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Lensrentals bought a $10K machine to test the flange-to-sensor distance of more than 2,500 cinema cameras

04 Jun

Roger Cicala and his team over at Lensrentals have made the most of their COVID-19 downtime by spending the past few months painstakingly measuring the flange-to-sensor distance of more than 2,500 cameras to see just how much variation there is from cinema camera to cinema camera (even identical models).

In the first of a two-part series on the testing and results, Roger breaks down why flange-to-sensor distance is important, details ‘how accurate is possible,’ explains how the Lensrental team went about testing and shares the first bits of data from the meticulous testing of popular cinema cameras.

This is what using a $ 10,000 Denz Flange Depth Controller looks like.

To achieve this testing, Roger invested in a Denz Flange Depth Controller, which costs about $ 10,000 and can measure flange depth to the nearest 0.01mm. Even after receiving the new equipment, he and Aaron spent a month confirming its accuracy before eventually training ‘Poor Ben’ on how to use the machine.

Over the following weeks, Ben ended up measuring and re-measuring the flange-to-sensor distance of more than 2,500 cameras worth roughly $ 10M (yes, million).

The red circles denote Canon Cinema cameras that had more variation than is to be expected for the flange-to-sensor distance.

For this first part of the series, Roger breaks down the spread of Canon Cinema Cameras, Sony Cinema Cameras, non-Canon EF-mount cameras and Blackmagic cameras to show just how much variation the models and individual cameras had. To his surprise, there were a few outliers, but as always, Roger seems to have gotten to the bottom of it and has learned through this testing that the Lensrentals team can and will be able to better screen these less-accurate cameras so everything going out their doors is up to snuff.

You can check out the full breakdown on the Lensrentals blog, linked below. Part two will be out in the near future and will address the flange-to-sensor distance of ‘SLR style’ camera bodies.

Lensrentals: The Great Flange-to-Sensor Distance Article

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019 Ricoh interview: Some users who bought mirrorless cameras will return to DSLRs

20 May

Hiroki Sugahara from Ricoh’s Marketing Communication Department and Takashi Arai from Ricoh’s Product Planning Department

The CP+ 2019 trade show in Yokohama, Japan gave us the chance to meet a variety of senior executives from all the major camera makers. We spoke to a group of senior figures from Ricoh about the full cross-section of the company’s photographic range, with the answers mainly coming from:

Hiroki Sugahara – General Manager, Marketing Communication Department
Hiraku Kawauchi – Group Leader, PR, Marketing Communication Department

Please note that this interview was conducted partly via an interpreter, and has been edited for clarity and flow.

What has the response to the GR III been like, so far?

Very positive. This is not the first time we’ve disclosed the appearance and specifications, but this is the very first chance our customers have had to touch and use it. Even though they know the specifications, the purpose to come here is to touch and try, for example to experience the operability of the touchscreen or the performance of the macro capabilities.

From what I’ve seen and heard, the reaction is very good. Especially the operability of the touchscreen, which customers consider a positive. The shake reduction, the 24MP sensor or performance of the lens are features that our customers already knew from the specification sheet. But the quick response of the touchscreen seems very well accepted.

What was the logic behind the decision to use a unit-focus design for the GR III’s lens (that tends to slow down autofocus)?

The big priority is to make the camera body as compact as possible while retaining good resolving power of the lens.

Does the switch to phase-detection bring enough of a speed increase to overcome the challenge of moving a comparative heavy lens design?

The speed of the focusing is improved. But we’d also like to draw attention to the fact that you can now focus from 10cm to infinity, rather than 30cm to infinity, as on GR II. That range of scanning is broadened. This can sometimes give the impression of slower focus but the overall speed is faster than with GR II.

Is there room in your lineup for a sister model that isn’t 28mm, or maybe other adapter lenses?

One thing is for sure, we haven’t only made 28mm lenses: we did have a 21mm GR lens in the past, and we did have a 50mm equivalent [module] for the GXR. I feel this is also interesting: to have a sister model with other focal lengths.

But the important thing with this camera was that it should be fast enough and compact enough to be considered ‘GR.’ If we could achieve that with other focal lengths, that would be interesting.

Ricoh currently makes a wide range of products: Pentax DSLRs, the GR and WG compacts and the Theta series, are there any other niches you see existing or do you think there’s room to grow within these four areas?

On top of this we have 645Z, so already we have enough formats. We’re currently working on these categories of products.

We’ve seen a lot of movement away from DSLR to Mirrorless (by manufacturers), do you feel there are still types of photography better-suited to DSLR?

