Best Sprinter Of All Time Used a Nikon To Celebrate His Gold
Usain Bolt who just won his 5th Olympic gold medal tonight decided to celebrate it in a very unique way. Instead of just running and waving to his fans like most athletes will do, he decided to celebrate by taking pictures. Right after winning the gold at the 200m race, he took a Nikon D4 from photographer Jimmy Wixtröm (Aftonbladet newspaper, Scandinavia) and just started shooting his teammates, his fans, and other photographers and members of the press. Awesome way to celebrate greatness.
Below are the images of Bolt enjoying his new toy – but make sure you check out the photos he took – great results on the track, and also outside of the track.
There is no question the Nikon D800/E is a spectacular camera. But just how well does the D800 stack-up against the venerable Nikon D3s? What about in DX crop mode; how well does it fare against the D7000? We now know the new Nikon D800 has a bad case of multiple personality disorder. The D800 is several different cameras, rolled-up into one very sleek and attractive body.
Let's examine just how well the D800 performs when down-sampled to 12.1 megapixels to match the un-defeated high-ISO king, the Nikon D3s. In addition to this comparison, we're also going to put the Nikon D800 against the current APS-C DX crop champion, the Nikon D7000.
Nikon D800 vs. Nikon D3s
The D800/E is capable of achieving amazing amounts of detail at its native resolution of 36.3 million pixels. This is great for studio and landscape work or anything that warrants this kind of resolution. However, the final output doesn't always need to be the native resolution of 36.3 MP. What we've found is the D800 has excellent Dynamic Range combined with excellent high-ISO noise characteristics, giving us the ability to down-sample when need-be, while retaining all of the high-frequency detail captured by the high-resolution sensor. We know that down-sampling an image helps to reduce noise (especially luminance noise), so we reap the benefits of lower noise andbetter detail, while retaining the D800's excellent Dynamic Range (DR) when down-sampling. A down-sampled image that has more high-frequency detail is a better candidate for noise-reduction via software (Lightroom 4, Topaz DeNoise...etc) and can handle more aggressive noise reduction, while still retaining high-frequency detail that's usually lost during aggressive noise-reduction.
For this comparison, we shot both cameras at the same respective exposure, ISO, aperture and white balance and set both cameras to the "STANDARD" Picture Control with no additional capture sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation or hue. Both cameras were shot in RAW(NEF) format and developed into a high-quality 8 bit JPEG format using Capture NX2 with zero High-ISO Noise Reduction. The D800 shots were then opened in Photoshop and down-sampled using Photoshop's "Bicubic Sharper" algorithm to 4256 x 2840 px to match the D3s' native resolution. No other sharpening was performed (click on any image to enlarge it).
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO1600 Crop 1
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO3200 Crop 1
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO6400 Crop 1
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO12800 Crop 1
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO25600 Crop 1
As you can clearly discern, the D800 image retains much more high-frequency detail throughout the ISO range. The D3s does beat the D800 in luminance noise by about a third-stop, with chrominance noise being significantly worse in the D800's files above ISO-12800. As stated above, the D800's file can handle much more aggressive noise reduction, while retaining much of its detail, which will result in a better overall file than the D3s until about ISO-25,600. At this point, the D800's files are riddled with amp noise which is destroying most of the high-frequency detail advantage it had over the D3s, making the D3s a better option from ISO-25,600 and up (The only way the D800 can go above ISO-25600 is by "pushing" in post).
While the D800's DR is supremely impressive at base ISO (ISO-100) to about ISO-800 (about 14.3EV @ ISO-100), it falls off at higher ISOs. This is where the D3s shines; the D3s has less DR fall-off at upper ISOs, but several stops less DR at base ISO as compared to the D800.
While the D800 doesn't quite beat the D3s in high-ISO noise handling when down-sampled to 12.1 MP (without noise reduction), the D800 will clearly out-perform the D3/D700 sensor in noise, sharpness, detail and DR, at every ISO, when down-sampled to the same resolution of 12.1 MP.
Let's look at a different set of D800 vs. D3s crops, this time focusing on the high-frequency detail in the books on the bottom shelf.
