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Posts Tagged ‘owners’

21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know

13 Oct

The post 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

In this article, we’re going to share 21 photography settings, techniques, and rules you should know as a beginner photographer.

Some are very basic while others go a little deeper, but all have been selected from our archives specifically for beginners and new camera owners.

Enjoy!

Introduction to useful modes and settings on your digital camera

Photography settings, techniques, and rules

1. Digital Camera Modes Explained – I spoke with a family friend recently who had just bought a new point and shoot camera. She came up to me with her camera when no one was watching and embarrassedly asked me if I could tell her what all the little icons on the dial on top of her camera meant. This article explains what each of the most common digital camera modes means and does. Knowing these photography modes can take your shots to the next level.

2. Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes – This introduction takes you through these two very useful settings that can be found on many digital cameras. Aperture and Shutter Priority mode take you off of Auto mode, giving you more control over your images without thrusting you fully into Manual mode. They are great settings to explore and master.

3. Introduction to White Balance – One of the most common problems that I see in beginner photography is shots with incorrect colors. We’ve all seen them: portraits where your subject’s teeth and eyeballs (and everything else) have a yellowish tinge. Learn what causes this and how to combat it with this tutorial on white balance.

Photography settings, techniques, and rules histogram 4. Understanding Histograms – “Histograms are scary.” This is what one reader said to me recently when they discovered that they could view these little graphs on their camera. While histograms might seem a little technical, it is amazing how simple a histogram is to interpret. Know what to look for, and with just a glance you can tell if your image is under- or over-exposed. It’s a useful tool to master.

5. Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) – This feature is another of those often-unexplored settings that many cameras have built into them. It will allow you to get well-exposed shots in even the trickiest of lighting situations.

Other basic camera techniques

Photography settings, techniques, and rules: how to hold a camera

6. How to Hold a Digital Camera – This beginner tutorial covers a topic that most camera owners skip over without realizing that it is a foundational lesson in photography. Get this wrong and it can dramatically impact the quality of your shots.

7. Shutter Release Technique – Another basic tip that many do intuitively, but which can drastically improve your photography if you don’t do it.

8. How to Use Focal Lock – Yet another beginner technique that many of us take for granted, yet is at the core of how all digital cameras focus automatically. Get this wrong and you’ll take a lot of shots of out-of-focus subjects and in-focus backgrounds!

9. How to Take Sharp Digital Images – “My shots are fuzzy.” It’s a problem we’re frequently asked about, so we wrote this tutorial to help you get the sharpest images your camera can take.

10. Shooting with an In-Camera Flash – Flash photography with a built-in flash can lead to some terribly blown-out images. This article offers a few tips on how to avoid this. And here are 7 Strategies for Avoiding Flash Blow Out.

11. How to Get Shallow Depth of Field in Your Digital Photos – A great technique to learn if you’re into many types of photography (portraits, macro, etc.) is how to control the depth of field in your shots. That way, you can make your main subject pop by making your background nicely blurred. This tutorial walks you through how to do it.

12. Understanding Exposure – This post takes new camera owners through the three main elements of exposure. Once you’ve read it, also check out our introductions to ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

Camera care and maintenance

camera care broken camera

13. How to Avoid a Dirty DSLR Sensor – One of the fastest ways to ruin every single shot you take with your new DSLR is to end up with a dirty image sensor. This tutorial gives some basic tips on how to ensure it stays as clean as possible.

14. How to Clean a DSLR Lens – As much as you try to protect them, lenses tend to get grimy over time. This tutorial shares some basic tips on how to clean lenses so that your shots will be as clear as possible.

15. 7 Digital Camera Predators and How to Keep them at Bay – This tutorial takes you through 7 of the most common ways that digital cameras get damaged, what to look out for, and what preventative actions you can take.

Composition tips

rule of thirds composition tips

16. The Rule of Thirds – Whether you follow it or break it, the rule of thirds is a topic you should at least know about.