Currently mirrorless, especially full-frame mirrorless, is a movement. So many users are interested in this new category of camera: full-frame mirrorless. Mirrorless itself has its own benefits [and] appealing point to the users: they can check their images before hitting the shutter button, through the EVF. But on the other hand, DSLRs have their own benefits: users can enjoy the beautiful image through the optical viewfinder and then imagine different ways of taking photos using different settings, they can imagine the consequence of taking the picture.

I imagine, in two or three years, some users who bought mirrorless cameras will return to DSLRs

We have been studying various possibilities when it comes to development, but we believe both mirrorless and DSLR have their own appeal. I imagine, in two or three years, some users who bought mirrorless cameras will return to DSLRs or choose to use both systems, because each has its own benefits.

How do you prioritize which lenses to work on next, for K-mount? When do you plan a completely new lens, when do you replace an existing one?

We have a lineup with many lenses, particularly APS-C optimized lenses. Actually, in the industry, our number of APS-C-optimized lenses is number one. Our DA lens series and also the ‘Limited’ series of lenses, which gives a unique level of image quality for the enthusiast photographer. We also have the star lenses: we’re going to develop an 85mm F1.4 lens, so we are releasing very high quality lenses. And also APS-C optimized lenses like the 11-18mm F2.8. We will continue to release various series.

In spring, we released the 35mm F2 HD-coated lens, which is a modification of a conventional lens, so we’ll continue to do this kind of modification as well.

You mentioned the 645Z. We’re still seeing cameras launched with a similar sensor, many years after you did, so we understand it has a longer lifespan, but is that series still part of your plans?

Of course. We are continuing to develop the 645 series. We are pursuing higher picture quality for the system because users have high expectations of image quality.

[The representatives would not be drawn over whether these efforts were focused on better lenses or increased pixel counts]

When you’re designing a lens, do you see any tensions between needs of stills and video requirements? How do you strike that balance?

The overall priority is still image quality, but we do have the 55-300mm lens, which is designed to work well with the movie feature by including electromagnetic aperture control. So we continue to care about the movie performance as we design new lenses.

What were the challenges of including larger sensors in a Theta – for the previous generation there were concerns about being able to offer 4K, now you’ve done it with bigger systems.

It’s partly down to our heat management system: we use a metal body in the Theta Z1 unlike the Theta V, which had a plastic body. The Z1 uses a magnesium alloy, which is a better heat conductor, so we can manage the heat well.

In terms of space, first of all, we had to change the size. We also use three pairs of prisms, rather than two pairs: we changed the position of the sensor and how we bend the light to them.

The larger sensors on the Theta Z1 now sit further down in the body, facing out towards the sides of the body, whereas they were previously mounted on either side of the lens, facing inwards.

The larger sensor requires a longer focal length. There was the risk that using more prisms would lower the image quality but the design we came up with performs very well.

The body has got slightly thicker, did you need a wider angle-of-view to give plenty of overlap between the two cameras?

The angle-of-view is actually the same, but the minimum focus distance has increased. It’s now 40cm instead of 10cm. The angle-of-view was already more than 180 degrees, so we didn’t have to make it wider to give sufficient overlap.

What do you think is the most exciting new feature of the Z1?

We focused a lot on the image quality, to make it much, much better than previously possible. We really wanted to make sure that people used to DSLR image quality and professionals could use the Theta. We wanted to ensure it was suitable for creative and professional use.

Who is using Theta and what for?

There are two groups: consumers and business users. Some people are enjoying taking 360 degree images, editing and posting to Instagram. Currently our users are enjoying taking the video 4K 360 image and converting it to a 2D image: the editing software lets them choose the angle, or zoom in or out and post to sites such as YouTube. This is often in the same situations where you might use an action camera, like a GoPro.

Also, we see an equal number of users traveling and taking a 360 video image with a selfie stick, at a viewpoint, for instance. Then, when they get home, they can enjoy the memory of their travel, with a VR image. That’s [a typical consumer use-case].

In terms of business, it’s especially the real estate and second-hand car sales areas, and also in construction and inspection. There are many business users who can utilize this 360 image for recording or communicating a specific situation or image.

Is there some overlap between this and the G-series of industrial camera?

The G-series are waterproof cameras: They’re normal cameras, essentially. For an all-around image, the Theta is the better option: it brings additional possibilities. Those business-to-business customers will certainly benefit from the improved image quality of the Z1. They don’t need more video quality, necessarily, but they need the higher still image quality.

What is the unifying feature or quality that Ricoh brings to customers of GR, WG, 645, K and Theta?

We’re trying to make the operating system the same, the G-series, the GR series, WG and DSLRs are coming together. Even though the brands are different, the way of handling the camera is becoming more similar. Of course Theta is something different.

Are there any lessons you’ve learned from Theta that you can apply to your other cameras?

