Consumer vs Pro lenses

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When the owner of a DSLR decides to purchase a new lens, one question often arises:  “Is it worth paying 2 - 3 times the amount for a ‘Pro’ lens verses a ‘Consumer’ model?” The kit or consumer lenses that come with new digital cameras are far better than many of the pro lenses manufactured five to ten years ago.  The software used to design the latest versions of lenses as well as the glass and coatings used to control flare & provide color correction have improved over the past few years to the point that even the least expensive lenses match the abilities of most consumer DSLR sensors.

So, why pay more? An example - the AF-S DX VR 18-200mm F3.5-5.6G IF-ED Zoom-Nikkor pictured on the left is a popular “kit” lens that is available with the purchase Nikon D200, D300, that if purchased separately lists for $899.00 with a street price of around $650.00.  Expensive, but a very good quality lens that has over 11X zoom range, Vibration Reduction, fast Silent Wave focusing (the focusing motor is built into the lens so that you can use it with Nikon’s D40, D60, etc, cameras that do not have focusing motors built into the camera body). Nikon also makes the AF-S VR Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF lens pictured on the right, with a list price of $1,700.00 & a street price around $1,625.00.

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Picasa 3: The best gets better

Picasa is the best software you can have on your computer for managing all those digital photos you take as you travel! I say that because it does everything you need to do:

1. Transfer photos from camera to computer
2. Organize your photos on your computer
3. Make them look better with simple editing tools
4. Single-click easy to email, print, or make a free website
5. Backs up all your photos to CD/DVD

It does all this fast, easy, *and* it’s free. What more could you ask for?

Well, people have been asking for the ability to print text on top of a photo, they’ve been asking for a way to print multiple photos on one page and manually place them on the page wherever you want. Or how about better slide shows?, or editing out blemishes on peoples faces?, or tighter integration with your web album?

All these things and more are now included in the new release of Picasa called Picasa 3. It’s in Beta, which means they’re at the end of the development stage but not quite finished. When you use Beta software, it’s always recommend to make a backup of your system first. Picasa 3 is only available for Windows. The Linux version is 2.7 and there is no Macintosh version … yet.

I’ll write more about Picasa 3 once I’ve worked with it some more. Meanwhile, watch this video about the greatly improved Collage feature. I’d love to hear from any of you that do scrapbooking. How does this compare to what you’re using now?

If you have any problem viewing that high resolution one, below is the Youtube version:

Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com
Computer Education for Travelers

Taking Better Photographs, Part 4

First, you might want to check the previous “Taking Better Photographs” Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Although the information may overlap, the suggestions in the first three articles is primarily aimed at the aesthetics of producing better photographs.  Today I’ll cover some of the technical steps you can take to improve your images. By the way, most of the specific terms discussed are covered by earlier articles - I have linked to them when possible.

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Long Exposures

When you get bored taking “normal” photographs, one technique that you might try is taking long exposures. It is an interesting part of the art of making photographs because you can change time, taking something that happens over a few seconds, minutes or hours & showing it all at once. This is a photograph of Main Street, on Nantucket Island, MA.  It is a 20 second exposure at f: 16 & ISO 100.  Although I shot this with my D200 & a 17mm - 35mm zoom lens, as long as you use a tripod there is no reason any point & shoot camera that allows aperture priority or manual exposure modes can’t do the same. If you would like more information about the modes your camera uses, check my earlier post - Camera Modes.

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Photosynth: Way beyond Panoramas

If you’ve ever taken several photos of a scene and ’stitched’ them together into a panorama, then you have an idea of a new world to come with ‘Synthing’ photos. Although that comparison is rather like comparing a bicycle to the space shuttle as similar modes of transportation.

Photosynth is a new service from Microsoft. It allows you, for free, to upload hundreds of photos of any particular location. It will then stitch them all together and give you a virtual world where you can ‘dive in’ to any part of the location and zoom in, zoom out and look around.

The service just went live yesterday (August 20, 2008), so, if you go there and try to play with it, don’t be surprised if it’s “busy.” It might be best to wait a day or even a week. Meanwile, you could be taking some pictures that would be good for a ’synth.’ That is, take a lot of pictures of one subject. Take the photos from every angle. Take closeups and distance shots. When they get synthed together, you will have a 3 dimensional experience.

