Upgrading my camera

After managing to drown my 50D taking long exposure shots of the sunrise at Baluran National Park in Java Indonesia, it was time to purchase a new camera. Even though I still have my 30D its tiny screen just doesn't cut it anymore, nor does its lack of bells and whistles.

The new mirrorless cameras really do look like the future, and with cameras like Sony's Alpha 7R with the ability to use your old glass from any make of camera (just add adaptor) I almost made the jump. Except for the price.

DSLR prices have reduced drastically in the last few years, probably because mirror technology seems to be an outdated medium. In fact anyone doing live view shooting or video on their SLR is using mirrorless technology. It's only a matter of time before viewing pictures through an optical viewfinder is obsolete, along with all that heavy mirror stuff that makes it possible. Digital viewfinders, so you can still use an eyecup, actually give you the advantage of seeing what your shot will look like, unlike optical, so it's an advantage along with a drastic weight reduction in the camera.

So instead of forking out for a full frame digital mirrorless camera I decided to buy a much cheaper Canon EOS 70D SLR. It literally cost half what I paid for the body of my 50D back in 2009 but I had to buy new batteries and cards (it uses SD cards rather than CF cards) and chargers so that upped the price a little. I think it's a pretty good reflection of where the market is going, but I'll wait a little for the top end of the mirrorless market to steady. Do I really need a full frame camera when half my lenses are optimised for APS-C?

The 70D has lots of features that the mirrorless cameras have, like live view, video and wireless connections to smart phones. You can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to be using these quite a bit, particularly as I also like the way the camera has been configured to get you easy access to these utilities. OK the WiFi set up is pretty gangly, but once you work it out it's not too hard.

I'm loving the live view, especially as the LCD screen folds out, can be tilted around to give you the best view, and allows for better composed shots from the hip. It also has a viewfinder level to correct my chronic off kilter horizons, and I'm particularly looking forward to getting some much crisper shots by utilising not only its improved sensor but the ability to zoom in on the screen to ensure you've got your focus right. Yes, that last bit requires a tripod peeps!

I'm yet to replace my 10-22mm wide angle lens so no long exposures for the time being (the ND filters only fit that lens) so I will be playing around with the camera using other lenses, maybe do a little macro, and experiment with the video. I'll also transfer some images over to the phone and edit them using smartphone apps. I love using Snapseed to edit photos, and having access to some of the files from my SLR with much larger colour spaces should give me a lot more creative freedom.

Photos transferred from the camera to my iPhone are converted to JPG and compressed, so inevitably I lose some quality The big plus is only needing to use one camera at a time to capture shots, but then being able to edit them in different ways ( I'm usually a bit more creative with my Snapseed edits than my Lightroom edits) on different devices. It means that I don't need to take an extra shot with the iPhone, and can utilise the optics of a wide angle or telephoto lens rather than the digital zoom on the phone. Both the above photos were taken with my iPhone, but I took many more with the SLR at the same time.

Like everyone, I sometimes want to shoot off a quick shot to Facebook to share, something I couldn't do with the old SLR without importing and editing through LR. So I'll take a few iPhone shots instead. They're usually rushed, and not great quality as a result. I'm much more careful with my SLR shots. Even though it will take longer than continuing to rush off some shots, having the option to transfer shots from my 70D to my phone for uploading to Facebook means my pictures should take a great leap in quality. Of course this requires a little self discipline...

There's also the option to connect wirelessly to the internet and to my computer, but since I wish to edit my photos first, and not tie myself to Canon's EOS utility software, I think I'll just keep to my usual workflow of download into LR, edit and publish. Except for my Snapseed photos, which I often publish direct to the web from my smartphone. So I'll stick with just smartphone connectivity for now.

I'm also working out how to do time-lapse using the smartphone as controller. Watch this space...

Long exposure photography

In keeping with a previous post, I've been spending a bit of time working on long exposure shots. Mostly of moving water in streams and small cascades, as well as ocean shots at twilight.

It's trial and error, because the amount of exposure time needed depends on the water flow as well as whether the sun is shining or not. It's much better to have the sun behind clouds for these stream shots so you don't get harsh highlights and shadows.

