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June 21 The Best of DX?- Nikon's AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 Lens Nikon's Pro DX Zoom Summer Colours and Green  Nikon's elaborately named AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 DXG IF-ED DX (phew!) is probably the best zoom lens ever made for an APS-C sensor (where it functions as a 26-83mm lens), designed especially for the demands of professionals using it on older generations of pro bodies. Now that the prices of full-frame sensors have come down and pros are gravitating towards them them, anything but consumer-level designs for APS-C are unlikely, so this lens is probably the last of it's kind. This fact though makes them much more avaliable second-hand though, with a newly affordable price. What makes it stand out as a pro-grade lens is the build and fact that it gives a sharp, contrasty picture at any setting or length, with a certain richness to the images that you otherwise need a prime lens or another pro-level zoom to achieve. The high-grade AF-S focusing is also uncannily fast and near-silent. Moth by Day  It produces amazing images, images that really 'pop' and stand out with a kind of 3D quality only great lenses have. I have some other really great lenses- the Sigma 50mm f1.4 HSM, the older (but amazingly still produced) Nikon AF 35-70mm f/2.8D, the Tamron 90mm Di f2.8 macro, which can all take great photos, but the range and usability makes this the most versatile by far. It's like it's part of the camera and just doesn't want to get off! I'm glad because I know that it's about as good an image as a lens could give me, with a wedding you kind of feel bad if you know you could have used something better (even if no-one will notice the difference). For me, it means I can shoot the entire wedding without changing lenses. I used it just the other day and it worked out great! It also looks pro, which helps the general impression.It cost me about $900 second-hand, but a new one would be more like $1,600. Another other cost is the size and weight, due to all the metal and glass, though for me this makes it steadier to hold or balance. Maybe after many hours of carrying it around it would weigh me down and this alone would put a lot of people off it. It should be added that the full-frame equivalents are much heavier and more expensive, without having quite as much reach, (usually being 24-70mm). This shows the convenience of the cropped format for many users. The fact that the images generated are 'good enough' means it will probably live on for many years. Also, the sensor on the D3X is so high resolution it can crop DX at 10MP, ample for most uses and even equal to the D200, which is still in wide use. Whilst the D700 only gives you a tight 5MP, a potential D700X or D800 might give you a lot more, making the use of this on FX cameras quite feasible. Here's a review that was just recently published in, of all places, Poland. The fact that reviews are still being professionally made for this lens just goes to sho it's enduring value. In fact, I would hazard to say that it now has a new lease of life as a much more affordable lens on DX. Let's look at some pros and cons, now as who knows, maybe someone will actually think about buying one based on the strength of this review!? These are all based on my real-world usage, no measurebating or any exact accessment claimed, yet it's quite possible such research would come to the same conclusions through it's own route. Lens quality really does vary, no matter what anyone says and you usually get what you pay for, or in this case what you would have paid for if newer models hadn't emerged (in this case the D700 and the siren cry of full-frame). Pros -Beautiful rendering of colours, contrast, skin-textures backgrounds -A very pleasing bokeh considering the relatively short focal length -Sharp and with little noticable distortion, even at 17mm -Semi-macros are possible with excellent close-up performance and minimum focusing distance (14.2 inches) -A good choice for portraits on DX (though I'd say Nikon's 35-70mm f/2.8D is even better, for a number of reasons) -The perfect event lens on DX- one lens and you're done! -The zoom is very well-damped, making settings at particular lengths (ie 24mm, 35mm) quite convenient -Makes up for the lack of quality wide-angles on DX and covers significant prime lengths- some of which don't even exist in -Nikon's lineup, such as 19mm, which is about 28mm in FX (one of my favourite lengths and a fact not lost on Pentax) -A pro implementation of AF-S, offering very fast, smooth and near-silent focusing -Good prices on the second-hand market -A true pro zoom- in terms of both performance and looks, ensuring people will realise you are, or mistake you for, a pro! Cons -Very heavy, like most true pro-zooms -Still very expensive despite $900 'bargains' being so avaliable -Performance gains compared to buget alternatives may seem subtle to many users, especially when both are stopped down (though I'd say for me they are very significant) -Optomised for wide open, close-up usage, making it unsuitable for landscapes in many people's eyes -Short reach, even on DX, where around 70mm is needed for