Nikon D3100

Why do I like Kelly Brook, well simple answer is right stuff at right place and bonus now is right price. I personally never believed in D3000 or D60 as a matter of fact (after D40). But I happened to be in store and saw D3100 and bingo, I touched this camera and like it right away. The controls, specification, grip, screen, video and quality. The first thing I did was to come back and read its extensive reviews available all over the web. Now I don't hesitate to recommend this fine piece to my close friends. Anyone looking for better quality than point and shoot camera, this is the best camera to move on.

But when you look for such camera, which lens is best? Well it comes with 18-55mm lens kit. This is a fine lens however its reach is very limited. The least I recommend is 18-105mm VR. But no matter which zoom lens you buy: here is my personal advice:

- If possible buy body only.
- If possible, go for 18-105mm lens atleast.
- 18-55 mm lens is very nice lens except for its reach. If you buy this one, you have all the reasons to be happy except for one.
- Don't forget to buy 35mm F1.8 (almost $190). This is best lens for low light or indoor pictures at low cost with this camera.
- SB400 will make a fine pair with this camera.
- Don't forget to buy a bag which is small enough to carry all this, lowpro is my favorite.
- Good speed SD cards are highly recommended. Go for San Disk.

I am not writing detailed review because I don't own this camera and its available with few fine sites like www.dpreview.com

Star Rating; * * * * * (4.5 star) for this category in 2010.

Punch: Don't wait, precious life is passing by 24 hours every day :)

[Updated: Nov 2010] Nikon is getting better at shots

2 new cameras for this season (few more but 2 worth mention). D90 replacement D7000 and P6000 replacement or Canon G11 competition P7000).

Nikon D7000: A very (very) impressive camera with following points nailed:

- Base ISO 100.
- Weather sealed body.
- Lots of buttons. (much better than D90).
- Auto Focus on Full HD movie with different frame rates.
- 39 point auto focus.
- Expeed 2 processing engine.
- 16 MP, picture quality reviews will come in some time.
- 100% penta prizm view finder coverage.
- Plus Everything D90 good at.
- Base price of 1K.
- Better shutter count and dual memory card slots.

I am wondering what will the D300s replacement do next year :)
Update [Nov 2010]: I am liking this camera more and more, I own it now as well.

Nikon P7000 (quite similar name):

- Small point and shoot with all manual capabilities.
- Better sensor and low light capacity.
- Rugged and Expeed 2 processing engine.
- Nice screen and HD video capacity.
- Lots of buttons and view finder too.
- External flash shoe and very good lens range.

BUT no swirl screen (Canon G12 is already in today).

Nikon SB-700 Speedlight Misses it by a pinch.

Nikon just announced a new speedlight designed to complement the flagship SB-900. The Nikon SB-700 Speedlight will cost $329.95, and includes some mouth-watering features. But they have excluded a key feature that will make you wanna pull your hair out. Any guesses? In Sync 2.5 sec recycle w/NiMH (3 w/alkaline) SB-900 control interface (knobs and switches) FX/DX chip size recognition for on-camera beam spread Can be a Master and Remote flash for CLS users (but only controls two groups)  Beam shaping, like the SB-900 Auto FX and DX detection, good zoom and wide range. Exposure point set from point to full frame. Lots of buttons (I like buttons and don't like menu digging). Comes with all light bouncer, diffuser, color gel hold and colored set. Quick Wireless Mode lets you dial in A:B ratios. Kinda Canon-ish, IMO. Out of Sync No PC jack that I can see anywhere. Costly. Bag seems to be bulky. But overall I am happy to see this flash with few nimble changes making a good deal of differences.

New iPod Touch

Okay so you will read/see a lot about it but its my first take as it is launched just 15 mins back and I don't have it in my hands (i may not have it for few days or not have it at all). So lets start:

Apart from every other feature, I was interested in photographer's point of view. hence the features I was looking forward to are:
- Camera (both side is plus), we don't carry slr's everywhere.
- Video Camera (facetime is plus).
- Good display - to carry best shots from me (helps people convince :)
- Emails (with wifi it helps checking emails everywhere anywhere).
- 64 GB with good price.

