Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Backyard Beauty!
http://imageevent.com/jhowle/hummingbirds
I also went out to look for birds and wildlife at the Lock and Dam in Columbus, MS this week and I lucked up bigtime! I spotted a doe with twin fawns nursing! I snapped about 5 or 6 photos with her looking at me and no doubt hearing the loud shutter of my 20D and then after letting them nurse a minute longer, she turned and went into the bushes away from my prying camera.
http://imageevent.com/jhowle/deerwithfawns
Enjoy!
New superzoom cameras coming soon!
Unfortunately the Sony and Olympus superzoom models did not live up to the hype with some serious image problems so I have not recommended them to nature photographers. The new Canon S5 IS, while not perfect either, is probably a better choice and the review just out at dpreview.com states that it would be his pick of the current crop of superzooms. And there is nothing wrong with the previous S3 IS, which I own, now available for considerablly discounted prices. Another top contender is the Panasonic FZ8 which received a Highly Recommended rating. You can read the reviews of the superzoom models at dpreview.com, steves-digicams.com and imaging-resource.com and decide for yourself.
For those who are not interested in superzoom models, check out the other new Fine Pix models just announced. Some of them will have true image stabilization, face recognition, and should take better low light photos using high ISO without a lot of grain, if they are as good as the previous highly-rated models like the F31. Here's the new FinePix F50fd.
Panasonic is also coming out with a new model DMC-FZ18 8.1 megapixel sporting 18X stabilized zoom, but I'd have to see a review before getting excited about it since the current models still have problems with noise even at the lowest ISO setting.
I'll try to keep current on new camera introductions as they appear and as reviews come out.
Judy
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Should you buy a digital SLR?
Digital SLRs have the following advantages:
2. Faster startup and shot-to-shot times, shooting up to 5 frames per second in high-speed mode.
3. Low noise, resulting in cleaner images in low-light situations where it is necessary to use higher ISO values.
4. High-quality interchangeable lenses from wide-angle to telephoto to suit your shooting needs.
5. External flash units are available for better photos. They can be mounted on the camera’s hot shoe and can be bounced off the ceiling or walls to avoid washing out your subjects and harsh shadows created by on-board flashes.
6. Most have a large number of buttons and dials that allow very fast adjustments of settings including Exposure Compensation, Metering modes, White Balance, Aperture and Shutter speed, ISO, Flash settings, and other functions without using menus, which makes it much faster and easier to change settings to suit the shooting conditions.
7. Digital SLRs focus and shoot extremely fast under most conditions so you won't miss the shot and many have a special focus mode for moving subjects.
Digital SLR cameras are larger and heavier than compact digicams. If you like to keep a camera in your pocket or purse, then an SLR may seem overly large, but you can always have a 2nd inexpensive "take-anywhere" pocket camera. The size is actually easy to get used to after a short time and any inconvenience is more than made up for by the superior image quality. This is especially true if you are shooting with a longer zoom lens which generally produces a better image than shooting distant subjects with a compact digital camera, sharper and much more detailed images are the rule.
For example, I met one gal who had purchased the inexpensive Olympus SLR with 2 lenses and she decided she needed a longer lens but the longer lenses for that camera were really expensive unless she went with a 3rd party model.
Canon has a large assortment of lenses available and many are moderately priced, such as the 70 - 300 mm stabilized lens and several in the wide-angle range. I am not familiar with the pricing on other brands as I haven't looked at them in 3 yrs. since I decided to go with a Canon 20D.
Image stabilized lenses should be considered if you don’t want to use a tripod most of the time to avoid blurring from camera shake at longer focal lengths. (Some cameras such as the Sony Alpha now offer anti-shake technology in the camera, making any lens stabilized, although this is a little less effective than stabilization in the lens itself.)
It depends on what your needs are, but generally I recommend the Canon Rebel XTi as it has outstanding image quality, low noise, 10 megapixels, and you have a large assortment of quality Canon lenses to choose from. But you should make you own decision and let your budget be your guide. If you have a larger budget, look at the Canon 30D (or wait till late summer and see if a new model will be announced to replace the 30D), or the Nikon D80. If you have a smaller budget, look at the Sony, Pentax and Olympus models. The Olympus can be purchased in a kit with 2 lenses for a very reasonable price.
For the latest and best camera models, check my Digital Camera Store.
.