the 'optimum' portrait length of 105mm (this gives around 83mm being 'uncomfortably close' for many) -Could be redundant if you move to FX and aren't happy with using it cropped there Notice that some of the cons aren't real cons, they just go with the territory. This is for sure an excellent lens (have I already said this?) and one you just will not regret buying! What Does it all Mean for DX? Even though full-frame 'FX' has finally come to Nikon's DSLR's, the options for serious amateurs on DX have never been better. The D200/300 are cheaper than ever and offer fantastic picture quality and ergonomics. Also, along with the price drop of the 17-55 is the emergence of other lenses especially designed with DX bodies and their frequent lack of an in-body motor (in the case of the D40, D60, D5000, all very affordable and even competetive with compact pricing). I speak of the 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX, the 50mm f/1.4 G and the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 HSM- two of which I have actually aquired for both wedding and home use (though I'll leave you to guess exactly which two for now!) In short, excellent lenses are now widely avaliable for DX use, compromises and beer-bottle zooms are less neccessary for the average user. Of course, the whole format is oversized in a sense, leaving the way open for minaturised 'rangefinderesque' versions like micro-4/3 and potentially a micro-APS... but that's another story... For more samples, please see my 17-55mm Pbase gallery. Some Samples Kashiwa Noha  Feeding the Pigeons  Hydrangeas and Snail-Shell  Silent Rush Hour  May 19 Printing at B4 size (4W, in Japan) Someone asked me how I printed the B4-size prints that I carry around to show people. Whilst years ago that would have been very expensive to print, prices have come down a lot. Here is what I had to say- My B4 prints were made on Fuji Frontier printers at Camera Kitamura, which I believe uses colour lazer printing so it is very fast and detailed. I think just about all camera shops have the same process here in Japan, Fuji dominates and I use the regular quality, though higher qualities are avaliable (such as was used for the exhibition prints). In Japan B4 print size is called 4W, the w meaning 'wide' and uncropped, 6W being an A4 print. If you don't get the wide size, you need to crop, which is neccessary for many frames and is something to think about. A3 prints are about twice the price here, so for me it's not worth it and believe it or not, A4 are more expensive, as I was printing 2 for the price of about 1 (2 for 990 yen). They make great presents as well as ways to show your photos. Though email, web galleries and iPhone-type screens are good for convenience, you have to remember that they are like small prints in terms of resolution, generally around 1/2- 1 and 1/2 mp. Even a 1080p TV set is only 2 mega-pixel worth of detail. Unless you have a very expensive 30 inch, 2560×1600 WQXGA monitor, you have a vastly reduced resolution, despite the brightness and vividness of LCDs being so attractive. In terms of colour, generally they are pretty much like what I see on my monitor. I make sure that any file I use is in SRGB colour. Whilst Adobe RGB or even better Pro-photo RGB have a wider gamut (range of colours), this is more useful for editting than printing on these types of printers- though really high-end ones can make use of the more exact hues. On a standard printer or the internet, though, not being able to display the hues properly can lead to washed out colours appearing in their place- so SRGB is still the usual standard for this. Also, remember that they will probably lighten and warm up the pictures automatically. If you want to get more exact, then you need to communicate with the printer's operator, by showing a sample printed the way you like it, small (which you can experiment with to get just right), or try making a darker and colder-coloured one to compensate. Even then, print it small first as a test print before making the big ones. Why do they do this? It's because photos are usually too dark for printing, much darker than the monitor appears, which is tremendously backlit. Also, especially for portraits or sunsets in particular, warmer colours are more pleasing. I should add that the ones I just got are pretty much the same brightness as on as my monitor, though when I printed from home I had to make them brighter to compensate. Some of them came back a bit warmer, but not so much as to be a distraction. *Note- having just shown some to a friend whose father won numerous photo comnpetitions, he said in each case that the store printing, with it's lighter shadows and warmer hues, looked better to him. I am inclined to agree- especially on prints, they do look more pleasing than a more 'accurate' photo in much cases. I was pleased to hear that my printing choices are working out. Try a couple first and see what you think, I'm happy with it but probably for an exhibition print I would need to get it just right and pay more for the very best quality- though I don't make those much. My home printer is actually capable of finer quality, especially since I can chose the papoer and have it just match the