Other features I was looking forward to are:
- Foremost FM Radio (radio dvr is plus, like nano).
- GPS capabilities (I don't want to have more gadgets for my trips).
- Bluetooth audio (streaming songs over air).
- Better compatibility with my home network and TV.
- Good battery life will be plus.
- Scratch free surface will keep it beautiful.
- Better gaming capabilities.

I did get pretty much everything (Both side camera, HD video, games, bluetooth, 40 hours battary, nike) in this generation but Radio and GPS is still missing. So I am waiting for nice reviews to appear on it and tell me if I can play radio anywhere. 90% I am going for it but 10% can become 0 or 100 :)

!!Caution!! Rear Camera is not even 1 MP, iPhone has 5 MP.

Happy touching.

Shower under sky

I tried a lot in 2008 when there was a huge meteor shower and went with my friend Amitabh and my father in law GMP. We camped for few hours on Mt. Hamilton, took lots of pictures but couldn't capture any. We saw a lot but nothing for digital memory. This time Varun & Neha were around and went with whole gang on 12th August 2010 on Mt. Hamilton. Police stopped us to go further way up to Lick Observatory, took U turn and parked at a nice place, after few mins, police again kicked us, but we got smarter this time. we parked right outside a house. Piku slept and it was past mid night. I carried tripods and Nikon D300s with my fancy 14-24 F2.8. Opened it all wide and took some nice pictures and bingo. I got one (broken star) this time and i was done for the year :) Everyone including Anita saw these and we came back by 2 am. though it was not a huge success, it was still better than 2008 when out of 200 pictures none captured a broken star. :)

Camera Settings: 

Camera: Nikon D300s

ISO: 200

Shutter speed: Bulb mode with 60 sec recorded from watch.

Aperture: F2.8

Lens: Nikon 14-24 F2.8 FX.

Mount: Tripd and facing sky above.

Used remote cable and noise reduction off.

Note: More than 60 sec was giving lines because sky is moving continuously.

Which camera I should buy??

Oh boy!! On popular demand. This is tough one but explanation is easy.  Its all 3 :)
- There are 3 type of camera in digital format. (SLR - Single light Ray, Micro 4/3, Point & Shoot).
- There are 3 type of usage: Low light, Day light, Mix light.
- There are 3 type of customer preferences: Cost, Weight, Quality. Obviously all want least cost, least weight and highest quality.
- There are 3 type of lens (Wide, Normal, Zoom). Any camera offering wide to zoom will be rich in feature but not very fine in optical quality simply by design. Canon SX series leads in super zoom category.

- There are 3 parameters:
1. Aperture: Its opening to decide how much light should go in at once, good for low light, more opening is indicated by lower number. F1.4 is more aperture than F1.8. Factors are (f1.4, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.8, 3.5). Costliest and most desirable lens are of high aperture (not to mention they support no aperture anyday). Only micro 4/3 and slr type camera offer you to change the lens type. Canon S90 has bigger aperture lens in point & shoot category too (but only on wide side).

2. Shutter Speed: It decides for how long light will go in. Faster means action freeze. With kids & sports you mostly want fast shutter speeds. All camera are good from this point.

3. ISO: Most important these days, its sensitivity of sensor which higher is more desirable but higher also means more grains. Hence camera should be able to reduce that. It comes in factor of 100, 200, 400, 800... etc. Each one doubles the sensitivity. Point & shoot don't go without grains above 400 and SLR goes to 1600 sometimes.

Now verdict:
SLR: They offer best quality and freedom to switch lens but are bulky and costly. Least on feature like video, wifi but manual controls are best.
Micro 4/3: Offers freedom to change lens, compact and manual controls are good, picture quality not as good as SLR (nick pick). - value of money.
Point & Shoot: Compact, super zoom and good ones fall here, select based on your preferences and your understanding of material written above.