Our current Wi-Fi software is now essentially the same as it is in Theta. We have a specialized Wi-Fi app for GR, but we are looking to bring them together and introduce the same Wi-Fi software for GR, Theta and DSLR.

Also, we already use DNG Raw so that they’re compatible with Adobe Lightroom. But we also have stitching plugins for Lightroom that will stitch multiple images. This will have the same algorithm as the Theta, for stitching. But by making it in a plugin for Lightroom, professional photographers will already be familiar with the environment: their workflow doesn’t have to change.

Editor’s note:

As you might expect, a lot of Ricoh’s attention at present is on the GR III but this interview really brought home to me how much work’s gone into the Theta Z1. Ricoh always says the Theta has been a real success for them, and it’s certainly a distinctive product in a way you don’t often encounter in the photo industry.

But, while all the models have looked very similar, Ricoh has been constantly pushing what’s possible in terms of managing what they do with the space and all the heat within that same form-factor. Having previously been told how difficult it was going to be to process 4K video in such a small space without overheating, it seems amazing to find they’re now doing it with even larger sensors filling up the space.

Those are skills that can underpin interesting cameras in the future

This may not seem that exciting for users of the company’s Pentax DSLRs, but it can only be positive if a company has a product that pushes them to constantly work on processing efficiency, space optimization and thermal management, because those are skills that can underpin interesting cameras in the future.

Which is probably why I was pretty disappointed to hear Ricoh’s representatives appearing to suggest that DSLRs might make a comeback, once the novelty of mirrorless has worn off. Because, while I don’t think the DSLR is dead just yet, I wouldn’t bank on it ending up with much more than niche status in the long run. But perhaps Ricoh believes it can make a solid future by exploiting multiple small niches like this: that would certainly explain the amazing breadth of its product portfolio.

I can’t help imagine what a combination of this foresight, and the impressive engineering of the Theta Z1 would look like

A part of me can’t help but feel a bit disappointed. Pentax was one of the first companies, way back in 1997, to show a concept mockup of what we’d now call a mirrorless camera. And, even though the market is now very crowded, I can’t help imagine what a combination of this foresight, and the impressive engineering of the Theta Z1 would look like, if they could be brought together.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Why a Nikon Shooter Bought a Fuji X100F as a Second Camera

31 Jan

In this article (I don’t want to call it a review because) I’ll share my thoughts on why I picked up a Fuji X100F as a second camera alongside all my Nikon gear. And why I love this little camera!

My journey into serious digital photography began in the spring of 2012 when I realized my little pocket camera wasn’t cutting it anymore. After consulting with some friends, my wife and I picked up a Nikon D200 and 50mm prime lens and the rest, as they say, is history.

Over the years our collection of gear has grown to include three Nikon bodies, several lenses, and a host of accessories all of which have come in handy with our family/child/high school senior photography hobby we run on the side. However, after much research and soul-searching (or perhaps you might say goal-searching), I recently added a Fuji X100F to my collection of gear and I thought I’d share some of my reasons why in case you might be going through the same thought process we did.

Why a Nikon Shooter Bought a Fuji X100F as a Second Camera

The Fuji X100F might just be my favorite camera of all time. (Note the camera also comes in retro silver)

Know your needs

Almost any time a club, business, or other organization sets out to improve a particular aspect of its operation the key stakeholders involved perform what’s known as a needs assessment. This is a formal process that aims to help organizations understand gaps or areas of deficiency which can be addressed. They help to guide the improvement so that it is done in a way that matters most. In similar fashion, a needs assessment can make all the difference in the world to photographers as well.

When my wife and I bought that D200 years ago we weren’t exactly sure what our needs were, other than that we wanted better pictures of our newborn son. That camera and lens worked beautifully for a while but soon we started to realize that it had some issues which were hard to overlook.

We learned that the 50mm lens was too restrictive indoors and images that were taken at ISO 800 and above were quite noisy which limited our ability to use this set of gear in challenging lighting conditions. These deficiencies led us to buy a Nikon D7100 and a 35mm lens which enabled us to take pictures at wider angles and in lower-light conditions, and once again our needs were met. For a while.

The Nikon D200 + 50mm lens worked fine, but before too long its limitations started becoming much more apparent and I wanted something more. And as this photo shows, I also needed to work on my photography skills such as composition and light!

Know when to upgrade

As time went on and we became more invested in the Nikon system, I started to once again see some significant limitations of our camera gear. My wife and I were doing more portrait sessions which necessitated the purchase of an 85mm lens and external flash. But at the same time, we felt as though we didn’t quite have the right gear to take the type of pictures of our kids with which we were really happy.