Although the possibilities for sharing your travel photos is exciting … the long range possibilities of being able to explore our world in 3D are even more so. Here is a video of a presentation by a co-creator of Photosynth. The presentation is from TED - Technology, Education and Design. I love TED! Whenever I want some inspiration, I go to TED.com and watch a video. I dream of attending one of their conferences someday. Take a look by clicking the play button below. If that doesn’t work for you, you can use this link to TED.com instead.

Photosynth on TED.com

Chris Guld

www.GeeksOnTour.com

Photographic Panoramas

One of the interesting projects you can do with any camera is to create a panorama. The first step is to choose the scene that makes sense to use the technique.  Although there is no reason you can’t make a vertical panorama, most are used to depict wide, horizontal scenes. About the only thing they don’t work for is a square image, however the technique can be used to improve any image.  I have shot panoramas of ocean beaches, harbors, rivers, and even a ballroom full of people.

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Do I Need a New Camera?

Sooner or later everyone is likely to decide it is time for a new camera.  If your old one got lost, broken, or is no longer usable, the decision is easy (although the choice of what to get can be daunting) but even if you just want a new one I’ve included some suggestions that may help with your decision.

1. First question: Why replace your current camera? If you are looking to replace a broken or missing camera & you have been happy with what you had, it is worth checking to see if the previous camera is still available.  Unfortunately, if it is more than a few years old, it probably isn’t.  New versions of digital cameras usually replace the previous versions in less than a year. Although the older version may be available for awhile after it has been replaced, you are probably going to be looking for something new if it is over 2 years old. If you can’t find your old camera, one way to shop for a replacement is to use feature search to look new cameras that have the same criteria as your old one.  A final comparison can be made by looking at the previous camera & the possible replacement using “side-by-side” comparisons. Although I like dpreview, other side-by-side comparison sites include BetterPhoto.com & Image Resource.
2. You have decided it is time to “upgrade”, that is purchase a better camera. In this case it is important to decide what specific features you wish improved. All cameras have their pluses & minuses - unless you spend some time thinking about what you don’t like about your current camera, you may replace it with one that has some better features, but the ones that annoy you the most about your current camera are worse on the new one. Again, the feature search listed above can be helpful. Some specific complaints that are often pointed out by individuals taking my basic digital camera class include:
   • It takes too long to turn on.
   • It takes too long between the time I push the shutter button & it actually takes the picture.
   • I can’t see the LCD in the bright sunlight.
   • All my flash pictures have “red eye”.
   • It does not have manual settings.

   All these problems are typical of point & shoot cameras, but some are better than others.  If one of these (or any other specific characteristic) is important to you, use reviews to look for cameras that are favorable in that area.Another popint to remember - unless your camera is under 5megapixels, you probably will not see much resolution improvement going to a higher count camera.

3. Speaking of reviews, unless your are planning on purchasing a new camera the day it is released, there are likely to be reviews available on the internet that can be helpful.  Some of my favorite sites that review cameras include:
   • dpreview.com - Camera & lens reviews, forums, news & more.
   • Steve’s Digital Camera - Similar to dpreview.
   • Imaging Resource - Similar to dpreview, check “Finding the Best Camera for You“.
   • Rob Galbraith DPI - Reviews of cameras & software.
   • Digital Camera Resource Page - Reviews
   • Ken Rockwell - Sometimes considered a bit of a maverick.

   What ever camera you are considering, spend some time reading reviews at all these sites.  They may not all cover the camera you are looking at, but it is always worth looking at more than one.  Another useful place to look is user reviews at buying sites such as Amazon, Adorama, etc. Reviews by consumers are double edged - they may reveal problems the professional reviewers overlook, however since they are often inexperienced users, they may not be knowledgeable enough to provide good information.

