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THE IMAGING RESOURCE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY NEWSLETTER
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Volume 15, Number 14 - 28 June 2013

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Copyright 2013, The Imaging Resource. All rights reserved.
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Welcome to the 362nd edition of The Imaging Resource Newsletter. This issue we share an excerpt from our shooter's report of the Nikon D7100, the company's latest and greatest prosumer APS-C DSLR. Steve Meltzer spins a story about Jacques-Henri Lartrigue, who at age 8 started taking photos of his family that capture the 'joie de la vie' of the Belle Epoque. We also show off a hands-on first look at the just-announced Sony RX100 II, a major revamping of our 2012 Pocket Camera of the Year. And finally, Dave Etchells answers some reader mail, and we single out several stories you might like to investigate on the IR website. Enjoy!

TOPICS
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Camera Review: Nikon D7100 Shooter's Report (Excerpt)
Feature: Jacques-Henri Lartigue - Arguably the Youngest Master Photographer of All Time
Quick Hits: First Look at the new Sony RX100 II, This Month in Digicam History and More
We've Got Mail
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REVIEW: Nikon D7100 Shooter's Report (Excerpt)
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(Check out our complete Nikon D7100 review, complete with gallery photos, comparison crops, lab test results and our final conclusion, here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d7100/nikon-d7100A.HTM)

by William Brawley

The Nikon D7000, announced back in September 2010, was a huge success for Nikon, earning rave reviews from the press and users alike. So it seems that the D7100 has some big shoes to fill now that it replaces both the D7000 and the D300S to be Nikon's flagship APS-C camera. Nikon seems to be aiming this camera at advanced enthusiasts and semi-pros looking at a camera for high-resolution images -- as well as high-speed shooting with precision autofocus. As someone who's had experience photographing challenging subjects such as sports, air shows and wildlife, I was very excited to get my hands on this camera.

Now, I must admit that I've been a dedicated Canon shooter for the past five years after switching from Nikon in the burgeoning days of HD-DSLR video. My very first DSLR was a Nikon D80, which I found to be a pretty fantastic camera, but it didn't do video, so I eventually made the switch to the "other side" so to speak. It was fun to pick up a Nikon camera again.

Overall, I had a great experience shooting with this camera, although I wish I could have spent more time with some long Nikon telephoto lenses shooting sports or wildlife to really push some of the features of this camera to the limit. The 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens made it a bit difficult to test the camera in this way. Overall, Nikon did a lot of things well with this camera, improving upon many of the already-great specs of the D7000. Nevertheless, I did find a few issues with both ergonomics and shooting capabilities that would make me hesitate if I were in the market to buy this camera myself.

The lack of an optical low pass filter on the D7100's imaging sensor lets it capture more fine detail, albeit at the risk of incurring moir�. However, in most real-world shooting applications we didn't see any significant examples of moir� patterns showing up in our photos. (Unless we really pushed it; see further below for an example of unmistakable moir� on a patterned fabric.)

In the hand. One thing I love about most DSLRs is their size and weight. This might sound odd given today's tendency to have cameras that continue to get smaller and lighter -- and I'm not saying I want the heaviest camera all the time -- but I feel there's a nice balance between size, weight and comfort. For instance, I sometimes forgo a shoulder strap with my DSLRs, and I like the extra heft and contoured grip of a DSLR. I always know that there's a camera in my hands, and I'm less likely to drop it (so far, I've never dropped one of my cameras... knock on wood). The same can't be said for smaller compacts, which are usually flat and rectangular and can be awkward to hold.

Therefore, my immediate reaction upon holding the Nikon D7100 for the first time focused on the handgrip. From owning a Canon 7D, I am used to a nice, comfortable handgrip, and the D7100's is just as impressive. Hand holding the D7100 is very nice, and the materials and the ergonomics of the handgrip make the camera feel very secure. Also, there's a small indentation on the interior of the handgrip for your fingertips, and it provides for just a little bit of extra security and comfort. I wish my 7D had that! I compared the feel of the camera with the D7000, and the D7100 feels a bit more contoured and more comfortable to hold, with the handgrip filling more of my hand.

Although the specs of the D7100 indicate that it is only about 10% smaller than the 7D, I found that the difference was definitely noticeable. The D7100 feels smaller and my hands are closer together, but not overly so that someone with larger hands will feel cramped and uncomfortable. I did notice that my hands touched when gripping the camera and placing my left hand under the lens. If you do have very large hands, you might run into a situation where your knuckles rub up against the lens barrel. This probably won't be a problem with most DX or small prime lenses, but I noticed this with large-diameter lenses such as the new Nikon 80-400mm. I didn't notice any issue with the included 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens, however.

Build quality. Not surprisingly, the D7100 has excellent build quality. Even with a combination of magnesium and polycarbonate plastic comprising the body rather than a single metal frame like the 7D, the D7100 still feels like one solid, quality machine. At the same time, the body and the lens together are fairly lightweight, and I highly doubt carrying this combo around on my shoulder or in my hands all day would be too tiring. Plus, the camera and kit lens altogether are pretty compact and can fit nicely into a small shoulder bag.