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO1600 Crop 2
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO3200 Crop 2
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO6400 Crop 2
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO12800 Crop 2
D3s vs D800 12mp ISO25600 Crop 2
Once again, you can clearly see the high-frequency detail advantage the D800 has over the D3s, when down-sampled to 12.1 million pixels. Look at the dark brown book on the left side of each crop; the D800 clearly renders the detailed fabric cross-hatching @ ISO-12800 and can just barely be seen @ ISO-25600. The D800 files are sharper and retain more high-frequency details at every ISO.
Nikon D800 vs. Nikon D7000
While the D800/E is 36.3 MP in FX mode, the D800/E has a DX (1.5x crop) mode, which is 15.4 MP. The Nikon D7000 is a 16.2 MP APS-C DX format camera that currently sits atop the APS-C camera heap, having the best performing APS-C sensor in the world, based on the Sony Exmor 16.2 MP sensor (this 16.2 Sony Exmor sensor is used in several other cameras on the market). Since the D800 has a DX crop mode that's roughly the same resolution as the D7000's sensor, we wanted to see how the D800 performed in comparison to the D7000. Please keep in-mind, the D7000 does have a slightly higher resolution, although not by much.
The D800 has a pixel pitch of 4.88µm, while the D7000 has a pixel pitch of 4.78µm, the .10µm is almost insignificant, which means the pixel pitch is roughly the same in both cameras, with the D800 having a slightly larger pixel pitch. This also helps us come to the conclusion that the D800/E sensor is based on a Sony Exmor design, although this is still yet to be confirmed, but is widely rumored to be true.
As with the D800 vs. D3s comparison, we shot both cameras at the same respective exposure, ISO, aperture and white balance and set both cameras to the "STANDARD" Picture Control with no additional capture sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation or hue. Both cameras were shot in RAW(NEF) format and developed into a high-quality 8 bit JPEG format using Capture NX2 with zero High-ISO Noise Reduction. No other sharpening or post-production was performed.
Let's examine the D800 vs. D7000 image comparisons (click on any image to enlarge it):
D800 vs D7K ISO1600 Crop
D800 vs D7K ISO3200 Crop
D800 vs D7K ISO6400 Crop
D800 vs D7K ISO12800 Crop
D800 vs D7K ISO25600 Crop
As you can see, the D800 does out-perform the D7000 at every ISO, although in luminance noise, they are closer at lower ISOs. Where the D800 shines is sharpness, micro-contrast and chrominance noise. Even with the D7000 having slightly better resolution, the D800 has much better effective resolution, which shows as a sharper image and better high-frequency detail. Not only does the D800 out-perform the D7000 in detail, micro-contrast and luminance noise, the D800 has significantly less chrominance noise. This is exaggerated as the ISO rises. An example of this can be seen below.
The D800's sharper image and more high-frequency detail might point to a weaker OLPF (Optical Low-Pass Filter a.k.a. AA-Filter) on the D800. The D800E would reveal even more sharpness, micro-contrast and high-frequency detail as compared to the D7000, due to its Anti-Aliasing characteristics being canceled-out in the D800E's OLPF filter stack.
Example of D800 vs. D7000 chrominance noise at ISO-25600:
Nikon D800 vs. D7000 ISO-25600
I've made the full-resolution images available at the bottom of this article, I highly suggest the images to be downloaded and compared full-size, for full-effect. Looking especially at the more finely detailed writing on the book ends.
Conclusion
The D800 is an extremely versatile camera that can provide amazing 36.3 MP files in full-frame FX mode, whilst containing the ability to moon-light as the best APS-C DX format camera on the market. The D800/E has several other crop modes as well as the DX crop mode discussed here, which helps to make the D800/E one of the most versatile cameras on the market today.
A full review of the D800/D800E and D4 is coming soon as well as comparisons between the D800, D800E, D4 and D3s.
The D800 used in this particular test was sourced from Robert's Camera.
This elegantly shaped satellite has controllable mirrors that gather sunlight around the clock, turning that sunlight into energy and then sending it back to Earth with an onboard microwave transmitter. Sound far-fetched? Not to NASA, which is funding this spectacular idea.