Contact us for further doubt.

Before I Hit the Shutter I Ask Myself (oh really!!) :

1. What mode do I want to shoot in? Manual, AP, SP, Auto or a pre-programed mode?
2. If I’m using a pre-set, what F-Stop or Shutter Speed am I going to use?
3. What format do I want to shoot in RAW or jpeg?
4. What’s my ISO? Is it fast/slow enough?
5. Too grainy for the shot?
6. What White Balance am I set on?
7. Do I need to set custom White Balance?
8. Did I bring my 18% Grey Card?
9. What Metering Mode should I be on?
10. What Colour setting do I need?
11. Am I going to use Manual or Auto Focus?
12. Do I want to Bracket the shot?
13. Am I going to use a Flash?
14. And how am I going to use it?
15. What story am I trying to tell?
16. Do I need to change lenses?
17. If so, which one?
18. Am I shooting in Landscape or Portrait perspective, or even a jaunty angle?
19. Do I need to use a Tripod?
20. Will I use the Rule of Thirds or break it?
21. What other rules should I be following?
22. Are there Leading Lines I can use in the shot?
23. What about finding an S-curve for the leading line?
24. Is there any thing I can use to Frame my picture? e.g. Tree branches.
25. Will I change this to B&W, Sepia or something else post production?
26. Do I have a Focal Point?
27. Is my subject Moving or Stationary?
28. For Moving Subjects, do I want to Pan the shot, Blur the background or Blur the subject?
29. Is there a Pattern I can pick up on?
30. How’s the lighting?  Are the shadows strong or weak?
31. Do I want to emphasize them?
32. Is the light too strong?
33. Will it wash out detail?
34. Is my horizon straight?
35. Can I get this at a better angle?
36. Should I wait for better lighting?
37. What does the light meter read?
38. Should I increase shutter speed or open up the aperture?
39. Is it in focus?
40. Did I just miss a great shot?

Mode Dial

This quick little tip is aimed mostly at the dSLR users out there who are still learning the ropes. I know how easy it can be to leave the camera in an “auto mode” so you don’t have to worry about all that technical crap. But the non-auto stuff really isn’t that bad, and it opens up a world of possibilities for you.

So this little exercise might be somewhat disappointing on your first go, but it should get you rolling in the right direction. You can do this in a single outing or split it up over multiple days — whatever works for you. And if you don’t feel enlightened after your first try, do it again. Alright, here’s the technique:

1. SHOOT IN AUTO MODE
   If this is what you’re used to doing, just go ahead and get warmed up. Don’t think about that comfort zone you’re about to step out of, just shoot some photos.
2. SWITCH TO APERTURE PRIORITY
   When you move to aperture priority mode, you control the f-number and everything else is automated. So now you need to start thinking about depth of field. Look for photo opportunities where you might want to blur the background or have everything in focus. Lower f-numbers equate to lower depth of field and higher f-numbers equate to greater depth of field. Pay attention to your foreground and background subjects, and experiment with different f-numbers on the same shot to see the results. You’ll also need to pay attention to your auto shutter speed chosen by the camera — low f-numbers on a sunny day might max out your shutter speed, and high f-numbers on a cloudy day might result in long exposures.
3. SWITCH TO SHUTTER PRIORITY
   When you move to shutter priority mode, you control the shutter speed and everything else is automated. Now you need to think about motion blur. Look for opportunities where you might want to blur a fast moving object or freeze everything in the frame. Lower shutter speeds equate to more motion blur and higher shutter speeds equate to freezing action. Pay attention to moving objects, and experiment with panning your camera as you take a shot. You’ll also need to pay attention to your auto aperture chosen by the camera — slow shutter speeds on a sunny day might max out your aperture, while fast shutter speeds on a cloudy day might pin your aperture wide open.
4. SWITCH TO MANUAL
   If you have a handle on the aperture and shutter priority modes, try switching over to full manual controls. The only difference is that you determine both aperture and shutter speed at the same time (and it’s not as hard as it first seems). Modern dSLR cameras have built-in light meters that tell you if your exposure is correct when shooting manual. That little scale in the viewfinder… that’s your light meter. Move the shutter speed and f-number around and you should see an indicator move across that scale at some point. If your exposure is correct, you should be somewhere around the center of that scale. As you experiment with the manual controls, you’ll probably notice that you prefer to leave the aperture or shutter in a steady place while modifying the other. This will tell you which priority mode you lean toward.
Again, if you’ve never shot the priority modes or the manual mode before, this might be brutal on the first round. You’ll mess up a bunch of shots, you’ll miss shots entirely, and you’ll probably be pissed off. Stick with it though! The best way to learn the semi-manual and fully-manual controls is via practice. You can read about this stuff all day long, but that will only take you so far. So get out there and learn your camera!

