Canon 50D Hands On Review

I have it! The 50D. Now to review it. This may take more than one post but I'll get started.

I've only had it a few days and have been quite busy so I have not done too much with it yet. But here goes.

This camera is bigger than the Rebel line. Heavier and much more solidly built. Metal instead of plastic. It feels very good in the hand. I won't need a battery grip on this one.

I have the 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM kit lens. It's sharper than the 18-55 on the Rebel. The image stabilization is very quite. I hardly hear it in a quite room. It works well too. I can get 1/10 of a second shutter speed and it looks good!

The ISO performance was much better than my XTI. The XTI goes to ISO 1600 and that's not the best of quality. On the 50D ISO 1600 looks like ISO 400 on the XTI. Nice. ISO 3200 is the highest on the regular scale giving a nice workable result. On H1 and H2 you get ISO 6400, which is very noisy, and ISO 12800. Forget about ISO12800. Yuck is all I'm going to say. I do like the ability to adjust ISO in 1/3 stops. That's new for me. I really like that.

Here are some photos from the last few days.



250mm, F/5.6 for 1/13 seconds, ISO 1600.
This is my first high ISO shot. Not a really high ISO for this camera but on my XTI this would have been bad. It's not too bad at all. All I did for this in post was to work with the noise.


85mm, F/8 for 1/125 seconds, ISO 100.
This one turned out great. I expected it to as the settings are low. What got me though is that when viewing in full size, you can see the edges and angles on the grains of sand!

22mm, f/8 for 1/250 seconds, ISO 100.
This one of Jacob shows nice color, sharpness, exposure was nice. For just grabbing an aperture and snapping away, it worked out really nice.

I'll get to more of the features as I use the camera more. Just felt I had to say something.

Chris.

Digital Photography Tip #006 - Leading Lines

Another way to enhance your subject is by the use of leading lines in your photo. A road, a railing, a beach, a branch. Anything like that that draws the viewers eye into the photo and around the photo works well.

Have a look at the examples below.




The shore line here leads your eye to Jacob and then beyond to the back of the photo then back to Jacob again.



Here the lines of the slide draw your eye up to Jacob no matter where you look. also notice the framing effect of the trees on either side of the slide.

Chris.

Digital Photography Tip #005 - Framing

One way to help your subject to stand out is to frame it. I don't mean with a frame around the print either. I mean to use a doorway, trees, branches etc to frame the subject with. Have a look at the example below.



Here I've used leaves on a tree between myself and my son to frame him. This draws your attention to him. Also notice that I've used the Rule Of Thirds here and placed him slightly to the left of the frame. But this is about framing.

The frame need not surround the subject. Two sides will work as in this example.



Here I've used the uprights on a deck railing to frame him in.

Chris.

Digital Photography Tip #004 - Rule Of Thirds

What's that you ask. Well basically this rule tells you not to put your subject in the center of the photo. Move them off to the side or up or down.

Divide your view finder into a tic-tac-toe board. 3 rows and 3 columns (2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines intersecting). Try to place your subject on one of the intersecting lines of the board. This will give your photos a more interesting composition. See the example below.



You can also put the subject more to the top or bottom like this example.



Of course rules are meant to be broken and this one is no exception.




Sometimes a centered subject just works. Think of this as more of a guide than a rule. Use it and it will improve your photos immediately but know when it's ok not to use it as well.

Chris.

Photo For Now #008

For this photo I captured a hot air balloon that was drifting over our end of town. I had been watching it for most of my drive home and was very happy to see it right where I wanted it when I got home.

I really like the side lighting. It really shows the shape and texture of the balloon. The late evening setting sun really added to the orange and red colors as well.


250mm, ISO 100, f/5.6 for 1/125 sec.

Chris.

Off Topic but Huh?

Did you ever see one of those things that just made you go HUH? At work we have a big push for safety just like the rest of the world but I really think we are going overboard.



How many safety signs do you need per square meter? HUH?! I did not feel more alert or safer. I actually felt a little sleepy and less attentive.

Just my opinion.

Chris.

Digital Photography Tip #003 - Shutter Priority

Shutter Priority, what and why? Well the what is control over the length of time your shutter stays open. Why? To blur or stop movement basically. A quick shutter speed will freeze motion in your photo and a slow shutter speed will blur that motion. When would you need to use these? Picture your favorite sport. For me let's use waterskiing. A quick shutter speed will freeze the subject in mid air, or just as he is wiping out. Now picture a water fall. A slow shutter speed will streak the water giving it a silky look.

Have a look at these examples.


Here you can clearly see how the shutter speed of 1/500 seconds has frozen the falling skier in place. You can see each water drop frozen in mid air. This is a stop action shot and will forever hold him in place.


