Lame teaser alert, but that’s the title for the podcast over at Learning Digital Photography. Make sure to stop over to the podcast and download the show today! Here’s the show notes (I may add to these as I remember link references – if any are missing, let me know in the comments so I can be sure to add them…)
The last day to enter your photos for the Lightroom giveaway is super close – so get your shots in the Flickr thread here pretty soon!
Adobe updated the ACR to 5.4 (still in beta), and is downloadable here
Canon announced some firmware updates and break/fix news on some of its SLR lines. Tune into the podcast for details.
Seriously folks, don’t miss out on your chance for a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom! Get your photos in today! A $30o retail value and free from the folks over at Adobe – in this economy we could all use a little help and Adobe is being very generous here.
Well, that’s about all for this week. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you back here on Monday – as we head out for the weekend, don’t forget to have fun out there. With that in mind, here’s my favorite WTD from this past week – so fitting for my job in IT!
Happy Shooting!
ETA: Thanks to reader Don for reminding me about the link to the PhotographyBB magazine article. You can download the full magazine here
This first day after a long Memorial weekend, things are a little slow out of the starting gate, but as luck would have it, slow and steady is the theme for today, because my gear review that I postponed from yesterday is none other than the trusty tripod!
The tripod is probably one of the most basic and easy-to-understand pieces of equipment in a photographer’s gear bag – yet likely one of the least used. I can’t tell you the number of times (myself included) I have heard someone utter “Argh! I left my tripod back in my car!” We’ve all done it, so the question becomes one of how to ensure you take the tripod with you. The answer lies in making the right investment the first time.
FOr me, the first investment (because we all invariably try this route first), was a cheap an economical one from Wal-Mart for roughly $20. I was quickly disavowed of its ability to support even a Canon XT with a 70-200 lens on it. I went so far as to weigh down the plastic center column with my gear bag to little avail. It was just not built for my gear. Perhaps such a tripod would be good for the P&S crowd, because I would rather not disparage any gear intended to provide an increase in stability.
Anyone who goes to any length to increase their camera stability recognizes the benefit of a tripod. So many pictures out there can benefit from increased stability – yet they continue to pepper the internet in perpetuity. So, if you really are strapped for cash – something is better than nothing. But, if you would like to invest a little in “some legs” (parlance for a tripod among photog-types apparently), then take a look at Bogen/Manfrotto.
Bogen/Manfrotto gear is recognized as one of the industry leaders in tripods, monopods, and camera equipment. Another serious name in the game is Gitzo, and I’ve heard good things about them too – but for my money, I went with Bogen a few years back in my pursuit of stability. My choice? The Bogen 3021BPro:
This set is really sturdy – made of aluminum and an extended eight of nearly 70″ (69.29 technically), this was a great investment for me. I stand at 6’1″ (73″) so the height appeal was a major contributing factor. Cost-wise, it also came in within my range at roughly $150-$200 new. With quick-clamp leg extensions, and the ability to set up at varying ranges of 25°, 43°, 73° and 90° it was a great investment for me.
With the stability and low price though, came a downside – weight. The legs themselves weigh in at a little over 5 lbs, but I did not plan on being very mobile with the set. So, it was a great starter set for me. The reason why I said “set” though is because any good tripod also needs a good head. You’ll notice from the inserted image that the legs have a lonely screwmount at the top. This does not give you much mobility for the camera when attached, so you really need to also invest in a head.
The head attaches to the tripod, and then in turn attaches to your camera and allows you a little more flexibility in moving the camera position around to get the right angle on your shot. There are many types of heads including trigger mounts, ball heads, and pan-and-tilt heads. Rather than get into an extensive discussion of the various heads as well, here it’s sufficient to say I chose the ballhead route. Specifically, I went with the Bogen 488RC2.
This is super nice because it allows you to pivot your camera around very easy and go from landscape to portrait mode in a snap. Also nice is the fact that the head comes with a quick-release plate, basically allowing you to go mobile from your stationary tripod in a snap. I’ll go into the various heads and how they work in some future post. For here though, I got the ehad at about $120, so for less than $300 total, I had a pretty decent workhorse for a tripod/head set. Here again, the only downside I can think of is weight. The head also weighs in at 1.5 lbs so I am getting near 7 lbs of tripod weight total. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you’ve tried lugging a tripod/head combo around on a photowalk, it can get pretty heavy pretty quick if you don’t have some strapped method for carrying it while walking or traveling. For the most part though, it’s lasted me well and worked gloriously – when I remember to take it out of my car!