ink being used. Unfortunately, the ink is too expensive to print much large and after all, the Fuji Frontier prints are already so high quality people are amazed. The quantity offered by their affordability helps, especially at large sizes. For the future, I have plans to print A4 size from home at super high quality on my Canon MP 980, on special paper. I'll use those for exhibitions and perhaps another kind of portfolio, encouraging people to look very closely at them. I am already making postcards for people on it, which are incredibly sharp... but that's another story! Quality and quantity are the principals to balance here, as with anything else. May 15 Exhibition in Matsudo IsetanHello! I'd like to invite you to my latest gallery show in Matsudo, this time with some of my most remarkable images yet. I can almost guarantee you've never seen anything quite like it! Whilst my former shows have concentrated on the natural, the subtle, this is dedicated to the immense and extraordinary, printed out very large to show every last detail, every last star or city light. Of course, there are lots of other photos to be seen there too by other photographers, of all sorts of scenes to be enjoyed. This is especially for all of you who found getting down to Tokyo too hard- though I know you are all busy, I hope you can take some time out to make it to this. The Time- 5/12-5/17 10:00am-6:00pm, though the first day 5/12 starts after 1:00pm. 5/16 and 17 (saturday and sunday) finish at 5:00. The Place- Matsudo Isetan (near the west exit of Matsudo JR station on the Joban Line, 4th Floor) I'll aim to be there for sure on Saturday and Sunday after about 1:00 pm. Maybe I'll be there other times too... but if not, there are plenty of people to show you around, who will be very happy to see you and show you their photos as well! Featuring- Dawn Approaches  Cloud of Becoming  City Lights  Note- Here is the original invite, with map-   Hope you can make it and to see you there! Gideon April 29 My Photos in MatsudoJust writing to say that I've joined a photo exhibition, to be held in Matsudo from 5/6-5/11. It should be a lot easier to get to than my first one in Shinjuku was for a lot of people. This time, I have four large prints, especially chosen for the occasion, featuring views of nature in Japanese Temples. Some of you may have seen smaller versions of these on the internet before, but they show their full detail printed out large, they really can't be compared. Of course, I'll also be there to talk to you about them! You can get there from JR Matsudo Station, from the West exit. It will be in the Matsudo Building, which is next to Isetan, on the floor just below the revolving restaurant there. The gallery is going to be open from 10am-6pm every day, except for closing at 5 on the last day. I'll be there for sure after lunch on the 6th (Tuesday), 10th and 11th and probably on the Friday the 9th, too. If you can go, please drop me a line and I'll look out for you. Sincerely hoping to see you there Gideon February 14 My Photos at Kitamura Gallery, TokyoJust to say, aside from wishing you all a happy Valentines Day, that a couple of my photos are on display at a gallery in Tokyo, right now. From February 14th-20th, they'll be at an exhibit with the theme Japanese Style, being held by the Royal Photographic Society, Japan Chapter, which I was invited to join as a guest. The gallery is Kitamura Gallery, near Exit 2 of Shinjuku-Gyoemmae Station, on the Marunouchi subway line. I'm very excited about the whole thing! Here are some links for information-
January 06 Nikon D300As you may already know if you have visited my Flickr or Pbase galleries, there's a new love in my life. She's beautiful, slim and feels great to hold- she's actually kind of sexy. We're getting really close, even though it's just the start of the relationship and she seems to go with me wherever I go, I just don't have the heart to leave her behind. Before we get too carried away, I'll add that her main purpose in life is taking photos- in fact that's all she ever does, being no more than a D300 CAMERA! Having used my rusty old D70 for the last 4 years (a longer time in camera years than in dog years), it was high time for a change and Nikon's new wonder kept me from drifting into the Pentax, or any other camp, meaning that I can use all my old lenses. It is fantastic with 'high Isos', meaning that photos of fast moving things, or in low light are more feasible than before. The photos also come out of the camera with wonderful colour, contrast and sharpness- gone are the days of spending hours doctoring each photo before showing everyone. One of the greatest things about it is the huge, clear LCD on the back. It means you can see much more clearly than ever before what you just took a photo of, bringing new life to things like black and white or trial and error experiments. Of course, sooner ort later all the digital cameras will have these capabilities- it's just good to have it in the here and now. You can see a whole load of my new photos with it here (there are also some in the Winter Celebrations gallery, on this very blog) and see my Tech-Talk video-podcast on it just below. It really has changed my photography