The 35mm lens was nice, but on a crop-sensor body like the D7100 or D200 it wasn’t wide enough for everyday casual use and I often found myself in low-light situations where the high ISO performance of the D7100 just didn’t cut it. Enter the full-frame Nikon D750.

Bear with me, I’m getting to the Fuji X100F!

As we examined our own particular photographic needs we realized that the D750 ticked all the boxes that we had at the time: great low-light performance, superb image quality for portraits, tougher build quality, a larger image buffer, and the list goes on. The D750 seemed like a good logical choice and over time it has only grown more useful. Even my 35mm lens specifically designed for crop-sensor Nikon DX cameras works fine as long as I shoot at about f/4 and don’t mind a bit of vignetting in the corners.

The D750 and a 70-200 lens make family portraits like this possible.

More gear, more problems

Ironically, despite getting more gear, the more limited I still felt in terms of taking everyday photos of our kids – which was the whole reason my wife and I got into digital photography in the first place!

My favorite camera/lens combination quickly became the D750 + 35mm and I found myself using that particular setup almost every time I wanted to just go out and shoot candid pictures of my wife and kids. I took that camera and lens whether we were on vacation, in the backyard, or even on a visit to the park.

The problem was that it is so big and heavy I often found myself leaving it at home and using my iPhone instead, which works fine as long as there’s plenty of light. As soon as the sun goes down or you move indoors, the quality difference between a mobile phone and a larger camera quickly becomes apparent.

The Fuji X100F with 23mm lens is almost exactly the same as a Nikon D750 and 35mm lens, but the sheer size and weight of the Nikon meant I often left it at home. The Fuji gives me almost the same image quality and I can literally take it almost anywhere.

Is yet more Nikon gear the answer?

Professionally, our growing collection of gear brought with it some headaches too. I found myself using the D750 + 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on most of my paid client shoots, but it is really heavy and not at all conducive to close-up shots in small spaces. I had other cameras and lenses but nothing that gave me really good shots with a wider field of view, so for a while, I contemplated getting another D750 and a true full-frame 35mm lens.

However the idea of adding even more gear to my bag, while still not really having a good all-purpose camera I could use with my family, threw me into a bit of a mental slump. I had a clear need that was unmet, but I didn’t want the Nikon gear required to solve the problem.

And then I found the Fuji X100F!

The D750 and a 35mm lens are great for more intimate shots like this, but the size and even the clack-clack-clack sound of the shutter make it somewhat conspicuous.

Form following function

The more I looked at my needs as a photographer the more I realized I was going about things all wrong. Instead of asking myself, “What needs to I have and how can I meet them?” I was stuck in the mindset that I had to stay with Nikon gear because that’s what I already had. I was putting form (i.e. Nikon) over function (what I wanted my gear to do).

Professionally, I had the midrange and telephoto focal lengths covered but I didn’t have anything on the wider end. Personally, I knew I didn’t have a truly portable go-anywhere camera. I was looking for a way to solve these issues with my mind firmly planted in Nikon’s pastures, all the while not realizing that other camera systems might have a much better answer.

Look outside the box

When I discovered the Fuji X100F I realized that it ticked off every single box on my list. Professionally it allowed me to get the kind of close, wide-angle, intimate pictures I couldn’t get with any of my other gear. It was also small and light enough that I could be discrete at events and even carry it as a second body with my heavy D750 and 70-200mm lens doing the heavy-lifting.

The 23mm lens paired with an APS-C sensor meant I would have almost the exact same field of view as shooting at 35mm on a full-frame camera. The wide f/2.0 lens aperture meant that I could get great shots in low light, and even the price was right since the cost of the X100F was less than another Nikon D750 and full-frame 35mm lens.

Why a Nikon Shooter Bought a Fuji X100F as a Second Camera

Finally – the answer was the Fuji X100F

Personally, the Fuji X100F became my go-to camera for almost any situation I found myself in with my family: birthday parties, playing in the yard, going to friends’ houses, taking trips to visit family, and even going on vacations. Prior to getting the X100F, my D750 and 35mm lens were what I used in almost all of those situations. Not only was it heavy and cumbersome, I also felt highly conspicuous taking pictures in casual settings. It’s hard to ignore someone who is wielding a giant DSLR and pointing it in your face!

As an added bonus the leaf shutter in the X100F is almost silent which makes picture-taking in quiet situations much less worrisome. Further, if you want to be really quiet you can enable a fully electronic shutter which lets you take pictures in complete silence. No DSLR can do that, even in Live View, and it’s something I have really come to appreciate about the X100F and other mirrorless systems.

Shot using the X100F’s built-in ACROS black and white simulation mode.

