Old style star washer

I have had a black rapid strap, model RS-2 for a while now. I was really excited to get one, and loved it but…  Were you expecting a but? It wasn’t perfect. I loved the innovative way the camera hung at my side, hanging there waiting for the moment that I needed to quickly raise it to my eye. But, I had a few complaints I discovered after using the strap for a while. This is a bit of a RS-2 to RS-7 comparison. (Keep with with me, the complaints are all fixed)

• I didn’t like the connector thingy. (Technical term) It was just too bulky. It looked like a good first try from someone welding things together in their garage. It worked, but didn’t look pretty. And I lost mine. Twice. Some people even tried tying their strap with a little make-shift cord connector. That didn’t always work out.
• It was bulky. The strap seemed a little too wide. Too much material. It just felt too noticeable, especially with a jacket on. The model I had also had this whole extra flap that held memory cards, business cards, and had a pocket on it for a cell phone. This sounded good at the time, but just ended up feeling bulky. I felt like the cell phone pocket was right at my chin, like a poor mans hands free phone system. I eventually cut off the extra, but it still seemed a little stiff and bulky.

New Connector

• The strap wasn’t like better backpack straps that are curved to conform to your shoulder a little better. I found it would slip off sometimes too.
• My strap didn’t have a clip to hold the excess webbing strap. That was probably because I cut off part of the padding (the pockets) to make it smaller. It also seemed like it could use another clip to keep the camera from sliding around. If you switched shoulders it seemed like the clip was on the wrong side.
• The connector was completely re-engineered. It now looks very professional, and more importantly, works wonderfully. It is much smaller. It piece that screws into the camera is a much lower profile, and has a piece of rubber on the end. This does two things. Not having the lock nut and instead having the rubber make it more secure, and doesn’t seem to loosen anymore. The lower profile means that you can hold the camera with a portrait grip on it, which really wasn’t possible with the other connector. And last, using the locking mini carabiner allows you to remove the strap if you need to with needing to unscrew the whole thing.
• The new RS-7 strap is thinner. Much better profile, and this one doesn’t have any bells and whistles. Some people might like pockets and stuff on their strap, and they still have models that have them, and an accessory pocket can be attached to the RS-7, but if you don’t want the extra material, you don’t have to have it.

RS-7 vs Modified RS-2

• The new RS-7 is curved. Not by much, but it works. It seems to stay on my shoulder better, feels more comfortable, and seems less prone to sliding off. Seems great.
• This RS-7 is much more finished in every way. No matter which side of your head/shoulder  you wear this strap, it still fits well. There is a new clip that keeps the strap from flapping, and there are two clips that are designed to keep the camera in place, no matter how you wear the strap.

I did say I loved this strap didn’t I? Ok, at first I loved it, then as the issues came up, I stopped wearing it as much. Then the improvements started to come out.

The first strap I had felt like a great idea that was put together in someones garage. functional, but not the best finish. This strap is a whole new level. The straps, buckles, padding, connector, and even what they left off are seem perfect now. If I had to come up with one item for an update, it would be to have the material under the strap to be “stickier”, like a rubber or something that would cling to nylon/rain jackets better. This isn’t as important on a strap you wear across your body, but I sometimes fell it moves a little, and I have to keep putting it back in place.

That’s all I can come up with on the negative side. I love it. If you are replacing your strap, definitely consider this one. I think it’s worth the money.

So I decided to try the HI1.0 ISO setting on my Nikon D90. That is actually ISO 6400. This image was shot without a flash with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 at 1/20th of a second. I shot in RAW and adjusted the white balance a bit, and the brightness in Lightroom very slightly. Otherwise, this is the image.

Noise is quite obvious. It actually doesn’t look quite as bad in this little image, so I exported larger ones too, that if you click on the image you will see a larger version. There the noise is even more noticeable. I don’t think I would really want to use this setting. The only reason I even wanted to try it was a friend had taken some at this setting on his Nikon D5000 (about the same sensor) and thought they were fine. Me, not so much.

Now, it was taken while the camera had high ISO noise reduction on. I am wishing now I had taken another with that off for reference. Also, one in JPEG mode with and without it turned on. Sounds like another post.

Ok, I wanted to see if I could make the image usable, so first I ran it through the Nik Define filter within Photoshop. It may be that I don’t know how to use the filter yet (used default settings), or it could be that there was just too much noise, but I wasn’t that impressed. Then I turned it over to Nik Silver Fx Pro. I have used this filter a bit more, and I thought the BW turned out pretty well.