Photo Samples

I found a very nice website of a photographer. I am impressed by the quality and simplicity of these pictures.


http://www.salleephotography.com/


Don't forget to volume down this beautiful song on the website.


Comments are welcome.

Quality Slimming

Very important and common area of mistakes. When we slim the size of an image, we don't generally include the quality aspect. Size reduction of image is by the size of image (length & width), it reduces the file size too, however we can also reduce the size of file by reducing the quality of image (Color depth). Mostly all software programs do both (picasa being worst). They would reduce the width and length and reduce the jpg quality without asking further details. You will get pretty small size making email servers happy, but the photo quality will be very bad.

Make sure when you reduce the length and width of picture, you do not go overboard with quality of jpg to reduce the file size. Photoshop gives very good options and another hidden option is well explained here.

http://photonaturalist.net/how-to-resize-your-photos-the-sharp-way/

Enjoy quality slimming down.

My assignment of Marathon photos

Got another photography assignment to cover Ekalwalk Marathon.

- Got up early and reached before time, took a tour of places I need to be.
- Made a scheme in my mind on what to cover and by which lens.
- Get my gear ready according to situation.
- Covered preparation, warm-up session, stalls, marathon, awards, dance, yoga and food.
- When people reach the final spot, make sure no one comes on your way and select right spot.
- Check background when you shoot people running. Good contrast is needed.
- Compile your pictures after post processing quickly.
- Don't forget to shoot interesting people.
- Don't forget to enjoy yourself too :)

Happy Diwali

To all the readers:

For this, is a special time when family
  And friends get together, for fun.
  Wishing laughter and fun to cheer your days,
  In this festive season of diwali and always!!!!!! !!
                 “Happy Deepavali”

Why Diwali / Deepawali??
Its Deep's (small lamps) Awali (rows and rows)
Lord Ram returned to rule "Bharat" country which would certainly bring prosperity for sure was the general feeling in everyone's life. He would accept the kingdom from his brother Bharat. Since supreme Lord Vishu's avatar Ram is coming back, rest of Gods will come to you as well. This made entire Bharat country celebrate and lit lamps to welcome. How this day turned in to worship of Laxmi (Lord of money) and Ganesh (Lord of prosperity)  is not known to me but I feel this must be related to the reason for people welcoming Lord Ram at the first place.

We not only clean the houses and shops, but also decorate them to lure Lord Laxmi. My childhood memories remembers Diwali as entire joint family gathering, entire city decorated with small lamps, market decorations and obviously fire crackers :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/sachindevji/Diwali09#

Review Gear Series: Tripod Manfrotto 785

I love this tripod, it has everything i need (with a little twist).

Good:
- Very compact (ideal for travel).
- Very light and rigid.
- Easy clamps and very good head.
- It stands tall for me enough (5feet and 10 inches).
- Its had also has video and camera mode. In video mode the only moments allowed is horizontal & vertical, nothing in btw.
- $60 on amazon.com
- I use it for 3 kg gear.