Finally, the wealth of manual buttons and dials on the X100F has been nothing short of a revelation for someone like me who cut his photography teeth long after digital cameras had supplanted most film cameras. Being able to look at my camera and see separate dials for shutter speed, aperture, and ISO means that I no longer have to hunt through menus or assign functions to control dials to get the shots I want.

Add to this the film simulations like Classic Chrome and ACROS, tough-as-a-tank build quality, and the choice to use either an LCD screen or electronic viewfinder and you end up with a camera small enough to take anywhere yet versatile enough to excel in almost any situation.

Finding your solution

I often read articles online about switching from DSLR to mirrorless or vice versa, and there seems to be a persistent debate about which one system better. After my experience with adding a Fuji mirrorless camera to my Nikon DSLR kit, I’ve come to the realization that it’s not about which is better but what gear can meet your needs.

I think the problem that some photographers have, myself included, is that we aren’t good at honestly identifying what problems or needs we have and then working from there to find our answers.

Why a Nikon Shooter Bought a Fuji X100F as a Second Camera

There’s no bad choice – only the right choice for you

Cameras today are so good it’s almost impossible to not get one that doesn’t have great image quality, autofocus, high ISO performance, dynamic range, and so on. What’s much more difficult is finding a camera, lens, or another piece of gear that solves whatever problem you currently have.

There are a time and place for big DSLR cameras, small mirrorless systems, micro-four-thirds models, even mobile phones and computational photography. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, and each can meet different needs and work fine for you as long as you take the time to find out what your needs really are.

High ISO performance of the X100F isn’t quite as good as a full-frame camera, but it’s not too shabby either.

Conclusion

Going forward I see myself using my Nikon gear for more professional shoots and the Fuji camera as a daily driver that will be more for casual shooting, but it’s not an either/or situation. My old crop-sensor D7100 paired with the 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is fantastic for getting pictures of my kids playing sports, while the Fuji X00F is ideal for indoor family sessions or times when I just don’t want the heft of a DSLR.

Who knows, my next camera might be something totally different or it might not be a camera at all and instead be some lessons or even just a trip to see and photograph different places.

Shot using the Fuji X100F’s built-in Classic Chrome film simulation mode.

After hearing my story I’d love to get your input too. What kind of gear do you use, why do you use it, and what steps are you planning to take next to address any issues you might have? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Why a Nikon Shooter Bought a Fuji X100F as a Second Camera by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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The camera I almost bought (again and again): The Canon PowerShot G5

12 Oct

At this point in my life, I could probably write a series of articles on cameras that I considered buying, almost bought, or actually did buy before reconsidering and returning them. Of all of the cameras that would make that list, the Canon PowerShot G5 is probably the model that I almost bought more times than any other.

Released in 2003, the PowerShot G5 was in that respect a companion model to the EOS 10D – my first personal DSLR. The G-series was traditionally marketed at enthusiasts and semi-pros, with the idea being that while most photographers couldn’t afford or quite justify a DSLR, cameras like the G5 could deliver a similar user experience, with comparatively good image quality and limited system cross-compatibility, for less money.

The thinking was that photographers making the expensive transition away from film and towards digital, might use the G-series as an affordable halfway point before investing fully in a DSLR. Conversely, professionals or well-heeled amateurs that owned a 10D or EOS-1D-series DSLR might consider a camera like the G5 as a second body, for backup and travel.

To court both sets of customers, Canon made sure that the G5 looked and worked broadly like the EOS-series DSLRs that it was marketed alongside. It was black, for one thing, which immediately made it look more ‘professional’ than the silvery G2 and G3 that proceeded it. It offered Raw mode, and was powered by the same ubiquitous BP-511 battery as the 10D and 300D. The G5 also featured the familiar EOS exposure mode dial and front control dial of the EOS-series, and it even had a hot shoe, for full E-TTL compatibility with Canon’s range of Speedlites.

And like a DSLR it had an optical viewfinder. A blurry, low-accuracy tunnel-type viewfinder, sure, and nowhere near a match even for the dim finder in the EOS 300D, but it was better than nothing, and handy in some situations. More useful was the fully-articulating rear LCD screen on the back, which no DSLR could match.

As far as image quality was concerned, the G5 was a solid performer by the standards of its time, but not spectacular. Its lens range of 35-140mm equivalent and reasonably fast maximum aperture of F2-3 were decent for 2003, but the zoom was limited at the long end, and while adapters were available to extend the range, they were clumsy and heavy (because they were lens adapters).

There was even a general feeling, amusing to recall now, that 5MP represented a degree of ‘maturity’ when it came to digital imaging.