As for the 18-105mm kit lens, despite having a barrel completely made of plastic, it still felt pretty solid with smooth zoom action. The focusing ring, however, did feel a bit cheap. I found the autofocus to be decently fast and quiet, and the healthy range of focal lengths and the addition of Nikon's Vibration Reduction system make it a near-perfect all-around lens for its class. The VR system in this lens was near-silent, and is a nice feature to have at the longer focal lengths.

Now, as a Canon user I knew there would be things about the Nikon D7100 that would trip me up, and one of the big differences between Nikon and Canon cameras is the way you zoom and mount lenses. On a Canon camera, a clockwise turn zooms most, if not all, brands of lenses to the wider angle, whereas it's the opposite for Nikon. Similarly, lenses mount in a different manner between Canon and Nikon. With Canon, you mount a lens by aligning the dots at the top of the mount and rotate clockwise to lock it in. With Nikon, on the other hand, you align the lens mount dots at the 2 o'clock position and then rotate counterclockwise to lock the lens on the body. These are not major issues whatsoever with either camera, however it does take some getting used to since my motor memory kicks in after years of zooming and mounting lenses from another brand.

The Nikon D7100's 51 AF points combined with the 1.3x crop mode let me compose and snap this photo of a turtle just the way I wanted -- without getting too close and disturbing the animal.

Camera operation. The first thing I do when I'm handed a new camera is ignore the instruction manual, dive right in and see how quickly I can get a basic understanding of the controls and functions simply by playing with it. Seeing as the D7100 is a DSLR, which has been my camera style of choice for many years, I was up and running with the Nikon in no time. I did have to resort to the manual for the more nitty gritty details, but for the most part the D7100 is a straightforward DSLR and very easy to use.

I liked the button and control layout of the D7100 in general, but there was one big issue I'll get to a bit further in. Compared to the D7000, there are only a few minor changes with the button layout on the back of the camera. If you are upgrading from the D7000, the learning curve regarding the controls should be a piece of cake.

Nikon moved the Video mode recording button up top near the shutter button, rather than in the center of the Live View switch, as it was on the D7000. Live View switch now toggles Live View from photo to movie mode, which is very similar to the Live View mode switch that Canon introduced on the 7D. Like many DSLRs, most of the day-to-day shooting functions are available at your fingertips without forcing you to dive into a convoluted menu system. This leaves you more time for shooting rather than fiddling.

I stumbled with the controls at first simply due to my unfamiliarity with Nikon DSLRs, but I quickly adjusted. On my 5D Mark II and 7D, there are buttons down the left side of the LCDs just like the D7100. But not surprisingly, the functions don't match up between brands. I found that I would hit a button expecting one result purely based on motor memory, only to quickly realize I needed to press a completely different button on the D7100.

An OVF eyepiece issue. Like I hinted at earlier, there was one big issue I found in terms of comfort and usability that I feel is a combination of button layout, eyepiece placement and ocular dominance (meaning which eye you use to look through the viewfinder). First, I noticed that the D7100's eyepiece is almost flush with the back of the camera. In comparison, my Canon cameras' eyepieces jut out about a quarter of an inch from the back of the body. Second, I like to use back-button focusing, which separates AF function from shutter button. Some cameras feature a dedicated "AF-ON" button for just this purpose, but the D7100 does not. However, you can customize the "AE-L/AF-L" button for this functionality very easily.

Everything was good to go, or so I thought. I am left eye dominant, which means I use my left eye to look through the viewfinder. Given that the D7100 body is slightly smaller and that the eyepiece is flush with the back of the camera, I found myself pressing my thumb against the center of my forehead every time I placed my thumb on the unnecessarily large and protruding AE-L-/AF-L button to activate autofocus. I found this a bit distracting and uncomfortable. I quickly disabled back-button focusing and went back to shooting with the default button layout.

I don't know if I would consider this a deal-breaker if I was considering buying this camera myself -- as this would seem to be such a minor issue -- but I noticed it right off the bat when I picked up the camera. It's definitely strange and frustrating, and something I don't experience at all with my Canons. Nikon could have simply made the AE-L-/AF-L button not jut out so much or made the eye cup protrude a bit more, and the problem would likely have been solved. I played with a Nikon D4 briefly, and noticed that this issue was non-existent thanks to a dedicated AF-ON button.

I found the D7100 to have a nice, wide dynamic range, with highlights properly exposed while still managing to show details in the shadows.

Mode dial. A feature I found to be very handy on the Nikon D7100 was the dual-leveled Mode Dial. Like most DSLRs, the main mode dial has the standard array of Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual modes, as well as various scene and auto modes and a couple of customizable user settings. On the second level, below the main mode dial, there's quick access to Single shot, Continuous Shooting (both Low Speed and High Speed) and Self-Timer release modes. There is also a helpful Quiet Shutter-Release mode, which makes shooting in quieter locations supposedly less obtrusive by leaving the mirror up until the shutter button is released. Using this mode, I found there's definitely a difference in the shutter sound, but it's only a slight decrease in volume.

Lastly, there is a Mirror Lockup setting on the lower dial. This is handy for long exposure shots, HDR, macro photography or any other tripod-related shooting to help reduce camera vibrations from the mirror slapping up when taking a picture. In Canon DSLRs, the mirror lockup setting is buried in the menu system, and while I personally don't use mirror lockup at lot, I found this to be a nice feature to have at your fingertips.