But what is the twist here. Its head is not good to hold heavy camera. So twist is to open the head and place a plastic sheet on the rubbing surface to make it more resistant. Bingo. I used the packing cover it came with to make a small piece of plastic slit.

I use this for Nikon D300s + Nikon 80-200 mm F2.8. and NIkon SB 600 Flash. Just to give you idea. we are looking at 1 kg of camera, 1.4 kg of lens and app .3 kg of flash without any problem here.

Bad: You will need more sturdy tripods at some point of time.
Ugly:
Be careful for jerks when this baby is fully stretched, Your body or even wind can give you heart beat spike. Its very light.
A word of caution: Never leave camera on tripod (any tripod).

HAPPY SHOOTING.

Review Gear Series: Nikon D300s

On popular demand, I am posting my reading of this new Nikon D300s. This is a excellent camera and better than D300. All reviews apply on D300 apply here (I would recommend www.bythom.com for D300 Review) with extra tweak in performance. Apart from the obvious review items of what has changed or what has been introduced (widely available on lots websites), my focus is on my readings. Video feature has some work pending, however over a course of time it should get corrected. I have nothing but 5 star for this hardware. But... 

Bad:
- No camera control software to connect with PC (optional), Canon has it free.
- It comes with ViewNX but that can't crop the pictures. hence you will have to convert RAW (NEF) pictures to JPEG to crop in third party software. This is pity feature which must have been in the software.
- In camera video editing is basic (poor than Canon).
- Nikon should have a Video for every new camera as option to read its thick manual.
- No cheap remote for this camera from Nikon.
- No screen brightness adjustment based on ambient light.
- No auto rotate in live view mode.
- No way to take picture while video is ON.
- No way to pause the video in recording mode.
- Charger still has an extra cable.
- No button for picture control.
- No Auto mode.
- Wireless trigger of flash is on in built flash only.
- ISO performance is not better than D90

Good:
- Sturdy, strong, weather sealed. (I have personally observed its advantages).
- Live view, movie mode, user friendly buttons, quiet mode and best of all, mirror delay mode which reduces vibrations.
- Amazing fast, 51 point focus, exposure accuracy and fine tuning of 48 parameters.
- Sticky handling, wireless flash trigger and dedicated button for Exposure mode is best for me.
- Good screen, 1 button zoom, picture control features and very nice menu system I like the most.
- Best of class battery life. I have tested this for 1100 pictures without recharge.

Ugly:
- Where is my Nikon D400????

My trip to Crater Lake by Amtrak

- Joined Ravi, Anagha and Tushar last minute on Friday morning when we were expected to start same evening. Anita was excited about this trip and Sahadev was only for TRAINS (gigi).
- Booked Amtrak tickets online with hotel and rental car.
- Reached station 2 hours before train departure (asmentioned on the website) but I don’t see any reason to be there so early. You can be there 1 hour before which is pretty safe considering you need to collect tickets and check in baggage. They need photo ID to issue ticket for which you will be carrying confirmation printout.- Started at 8.30 PM from San Jose and reached 8.00 AM Klamath Falls. Small place, asked station counter guy to call cab to drop us to Airport for rental car pickup.- Cab charged $16 and carried all 6 of us and we reached in 10 mins. Got rental car (don’t forget to carry AAA or Costco if you have). We got GMC Yukon in budget for $43 per day.- Went to hotel (early check ins are possible if they have vacant rooms). Started for Crater lake at 12 in noon and did the tracking till water level. It takes 1.5 hours to come back with hiking.

- Booked shuttle to pick us up from Santa Clara and drop us on Diridon station in San Jose downtown. Lalji : 408 636 8093 ...charging $29 one way...he will get a 6 seater van.