I remember the G5 being more desirable to me than the G3 simply by virtue of being matte black, and (mostly) metal-bodied, but looking at it now, it seems blocky and inelegant. In my opinion the more-rounded G1, G2 and G3 have actually aged a little better, despite being physically a little larger. Opinion in the DPReview office on this point is divided (by which I mean Dan disagrees with me).

Apart from its color, the biggest differentiator between the G5 and the earlier G3 was the bump in pixel count from 4 to 5 megapixels. In practical terms, the increase in effective resolution was very modest (“not worth it” as we opined in our review at the time) but 5MP came to be regarded as something of a benchmark among enthusiasts and within the photo press. From 1-4MP, each megapixel jump had brought noticeably improved resolution, but from 4/5MP onwards, generational increases in image quality became more subtle.

There was even a general feeling, amusing to recall now, that 5MP represented a degree of ‘maturity’ when it came to digital imaging. Perhaps this was more of a psychological benchmark than anything, but it was real nonetheless.

One of the reasons I nearly bought the PowerShot G5 so often is that my EOS 10D spent so much of the first year of its life being sent repeatedly back to Canon to have its autofocus system adjusted. In the end though, I just couldn’t afford it (the G5 retailed for $ 799 in the US when it was new, which from memory worked out at about £600). After a frustrating few months, my 10D was (finally) fixed, and at that point I didn’t have any need for a backup. The following year I ended up buying an IXUS 50 (SD400 Digital ELPH) for social photography and low-profile shots at concerts, which was a good deal more pocketable than the G5. The PowerShot G6, which replaced the G5 in 2004, offered greater resolution and a more refined user experience in a more stylish body, but the tacky silver chrome finish turned me off.

I did buy a PowerShot G5 eventually though, after fifteen years of thinking about it. This past weekend, for $ 9 at my local thrift shop. As you can see from the images in this article, it’s cleaned up pretty nicely. Another itch scratched off the list.

Do you have any cameras in your past that ‘got away’ at the time? Let me know.

Read our PowerShot G5 review

Canon PowerShot G5 samples gallery (2003)

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

22 Apr

After a lot of thought and research, you finally pull the trigger. You bring home your first digital camera, pull the sleek marvel of engineering out of the box, and stare at it excitedly. Then you look at all the buttons and controls, and the excitement turns into fear… You realize that you have no idea how to use your new camera!

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

So what’s next? Well, the most important thing is to not be intimidated. It’s not nearly as complicated to learn photography as it might seem – despite what all those buttons might make you think. You will thankfully never need half of those buttons.

This article is going to cover the technical aspects of using your new camera; what you need to know right away to get up and running. The three other aspects to becoming a good photographer are the conceptual, composition, and the editing aspect, but we can cover those another time.

1. Light

Before we get into how to use your new camera, there is an important ingredient that will make thinking about using it much more intuitive. What does the light look like? I want you to spend some time looking at light, without a camera over the next few days. A camera is a tool that records this light. You can’t figure out what settings to use if you don’t look at the light first. This is why many new photographers get confused when trying to figure out the best settings. They were never taught to start with the light.

Where is the light coming from in relation to the camera? How strong is it? Are you in direct sunlight, is it diffused, are there multiple light sources, are you in the shadows, is it late in the day, is there artificial light, and what color is the light? The technical side of photography is really all about the light.

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

As you get more experienced, you can start looking into using your own light sources, such as flashes and strobes, but that can come later. Don’t be afraid of this part either. It is not as hard as it looks, as long as you get good at looking at the light.

Now it’s time to look at your new camera and figure out the settings.

2. Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO

Besides white balance, if your camera only had three dials on it, one for the shutter, one for the aperture, and one for the ISO, that is all you would need. These three factors all come together to record the light. Here is what they each do:

ISO:

The ISO is your camera sensor’s ability to capture light. The higher the ISO, the more light it can capture, but it also means that your image will look grainier (digital noise). Landscape photographers or anyone using a tripod often prefers to use a low ISO, such as 100 or 200 so the images have as little grain as possible. High ISOs are primarily used when handholding the camera in medium strength light and in dark situations, such as indoors or at dusk. This is why concert and event photographers, street photographers, or even travel photographers will often shoot at high ISOs. They often find themselves shooting in low-light situations.

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

It is important to know that newer cameras can easily shoot good quality images at an ISO of 1600, and many at 3200 – 6400 for the higher end cameras. A lot of the grain/digital noise will not even show up when making smaller prints, such as 8x10s. The large prints are where grain shows more, but even with this, most viewers will not notice it, and many will even consider it beautiful. I rarely go below ISO 400, unless I am on a tripod. When you get the chance, take a few similar shots at different ISOs and zoom in on the computer to look at the differences.