Eventually I will probably either upgrade this set of legs to the more lightweight, yet also sturdy, carbon fiber material that is becoming more cost effective. At the time when I got this set, carbon fiber was very new on the scene, and thus very expensive. As we see the presence of carbon fiber increase in the market place, the price has also come down some. Not a lot, but enough for me to start considering it. In all likelihood, I could see myself hanging on to this set for studio or location work while also adding to the gear bag with the more lightweight carbon fiber legs for on-the-go types of photography.
All in all though – if you don’t have a set of legs, this would be an excellent starter set. For under $300 your pictures will undoubtedly see marked improvement – that’s assuming of course you don’t forget the gear in your car! Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
In keeping with the last few weeks of hardware reviews, I am taking a look in my own bag one more time to bring you this weeks’ hardware review: the 70-200mm L lens from Canon. Canon has several variants on this lens, with different minimal apertures both with and without Image Stabilization (IS). So, in the interests of full disclosure, this is a non-IS lens, and the aperture range is the standard one, 4.0 to 5.6. So, with that distinction being made, we’re off and running:
Canon's 70-200mm f4.0 lens
The “L” distinction is one that bears discussion right off – Canon only gives this out to lenses that it deems have superior optics – which means a wider range for it’s sweet spot, tack sharp focus, and better sealing against the elements. This naturally means that this lens will, by definition and categorization, be sharper than a comparable “non-L” lens. However, for this particular range of zoom, Canon doesn’t make a non-L lens, so one would have to make a comparison with a 3rd party brand such as Sigma or Tamron. Even there though, comparisons are tricky primarily because vendors are moving toward faster glass (in the 2.8 category) and IS features.
In that regard, the 70-200 f4.0 really is in a class by itself. As a result of its unique status in the field of available lenses, comparisons are rather arbitrary as no other lens out there has the same specs. Rather than making those comparisons though, I’ll just say that this lens does deliver superior performance for its’ category.
So, how is this a review? Well, it’s not just a question of performance, it’s also a question of price. Anything can be stellar, but whether it’s worth the price is another story. I know of luxury cars that exceed 6 figures for their cost, however, most cannot justify the expense, either because of their financial situation or the expected need. So, how does the 70-200 fit when it comes to cost? Pretty well actually.
The cost for this lens at B&H Photo is $600 right now (technically $599.95) after a $50 rebate. Considering the next step up is twice the price for either an f2.8 or an IS lens, this is actually a steal! I was able to find mine second hand from a fellow photographer when I lived in SC, so got it for considerably less. Included in my package was a lens hood, and a collar for mounting to a tripod (which I definitely would recommend given the weight). The previous owner was also nice enough to leave the Tiffen filter on it that provided protection for the lens. All told, the lens and accessories would run around $700 for the lens, lens hood, UV filter, and tripod collar.
When looking at comparable other lenses from Canon, this is where you really see the bang for the buck. Take a look at the most recent prices from B&H for similar lenses:
70-200L f2.8 = $1250
70-200L f2.8 IS = $1600
70-200L f4.0 IS = $1025
So, you can save at least $425 if IS isn’t important to you, or $650 for the next fastest version of this lens
At a smidge over 1.5 lbs, the weight does balance the mid-grade SLR’s quite nicely, although on the Rebel line I recall it being a tad heavy. As a general rule of thumb, with larger and heavier lenses, you’ll want to carry this by the lens itself rather than the camera as you don’t want to put undue tension on the mount.
Overall though, for the price and range, I would highly recommend this lens. It’s tack sharp at both 70 and at 200 with a sweet spot ranging from f5.6 to f16. Kind of hard to say no to that kind of quality when it’s offered at such an affordable price. Here’s some sample shots to show what I’m talking about:
Here’s a sample from 70mm at f9.0
The Rocky Mountainsfrom a distance
And the same scene from 200mm at the same aperture:
The Rocky Mountains
Then, just to give you an idea of the sharpness, here’s some shots at f4.0 (a little noiser because I was at ISO 3200)…first the 70mm shot:
What time is it?
And now at 200mm:
What time is it?
And the 200mm shot:
Okay, so that’s about it for the day. Hope you found it useful and informative (as always). Don’t forget the Lightroom Contest going on over at the Flickr Thread – only about 12 more days left and still not a lot of entries. Great chance to win a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (retails for $300)! If you have ideas, suggestions, comments, feedback or other insights on future gear you’d like reviewed, feel free to share those in the comments below or with me via email.