Of course a tripod is a necessity. A good sturdy strong one. Water and cameras don't mix!

All these photos were taken with my Canon 50D body and 10-22mm EF-S lens. Using neutral density filters. The ISO was set at 100, but apertures and exposure times were really variable. From 3 seconds to 30 seconds! There's no easy way to work out what's the right exposure, though I do use the in camera light meter to give me a guide. After all, you're trying to create something that you can't see - a picture of light in motion - so only practice gets you there.

I'm working with two different neutral density filters at present. One is the Tiffen Variable ND filter which gives you a bit of flexibility in controlling the light coming through the lens, between 2 to 8 stops, which means you can try a bunch of different timed exposures to find the right look. I found this filter particularly useful for running water shots.

The second filter is the previously mentioned Hoya NDX400, which is one dark piece of glass, and awesome for those silky long sunrise shots over the ocean.

The final thing that happened not long after this shot was captured was a wave toppled my tripod and flooded/ ruined my camera. Perhaps I hadn't stabilised it as well as I thought I had - it was certainly a rather unpleasant surprise.

So I'll soon be the proud owner of a new Canon 70D!!

Gadgets, apps and smart phones

I have never been a great fan of mobile phones because I actually like not being contactable. Perhaps because I spent so much of my early working life attached to a pager!

Then along came smart phones. It took me a little while to join the crowd, but when I was having battery problems with my old phone, and needed a new point and shoot camera after my Nikon Coolpix disappeared, I decided to upgrade. I bought an iPhone 4S because its camera got such a good review, and well, the rest is history....

I predict that point and shoot cameras will soon be obsolete. With a smart phone you can take great photos, use apps to edit them, and then share them online within minutes. Oh yeah, and you can make calls and text on it too!

My iPhone takes fantastic quality shots. Last year on my ski trip to NZ I left the SLR behind and just took the iPhone. It felt snug in an inside pocket of my ski jacket, I could listen to music whilst skiing, and could pull it out for those memorable shots.

Then add apps. Until I got my smart phone I didn't understand what all this excitement about apps was about. It didn't take me long to find out, and soon I was downloading all sorts of stuff from the iTunes store! And so cheap compared with add on software for computers!

But it can be a bit overwhelming. A great resource I found was an eBook on iPhone photography that informed me regarding what apps are available. Did you know you don't have to use the photo taking software that comes with your phone? That you can use apps that allow you to control the focus and exposure, and that allow you to take photos just by tapping the screen? And then there's editing options. You've heard of Instagram, but there's a myriad of other free and not so free apps out there to edit your photos. And some awesome photo-stitching apps as well. The photo heading up this blog? It's a panorama taken from eight photos at Mt Hutt ski field in New Zealand with my iPhone and then stitched together and cropped. Not bad hey?

Your smart phone has other uses too. Like when you are using your SLR instead and would like to have a few tools at your fingertips. The Photographer's Ephemeris is something I'm only just starting to use, but it's a great tool for planning the best time to take a photo at a particular location. It uses GPS coordinates and times of sun and moon rise and set, so you can plan to be at the right place at the right time for your perfect photo. I'm not quite in that league yet, but the tool's there, just saying. And it's on your phone in your pocket any time you need it.

Another app I like to have, and am using quite a lot with macro photography, is Depth of Field Calc. I upgraded from the free app, which allows me to plug in what camera I'm using, and then customise focal length, distance to subject and f-stop to determine the depth of field of the shot I'm about to take. It can take the trial and error out of setting up a shot. In the old days people had paper charts, now you have an app in your pocket with customisable options. Awesome!

But say you only have an iPhone and want to take macro shots? All credit where it's due, many of the point & shoot cameras were strong here, but all is not lost, because you can get a gadget for that! I've got an Olloclip, but there's a few other gadgets out there that do the same job. The Olloclip allows you to do macro, wide-angle and fisheye, adding alot of creative fun to your iPhone photos.

Here's a few shots to show you what a wee iPhone, an Olloclip, and some apps can achieve.

Fisheye

Macro

Sun and moon

perfect reflections

And one last thing. How often do you use your SLR to take self portraits?