I think it hides the color noise, and looks more like grain than noise now. Maybe usable. At least it allows you to get a shot that you never would be able to get otherwise. Now, to be fair, it was really dark. Only my child’s night light was on. I had a hard time focusing. But the great take away from this is that it would be awesome to take pictures at this ISO, and you can with cameras like the D700 and the D3 versions. I am really starting to like the idea of a full frame camera. Someday…

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Chris Orwig, Jay Maisel, and even Moose Peterson would be proud of me. Well, maybe not proud, but they would at least approve.

After getting through Chris Orwig’s book, Visual Poetry, I decided that I would take my camera everywhere. Where ever I was going. I took the battery pack/portrait grip off my D90, and put on a 50mm lens. I attached my black rapid strap, and decided I was ready. That’s it. No bags, no filters, zoom lens or options to get in the way.

I started taking it to work every day. This is where it got frustrating. I get in my car, drive to work, put my camera on my desk, do my work, pick up the camera, get back in the car, go back into the house.

There have been some days that I have stopped and taken a disappointing sunrise shot with my iPhone, so there may be the odd occasion to use it.

It is frustrating that I don’t have more opportunity for found objects or moments. I wish I walked or took a train. It just isn’t practical from where I live to where I work. The opportunities when you put one foot in front of the other become endless. When you put your butt in a seat with severe time constraints, things are more limited.

So the camera sits on my desk taunting me.

“Why don’t you pick me up and practice changing ISO without looking at the dials?”

“Why don’t you look at my little screen and see what images you have squeezed out of your life in the last few days?”

“Why don’t you pick me up and take some pictures of something, anything that moves or doesn’t move, but something?”

Argg! I have other work to do. I am not sure this is working.

The above image was taken with a D90, pop-up flash as commander, and a SB-900 held out at camera left. I think that there is something wrong with these photos, but the subjects liked them. My issue? There was too much flash, especially from the front, and there is a shadow at the bottom of the image. But why?

I was certain that I read somewhere, saw a video, or a podcast that said that the D90’s pop up flash, when acting as a commander could not contribute light to the scene. I was wrong.

At home, I had previously been trying to use a two light setup with one light on camera, and another off to the left in an umbrella. Both were SB900’s. I had been playing with the lighting ratios, and what the light looked like. I would leave the umbrella at full power, then decrease the on camera. Then I would lower the umbrella, and increase the light from the on camera flash. This was all done via CLS.

Then I was shooting some informal portraits at a wedding. We were at a country club, on a golf course, and the sun was going down. Twilight blue sky. I set my subjects up with the golf course and the mountains behind them. I held a SB900 with dome difuser on in my left hand at arms length. (I didn’t have other diffusion materials with me.) I popped up my on board flash to use as the commander. It didn’t register that it was set to TTL. I took my picture with a Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 lens on the front, and a shadow shows up in front of their feet! Whoa! Where is the light coming from? I was a little confused and didn’t have time to figure it out, so I just zoomed in a bit more so the shadow wouldn’t be as noticible. I also added some dodging in post to even out the light a little bit.

It wasn’t until I was back home looking at my pictures that I figured it out. The light from the built-in flash was contributing to the exposure. I know that in the past I have sworn at Joe McNally because it seemed like my flash was contributing to the light, when I know that he has said over and over that when using CLS, the commander flash doesn’t contribute light to the exposure. Except when you don’t pay attention.

So, if you do not want your pop up flash to contribute to the exposure, make sure that beside the line labeled Built-In, in the left column it says “–”. If you do want some light from this flash, set it to “TTL”. You will most likely want to lower the light from this flash so it acts as just a bit of fill, by setting the right column to -2 or even -3.

I think my mistake (probably more than once) was when I looked at the menu and saw TTL, and thought, of course that is what I want. But, you probably only want light from the off camera lights set to TTL, and the pop up set to “–” for commander. The most I can hope for is that I have learned my lesson.

So I now have a full screen slideshow in Javascript, without using flash, and I wanted to tell you how I did it, and how you can do it too. I will talk a bit about Javascript here, but you will be able to download the jQuery plugin I have without needing to know much, if all you want is to implement the gallery.

I got the idea for this plugin after looking at a flash version of Scott Kelby’s portfolio. I just wanted to give it a try in Javascript.

I have created a permanent page for bgStretcher2, so it is easier to find from the side bar, so look here.

Here is a video slideshow that I created that showcases some of my wedding photography. Have a look.

It is the first video that I have put up on my site, so that is pretty exciting. I am hoping to do more in the future, but this is a start.

A week or so ago, I saw that Scott Kelby had launched a new portfolio with a full screen flash gallery. I thought it looked pretty sweet, but I wanted to have a go at getting a similar, but not the same look using Javascript, not Flash. I think it turned out pretty well. You can see the portfolio here. The Javascript works pretty well. You can’t however take over the entire screen, but the images will fill the browser.

