What a dream?

Just wanted to share this dream with my friends. It's been few days since I saw this dream and it has never gone of my thoughts. So thought I must write it down, but I may have missed certain bits and pieces.

The scene is that I am heading to a well known electronic service shop near my home town. This place is called "New India Electronics", it has been in existence since my childhood and also the people who run this place are very good family friends. Their main line of business is servicing electronic device/appliance and specially TVs, VCRs & DVDs. In my family when we are ready to purchase a new electronic device/appliance, we consult with Mr. Sahib (who runs this place) and in most cases he would accompany us to the retailer/seller to find us the right stuff.

Now my dream:
I reach the place and go meet Mr. Sahib asking him about a used Nikon D700 that is available for sale. Since I am a Nikon D700 user, he called me to come in to check the camera. He brings me a camera bag, asked me to check the stuff out and walks away to carry on his work. So I open the bag, see that there is one DSLR body inside and get the camera out. I find it be a little strange and notice that it does not look anything like the D700 by shape or color.

It a large DSLR by size - more like the Nikon DX3 or Canon 1DMkII, but then it looks very different in shape and color. The camera has a vertical & horizontal grip, the grip has a inflated/blown-out shape, which makes it more solid, bulkier and larger than any grip I have seen. A new feature I am seeing is a 2nd LCD display (like the one of top of DSLRs) located on the vertical grip, display is oriented vertically to read your FStop, Shutter speed, frame number, ISO, Bracketing, AEL, AFL, etc. The grips have 2 dials, one for use by the thumb & another for trigger finger. The grips have buttons to check DoF, set AEL, AEF and a couple more I can not remember. One thing I remember is that all buttons were embedded into the grip or body, large enough to easily activate with your finger, but helped avoid accidental activation. The grips and some body surface has a very coarse (rough) rubber skin and this rubber skin was in Indigo Blue color. A color I have not seen on a DSLR.

I switch it on and now I am looking through the view finder (no lens attached) . Very different viewfinder and I am having star-trek feeling (visual & audio). Then I see that the viewfinder is not a prism based one, but then a color LCD display. I could use a dial with your left thumb to switch between multiple displays in the viewfinder. But can not remember what were the displays I could choose from. The dial I was turning was in the front, on the lens mount. The lens mount was projected a bit from the front body surface. The same dial also helped you select different screens on the LCD display too on the back of the camera body.

I turn it around and see the front of the camera, I read Fp3 written on the body at the front top right area. Now I am wondering what brand is this. I try flipping the body around and see the bottom label to read "Sony Electronics Ltd". So Fp3 is probably a model name.

Now Mr. Sahib is back with another DSLR body, that is a Fp3, but has a gray colored grip instead of the indigo blue and telling me that these cameras were brought to him by someone working at Sony and were test items. At this moment, a new person enters the scene and is talking to me more detail about the camera - technical, release details, expected price, etc. but I can not remember this part.

At this point I can feel someone poking me to get my attention. I wake up from my sleep, my dream shattered to see my 2 year old son trying to wake me up to get a sip of water in the night. I looked at the clock to see that it was 3:00AM and could not get back to sleep.

The interesting part is, I have never worked for Sony, never worked at a photographic equipment manufacturer, have never owned a Sony camera and have not thought of buying a new DSLR. Since this dream, I have been trying to figure out what does Fp3 stand for. In the dream it made me feel like a out of world DSLR, with every bells & whistles any photographer would want. Sony's DSLRs camera models start with an A, for Alpha. Don't know if Sony is launching a new product line of cameras, in fact a high end, more expensive, ultra-pro version.

Yeah, you are right it was a dream I had. My friends reading this might want to say, have my wife take care of the new born and I should get some rest. Anyway, the dream was a fun filled one and I enjoyed it.

My Top 5

As on Dec 12, 2009 here are my top 5 DSLRs. Please note that my top 5 selection is purely based on the features, availability of accessories and online reviews I have read.

Entry Level Cameras:

1. Nikon D90
2. Canon 50D
3. Nikon D5000
4. Canon T1i
5. Olympus E620

Advanced Level Cameras:

1. Nikon D700
2. Canon 5D MK II
3. Nikon D300s
4. Canon 7D
5. Olympus E30

Selecting your lens:
All of the above cameras can be bought as a kit that includes one or more lenses. Most kit lenses do the job and can be a great starting point. However I would recommend loosing the kit lenses and upgrading to the next level. Upgrading the lens will definitely get you better results. To get the best match of body & camera, you may have to buy the body & lens separately, unless the retailer has a special offer.

