Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Canon EOS 400D Knows How to Clean House

It is not the first time that this has happened. The more modest camera model assumes a responsibility to reveal a new technology that will eventually be taken over by more glamorous models. Thus it came to pass, that the EOS400D played the role of guinea pig. It was the first Canon SLR system with integrated sensor cleaning. With this service as a cornerstone of its current cutting edge cameras, the EOS 400D paved the way for other entry level SLR products from Canon. Some minor amendments and more than 2-megapixel resolution helps distinguish it from the EOS 350D, which inherits its good quality, good price ... and some outstanding issues for improvement from it's predecessor.

It was inevitable and necessary. I refer of course to the inclusion of the cleaning system sensor that Canon has developed and, for the first time, has installed on a SLR. Apart from the 10 megapixels or pricing discrepancies, there is no doubt that the EOS 400D is the company's response to a demand for a automatic dust cleaning system, that allows photographers to focus exclusively on taking pictures.

Maybe the new users that come first to the world of interchangeable lens cameras (SLRs) will not attach greater importance to this detail and prefer to focus on value for money offered by the cameras. However, with the inclusion of the cleaning system, Canon has managed to kill two birds or flecks of dust with one stone: First of all, to become more competitive with other manufacturers already offering this feature, and tempting more automatic compact camera users to the SLR fold.

That is why, given the striking similarities in the EOS 400D with its predecessor, in addition to the new cleaning mechanism the current SLR landscape is changing.

The aforementioned cleaning system is based on two separate actions for the same purpose. On the one hand, the sensor-or rather, the Low Pass Filter, has a special coating that seeks to prevent dust particles from attaching to it.

Secondly, it is the low pass filter, immediately before the sensor, which vibrates under the control of the Self clean sensor unit. A procedure that strongly recalls the filter SSWF Olympus uses in all its digital SLR. As if this were not enough, the EOS 400D includes the option of taking a photo reference, via software on your computer to help remove any additional imperfections in your photos.

This cleaning process takes place whenever you turn on the camera, and lasts less than a second. It can also be activated manually, by a simple pressure on the shutter trigger, prior to capturing a photographic moment. Of course, the cleaning system can be activated at will and at any time. Moreover, we can always raise the mirror to perform a manual cleaning process, the old way.

The lens that came with the basic EOS 400D kit is the Canon EF-S 18-55 mm f3.5-5.6. One should try to avoid prolonged exposure of the CMOS to the environment as this will also help keep things dust free.

Tests of the new cleaning system with a more challenging dirt have occurred. Deliberately placing dust particles on the sensor surface, the vibration could not complete eliminate all dust. In this case you would have to resort to manual cleaning.

Interchangeable Lens Camera

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

How to Photograph Nature and Wildlife

Nature has the endless mine of wonders and beauty which we all want to capture. We often get amazed by the stunning Nature or Wildlife photographs in the popular travel or science magazines. So what is the secret of taking stunning Nature photographs? Well, as true for every form of Art, Photography is something which you need to master. Knowledge, practice, creativity and a good Camera is what you need most of the time. Please be aware that this article is not meant for pros. This is targeted to help someone who has just got started or thinking of getting started.

Tip 1: Camera.
So which Camera? As digital is the way to go, I would recommend any entry level Digital SLR will do the job. May be it is Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji or Pentax. They all produce good cameras. So choose the Camera which fits your budget and into your bag. Digital SLRs feature interchangeable lens. They all will come with kit lens which is typically about 17-55mm 2.8-3.5f. Those kit lenses are not very useful for Nature photography. For Nature photography a good 28-105mm and a 100-300mm will work best. Lens with image stabilizer and auto focus feature will be an added advantage if you shoot Wildlife. Oh don't forget a good tripod.

Tip 2: See the Light.
Nature photography is a lot about seeing the light. Same spot can look different in different part of the day depending on the light, presence or absence of cloud, dust or moisture in the air. So see the light and analyze it in your mind. If you see the light in the morning, it will have a warm golden or yellow tone. Noon is bright with deep shadow or if the weather is dusty making it less attractive for photo shoots, it will create a haze; evening or afternoon light will be reddish yellow or red. So being able to feel and see the light and choosing your landscape subject or theme based on the lights available is something you need to learn and practice.

