Adrian Cochrane and Andy Hewson, the organisers of the South-Coast Nikon Owner Group are delighted to announce that they have arranged a Lee Filters Demonstration Event at the Duke of Wellington pub in Southampton on Saturday 9th October, 2010 at 7.00 p.m., with guest speaker Stuart Culley from Robert White Photographic.

Space is limited to twenty-five attendees, so the organisers of the event will have to operate on a first-come, first-served basis.


Venue Details

The back room of the Duke of Wellington Pub
duke-of-wellington

7.00 p.m. for a 7.30 p.m. start

Duke of Wellington
36 Bugle Street
Southampton
SO14 2AH

Telephone no: 02380 339222

Click here for Map

Andy and Adrian will need to ask all those attending for a contribution of £5 each to cover the room hire and Stuart Culley's costs.

Please come early if you wish to eat first, and post a message on the subscribers message board post if you would like to attend.

Spend an evening with one of the world’s greatest nature photographers, Jim Brandenburg and Neil Lucas, David Attenborough's distinguished television producer. Enjoy a superb three-course Christmas dinner in the magnificent period restaurant at the Institute of Directors (IoD) at 116 Pall Mall, followed by a unique opportunity to listen to Jim Brandenburg’s extraordinary stories as he presents some of his breathtaking images.


This grand Regency building with its sweeping marble staircase and vast walls covered in 18th and 19th Century canvases provides a spectacular backdrop for the evening, and the period restaurant is a most fitting venue for an elegant, traditional Christmas celebration.

Venue: Institute of Directors (IoD) at 116 Pall Mall.

Date: Friday, December 10th, 2010

Champagne reception: 6.30 p.m.

Dinner: 7.15 p.m.

Menu: Traditional Christmas Dinner with a Vegetarian Option

Presentation in the morning room: 9.15 p.m.
Cost of the evening: £155 per ticket, £95 for current Nikon Owner subscribers*

Our Christmas events are extremely popular and early booking is recommended. To book, please call Grays of Westminster between 12.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. Monday to Friday on 020 7828 4925 or for International calls telephone + 44 (0)20 7828 4925, and ask to speak to Gillian Greenwood or Katrin Ruckert.

About Jim Brandenburg

Jim Brandenburg travelled the globe as a photographer with National Geographic Magazine for several decades. His extensive body of work has been published throughout the world and his photographs have won a multitude of national and international awards. He was the recipient of the ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ award by the Natural History Museum-London and BBC Wildlife Magazine, and twice was named ‘Magazine Photographer of the Year’ by the National Press Photographer's Association (NPPA) for his National Geographic work. Brandenburg was presented with the ‘World Achievement Award’ from the United Nations in recognition of his use of nature photography to raise public awareness for the environment.

Jim Brandenburg’s presentation will explore the full circle of his career with highlights starting with the early days at a small rural newspaper. From there, he went directly to National Geographic Magazine where he worked on assignments all over the world for the magazine, book division and television. He will show a selection of his outstanding work with wild arctic and grey wolves. After publishing several books on wolves, he set himself the assignment of only shooting one picture per day for the entire autumn season. His book and DVD Chased by the Light followed, as well as the sequel Looking for the Summer. He will tells us about his philanthropic work that now entails saving the remnant native prairies in the land where his ancestors settled after immigrating from Europe and Scandinavia; the land where their new lives began by plowing up that native prairie – thus completing the circle.

Jim Brandenburg was part of the production team for the 'Plants' section of the BBC LIFE documentary series with David Attenborough. Jim Brandenburg and BBC Wildlife Producer Neil Lucas spent months filming Minnesota's north woods at Ravenwood, Jim Brandenburg's home near Ely, and the prairies of Southwest Minnesota.

About Neil Lucas

Neil Lucas worked for the BBC Natural History Unit as a producer for over twenty years. During that time he worked on many internationally acclaimed and award winner productions, including Sir David Attenborough’s ‘The Trails of Life’ ‘The Private Life of Plants’ The Life of Mammals’ and ‘Planet Earth’, as well as the latest outstanding BBC landmark Series ‘Life’ where he produced two of the most technically challenging programmes within the whole series.

Many of Neil’s programmes have also been nominated for BAFTAs and Emmys over the past years. He is now a freelance film director and photographer specializing in more challenging and technical shoots, using the same filming and photographic techniques he has mastered throughout his career.

Jim and Neil first made contact with each other back in the early 1990’s but actually didn’t meet up until the filming of Sir David Attenborough's ‘Life of Mammals’ Series, where Jim played an important role in setting up and filming along side the crew for one of the main sequences.

Over the years Neil Lucas and Jim Brandenburg have forged a strong personal and professional working relationship, so it was no surprise when Neil wanted to show the beauty and severity of a frozen northern landscape for the ‘Life’ Series he again sought the help and photographic and filming expertise of Jim Brandenburg once again.

