You may recall that a while ago, I decided to start building my ideal perfect “dream camera”! In fact, I devoted 3 blog posts to it, and you’ve patiently waited for the grand finale, so here it is – what rounds out the list for the ultimate dream camera! Continue reading “Putting the Pieces Together, Dream Camera #4”
Tag: Canon
Saving Money is Always Good
In photography it’s pretty much accepted that you get what you pay for. If you want super fast glass with pristine optics, then expect to pay for it. Alternatively, if you’re on a budget, don’t expect apertures in the 2.8 range do bring the sharpest images. You can also kiss things like Image Stabilization goodbye (Vibration Reduction for the Nikonian crowd). So, yeah, we all know that photography is a field where you have to spend money.
But, this does not mean you have to spend money unnecessarily. When there are savings out there to be had, I am all for taking advantage of such opportunities. Many savings can come from DIY projects. Here on the blog I’ve done a few DIY projects, not only to save money, but also to experiment. This kind of experimentation and money saving is almost always a source of creative inspiration, and usually some decent images come out of them!
Then, there are other more obvious ways to save money. Here I am talking about coupons and rebates. Most vendors will offer savings periodically in the form of instant rebates, two-fers (buy one get one half off) and other gimmicks to try and get consumers to let go of a little money. Here is where you can actually get some really good deals if you plan accordingly. If you know that you will be upgrading your camera body every 18-24 months – then buy during rebate cycles. The same goes for lenses, accessories, and computer equipment – although with the computer items, there are sales and rebates going on pretty much all the time, so it’s to a lesser extent there.
So, if you are planning on upgrading any photo gear in the near future – take advantage of the Canon rebates. They are going on now and you can save a few bucks (nothing stellar, $25 on flashes, $100 on the 7D, and some savings on the 5D Mark II) on your purchases. You might want to move soon because the deals end in early April (the 3rd I think). After all, saving money is always a good thing!
- Need the links for the rebates? Go here to get all the details.
- Got your own money savings ideas? Share them in the comments!
- Or tell me on Twitter!
- Finally, today is the final day for the March Giveaway so be sure you get your images in before midnight!
Have a great weekend all, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!
Hardware Updates
With the last few blog posts being software-related, wanted to take a few moments to let everyone know about some hardware updates that I’ve learned about as well:
Drobo – Yup, those proprietary RAID storage containers get firmware updates too – it’s version 1.6.8 for the Dashboard:
The Canon 1D Mark IV has a movie plugin available for Final Cut Pro available on the Canon website:
And last but not least, the Digital Photo Professional 3.8 came out a few weeks ago – also released from the Canon website. Make sure you have the original installation CD’s for this as it’s an updater file and not the full version:
That’s it for this “Update Thursday” – just in time for the weekend’s “Backup Friday” reminder that I give out periodically – hint hint hint! 🙂 Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
Building the Perfect Camera, Pt. 1
One of the more recent episodes from the guys over at This Week in Photography had them wrapping up their coverage of PMA, where they talked tech about all the latest cameras to come out from the various vendors. Canon was noticeably absent from the show, but it didn’t detract from an interesting comment I think Ron Brinkmann said where he wished he could pull all his favorite features from each of the cameras and basically make his own.
To me, the idea screamed “blog post”! So, I decided to go for it. I went through every major SLR on the market today and cherry-picked my favorite features from each camera. It took a while (there’s a lot out there), but I kept on plugging at it for a few days. Finally, I’ve completed the list, and here’s my “perfect camera” wish list:
- Full Frame Sensor – It seems the market is trending this way, and while the added zoom on a crop sensor can be nice, I’d love to see my 10-22 on a full frame body!
- EF-S support – This is Canon-specific, but because of my 10-22 and 18-55, I would really love to get that super wide angle on a full frame without vignetting or fisheye distortion…I know, the impossible dream, but hey, it’s not like such a camera will ever really exist, so I may as well dream, right?
- Low Light Performance – Think Nikon here – they’re beating the pants off pretty much everyone in the market with their low light sensitivity and handling.
- ISO handling – the fact that you can shoot at ISO 102400 is pretty amazing, but the noise is crazy. Sure, I’ll take the high ISO, but at least let me make decent prints from it. This kind of ties into the low light performance, but since it’s a separate spec, why not…
- Multi-card compatibility – Lately more cameras are supporting the CF and the SD format cards, but mine currently does not support the latter, so, it’s on my list!