17. Points of Interest – An image without some visual point of interest is unlikely to hold the eye of anyone viewing it.

18. Getting Horizons Horizontal – The perfect way to ruin that lovely sunset or landscape shot is to make it lean to one side. Get your horizon horizontal!

19. Fill Your Frame – This is not applicable to every shot you take, but many photographers could drastically improve their photography by getting in close to their subject and filling the frame.

20. Getting Backgrounds Right – The background can make or break an image. This tutorial walks you through a number of things to look out for and techniques to use to get the background just right.

21. Adding Randomness to Your Photos – Learn how to set your images apart from everyone else’s by injecting creativity, variety, and a little randomness into your shots.

Of course, these 21 photography settings, techniques, and rules for beginner camera owners just scratch the surface of all there is to learn about the art of photography. Subscribe to our blog here to get more free daily tips to help you keep learning and improving.

Our guide to getting creative control over your camera

If you’re looking for a complete guide to taking control of your camera, then you might like to check out our course, Photo Nuts and Bolts, which walks you through everything you need to know to start taking beautiful photos.

Here’s the intro:

 

 

Grab this great dPS course here.

The post 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.


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New owners completely redesign Mk ll Meyer Optik G?rlitz Trioplan 100 ‘soap bubble’ lens

17 Jun

The new owners of the Meyer Optik G?rlitz lens brand say they’ve completely redesigned the optical designs and much of the mechanics of the Trioplan 100mm f2.8 lens so it produces better resolution and contrast while controlling internal reflections more effectively.

Famous for its soap-bubble bokeh the original Trioplan 100 was recreated in 2015 by a company called net SE that eventually went bankrupt taking customer’s pre-order money with it. The new owners, Optical Precision Components, has produced its lenses up-front and has just started shipping them.

A OPC Optics spokesperson told us the Mk ll lens has a completely new optical construction and many newly designed mechanical parts inside too. ‘As we are an optics company, rather than a marketing company, we have the know-how and equipment to analyze and optimize optical systems in-house’, the spokesperson tells us. ‘This led us to completely redesign the optical construction of the Trioplan 100, as we especially wanted to improve its resolution and contrast performance.’

According to the spokesperson, ‘the new optical design meant we needed to use different glasses and differently shaped elements, which in turn required a lot of mechanical changes. We prioritized the optics first and everything else is built around that new design.’

The spokesperson further elaborated on the differences between the two lenses, saying (edited for clarity and brevity):

‘All the parts inside and outside the lens have been produced completely new, but some retain the same design as those used in the Mk I version. As we have changed the shape of the main elements in the design and changed the distance of the elements from the aperture, we also needed to redesign the mounts that hold the elements in place [and change] the way the aperture unit works, as in the Mk l version it had no hard stops when it closed or opened completely. That caused damage to the aperture, as the blades could get bent when the aperture ring was turned to its full extent. Our Mk II the aperture has hard stops, so you can turn the aperture ring and really hit against the end without damaging anything. Overall we changed many small things to produce a lens of much higher quality and to make the focusing smoother, but most important are the changes to the lens elements and those main mechanical parts that increase durability.’

As with the original model, this new version uses just three elements in its construction, and a newer 15-blade aperture diaphragm helps to form the characteristic round out-of-focus highlights in the background. The soap bubble effect is often enhanced through the use of macro extension tubes to bring the minimum focus closer and thus exaggerate the size of the bubbles. The lens is manual focus only and takes a 52mm filter.

OPC Optics says it has also redesigned the rest of the Trioplan series as well as its Primoplan lenses. Again, in these models the aim is to improve resolution, contrast and to reduce flare while building a more durable construction.

