Nikon Vs Canon

Quartz Mountain students experience a different kind of summer camp

It's not the norm for Ho, a homeschooled student from Broken Arrow . He said he usually practices in silence.

But as his tuning fork sounds and his D string is brought to its perfect pitch, the front porch of his cabin in southwest Oklahoma is now his stage, complete with a full-moon spotlight.

“Tuning is a lot like taking pictures,” he said.

“You just have to know what you're looking for.”

Inside the cabin is what you would expect from a typical summer camp — a raucous common area, complete with a spirited game of cards in one corner while others sit on their bunks talking about that day's events: breakfast, girls, the evening dance show and girls.

But the abundance of musical instruments lying around is just the first of many clues that the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute , held each June at the Quartz Mountain Arts and Conference Center near Lone Wolf, isn't your average summer camp.

Creative environment

Starting with its first camp in 1977, the arts institute has been committed to giving high-school-age artists from across Oklahoma a creative environment to help hone their crafts.

The two-week fine arts camp, now in its second week, accepted 270 students into this year's program in disciplines ranging from classical ballet to filmmaking.

Christina Cheng , 17, was accepted to play in the orchestra; she has been first-chair violin at Putnam City North High School for the past two years.

But she said she was surprised when she was asked to rotate in as first chair at the institute, to which the students sometimes refer casually as “Quartz” or “Quartz Mountain.”

“I am so nervous now,” Cheng said during a reporter's visit in the first week of camp. “Here people are so good, and I have to live up to their expectations. It's a challenge.”

Mood to dance

Like Gordon, Reagan Collins from Jenks High School also has been through the program before.

This is her fourth year to study dance at Quartz, and she said it has been quite challenging.

“I've been trained in ballet where every step is a process, and we are learning to move a bit more this year,” Collins said.

“I really like the change, and it's definitely different, and it's really gotten me into the mood to just dance,” she said.

As the sun begins to set behind the rock hills, the students make their way across a long wooden bridge to the performing arts center.

D800 video quality and video Nikon vs Canon generally « Nikon ...

To be clear, I am professional photojournalist and I was shooting 10 years Canon (eos 3, 5d, 5dmkII) and 3 years Nikon (d2x,d3) so I know both very well. If I should choose just from photographic point of view Nikon beats Canon in terms of ergonomics, pro zoom lenses and AF. Even canon has better colours, white balance automatic and more prophotographers have canon lenses to borrow me.

Nothing hard - you can do a forum search for D800 video there are some old threads on that.

Nikon has been behind on video mainly because Canon has been doing video for years with other systems. One thing I have noticed is that it seems that Canon and Nikon Both are putting the better tech in their Advanced amateur bodies rather than their Pro bodies. But then again there hasn't been any major updates in the last few years either.

That's because nobody knows what is going to happen with the D800. IMHO, Nikon is where it's at for both still photography and video quailty. The only thing the current Nikon bodies lack is video options(I.e. 1080p 60FPS). It's a known fact that Nikon has less noise, better Dynamic Range and better image quality.

I suspect the D800 will be a step on the right direction for video with the same options Canon is offering.

Electronic business

Master Posing Guide for Wedding Photographers

Moose Peterson's guide to wildlife photography, conventional & digital techniques

Digital Masters: Adventure Photography, Capturing the World of Outdoor Sports

John Shaw's nature photography field guide