Monday, 20th August 2007

Canon announced two brand new dSLRs, the Canon 40D with a 6.5fps burst and 3″ Live View LCD and the Canon 1Ds Mark III with a whopping 21 Megapixel Full Frame Sensor. The 40D is acknowledged by the photography world as the true successor to the 20D since the 30D wasnt very revolutionary. With a 10 Megapixel sensor, it was only a small leap from the 8 Megapixel sensor of the 30D but it included several additional features such as DIGIC III processor and 6.5fps burst capable of shooting 75jpgs, which earned it some nods of approval from the photography world.

The Canon 1Ds Mark - III

The 1Ds Mark III naturally stunned everyone with its large megapixel count, something only earlier achievable by medium format digital cameras and to this day, remains the dSLR with the highest megapixel count. It had a burst rate of 5fps, admittedly slower than the 40D but at capable of recording 56 21Megapixels RAW, one cant really complain. It also boasted of Dual DIGIC III processors to process the 185MB of data every second produced at full burst. It had a decent ISO range from ISO 50 to ISO 3200 and a 19 point autofocus sensor. A $8,000, it was expensive but there were probably a lot of people willing to spent that much of money for the megapixels.

Thursday, 23rd August 2007

Nikon retaliated with its two latest offerings, the Nikon D300 with a 51-point autofocus sensor and an impressive 922,000 pixel 3″ LCD with Live View and autofocus, and the Nikon D3 with a mindblowing ISO of 25,600 and a Full Frame 12 Megapixel sensor capable of 11fps burst. The D300 is probably not directly comparable with the 40D since it falls in a higher price bracket (the D300 cost $1,800 opposed to the $1,300 of the 40D) but the mind tends to compare things and since both of them were announced within 3 days of each other, people started saying how the D300 was so much more awesome than the 40D which was true.

The Nikon D3

As for the D3, it was a reason to rejoice for Nikonians all over the world since it was their first full frame dSLR and came with features that would make some Canonians burn with jealousy. Even though it only had a 12 Megapixel Sensor, the fact that it could shoot at 25,600 ISO, the highest in the world even today, was a huge selling point. It had a screen similar to the D300 and a Virtual Horizon feature and even HDMI output. At $5,000, it was also noticeably cheaper than the Canon equivalent.The 1Ds Mark III did have its advantage when it came to megapixels but the D3’s ISO and autofocus tempted several sports photographs to switch sides as was visible in the Beijing Olympics with a marked decrease in white lenses.

Tuesday, 1st July 2008

Nikon officially announced the much rumoured about Nikon D700, a camera with the guts of the D3 and the body of the D300. It was in direct competition with the Canon 5D which was a highly successful full frame camera. The D700 would also prove to be popular among the people since one could have the essential features of the D3 minus the fast burst rate and could carry around a much more portable camera. Costing $3,000, it was well worth it.

The Nikon D700

Tuesday, 20th August 2008

Canon announces the much anticipated successor to the 40D, the Canon 50D. With a remarkable 15Megapixels of resolution and 12,800 ISO, it sounds like a clear winner. In addition to that, it will be the first camera to sport the new DIGIC 4 processor. Learned from Nikon, it now boasts of a sparkling 3″ VGA LCD with Live View and 3 modes of autofocus and also HDMI output. The LCD is supposed to be superior to that of the Nikon D3 which is good news. Priced reasonably at $1,400, it almost looks like Canon is making a comeback against Nikon.

Wednesday, 21st August 2008

Nikon announces the successor to the hugely popular D80, the Nikon D90. With a 12Megapixel sensor and a maximum ISO of 6400, it doesnt sound like a worthy opposition to the Canon 50D. It also has the same screen as the D3 with Live View and a 4.5fps burst. But the magic feature of the D90 is its ability to record movies. Yes, Nikon has just released the world’s first dSLR with video recording capabilities. This is sure to create a lot of buzz among everyone and since its priced at $1,300, it’s going to be very tempting for some potential 50D buyers.