Tip 3: Travel
Travelling is essential to take better landscape photograph. Travelling should not be limited to surveying the area but it should entail visiting the place in different parts of the year. Once you choose the area for example a forest or a valley, you should walk around as much as possible to find out different interesting spots or spots of great natural beauty. Once you identify those spots, you may be able to imaging some interesting compositions in your mind before taking photo. Also keep in mind that same location could look different in different parts of the year. For example, in rain, it may look lush green; in winter, it may be dry and dull or in spring, it may be colorful due to bloom time. Also please remember to take the other elements into account such as birds or butterflies etc.

Tip 4: Take notes
Taking notes is a good habit for landscape photographers. Note should include date, time of the year, description of the location and landscape, part of the country and the theme of the photos. Also note should include the technical detail of the Camera and the shooting information. Next time, you can analyze them and find out your shortcomings and find out how to get the best out of a situation.

Tip 5: Compose your shot
Composing landscape or nature photography takes a lot of creativity and also good observing ability. Sometimes, getting close or far from a subject brings out the best of the subject and its surroundings. For example, if you see a flower, you may like to get close to it to take a close up or you may also include the surrounding bushes or trees to create interesting perspective. Same is true for taking mountains, rivers or valley etc.

Tip 6: Use Tripod
Using Tripod is a good habit specially when you are taking photos in low light or photos of a fast moving objects (for example, running Deer or flying Bird). For low light photography, you may have to use the shutter speed like 1/50 or higher. If you don't use Tripod in these occasions, you will surely end up blurring your picture. So carry a Tripod whenever possible. Try carbon fiber Tripods instead of metal one as these are light weight and easier to carry.

Tip 7: Love Nature and Wildlife
If you love Nature and Wildlife, you will take the Photographs from heart and it will be your passion to bring the best of its beauty and its secrets. So try to develop the love from within by thinking positive about it and reading some great books on Nature and Wildlife.

Tip 8: Take as many Photographs as you can
Take lot of photographs from different angle, distance, close up, different shutter speed, different exposure etc. You never know which one will create the best effects or which one will bring the best out of that place. For example, if you are taking the picture of Sunset, you will notice that within few minutes, the Sun is changing its color from golden yellow to red and it's shape will get bigger as it drops more towards the horizon. So taking few pictures in close interval of a setting Sun will give you some interesting effects. It will also include changing sky color or color of reflection on passing cloud or water etc.

Tip 9: See the Works of Great Photographers
I have learnt a lot by seeing the great works of some great landscape and Wildlife Photographers. For example, seeing the work of Ansel Adam will make you think or look at nature from a whole different angle. So see lot of photos. Also keep Magazines like National Geographic etc.

Tip 10: Believe in luck and have patience
Nature photography or Wildlife photography is sometime just luck. You may be in a spot for sometime but it may occur that some interesting thing may happen after you leave. Of you may see something interesting but before you are ready, it is over. So yes believe in luck in those cases as you can't control the environment or your subjects. Also have patience while taking Wildlife or landscape photos. You may have spotted a bird's nest but you may have to wait for hours patiently for the bird to come back to its nest. Similar may be true if you want to spot a Tiger or a Wild Animal.

Interchangeable Lens Camera

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Choosing a Camera to Take on Holiday - 7 Tips For Successful Photographs

Don't lose those precious travel memories when you go on vacation. Careful camera choice and knowledge of how it works will save a lot of embarrassment when those important times don't look nearly as good in digital form as they did in real life. Or they have vanished altogether. Here are seven things you can do to keep those moments forever fresh.

Choose your camera before you leave on vacation

It's easy to save some money by getting your camera duty free, but your chances of being able to operate it efficiently in a hurry are fairly slim. Modern cameras are becoming cheaper and have better quality lenses, sensors, specs and overall quality than they did even two years ago. Make the investment and enjoy superior results. Stay with the well known brands. 0 and up will get you a great camera in the point and shoot range.