for good, though ultimately a cameraman is only as good as his (or her) own imagination- if your imagination sux, so will your photos, so open your mind to the Force! The D300 after one week... September 20 Summer Slideshow OnlineJust so you know- I put a slideshow of my summer photos up on the 'net, which can be seen here, on Google Video, as they let you upload just about any size of file. I was quite pleased to be told by many people that they look like the work of a professional. I'll leave you to decide about this for yourself, but do have a look. The music, by the way, is called 'Bright Blue Music' and by Micheal Torke, from a CD I found in London. As far as people's favourite pictures go, that award has to go to the Portuguese Water Dogs, for their ability to make people happy just by looking at them! Thanks to the ability to embed videos, here it is in the here and now! August 02 Portugal PhotosHot out of the lightroom- I've posted some of the Portugal Photos on Flickr. Now you can see everything I've been waffling about. Enjoy! July 24 London PhotosJust so you know, I've been posting loads of photos of everything on my Flickr gallery, Home in England- London. My idea is to put a lot up now and then erase all but the best later, as i don't like to have topo many photos up there overall, so see them while you can! G July 01 Hondoji Ajisai 2007
Apart from putting everyone in a good mood and ‘beautifying’ the temple, some ajisai also have a really nice scent. So if you have a chance, appreciate them while you can (or whatever spring flowers are out in your locality). This is what it’s all about, folks! November 14 Plans for More PhotostoriesWhen time allows, I have a whole slew of photostories just waiting to be made. Here is a brief list-
Harajuku (featuring J-pop or gothic music)
Autumn Treasure (a seasonal celebration, with some inspiring music)
Tobu Miniature World (as just featured on these pages)
Tokyo Game Show Cuties (with some of my more 'popular' photos) November 12 Director's CutsLooking back over my Photostories, I decided to make some changes to some of the first ones I ever made- namely Dawn Voyages and Flowers of Japan. The former had a Jean-Michelle Jarre soundtrack that I found inspiring, but for others might 'jar' (excuse the pun!) with the imagery of the beautiful Mount Fuji. The second was simply too long, as I had (wrongly) decided that the longer is the better with these things. It meant that there were some very uninspiring photos at the end and that the music repeats itself, just at the point where the sun is setting and you feel soothed by the golden reflections on the water. Now, at some point I could make it all into two mini-movies taking place one day after another, but for now short, sweet photostories are the order of the day, with many more just waiting to be made. Fortunately there does seem to be some sort of an audience for all these things- between Google Video and youtube I've had almost 5,000 hits on the videos and it is interesting to see which are the most popular. I suppose this doesn't make them the best, but it means that if I go to the trouble of making an improved version, there's people out there interested in seeing it. So far, my 'biggest hits' are Flowers of Japan (just remade), Dawn Voyages (likewise), Deep Nature (pretty much finished as it is unless I add newer photos) and Small World (something I definitely want to extend when I feel I have enough photographic footage). Meanwhile, with my Video Pod-Casts, the faves are- Akihabara Virtual Tour (due to my voiceovers, it probably won't be changed, but another one is a possibilty, as are tours of other areas of Tokyo, limited only by my powers of imagination and embarassment!) Akihabara Virtual Stroll (not so much a big fave as something crying out for a soundtrack and morer video-effects to make it more enjoyable) and the CEATEC Electronics Show (which is drawing a lot of hits in a short time and is also crying out for a soundtrack to drown out the generally noisiness of the place). Here are the latest editions- October 06 Seemingly Endless GalleriesIt took a while but finally it happened- I made it to 100,000 views on pBase! I don't interact there too much, as I mostly do on Flickr and don't have time for both, but I seem to have a steady stream of viewers. I'm very pleased, not just that I got a lot of hits (which is still much less than many others have gotten, I should note), but that there is evidence that my work is being seen by many people this way. In terms of popularity, first of all seems to be the photos of Japanese models (which get many more views than comments), followed by those of Harajuku, then those of Mt. Fuji, then macros and HDR images. It's all helping me to see both where my strengths lie and which aspects of Japan people are most interested in. It does seem that the photos I found it most fun to take are the most inspiring to others, which makes a lot of sense. Some may find photos of models a little salacious, but please remember that is a form of beauty too and it's only natural that, as humans, this attracts the most immediate attention. Hence the phenomena of photography magazines with beautiful, scantily-clad girls on the cover!