That’s it? Of course not, but do you really want me to list ALL the features I want to see in my dream camera in ONE SUPER LONG POST? Of course not! I wouldn’t want to read that either, no matter who wrote it! So, I’m saving the other segments for another day soon (hint, hint, hint)! I’m not even sure this is my “Top Five”, but it could be close. I dunno, is it worth it doing a “top five” features list? Would you? Also consider this: what is your dream camera? What are the must have features for you? How much would you pay to have them all under one hood? I know it’d be a pretty penny, but think about how useful and how long it would last you…! Sound off in the comments with your favorite features!
Don’t forget, the March Flickr Giveaway is underway where you can win a Cheetah Stand, so make sure you enter your favorite WILD pic today!
The Canon Rebel T2i – A First Look
Yes, that’s right, I am looking at the T2i, but like everyone else, my look is virtual rather than real, so for those expecting a hands-on review, you’ll have to wait until it ships. For what it’s worth though, here’s some initial thoughts on looking through the specs that Canon released. First off, their PR description from the landing page on their website: Continue reading “The Canon Rebel T2i – A First Look”
Another Book Review: From Snap Shots to Great Shots (Canon 50D)
One area I’ve not really tackled here on the blog is that of book reviews, primarily because I don’t see a lot of books come through that give me enough time to read them myself. One notable exception to that was a copy of Jeff Revell’s “From Snap Shots to Great Shots” book on the Canon 50D – I had the distinct honor of having received a copy of this book from Jeff a while back. Since I did not own the 50D, it took me some time to actually sit down and read through the book. I wish I hadn’t waited as this is a good read – regardless of what camera you own. Here’s my detailed thoughts on “50D: From Snapshots to Great Shots”:
(Clicking on the Cover Image will take you to the Publisher site: Peachpit Press)
I did pull out the 40D and run through the settings with the book in hand because while I do not own the 50D, I figured that the 40D had enough similarities to use it in conjunction with the read. This was helpful not only because I fond myself saying “I didn’t know I could do that!”, but also because I got a better handle on the differences between the two bodies. For instance, on the 50D there is a dedicated button for Live View, whereas the 40D uses the button on the center of the rear dial. The 50D also has a “Creative Auto” mode which is not present on the 40D…
One eureka moment I had was the sensor cleaning feature – while I knew that the camera will auto-clean the sensor on start-up and shut down, I did not know that there is an option to “clean now”. Jeff’s advice to run this feature after swapping lenses is a good idea, and one I will definitely be adding to my work flow when out shooting (assuming of course that I am swapping lenses without turning the camera off and back on – which is my usual practice).
Another was the discovery of the “Flash Off mode”. Because I usually shoot in one of three creative modes (manual, aperture priority or shutter priority), the basic zones have rarely been used. The discovery of the “Flash Off” mode sounds interesting and I may have to give it a whirl.
As the title of the book suggests though, this is not really a text to explain each of the features (although he does a good job of that), it’s more about leveraging your camera on how to take better pictures. Jeff does do a quick run through of the “Top Ten Things to Know” in Chapter One, and this is a great starting point. As Jeff himself says, the book is not meant to replace the Owner’s Manual, rather to complement it. Instead of telling you what the button does, Jeff tells you how you can use it to take better pictures, which is the key difference between this book and an Owner’s Manual. It’s kind of like a blend between an Owner’s Manual and a primer on photography.
Some of the sections I liked Jeff’s in Jeff’s book include:
- Raw versus JPG (I didn’t know what JPG stood for before reading this…do you?) (Chapter 2)
- Different lenses (wide angles vs. telephotos vs. zooms) and their uses (Chapter 2)
- The Exposure Triangle (Chapter 1)
- Tips for Shooting Action (Chapter 5)
- All of Chapter 8 – Mood Lighting – lots of tips and tricks here to achieving certain results with various techniques
My favorite part of the book – the assignments at the end of each chapter – here it’s basically a recap of what was covered in the chapter, but also gives you bullet points of things you should be familiar with both as a result of reading, but also from your own experimentation. While many books will finalize things with the idea of getting out and practicing, the fact that Jeff encourages the reader to get out and practice with each element and does so frequently elevates this book over many others in the same category.
