After 4 years of loyal service I have decided to upgrade from my Canon 400D. I don't want to sound like a workman blaming his tools but I have reached the stage were I need something new, something more up to date, something bigger, better, etc, etc.
After all, 4 years is a very long lifetime for a piece of technology. In fact, as with all gadgets I remember purchasing my 400D and then seeing the adverts for the 450D within days of placing the order.
Well the same thing has happened again. My new 60D arrived the other day and in typical fashion the 600D was announced...probably just as I pressed the "Purchase" button !
Not that it bothered me as I had spent a good few months reading reviews and taking time to make sure I was happy with my upgrade decision. In fact, "happy" is an understatement. Although I've only had the 60D for a few days and not had chance to get out and shoot with it, from what I have seen so far it is fantastic.
There are so many features I was lacking on the 400D and those that were there have been enhanced significantly. The 3 big selling points for me where;
1) Wireless Flash control
2) The LCD screen
3) ISO performance
I'm already finding more features to add to the list and no doubt once I manage to get out and about with the camera I will find even more.
HD Video - I didn't put this on my list of selling points because.....well, it wasn't ! not for me anyway. So this is where I contradict myself. I'm an amateur photographer and as such don't really take much video footage (even though I own a camcorder). I'm much more comfortable taking stills rather than video. That said, I do spend a lot of time watching HD video footage taken by other people, particularly of MTB and BMX riders. I have been amazed by the overall quality of the movies that are out there and certainly prefer to watch than to create.
So, to the contradiction.....having played with the HD functionality I can safely say that I am hooked. I've shot about 2 minutes of footage around the house and I love it already.
When I started looking at replacement cameras I was a bit put off by the fact that I would be paying for functionality I didn't want/need. But given that all the models in the running had HD functionality I resigned myself to that fact. Now I am even more pleased with my decision.
It's also worth mentioning that you should shop around for the best deals. If you are buying online then make sure you read reviews about the websites/companies. You may find some fantastic deals but you need to be confident that you are giving your money to a reputable business. I found a 60D for £100 less than anywhere else....bargain. Not so, the write-ups on the company where terrible.
Trade-in......purchasing on the High Street will give you the opportunity to trade-in your old camera. However, I opted for ebay. While researching replacement models I was also checking out ebay to see how much I could potentially get for my 400D. This was a key factor in the decision making as it helped bring the cost down. At the time of writing this my 400D has 21 watchers and just under 2 days left to go. There is one bid but the reserve hasn't been met yet. I'm confident I will get a decent price as I have seen over 20 of them sell for a decent price over the past couple of weeks.
Now, time to go and take some pictures...........
Monday, 7 February 2011
Monday, 10 January 2011
TPI - Assignment 9
Now this was a tough one ! This assignment was packed with technical jargon, best practices, workflows, tutorials you name it. I've lost count of the amount of times I read through the notes, not to mention the re-visits to specific sections as I was completing the assignment.
One thing this course has taught me is that "no matter how much you think you know about something - you are way off the mark and know absolutely nothing" ! (well you know what I mean)
Every time I come across another topic, whether its sharpening or bit depth, in reality these subjects are huge in their own right. In fact, there are books written just about sharpening and you could spend hours researching the pro's and con's of 8 or 16 bit depth. Did you know that different applications use different sharpening algorithms to calculate which pixels should be altered and by how much ?
The images you spend so much time working on are going to end up somewhere. Whether it's the digital cupboard, an on-line sharing site or as a print above your fireplace the medium used to display your image is a key factor. All of the processing techniques you can apply in photoshop are either going to make or kill your image. You need to know where the image is intended for before you start manipulating it. An image displayed as a 6"x4" in a photo frame on your desk at work will need different processing to the image that is going to be printed as an A1 poster. In fact, not only the size of the reproduction but the distance it will be viewed from will be a factor to consider.
When you are processing images it is important to know from the outset where the image is going to end up. You then need to create an efficient workflow so that you don't spend all night processing images. For example, if you have a bunch of photos from a shoot and you apply some global changes in Camera Raw, chances are those edits will work across most of the pictures taken in that shoot. So, apply the changes to a whole batch of images and save yourself hours.
You can always make it even more interesting by printing your own images. So, why is that such an issue ? Well the colour scheme used to display an image on your screen is different to the one used to print it on your printer. There are tools you can use to test your printer to find out how good it is at reproducing your images so that they look like the one on the screen. Again, this is another topic filling books in its own right. That said, it is another fascinating aspect to photography.
One thing this course has taught me is that "no matter how much you think you know about something - you are way off the mark and know absolutely nothing" ! (well you know what I mean)
Every time I come across another topic, whether its sharpening or bit depth, in reality these subjects are huge in their own right. In fact, there are books written just about sharpening and you could spend hours researching the pro's and con's of 8 or 16 bit depth. Did you know that different applications use different sharpening algorithms to calculate which pixels should be altered and by how much ?
The images you spend so much time working on are going to end up somewhere. Whether it's the digital cupboard, an on-line sharing site or as a print above your fireplace the medium used to display your image is a key factor. All of the processing techniques you can apply in photoshop are either going to make or kill your image. You need to know where the image is intended for before you start manipulating it. An image displayed as a 6"x4" in a photo frame on your desk at work will need different processing to the image that is going to be printed as an A1 poster. In fact, not only the size of the reproduction but the distance it will be viewed from will be a factor to consider.