My next project is a bit counter-intuitive. I now have so many photos accumilated on both pBase and Flickr that people probably don't know what to look at. Whilst of course I'll keep them all safe in storage, it's high time to sort through the galleries and have a big cull. It's something like the British Museum, (if I may be so bold!), which only exhibits about 10% of it's stuff at any point in time. As a photographer friend said to me a while ago, 'You have too many photos to see them all'. At the time, my thought was 'well just see the ones you want to', but without seeing them, how is anyone to know! Catch 22. The thing is, I often don't really know which version of a photo is the best. So, whilst I'll keep the ones I generally think are good, a lot of the victims of this cull will simply be photos that failed to generate any interest, 'streamlining' my exhibitions.
In the meantime, I've made a gallery of people's favourites on Flickr- this isn't the same as the ones with the most hits, or even the ones I like the most (which may, in their category, be very much outclassed by other's efforts). It's what the audience loves and after all, without wanting to stoop to catch-phrases, isn't this it's all for!?
July 18 HDR ReduxSee those rather unusual-looking views of Tokyo in the slideshow above? Well they are my first experiments with HDR imagery. I'm pretty new to it, but it involves blending images together to extract the maximum possible 'dynamic range', or shades of colour. This creates an image far richer than we are used to seeing, with so many hues that it simply can't be displayed on current monitors or even printers. At least in theory, it's far closer to what we can see with our eyes than conventional photographs, so perhaps in the future, with improved monitors, photos will look even more like a view out of the window. Combine this with some form of stereophonic 3D imagery, and we have a true next generation image.
Since we can't currently see them in their full glory, the trick is to then render this viewable by 'tone-mapping', with programs such as Photomatix. This extracts the colours latent in it in a pleasing way, giving a more varied and completely coloured image than usual, but fine for viewing on monitors and the internet. This works well enough, but like many others I found the colours straight out of the program to be too lurid, so I have tidied them up in Photoshop, with a blend of processes to make them look better, (especially a high-pass filter and a level adjustment, if that means anything to you). So I call these second-generation images HDR Redux.
I feel there is a great potential in this process, as it is somewhat automatic, yet very configurable. It gives a very impressionistic feeling, of an overly-vibrant world, the kind of world we can feel is out there, if not always see. Unlike a lot of digital transformations, this extracts everything from the original photo- not really adding anything, to find a scene more like the real one rather than escaping from it. Of course, there are many digital processes out there, yet for some reason this one is getting very popular. Depending on how they are done and how you look at them, it can be very artistic, or actually quite ugly... you decide in which camp my ones sit!
You can see them on Flickr or as a new set on A Day in the Life (you'll have to scroll down a little, though, past some newer ones of local life!)
June 11 A Little History of My PhotographyFor some time now I have had the dream of doing something creatively with images. This began far before I was interested in computers or in the digital world. You could say it began in 1992, when I was exploring Egypt and was very impressed by the paintings in tombs, which reminded me of comic-strips. How could people so long ago see things in a way I could appreciate? I thought.
I then got very into William Blake's Writing. Not just the writing but more the way he combined it with his paintings. I'm not a painter, so when I was a university student studying Religious Studies and Creative Writing, I tried doing something similar with photography, then with my first camera, a small Olympus compact. It was a really fun project to work on, and I combined prints of the English countryside along with my poems. I found a very rich feeling in the sunsets and seascapes of West Sussex; the warm golden glow at the end of a day, the seemingly endless expanse of the sea, country lanes with small shops and cottages. It was a very beautiful area to be a student in.
