This page lists all the free articles and reviews at diglloyd.com.  Please check back regularly for new articles, and be sure to see the diglloyd blog.  An email list is also available.

Also available are paid reviews that are much more extensive, take many hours to prepare, and  offer examples and factual advice you’re unlikely to find anywhere else.  If you tire of reading fluff reviews that leave lots of surprises to discover when you actually buy a product, check out my paid reviews —Lloyd Chambers, diglloyd.

Please consider buying through a link below to help support this site at no cost to yourself. Links below are recommended vendors. Amazon.com has a huge product line, and B&H ships internationally.
  

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Articles by topic

Recommended

Based on extensive experience ourselves, products and vendors that are recommended. Using links to recommended vendors is also a great way to help support this site.

December 2006 (ongoing) Recommended products and vendors. Updated regularly. Some vendors offer discounts.

Making Images

April 2008 Experiments. Color, shooting angle, post processing, blur, etc.

Travel

Travel , places to photograph.

	May 2007 California’s White Mountains. Of bristlecone pines and more.
	March 2008 Exploring Death Valley. A goat-herder’s view of Death Valley.
	February 2007 Death Valley. A goat-herder’s view of Death Valley.
	November 2006 Eagles Galore. Enjoy some unusual pictures of Haliaeetus Leucocephalus.
	18 January 2006 Traveling to the Thelon Wilderness. Part 1 of my travelogue to Whitefish Lake, in remote northern Canada near the Thelon Wilderness.

Cameras

Camera-related articles.

	2008 ongoing — Nikon D3 comments.
	25 Sept 2007 D200 vs D2X —A comparative review of Nikon’s flagship cameras. Can the D200 save you $2500? NOW FREE.(originally written in July 2006 as a paid review)
	february 2007 Goodbye Nikon? Why at long last I’m giving up on Nikon.
	29 January 2006 Lens Mount Misalignment. Or why my Nikon D2x needed its lens mount replaced. See the variation caused by a bad lens mount using 4 different lenses.

Lenses

Articles primarily related to lenses and lens performance. See also the formal lens reviews.

    
Paid reviews

And free stuff below.

	March 2008 Coastal Optics 60mm f/4 UV-VIS-IR APO macro. The reference lens for all other lenses.
	March 2008 Spectral transmission graphs for a variety of UV, IR and other filters.
	November 2007 EOS Meets Leica—EOS 1D Mark III Mated to Leica APO-Summicron-R 90/2 ASPH. How does a Leica 90/2 APO-Summicron-R ASPH perform on the Canon EOS 1D Mark III?
	November 2007 EOS Meets Leica—EOS 1D Mark III Mated to Leica APO-Elmarit-R 180/2.8. How does a Leica 180/2.8 APO-Elmarit-R perform on the Canon EOS 1D Mark III?
	October 2007 Zeiss ZF prototype lenses for infrared. Say goodbye to hot spots and uneven illumination in infrared.
	JUNE 2007 Brand-new Blur. How to detect optical problems with out-of-the-box brand-new lenses such as the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS.
	03 May 2007 Lens Reference. Notes and links about Canon and Nikon mount lenses.

Infrared

See the world’s best guide for digital infrared: the diglloyd Guide to Digital Infrared Photography

Search for infrared-related topics at diglloyd.com.

	16 June 2006 Digital Infrared Overview. An introduction to digital infrared photography, with a number of examples.
	October 2007 Zeiss ZF prototype lenses for infrared. Say goodbye to hot spots and uneven illumination in infrared.
	January 2008 Leica M8—Infrared Imagery The Leica M8 and its performance as an infrared camera.
	November 2006 InfraredContamination—Good Color Gone Bad. The new Leica M8, and its problems with an inadequate infrared-blocking filter.
	12 September 2005 Examining the new Fuji S3 Pro-UVIR with the Nikon D70-IR and Canon EOS 5D-IR Find out about the first full-spectrum camera available from a major manufacturer.
	July 2007 Seeing Beyond Red (PDF, page 7). Article published in the ASMP Norcal Quarterly—an overview of digital infrared photography. See other infrared articles below.

Technical

Articles relating to the technical nature of photography.

Search for: diffraction, focus, depth of field, aberration.