In this photo of a small water fall along the highway by Grande Cache, Alberta you can see how a slow shutter speed of 1/4 seconds has streaked the falling water creating a nice silky effect. For me, this is how I prefer to see pictures of waterfalls. The faster shutter speed freezes the water droplets in place and makes it look chunky. But that is just my opinion.



A slower shutter speed can also be used in conjunction with panning. A technique where you pan along with the subject as it passes by you. You can keep the subject sharp while blurring the background giving the sense of motion. In this example I used a shutter speed of 1/40 seconds to blur the background of the race car moving at about 120km per hour.

Chris.

Digital Photography Tip #002 - Aperture Priority.

Tip #2 already! I had a thought and needed to express it. I may post lots of these in a relatively short period of time until I catch up to myself. So here we go with #2.

Aperture Priority Mode.

Who is in charge of how your photo is being recorded? You or your camera? If you are running in any of the "creative" modes or Full Auto, then it is your camera. Running on P mode is better but not really. I'm using Canon's modes here so on a different camera they may be called something else but they do the same thing, take control away from you.

Now don't get me wrong, my Rebel XTI takes some great pictures on full automatic but they do not stand out. The camera will decide how to expose the scene for you. If you have lots of bright white or lots of darks look out. The camera wants to make the whole scene an 18% grey. And that is what your pictures will look like, grey, washed out, blah looking.

Switch over to one of the manual modes. Av (aperture priority), Tv (shutter priority) or M (full manual). They will give you the control you need over your photos.

Av or Aperture Priority will allow you to set the aperture of the lens. Why would you do that you ask. Well with control over your aperture, you have control over your Depth of Field (DOF) and your exposure. Sure your camera will pick a shutter speed that it thinks will give you the best exposure and that may not be what you think is the best but we will get to compensating for that later. Mostly, you get control over your DOF. Have a look at these examples.



This is a photo I took this past summer where I used a closed down aperture of f/22. The larger the number, the smaller the aperture the more depth of field you have. Note how everything from the bale in the front to the treeline at the back are in focus. Now this was taken at 37mm and wide angle lenses do give a greater depth of field to begin with but you get my point, smaller aperture = greater DOF.


This one on the other hand was taken with a wide aperture of f/5. Note how the cat tail in the foreground is in focus but the background is blured effectively separating the subject from the background. This was taken at 135mm. Telephoto lenses and long zoom lenses have less DOF to start with but you see my point here. Large aperture = less DOF.

I live in this mode most of the time. I want the control over the DOF most of the time. Sometimes, I want control over the shutter speed. Why? Well that will have to wait for next time.

Chris.

Digital Photography Tip #001 - Know Your Camera.

I'm starting a more serious series of posts. Digital Photography Tips. My blog to date has been mostly ramblings about, well nothing really. I'm going to start to give back that which I have learned. I'm aiming as DSLR users here but any tips on composition and the like will also work if you have a point and shoot.

OK, let's get started. Here is tip number 1.

Know your camera.

You may ask, "What the heck does that mean?". Well I mean just that. Know your camera. Inside and out. All the controls, how to do everything that it will do. Everything from changing the ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture right down to changing the battery. Take some time, read the manual that came with the camera. Learn what all those little display icons mean and how to change them. Take some pictures then change some settings and see what they do. You need to be able to change settings on the fly and not have to pull out the manual to figure it out. That moment will pass you by as you are looking something up.


There may be a more detailed book for you camera at your local book store. They can provide much more detailed information than the manual but the manual will give you tons of information.

That's it for #1. Simple to the point but important. You need to know how to adjust your camera. Next time we will start discussing what and why you need to change settings.

Chris.

James Nachtwey - War Photographer

Recently I had the chance to watch the documentary War Photographer. This fantastic documentary is about James Nachtwey a photojournalist who focuses on the dark side of humanity, war. It was a great movie and I recommend it to everyone even if you are not a photographer.

Several times throughout the movie I was so moved by the scenes before me I wanted to scream. The passion he has for telling the story, the way he went about the photography, almost meek in his manor yet courageous in his life.

James has won the 2007 TedPrize, a $100,000.00 prize for one wish to change the world. James is getting ready to release his photos of events that are underreported and will most likely shock the world. The date for the unveiling is Oct 3 2008. Watch for it.

Here is James prize wish video.

Find out more about James Nachtwey, TED and the TedPrize here.

Chris.

Jacob - 4 years old already!

Photo For Now #007

Well here is a cute photo I did in my back yard recently. We have tons of hares running around our neighboorhood just as I imagine most people do. This guy was having a nap in my back yard and didn't even flinch as I passed by him to go in my house. I grabbed my camera and came back out for a photo shoot with the little guy. I like this one the best. It's nice and sharp.


250mm, ISO 100, f/5.6 for 1/100 sec.

Chris.