I haven’t tweeted much lately but did take the time yesterday to note that one of my “bestest” friends, @Fittorrent is visiting me from LA for a few days. I’ve had friends visiting me quite a bit lately and I love it! The city-folk get to escape to a cabin in the woods and do it for cheap. Why not? Hopefully some family members will be up once skiing season begins.
Anyway, Liana brought along her new Canon 7D. It’s a heavy, beast of a camera compared to my Canon S95 or previously, Canon G11. The lenses she brought along are a Lensbaby, fixed 50mm (f/1.8) and a 24-70 (f/2.8). Since we didn’t have a flash with diffuser, I was stuck in a bit of a pickle. Most of the photographers were taken indoors with pretty low lighting so I had to boost most photos to ISO 6400 with the largest aperture to get shots that were crisp and, even then, I wasn’t happy with them.
I have to get a DSLR. The power of this thing really eclipses any thing I’ve ever used before. It’s a phenomenal camera, my wrist is killing me from 2 hours of shooting and my S95 just feels terrible in comparison. I took 700 in total and sent off about 50 to my coworkers and friends. Here are a few of my favorites.
…and, before anyone following me rushes out to get a Canon 7D, I have to add this photo. It was taken by my friend Shawna who doesn’t now the ins and outs of manual photography (not many people do) and when she insisted on taking a picture of me, I switched the camera to full-auto. Here is the result. Same lighting, same lens but full auto. Here’s the thing, over the past 12 months, I know a dozen people who have written me saying “hey I just bought the Canon G9/G10/G11/G12/S95 based on your photostream! Then, they’re disappointed when the photos aren’t great. It takes practice. You have to live in manual, find that angle, frame your subject and shoot THOUSANDS of photos. I’m still very very far off from being a good photographer but I keep getting better and that’s what matters.
Anyone that follows my photography will tell you I rarely take portraits. The best point & shoot portrait was this one taken of Laura Wiggins on the night before I left San Francisco. The reason I avoid portraits is that they are very difficult on a point & shoot. Controls are harder, the sensor is smaller, the grip and holding the camera is a challenge and the flash is usually underpowered to the point where you’re just not going to use it.
My confession is that this is the first time I’ve used an SLR. I’ve touched them and taking a couple of pix in the past but mostly on auto when I had no clue what I’m doing. This camera has blown me away. Consider this, these are photos I took with no SLR experience within the first hour of using it. Imagine what I can do after months of practice…. Yeah, I need one of these.
I hope enjoyed this set. Thanks for reading.
1 noticeable thing with her shot vs your’s is the white balance. I was an SLR/Medium Format film person, & when digitals came out I stayed mostly with P&S for awhile. But over time I was losing at lot of great images, due to not enough zoom & too slow a shutter.
last year (or maybe 2yrs ago) I switched to dSLR. I jumped head-in, I didn’t want to be changing cameras after 6 months, so bit a costly bullet & went with the 5DMkII. Other than the heaviness of 1 lens, I don’t mind carrying it at all. For quick ‘of the moment’ shots I resort to my Nexus One, which at 5MP is good enough.
on white balance & such: I had a long talk with a friend, who works for NatGeo. (was US photographer of year, so on & so forth). We talked a lot on dSLR vs SLR. Nowadays he shoots mostly in auto, with 1/2-1 f/stop down. (it’s easy to add light, not take it away) & does the rest on the computer.
That’s a great point. Well, white balance isn’t very accessible on my point & shoot cameras. I think, once an SLR is in hand, I’ll start exploring that.
Thanks for the comment w/ tips.
I agree Adam. I’ve watched your skill as a photographer grow and you are most definitely ready for a dslr. I love my Canon 20D (a few years old). You might also want to check out the Nikon line. Both are good. For me it came down to which one felt right in my hand.
Thank you! I noticed on the older Flickr photos that things have improved which is great news for me!
I bought good point & shoots because the plan was to get really good with very little and once I’ve outgrown it, upgrade. Looks like, I’m hitting those walls with point & shoots and it’s time to go shopping.
and once you’ve got your camera I’d also get Adobe’s Lightroom. It’s a superb program for photographers. I’ve used it since it first came out and wouldn’t be doing much with photography without it. Worth ever penny! ( and far more useful – and afordable – than photoshop imho )