Both of the D7100's Mode Dials are now locking, as opposed to just the lower level Release Mode Dial as on the D7000. A number of camera manufacturers are doing this nowadays, and I really like this feature as it prevents you from accidentally bumping the dial and switching modes by mistake.

Displays. I love the top LCD panel for viewing exposure settings and other information. It's one of the things I really enjoy about a larger-bodied DSLR as opposed to DSLRs such as the D5200 or Canon's Rebel series. It's so useful, and not to mention more battery friendly, than having the big 3.2" rear LCD on all the time.

Speaking of the rear LCD, when I do use for it tasks like reviewing photos or shooting video, it's a pleasure to use. The screen is bright and the colors look great, even in bright sunlight.

I am a fan of nice, large optical viewfinders, and the D7100 doesn't disappoint. I had no problems getting a nice full view of the image area thanks to the approximately 100% coverage. The exposure settings along the bottom edge were bright and easy to read. Compared to the Nikon D5200's 95% viewfinder coverage, the D7100 feels noticeable larger.

Autofocus controls. Something that threw me for a loop when I was handed the camera was how to change autofocus modes from Single-Point AF to Continuous AF. I looked everywhere, top of the camera, back of the camera, all of the buttons, in the numerous menus. Nothing. I saw the Autofocus-Manual Focus toggle switch, but didn't realize there was actually a button on that switch until I looked at the instruction manual.

I can't understand why Nikon would put the AF mode button down there. There's a nice plot of space between the Metering and Exposure Compensation buttons on top of the camera. Surely an often-used function such as AF mode would warrant a front-and-center placement for its control. However, this is something that experienced Nikon shooters probably wouldn't have a problem with.

Built-in flash. I tend to shoot the vast majority of my photos without flash, however there are times when having a built-in flash is very useful, particularly when you don't want to carry around a big external flash unit. The D7100's popup flash is small and opens with a quiet click, and allowed me to add just a bit of fill light (see the pink flower photo further down in the review) when I needed it. Another very handy feature is the D7100's ability to wirelessly control external Nikon Speedlight flashes using the built-in popup flash. Having this capability gives you a whole new range of creative lighting options, all without having to carry a bunch of extra gear.

Wireless capabilities. The review unit I received did not come with Nikon's WU-1a Wireless Mobile Adapter, so I couldn't test it out for myself. That said, we've tested the WU-1a system before on other Nikon models, and it works well in allowing you to send photos and video quickly over to a paired smartphone or tablet using the Nikon Wireless Mobile Utility app for iOS and Android devices (a free download). You can also use the WU-1a and the app for remote shooting. The D7100 is also Eye-Fi card compatible, letting you transmit photos and video to a computer wirelessly if you're using an Eye-Fi card for file storage.

Although, the 18-105mm kit lens isn't famous for distortion-free images, it still did a decent job. At 24mm, barrel distortion is greatly reduced, particularly in the corners.

Shooting with the camera. I took the Nikon D7100 out for a variety of shooting sessions for some nature photography, landscapes and bit of architectural photography. The big new features that Nikon is touting for this camera are the 51 autofocus points, up from 39 on the D7000, a 1.3x crop mode and a lack of an optical low-pass filter for high-detail photos, which is similar to the D800E.

The 51 AF points make customizing the composition of your shot very easy. You have a huge swath of the frame filled with AF points allowing you to finely determine where you want to focus. If you enable the 1.3x crop mode, even more of the frame area is filled with AF points, with the middle three rows reaching all the way out to the edges of the frame!

Although I typically shoot using the center AF point and use the focus-and-recompose method for composition, this doesn't work for every situation, and having the flexibility of an extremely high number of AF points ensures you can get autofocus exactly where you want it.

The D7100 also features a 3D Tracking AF mode which uses all 51 AF points and automatically changes the AF point as the camera tracks the subject if it moves around in the frame. This mode utilizes color information, brightness and distance information to help achieve focus and track the subject. However, I found this AF mode a bit finicky, particular with very small subjects like a bird up in a tree. Nikon warns that subjects like this, as well as those whose colors blend in with the background, can make 3D Tracking less effective. I have to say it was pretty cool to watch the AF point move in real-time across the viewfinder following your subject, and I found this AF mode to work really well for subjects that were large in the frame and had good color contrast with the background.

There are also a variety of dynamic AF modes in Continuous AF mode utilizing clusters of 9, 21 or all 51 AF points, allowing you to fine-tune how the Nikon D7100 assists with autofocus for moving subjects. For sports photography, I would use 9-point Dynamic AF or 21-point Dynamic AF, as I am pretty good at keeping the AF point on a running football player, for example. But I'm not perfect, and the 9-point and 21-point modes use the cluster of AF points surrounding the focus point in case the subject moves out from behind my selected AF point (but still within the array of 9 or 21 AF points). For smaller or more erratically-moving subjects like birds in flight, the 51-point mode utilizes the whole frame of AF points to help assist with autofocus.

At first, I was a bit confused about the difference between the D7100's 51-point Dynamic Area AF versus its 3D Tracking AF, as both modes let you choose the AF point manually and then track moving subjects using all 51 AF points. The difference is that 3D tracking, rather than using the AF sensor to track focus, utilizes Nikon's 3D Color Matrix Metering II sensor to recognize what your subject is and track it throughout the frame.