Get comfortable with your camera

Ask to hold your camera before you buy it. Do the controls fit under your fingers, or are they so tiny you press several at once? Are they placed logically for you? Ask the demonstrator to show you how to hold the camera firmly. Get an explanation of how the menu works. It's hard to shoot quickly if you can't find the right settings.

Is the viewfinder convenient and easy to see?

Some cameras come with an LCD screen only, and some have an electronic viewfinder as well. A screen can be very hard to see in the sun. An electronic viewfinder is really a very small LCD screen. It uses up battery power, and a further disadvantage is that, because electronic viewfinders cannot resolve fine detail, it's hard to see whether the subject's eyes are open or closed, for instance. An optical system viewfinder does not have this problem.

Optical versus digital zoom

These are often confused, but there is a big difference in the quality between them. Digital zoom takes a portion of the picture and enlarges it back to the original size. Individual pixels in the image are removed or magnified causing quality loss and a lower resolution. It's also not true magnification. The picture is manipulated electronically, and the end result is that your image won't look great. Optical zoom is made by the lens and will not affect picture quality, so this should be your first choice always. Some manufacturers will combine the optical and digital magnifications to give a more impressive specification, but ignore this and find the true optical value.

Is the camera small enough to carry?

How much equipment do you really need? Do you want to carry a lot extra as you would with a bigger camera with interchangeable lenses? Or will something that fits into your pocket do? Be realistic about your skill level, and don't pay a lot for extras you will hardly if ever use. Let the professionals pay the big bucks. Just make sure you have a good protection pouch to carry it in.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

There are many memory cards on the market with capacities of 8GB and more, and in February 2010 an SCXD card was released with a 64GB capacity. However while these may sound grand, there is always the possibility of card failure or corruption with any of these devices. This usually means irretrievable loss of your precious images. I feel far more comfortable with two or three cards of 4GB or less, so if one card develops a problem, I haven't lost all my images.

Batteries

With travel, a decent battery system is a major concern. Battery failure at the wrong moment will often cause an irreplaceable loss of a shot. Don't rely on standard AA batteries. Get the best for your camera, and lithium rechargeables are great.

A little thought and careful shopping will go a long way to bring you pleasure after the holiday with successful photographs. Decide what you want your camera to do, make a list of the features you need and then go shopping. Stay with the major brands, keep it simple, learn the automatic features first and then experiment further with the other settings. Happy holidays!

Interchangeable Lens Camera

Monday, November 14, 2011

Panasonic Digital Cameras - The Panasonic DMC-G2K

The Panasonic DMC G2K is a successor of G1. It is smaller in size and lighter weight than an SLR which will make it easier to carry around with you for long outings. It does have advanced features but the settings and navigation features are easy enough for a novice photographer to learn and use. It is considered to be "user friendly" and is a good step up from it's predecessor.

The quick menu will allow you to access all of the settings with just two touches. The Panasonic Lumix DMC G2 has 12.1 MP Live MOS Interchangeable lens camera with 3-Inch Touch Screen LCD and 14-42mm Lumix G VARIO f/3.5-5.6 MEGA OIS. It has received very high ratings for ease of use, image quality, interface and construction quality.

The Panasonic G2K is considered to be the best micro four thirds camera on the market today. It has full HD Video and a Touch Screen LCD. The built in Electronic Viewfinder and a Video Recording button definitely add quality to this camera.

If, you are tired of lugging around a larger and heavier SLR then this might be the camera for you. It has very solid and good construction but, it is still small and lightweight. The swivel screen allows for odd angle pictures which will only add to the variety of photo's that can be taken with this versatile little camera. It is small only in size and not the capacity for what it can do.

Interchangeable Lens Camera

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Best Wildlife Camera To Take On Safari

Good wildlife camera equipment on safari can make the difference between pictures you will be proud to show your friends and family when you get back and ones where it's difficult to figure out exactly what you were photographing because it's only a fuzzy black dot surrounded by green vegetation.

I take wildlife photographs for a living and I have had to quickly figure out what the best cameras and lenses are to get the job done effectively.