Canon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Along the the 50D, Canon has also announced its newest superzoom lens, the Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.5 IS for use the with crop sensor cameras. It was about time that Canon annouced a superzoom lens since Nikon had already done so a long time ago. However, the leader in the world superzooms is Tamron with its newest offering having an impressive range of 15x with a focal length of 18-270mm with VC which is Tamron’s version of IS. Once again, consumers will have a choice of Canon’s higher priced lower focal length offering or Tamron’s lower priced higher focal length solution. The difference in quality can only be determined once they have been released and one has to see whether there will be remarkable differences which would make the Canon worth the money.

In the world of flashes, Nikon seems to be leading as well with the new Nikon SB-900 which is Nikon’s top of the line flash and definitely trumps Canon’s top of the line 580EX-II. The SB-900 comes with some world’s first features such as a flash zoom range of 17-200mm and three different illumination patterns. Sony is making a revolution in its own world with the first flash in the world with a vertical swivel. The HVL-F58AM from Sony has a very innovative “Quick Shift Bounce” system also makes it a must have for many photographers.

Sony will also be entering the Full Frame with the announcement of its much anticipated new Pro level dSLR which is touted to have a 24Megapixel sensor and will effectively become the dSLR with the highest megapixel count. And since Sony supplies the sensors for Nikon, it shouldnt be too much of a surprise if Nikon announces a D3X with a 24Megapixel sensor as well. This would be a huge blow to Canon which needs to get its show together at Photokina this year. Photokina starts on the 23rd of September at Germany and almost every photographer is eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Canon 5D’s successor. Several rumours have been all around the internet but we wont know for sure until Canon announces it officially. I sincerely do hope that Canon have something mindblowing and revolutionary in store for everyone because if they dont, Nikon is going to slowly start taking the lead…

Disclaimer - I own a Canon 40D which I bought around a year ago.

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I have to admit that I am sometimes completely out of ideas for the 365 Day Project and this is usually at around 9 at night when I only have 3 more hours to get an idea for a decent photo of the day. And then I try one of the following tips to manage a last minute good photo.

1. Look around you.

Some of the most impressive photographs that I’ve seen are of things that we use in our daily life taken from a different perspective. Going down to macro level on random things lying on your table can make them look surprisingly good. Try and get some sort of symmetry/perspective with the object and there is a high possibility of getting a good shot from a simple object. Most Point ‘n’ Shoot cameras have a macro mode with a minimum focus distance ranging from 0cm to 5cm. It is usually denoted by a flower symbol and can be enabled either by a button on the body or in the menu depending upon your model.

For dSLRs, you can either get a dedicated Macro lens like the Canon Macro EF 100m f2.8 or Nikkor Micro 105mm f/2.8 VR or alternatively, you can get a lens which can deliver results close to a true macro. A dedicated macro lens like the ones mentioned can give level of 1:1 magnification which means that the size of the image on a full frame sensor will be equal to the size of the object. Lenses like the Sigma 70 - 300mm Macro f/4-5.6 can give you a ratio of 1:2 which means the size of the image will be half of what it is in real life. This ratio is probably enough for most users and the lens also doubles as a telephoto zoom lens.

For people who dont wish to buy a new lens for macro, you can get some extension tubes which are placed between the lens and camera. Since they move the lens away from the sensor plane, it increases the size of the image, thereby creating a pseudo macro lens. The downside is that you cannot focus on infinity with the extension tubes in place and it also reduces the amount of light hitting the sensor so it would be advisable to use a tripod for the resulting long exposures. The 50mm f/1.8 is the recommended lens for using extension tubes but you can also try it with other lenses that you already own. You can also get some close up filters which can be fit on the end of the lens and they reduce the minimum focusing distance of the lens. For the more adventurous, you can try a reversed lens technique which involves reversing a lens and placing it infront of another lens which is on the camera body. Personally, I’ve never tried it but it apparently results in some interesting macros with a magnification higher than 1:1.

Here are a couple of shots that I took of my speakers and a pound coin, both were impromptu and turned out better than I expected.

2. Go for a walk

A short walk around the neighbourhood with the prime objective of taking photographs can yield good results and make you notice new things. You’ll look at the same place that you see everyday with a different eye and observe small details that you may missed earlier. These small details can possibly make a nice photo, either in macro or just as a landscape shot with unique aspect.

Go to the local park and you can get some nature shots of flowers, trees and the greenery there. You can also probably spot some kids playing in the playground and get a few playful photos of them. However, make sure you ask their parents for permission or they might get offended by this stranger with a camera snapping photos of their children.