Overall, I found the AF performance of the Nikon D7100 with the 18-105mm kit lens to be fairly fast and accurate, although it's not the fastest lens to focus. Nothing really stood out to me in terms of problems achieving focus, and the AF system was very quiet, as was the VR system.

Just how fast is the Nikon D7100? Find out by clicking here to see our full battery
of rigorous, objective speed and operation tests conducted in the IR Lab.

1.3x crop mode. Currently a Nikon exclusive to the D7100, the new 1.3x crop mode allows you to get even more reach with the DSLR, without too much of a sacrifice in image quality. A similar function is found in Nikon's full-frame cameras, which offer a DX Crop mode that narrow the image area to a 1.5x crop for a tighter field of view (and an increased frames per second shooting since the resulting images are smaller in size). But now on the D7100, you can reduce the image area down further than its ~1.5x standard crop to give you an effective ~2x crop compared to a full-frame camera. With the included kit lens, the 105mm normally gives you an equivalent field of view to a 158mm lens on a full-frame camera. With the 1.3x crop enabled, you now have the field of view of a 210mm lens!

The 1.3x crop mode of the D7100 allowed to me to get a bit more reach out of my lens to get a tighter telephoto shot of this duck without getting too close -- and without sacrificing too much resolution.

I found the crop feature handy for a couple obvious reasons, most notably being able to zoom out further with. Although the 18-105mm kit lens was still too short for serious wildlife photography, I can see this being very beneficial when photographing far away wildlife with a long telephoto lens. The 24-megapixel sensor provides more than enough resolution to still pull out high quality images with the crop mode. With 1.3x crop mode, images are reduced to 15.36 megapixels.

Another benefit to the crop mode is that it saves space on your memory card with the subsequent reduction in image size. While the D7100 is pretty awesome to have dual SD card slots, if you're shooting at high frames per second for long periods of time, you'll fill your memory card(s) up in no time, particularly if you're shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG.

For single-shot photography, the Nikon D7100 does a wonderful job. The bright viewfinder makes it very easy to compose shots, and camera information displayed in the viewfinder is easy to read. When in 1.3x crop mode, the camera displays an inset frame guide to indicate the smaller size image. I found this both helpful and harmful. It's nice in that it not only helps you with composition, but it also serves as a reminder that 1.3x crop mode is activated. When I was first learning the camera, I was switching back and forth from regular DX mode to 1.3x mode, and there were a few times that I'd go to take a photo that didn't need the extra cropping, only to be reminded that I still had 1.3x mode enabled.

The downside I found is that the rest of the frame is still in view, meaning you still see the full DX-sized view through the viewfinder. And perhaps this is something you get used to as you use the camera more, but I found that I would instinctively compose shots with the full viewfinder and cutting parts of my subject off. This is not really a big deal, but it's something to be aware of, and it does help with tracking moving subjects.

Speed and buffer size. Speaking of frames per second, Nikon touts the D7100's ability to shoot up to 6 frames per second at full JPEG resolution. However, I was disappointed to find the D7100's buffer to be pretty shallow, really crippling the camera's high-speed capabilities.

In my in-the-field usage I could only manage about 5 full-resolution 14-bit RAW images in a burst before the buffer filled -- which falls in line with our lab testing -- but that was under the best of conditions. I'm talking ISO 100, daylight, with all forms of in-camera image correction such as high ISO noise reduction, distortion control and long-exposure noise reduction disabled. Most of the time, I was still only managing about 3 to 4 RAW images before the buffer would fill up. (At first, I thought it was simply because I was using slower memory cards, combined with shooting RAW+JPEG, but after switching to faster memory cards, as well as just shooting RAW, I realized it indeed did seem to be the buffer that was getting in the way.)

When I switched to JPEG only (or lower quality 12-bit RAW), I got more frames in the burst at the full 6 frames per second before the buffer filled. Alternatively, if I shot using the 1.3x crop mode, then the burst speed for RAW images did increase to a more robust 6 to 7 frames per second.

Personally, for my shooting style, I always shoot RAW. I never shoot JPEG. So, if I was looking for a camera for sports or action photography and I wanted to shoot at the highest quality image possible, the D7100 and its shallow buffer would probably be crossed off my list.

The D7100 coupled with the kit lens produced nice images with great colors. While the kit lens has issues with distortion of some form at all focal lengths (you can see slight barrel distortion even at 45mm), it's easily correctable in many image editing software programs, or you can enable the D7100's Auto Distortion Control feature.

Creative effects and filters. The Nikon D7100, like its sibling camera D5200, also features a handful of creative effects and exposure control settings. I'll be honest, I'm not one to use these kinds of feature very often, if at all. I like to shoot in RAW and post-process on the computer. The D7100 has a dedicated Effects mode on the main Mode dial. Switch over to that mode and use the rear thumb dial, and you can scroll through the following common effects: Night Vision, Color Sketch, Miniature Effect, Selective Color, Silhouette, High Key and Low Key.