Digital or Film - Which is better for a safari?

Wild animals are very unpredictable. That's one aspect of safari photography that makes it so exciting because you never know what you are going to get but this also means that the number of pictures you need to take to get a keeper increases.

And if you use film that can become very expensive whereas with a digital wildlife camera you can take as many as you want and then just delete the ones where the lion has ducked behind a bush, the cheetah has blurred because the autofocus locked onto a twig in front of it and the exposure of the hippo was way off because of the reflected sunlight in the water.

You can also make consistent use of bracketing to get the perfect exposures without worrying about cost or running out of film which can be a problem in certain remote areas of Africa where safaris take place.

So more is better in this case but what about quality? The fact is that digital quality is fast catching up to film unless you fall into the professional category and are going to be selling your safari pictures or entering them into competitions. In that case it might be better to stick to film because the trained eye will be able to spot the difference but in most other cases digital quality is more than adequate.

Digital also gives you valuable feedback while you are still on safari so that you can try and improve on that elephant picture with the ear cut off the next day. You also have a lot more control over the final product because you can use software like Photoshop to enhance and fine tune your pictures.

Digital SLR or Compact Wildlife Camera

A safari is the dream trip of a lifetime and it's a great opportunity to get some fantastic wildlife pictures but it's not necessary to buy the latest and greatest digital SLR and lenses to get them unless you are planning to take nature pictures for a living or are a serious photography enthusiast and are going to make regular use of the camera and lenses after the safari anyway.

The cost of a digital SLR wildlife camera is high compared to a compact but that is only half the story. The lenses that you need to purchase for decent wildlife photography often cost more than the camera itself making it a very expensive business indeed.

And a bulky camera body and multiple interchangeable lenses do add to the weight of your luggage and the inconvenience of carrying everything around with you.

Digital compact cameras on the other hand are not extremely expensive and the results that you can obtain from them are almost on a par with a digital SLR camera and you don't have to worry about any additional lenses if the compact you buy has a decent zoom covering the range from 80mm to about 300mm. There are a few of them on the market that do have lenses like this and the range of the zooms increase every year.

And compact cameras live up to their name by being relatively small and light and one lens means no additional weight or carrying and no time wasted changing to another lens to suit the situation.

The Best SLR Digital Wildlife Camera for Nature Photography

If you have decided to go with a digital SLR then by all accounts the best one to purchase for wildlife photography at the moment is the Canon EOS 20D due to the blinding speed of its shutter release (near instantaneous) and its continuous shooting speed of 5 frames per second to a maximum burst depth of twenty three frames. It also powers up in next to no time at all.

This wildlife camera is as fast as you will ever need to freeze wildlife action and get the picture in the can before the animal moves off into the undergrowth.

There are other SLR cameras that are nearly as good like the Nikon D70 and the Pentax ist D so take a look at them too before making a decision.

The Best Compact Digital Wildlife Camera for Nature Photography

Canon comes up trumps again in the compact camera category with the Canon Powershot S2 IS. The factor that makes this camera ideal for safari wildlife photography is its huge 12X optical zoom lens (36 - 432mm equivalent) with a built in image stabiliser which cuts down on blur when using such a massive zoom lens.

A 5 megapixal sensor is more than enough to produce stunning safari images and as long as you can live with a slight shutter release lag and power up delay this compact wildlife camera is perfect for a safari trip.

Interchangeable Lens Camera

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Best Cameras For Jewelry Photography

A very large part of managing your own jewelry business is being able to professionally present your jewelry products to your customers. Without being able to display your products in a manner that highlights the quality of the work or the special details in a piece you are trying to sell there is very little chance of your business doing well in the long run. If you are mainly trying to sell your line directly to customers in a face-to-face manner then this should not be a huge concern as your customers can examine your pieces on their own. If your business is centered around selling your creations on the Internet then you will need a better way of conveying the quality of your products.

Unless you are willing to pay for a professional photographer to take high quality pictures of your work then you are going to need to be able to take the pictures on your own. While it is really important to know how to frame a shot and use lighting to highlight the attributes of the product you are taking a picture of, the camera you select to take the pictures themselves is equally important. Selecting the camera you will be using to take the pictures is a huge decision and should not be made lightly.