One disagreement: There is one thing where I actually kind of shuddered when I read it – in the book, Jeff describes the procedure for firmware updates and goes through the procedure of doing so by tethering the camera to the computer. While I know that Canon does have this as an acceptable approach for firmware updates, they also have the set of instructions for using just the memory card, which is preferable for me. I wish Jeff would have covered both of these methods, and then let the reader decide for themselves which method they prefer. Instead, he simply covers how to update firmware using the computer, and I do not recommend this approach! While I am sure there are many that have used this method successfully, and it’s an acceptable practice according to Canon, for me this is not the best way to complete firmware updates. I don’t like this method for three reasons:
- It requires installing software on your computer so it can “detect” the camera and I like keeping my computer free of unnecessary software if I can…
- Data transfer rates are slower, which means more time for things to go wrong (and I would think your battery is discharged more too)…
- It goes counter to the instructions I’ve read from Canon for the 40D. Even though Canon lets you do it through the computer now, it still needs a blank memory card to complete the process, so it’s like you are using the computer, and the memory card. For me, I’d rather just keep the process simple.
Keep in mind though, this is a subjective topic, and it’s not necessarily wrong – I just wish he would have offered both options for updates rather than just covering the one approach. This is not a reflection on the book as a whole, rather on one specific talking point. Overall, the book is a great resource, not only as a reference for the 50D specifically, but it also is great for its coverage of some of the basic principles and practices in photography. I like how Jeff takes the features of the camera and then transcends the camera-specific details to cover the ideas of how to take/make better pictures. This just goes to show you that it really isn’t about the camera – it’s who’s behind it!
Jeff has taken this topic of “Snap Shots to Great Shots” and applied it to several books, so if you don’t own the 50D, check out his other titles as well on the Canon 500D and the Nikon D5000. Jeff’s site, Photowalk Pro, is one of my daily reads too – it’s listed in the sidebar, and I also get email updates too. To get your own feed or email subscription, check him out here. If you are interested in any of his books, visit Peachpit (the publisher) or Amazon for more info. I’ve included links here to the purchase points from Amazon:
- Canon 50D: From Snap Shots to Great Shots
- Canon 500D: From Snap Shots to Great Shots
- Nikon D5000: From Snap Shots to Great Shots
If you want to become a better photographer, this book would be a great starting point, not just if you own a 50D (but it is particularly suited to 50D owners). Jeff’s writing style is easy to follow and he covers a great amount without overwhelming the reader. I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Canon 50D, or just how to take better pictures in general…
That’s probably enough material for today. Thanks go out to Jeff for sending me a review copy of his book to read – it was quite enjoyable! (Readers – stop over at Jeff’s blog and thank him there too if you liked it!) If you’d like me to review some more books, share your thoughts here in the comments or with me via email and I’ll see what I can do. Until tomorrow then, happy shooting!
New Formats for the New Year
With the advent of a new year, the podcast is hopefully going to take on a new format – with things being more conversational. Erik Bernskiold comes back to the show and we’re talking about all the latest news in photography, as well as a main talking point of how to publicize and share your images online – looking at the pros and cons of the various options that are out there. Lots of news including announcements from the recent CES show, as well as contest information, and listener questions and answers so it’s a pretty heavily packed show. Almost an hour and a half, so it could last you through a few commutes! Here’s the show notes, and enjoy!
CES News
- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V
- Casio EX-FH100
- Samsung CL80
- Sony and Olympus announced adoption of the SD format
- Samsung TL210
Canon Camera Announcements
- A3100
- A3000
- A495
- A490
We also had been noticing a lot of the newer SLR cameras have been announcing firmware updates, so if you have a relatively new SLR, check your vendor website for details.