When you are processing images it is important to know from the outset where the image is going to end up. You then need to create an efficient workflow so that you don't spend all night processing images. For example, if you have a bunch of photos from a shoot and you apply some global changes in Camera Raw, chances are those edits will work across most of the pictures taken in that shoot. So, apply the changes to a whole batch of images and save yourself hours.
You can always make it even more interesting by printing your own images. So, why is that such an issue ? Well the colour scheme used to display an image on your screen is different to the one used to print it on your printer. There are tools you can use to test your printer to find out how good it is at reproducing your images so that they look like the one on the screen. Again, this is another topic filling books in its own right. That said, it is another fascinating aspect to photography.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
TPI - Assignment 8
A very important assignment and although it didn't actually require any pictures it was an interesting process to go through. Deciding what type of equipment you require to support your hobby as a potential business venture and how to justify the expense is not easy. There are so many things to consider, purchase or lease etc, etc.
Once you start getting into the detail it's pretty clear to see that we're not dealing with Photography in general terms, the subject itself is too vast. Once you start looking at the various types of photography work out there each one has its own specific requirements. You can't generalise and just pick a body, a few lenses and some lights. You need to seriously consider a particular field that interests you and then get an idea of the type of equipment specific to that area.
Once you start getting into the detail it's pretty clear to see that we're not dealing with Photography in general terms, the subject itself is too vast. Once you start looking at the various types of photography work out there each one has its own specific requirements. You can't generalise and just pick a body, a few lenses and some lights. You need to seriously consider a particular field that interests you and then get an idea of the type of equipment specific to that area.
Friday, 17 September 2010
TPI - Assignment 7
This was by far the best assignment of the course so far. What appeared to be a simple task when I first read it turned into an unexpected journey. Although I'm interested in photography I had never really studied the work of great photographers. Sure, I was familiar with some and during this assignment I began to realise how much of their work is out there for all to see.
I also had a long hard think about the type of photography that I really enjoy and want to pursue. This involved trawling through countless images on-line and in books and magazines (something which I do anyway). After a while I could see that there were certain images I was drawn to. I used a useful feature on flickr to collect images that I liked. The "gallery" option lets you create galleries made of images from other flickr users. I built up a collection of images over a period of time and after a while I could see a type, style, genre that I was drawn to more that others. If I'm honest I like taking all types of pictures so it was difficult to select one area to focus on, however, if I had the choice to be great at one area of photography it would be portraits.....and in particular, Black and white portraits.
The image I selected for Part A was one that I had seen before but never new much about it. Whenever I did a search for Black and White portraits it would always appear and would stand out more than any others on the screen. It was THE picture I had to copy. By coincidence I had borrowed a book from a friend at work and the photographer who's work I was going to copy was in there. What suprised me was that it was a photography I knew about. As an avid U2 fan since their early days I knew that they were almost always photographed by Anton Corbijn. It was only then that I found out that he made the image I was going to copy....small world. Like I said earlier, their work is everywhere and these days I find myself looking at images and trying to work out who's work it is. Over time I'm sure I'll get better at it.
Taking the image was an great experience too. At first I was trying to take the shot on my own but this was proving difficult. In the end I had to get help from my wife, so technically I didn't actually take the picture.
For the second part of the assignment I also focused on portraits and spent even more time searching through images in order to find a bunch of them that I was happy with.
Again, I was very pleased with my score but as always the comments from my tutor where much more important.
I also had a long hard think about the type of photography that I really enjoy and want to pursue. This involved trawling through countless images on-line and in books and magazines (something which I do anyway). After a while I could see that there were certain images I was drawn to. I used a useful feature on flickr to collect images that I liked. The "gallery" option lets you create galleries made of images from other flickr users. I built up a collection of images over a period of time and after a while I could see a type, style, genre that I was drawn to more that others. If I'm honest I like taking all types of pictures so it was difficult to select one area to focus on, however, if I had the choice to be great at one area of photography it would be portraits.....and in particular, Black and white portraits.
The image I selected for Part A was one that I had seen before but never new much about it. Whenever I did a search for Black and White portraits it would always appear and would stand out more than any others on the screen. It was THE picture I had to copy. By coincidence I had borrowed a book from a friend at work and the photographer who's work I was going to copy was in there. What suprised me was that it was a photography I knew about. As an avid U2 fan since their early days I knew that they were almost always photographed by Anton Corbijn. It was only then that I found out that he made the image I was going to copy....small world. Like I said earlier, their work is everywhere and these days I find myself looking at images and trying to work out who's work it is. Over time I'm sure I'll get better at it.
Taking the image was an great experience too. At first I was trying to take the shot on my own but this was proving difficult. In the end I had to get help from my wife, so technically I didn't actually take the picture.
For the second part of the assignment I also focused on portraits and spent even more time searching through images in order to find a bunch of them that I was happy with.
Again, I was very pleased with my score but as always the comments from my tutor where much more important.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)