I intend to detail how it works, and provide something for you to download if you want to use it, but that will have to wait a day or two. Check back, I will share.

Well, first go read this post, and if you just bought your camera, I will try to talk you out of buying anything.

So, why do you want a lens? Other than that glass is cool. Are you wanting more reach, to get images of birds in the trees? Are you wanting to take pictures of kids in low light? Would an external flash be better? Would you like something with a zoom, or something with a fixed focal length? Do you have $300, or $3000? Do you know what f/3.5-5.6 means?

You need to be able to answer those questions to make a truly informed decision. Reading the Digital Photography Book (post) by Scott Kelby would help with this too.

Ok, lets take a look at some reasonable (for photography) options.

Nilkon 50mm f/1.8

If you are looking for some “fast glass”, the traditional recomendation is the “nifty fifty.” Fast glass, or a fast lens, is a lens that has a very large minimum aperture size. This refers to a small aperture number, such as f/2.8, or f/1.4. The kit lenses are usually of a variable aperture, meaning they are not constant through out the zoom range. Zoom lenses are usually more expensive to make in a constant aperture, so most people look to get a fast lens with a single focal length. What does this do for us? By “opening up” the lens to a wide aperture, you let in more light, so the shutter speed can be faster when taking available light pictures. Also, your depth of field gets smaller, meaning that the area in the photo that is in-focus is smaller. This can be good and bad depending on the picture¬† you are taking.¬†

Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S

The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 that most people call the “nifty fifty” has been a staple of most photographers, and the price hovered around $120 – $150 depending on where you get it. (amazon) There are a couple of issues with this lens though. First of all, your camera may not work with it. Cameras like the D40, and D3000 do not have a traditional motor drive in the camera body. This means that autofocus will not work with the nifty fifty. I used this 50mm lens manually focusing on a D40 for quite some time. Worked great for flowers, not for kids. You need a AF-S lens in Nikon terms to get auto focus. That means that the lens its self has a motor in it. But, it makes the lens more expensive. Amazon has this version for about $440.¬†

Nikon 35mm f/1.4 AF-S

Problem #2. The 50mm lens is a great lens. It used to be called the “standard lens” and many film era cameras shipped with just this lens (a 50mm). So what’s the problem? Sensor size. If you want to use your new “fast glass” to take pictures indoors without flash, the 50mm¬†can be too long a focal length. You might want to consider the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF-S instead. (amazon) ¬†On most digital cameras, the sensor is smaller than a film negative. This makes lenses appear to have a longer focal length, and why the 35mm works better indoors. 35mm x 1.5 = 52.5mm on a APS-C “crop sensor”. (I am not going to get into this anymore today, but there are lots of places to read about this,¬†like¬†here)¬†The good news is that the 35mm lens is cheaper. Amazon has it for about $200.

Nikon 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6

How about if you want to make small, or far away subjects look bigger in the viewfinder? A longer zoom? Or move your feet. Seriously. Many shots can be taken by simply getting closer to your subject. Also, telephoto lenses are not just for “making things bigger”. They also compress the scene. They make the background and the foreground appear closer together. For birds and¬†other critters, you may not be able to get close enough with your feet. If you want a telephoto, you are looking at getting something that zooms to 200 or 300 in a variable aperture, or you are spending really big money.

Some of  you may already have this lens, the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6 AF-S VR. (amazon) Sometimes this lens is bundled in a two lens kit with some cameras. This lens is only $200 Р$250, and for a lens of this price, is really quite good. The VR (vibration reduction) helps to reduce hand shakyness, especially at slower shutter speeds. This was my first lens purchase, and one that I found useful.

What about macro? Fixed focal length zooms? Wide angle? All in one zooms? Take it slow. Learn your camera and the lens you have. See how close¬† you can get with your lens. You can get fairly close “macro-ish” shots with a kit lens. Move your feet and get closer to subjects. The 18mm of most kit lenses is reasonably wide. Learn how to use that. That said, I will tackle some of these options in another post soon.

Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF-S VR

If you want a little bit more reach, a sharper image, and have some extra money, the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR is considered a very¬†good lens for the money. You can find this item for less than $500. (amazon) ¬†At $500 the cost is getting more expensive, but is still reasonable in the world of camera lenses. I don’t own this lens, but many people I respect have and like this lens.

 

Happy Shooting.

The first book you should read is your manual. I know, I know, that is not what you wanted to hear. But you really do need to read your manual to understand what your camera can do.

What’s after that? What is the first Digital Photogarphy Book you should get? I would suggest, funny enough, the Digital Photography Book, by Scott Kelby. After that, check out the book page here on my blog.