The Nikon D700 & the Canon 5D MK II are full frame cameras and will need lenses that will work with the full-frame sensors. There are plenty of choices for this and most older versions of the current lenses available in the market today will work with these cameras. Which means if you have an opportunity to buy used lenses in excellent condition you can save some money on glass. However, use an experts opinion to figure out the condition of the lens. All lenses that work with the full frame camera sensors will work with the smaller APS-C size sensor cameras. The vice-versa will not work.

There are lenses that are optimized for use on cameras with APS-C size sensor. Cameras such as D300, 7D, D90, 50D, D5000 and T1i use an APS-C size sensor. One thing to watch regarding APS-C size sensor camera bodies are, many of them can not use the older versions of the lenses.

• Nikon
  
• Nikon AF-S DX 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G VRII ED (APS-C Sensor Only)
  
• Nikon AF-S DX 16-85mm F/3.5-5.6G VR ED (APS-C Sensor Only)
• Nikon AF 24-85mm F/2.8-4D IF (FullFrame & APS-C Sensor Only)
• Canon
  
• Canon EF-S 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 IS (APS-C Sensor Only)
• Canon EF-S 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS (APS-C Sensor Only)
• Canon EF-S 17-85mm F/4-5.6 IS USM (APS-C Sensor Only)
• Canon EF-S 15-85mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM (APS-C Sensor Only)
• Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS (FullFrame & APS-C Sensor Only)
• Olympus
• Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 II (4/3 size sonsor only)
  
• Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 18-180mm F3.5-6.3 (4/3 size sonsor only)
• Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD (4/3 size sonsor only)

Related Links:

• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/stats.asp
• http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Guides/dslr_buying_guide_01.htm
  
• http://www.neutralday.com/5-digital-slr-cameras-id-tell-you-to-buy-right-now/
• http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/overview
  

Gird up your loins and photograph in manual mode

It's the fear of difficulty that turns people away from shooting in manual mode. Many people I have had an opportunity to explain what to do have enjoyed shooting manual mode and rarely switch their camera out of manual mode.

The trick is
1 - Use the Spot Metering and focusing settings.
2 - Understand what your camera is telling you when you are shooting in manual mode.

Using the "SPOT" metering and focusing settings will give you tremendous control of the image you are trying to shoot. In spot metering you get to read and lock in on an exposure for a spot on the frame of your choice. The same with spot focusing, you get to choose the sharpest spot on the frame. Usually, when you switch to this configuration, the camera viewfinder displays a square or circle in the center of the frame (let's call this our spot). In some cameras you get to move this spot around in the frame by using the wheel in the back of the camera. This helps you preset your composition. If your camera does not allow you to move the spot around, Lock the focus and exposure with the subject in the center and while the shutter is half-way down then reposition the subject in your viewfinder based on your composition needs.

Understanding what your camera is telling you is easy - simply read the manual to clearly identify the information your camera displays through the viewfinder when you press the shutter release button half-way down. In most of the recent digital cameras you will have the Shutter speed, aperture number, Flash info, Exposure value (or meter), Number of images you are left to shoot, ISO, WB, metering, focus, etc. All of them are useful, you need to get to know them eventually to master your camera. One display that will dictate you the most when shooting in manual mode is the Exposure Value (EV) meter/scale.

This EV meter/scale will tell you if your exposure is balanced, under or over. If the EV meter shows the exposure to be dead center (@ zero) then it means you have a balanced exposure based on the spot. Under and over does not always mean it's bad, some images may need to either be over or under exposed to give it a real punch based on your creativity. To move the EV to zero, plus or negative the most common changes you may want to make are to the aperture number and shutter speed. So play with it, spin the dials and learn how the results differ.

If you are still sitting on that seat, you are not going to get any images. Get up, pick up your camera and shoot some pictures.

Keep or Trash?

With the digital camera era, every photographer tends to shoot more pictures. The limitation we have is directly tied to the storage capacity on hand. But then that adds another problem - how do we manage storage on our hard disk.

Here is a article that talks about one of the work flows that this photographer follows to find his keepers. "How to make your photos better by deleting them" - here he uses Adobe Lightroom to organize and identify his keepers.