The Meyer Optik G?rlitz Trioplan 100 f2.8 ll is available in mounts for Canon EF, Fujifilm X, Leica L, Leica M, M42, MFT, Nikon F, Pentax K and Sony E cameras. It costs €999 (approx. $ 1100) and is shipping now. For more information see the Meyer Optik G?rlitz website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Tokina issues compatibility notice for Nikon Z owners using its F-mount lenses via adapter

23 Jan

Tokina has published a compatibility noticed for Nikon Z-series owners, regarding a few issues the company came across while ‘thoroughly’ testing the functionality of its F-mount lenses when used on Z-series cameras with Nikon’s FTZ adapter.

The notice highlights four lenses that can’t use autofocus with Nikon’s FTZ adapter and one lens that has slightly slower autofocus when used with the adapter.

The four lenses without autofocus functionality are the Tokina AT-X 70–200mm F4 FX VCM-S, Tokina AT-X M100 AF PRO D, Tokina AT-X 107 AF DX NH Fisheye and Tokina AT-X 107 AF DX Fisheye. When put in manual focus mode, however, all of these lenses will work without issue, according to Tokina.

Tokina notes its opera 50mm F1.4 FF lens works when autofocus is on, but notes that when ‘Compared with general conditions depending on aperture value AF speed might be slower.’

Compatibility notice:

Tokina Compatibility Notice for Nikon Z-Series Mirrorless Camera Owners

Thank you for using Tokina products.

We have thoroughly tested all current Tokina interchangeable lenses (Nikon F mount) with the Nikon Z 6, Nikon Z 7 and Nikon Z 50 mirrorless camera using the Nikon mount adapter FTZ.

The results confirm that current Tokina lens models showed no issues in general operations with the following exceptions:

Tokina opera 50mm F1.4 FF Issue: Compared with general conditions depending on aperture value AF speed might be slower. Tokina AT-X 70–200mm F4 FX VCM-S Issue: AF communication error. However, the lens will operate normally in manual focus mode.

Please, note that due to mount adapter FTZ specifications, the following Tokina lenses do not AF but will operate in manual focus mode:

Tokina AT-X M100 AF PRO D Tokina AT-X 107 AF DX NH Fisheye Tokina AT-X 107 AF DX Fisheye

For any question about compatibility of Tokina interchangeable lenses with Nikon Z 6, Nikon Z 7 and Nikon Z 50 mirrorless camera contact us via contact form.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Security firm warns Android camera vulnerability lets hackers spy on phone owners

21 Nov

Security analyst firm Checkmarx has detailed the discovery of an Android security issue that enables hackers to access a smartphone’s camera app, existing videos and images, audio from the microphone and location information pulled from EXIF data. Though the issue has been fixed on Google and Samsung phones, it remains in many camera apps from other vendors

The security researchers first analyzed the Google Camera app included on the Pixel smartphones. Upon discovering the security vulnerability, which involves ‘manipulating specific actions and intents,’ they found the same issue could be exploited in the Samsung Camera app included in its various smartphone models.

The vulnerability is extensive, according to the researchers. Hackers can access the camera app, use it to capture videos and photos even if the display is turned off or a call is in progress and access content saved to the phone. In addition to accessing the images, hackers could pull the location information from image metadata and use that to locate the handset’s owner.

The exploit introduces a number of privacy issues for users; attackers could use the video recording functionality to record a phone call, for example, and could retrieve sensitive images from the user’s phone for blackmail purposes.

According to Checkmarx, Google confirmed that the issue isn’t limited to the Pixel phones and that it is working with its Android partners ‘to coordinate disclosure.’ Both Google and Samsung released fixes for the security issue in their respective camera apps before Checkmarx published its report. It’s unclear how many phones from other vendors may still be vulnerable to the exploit, however.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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iPhone users get free unlimited Google Photo storage for original photo files, for now, while Pixel 4 owners have to pay up

22 Oct

All Android phones running Google apps come with free Google Photos cloud storage for images and videos captured with the device. However, image and video files are not stored at original quality. Instead, they are compressed to what Google calls ‘high quality’. Users who prefer to store their original out-of-camera files in the cloud have to shell out for one of Google’s storage plans.

