Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
I see a lot of folks on photography forums or letters written in to photo magazines asking where they should start. It seems like I see roughly the same question every day. Lots of times folks know how to point and shoot with their digital camera but don’t necessarily understand what it takes to make a good photograph. [Read more…]
Pixel peeping driving you nuts? Wondering whether you should splurge for the latest and great uber-megapixel camera? What about dust spots? Aaaahhhhhh!!! It’s enough to drive you mad.
Let me invite you to take a trip back to the roots of photography – I’m talking really old school here. So head on over to Neatorama for a journey back in time and check some ancient cameras, literally.
. . . That 8 megapixel camera in my bag doesn’t look so old anymore.
Strobist has a great post on speedlighting a college gym. It’s got some great sample shots that show just what a proper flash setup can mean for shooting in a gym. There’s also a nice Q&A follow-up with some not-so high-tech diagrams (sorry guys, couldn’t resist), but still some quality info clarifying issues raised in the previous post.
A few days ago I posted another splash picture and I mentioned that I might explain how this was done. Well, that’s not necessary now because fellow blogger/photographer Rich Legg recently provided a rather thorough how-to on his shoot. I’ll have to admit that I like his shots better, which is probably why I’ve put him in my Favorite Photographers links on the sidebar. In the mean time, here’s the same shot from above but with some invert effects applied in photoshop.
Also, since we’re talking about drops, I can’t help but passing along some coffee with a drop of milk.
Thomas Hawk has a great post on the Top 10 Flickr hacks. Check it out…
Cellblock is a cool new tool that makes adding a slideshow to your site about as simple as can be (note the handy slideshow in the right sidebar now – click in the bottom right corner of it to go to full screen or just click here). Now, you can login to your cellblock account and upload a few photos (3MB limit). Better yet, you can email your photos to a particular email address that you set up for your individual cellblocks. What’s more is that you can shoot those images that you can’t wait to show everyone directly from your cell phone / camera phone to your cellblock and instantly publish them to the rest of the world! Pretty darn cool if you ask me! It embeds into your site just like a YouTube or MySpace video.
Want to give a try on Photography Bay? Just send your image (your image) to photographybay@cellblock.com. No need to stick anything in the subject line. Just attach an image and shoot it to me. I’m still learning my way around this thing and am having trouble with portrait-oriented photos at the moment. If you figure out the problem before I do, then pass it along. In the mean time, stick with horizontals.
Control freak? Don’t worry, you can opt not to publish photos until you’ve had a chance to review them, which I do (so no funny stuff). Thanks to the Trademark Blog for turning me on to this!
UPDATE: Regarding my problem with portrait-oriented (vertical) photos – One of the development guys at Cellblock posted a comment stating that this issue is being addressed and will be fixed soon.
We will be exposing a rotate function over the next couple of weeks that will take care of portrait/landscape issues.
Stay up to date on the Cellblog (the Cheat Sheet is worth a read anyway) or I’ll keep you updated when groovy stuff happens.
It doesn’t take much these days to gain notoriety with your photographs. More than anything (especially in the “breaking news” world), it’s being in the right place at the right time. Chances are that if you read a blog like this one you’ve probably got a digital camera of some form on you for most of the day. Check out the Washington Post’s recent article, Regular Folks, Shooting History. The power of the Internet has changed photography forever. It continues to evolve and makes it all the more possible for even the most amateur point and shooters to become famous photographers.
Here’s one of my more recent Knoxville photography night shots. A shot of the Henley Street Bridge with Christmas lights all lit up. I’ve really been enjoying night exposures over the past several months. You can see a few more here.
So what do you need to take photos at night? A good tripod is a must have, along with a remote shutter release (or set the timer). Most of all, you need patience. Night shots are different. Exposures are much longer. The shot above was a 30 second exposure at f/20. Also consider reading a bit of the Night Photography Blog and some recent recommendations of books on the subject.
Most importantly . . . have fun:
I got a question the other day from a new DSLR user, “what about memory cards?”
Because they were using a Digital Rebel XT, my immediate response was Sandisk Ultra II or Extreme III compact flash cards, along with some stats on which sizes held how many pictures and to choose the size based on what they think they’ll need.
But, for everyone else, there’s a ton of brands, sizes, speeds, and types. Everybody’s got their own favorites. I’ve got one recommendation that most people will agree with and another that probably splits the field 50/50.
First, the sure fire bet. SanDisk. You can’t go wrong with the Ultra II or Extreme III versions of the Compact Flash and SD memory cards.
My second suggestion, which everyone will not agree with, is a Hitachi 4GB or larger microdrive. But before I get into why these cards are worth buying, let me delve into the basics of memory cards.
It seems like every camera maker uses a different card and that makes for a plethora of card types: CF (“compact flash”), SD (“secure digital”), xD-Picture Cards, Memory Stick, SM (“Smart Media”), MMC (“MultiMedia Card”), and Microdrives.