I typically use Nikon Capture NX for most of my minimal processing and use a RED, YELLOW & GREEN tags to classify my images. I start with ViewNX and browse through my pictures. Flag out images with RED tag if I feel teh image will not be ultimately used. In my second round browsing, I identify images that may be used after minor processing (a crop, exposure value or sharpness adjustment) and flag these images with a YELLOW tag. In the third round I flag images that I feel are sure keepers and flag them with a GREEN tag.

At this point, the ratio of RED vs. YELLOW vs. GREEN on an average is 75 : 20 : 5 respectively. Now I fire up Nikon CaptureNX and start looking at the YELLOW tags, do some minimal processing and try to keep a few. All the keepers and processed images go to a new folder (RAW format). The images get converted from RAW to JPEG for printing or uploading them online. In about a month or whenever I need to conserve some hard disk space I come back and delete the RED tagged images or sometimes the original download folder.

On an average I keep 10% to 12% of the pictures I shoot, of which 1% or 2% are really good images (I don't determine this, but based on feedback & comments). So tell me what you think of this workflow. Do you have a workflow that you use?

Photographing stage events (Low Light shooting)

Photographing stage events brings a lot of challenges for the photographer. You are trying to get the best picture with low light from a considerable distance. Shooting in low light forces you to open up your aperture or reduce your shutter speed or crank up your ISO in your fight against elements such as noise, blur, DoF and exposure. Shooting from a distance means, you need a long lens which will add more fuel to the fire. Here I am going to cover how you should prepare and what equipment will help to get good result.

Lens:
Even though I am a prime lens freak, for stage events I would recommend a zoom lens. Remember that you will need to shoot the picture as it happens, the performer is not going to pause for you, there is no replay and they could be moving all over the stage. So using multiple prime lenses and switching between shots might not suite well.

A lens with a 70-200mm is a good range for shooting stage programs if you have access to area about 30-50 feet from the stage. The further you are going to be from the stage, you will need longer lens.

Wider the aperture (faster the lens) the better. Select a lens that has wide aperture (low FStop) available at a highest zoom value. Some zoom lenses have a constant aperture at the different zoom levels. Some has variable apertures at different zoom levels - at max zoom, the aperture might be narrower (higher FStop) than at the min zoom (wide angle).

Having capability to correct blurs caused due to camera/hand movement is a great advantage. Different manufacturers call it with different names - VR, IS, VC, etc. Some implement this within the lens, others with in the camera.

Camera Settings:
Shooting Mode:
As much as possible I love to control every situation (my wife hates it), so I shoot with my camera in manual mode in most cases. However, for a stage program, I prefer and recommend one of the camera priority modes - "Aperture Priority" or "Shutter Priority". Like I said earlier, the performer is not going to stop & pose for you to shoot, so you have to reduce the number of variables you need to adjust. In the priority mode, you get to select one value and the camera selects a value for the other based on information from the light meter. In Aperture priority, you select aperture value and camera selects shutter speed. In shutter priority it's vice verse.

In aperture priority mode select the widest aperture (lowest FStop number) at the highest zoom if you have a zoom lens with variable apertures at different zoom values. If you have a constant aperture lens, an aperture value of 5.6 (or +/- 1 stop) is what I recommend. Smaller the aperture (larger the FStop number) the larger the DoF will be. Key point here is at the best ISO settings on your camera, the shutter speed should not drop below a point causing blurs due to camera movement.

In shutter priority mode select a shutter speed that will not cause a blur due to camera movement. Remember your hands can get tired holding your equipment (zoom lenses tend to be heavy) through the program.

ISO:

This is the measure of the image-sensor sensitivity to light. When using film, your options are to get a higher sensitive film, thus less exposure time, which means smaller aperture and/or faster shutter speed. Today in the digital era, the film has been replaced with an electronic image-sensor, and the sensitivity can be adjusted by the photographer. Like the film, if you increase the sensitivity of the image-sensor, you can capture pictures at low lighting.

Choose an ISO setting, that yields to the least amount of noise in the picture, for the size you plan on printing and using the images. This depends on the camera's technology and you probably can get to what is the best ISO from reference documentation (printed or online). However, if you can experiment and find the ideal ISO setting, there is noting better to make you feel more confident.

White Balance (WB):
WB is the adjustment to ensure the image-sensor understands the neutral colors - White, Grey & Black. This is how I understood WB - my theory may be incorrect and I might change it as I understand & learn more about it.

• The fact is neutral colors will look different when we look at them under different light sources (sunlight, incandescent, fluorescent, etc). Unlike an image-sensor in our camera today, our eyes can adapt automatically based on ambient light and reproduces the correct colors for our brain to process the image.


