First of All:
Thanks for visiting a website, which seems to be in a never ending remodeling process.

Think of an extensive home-renovation! Some rooms might be empty, some are prepared for getting new furniture moved in, some still show the outdated stuff - a website is an ever ongoing process! Anyway, you might not yet find the information you are looking for - do not hesitate, to contact us, we are here, to help you!
Welcome to D-Photographer.com, the home for the Digital Photographer and everything related to Digital Photography.
The logo above shows our blue planet surrounded by green – let’s try to keep it green, we as photographers are more aware of environmental impact, and because of this fact, we should also use our knowledge to keep the blue planet green….
When you look at your browser window, you can see the green D with the blue planet in it, which will remind you…....

SmugMug:
I choose this excellent service, as I do lots of comparisons, especially lenses and sensors - DSLR and DSLE.
On SmugMug your photos can be seen in large magnification up to 3x (Choose X3), and EXIF and other info can be obtained at the same time.
I will tansfer almost the entire photo part to SmugMug, and the majority of new photos will be posted there. I just started an HDR Gallery there, to show, what HDR can do to make your photos more dramatic.
Here the link:
http://volkerschenkphotography.smugmug.com/

If you are a Professional or 'enthusiastic photographer, I would not bother with inferior quality, the world's best photographers are here.
You have a free trial period, and if you like to sign up, the coupon below will bring the yearly subscription down to under 30 $, an incredible value:

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Here a roadmap for the website. The first 'button' you come across:

1. TOOLS
   

We at D-Photographer.com are striving to improve your photography, a very complex task! TOOLS is divided into two parts:

A) HARDWARE:
Here you find everything about Lenses, Cameras, Accessories.

Lensadviser including Adapteradviser will show many opportunities to attach legacy lenses to a recent DSLR or DSLE. Find out, which lens we regard to be the best standard lens for your camera! Wonder why we put Lenses first? Read on!
We partnered with rentAprime, to give you, the Digital photographer the opportunity:
- As an amateur (I consider myself one) the opportunity to test certain lenses, helping your decision, which one to buy!
- As a Pro, to help you out, when you need 'THAT" special lens for the current task!

Find it here or under SERVICE!
DSLRadviser including accessories to help you finding the right gear where you can build on without having to switch between systems and brands.

B) SOFTWARE - THE DIGITAL DARKROOM

Here you find info about what to use and what to avoid, to make your “Developing” experience streamlined…

The next Button:

SKILLS

Some are natural. ..She has an excellent eye....He has 'vision'
There is something to it. You can be more talented than others. In Kindergarten, Preschool, Art classes you might have shown up and stood out - anyway, whatever you are doing, you have to improve your skills, a live - long experience. Our vision changes and improves.
Learning by doing is an excellent way, and compared to the very expensive film experience, the digital experience costs next to nothing, and the gradient of your skill level is dramatic. Most important: It is an ad hoc experience, while you are 'developing' your photos, the 'picture' taken might be still alive in your memory and makes a good base for comparison what you see on your computer screen at night.


The next Button:

TOURS

Tours developed from my own experience: I was unable, to learn new 'stuff' quickly under the pressure of your daily tasks and job pressure. That changes totally, when I came away from that daily stress into an inspiring environment. Your mind gets open, and you easily learn new skills - handling your gear is the most important! I started OK-PhotoTours in the sunny Okanagan in BC, Canada with Photo Workshops.
As I am very much into the UNESCO World Heritage, we will soon put up Tours to the most interesting places in the world, combined with Digital Workshops. The year 2010 is booked, please contact me with wishes and suggestions for 2011.

The next Button:

TESTS


Buying a car: You pick up your information from magazines and brochures. Than, eventually, you choose 2 brands and 3 vehicles for a test drive...
Nothing different in Photography! I am not the guy, who does lab tests. But using a lab test for basic criteria to choose your equipment is a good idea, eliminating the less interesting stuff..

Since 2003, I went through ALL available brands in Digital SLR photography and sadly enough I could witness the elimination of one of my favourite camera brands:

MINOLTA.