You can get the best landscape shots at twilight so depending on your location, start off from home about 30 minutes before the sun starts to set and you should be able to take some nice landscape photographs of your locality. You can use your kit lens but if you do have another walkaround lens or all purpose zoom lens, take that one with you, just to be ready for all types of opportunities.

I got this shot at a stroll in the evening and this one at a walk in the night.

3. Browse Flickr.

Flickr is one of the largest photo sharing websites used extensively by many photographers, both professionals and amateurs. Due to its huge popularity, you can find thousands of photographs on any subject that you like. You can find a lot of shots which will inspire you and give you ideas to recreate the shot and maybe modify it to your liking.

You can start off by going to ‘Explore‘ which is a day-by-day catalogue of Flickr’s most popular photos for that specific date. You can choose to surf to a specific date of the year and see the popular photos for that date, I usually start by going to the date of my birthday but you can always chose any date that you wish. You can also select a ‘tag’ that you find interesting and it will show all the popular photos with that tag. Another new option is to surf the geo-tagged photos, so for example, you can see all the geo-tagged photos which have been taken at the a specific street in Paris, etc.

Another thing which I like to do is to go through the photo pools of several groups. You can search for a group and most of the time, there always exists a group filled with similar ideologies like you. You can then surf through the various photos in the group and try and find something interesting. You can also go through the photostream of the individual photographer who took a photo that you liked to see more of his work.

All of the photos that you find interesting can serve as inspiration to you and give you new and fresh ideas for photos that you may not have thought of by yourself.

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These are 6 photographs that I really like, handpicked from over 150 photographs from my favorites on Flickr.

Copyright of p0cket-paul.

The above photograph has a special significance to me since it was the first image that I added as a favorite on Flickr more than a year ago. Other than the obvious reasons of why one would like this photo, it was taken by a Film Camera (Canon A-1) which gives it a nice grainy black and white effect which I love. And the pure candid feeling of the photo puts it above many others and the fact that it looks like the photographer is grinning broadly adds to the mood.

Copyright of Ronald Suello.

I loved this shot the moment I saw it. It was the shot that inspired me to take up Strobist style of photography seriously and invest in new lighting equipment. It is also the single shot that inspired this entire set of mine on Flickr. This shoot has a ‘coolness’ factor to it which sets it apart from other alcohol bottle shots. And the motion of the water frozen forever simply makes it one of the best alcohol based shots I have ever seen.

Copyright of Eldad Hagar.

The expression on the face of the tiger, the ripples in the water and the grabbing paw make this an amazing wildlife/action shot. The shot is action packed and the motion blur created by the tiger as it burst into the water give it a sense of motion. The fierce and hungry look on the face is priceless and it probably would take a lot of effort to recreate this awesome moment.

Copyright of Matt Cohen.

Do I really need to explain why this photo is amazing? The timing, the action captured, the amazing glass used (Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR) and the high ISO (2500) come together to create what can possibly be named as one of the greatest rodeo shots ever. I was simply awestruck by this photo and its my dream to capture a similar shot before I die.

Copyright of Tom Atwell.

I could’ve never imagined that one drop of water could be made to look so beautiful and artistic. And what makes this photo one my favorites is not only the fact that it looks spectacular but also the way it was taken. As said in the comments by the photographer Tim Atwell himself, he used a sound activated time delay circuit to activate the flash for this photo. Pure genius.

Copyright of Trey Ratcliff.

Two reasons why this I love this photo, number one, it is of India and number two, it was taken by HDR Guru Stuck in Customs. High Dynamic Range, more popularity know as HDR is a type of photography where 3 or more bracketed exposures are merged to form one photo. Its a tricky procedure and there are thousands of bad HDRs out there but few people like Trey have managed to master the process and produce wonderful images like the one above. If you want give a try at HDR, make sure you read his tutorial here.

I hope everyone like this post, I plan to make this a regular post like this, maybe every month, so please leave some feedback which will help me improve my posts.