The D7100 has the same Active D-Lighting and built-in HDR modes as the D5200 (see our Nikon D5200 review for some examples with the various effects and scene modes). I did shoot a few samples with the HDR mode, and was initially disappointed that it doesn't work in RAW mode -- only with JPEGs -- though I guess that's fairly typical for most in-camera HDR processing. Looking at the resulting shots at the various HDR effect intensity levels, I found that I couldn't tell much difference between a normal non-HDR shot compared to an HDR one. It was only until I cranked up the HDR effect to HIGH or HIGH+ that I began to see something happening. Sadly, the results were disappointing. The only really noticeable effect was a strange darkening of the sky with an unattractive haloing around the areas where the trees met the sky.

Although the included 18-105 kit lens does not have a designated macro focusing distance, it will still focus fairly close to subjects, and the camera's built-in flash was helpful for adding just a bit of fill light.

Image Quality. Given that the lens you use with an interchangeable lens camera impacts the image pretty significantly, it can be difficult to give a blanket assessment of everyday shooting on a DSLR's image quality. Having said that, I found the image quality of the D7100 to be excellent and the included kit lens to be decently sharp -- although as, you'd expect, it wasn't as sharp as higher-end glass or even an affordable prime. I tend to be a pixel peeper, and I get excited when I have tack-sharp images.

How well did the Nikon 18-105mm kit lens perform in the lab?
Find out by clicking here to see our optical test results.

I felt the 18-105mm kit lens had a pretty good amount of resolving power, and with the 24 megapixel resolution of the D7100, images held a lot of fine details. I spent some time one afternoon photographing a group of ducks and geese by a local lake, and when magnifying in 100% on a RAW image, there was an impressive amount of fine details in the birds' feathers. The JPEG images take a hit in the fine detail quality since they are compressed image files, but I still felt that they kept a lot of detail, too.

Most of the shots I took were in bright sunny conditions, and I felt that colors looked natural and realistic. The dynamic range was pretty wide with highlights properly exposed while still keeping details in the shadows. Playing around with some RAW images in Adobe Lightroom 4, I was easily able to pull back minor blown highlights and lift crushed shadow detail without introducing too much noise.

As for noise, the D7100 fared really well with low-light shots. I took a couple test shots in a poorly lit kitchen at ISO 6400, and while there was a heavy amount of grain, there was hardly any color noise. Lightroom did a good job with noise reduction, and if I was shooting high school football, for example, in a poorly light stadium, I can see the D7100 doing well with high ISO shots. In general, if you can nail a proper exposure (or expose to the right just a bit), high ISO photos on the D7100 look very good.

Click here to view the IR Lab's in-depth Nikon D7100 image quality test results.

The D7100 did really well with high ISO noise levels. This photo was shot at Auto ISO (ISO 3200) at f/4.5 with 1/30. Notice the noise from the shadows highlighted with a 100% crop on the left.

The lack of an optical low-pass filter and its higher resolution sensor nudges the Nikon D7100 past the D7000 in terms of image quality, but not as much as I thought it would. With no low pass filter, I was curious to see if moir� and other aliasing artifacts would be an issue. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't notice any significant real-world shooting problems with moir�. That was, until I looked closely for artifacts within some patterned fabrics.

I used a desk chair in the office that has a densely patterned fabric, and shot it at ISO�100 with the kit lens at 18mm and f/8 where it's quite sharp, to see what would happen. Unsurprisingly, the Nikon D7100's image showed a pretty obvious moir� interference pattern (see 100% crop at right).

Like I mentioned, though, I didn't notice this in the normal, everyday outdoor shooting I did -- not even on architectural patterns or bricks -- but potential buyers of this camera should be aware of this issue.

Video. The D7100 expands upon the D7000's video capabilities with the addition of a 30p frame rate (25p for PAL shooter) at the 1920x1080 resolution. Engage 1.3x crop mode, and 60i is available (50i for PAL). Both cameras offer 1080p 24 frames per second video. The D7100 also has 720p 60 frames per second (50p for PAL) video.

Overall, the D7100's video image quality is very nice. Full 1080p video is quite sharp and the colors look great. Moir� patterns seemed very well controlled, which surprised me considering the camera's lack of an optical low-pass filter. I shot a quick test video against the notorious desk chair (the same used in the still moir� test above), and I only saw very faint "wavy lines" of moir� patterns at certain focal lengths or a certain distance away.

One of the really interesting features for the D7100's video mode is the optional full-time autofocus while recording. I was excited to try this, as it would be my first time experiencing video autofocusing in a DSLR, as opposed to a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Sure enough, it worked -- sort of. I found the video AF (called AF-F in the camera) to be fairly slow, and when refocusing to a new subject, the AF did a strange back-and-forth shuffle as it tried to decide if the subject behind the AF point was in focus.

Like other Nikon consumer and prosumer DSLRs, the D7100 has another quirk when it comes to video recording: you can't change the aperture while in movie mode.Indeed, if you are in Movie Live View mode, the aperture dial does nothing in Aperture-priority or Manual exposure mode. This is actually an improvement over prior models which led you to believe you could change the aperture on the fly, when in fact the actual lens aperture didn't change. (You can change the aperture just fine in still image Live View mode, though a new aperture setting does not take effect until the exposure is taken.) You can adjust the shutter speed both before and during movie recording in Manual mode, though. (Note: A firmware fix may be needed for 24p mode, depending on which firmware version shipped with the camera.)