- Went to diamond lake and did boating, came back around 6.30 to crater lake for dusk photography. Started back and reached at dinner time. Lots of restaurant so no issues in Klamath Falls.- Stayed in Holiday Inn Express ($111 per day). Left next morning (Sunday) for Lava beds (south of Klamath falls - around 1 hour journey). Good place to see. Don’t ever stop at the wild life habitat in between. Mosquitoes will bombard you the moment you will stop your car.- Caves and its trips (info is available at visitor center) is worth seeing. I got some lava rocks with me :)

- Came back to see downtown and boarded train back at 10 pm after dinner.

- Reached back at 9.45 am to San Jose and back to office.

Remember: Train is not as smooth as in Europe or India. Kids can’t walk while train is moving.
- Amtrak stops a lot. But not many people so kinda safe.Lot of power plugs so easy for games, laptops and cell phones.No blankets (you will have to buy crappy blanket from them), so carry your own.They give pillows. Chair car is like business seats of flight.Lounge car and dinning car is good, snacks bar is awesome too.Carry cards to play and camera to take pictures.

More pictures can be seen on Picasa GalleryNice pictures can be seen on Flickr Gallery

Question of the Month

Can absence of ND filter be compensated by lowering the exposure compensation values??

Amazing effects with your pictures

Have you tried this??

http://www.photofunia.com/

Just select a picture out of many styles, add your picture and it will appear in any of those style, cool thing is you can copy this picture.


And by the way I know this lady :)

Invisible Flash

http://flash.popphoto.com/blog/2009/07/scientists-create-invisible-fl...

Quite interesting.

List of features requested

I got a list of features from (www.bythom.com) requested by multiple users, so publishing it here. very interesting list. This might have some features specific to Nikon cameras.


Camera Features:
a.. Auto ISO on/off assignable to a button (Command dial then changes min shutter speed?) (jb, am)
b.. Auto ISO shutter speed/focal length dependency (min shutter speed = 1/fl for FX 1/fl*1.5 for DX) (js)
c.. With Auto ISO make it dependent upon focal length (ad)
d.. Dedicated ISO button (or ability to assign it to an assignable button) (rg)
e.. Set the clock from the GP-1 if connected. (jc)
f.. Built-in GPS (ah)
g.. Sunrise/Sunset calculation (from GPS) (pa)
h.. Ability to upload a small text file to the camera and pull it up on the color LCD. Suggested by a wedding photographer as a way to keep shot lists. [I'd add that it really should be a ToDo file: you should be able to put a check mark next to any individual line of text.] (mo)
i.. Firmware updates to allow bracketing in steps larger than 1. (nw)
j.. Store and edit camera settings files on a PC (ah) [We sort of have that with Camera Control Pro]
k.. Combine SHOOTING and CUSTOM SETTINGS banks (many) [I'm not so sure about just combining them, but I do want the option to combine them, so that the camera can be completely set in one selection]
l.. Save/Load SHOOTING bank settings, Save/Load CUSTOM SETTINGS bank settings (sg)
m.. Restore to Saved settings option (not default) (sg)
n.. Restore to Saved after time period (sg) [could also be Restore to Saved on On/Off]
o.. High/Low DOF limits for current settings in viewfinder/info screen. Also, set hyperfocal button, set infinity button. (jc)
p.. Pressing AE-L in Manual exposure does nothing now, should do "quick set" to 0 (via Program). (jc)
q.. Trap focus as a setting, not a group of settings. (jc)
r.. Improve contrast detection AF speed (cw)
s.. HDR support (many) [Comes in many forms, but the most common request is three-image bracket 2 stops apart; also in-camera HDR assembly to JPEG ala Pentax K7]
t.. Integrated meter and sensor for HDR. Essentially use metering to determine where to do early read and reset on sensor pixels to create HDR data. (lk)
u.. M-UP allows Self Timer (many), M-UP has always up (tm)
v.. PSAM in Custom Setting or Shooting banks (am)
w.. Limit Program exposure mode to subset of available apertures (js)
x.. Scriptable Program or exposure modes (pa)
y.. Set hyperfocal distance (eg)
z.. Trap focus that works with MF lenses (al)
aa.. User-definable Programs for Program exposure mode (eg)
ab.. Reset to a user-definable state (cs)
ac.. AF button + dial changes AF mode (ka)
ad.. Get strap lugs positioned so camera hangs properly (ka)
ae.. Panorama assist mode (ka)
af.. Built-in WiFi (ah)
ag.. Built-in hard drive (ah)
ah.. Display blinking highlights when zoomed (or zoom highlights page) (am)
ai.. Custom threshold for highlights (am)
aj.. Stop showing file name, date, time, quality, etc. on every review page; only needed once (many)
ak.. Histograms with exposure stop markers (am)
al.. Accurate raw data histograms (UniWB) (many)
am.. Real DSLR Color Space (sRGB, AdobeRGB too small) (lk)
an.. D300 CompactFlash door opens unintentionally too often; needs a lock release (ala D3) (fk)
ao.. Fix the SCM (AF mode) focus switch so that it can't easily be jarred to a different position (many)
ap.. D300 needs a dedicated bracketing button (cw)
aq.. Fast frame rate at 14-bits (D300, D700) (several) [This is one of those gain some, lose some scenarios. I'd just suggest you use 12-bit on those cameras if you need fast frame rate.]
ar.. Better viewfinder (many) [Seems to be some disagreement on what that means: brighter, 100% always, and better manual focus assist are the three most common suggestions]
as.. Swivel LCD (many) [most don't like D5000 swivel position]