Now for a while I have been focusing on photography mostly and writing other pieces separately... but with the advent of blogs (and my discovering of them), I've found another way to mix words and images- my photo-blogs and also, to some extent, the annotated photos in online galleries. The great thing about all of this is the feedback, which gives me pleasure, knowing others are enjoying my work and also indications as to where it is at it's most interesting.
My photography is generally of the beautiful things I see, that I feel are being shown to me. I don't feel like I have any way near the creative control over it that say an artist had over his paintings. Sure, I can control composition, lighting and the way I post-process the RAW file, but most of this in the name of accurate representation... not that others aren't more creative than me with their composition and so on. This is something I am working on, to make my pictures more 'my own'. Yet there is also another way to do this, which I will speak about in the next article on this subject... more to come...
May 14 Flickr FunRecently, I've become a lot more involved with flickr, where I 'went pro' last week. With their 2 gig a month of uploading bandwidth I can put loads of photos up there now. Various features there make it pleasure to use.
First of all, they have fantastic tools for organizing photos into 'sets', or albums, all of which can show a slide-show at the push of a button. I am trying to do this in an interesting way and finding that it is certainly a lot more fun making galleries online than it ever was in a paper photo-album! You can put the same photo in various galleries, respond to comments from others, generally have an air of liveliness about it all that was pretty limited in the analog days (though it was fun sharing photo-albums then, of course!) The ease of doing all this is what makes it attractive- as well as the clear layout of everything.
Flickr also has various 'groups', to which you can submit your photos. They have all kinds of titles and rules- such as 'natural macros' or 'bokeh- smooth and silky', or even 'zen'. These are like public photo albums which anyone can add to. Rules are usually a limit on how many photos you can submit in one day (to stop people from monopolising them), or to keep photos to a certain theme. In some cases voting chooses which photos can remain- such as in this amazing collection - Flickr's 100 Best Pool. Groups certainly let you see and add to what interests you. The great thing is it's like adding to an exhibition with other people! I for one find this an amazing feature. The only drawback is that they can get so big that your photos get lost in them- some have thousands of photos now and I'm sure hardly anyone has the time to see them all.
But what is truly amazing at flickr is the way that they can order your photos by 'interestingness'. Somehow their computers measure a combination of the responses viewers make to your photos to see to see how unique your images are. Factors include the amount of views, 'favourites' and comments, when they came and from whom (presumably people who get more of their photos chosen have more influence), the tags you give them and perhaps even things like the colours in the photo. The exact formula is a well-guarded secret. Here are my (apparently) Most Interesting photos- shown using a custom program made by isaias. I think the system does a better job of choosing these than I could do!
You can even browse the site by the 'most interesting' photos- and find wonderful gems this way, images that truly amaze.
The standard of photography on Pbase seems to be higher, as a lot of pros are there and also I find the images are presented in a more stylish way on the screen- large, with a simple background. But it's relatively conservative way of doing things, makes it harder to find unusual and striking images, or for amateur's images to even be seen; even though you do see a lot of astounding, brilliantly taken images. Flickr, too, has some fantastic images and perhaps it focuses more on originality. Probably it's not a good idea to compare the two sites, but there is something I can attest to- which is that flickr is fun!
May 03 Which Digicam to Get?Recently friends of mine have been asking 'Which camera should I get?', which has made me think more about what camera are out there and to wonder how I can help my viewers in general here. Generally, my friends have wanted something pocketable, so it doesn't get left at home. Image quality is high on their list, but they are willing to compromise this if it means having something portable. These days, you can get very good images even with a very small digicam- so let's take a look at what's out there...
Now, I am no reviewer of cameras, but I can still keep track by reading the reviews on Dpreview (whose RSS feed you can see below) and, sometimes more importantly, the owner's reviews. The good news is, these little cameras are getting better all the time and I can imagine some point in the future in which they will be as good as a much larger one. For now, just from what I have read, these very compact cameras stand out from the crowd and are what I recommended - the Canon SD700 IS (Digital IXUS 800IS), the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 and the Fujifilm FinePix F11 Zoom.
If you are choosing a camera, here are some things to watch out for, (not necessarily in order of relevance)-
Do I like the way it feels in my hand (otherwise known as ergonomics)? - As you will be the one using it and it should feel natural and comfortable.