As a Canon shooter, I found not being able to change the aperture during recording extremely odd and frustrating. I've shot my fair share of DSLR video, and in my experience, you don't change the shutter speed while recording, although I can see need to adjust it before recording. Aperture, on the other hand, seems like something that you would want to change quite a bit, and the D7100 makes you leave Live View mode altogether to adjust this setting. (Unless using a manual aperture lens.) This behavior is also seen on the D7000, but not on a Nikon D4, for instance.

On the plus side, the D7100 also features a built-in stereo microphone and a headphone jack for monitoring audio in Movie mode, which many users will like. (The audio level is adjustable before recording.)

So what's our final verdict on the D7100? Is it worth upgrading from your D7000? See our full Nikon D7100 review online, where you'll find detailed image quality comparisons, full performance test results, more gallery images, a list of pros and cons, and our ultimate conclusion on the new flagship APS-C DSLR from Nikon: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d7100/nikon-d7100A.HTM

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FEATURE: Jacques-Henri Lartigue - Arguably the Youngest Master Photographer of All Time
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By Steve Meltzer

Jacques-Henri Lartigue was 8 years old when his father gave him his first camera -- a large glass plate camera. Little did he suspect that one day young Jacques' extraordinary photos would be displayed in museums and published in books. With that camera, and many others to come, little Jacques produced an enormous photographic record of the joys and wonders of family life, an achievement any of today's grown-up photographers would be proud to have created.

But for decades his fantastic images remained sealed up in photo albums and scrapbooks meant as family keepsakes, not as photographic treasures to share with the world. That is, until Jacques-Henri was 69 years old, and his photographic genius was finally seen and recognized by the art world.

Photo by Jacques-Henri Lartigue

The family that plays together
Jacques-Henri's story is a fascinating one. Born in 1894, the second son of wealthy parents, Jacques-Henri grew up in a family whose money paid for its fun and toys.� He was a slight, small child thrust into a robust family of crazy inventors and mad adventurers.

Lartigue's father built gliders, raced cars and taught his son photography. At the age of six, before getting his own camera, Jacques-Henri took photographs which his mamma pasted in a scrapbook for him -- a scrapbook he kept for nearly eight decades. He learned processing and helped in his father's darkroom. His father, recognizing the boy's enthusiasm for photography, eventually bought him his own camera.

And in such an energetic environment, the camera gave him a role to play as family documentarian. He recorded his father's race cars and his brother's weird inventions, the antics of a crazy uncle and his thrill-seeking cousins. Despite taking thousands of pictures, he never thought of himself as a "serious" photographer. For most of his life, he would dutifully paste his photographs into big scrapbooks that were only occasionally shown to family and friends.

Capturing the joie de la vie of an era
When Jacques-Henri grew up during the Belle �poque, before World War I, people believed in the words of a famous actress of the day: "Frivolity is the safeguard and the promise of happiness."�Most of Jacques-Henri's photographs of his family capture this joie de la vie -- the love of life -- and the absolute frivolity that the family embraced.

Photo by Jacques-Henri Lartigue

Lartigue's family was joyful and exuberant. They lived large in a world that was becoming full of recognizably modern inventions. Edison had invented the electric light, the Lumi�re brothers were making movies, Dodge and Benz were building cars and Marconi created the radio. For the first time razor blades, vacuum cleaners, ice cream cones, vitamins and aspirins came into use and Jacques-Henri recorded it all. They reveled in it and invented things on their own.

Jacques' father was fascinated by speed and flying, and he had the financial resources to build gliders. Madame Lartigue would help out by sewing large sheets of fabric to the glider wings in their garden. And Jacques documented it all, often going with his brother and "Papa" to see the exploits of other French aviators.

But racing cars were the ultimate passion for Jacques-Henri's father, who drove in major automobile races across France such as the�Coupe Gordon Bennett�and the�French Grand Prix. Jacques' camera was always there producing extraordinary photographs. Almost everyone in this remarkable family was busy doing things. Uncles, cousins and other relatives built and raced wheeled "bobsleds," created animal racing machines, played sports and one even tried climbing the Eiffel Tower.

Photo by Jacques-Henri Lartigue

From scrapbooks to museums
As a teenager, Jacques-Henri sold a few pictures to sporting magazines, but decided to become a painter instead of a photographer. He spent the bulk of his adult life working as an artist and designer. However, he never stopped taking photographs of his personal life -- his vacations, his three marriages, his many mistresses and his very famous friends. He even dabbled in color photography when he experimented with the newly introduced "autochrome" color process.

Over the years, Lartigue would show his photo albums to friends, but it wasn't until 1963, when he was 69, that his photographs were seen by John Szarkowski, then curator of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Szarkowsi recognized Jacque-Henri's genius and arranged an exhibition which propelled JHL into a late career as a full-time photographer. Jacques-Henri soon began to get photo assignments from magazines. His images were collected in books, and his prints began to be displayed in museums around the world.

Full of whimsy, energy and enthusiasm
Jacques-Henri died in 1986. In 2003, Paris's Pompidou Center held a huge Lartigue retrospective titled "l'album d'une vie," which filled the Center's large exhibition halls. His work on such a grand scale was a revelation to me when I saw it.

The image of JHL as a child holding his large wooden box camera is deceptive. Even as a young boy he took photos in many different formats from a variety of glass plate cameras and roll film cameras. As an adult he began using Rolleiflexes and 35mm cameras. Over his lifetime, he produced nearly 120 photo albums, probably the most complete autobiographical record of a life and a family ever made.