Compact Flash
From the top, the CF card comes in two types, appropriately named Type-I and Type-II. The Type-I cards are 3.3mm thick and can be used in Type-I or Type-II slots. Type-II cards are 5mm thick and can obviously be used only in Type-II slots. Most DSLR buyers will be looking at CF cards. All Canon Digital SLRs accept CF cards. All current models accept both Type-I and II cards. Below is a short list of popular DSLRs that accept CF cards:
Canon
Nikon
Sony
Pentax
Olympus
Fuji
Clearly, with that said, if you’re looking for a DSLR, you’re probably going to be using a CF card or Microdrive (I’ll get into this in a little bit) with it.
SD (“Secure Digital”)
But what if you’re not looking at a DSLR, then your memory options open up – almost too much. I’d say the winner in the most popular memory card format for P&S (or “point and shoot”) cameras is the SD card. We’re also starting to see SD cards trickle into the DSLR world. If you own or have been eye-balling a Nikon D50 then you know what I’m talking about. The D50 is a great entry level DSLR that uses SD cards. P&S cameras had always seemed like “neat little gadgets” to me until recently, when manufacturers started cranking out some real contenders that are sort of hybrids between SLRs and P&S cameras. They typically have a wide to super-telephoto zoom (roughly equivalent to 35mm-400mm+ on a 35mm camera) and frequently are equipped with some sort of image stabilization technology. There’s a handful of P&S cameras that really stand out:
Ok, these hybrid digicams are great for some, but if you want a smaller camera there’s plenty of other options on the SD card platter. Your Canon, Panasonic, Nikon and Kodak cameras are typically going to use an SD card in their compact P&S cameras as well. Here’s a handful that have received rave reviews:
xD
xD stands for extreme Digital. It was developed and used in cameras by Olympus and Fujifilm. There are two basic types: Type M and H. The newer Type H cards claim to offer speed increases over Type M cards, as well as include special “picture effects”, although most of these are only available in use with Olympus digital cameras. xD cards are fast in comparison with older formats such as SmartMedia (SM), MultiMediaCard (MMC) and MemoryStick (MS). They have a small form-factor in comparison with other formats and have a low power consumption.
However, xD cards are much slower than SD cards. Additionally, xD card is a proprietary format only used by Fujifilm and Olympus, much like the Memory Stick card is with Sony. This means that no public documentation or implementation is available. Compare this to the somewhat open SD, or the completely open CompactFlash standard. Typically, because of their proprietary nature, xD cards will be more expensive than the mainstream competitors of SD and CF.
Memory Stick
Like the xD card, Sony’s Memory Stick is a proprietary format, making it typically more expensive. “Memory Stick” is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks. This family includes the Memory Stick Pro, a revision that allows greater maximum storage capacity and faster file transfer speeds; Memory Stick Duo, a small-form-factor version of the Memory Stick (including the Pro Duo); and the even smaller Memory Stick Micro (M2). I’ve got a Sony digital P&S camera and I’ve always found this to be confusing. Even after owning my camera for over 5 years I’m still not sure which of the Memory Sticks will work in my camera. This reason alone is enough to dissuade me from buying another Memory Stick supported camera. (Sorry Sony)
For those brave enough to delve into Sony’s Memory Stick world, Sony puts some great features on their P&S cameras. By the way, Sandisk also makes a Ultra II and Extreme III version of the Memory Stick. Below, I’ve listed a few that impress me (just not enough to buy back into the Memory Stick world):
Microdrives
These drives fit into any CompactFlash II slot; however, they may take more power than flash memory – watch your batteries. Honestly, I’ve never had a problem out of my Hitachi 4GB microdrive. I’ve never ran my battery down using it for hundreds of pictures in a single day. High capacity models are usually much cheaper than flash-based counterparts. I’ve heard some people complain about microdrives’s susceptability to breaking. I’ve also heard lots of others say they’ve used them for years and never had a problem. I think, like any electronic device, things break sometimes. I’ve found mine to be a quality device and will likely buy more.
To Sum It Up . . .
If it were me shopping, I’d look for a DSLR camera that accepts CF cards and Microdrives. If I were looking for a point and shoot camera or a hybrid model, I’d go with one that accepts SD cards. What about brands and models of CF and SD cards? If you want blazing speed and reliability get one of the following in the size of your choice:
Sandisk Ultra II Compact Flash
Sandisk Extreme III Compact Flash
Hitachi Microdrive
Sandisk Ultra II SD Card
Sandisk Extreme III SD Card
The Sandisk Ultra and Extreme cards are super fast. Meaning that you can hold the shutter button down on your camera and they just continue to take pictures. Lexar makes good cards too, just make sure you know what you’re buying; they’ve always been labeled a little wierd for me to figure out all the differences. The microdrive I suggested above is slower than the Ultra and Extreme cards, but not so slow that I can’t shoot sports. The buffer in the camera just fills up a little faster and I can’t get as many shots in a row. The microdrive is still a bargain for the price you pay.
If you’ve got a good reason for getting an Olympus, Fuji, or Sony and using their proprietary formats, then go for it. However, I’m staying away from them myself. It’s just not worth the trouble to me.
One last thing to keep in mind:
Until next time . . . Cheers!