This was the brand, which co-developed the LEICA R4 (based on their XD11), co-developed the LEICA CL ( There were 3 models on the market, a MINOLTA CL, a Leitz CL, and a CL wearing both badges) , brought us the first AF camera, the milestone Maxxum 7000, and were the first to incorporate IS into the Camera Body of a DSLR, which I call IIS (Internal Image Stabilization), their MINOLTA 5D, which was an excellent camera.
The next brand, you guess it, was

SONY,

which continued the MINOLTA 5D into the SONY A100, and the more advanced 7D into the A700, later adding 300, 350, 500, 550 and most importantly 900 and a 850, which actually is the same camera, the downgrading seems to me more marketing driven, to be even more competitive (at least they thought) in the FF Pro market. If you are into SONY, there are tons of excellent MINOLTA MAXXUM lenses out there, you can pick them up for little money, but prices in the used market are increasing. Dyxum.com is an excellent source for information about SONY DSLR and MINOLTA AF lenses; there is no such good website out for any other brand! Anyway, I do not like a company, where the pencil punchers and bean counters have the saying, the A100-A550 Series developed to the “cheap” side; A900/A850 are excellent cameras, but…It is less expensive shooting CANON or NIKON on pro level, there is just more competition on the market. If you have the money, A900/A850 + an A550 and some old used MINOLTA and new Carl Zeiss lenses bring you quite far.

Pentax

was a very good experience, I liked their menu very well, but Pentax is not expected to bring a FF camera in this economical situation, even having the back up from Hoya. I shot D20 and K7, both are excellent, the sensor-developing engine needs more attention. Best bang for the buck, if I started Digital photography today and would not think of FF, either of the 2 would be my choice. Lenses are available in abundance, camera is backwards compatible for many generations.

OLYMPUS

was always my choice for the second DSLR, as I could make use of the smaller sensor size especially in Wildlife, a 300mm 2.8 turns into a 600mm 2.8, nothing to complain about, especially in an image stabilized body. I shot e510 and later E3, both are excellent cameras in their price class. IIS and the best dust removal or sensor cleaning technique of all DSLRs – so far. I also liked the ability to have 2 card slots which you can use simultaneously, while I prefer a SD slot for the second slot vs the redundant XD card. While the

4/3rds

standard is a dead end, because the smaller sensor does not allow the build of significantly smaller bodies,


micro 4/3rds

is the big winner using the same sensor size, just makes better use of physical basics which led to way smaller lenses. It is unclear to me, why OLYMPUS did not get into this system from the beginning, as when you are designing a system based on the sensor size, a camera like a

PANASONIC

G1 will come up naturally. With the G1 we finally arrive at “TEST”, as the G1 comparison is what started this all, so I also call it “my G-Spot’! To finish the experiences, I shot different

CANON

1Ds, 1D MKII, 1Ds MKII, 5D. Everybody knows, that I “put lenses first” and care little, which brand transforms the captured image into pixels, and CANON is the only brand of DSLR, which allows to adapt my

CONTAX
Carl Zeiss

lenses. It is just the better glass! Now my final decision came through a friend from Lens&Shutter, who recommended a

NIKON

D300,and I was blown away by the ease of use and the clear clean viewfinder, the best in the industry; important, as I shoot mainly manual lenses, many of them are Adaptall-2 TAMRON SP lenses, which allow focusing with open aperture, due to the continuing support of the lens mount, you can shoot a 1960 Nikkor on a 2010 D700 without adapter and without problems.

With the acceptable image quality and the other advantages of digital photography (particularly the time pressures of vital importance to daily newspapers) the majority of professional news photographers have begun capturing their images with digital cameras.

Digital photography has also been adopted by many amateur snapshot photographers, who take advantage of the convenience of the form when sending images by email, placing them on the World Wide Web, or displaying them in digital picture frames. Digital cameras have also been integrated into many cell phones, although, because of the small, poor quality lenses and sensors in most of these phones, the quality of these pictures makes them unsuitable for making even moderate size prints.

The Presidential Portrait of Barack Obama was the first official U.S. Presidential Portrait to be taken with a digital camera.