Aperture (F-number):

The aperture is a hole that opens in your lens to allow light to hit the sensor. Changing the aperture adjusts the size of the hole. The larger the hole, the more light that hits the sensor, but it also means that you will have a shallower depth of field (i.e. a smaller range in your image will be in focus). A large hole corresponds to a small f-number, such as f/2. The smaller the hole, the less light that hits the sensor, but more of your image will be in focus. A small hole corresponds to a large f-number, such as f/16.

I am overgeneralizing here, but often portrait photographers will shoot at very low f-numbers such as f/2.8. This is because they can focus on the subject’s eyes and have the sharpness fall off quickly to separate the subject from the background. Landscape photographers, on the other hand, typically use tripods and try to shoot around f/11 or f/16 to have as much of the image as sharp as possible, from the foreground to the background.

Shutter Speed:

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

Using a slow shutter speed and a tripod allowed me to blur the moving trains.

The shutter is a curtain inside your camera body that opens and closes. The amount of time the shutter is opened to expose the sensor to the light is referred to as the shutter speed. 1/160 refers to 1/160th of a second. So an exposure of 1/10th of a second is a slower shutter speed than 1/160th, and allows more light to hit the sensor.

As you get to slower and slower shutter speeds, you start to see more motion blur in your images, depending on whether or not subjects are moving. How much motion blur will depend on the shutter speed and the speed of the subject. While 1/200th of a second would freeze a person walking, you might need 1/1000th of a second to freeze a car driving past.

Minimum shutter speed

Keep in mind that when you are handholding your new camera your hands will shake a tiny amount, which can introduce blur into your images. So you need to use a fast enough shutter speed to offset this. The rule is that your shutter speed needs to be at least one over your focal length. Look at your lens. You see those numbers on the front (i.e. 35mm)? That is your focal length.

The smaller the number means a wider field of view, while the larger numbers mean more of a telephoto. If you are shooting at 24mm, then you would need your shutter speed to be at least 1/24th of a second, whereas at 70mm you need to shoot at 1/70th of a second (or faster) to not have any handheld camera shake. It makes sense when you think about this. If you are zoomed in on a small part of the background, your slight hand movements will be much more obvious in that small area versus a wide angle of view.

If your new camera has an APS-C (cropped) sensor, which is normal for most entry-level cameras, the true focal length of your lens is actually 1.5 (Nikon) or 1.6 (Canon) times what it says (the crop factor). So if you are at 24mm, your actual focal length is 24×1.6=38.4mm, so you would want to be shooting at 1/40th of a second or faster. Micro-4/3rds cameras have a crop factor of 2x instead of 1.6. Full-frame sensors are 1-1.

3. Manual versus Aperture Priority versus Shutter priority

In photography, there are three ways to skin a cat. You will want to set your camera to either Manual, Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority. Once you learn your new camera well, you can use any of these settings to get to the same endpoint.

Set the ISO first

Of these settings, the first thing you will do is to set your ISO. Turn ISO Auto off (or read this for a different perspective: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Auto ISO). If you are shooting with a tripod – set the ISO to 100 or 200. Are you handheld in bright sunlight – an ISO of 100-400 will do. In the shade, an ISO of 400-1600 will be ideal depending on the brightness levels. At dusk, at night, or indoors without a strong window light – usually, ISOs of 1600-6400 are ideal. So for any photography session, step 1 is to assess the light and step 2 is to set the ISO.

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

What mode to use next

Next, you need to figure out if you want to shoot in Manual (M), Aperture Priority (A/Av), or Shutter Priority (S/Tv) mode.

In Manual mode, you set both the aperture and shutter speed yourself. Some people think it’s macho to only shoot in Manual, but in many situations, Manual can slow you down significantly. For this reason, I use this mode the least of the three. With Aperture Priority, you choose the aperture and the camera uses an internal light meter to guess the correct shutter speed to expose the scene correctly. It usually does a good job at this, except for situations with a lot of bright or dark tones. In Shutter Priority, you choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the aperture.

Except for when I’m using studio lighting or in a situation where the lighting is consistent, I mostly shoot in Aperture or Shutter Priority modes. I prefer Aperture Priority mode for portraiture, landscapes, most images on a tripod, or any situation where I want a lot of bokeh (the background blur due to a shallow depth of field). I prefer Shutter Priority for street photography, sports, or anything where either the subject is moving and I want to freeze the motion, or where I purposely want to show motion blur, such as panning.

While I personally prefer to only shoot in Manual in very specific situations, I suggest you go out for a couple of your first sessions and only shoot in Manual Mode. Guess the ISO, the shutter speed, and the aperture. Take the shot and look at the picture. Is it too dark, too light, is it blurry, or is there motion blur? At first, you will have no idea what you are doing, but you will quickly learn. This is a great way to learn how your settings will affect the scene.