If you are not already a Nikon Owner subscriber, and would like to attend the event, you may subscribe to Nikon Owner and receive the special discount on the price of the evening.

Nikon Owner Magazine and Interactive Website is considered by many to be the world’s number 1 user group for Nikon owners. It was initially founded with the purpose of assisting Nikon users to make full use of the Nikon equipment they own, to give advice on a wide spectrum of photographic queries and problems, and at the same time to offer ideas to bring about an increase in photographic skills.

Nikon Owner Magazine
Nikon Owner magazine is both inspirational and informative. With its mix of stunning images, illuminating articles to assist and enlighten the photographer, and the very latest reviews on Nikon equipment, it is the essential magazine for the Nikon user, and is 100% Nikon.

Nikon Owner subscriber benefits additionally include:

• Private user name and password to subscribers-only website which includes a lively forum, message board, technical equipment reviews, events’ page and use of a photo gallery.
• Simon Stafford’s Technical Helpline: free technical consultation and support from Simon Stafford who is widely recognized as one of the top Nikon experts in the UK; you will be able to benefit from his formidable knowledge and have all your technical questions fully answered by email. This service is exclusive to Nikon Owner subscribers.
• FREE 3-year warranty on all new Nikon products from Grays of Westminster within your year of subscription.
• FREE 18-month warranty on second-hand Nikon from Grays of Westminster within your year of subscription.
• 10% off Think-Tank bags purchased at Grays of Westminster.
• Special trips: past visits have included a two-week trip to Japan and a personal tour of the Nikon factory, a visit to Nikon Thailand, Angkor Watt, Cambodia.
• Substantial discounts on events and training sessions such as Mike Maloney’s House of Lords Photographic Workshop, Heather Angel’s Wildlife & Natural History Workshops, Chris Weston’s Photographic Courses, Simon Stafford’s Definitive Flash, Portraiture and Macro Seminars, and Michael Eleftheriades' Panoramic Seminars.
• 10% off any training courses run by Nikon UK.
• A range of complimentary meetings and outings organized by local Nikon Owner Groups.

The cost of a standard annual subscription to Nikon Owner is currently at the special price of £59. (Quote JB59 when you call or email.)

With kindest regards

Gillian Greenwood
Features Editor and Events & Training Coordinator

* The cost of the evening for a partner or spouse attending with a Nikon Owner subscriber is at the Nikon Owner price of £95

Jonathan Banks, who was featured in a recent blog post of ours, won second prize in the Africa Culture section of the awards, with a fantastic photograph of an African dancer at Liberian National Peace & Cultural Festival.


To see more of his work, check out his websites: www.jonathanbanks.co.uk and www.photo-banks.com.

Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce that as of August 2010 total production of NIKKOR lenses, interchangeable lenses for Nikon SLR cameras reached fifty-five million. Moreover, total production of NIKKOR lenses equipped with the Silent Wave Motor (SWM), the autofocus motor developed by Nikon, has reached twenty million.

55 million NIKKOR lenses
Nikon (then Nippon Kogaku K.K.) released its first NIKKOR lenses for Nikon SLR cameras, among them the NIKKOR-S Auto 5cm f/2, in 1959 along with its first SLR camera, the Nikon F. In the half century since, NIKKOR lenses have been extremely well received by a great number of photo enthusiasts and professional photographers. Total production of NIKKOR lenses reached fifty million in August 2009 with production continuing at a steady rate over the past year.

20 million SWM-equipped NIKKOR lenses
The Silent Wave Motor, or SWM, is an ultrasonic autofocus motor developed by Nikon. Nikon's SWM converts "traveling waves" into rotational energy to drive the optics used for focusing. Any AF-S NIKKOR lens featuring the SWM delivers extremely smooth, quiet and comfortable auto focusing. Among the first lenses for which Nikon adopted the SWM was the Ai AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D IF-ED, released in 1996. In the fourteen years since its initial release, total production of NIKKOR lenses equipped with the SWM has reached twenty million.

Since its introduction, the SWM has been built into a total of 54* different lenses of all types, from ultra wide-angle to super telephoto DX- and FX-format lenses, zoom lenses, and micro lenses. Since 2007, more than 90% of NIKKOR lenses have been equipped with the SWM.

* Total number of NIKKOR lenses equipped with the SWM released since its introduction (As of September 15, 2010)


The NIKKOR brand
As the brand name for Nikon lenses, NIKKOR has become synonymous with high-performance, high-quality SLR lenses. The NIKKOR name comes from adding "R"—a common practice in the naming of photographic lenses at that time—to "Nikko", the Romanized abbreviation for Nippon Kogaku K.K. In 1933, the large-format lens for aerial photography was released with the name Aero-Nikkor.