Does is have either image stablisation and / or produce clear images at high ISOs? - As it gets darker you need usually need longer shutter-speeds, the camera needing more light to take the same picture. Image stablisation will hold the imager inside the camers stable, even if your hand moves around a little, as it generally does, ensuring a sharp image. Higher ISOs need less light to take a picture- you can see the ISO rating on film, such as ISO 100, 200, 400, 800. Generally on film, the higher ISOs had the disadvantage of more grainy images, lacking in colour and detail. On digital this problem is gradually being solved, even on the smaller cameras, to many people's amazement.
At this point, I wouldn't buy any compact digicam without one of these abilities, even though there are some very nice models with neither. This is because all the major brands have the technology, which will soon be in all their compact cameras- and taking sharp pictures without this is a lot harder, especially when you are traveling and can't use a tripod. Of the cameras I recommended, the first two have the image stablisation and the Fujifilm FinePix F11 Zoom excels at higher ISOs- which means it can take a reasonably clear picture in near-darkness.
How is the image quality? Read reviews, comments and even look at sample images to see what the final result is like. For me this is paramount, for others maybe a little less so, but if you want to be happy with your photos it is a very important factor.
How many megapixels do I need? (The first question I often get asked!) This question has been very overrated, as it has less to do with the image quality than it may seem, except that as the number goes up, so do the other factors as it is all part of the cameras evolution. I personally wouldn't buy a camera with less than 6 megapixels- this isn't just to make large prints, it also helps ensure that it is a pretty modern camera.
Some cameras with more megapixels actually take worse pictures, believe it or not- it is not just the amount of megapixels but a question of whether the camera can actually handle them well and produce a clear image at that size. Sometimes a 9-megapixel image is larger, but has less detail in it, or 'resolution', than a 6-megapixel one- which is why reviews are so useful. As the technology progresses, though, resolution is getting better and this is becoming more and more promising.
Should I get an older model- it looks a bit cheaper? Well, only if it is just a little bit old- otherwise you are in the realm of false economy. These digicams are improving at a frightening rate. Why get a very outdated one and end up with potentially worse pictures? Due to all the competition between brands, they are also getting much cheaper.
How much zoom do I need? Well, you may be surprised, but it is often the wide-end which makes the most difference. For instance, there is not so much difference between 100mm and 140mm- but a lot more between 35mm and 28mm. Ultimately, this is a personal preference. If you want a really long zoom, up to something like 400mm, then you'd probably be better off not getting a compact and getting something with a larger lens, which is another story all together. If you want to capture 'the whole scene' or take pictures of things very near to you, then wider is better. To see the effects of different lens lengths, why not see my photos on pBase and check the info beneath them?
For example,the Tama Zoo shots were generally taken at 300mm, which is 450mm in digital, so that you could just see the animals but not the zoo, whereas my landscapes are between about 20-35mm, to get everything in the frame.
How about Macro abilities? As you can see, I recently got into macro photography again, in a big way. Some compacts are excellent at macro, as they can take very detailed images from very close-by. What they may be less good at is creating the 'smooth, blurred backgrounds'. I love. This very reason is one of the main attraction larger cameras have for me. Used carefully, though, you can get something similar from even the smallest of cameras, by moving very close to what you are taking a picture of.
Whatever camera you end up getting... it is you and your creativity that makes the pictures what they are. You need some technical knowledge and a good camera- without these you are really limiting what kind of photos you can take. The more you know and the better your camera or lens is, the better. But, even with the best of cameras, a creative, open-minded attitude is what makes for amazing pictures.
Happy shooting!
April 30 Spring MacrosJusta few days ago, I used my new Tamron Di 90mm macro lens for the first time. It had just rained a bit and I was on the way home, so I stopped into my perrenial favourite garden at Tozenji Temple. "What are you taking photos of today?" the lady who looks after the place asked in Japanese, who is always seeing me there and makes me feel at home. "Just the flowers and insects today!" I answered.