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After having settled in the hot and humid weather of Hyderabad, I met up with some old friends from the Hyderabad Photography Club and we decided to go to Charminar for some street photography. We walked around the streets, as one does for street photography, after which we proceeded to have some classic Irani Chai and Osmania Biscuit at a local cafe. The Irani tasted better than ever and it also came in cups which looked like they hadnt been washed since the time of Nizams. Its small things like that which make Hyderabad the place it is. We also went up to the top level of Charminar which provided some great views of the surrounding areas. The one that intrigued me was the lack of fences around the level which is a serious safety threat and if anyone trips, it is highly possible that they’ll down a good 75ft before they hit the ground. Regardless of the safety issue, it feels nice to be up there at that height and admire the view.

Today, we went to the Villart Photography Expo at People’s Plaza in Necklace road. It was an okay show with about 4 stalls being really good out of about 25. It was definitely worth going, not only for those 4 good stalls but also to get a general feel of what is going on in the Indian photography market. One of the 4 stalls which I liked was the Canon stall, simply because I got to handle a Canon 5D w/ 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM with a 580EX II. It was very heavy initially but the lens was quite awesome and I toyed around with it for a while before having to hand it back to the people there. There was also a stall which had some movie cranes for demo and one my friends got to play around with the cranes for sometime. They seemed pretty cool and innovative. The Elinchrom stand was amazing too, the man was kind enough to give us a demo of the remote system of their line of Studio flashes and also allow us to have a go at it. The whole expo was a pretty good experience and we finished it off with a casual talk with some more friends at a coffee shop.

I have been uploading all my new photographs solely on Flickr and you can see the latest photos at my photostream here.

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On Tuesday Night, I had the chance to go and watch the filming of the Graham Norton Show live in London, thanks to a friend who managed to get 4 tickets.

The show started at about 1845 but we had to get there by 1800 so that we could seated in time. We had priority tickets which allowed us to jump a majority of the queue. The show kicked off on time with a warm up presenter who was quite funny and introduced us to the various elements of the filming of the show. After his brief talk, Graham Norton himself came onto the stage and went on about this slightly disgusting but funny story of his previous weekend. With that story done, the main show was about to start, the title music started playing and we saw Norton come to the stage again but with much more of a spin and style to his walk this time.

The filming of the show lasted for 2 hours but we didnt even feel the time pass by. The guests of the show were Oscar winning French actress Juliette Binoche and chef extraordinaire Gordon Ramsay. The entire show was hilarious had the whole audience laughing their hearts out. The fact that the show is based, not on just interviewing the guests but several different elements as well, makes it very humorous and doesnt get boring. At the beginning of the show, Juliette seemed a bit lost and Gordon seemed to enjoy discreetly making fun of the French which she didnt understand. But over the course of the show, she realised that it wasnt a straightforward interview show and joined in on the fun which made it even more enjoyable.

One of the first things that struck me when I walked into the studio, was the lighting system. There were about 100 different lights hanging from the ceiling, each affecting the overall lighting of the show a little. I was overwhelmed by these spectacular and spent a good amount of time simple examining them and the accessories they had. The cameras used were very impressive as well. They had around 5 cameras on the ground and one camera on the crane. Watching all the crew do their job made me realise that Graham Norton is only a small part of the show and that a huge amount of effort goes into making each episode.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience which we finished off with a great meal at Chinatown.

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Its been about a week since my exams got over and I’ve made some interesting purchases over the course of these days.

The first and most important one would be the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon DDR MC Electric 35mm f/2.4 which I’ve nicknamed ‘Jenna’. I managed to win an auction of it on Ebay for just over £60 which I thought, was a decent deal. I havent really had a chance to try the lens out and push it to it limits but from what I’ve seen so far, its had some very impressive results. The first thing I noticed about the lens was that it felt good which is a mark of a good lens. When you hold it on your hands, it just feels right and solid. The piece which I got was in mint condition with one very minor scuff on the side. It focuses very closely, upto a reproduction ratio of 1:2 and can be used to shoot some impressive macro photographs. It resembles the standard focal length of 50mm on a crop-sensor camera and is useful in everyday purposes. I can also remove it from my wishlist now and I’m proud to have achieved another milestone on my wishlist. I will be posting some sample shots taken with it very soon on my Flickr Photostream.