NIKKOR has always been ahead of the times. The OP Fisheye-Nikkor 10mm f/5.6 fisheye lens for SLR cameras, released in 1968, was the world's first lens incorporating an aspherical lens element. What's more, NIKKOR lenses for the latest SLR cameras utilise a number of Nikon's own cutting-edge technologies, including Nano Crystal Coat, which virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections across a wide range of wavelengths.

The complete lineup of NIKKOR lenses for Nikon SLR cameras is currently made up of 65 lenses. Including the latest lenses:

• AF-S Nikkor 200mm f/2G ED VR II
• AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G
• AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR
• AF-S Nikkor 85MM F/1.4G
• AF-S Nikkor 24-120MM F/4G ED VR
• AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

Nikon UK, 20 September 2010 – Nikon today announces that Jamie Oliver, will feature in its latest I AM Nikon advertising campaign for the new D3100. The campaign, which features Jamie cooking at home with his friends, will be shown throughout Europe and South Africa to promote Nikon’s most easy-to-use D-SLR to date.

As well as starring in the advertising campaign, Jamie, a keen amateur photographer, has been using the new Nikon D3100 and shares his thoughts: “What I love about photography is that you can instantly capture all those important moments and have them immediately available to look back at. The D3100 is ideal for this because you can get great quality images and videos using an affordable, new generation camera that is really easy to use, has lots of extra features and gives you high-definition movies.”

The Nikon D3100 features a Guide Mode, which shows you sample images of what you can achieve using certain settings and teaches you the photography skills to get the most from a D-SLR, as Jamie explains: “The Guide Mode is brilliant, it took me 10 years to discover the photography techniques that this camera can show you in a few hours with the step-by-step guide.” The celebrity chef has also put the D3100’s full HD movie functionality to the test: “The level of video quality on this camera is fantastic and means that not only do I use it at home with my family but also as a tool for work.”

Ideal for families, the Nikon D3100 allows you to capture special moments in perfect quality, without worrying about complicated settings. Jamie adds: “I don’t just use a camera at home though, I always have one with me for work – if I go to a market and see interesting ingredients or I’m abroad and want to capture a technique or dish, I can take a picture or video and show my team at home. This can then provide inspiration for my recipes, books or the television series.”

The new advertising campaign for the D3100 includes four scenes, all of which follow the I AM Nikon theme launched in March this year. The full 30 second advert features Jamie with a little girl who is trying to copy his culinary creation, including the strap line ‘I AM Jamie Oliver Jr’. Also included in the advert is ‘I AM the extra mile’ showing a man running the marathon being encouraged on by his family, ‘I AM Marco Polo’ with professional photographer Vincent Munier taking photographs in Egypt and lastly a wedding ceremony with the strapline ‘I AM a yes’.

The D3100 is the successor to Europe’s best selling D-SLR*, the D3000, offering 14.2 megapixels, full HD movie and the popular Guide Mode, which now shows sample images of what you can achieve with certain settings. It comes in a compact, lightweight but tough body so it is easy to carry around for any outing.

The new D3100 ‘I AM Nikon’ campaign incorporates television, print and digital executions and will appear in Europe and South Africa. All advert material was filmed using Nikon’s D3S, the world’s first movie-enabled FX format camera with 720p HD Movie, including frame grab capability.

*Source: GFK, D3000 best selling D-SLR in Europe first half year 2010.

RRP: £5299.99 / €6277
Sales start date: 1st October 2010

Nikon UK, 15 September 2010 – Nikon today announces a completely new professional telephoto lens AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II to replace AF-S VR NIKKOR 200mm f/2G IF-ED. The new lens features Nano Crystal Coat, the new generation of Vibration Reduction technology (VR II) and a new A/M focus mode, making it the ideal lens for serious photographers seeking uncompromised performance.

The lens retains the optical construction of its predecessor and delivers outstanding image quality with excellent sharpness, contrast and definition as well as smooth bokeh making it the perfect choice for photographers shooting stage events and indoor sports.

Zurab Kiknadze, Product Manager Lenses, Accessories and Software, Nikon Europe says: "The updates and improvements implemented in the new version of this highly regarded 200mm lens bring it in line with the latest NIKKOR technologies, providing even more shooting comfort and stability while delivering outstanding results."

The update of this popular lens follows feedback from professional photographers. The improved handling and usability combined with outstanding image quality is testament to Nikon’s commitment to meet the needs of professional photographers and to continually improve its line-up of professional, high-performance NIKKOR lenses.

Pin-sharp action shots
The AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II now features second generation Vibration Reduction technology (VR II), which provides compensation equivalent to a shutter speed four stops faster, making it easier to capture sharp images during hand-held shooting. The system incorporates two modes: Normal for general handheld shooting and Active to compensate for the vibration caused by, for example, moving vehicles.

