The standard way of carrying your camera is using the shoulder (neck) strap that comes with almost every camera. It has a lot to be desired. When I am out with my family, the camera would want to swing or roll wildly whenever I bend down to do something. Even during normal walking the camera bounces around and wants to slip off my shoulder. It requires one hand constantly on the camera to make sure it is secure and leaves another hand to do very limited things. For outdoor photographers, the shoulder strap just won’t work well for biking or hiking. I am sure many people have similar complaints. Recently, I have noticed a few products that can nicely solve the problems, for a price. Read More…
Mounting a flash unit on the camera is an effective first step to overcome the limitations of the built-in flash. However a whole new world opens up when you take the flash off the camera and arrange it creatively for much better flash photography lighting.
The natural question is how to support the off-camera flash. You can try to handhold it. It may work for some occasions but not suitable for long shooting sessions or without an assistant. Most flash units come with a small stand such as the AS-19
Many if not most DSLR cameras come with built-in flash unit. It certainly is convenient for snapshots and most of the time the results are decent for casual photos. The limitations of the built-in flash are well known to many especially the very flash-look photos caused by harsh lighting.
To illustrate the limitations of built-in flash, I used the following two set of photos. In each set, the one on the left was taken using built-in flash of a Nikon D200 and the one on the right was taken with the same camera but with a SB-600 Speedlight bounced off 60-degree angle to 8′ celling. I also attached a Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce Diffuser
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Posted in Other on December 18th, 2008. No Comments.
The Eye-Fi is a secure digital (SD) format memory card with Wi-Fi (802.11g, 54mbps) that can wirelessly send photos from a digital camera to a computer or photo sharing service of your choice. It has generated quite some buzz on gadget blogs (Engadget, Gizmodo, CrunchGear) but some mixed reviews (Post-Bulletin, PC World, DPReview) since its launch.
Overall, it works as advertised but comes with some limitations. For example,
- It only transmits JPEG photos, raw shooters are out of luck (The company says other formats and raw support are coming).
- It has limited range (< 45ft, and practically <20ft).
- It only works on trusted, encrypted, pre-configured wireless network but not open access points.
- It is only in SD format (some have reported it works with a SD-to-CF adapter).
- It is slow to start and slow to upload especially when uploading to online photo sharing sites.
- It uploads everything, no way of selecting images for upload.
Despite the limitations, it does come with a reasonable price of $100. If you find it fun or useful for you (with the limitations), you may want to give it a try.
Posted in Accessories on November 4th, 2007. No Comments.
In my previous post Fall foliage shooting tips, I have recommended the use of a polarizer and stated the benefits of a polarizer, especially in bright sun light. Here is an good example of using a polarizer for fall foliage shooting.
Posted in Accessories on October 7th, 2007. No Comments.
Kata makes great bags with learnings from sophisticated military protection technology. I have the KT R-103 GDC Rucksack and I love it.
Kata recently announced a new Digital Photo Series (DPS) bags as the latest addition to the acclaimed Global Digital Collection (GDC). Check out which one is a fit for your camera and carrying need by following this link.
Posted in Accessories on October 5th, 2007. No Comments.
Digital cameras use flash storage media cards of various types. Typically they come in small plastic packages that are difficult to manage in field and offer little protection to your valuable memory cards. Digital media storage cases will be a well made investment.
These card cases are typically constructed of high mechanical strength materials with anti-static rubber molded lining for maximum protection. There are many choices of different sizes and interior shapes for various digital media types. They are fairly inexpensive. Even the very fancy ones cost less than ~$20.
The picture above shows the case I use. One very useful tip is put the card with photos face down so you don’t need to figure out which one has been used later.
Posted in Accessories on September 25th, 2007. No Comments.
This is a funny story, with lessons to be learned. If you return a digital camera, make sure you remove your card or reformat the included memory card, at least. The best practice is to “shred” it, not with your paper shredder, but with a software such as this one. When buying memory cards, pay attention to the extra software bundled with them. Some provide encryption and shredding features for free.
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