in Bangkok wasn’t the best move.

We’re about five minutes off catching a taxi to Bangkok airport for our 7PM flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  Tomorrow may be Angkor Wat and/or some of the other temples in the area.

Today I bought a Case Logic camera backpack… the info is at www.caselogic.com/slr_computer_backpack/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=57080—my camera bag was getting a little heavy to carry so I’ve had to switch to something a little easier to carry, even if it isn’t as accessible.  On the plus side it has a dedicated slot for my laptop.

If I’d figured out that there was wireless four days ago I could probably have got some more info online… but now it’s about time to pack away and catch the taxi.

Hope everybody is having a good time :)

I blogged about the S5 Pro a short while back, suggesting that it may well be the next DSLR that I buy (if I can afford to buy one).

Well, I decided to have a look around today, and spotted that Jessops are now advertising the S5 Pro on their website.

Details available here; in short, the price is £1,249.99.  If the CCD can deliver as it should, then this seems to be a pretty impressive price, especially when you take into account that this is the price that the D200 started retailing for just a short while ago.

Expected availability date is April 2007, so it may well be Q3 of 2007 before we can realistically expect to get them in our grubby hands.

This leaves the question: buy a D200 now or hang back with a D70 and upgrade later?