The basic design of the unit is underway, and miniature prototypes to test the concept are in the offering. But there's no word on when such a satellite will be ready to begin generating power from space.
2. New Video of Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse
Behold, the world's fastest roadster: the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, first rolled out in February and now depicted in a new video that shows the 1,200hp projectile in the wild.
How fast is it? How does a 0-to-62 mph time of 2.6 seconds and a top speed of 255mph grab you? But good luck getting insurance on this $2.64 million vehicle.
The awesome Nikon D4 just shipped to eagerly awaiting professionals, bringing even more spectacular low light performance than its predecessor, along with newfound video-shooting prowess. Mashable's Pete Pachal got his hands on this beast and was astonished at its ability to shoot usable pics in near-darkness.
It's absolutely great in low light, and you can crank up its sensitivity to a native maximum of 12,800 ISO. For those who understand such things as ISO numbers, that's a spec that will make jaws drop. Even though Pete called it "crazy big and heavy" and wished it had an articulating LCD, he felt like the paparazzi strutting around with this thing.
Beyond its pro specs, it's surprisingly easy to use, with multiple redundant buttons to adjust things quickly rather than diving into menus on its LCD screen. Another surprising capability is its 10-frames-per-second rapid-fire shooting. The pros will gladly plunk down their $6,000 for this highly capable piece of digital photographic hardware.
Dish rolled out its Hopper Whole-Home DVR over the past few weeks, and we got a chance to extensively test it in real-world conditions. We found the system to be super-powerful and good enough to give TiVo a run for its money.
Dish's main Hopper 2000 DVR connects to smaller units it calls Joeys, which stream their video via Ethernet or coaxial cable from the main Hopper unit. Then, you can watch any of the recordings (or three different TV programs live) from up to four locations in your house. A standout feature is its Prime Time Anytime capability, constantly recording all three hours of prime time, seven days a week on the four major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox).
Joey Streaming Unit
The streaming unit for additional locations, called a Joey just like a baby kangaroo, can be stood up on a stand like you see here and hidden behind the TV. Enabling that trick is its radio-frequency (RF) remote that doesn't need to be pointed directly at the Joey (or Hopper). I also appreciate its clever Remote Control Locator, making the remote sound a beep when you press a button on the set-top box.
Hopper and Joey Inputs and Outputs
There's an alphabet soup of of inputs and outputs in the back of both units, including HDMI, USB, eSATA, component, optical audio and coax.
The Hopper's user interface takes a little getting used to, but once you've learned the intricacies of its complicated remote and almost-intuitive user interface, it works well.
The highly compressed picture quality isn't as good as HD over-the-air broadcasts or even the compressed video from most cable systems, but it's acceptable if you're not using an 80-inch HDTV. And the Hopper can hold 250 hours of programming on its 2TB hard drive.
This whole-home DVR doesn't come cheap, though, costing you $10 per month for the system and $7 more for each Joey -- and that's in addition to whichever satellite subscription package you choose. If Dish could raise the video quality by a couple of notches, this could be a great system.
It's never been easier to broadcast a live stream of video from remote locations, especially since Livestream Broadcaster burst on the scene this week. It's a complete $495 system that revolves around a box that you attach to a camcorder, letting you stream HD video live to the web via Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G.
Looks like a quick and easy way to get live professional-quality 720p video online. No small feat, considering that other live broadcasting kits could run you more than $5,000 -- and even that is surprisingly cheap, doing something that would've been considered a miracle 10 years ago.
If you've tried wireless charging, you know how wonderful it is to free yourself from plugging in that pesky cable. Now Chrysler's Mopar division has introduced that surprisingly handy convenience to your car, with the industry's first in-vehicle wireless charging system.
Just like my favorite Energizer Inductive Charging system, you must first place your iPhone, BlackBerry, Android smartphone or MP3 player into a special sleeve, and then when you place the device in this little compartment underneath the car radio, it begins charging as soon as you start your car.