Sharing Your Photos
- Flickr
- Forums
- DeviantArt
- Photography Corner
Hosting Services
- WordPress
- Smugmug
- Squarespace
- Livebooks
- Self-hosting
- Paying a Design Professional
Picks of the Week
- Erik’s Pick: Nicolesy Blog
- Jason’s Pick: Joe McNally’s Blog
Listener Questions
Print Resolution versus Screen Resolution (Jason)
SEO for Websites and Flash (Erik)
Catch up with me and Erik on our respective websites – you know my info, but if you want to learn more about Erik and his work, here’s his web presence links:
A long show for sure – but tons of content. Thanks to Erik for taking the time to sit down and talk again – we’re going to try to make this a regular occurrence, as well as get some others involved in the conversation! Thanks also go out to the folks at Audible for their sponsorship of the blog! Happy shooting, and share your feedback, here, on Erik’s site, on iTunes or even with the folks at PLM (thanks to them for their sponsorship as well!) Happy shooting and we’ll see you here again tomorrow!
37 out of 52
Can anyone guess the significance of the post title right off the bat? Any takers at all? For those that could, cool! For those that can’t, 37 is a reference to the last podcast for 2009! Episode #37 (Longevity of Lenses) is now available for your listening pleasure in iTunes and with the folks hosting the show directly on the web at Personal Life Media. It might be an hour or so actually before the show is available for download on iTunes, so hold off for a little there before downloading – you might get the previous episode! It does take a look at the subject of lens longevity much along the lines of the previous post here on the blog, but it also speaks to things like depreciation, and considers the business element of lenses too – so there’s always more in the podcast for blog readers to enjoy!
I can’t guarantee I will have a post ready for tomorrow, so this could also be the last post for 2009 as well. It’s always fun to look back and review the year this close to the end. I’ll have some more details trickling out once we’re into 2010, including the always popular “Best Blogs”. There does seem to be a trend as in 2007 I posted my “Top 7 of ’07”, followed by the Top 8 of ’08, and most recently, the “Top 9 of ’09”. Can you guess what is coming soon in January? 🙂
Here though, it seemed appropriate given that the podcast was released today, to note that it is episode 37 of the show. That means 37 episodes in 52 weeks – that’s more than one every other week. I am not sure what the average show length is, but am guessing it is in the 30-45 minute realm, which means some people out there have spent at least 26 hours (over a day!) listening to me talk about photography! Got another day available for 2010?
I hope so because we’re going to have a lot more fun and cool stuff coming up in the podcast, and on the new radio show for newcomers over at WebtalkRadio! More guests, more articles, more tips and tricks, and yes…more contests! These shows and articles and contests though really are here for you, the listener and reader though, so if you want me to cover anything specific, please feel free to let me know in the comments of the blog or via email!
Anyway, enough of the “back story”. Here’s the show notes:
Photo News:
Listener Q&A
Which Lens?
- EF-S 15-85 f3.5-5.6 IS USM (=24-136)
- EF-S 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS (=28-216)
- EF-S 18-200 f3.5-5.6 IS (=29-320)
- EF-S 17-85 f4-5.6 IS USM (=27-136)
Scripting Resources:
- http://www.kirupa.com/motiongraphics/ps_scripting.htm
- http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/jennifer/photoshop-scripts.html
- http://www.ps-scripts.com/bb/
There you have it! Enjoy!
Last but not least…don’t forget the contest deadline is rapidly approaching – tomorrow midnight is your last chance to get your favorite Giving photo into the Flickr thread to be eligible for the prize bonanza! Lots of stuff is going to go to some lucky participant, so get it up there and good luck! Happy New Year one and all, and we’ll see you next year here on the blog/podcast/etc.! Happy Shooting!
The Life of a Lens
Yesterday we looked at things to consider when getting a new camera body…while the idea is all well and good, lenses are another story, and since we are likely to invest more in glass than in cameras (Have you seen the costs of some of the really good glass lately?), the life of a lens is something worth considering.
In all things technology-related, there is a principle called Moore’s Law which states that technology will advance at a rate of re-doubling roughly every two years. While this principle was developed primarily for computers, we can draw similar analogies for digital photography too, with the sensor being analogous to the transistor. The rate of increase has not quite been on par with re-doubling every 2 years, but the increases can be noted pretty impressively going from a mere 4 in 2001 to a current rate of 21 MP per frame for DSLR cameras (I am only looking at the Canon line-up here:
- Canon 1Ds Mark III = 21MP (2007), Retail
- Canon 1Ds Mark II = 16 MP (2004)
- Canon 1Ds = 11MP (2002)
- Canon 1D = 4 (2001)
Lenses aren’t like that though – focal lengths don’t change that much. Instead, technology has allowed lenses to become faster at the longer end of the given focal lengths. We’ve also seen the introduction of image-stabilization technologies. The addition of new technologies in lenses does not necessarily deprecate previous generations – it merely antiquates them! This means your lens may not have the bells and whistles of future generations, but it should work indefinitely if treated properly.