	March 2008 Vignetting. Or why it should be seen as a useful feature, not a lens drawback.
	March 2008 Star Focusing and Circular Blobs. Or shooting stars and what happens with less than perfect focus.
	November 2007 Diffraction—Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III. See for yourself why f/8 is not as good as f/5.6 on a 21-megapixel camera.
	November 2007 Diffraction—A Real-world Example. See for yourself why f/11 is not as good as f/8.
	November 2007 Diffraction—A Technical Challenge. Why optical quality and stopping down are fine balance with today’s DSLRs.
	29 May 2006 Consumer Digicams and Diffraction. When is a 6 megapixel camera a 2 megapixel camera?
	27 August 2006 Autofocus Accuracy: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II with Canon EF 85mm/f1.2L II USM. A look at autofocus consistency and accuracy with this top-end equipment.
	23 April 2006 Focus accuracy.  How accurate is autofocus with a Nikon D2x and the Nikon 17-55/f2.8 DX? How accurate is manual focus with the Nikon D200 and 35/f1.4 AIS?
	13 Dec 2005 Background Blur—Comparing the 58mm/f.12 NOCT-Nikkor on the Nikon D2x to the 85mm/f1.2L on the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II.  Does a full-frame sensor offer an advantage over a 2/3-frame sensor?
	October 2005 Depth of Field—An excerpt from D2x vs EOS.
	April 2005 Depth of Field—The Shorter Focal Length Advantage—An excerpt from the classic diglloyd review The Nikon D2X Compared With the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II.

Software, image processing, printing

	June 2008 Nikon Capture NX2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly aspects to Nikon Capture NX 2.
	November 2007 Noise and Multiple Exposures. Banish digital noise by blending more than one frame into a super low noise composite.
	15 May 2007 Digital Photo Professional 3.0 Jaggies. Or why you should never use “High speed” operating mode.
	December 2006 Printing on Canvas. Experience printing on canvas and matte/satin/gloss finishes.
	08 April 2006 Digital Photo Professional Batch Processing Performance Tip.  How to make batch processing faster on dual CPU/core machines.
	05 February 2006 Web Browser Color Display. Does your browser correctly display images that aren’t in the sRGB color space?
	14 January 2006 Nikon Capture—Noise Reduction.  Investigating noise reduction with a D2X ISO 3200 file at various combinations of Intensity and Sharpness.
	30 December 2005 Nikon Capture—Speed and Stability.  This article answers a reader’s questions on those topics: ...My question/concern is that I've read quite a few accounts of instability (crashing, etc) and sluggish performance with Nikon Capture on the Mac...
	22 Dec 2005 Digital Photo Professional Preview Inaccuracy.  DPP exhibits lower quality in its preview than the final processed image, even with Operating Mode = Quality.
	21 Dec 2005 Nikon Capture’s Color Aberration Control—How well is chromatic aberration (color fringing) dealt with in Nikon Capture with D2X files and a variety of lenses, including a shift lens?
	20 January 2006 Color Temperature and Noise with Digital Cameras.  An investigation of whether warming or cooling filters can reduce the amount of digital noise.
	07 May 2005 Printing With Profiles in Photoshop CS—A short step-by-step “how to” article on printing with accurate color with annotated screen shots for every step.  Targeted at those who are seeking accurate color, but are new to printing with profiles.
F.U.D.	10 September 2005 An Experience With Software Technical Support Or why Macromedia (now Adobe) deserves to lose.

Computers

Computers, hard drives, RAID, card readers, etc.

	09 December 2007 Multi core computers. Two cores is enough, four cores is usually overkill, 8 cores don’t matter most of the time—here’s why.
	28 March 2007 Apple Mac Pro and All About Apple Mac Pro Memory. • Various considerations if you are considering buying an Apple Mac Pro, based on personal research into the pros and cons. • Mac Pro memory performance, reliability, pricing and installation.
	13 April 2006 PowerMac G5 Internal Drive Kits.  Want more storage inside your PowerMac G5, such as a striped RAID?
	12 April 2006 Apple MacBook Pro Experience Report.  Software and hardware assessed.
	03 September 2005 (updated) PC or Mac—Making a Sensible Choice. Today’s realities should drive consumers to only one choice: Mac OS X on an Apple Mac.
	September 2006 An Experience with software technical support. Or don’t hold your breath waiting for bug fixes from Adobe.
	November 2006 (ongoing) Hard Disk Drives. Updated periodically. Hard disk drive performance—SATA, Firewire, USB, RAID. 0101010101010101010101010101010101010100101010101010101010101010101010101010
	15 May 2006 Firewire and USB Card Readers . How fast are various card readers? What about direct camera connection?
	2006 Expanding Zip files on Windows. A not-uncommon error Microsoft Windows users make is to attempt to read a review without unzipping it first.
	2006 How to View articles in your browser. Tips for better display of text and graphics in your web browser.

Medium format

Medium-format digital backs.

	September 2007 Medium Format Digital Backs. Article published in the ASMP Norcal Quarterly—an overview of how to choose a medium format digital back. See other more detailed articles below.
	July 2007 Thirty Minutes with the PhaseOne P20+. Balance and accuracy.
	July 2007 An Hour With the Hasselblad H3D-39. Or why US$30,000 doesn’t buy perfection.
	July 2007 An Hour With the Hasselblad 503CWD. The stellar image quality of a “low end” medium format digital back.

Miscellaneous

	30 april 2007 Headlamps and Flashlights. Lights for photographers, cyclists and all around use, including the Lupine Lighting Systems Wilma and Surefire flashlights.
	Charles Sleicher resolution test chart. This is my preferred test target for my initial evaluation of lenses (precursor to field tests).

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