Available in the second quarter of this year (and also built into the 2013 Dodge Dart), the system costs $200 plus installation. But what I'd like to see is this wireless charging capability built in to all smartphones, eliminating the need for that slightly bulky sleeve and making it even easier to charge without plugging.
Sure, you've been able to get gigantic HDTVs before, but now Sharp has made such pleasures significantly more affordable with its 80-inch LC80LE632U HDTV, available for a few months now. I've been waiting for a TV this size for years, and as soon as I saw the price dipping below $4000, I bought one of these for myself.
How do I like it? It's simply magnificent. Play a Blu-ray disk or any 1080p video, and its quality and super size matches that of any movie theater. Compared with my previous 55-inch HDTV, this 80-inch behemoth effectively doubles the screen area, and crosses that line between watching a TV and being in an immersive theater environment.
The downside? This enormous screen size brings out the worst in lower-quality content, showing off every image artifact, making some HDTV content look lame and rendering any standard-definition content unwatchable. It's also difficult to get it perfectly set up, but once you find that sweet spot, it's well worth the price of admission.
Note: Prices are relatively low on this model, probably because there's a new 3D model soon to be released. Because I loathe 3D, that didn't make any difference to me.
What's this? A circuit board? Yes, but what you're looking at is the future. Spinning hard drives will go the way of the dodo bird, and soon all storage will be plugged directly into your motherboard, giving you blazing speed when storing and retrieving your beloved data.
Sure, this technology is possible now, but it's still way too expensive for mere mortals. Case in point: This 400GB Intel PCI-Express 910 SSD costs $1929, and the 800GB version costs $3859. They'll be available mid-year, but wait a couple of years, and I predict these drives will cost about a 10th of what they do now, bringing their mind-blowing speed to the rest of us.
The Pebble smartwatch was the darling of the tech industry this week. Minutes after it was offered on crowdsourced funding site Kickstarter, its popularity exploded, garnering $100,000 in the first two hours of availability on Wednesday. Now (Saturday), it's basking in the glow of more than $2.48 million worth of funding after just three days.
Why such instant popularity? It'll probably be the first smartwatch to link up to iPhones via Bluetooth, notifying you of incoming emails, messages and calls, tracking runs and bike rides and telling you the time, all on its e-paper display. And oh yeah, it also works on Android phones.
Could this be the beginning of a resurgence in the wearing of watches? You sure can't beat the ability to tell the time and check your messages with both hands free. Pledge $115, and you'll have one in your hands of the time it's released around September of this year.
10. HP Z1 All-In-One Workstation
When I first showed you press photos of the HP Z1 all-in-one workstation a couple of months ago, it was intriguing enough. But now that I've been testing one for the past week, I'm even more impressed.
HP Z1 Back
Highlights: Its extraordinary power is a power user's dream, its 27-inch 1-million-color display is the best I've ever seen, and it's so quiet, even when under intense video rendering loads, you can barely hear it unless you put an ear right next to it.
Inside the HP Z1
This is not just a garden-variety computer -- it's a monster. Its high-end workstation-class NVIDIA Q4000M graphics card crunches through gigantic graphics, takes on huge animation projects and edits video as if it's cutting through butter.
HP Z1 Service Mode: Leaning Back
This one we tested is loaded to the hilt with an Intel Xeon E3-1280 quad-core processor, high-end graphics and two 300GB solid-state drives, tipping the scales at $5673. The good news? You can get the base model with that gorgeous display for a mere $1899. Highly recommended.
Putting our reviewers’ hats on this week, we got our hands on four exaggerated examples of state-of-the-art tech, including a laughably enormous television, a monster camera, a whole-house digital video recorder and a world-class workstation shoehorned inside a 27-inch monitor.
But even that wasn’t enough. As is our wont, we peered into the future at a lovely flower-shaped solar satellite, thought we were in the future when we saw an HD broadcast system that you can carry anywhere, discovered a hard drive whose astonishing speed gives us a peek at what all computers will soon be able to do and lusted after a unique timepiece that was the darling of the tech industry this week.
Enjoy those future-forward objects and a lot more on Top 10 Tech This Week — the most concentrated, efficient and exciting tech coverage on (and off) this planet.