Why did I suggest that book? For one thing, you don’t need a DSLR to do lots of the stuff in this book. It is easy to read, and written with quite a bit of humor. What Scott says, is that he is trying to explain things to you as if you were a shooting buddy that went out shooting with him. Kelby himself says in the book, that this is not the most technical of books, and if you want more detail, you will need to find another book. What you will get are simple recipes and instructions on how to do certain types of photography, and how to get certain types of shots.

You will also get introduced to some new equipment. Do you have to buy it? No, but some things do require some extra gear to get the best results. Photography isn’t a cheap hobby, but make sure that what gear you buy will be worth it for you.

There are two other volumes in this series. They get more advanced and more in depth with each volume. You will get more into flash photography, and using some other gear. Start with the first volume. It will give you a good exposure to what you might want to do with photography, and what gear you might put on your wish list.

New Shooter: Hey photo guru, I just got a new XBR-43 Mega Ulta Canikon DSLR for Christmas. My first few test shots don’t quite look the same as the ones I see in magazines and online so, what else do I need to buy?

Photo Guru: Nothing.

New Shooter: Uh. Come again?

Photo Guru: Nothing.

New Shooter: Well, it is obvious that you don’t work for a camera store…

Photo Guru: Gear is good, vision is better.

New Shooter: Yea, ok, whatever. So did I get the wrong camera? Your pictures look much better. You must have a better camera.

Photo Guru: Have you looked on flickr or contest by lines to see what camera was used to shoot the photos you like?

New Shooter: No, but I am pretty sure they have awesome cameras.

Photo Guru: They do. Canon Powershots, Canon Digital Rebels, and iPhones. (flickr camera stats)

New Shooter: What? I am sure my camera cost more than those camera’s did!

Photo Guru: Gear is good, vision is better.

New Shooter: That’s the second time you said that, and it still doesn’t make any sense.

Photo Guru: Your camera’s a tool you use to take pictures. You still need to know how to use your tools. That said, even the best carpenter with the best tools can’t build an amazing chair if they have no vision of what they want that chair to look like.

New Shooter: My camera is a tool? I thought I just point and shoot?

Photo Guru: You can. If you are happy with those pictures, then be happy with those pictures, but there must be some reason you thought you wanted a DSLR. If it was just because you thought that you would get better pictures, then learn to make better pictures with a point and shoot camera.

New Shooter: But don’t you need a certain level of camera to take great pictures?

Photo Guru: Check out thebestcamera.com. Those pictures were all taken with an iPhone. Lots of these pictures are really great. But notice, there are no pictures of high speed sports action in low light with the athletes perfectly sharp. If that’s what you are looking for, you will need a certain level of equipment that the iPhone can’t handle. But there is an endless amount of creative possibilities that you can try with what ever equipment you have.

New Shooter: Well, what can I do with my camera?

Photo Guru: Learn what you have. That goes to the heart of why I said “Buy nothing.” You need to shoot, shoot, and shoot some more with the gear you have. You need to learn what happens at small and large apertures, fast and slow shutter speeds, high and low ISO’s. You need to shoot in bright light and low light. You need to learn what all the buttons on your camera do. You need to know what types of images you get from the lens that came with your camera at 18mm and 55mm, or what ever extremes your kit lens does.

New Shooter: I thought this “tool” as you call it was a little smarter than you make it out to be. You seem to be suggesting that I have a lot of learning and work to do to take pictures with this camera.

Photo Guru: That depends. Again, what I said earlier, if you have happy with the pictures you take in auto mode, you are done. Be happy. If instead you look at those pictures and say, “There’s something not quite how I want it…” then you have some work to do.

New Shooter: Ok, I am getting kind of overwhelmed by all these buttons and terms. I can’t learn everything at once.

Photo Guru: You don’t have to. Just take pictures. Then read the manual. Every weekend pick a new feature to explore. It will come. Before long you know a lot of stuff.

New Shooter: Ok, I will go work with the tools I have, but where does this vision thing come in?

Photo Guru: That is much harder, and I recommend you don’t worry to much about it at first. You need to have your tools down pretty well before you can envision an image in your mind and then try to get it in the camera. It takes even more shooting to be able to impart a vision into an image that you want someone else looking at your pictures to see. If you want to explore vision more, check out the pixelatedimage blog by David duChemin. He has some great ebooks he sells, and a great book on vision: Within the Frame. I stole his phrase “Gear is good, Vision is better” too.

New Shooter: Ok, if vision is getting ahead of myself a bit, is there something other than a camera manual I can read?

Photo Guru: You can check out this book page on my blog. It lists the books I have read and reviewed, and the ones I have on my list to read.

New Shooter: Alright. I’ll check those out. I try to read that manual too. Ok, see you later… I have to go shoot!

Photo Guru: That’s the spirit. Good luck, and have fun!