The Silent Wave Motor (SMW) ensures quiet and accurate autofocus performance, so it won’t disturb the subject or event.

The A/M mode has been added to the existing M/A and M modes. This additional focusing mode gives the autofocus system priority, even if the focus ring is being handled during shooting.

Crystal clear
The lens construction of 13 elements in nine groups with three ED glass and one Super ED glass elements, together with Nikon’s unique Nano Crystal Coat, ensures highest-quality images. The ED glass construction delivers sharp and contrast-rich images whilst the Nano Crystal Coat effectively reduces ghost and flare, meaning the lens can be used with confidence, even when shooting into bright light. The lens also stands out because of its pleasing bokeh and subject-background separation, due to its large f/2 aperture combined with a rounded nine-blade diaphragm.

Built for the toughest of requirements
The AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II is built to meet the stringent demands of the professional photographer. The durable magnesium body and weather sealing means it’s ideal for even the toughest of shooting conditions, protecting from moisture and dust. For extra peace of mind, Nikon’s exclusive, detachable meniscus glass protects the large front glass element from accidental scratches.

The lens is fully compatible with all current Nikon teleconverters, increasing its versatility by allowing for extended tele reach. The AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II is supplied with lens hood HK-31, tripod-mount, drop-in filter holder and a high quality ballistic nylon case CL-L1 in the style of a shoulder bag.

For more information about Nikon’s award winning products please visit: www.nikon.co.uk

RRP: £289.99 / €343
Sales start date: TBC

Nikon UK, 15 September 2010 – Nikon today is pleased to announce a new Speedlight – the SB-700. Packed with features, this is an easy-to-use, yet sophisticated flash in a compact body. It will be a welcome addition to anyone looking to develop their lighting skills and explore the options of the Nikon Creative Lighting system.

Zurab Kiknadze, Product Manager Lenses, Accessories and Software, Nikon Europe BV says: “SB-700 offers users the opportunity to expand their creative potential beyond the built-in camera flash. It integrates flawlessly with Nikon’s DSLR cameras, taking advantage of i-TTL to provide optimal results with minimum of effort.”

Inheriting the advanced features of the professional SB-900 flash, the new flash also boasts an intuitive interface and easy-to-understand operating system. It features Nikon’s i-TTL, through-the-lens metering system, ensuring accurate light measuring as well as multi-step auto zoom, which automatically detects the lens focal length and adjusts the flash output accordingly for angles of view from 24mm to 120mm.

Users have the choice of three illumination patterns, which can be quickly selected to match different shooting scenarios. The high performance Speedlight is ideal for a wide range of applications, from portrait and studio to events and night-time photography.

Built for versatility
The SB-700 is compatible with FX and DX cameras and its fast wireless control will make the flash attractive for a wide range of customers, including advanced photographers seeking to extend their Creative Lighting System. It can act as a master, controlling up to two groups of flashes and their light ratios, and can also act as a remote unit in a flash set up.

With its rotating head and built-in bounce card, the photographer can use the flash to direct the light and bounce it off ceilings or walls. The SB-700 also comes with the practical Nikon Diffusion Dome to soften the light and even the shadows of direct flash.

The flash has a mounting foot lock lever, through which the flash can be securely attached to the camera, preventing it from coming loose. There is also an optional weather-sealed mount available for outdoor photography.

Major features:

• The new, improved LCD panel interface and an intuitive layout of switches make it quick and easy to set the features.
• With a maximum guide number of 38 (for an FX camera, at the standard illumination setting at ISO 100 at 120mm) the flash is powerful and versatile to suit most lighting conditions.
• The multi-step power zoom automatically responds to the current focal length of the lens attached to the camera and covers angles of view, ranging from 24mm to 120mm.
• Three illumination patterns can quickly be selected to match each shooting situation, making it the ideal flash for a range of scenarios. The Centre-weighted pattern offers more power and higher guide number which highlights the subject from its surroundings. The Even setting works well for indoor group shots or a flat surface whilst the Standard setting has a slight emphasis on the centre.
• The high-speed recycling time is only approximately 2.5 seconds with NiMH batteries and alkaline batteries and approximately 3.5 seconds with lithium batteries.
• The quick wireless control mode allows the user to change the light ratios of A and B group Speedlight units and can also act as a remote unit in the Nikon Creative Lighting System.
• The SB-700 automatically detects flash head heat and delays the recycling time if the temperature of the flash head rises, protecting the flash from heat damage.
• The firmware of the flash can easily be updated through Nikon DSLR cameras.
• The SB-700 comes with fluorescent and incandescent hard, plastic-type colour filters, which are more durable, heat-resistant and easier to use than the conventional film-type filters. The flash automatically detects these two hard-type colour filters and instructs the camera to set the optimum colour temperature. The optional colour filter set SJ-4 is also available.