Another gadget that I’ve got my hands on is the Logitech Z-2300. I didnt buy it but one of my good friends bought it and hence, I was able to test it out. They are 2.1 speakers and come with an absolutely massive sub-woofer. The sound quality is excellent, very crisp and makes you feel like you are in the middle of a concert. The sub-woofer is second to none and has a bass powerful enough to rattle the windows. It is also very very loud and can probably over-power some of the popular home audio systems. The sound retains quality at all volume levels which is one of qualities of high-end music systems like Bose, etc and its good to see that quality in consumer level goods, thanks to Logietch’s THX certified sound quality. A highly recommended purchase for any audiophile.

And my final and latest acquisition is a Phottix Wireless remote for my camera. It works excellently and as good as a Canon wired remote. It supports Bulb mode and if you hold down the button on the remote for 3 seconds, you can release it and the camera will still continue to take the photo until you press the button again. This is very useful feature so that you dont have to hold it down to take long exposure photos like Star trails. It also works perfectly with the burst mode and even though I probably wont use it with the burst mode, it nevertheless sounds quite exciting. I hope to make more use of it soon.

The Greatest Show on Earth, the Summer Ball is this Saturday and I’m looking forward to it!

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I’ve been ardently following the semi-finals of Britain’s got talent over the past week along with my friends. One hour, every night for 5 days lead to a lot of swearing at the TV, swearing at each other and making fun of innumerable auditions. Its been good fun and the finals of the show were held on Saturday.

As always, all of us had our favourites, the people who we wanted to win. My personal favourites were ‘Signature’ a dance group of two Indians, who had a combined style of Michael Jackson and Bhangra which proved very effective and popular. I quite liked their style and the fact that they were Indians was a huge plus point. The other group who I liked was ‘Escala’, a troupe of 4 beautiful girls who played the violin in a pretty spectacular way.

I watched intently to see who the winner would be, and when they had cut down the participants from 10 to 3, only one of my favourites remained, Signature. I cant say I really liked the other 2 of the final 3 so I hoped that Signature would win. Then, when only 2 remained, the final winner was to be announced. However, as fate would have it, Signature did not win, and the winner was this 14 year old kid named George Sampson who was quite good at his rain dance act. I was shocked that Signature did not win, probably along with thousands of others who would’ve been heartbroken.

I am very proud of Signature, for the tremendous efforts that they would have put into their dance, for the unique style that they created, for making all Indians proud, and for not giving up without a fight. I’m sure that they will have a bright future ahead of them.

You can watch the first audition of Signature here, their performance in the semi-finals here and their dazzling finale here.

And for those who’ve already watched the audition and want to listen to the mix they used, you can listen to it here, its called Nachna Onda Nei by Tigerstyle with Kaka Bhania.

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My new PC arrived yesterday after a few delays in shipping, and I was quite excited when I went to pick it up from the Postroom.The specifications are as follows -

• Intel Viiv Core 2 duo E6550 2.33Ghz
• Dual Channel 2GB RAM 667Mhz
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 256MB
• Dell 20″ Widescreen Monitor
• 19-in-1 Media Card reader
• Hard Drive 500GB Serial ATA
• 16X DVD-Rewriter
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• UK Dell Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard

It also came with the standard stuff like mouse,etc. I am using my Creative 2.1 Speakers which are really good. The computer itself is quite sleek and thin, I’ve put it under the desk with the sub-woofer to avoid occupying precious desk space. The monitor is simply gorgeous, watching movies on it feels like your in a theatre. I’ve installed most of my frequently used softwares onto it, just a few left to do.

Here are a couple of pictures -

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I’ve finally got down to updating the gallery with the latest photographs from the University.

You can take a look at the university campus in the sub-category of ‘University of Essex‘ under the category of ‘People and Places‘. You can also take a look at the friends I’ve made here in the sub-category of ‘University of Essex‘ under the category of ‘With Friends‘. Around half of them were taken with my new camera.

I also bought the required books for my subjects and they weren’t cheap. We had our first class today and it was pretty good, we also had the last lecture for the week, and I think I should do some studying during the weekend. I still have to get settled down in terms of studies, so I think I should go through each subject one by one, and sort everything out to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

Thats it for now, make sure you browse through the newly posted photographs!

I have also updated the Wishlist page to keep up with my latest purchases and wishes.

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I’ve uploaded 13 new photographs of me, few taken when I went to France and some random photographs ones. You can view all of them here.

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