Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Changing Camera Systems: The Pros and Cons – Part I

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Canon 5D Mark II

With camera manufacturers in stiff competition with one another, if you pay attention to what features they work hardest on you’ll begin to realize that they also tailor their products to certain segments of the buyers and that many of them pride some features well over others in order to get sales. Recently, I was in search of a new camera system and if you are too, check out this brief list of the pros and cons of each system. This list includes the most popular systems: Nikon, Canon and Sony. The next list will include the rest (which in some ways give the top three a run for their money.) [Read more…]

 

The Essense of Street Photography – Part I

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Man with a fake leg reaches for money

The streets provide photographers with some of the best places to take photos. The reason for this is because the streets are filled with the real people that we all care to pay attention to or just walk right past. Shooting these provide your viewers with the opportunity to slow down and see a moment captured forever. The streets provide chances for almost every type of photography there is: be it sports, documentary, photojournalism, events, portraits, etc. [Read more…]

The Best Lenses To Help You Learn

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Many photographers start out timid and not wanting to do what they have to in order to unleash their true creativity. Once you start shooting though, and you start to become braver, bolder and more confident in your craft. Your lenses are really what teach you to do your job. Even when you become advanced, semi-pro and pro there are always certain lenses that you can go back to in order to learn more about what you can do with your creativity and vision: and they’re not always 50mm’s either!

For that, here are some of the best lenses to learn with no matter what experience you have: [Read more…]

Camera Bags For Different Photographers

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Not long ago, laptops to accommodate to your different photographic needs was blogged about. This time, we’re talking about camera bags. In reality, there is no need for a large backpack if you’ve got only one camera body and only a couple of lenses. Something more along the lines of a messenger bag can suffice. Depending on your daily shooting styles/methods, your bag should be able to provide you with the essential package to do your job. Here are some great bags to look into:

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National Geographic NG 2343 Earth Explorer Small Shoulder Bag

If you’ve got a DSLR with one lens and a couple of other accessories then his shoulder bag will suffice for you perfectly. Made out of padded cotton hemp, it is tough enough for most traveling needs of a photojournalist using only one body without a flash and that can head back to the office to edit shots.

Because of the small size, you cannot shove a laptop in here. However, it can suffice perfectly if you’ve got a Micro 4/3rds camera with a lens in which case you might be able to shove a Sony VAIO P into the bag somehow or another if you pack correctly. A setup like that will allow you to do your work from anywhere. Available for $60.00. [Read more…]

7 Tips for Using Video to Supplement Your Concert Photography

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Aerosmith Guitar Hero

Not long ago, Angela Datre wrote about concert photography and how to capture the essence of it all. These days, with the usage of the web and the distribution of photos so easily many bands also want videos of their concerts/shows to be shot. As photojournalists are taught, you should be able to use the skills that you’ve honed as a photographer to pull this off very well in addition to using and learning some new tricks of the trade. Here are a couple of tried and true things to remember when shooting performances that have been learned from making mistakes and to continue getting business from the clients. [Read more…]

Micro Four Thirds Cameras Can Now be an Entire System

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olympus-ep1-thumb-500x358-89993

The Olympus EP-1 has become an exceedingly popular camera. Besides the mass amounts of media coverage that one sees/reads, they’re very hard to get your hands on as the units move very fast. But besides being able to take pictures, this camera and its relative the Panasonic GH1 shoot video: good quality video too. One of the criticisms of the system is not having lots of lenses available for the system. That criticism is very, very untrue. [Read more…]

Laptops for Photographers of All Sorts

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You’re in the market for a new laptop to supplement your photographic tendencies. Depending on your job, you may have different needs and wants to suit your demands. I used the PCMag Network for some pointers and tips in addition to my own hands-on experiences, here are some of the best for you depending on what your needs may be.

macbook

Macbook

The smallest of the bunch, it well suits and compliments the needs of a photojournalist in need of a light laptop to accompany his/her light DSLR. The screen is very nice and can help you edit your photos to get the very best usage of your colors during the editing process. At around 13″, it perfectly compliments my Olympus E-510 and will be a welcome companion to your Canon T1i or Nikon D90. With two USB 2.0 ports, mini-DVI and Firewire 400 it will surely keep up with the needs of everyday shooting, writing and editing while allowing you to travel light. It fits perfectly into a messenger bag. Your hard drive space may go quicker than you like though, so keep an external with you too. These days, the Macbook starts at $999. [Read more…]

Tips For Shooting Portraits of Timid People

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Dressed in Cotton

“I’m not photogenic,” is what you hear from people sometimes, even if they know you’re a great photographer. There are people that are timid about their photographs being taken and sometimes we forget how to get around those problems. Here are a couple of methods that you can use to make people get over their self-consciousness and bring out the best in them. [Read more…]

Could Olympus DSLR’s be Getting a New “PMOS” Sensor?

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Advanced Imaging Pro has an interesting article on Kodak’s latest developments in sensor manufacturing. This was found via Flickr, which alludes to the possibility of a PMOS sensor.

The new PMOS apparently a new take on CMOS pixels and how they work on a camera sensor. In the Kodak PMOS the underlying polarity of the silicon is reversed, so the absence of electrons is used to detect a signal. This works the opposite way that normal pixels work: which instead detects electrons that are generated when light interacts with the sensor surface.

In addition to this, a new CCD sensor is being developed that, according to Samsung (as noted in the article), only uses 1/10th of the power that a regular CCD sensor uses: which means an insanely long battery life.

For current Olympus (and Panasonic) users, you can be glad to hear that the new sensors are focused on low-light photography, speed and HD video capabilities. However, we can still only just wait to see the results. When the Live MOS sensor was released it promised better low-light capabilities. In truth, it couldn’t match the capabilities of Canon or Nikon. Further, that isn’t a totally fair statement because of the fact that the sensor is smaller in size.

The new PMOS sensor could be what we see in the higher end pro camera models.