As it turned out some of my favorite images, his series of photographs of "flying" cousins and friends captured in midair, were included in the retrospective show. But rather than being displayed as exhibition prints, they were shown in their original form as, of all things, stereopticon pairs. At the Pompidou these 3-D pairs were viewed through 3-D glasses built into display boxes. Suddenly cousins Bichonade and Jean were truly flying in the air! Looking at these whimsical, 100-year-old 3-D images, I realized just how creative that little kid had been.

Photo by Jacques-Henri Lartigue

For me, these boyhood photos, full of energy and enthusiasm are his best. Jacques-Henri Lartigue's family was wealthy, but unlike today's well-to-do -- or for that matter most of us -- they lived their lives in happily exuberant and frivolous ways, giving themselves wholeheartedly to fun and pleasure.

(To see several more photos taken by Jacques-Henri Lartigue, and to watch a video interview with him, read our full story here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/21/jacques-henri-lartigue-youngest-master-photographer-ever-family-photos)

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QUICK HITS: The most interesting, most-read articles on the IR site in the past two weeks
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Sony RX100 II first look: Best gets better with ground breaking sensor, added hot shoe (hands-on video)

By Mike Tomkins

Last summer, the debut of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 answered the prayers of enthusiast shooters looking for a capable yet compact second camera, and those who wanted large-sensor iimage quality, but who found interchangeable-lens cameras simply too large. Unlike almost all its large-sensor compact camera competitors, the RX100 sports a handy optical zoom lens. (And it's far smaller than the rare models which pair a large sensor with a fixed zoom.)

Not surprisingly, the RX100 was a big seller for Sony. We loved it too, awarding it our Pocket Camera of the Year for 2012, and noting that "unlike many new cameras, it actually lived up to most of the hype, while packing an astonishing amount of imaging power into a small body." High praise, and well deserved -- but it has set a mighty high bar for Sony to clear with its followup, the Sony RX100 II.

Fortunately, we've already been hands-on with the RX100 II: We've just published a raft of test shots that will help you make your buying decision quickly, before the queue gets too long.

Read our first impression Sony RX100 II review for more details on the camera,�plus see RX100 II test images and real-world RX100 II sample photos; and finally compare it to other cameras using our legendary Comparometer�!

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This month in digicam history: The DSLR goes mainstream and much more

By Mike Tomkins

Last month, we kicked off a new series of articles covering the history of the camera market. The idea for the series was born from our celebration of Imaging Resource's 15th birthday, which brought us to the realization that as thrilling as it can be to look forward to what's coming down the road for photographers, it's just as exciting to look back and realize how far we've come. With this series we hope to give you a sense of that excitement, and of just how great today's cameras really are. (Not to mention some of the interesting ideas that -- for whatever re ason -- fell by the wayside.)

In May's article, we set the formula with a look back at three distinct time periods: 15, 10, and 5 years past. We welcomed the arrival of the much-loved Nikon swivel camera, revisited one of the first cameras to feature a truly open operating system, remembered the impact of the SARS epidemic and the Beijing Olympics on photography, and bid a fond farewell to the face that graced a decade of test images.

As we said last month, we're not going to list every product and review, but rather we'll call out a few of the most interesting. If you want to dig deeper, you can find more in our archives. This month, we'll look at the state of the camera market in�June 1998,�June 2003, and�June 2008.

Read the full story here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/21/this-month-in-digicam-history-dslr-goes-mainstream-sony-gives-smartphones

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Photos of bullets cut in half: Sabine Pearlman's series showcases the dangerous beauty of "Ammo"

By Dan Havlik

Sabine Pearlman's photo series "Ammo" makes a serious impact. Photographed in a World War II bunker in Switzerland last October, the series features images of ammunition that have been cut in half. Pearlman shot a total of 900 cross-sections of ammo, documenting the meticulous and dangerous beauty that lies beneath the bullets' casings.

"I was originally intrigued by the ambiguous nature of the subject matter," she says. "The cross-sections reveal a hidden complexity and beauty of form, which stands in vast contrast to the destructive purpose of the object. It is a representation of the evil and the beautiful, a reflection of the human condition."

We interviewed Pearlman about the process of photographing the ammo and what she hopes to convey with these strangely exquisite images

Read the interview with the Sabine Pearlman and see a large gallery of her fascinating images here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/21/Photos-of-bullets-cut-in-half-Sabine-Pearlmans-series-showcases-the-dange

�

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WE'VE GOT MAIL: Questions from readers, answers from IR
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Please send us your camera and photography questions and comments (editor@imaging-resource.com). Not only will we respond to each and every one of your letters, but we'll also publish the best ones here as a resource for all our readers.

Reader Feedback about DVD Creator Software

Hey Dave,

Many thanks for your detailed response to my email. After I wrote to you I decided to check what might be available at the Apple store and they suggested Toast Titanium for creating DVDs from digital movies and slide shows. It works great and is very easy to use. The software also has Spin Doctor which allows me to convert vinyl records and cassette tapes to CDs.