On its own Pixel device, Google has in the past made an exception. Users of the Pixel 3 and previous Pixel devices could store unlimited original files for life, but this perk has ended with the brand new Pixel 4. Users of the latest Google flagship will just be treated like users of any other Android phone.

Now it seems the only ones benefiting from Google’s free unlimited storage for original photos are actually the users of one of Apple’s recent iPhones. Reddit user u/stephenvsawyer discovered that images in the HEIC/HEIF format, which recent iPhones use by default, will be stored without any compression.

A screenshot from Google’s Pixel 2 promotional page captured at the time of the release showing the no-longer-current benefit of getting unlimited storage of original files for free.

The reason for this is pretty simple: if Google tried to compress the images, the file size would actually increase. So the decision to save original HEIC/HEIF files to its cloud platform saves Google both storage space on its servers and computing power. It’s worth noting that this only applies to photos. iPhone videos are saved at 1080p resolution, even if they were recorded at 4K settings.

The latest version of the Android OS, Android 10, technically supports the HEIC/HEIF format, but Pixel 4 devices don’t currently offer this option. So, at least for now, iPhone users are actually getting more out of Google Photos than users of Google’s own flagship phone.

In a statement made to Android Police, Google said ‘We are aware of this bug and are working to fix it.’ What exactly this ‘fix’ entails remains to be seen, but there’s a good chance this iPhone loophole could get closed down in the near future.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Rental marketplace ShareGrid owner’s guarantee covers all equipment up to $20,000

26 Aug

Film, photography and production equipment rental marketplace ShareGrid has introduced a $ 20,000 owner’s guarantee that covers all equipment against damage, theft, loss and fraud, including voluntary parting (theft by the renter).

‘Our goal has always been to make ShareGrid the safest way to rent your equipment to other people, and today we’re excited to offer even more protection to our users’ said Marius Ciocirlan, co-founder and CEO of ShareGrid. ‘For years, we’ve been the only marketplace to offer instant coverage against Voluntary Parting. With the ShareGrid Owner Guarantee, we’re taking this a step further and including protection against voluntary parting automatically. Best of all, it’s completely free for all our members.’

‘Voluntary parting’ or theft by the renter is typically not covered in the rental industry but is luckily also extremely rare. ShareGrid says only one in 10,000 rental transactions are affected, thanks to heavy investment in security technology and personnel. At 0.02 percent ShareGrid competitor KitSplit’s voluntary parting rate is double that of ShareGrid’s but still very low in absolute terms.

ShareGrid’s Owner Guarantee offers protection for all rentals of equipment up to $ 20,000 in value and is included automatically. Terms are very similar to KitSplit’s equivalent policy but ShareGrid does not have the latter’s 20 percent deductible, making it the slightly more attractive offer.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Peer-to-peer rental platform KitSplit launches comprehensive owner’s guarantee

26 Aug

Peer-to-peer equipment rental platform KitSplit has expanded its insurance cover for equipment owners. Gear that is rented out via the platform is now also covered for theft by the renter, in addition to previous coverage which included damage, loss and theft from the renter.

‘The trust of our community and the safety of their gear is of utmost importance to us. With the Owner Guarantee, and our improved vetting, we are excited to give our owners even more peace of mind, ” said Lisbeth Kaufman, CEO and co-founder of KitSplit. ‘Trust has been a focus of ours from day one, and we’re excited to build the safest way to rent cameras in the industry.’

Previously theft from the renter, or ‘voluntary parting’ as it is called in the industry, was excluded from coverage which according to KitSplit is industry standard. KitSplit says that in the past voluntary parting on KitSplit has been very rare at about one case in 5000 rental transactions. Still, when it happened the consequences for equipment owners could be very painful.