When selecting a camera to use to photograph your work the first thing you should consider is your budget. This will be a key determinate of what kind of cameras you can choose from when making your decision. Some jewelry makes that are just starting out can make do with generic digital cameras, if this isn't for you then there are several options to choose from. The main thing to decide if you are using a digital camera is how many pixels you want for the pictures; generally, anything over 3 megapixels is a good choice. You also want to consider two other features: Macro Mode (a closer focus mode that lets you get extremely close to items and provides a nice clean shot) and White Balance (different programming in the cameras that allow them to compensate for reflective nature of jewelry pieces).

Most jewelry professionals recommend purchasing a DSLR. These are digital single-lens reflex cameras. Professionals really like these cameras because of their ability to pretty accurately preview the picture you will be taking as well as giving you the option to use interchangeable lenses for different types of shots. When it comes down to choosing between different DSLR's it is really all about personal preference as to whether or not you like one brand over another or how many different functional options you want to come with the camera.

Canon has excellent reviews for shooting still life items such as jewelry. A lot of full time home jewelers that take their own pictures recommend the Canon Rebel series. There are different options, and different price ranges for the various options in the Rebel series, but all have really good reviews on performance and quality of the pictures that are taken. I would recommend buying a lower end DSLR and splurging on a really good Macro lense. In the end, however, it really does just come down to personal preference. Luckily most high-end camera stores will let you try out their products before you actually select one, so you can try out a few different types before committing to one over another.

Interchangeable Lens Camera

Friday, November 11, 2011

Memories and Photographs

The Greeks call light as "photo." Graph" in the same language means to write. And the word photography is really " writing with light".

Many of us become less understandable, we sound hollow, and find it not easy to explain the salient points of our travels abroad simply because of our lack of evidence to support our descriptions of scenes that we have encountered, first hand, in other exotic lands abroad. Being men of few words we could not articulate more on the beauty that nature there provided due to the photographs and snapshots that we missed to take because we failed to carry one camera that moment in time.

There are two groups of still cameras in the market today that are available for enthusiasts to choose from. The film and digital cameras. One has a distinct advantage over the other in terms of cost, resolution, weight, versatility and ease of operation. A digital camera may reach a ,000 mark while the film cameras may cost ,000 or less. Both are capable of taking pictures through-the-lens that is coupled with sensitive meters that measures light quickly and accurately even when taking a picture of distant subjects using telephoto lenses. Through-the-lens metering systems also provide correct readings even with filters over the lens automatically accounting for the additional exposure required to acquire a perfect picture. Correct exposures can be obtained with through-the-lens metering even when an accessory such as the extension tube or bellows is placed between the lens and the camera body. It further heightens the flexibility and operational ease incorporated in a through-the-lens camera. Some camera manufacturers employ the use of central processing units to handle enormous amounts of calculations required for automatic exposure correction. With the use of these cameras, vistas and worlds previously unnoticed or unseen become accessible to the naked eye.

By changing lenses on cameras, the viewfinder reveals different worlds. Distances may appear to be longer or shorter than in actuality and the feeling of depth is modified or enhanced. Details previously unnoticed become clear and vivid and beauty is intensified on the subject. With almost 50 interchangeable lenses to choose from, the world of photography reveals tremendous breadth and creative freedom that is boundless. Some reveals its beauty in an unusual compositions that are unplanned, accidental and unintentionally captured and suddenly become a favorite one.

Some digital cameras offer image quality that stems from the integration of innumerable system components. They employ shutter systems, camera bodies and high performance lenses, software, digital sensors and processors. The integration of all these elements makes it all possible to offer features not available with other systems but the cost may be higher than that of a film camera.

It is very important to read the brochures of your travel destinations to be aware of the picturesque locations before arrival and find a not so common angles in capturing them so that people will want to see those photos in detail again and again. Shot with excitement and with a discriminating eye for the unusual.

Interchangeable Lens Camera