4. Exposure Compensation (+/-)

Scenes like this will require you to use Exposure Compensation as the camera will attempt to make the snow gray.

We’re almost there – I promise. Exposure Compensation is your best friend when shooting in Aperture or Shutter Priority Mode. When using these modes, the camera will use its light meter to guess the correct exposure. Its goal is to render your scene as a neutral gray tone, so sometimes it will get the exposure wrong from what you want. You can use Exposure Compensation to offset this issue. You can raise or lower the exposure compensation (+/-) on your camera to lighten or darken a scene. Use it!

Some situations where you might need to use Exposure Compensation are scenes with lots of light or dark tones, such as an image with a lot of bright white sky or white snow (like the image above), or in a dark alleyway or at night. For a scene with white snow, the camera would see all that white and try to make it neutral gray – ultimately darkening the image too much. So you have to raise the Exposure Compensation (use + to increase the exposure) to brighten the scene back to normal. For a dark alleyway, the camera will try to brighten the dark walls to be a neutral gray, so you have to adjust the Exposure Compensation (use – to lower the exposure) to make those grays look much darker and more realistic (true to tone).

5. White Balance

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

White balance is how your camera portrays the color of the light in a scene. Different light sources have completely different colors, and the camera has many settings for the most typical ones, such as a sunny or shady day. However, start off by setting your white balance to auto. Auto white balance usually works great. Once you become comfortable with everything else in this article, then start learning more about white balance. It’s a more advanced thing to learn down the road, and auto can take you a long way. I still use auto white balance a majority of the time.

6. Autofocusing and Taking the Picture (Finally!)

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

This is the last thing! I promise!

Your focus area is the spot that your camera chooses to be sharp. When you set your camera to autofocus and look through the viewfinder, you will see many boxes (squares or circles depending on your camera) that you can select from to choose the area where you want the camera to focus. Figure out how to move this box around (you do not want the focus area to be set to auto or zone) and select one. You will want to move it to focus on the subject in your image.

Many photographers, myself included, will often just keep the focus box in the middle. I will then aim the middle box at the subject that I want in sharp focus, press the shutter halfway to lock the focus, then recompose the image while holding the shutter halfway pressed. When the composition is right, I will take the photo. This is a great way to focus if you do not feel like constantly moving the focus point around.

When you press the shutter down halfway, it will focus the camera using the point you select. Pressing it all the way will take the picture. Be careful, because sometimes when you are focusing on the edge of a subject, a subject that is small, or a subject that is far away, the camera can mistakenly focus on the background instead. This is a very common problem called back-focus that happens frequently to newer photographers.

Note: your camera needs contrast to focus. So make sure you select an area that has an edge so that the camera can focus. It cannot focus on a plain white wall, for example.

Wrapping up

Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera

I know this was a lot to cover, especially if this is one of your first lessons. It’s a lot to be taken in right away, but it’s really not that hard to learn all of this in real life. It seems much more daunting to read about it all than to see it in person. Really, if I were to show you all of this in real life – in three hours, you would have it down.

So let’s stop here. Read over what I wrote five or seven times in the next few weeks and play around with the settings. Take photos indoors and outdoors and at different times of day and figure out how to expose them well. Create sharp images, try creating bokeh, and mess around with motion blur. Take your time and change the settings to see how the images look. Look at them on the back of your camera right after you take them. Zoom into the details as well.

Once you have this all down, then it’s time to move on to the more advanced stuff!

The post Bought Your First DSLR? 6 Tips for Learning How to Use Your New Camera by James Maher appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Poll: Have you bought a mirrorless camera yet?

04 Oct

I asked this same question regarding mirrorless cameras about 18 months ago, and thought it would be an interesting comparison to see what the split is now. Here are the stats from last time (March 2014)

Screen Shot 2015-09-28 at 2.01.23 PM

Mirrorless poll 2015

So let’s run the exact same questions again and see how the answers compare. I’m interested to see how they change. GO!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

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The post Poll: Have you bought a mirrorless camera yet? by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Canon 60D , Bought from “TEDs Camera” Sydney shop ( very bad experience )

08 Feb

Canon 60 Automatically stops intermittently within few seconds of shooting video.The error comes intermittently and so each time i want to record anything , it turns off automatically withing few seconds . I have Bought Camera and card as recommened by the from TED’s camera Sales man See the video below , People with Class 10 is having issue too , So is it camera issue ? . but after watching the video below it could be canon issue ? www.youtube.com TEDs camera Sydney, poor after sales service . Had to run behind them for months to fix an issue on around 2000$ purchase even though bought Their 5 year total care plan. I will not buy from them again . Everyone I spoke to had similar experience.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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