In addition to the expanded insurance coverage, the company uses a proprietary 40 point risk vetting system to ensure only trustworthy professionals can offer and rent equipment on the platform. You can find more information on the KitSplit website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photographer asks for help finding owners of a destroyed camera found at Zion National Park

21 Feb

Photographer Ben Horne has shared a video on his YouTube channel imploring the photography community to help him find the owner of a Fujifilm point-and-shoot camera that a friend of his found while on a hike in Zion National Park in Southwest Utah.

As explained in the three minute video, Horne’s friend Luke Riding was hiking along the base of Angels Landing — a tall rock formation with a narrow trail at the top where hikers are free to walk along — when he came across a Fujifilm camera that had clearly taken a tumble down the side of the 1,500-foot rock formation.

The camera itself is clearly battered from its treacherous journey down the side of Angels Landing, but the SD card inside remained intact, complete with a collection of date-stamped images captured before the Fujifilm’s free-fall. The images Horne has shared include a number of portraits with two younger females posing in various areas of Zion National Park in September 2015, according to the metadata.

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_1537654159″,”galleryId”:”1537654159″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

Horne has asked to help spread the word in an effort to return the camera and images back to their rightful owner(s). If you happen to know the individuals in the photos or know of anyone who happened to lose their Fujifilm camera while at the top of Angels Landing, you can contact Horne by email (listed in the YouTube video description) or via Instagram.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Drone owners in the US will soon need external registration numbers on their UAVs

14 Feb

The FAA will require drone operators in the United States to display their registration numbers on the outside of their small UAVs starting on February 25, 2019. The new regulation revises an existing policy that allows drone owners to put a UAV’s registration number inside of the device’s battery compartment.

Drone operators in the US must register their aerial vehicle with the FAA, at which time they’re given a registration number. Since launching the registration requirement, the FAA has permitted drone owners to conceal their identifier within an enclosed compartment on the drone, assuming the compartment could be opened without using tools.

This permission aimed to ‘grant flexibility to the diverse types of small unmanned aircraft commercially available.’ However, an interim final rule published on the Federal Register today notes that the FAA has revised that permission and, starting on February 25, will require the registration number to be located on the drone’s exterior.

According to the FAA, it has revised its rule due to government security agency and law enforcement concerns that explosive devices could be hidden within small drones. In a situation like this, first responders who are required to open a drone’s battery compartment in search of the registration number are at risk of injury.

The new interim rule states:

Requiring small unmanned aircraft owners to place the registration number on an external surface of the aircraft helps to mitigate this risk because a first responder can view the number without handling the aircraft, or by using other technologies that allow for remote viewing of the aircraft’s external surface.

The rule change goes into effect on February 25, but the public is able to submit comments on the new requirement until March 15. Comments can be submitted using the Regulations.gov website or by mail and hand delivery to the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Some MacBook Pro owners report speaker damage due to Adobe Premiere Pro audio bug

08 Feb

Some MacBook Pro owners have reported experiencing physical damage to their laptop speakers while using Adobe Premiere Pro. Based on existing reports, the bug appears to impact both Premiere Pro CC 12.0.1 and 12.0.2 users, but the consequences of the problem may ultimately fall on Apple’s side, as software shouldn’t be able to physically damage hardware speakers.

According to online reports, the problem impacts the new MacBook Pro models and arises while users are editing audio settings. One impacted user reported using Adobe Premiere 2019 and, while adjusting settings, being blasted with ‘a loud distorted noise that hurt even my ears.’

The noise allegedly caused the MacBook Pro’s speakers to become ‘unusable.’ Due to the number of components that must be replaced when repairing the damaged speakers, one 2018 MacBook Pro user was quoted a $ 600 repair fee by an Apple Store Genius Bar in Canada.

The Premiere Pro audio bug has been experienced by at least one user while wearing headphones, but they weren’t damaged as a result, according to the user. Adobe allegedly instructed one user to disable the MacBook Pro’s microphone within Premiere Pro under the ‘Preferences > Audio Hardware > Default Input’ menu, but some users report experiencing the audio issue even after troubleshooting.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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