Keep in mind though that there is a distinction between full frame and crop sensor cameras here though, because Canon has two lens lines, the EF line and the EF-S line. The EF-S line is intended for the crop sensor cameras and cannot be used on the full frame mounts – if you try to use an EF-S lens on a full frame body, the mirror could slap down and shatter the back element of the glass, so avoid this scenario if at all possible! (There are some converters on the market that will extend the gap between the mirror and the element to avoid this, but I’ve not used them.)
Lenses are also different from camera bodies because there are no moving parts that can fail. Well, that’s not entirely true because zooms do have moving parts when you rotate the lens, and these can fail. * However, because the lens is always a closed item, the susceptibility of a lens to parts failure is not as high as it is for camera components. Shutters, for instance, have a certain lifespan for which they are rated, (usually somewhere between 50,000-150,000 actuations). Lenses don’t fail after a certain number of focal adjustments (assuming you are handling the lens correctly), and in the case of fixed focal length lenses (primes), this is even less the case.
So, a lens can literally last for as long as the vendor makes a body that will accept the mounting mechanism, and in the case of most vendors, I don’t see that changing any time soon. I’ve had my kit lens from Canon when I got my first Rebel XT back in 2004 and it still works great on my 40D – it may not be in the lineup anymore (neither is my 40D either, but I digress…), but any EOS body will accept this lens and the image quality has not deteriorated at all over time! Lenses can last forever!
How long have you kept your lenses? Do you have any “go-to” lenses in your bag that you anticipate will always be there? Let me know your favorites!
On a blog administrative note, don’t forget that there’s still a little time left in the Flickr Giveaway thread for December, so if you have any shots (the holidays are good times to capture those “Giving” themed photos), make sure to get one in for a chance to win that $400= prize package! Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
*ETA: Special thanks to Marco for pointing out in the comments that there are quite a few moving parts in even fixed focal length lenses. In addition to the focusing ring, there is also the diaphragm that moves which closes down the aperture to the correct setting for every actuation of the shutter, so there are moving parts in any lens, including fixed focal lengths.)
That’s why they call it a “Beta” (or RTFM)
The latest buzz to hit the photography world has been a trinity of buzz and hype. First, Canon announced the 1D Mark IV, then, on the heels of that, Adobe announced the release of Lightroom 3 in Beta form. To round things out, Lensbaby came out with a couple new optical shift lenses to appeal to the creatively inclined. I mentioned the 1D Mark IV last week, and today I was going to give a rundown of what the buzz is all about with Lightroom. We all know about the new features including exporting video (musical slideshows), and I was going to show you screenshots and share a few here on the blog. But, rather than join the fray in a rush to point out the “cool” factor, an interesting experience illustrated exactly why you must tread carefully with betas.
See, it installed and worked perfectly well with Windows XP, but when I went to load it on my trustworthy Mac running OSX 10.4 (Tiger), got an odd error:
As those of us in IT say when we see cryptic errors like this: “That’s not so good…”
But here, it just serves as a reminder to those of you early adopters out there – keep your existing workflow as you experiment with Lightroom 3, because after all, that’s why they call it a “Beta”! So, any thoughts on why this would happen? Feel free to sound off in the comments or with me via email or Twitter. I’m not too worried about it as I’ve got my LR2 and iPhoto to work with, so am happy just acting as a tester in the Windows world.
Last but not least, I know I promised to have a winner for the October contest announced today, but time just ran away from me with several projects coming to a culmination over the past few days. (Good news for the blog and podcast though as tons of content is about to pour through the siphon here!) That announcement will come tomorrow…and until then, keep on shooting!
ETA: Based on the initial comments and my actually taking the time to read the docmentation, it does appear my version of OSX (Tiger, or 10.4) is not supported with Lightroom 3.0 Beta, so until I upgrade the OS, my Beta experience will be restricted to Windows XP.