As for the experience - all I can say is... Wow! The detail, the colours, the artistic natural forms. I really felt like an explorer in another world- travelling without moving.There was an almost regal quality to the structures of plants and their interactions with insects- I can see why people talk of 'The Plant Kingdom'. I can see I can have a lot of fun with daily adventures with this lens. Not only the images are beautiful, but also the feeling of seeing this other world, often hidden, but bright, colourful and magical. The nearest thing I can compare it to is snorkeling or scuba diving- where you are immersed in the vivid colours and entranced by the variety of life there. What also helped is the qualities of this lens- light, bright and sharp, with an indescribably beautiful 'bokeh', of creamy backgrounds. Sometimes they look like the background was airbrushed in.
You can see them all clearly either on pbase or as a Day in the Life 'set'.
Note- I've put some up in a slideshow here too, but unfortunately there is a lot of 'compression' applied to them, to make them smaller to upload. They keep a certain prettiness, but I find a lot of the detail is lost by it. The ones on pbase, though, should have the full detail, having file sizes 4-5 times larger. I feel that what I'm making there is a true online gallery. However, I had to pay for the use of the space there, whilst here it's all for free!
April 17 What's this Photo-Sharing Thing, Anyway?So- what is this 'sharing photos' thing, that everyone is going on about these days? Well, it is a quick and easy thing for people to take a look at photos on the net and for you to put yours there too. For instance, in less than 4 weeks at PBase I've had about 14,000 hits on my photos so far. From looking at my Statcounter, these are literally coming from all over the world, many people finding them by searching on the site for the subject or location they are tagged with, for example, 'Japan'. People are looking,in fact, millions of people are looking. Some people there have had millions of views on their photos. I suppose, if each picture is worth a thousand words, that's equal to thousands of millions of words! (In fact, in the digital realm this is literally true- words take up very little space in kilobytes when they are reduced to the digital 1s and 0s, but complex images a lot more). Now that I have set my galleries up, which has taken a while and I'm still changing them, I've started to relax and enjoy looking at other people's photos and making comments on them. Not only are there some wonderful and creative images out there, which truly deserve the designation 'fine art', but also it is an amazing feeling to imagine that you are there, where it was taken. there is just as much art to looking at photos as to taking them. Of course, we can't be in all the places all of the time, or even two places at once, so it is great to share in these experiences this way. Today I've virtually been to Italy's beautiful Lake Como, seen Gaudi's stunning buildings in Barcelona, Spain, even met a lot of people's pets. I also added to this 'pool' of beautiful reflections (check out those beautiful birds just before my additions). One nice moment was exchanging comments with someone who was not only in Bali Island at the same time as me last year- he also took pictures of some of the same places! When you start to take part in the internet a bit more, you start to understand a bit more what it's all about (hint- it's not just about all the adds flying around!). I can really feel the global village coming to life. So if you want to start enjoying the Global Village a bit more, my first recommendation to you is to start browsing on the photo-sharing sites and photoblogs out there. My second suggestion is to get your photos out there too- don't waste another minute, upload- just do it! But you won't be able to do that without following my third suggestion- which is to get yourself a digital camera. A digital SLR is the best if you don't mind the trouble of carrying it around, as you can put different lenses on it, but if that's too much trouble, a smaller digicam is fine.
Take it along with you and get snapping whatever comes to mind. You'll see pictures in places you never even thought to look before. These days we don't even have to worry about the price of film anymore (though we no doubt spend a bit longer worrying about the price of the camera), so don't let the sky or anything else be your limit. So come on, get out there and get snapping, by the time the sun comes down it's gonna be too late.
Adios! April 01 Oh No!Just getting the pictures ready for tommorow, took the large ones out of the envelope and... WHAT?!
Something must be have been very wrong with the machine at the camera shop- there were large red streaks on each of the B4 photos! Oh no!
 If only I had checked more carefully in the store.Check out the pics below and see if YOU can see the problem... which means only my A4 (size 6) prints and some much smaller ones will be there at the festival. This also means a trek back to the store to show them the problem and then another wait for decent ones.
 Unbelievable. Don't like to be a complainer, but... well at least it will make my load lighter for tommorow morning- those large wooden frames are heavy.
* Update from April 9th- we went to the camera shop and they were pretty nice about it, printing new ones as soon as possible. So now I have them safely and beautifully framed to show to people. Also, the same prints are on the walls of my parents house in London,and hopefully being enjoyed there!
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