4. You want to change from a Point & Shoot to a Digital Single Lens Reflex. Rather than me repeating a previous post, you might take a look at my earlier article “Point & Shoot or DSLR?” for the advantages of each type of camera.
5. You want to replace your entry level DSLR with a semi-pro or even professional DSLR.  If you discover you would rather have more control over your images than your entry level DSLR provides, most major manufacturers would be glad to sell you a more expensive version of their digital camera.  Some examples would be going from a Nikon D50 to a D300, a Canon Rebel to a EOS 40D, etc. A couple of points:
   • Most of the Semi Pro & all the professional DSLRs are bigger & heavier than their entry level counterparts. Before your spend a couple of thousand dollars on a new camera, get one in your hands to be sure it is not too big or too heavy for you to use.
   • Although even an entry level DSLR offers many advantages over a point & shoot camera, they have quite a bit of “automatic” processing built in.  One of the often noted complaints from individuals that shift from entry level to semi pro cameras is that their pictures don’t look as good as they did with the previous camera.  Semi pro & professional cameras do little processing to the images, even jpegs. They tend to look “flat” until further processed by the photographer.  Unless you are willing to spend some time post processing your images, you might think twice about upgrading.
   • If you are upgrading because you don’t think you have enough “pixels” in your image, remember that for 99% of all photographers, much above 6mp cameras isn’t all that necessary.  To double the resolution of an image you must have 4X the pixels, so going from a 10mp to a 12mp camera makes little difference.  The advantages where high pixel cameras count are for photographers that do heavy cropping or print huge (30″ X 40″) images.
6. A last consideration for semi pro DSLR owners: Should I go to a full frame DSLR? Both Canon & Nikon now offer relatively inexpensive (and the term relative is important; they are $2500 - $3000 cameras without a lens compared to $5K - $6K for their pro versions) full frame cameras.  The larger sensor is about the same size as 35mm film as compared to the APS sized sensor used in most DSLRs.  This results in lower noise in low light images & a general overall improvement in image quality.  You lose the 1.5 - 1.6 multiplier provided by the typical APS sensor, so you may find you need longer telephoto lenses, but on the other hand your wide angle lenses are really wide.  Although the full frame cameras often work with the lenses specifically designed for APS sensors, the resolution drops considerably.  For example, the Nikon D700 has a 12.1mp full frame sensor.  If you attach a DX lens (designed for the smaller APS sensor) the maximum resolution is 5.1mp. Still useful, but if your lens collection consists of DX lenses, you might want to stick with the smaller sensor.

Toys For the Photographer, Part 2

This week I’ll suggest some additional “Toys” you might consider to add to your photography equipment.  By the way, you might want to check the first article on this subject published a couple of weeks ago.

Ball Head - When you purchase a high end tripod (see my article on tripods for why you should) (and see Thom Hogan’s Tripods & Ball Heads article on which you should buy) you are going to need a head for it. Most high end tripods provide a platform, but no head.  You have two choices -  Pan/Tilt heads are more likely to come with less expensive tripods - they usually have 2 handles, one for moving the camera left & right, the other for tilting up & down. A ball head is more flexible - the camera can be rotated in any direction then locked with one lever. What’s more, the better quality ball heads can be adjusted for the weight of the camera & lens so that they can be panned or tilted but stay in position when you let go. Generally, the more expensive heads move smoother than the less expensive ones, but any of them will let you position the camera faster than a pan/tilt head.  They come in a wide range of quality & price -

The Manfrotto 486 on the left @ $75.00 is an entry level ball head.  It will swivel to almost any position, and with a quick twist of the locking lever lock firmly in position.  It has a notch (actually, two notches) so the camera can be tilted for vertical shots, but when it is loose enough to move the camera you can’t let go of the camera without taking a chance that it will tip all the way down. It is an inexpensive way to learn the advantages of a ball head, and I have used one for many years for posed photographs.  The disadvantage is you must lock & unlock it every time you reposition the camera.

The Markin M20 is an example of a high end unit (at a high end price - $385.00). When adjusted for your camera & lens you can move your camera into position, let go and it will stay there.  If you want to completely lock it in position, just turn the knob. Another advantage of the more expensive heads is they usually include a pan adjustment.  You must loosen the entire ball to pan the inexpensive versions.  If you are using it to shoot panoramas, you will lose your horizon between shots. With the pan adjustment, the ball stays locked during a pan. By the way, many manufacturers of both expensive & inexpensive versions make light weight versions that will work well with point & shoot cameras.