• As color is measured in Kelvin temperature, each light source will produce a temperature range. WB is a configurable value to tell the camera's image-sensor what temperature range to expect when reading the neutral colors.


• In your camera, you select the type of light source for your WB and camera adjusts for the color temperature as it digitized the image. The image-sensor will then reproduce the colors as close as seen by our eyes.

When using film, you had the option of using customized film that is balanced for the light source. Normally a Daylight balanced film was used that worked well with sunlight and flash. Other options where tungsten film, this was balanced to reproduce the color best under tungsten light source. If we used the other way you would end us with a cooler (more blue) or warmer (more red) picture.

The fun about digital is you can adjust this in post processing. So if you know what is the light source in the stage you are going to shoot, you can set it to that, else go with auto and fine tune during post processing.

Aperture & Shutter speed:
Depending on your creativity, you can play with aperture and shutter speed to produce different results. Keep in mind, higher ISO values will open up more room to play with a range of aperture and shutter speed. On the other hand watch our for image noise.

Note:

• Wider aperture means faster shutter speeds and the less Dof .


• Slower shutter speed means narrow aperture and more prone to shakes and vibrations.

So you will need to strike a balance between ISO, aperture & shutter to get to the appropriate result. Here it's difficult to recommend an aperture and shutter speed because it will depend on what result you are looking for, lens and ISO. However if you use a F-Stop of 5.6 you can get a picture with average DoF, higher F-Stops will improve DoF. On the other hand, if you use a Shutter Speed of 1/100 or faster you can avoid most shakes & vibrations to increase sharpness.

Exposure Setting:
Using spot-metering can help with exposure to start with. Many stages have black background screens and your camera's light meter end up reading the black area as dark area if you use matrix or center weighted metering and fool you with incorrect exposure. Even though center weighted meeting will reduce the variance in exposure, I highly recommend spot metering.

Once you have practiced and have a few hundred stage event pictures under your belt, you probably should switch to manual exposure mode. During the event, calibrate your aperture and shutter speed based to a value - spot reading based on an object in the stage (a person's face/arm, chair, table, etc) and use that setting through out the event to shoot pictures.

Post Processing:
Let me confess, I am a newbie at this. My knowledge and experience of post-processing is below average and do not consider myself good enough to preach what you need to do. So it's up to you to figure out what you want to do. You will need to read up about the software and figure out how to work on each of these parameters. Also many software provide various features and you have to figure out how to play in that playground. There are many online articles and tutorials to help you understand how to draft a work flow and do certain functionality. I use Nikon CaptureNX2 and GIMP for my image processing. Often use Picasa when I feel lazy, mainly to make small & simple adjustments.

The most common post processing adjustments I ended up doing to my stage pictures were the WB, EV, Composition (CROP) & Sharpness.

Experiment and Practice:
Do your experiment to learn about the limitations of your equipment. Shoot pictures in a room with similar lighting and try to be at an approximate distance from the subject as you will for the program.

Set your camera to aperture priority mode, use an aperture value of 5.6 or +/- 1 stop. If your lens has a variable aperture, that is aperture changes as the zoom varies, use the lowest aperture available at the highest zoom value. Enable "High-Noise Reduction" and set the ISO to the highest value to start with.

Shoot 3-4 test pictures at different Zoom settings (say for example 200mm, 150mm, 100mm, 70mm). Once you have done this reduce the ISO by 100/200 and repeat the test. I would suggest get as many test pictures between ISO1000 and the highest available ISO in your camera.

Once you have all your pictures, compare them in your PC (full screen mode). You are looking for noise (or grain) and camera shake (blurred images) in the test pics. Pick one picture for each zoom setting, that you feel is sharp, well exposed and least grains - look in the EXIF data and take note of the zoom setting (focal length), ISO settings and the aperture you used.

If you are shooting hand held, I recommend selecting pictures taken at around 1/100 sec shutter speed. Anything lower could cause a blur, but again it depends.

I shot a stage event using a D700 and the Nikon 70-200mm F/2.8G VR. Two features that turned out as an advantage for me was high ISO and VR capabilities, which helped a lot. Here are some pictures from the event.

Glossary:
ISO - International Standards Organization

IS - Image Stabilization
VR - Vibration Reduction
VC - Vibration Control
DoF - Depth of Field
FStop - Fractional Stop (also called as F Number or F Ratio)
WB - White Balance
EXIF - Exchangeable Image File Format