Flash Features:

a.. Radio style wireless control (ah)
b.. Built-in Pocket Wizard (many)
c.. SB-700 (update to SB-600 with SB-900 style controls) (many)
d.. Remove aperture restrictions in Program/Scene exposure modes (many)

Software Features:
a.. A decent way to print (with borders) from Capture NX2. (jb)
Lenses:
First, let's get some obvious stuff out of the way. We need to fill out the DX line and update a number of outdated lenses in the lineup. Basically we take the current 50 AF lens lineup, add three lenses (one of the back), and then perform 12 updates to make the line reasonably complete and current:
a.. 16mm f/2.8G DX (or other wider DX prime)
b.. 50-150mm f/2.8G VR AF-S DX
c.. Redo 18mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm primes (G, AF-S, Nano)
d.. Redo 85mm f/1.4 (G, AF-S, Nano, VR)
e.. Redo 105mm and/or 135mm DC (G, AF-S, Nano, VR)
f.. Redo 17-35mm f/2.8 (G, AF-S, Nano)
g.. Redo 24-120mm f/3.5-4.5G VR (better optics)
h.. Redo 200mm Micro-Nikkor (G, AF-S, Nano, VR)
i.. Redo 300mm f/4 (add VR, Nano)
j.. Redo 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D (G, add AF-S, Nano)
Okay, with the obvious out of the way, time for your user input.
a.. make all PC-E lenses so tilt and shift can be same axis or different axis (many)
b.. 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-S lens update. (gv) [Actually, why not just reintroduce it?]
c.. 24-200mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S lens for FX. (bl)
d.. 35-135mm (suggestions ranging from f/2 to f/4). (various)
e.. 180mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor (replaces both 200mm f/4 and 180mm f/2.8). (jc)
f.. Galen's favorite 20mm f/4 refreshed. (kh) [Any small, very wide prime would be nice]
g.. A DX portrait lens: 60mm f/1.4G (ab)
h.. Redo 85mm f/1.8 (G, AF-S) (kh)
i.. 135mm f/2.8 (G, AF-S, VR) (kh)
j.. 400 f/5.6 (G, AF-S, VR) (kh)
k.. 14mm or 16mm PC-E DX (er)

Comments are welcome

Black & White Photography

Here is 1 article which tells you the steps to achieve best black and white results in post production. I will be trying it soon too.

http://digital-photography-school.com/an-adjustable-black-and-white-c...