Best regards,
Stan

I recommend Toast 11 Titanium. I am using it with Blu-Ray as well as DVD media. The DVD media that I am using includes the DVD+R discs from M-Disc:�http://www.mdisc.com/

Ellis Vener

I just finished reading and enjoying your latest newsletter. I saw the item about iDVD and other apps like it. I've only used iDVD (though I own Toast also and could probably use that). But last week I got a recommendation on software for downloading video content (incl. YouTube). I noticed that the company also sells DVD authoring software. So you could check out this site: http://www.wondershare.com/pro/mac-dvd-creator.html

If you buy their Wondershare software (as I did to replace a now dead/orphaned software similar to it, TubeSock), you get a discount on other products from them, especially including DVD Creator. (Before buying Wondershare, I did my normal thing of checking on the Web for coupons. And indeed there was a coupon to save me 15% -- nearly $5 off their Wondershare software. :-)

-- Dennis

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Hi Stan, Ellis and Dennis --

Great to hear that Toast worked well for you Stan, thanks for reporting back! - And thanks to Ellis and Dennis for their recommendations as well. It's SO great to see readers taking time to write and help other readers, it speaks to how great the IR community is: We have the best readers anywhere!

-- Dave

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How can I stitch 360 shots together?

Greetings!

I have no idea if it is called "Stereo," but I took series of 360 photos of our farm and wish to join them together. Is there software available to accomplish this?

Thank you,
Paul J. Holsen II

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Hi Paul --

I unfortunately don't have time this go-round to do much research on this - I've had 3 business trips in the last thee weeks, and am trying to get things tied off so I can go on (a desperately-needed) vacation tomorrow afternoon.

That said, if you have Photoshop, you can do what you're trying to in that program. The secret is in the "Photomerge" function in recent versions of the application. The regular version of Photoshop will make "flat" panoramas, the Extended version will do a full 360 degree one. - But if you're just going to print them out, you don't need to make the 360 degree version, that's only necessary for "virtual reality" applications, where the user can scroll smoothly in any direction, without any interruption.

There are lots of lower-end programs on the market that will stitch images together to make panoramas, but that's the part that I unfortunately don't have the wherewithal to get to today. Let me know if you want me to, and I can take a deeper look in the next issue.

-- Dave

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Selling Used Photo Equipment (aka Adorama vs. B&H)

I just wanted to add my own personal experiences with selling used equipment to Adorama vs. B&H. �I have had a very similar experience to what was described in your most current newsletter. Adorama just does not pay anywhere near what B&H does. �

I have bought and sold some expensive equipment with both houses, and because of the business practices in place with Adorama, I just cannot do business with them any longer. B&H has earned my loyalty for anything I cannot get from my local store here in Montana.

Thanks for listening,
Jeremy D. West

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Hi Jeremy --

Thanks for taking time to write and share your own experience. We're going to take yours and others' experiences and send them along to our contact at Adorama, so he can send them on up the line. The higher-ups there need to know that people are having experiences of the sort you describe.

-- Dave

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NEW ON THE SITE
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At http://www.imaging-resource.com/new-on-ir you can keep track of what's new on our main site. Among the highlights since the last issue:

- News: Chicago newspaper front page comparison shows what happens when you fire photographers (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/27/Chicago-newspaper-front-page-comparison-shows-happens-fire-photographers)

- Images: Powerful, long-exposure photos show the intensity of the Vietnam War (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/26/long-exposure-photographs-show-the-intensity-of-the-vietnam-war)

- Fun & Informative: Just how well do you really know color? Take this test! (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/26/just-how-well-do-you-really-know-color-test)

- History: Aerial photography pioneer George R. Lawrence did the impossible with kite-powered camera "drone" (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/25/aerial-photography-pioneer-george-r.-lawrence-made-the-impossible-possible)

- First Shots: Pentax K-50 - Check out the image quality of this feature-packed, mid-level DSLR (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/25/pentax-k-50-first-shots)

- Camera Preview: Fuji X-M1 - A first look at the affordable X-Trans mirrorless for the rest of us (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/24/fuji-x-m1-review-first-look-a-affordable-x-trans-mirrorless-for-rest-of-us)

- Lens Tech: Take a tour of Sigma's new lens-optimization software and USB dock (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/24/sigma-optimization-pro-and-usb-dock)

- Camera Preview: Samsung Galaxy NX - Hands-on with the world's first Android-based mirrorless camera (with video walkthrough) (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/20/samsung-galaxy-nx-review-hands-on-with-the-worlds-first-android-based-mirro)

- First Shots: Panasonic LF1 - Pixel peep test images taken with this little sibling of the exceptional Panasonic LX7 (http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/19/panasonic-lf1-first-shots)

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NEXT ISSUE
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Our next issue will be mailed to you in two weeks, on Friday, July 12. See you then!

SIGNOFF
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That's it for now, but between issues visit our site for the latest news, reviews, or to have your questions answered in our free discussion forum. Here are the links to our most popular pages:

Newsletter Archive: http://www.imaging-resource.com/cgi-bin/dada-nltr/mail.cgi/archive/irnews
Daily News: http://www.imaging-resource.com/news
SLR Gear: http://www.slrgear.com
New on Site: http://www.imaging-resource.com/new-on-ir
Review Index: http://www.imaging-resource.com/camera-reviews
IR Photo Contest: http://www.dailydigitalphoto.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/imagingresource
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/IR_Lab

Happy snapping!
Dave Etchells and Roger Slavens
editor@imaging-resource.com