Teleconverter - A teleconverter is a device that goes between your camera & lens.  They are usually available as a 1.4, 1.7, 2.0 & 3.0 multiplication factor, i.e. they increase the effective focal length of the lens they are attached to by the number. Of course you don’t get something for nothing.  They will reduce the amount of light reaching your film or sensor; the 1.4 by one-half a stop, the 1.7 by one & one-half stops, the 2.0 by two stops & the 3.0 by three stops. Most camera & lens manufacturers make them, and like any device come in a range of qualities. Even the best will reduce the quality of the lens used with them.  The higher the multiplication factor the further they reduce quality. Although many photographers are comfortable using the 1.4 & 1.7 versions, the 2.0 & 3.0 degrade the image quality enough that I would be hesitant to purchase one.  Still, this is a less expensive way to increase the reach of your camera than purchasing a telephoto lens. A couple of points - unless used with a very fast lens, it is likely they will reduce the light enough that your auto focus will stop working.  In the best case it will take longer to focus if it does at all. They don’t fit all lenses.  Most manufacturers have a list of the lenses that will work with each teleconverter.  In some cases they are not recommended because you will lose auto focus, but in other cases they won’t physically fit the lens, so it is worth checking before purchasing. Finally, they are available as an auxiliary lens that can be added in front of some point & shoot cameras.
Better Beamer - When you use an external flash with a telephoto lens, much of the flash output is wasted. The flash head spreads the light at a wider angle than the lens covers. Even an adjustable flash head covers a wider field than a 300mm - 400mm lens.  This is where the Better Beamer becomes a useful tool.  It consists of a fresnel lens placed in front of your flash head.  It narrows the beam, so more of the light from the flash head hits your subject. Basicly, it boosts the output of your flash head by 2 - 3 stops. If you use it with a flash that has a zoom head (the flash, not your lens) experiment to see what flash zoom setting matches your lens.  Some examples of this are shown in an article by T. David Griffith at the Nature Photographers online Magazine. It works wonders providing fill flash when photographing birds & animals, even at distances over 200′.

Light Meter - Since your camera already has a metering system built into it that can automatically set your exposure, you might ask why you need a separate meter.  The simple answer is you don’t, but there are a number of situations where one can be useful.  The Sekonic meter in the picture does a number of things.  It can measure incident light, reflective light, and the amount of light produced by your flash. It also has a built in very narrow (1°) spot measurement. Some uses:

1. Use the spot mode to determine the dynamic range of your image.  Aim the spot at the brightest part of the image, save the reading, then take a reading from the darkest area you wish details to show. The number of f stops between these readings is your dynamic range.  If it is over the capability of your camera’s sensor (typically 5 - 8 stops) you are either going to burn out the highlights or have the details in the shadows end up black.
2. Use the incident meter to measure exposure rather than the camera’s metering system. The advantages of an incident reading are described in an earlier post on Camera Metering.
3. If your meter is capable of measuring flash output, it provides a quick method of determining if your flash is powerful enough to illuminate your subject.  A slight downside - to make an effective measurement you need to position the meter at the subject; a difficult problem in most landscape photography.

That’s enough for this week. I’ll probably have some more “Toys” in a future post.

Niagara Falls and Photo Story 3

You can’t visit Niagara Falls without taking lots of pictures! It is just so magnificent. We were just there and did just that! So, how best to show all those photos? I choose Photo Story 3. It’s a free program from Microsoft and I’ve written about it in this previous article. After making the movie, I then uploaded it to Google Video so it can be shared with the world. You can do it too! This video took me less than 15 minutes.

Chris Guld
www.GeeksonTour.com

North to Alaska…BaBa Canyon

You won’t nfind this one on any map. In fact, we just sort of blundered into it late one afternoon while we were driving around looking for Stone sheep and caribou to photograph.

A few miles past the summit of the Rockies at the bottom of a long cliff we spotted a road of sorts–two-lane rustic trail might be a better description–leading away from the Alaska Highway. We turned in and were able to drive only a couple of hundred yards at most before we had to stop and turn the car around.

Just as we turned onto this trail, on a slab of rock someone had hand-painted “BaBa Canyon.” Whether that is the real name of this place or not, I don’t know. At any rate, after we drove as far as we could, we turned the car around, parked it and got out to walk a little. There was a foot trail of sorts leading farther away from the highway upstream along a small creek of gin-clear water.

I’d only gone a short distance before I abruptly turned around and headed back to the car for my photography gear. The view ahead of us was stunning, as this picture tries to show. We spent most of the next hour working our cameras trying to make just the right picture. Only then did we head back to the car for a drive back to our motorhome.

Contact Ron at rdcomm@gci.net for information on ordering his book, Guide to the Alaska Highway.

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