One last little nugget to share today…Scott Kelby announced his 2nd Annual Photowalk early this morning, so be sure to register in your city. I’m already registered in the Denver group and that’s rolling early (7:45ish am) in the Lodo area. More details to come on route, eating place, etc. , but mark your calendars now for July 18th! Here’s the link for more info if you’re not in Denver: Worldwide Photowalk Have a great day, Happy Shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
Many of us as photographers are also gadget hounds, and the ability to accessorize our cameras with the latest and greatest gadgets and doohickeys is both a boon and a curse. It’s a boon because we have so many options available to us, and it is a curse for the same reason – because we have so many options available to us. A perfect example of this is the development of GPS attachments.
GPS (Global positioning system) units allow us to add the longitudinal and latitudinal information to the meta data of our digital images. This can help us locate the picture on a map, find the location later, and adds another type of data that we can filter for when managing our images. As the technology has advanced, the price has come down to the point where the ability to incorporate such an accessory is much more feasible.
Here are some of the more popular GPS units on the market these days. While I have not tested these, coming from the article Jack neubart wrote in the May issue of Shutterbug, I would suspect that these are some of the more well-known devices available:
Amod AGL3080
DeLorme Earthmae GPS PN-40
Eye-Fi Explore
ATP GPS Photofinder
GiSTEQ Phototracker CD111
Jobo Photo GPS
QStars BT-Q1000X
Sony GPS CS1KA
Super Trackstick
Wolverine GEO-35
I was able to get some pretty detailed reviews on each of these devices, along with their respective software components by performing a simple Google search of the device name, and rather than regurgitate all that information here, suggest that those who are interested in learning more detailed information do the same.
Special thanks for the collection of all this data to Jack Neubart over at Shutterbug magazine for his very informative article and summary on all of these devices. If you’d be interested in the summary, be sure to pick up a copy or subscribe to the magazine today – it’s one of the better resources on the internet! Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the Software Review – very exciting one too, so be sure to add CB to your feeds!
Happy Monday to all! Today is an exciting day here at the blog, because a new schedule of sorts is going to start, both to make reading more enjoyable, and to make writing more planned and easily executed.
The reason behind the new flow is due to many listener questions asking a wide variety of questions, ranging from hardware questions to software questions, technical questions, work flow questions and the like. So, in the interests of providing answers to each of the wide subject matter areas, here’s the new schedule:
Monday: Hardware – I’ll take a look at hardware components, ranging from lenses to bodies, attachments and accessories. This could come in the way of a review, a summary, or other commentary.
Tuesday: Software – many elements of photography involve using software, whether it be organizing your library of images, to managing that library, and editing idividual photos. Here is where I’ll take a look at software reviews, editing tips and tricks, considering work flows,and other similar subjects.
Wednesday: Composition – As with anything else, you only get better when you practice what you preach. We can only learn so much from reading – and today I’ll focus on the “doing”. How to take better pictures, what elements of composition work, what elements of composition don’t work, what to look for, what to avoid… things of that nature.
Thursday: Free-for-all – Who knows what may happen – I’ve been doing the “Thursday Thoughts with…” series, and this may happen from time to time – I’ll keep everyone on their toes with this post! (This will probably also be the post that includes show notes for the weekly podcast hosted over at Personal Life Media, Learning Digital Photography.)
Friday: Weekly wrap-up – news and events of the week, notable items of interest to photographers, and the occasional note with blog announcements, and other administrative types of things.
So, in kicking things off, here is the first installment of a look at some of the hardware in my own gear bag (since many of you dear readers have asked about that stuff specifically). This week, I take a look at the 10-22mm lens from Canon.
This lens has been the premiere wide angle lens for quite some time, as the widest non-fisheye available on the market. Only recently have Sigma and now Nikon added this specific range to their inventory of available lenses. I absolutely love this lens and have used it for everything from landscape work to architecture work, and even some portrait work when I am going for a unique look. In general you won’t use a wide angle lens for portrait work because of the distortion that can occur when you get up close. This distortion can work to your advantage if that is the look you are going for though. Alternatively, if you have a larger group of people, a wider lens may be required to fit everyone in the scene.
Fitted with the well-regarded USM feature for Canon lenses, I also love this lens for it’s whisper quiet and fast focusing. You almost can’t even hear it as it locks in on your point of focus.
On the downside (if this can be considered one) – because it is an EF-S lens, this will not work on the full frame cameras. So, shooters using the Canon 1Ds series (Mark II or III). While full-frame lenses may be the future of digital photography, there are enough people out there with the Rebel series, and the family of 20D-50D bodies that can really take advantage of this lens. I have to give this lens two thumbs up!
ETA: Update: I had inadvertently made the notation that the 10-22mm is an “L” lens from Canon. This is not the case – thanks go out to Bill for detecting this. While it was a typo, the disctintion is an important one because Canon designates their high end glass with the letter “L”.
