Just added some great DSLR related sites to my feed reader (after I deleted a lot of other sites) and wanted to share my favorite ones with you.
the site that let me fall in love with DSLR videos:
the guy that made me buy a Canon:
the site that shows the greatest equipment:
other great sites:
my little site:
Hope you'll take a look at these sites. Let me know if I missed a good one.
Cheers,
jonni
Showing posts with label photo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photo. Show all posts
2010/09/29
2010/09/24
Canon 550D underwater photo and video with the DiCAPac SLR Case
To keep this article short, here are the facts. After some tests I took a few underwater photos and shot some videos with this thing and it works! The quality is amazing! This is a product I can recommend without any doubt.
Here's a short video to show the abilities of this bag
But before you hit the buy button and get this thing you should be aware of some things. Handling your camera with this bag is really hard! You can fit 2 550Ds in this bag easily. I think it will work better with bigger cameras. Making adjustments during a shot is almost impossible. So you have to make all your settings first (even zoom and focus) and then start the shoot. Another problem I had was that my 18-55mm kit lens was way to small, so I had to push the tube for the lens against it all the time to avoid filming the inner side of the tube. But with some practice or by taping the tube towards the bag (or using a longer lens) you should get some really nice shots, even if this bag can't replace any professional case for your DSLR.
I can't wait to test this bag on a rainy day...
My rating:
price: 5/5
quality: 5/5
handling 2/5
Cheers,
jonni
2010/07/20
Super cheap and lightweight video / timelapse setup (Canon 550D, 10-inch flexible tripod, Bilora Professional 1153 fluid head, H&Y Fader ND, 3-way rubber lens hood)
A fried of mine sent me this link where you can buy a 10-inch flexible tripod for $11.90. Basically it is the same as the "Joby GorillaPod SLR-Zoom" (the biggest GorillaPod) which you can get here for $49.95. The only difference I know is that the joints of the cheaper one are a bit stiffer. I decided to get one because I don't want to carry my tripod with me all the time. Shipping to Germany took 2 weeks and I'm really satisfied with the quality of this product. It carries my 550D with the 50mm or the 18-55 kit lens, a metal stepping ring, the H&Y fader ND and a big 3-way rubber lens hood without a problem. And the best thing: It also works nice with my new "Bilora Professional 1153 fluid head" mounted to it. I got the head for 39.99€ ($52) from a local electronics store in Stuttgart. I tested a lot of fluid heads (cheap and expensive ones) and decided to get this one. It's really cheap, build quality is great and panning is comparable to some of the cheaper Manfrotto heads. So all in all it's a great small head for shooting stills and videos - and it comes with a nice quick release plate.
This is a really lightweight and small setup with all the basic accessories you need for shooting nice timelapses or videos with some smooth pans. But you'll definitely need some more stuff for handheld shots or if you need to record usable sound.
My rating:
10-inch flexible tripod: 5/5
Bilora Professional 1153 fluid head: 4.5/5
3-way rubber lens hood: 4.5/5
This is a really lightweight and small setup with all the basic accessories you need for shooting nice timelapses or videos with some smooth pans. But you'll definitely need some more stuff for handheld shots or if you need to record usable sound.
My rating:
10-inch flexible tripod: 5/5
Bilora Professional 1153 fluid head: 4.5/5
3-way rubber lens hood: 4.5/5
2010/07/03
H&Y Fader ND - a short review
I got a comment that the "H&Y Fader ND" is an imitation from the "Light Craft Workshop fader". To be honest, I have no clue which one is the original, but I think it's the "Singh Ray Vari ND" because this is the most expensive. I read Phillip Boom's post on these faders (this is the post) and decided to get the cheap one. I paid $79,19 (=64,42€, ebay seller "anne14389", shipping took 2 weeks to Germany) for my 72mm sized filter. I think this prize is unbeatable. But as I said before, I don't know if this is a genuine filter.
Here's a sample video of the H&Y Fader ND on my Canon 550D with a EF 50mm 1.8 II lens. The setting was 1080, 24p, 1/50s, f/1.8, ISO100 and I twisted the fader from it's minimum to the 8th stroke (the maximum is on the 10th). It was really really bright when I shot the video. I had to choose f/20.0 to get the same image without the fader. By the way, the colors are flat because of my camera setting.
The thread on the outer side (e.g. for a lens hood) is 77mm. Build quality is really good (metal and glass) and the box it comes with is also really nice. Only negative thing so far: it doesn't come with a lens cap so you have to get one seperately. I ordered one for 5,98€ on ebay. I also ordered a 3 way rubber lens hood for 4,45€ to avoid lens flares and to protect the fader.
I will use this fader with my EF-S 18-55mm kit lens and with my EF 50mm prime lens. The kit lens has a 58mm filter thread, the 50mm prime has a 52mm thread. So I ordered 2 stepping rings (each one less than $2 on ebay) which make it possible to thread the Fader ND to these lenses. I decided to buy a bigger fader because I want to use it with lenses I will get in the future, too.
What are these faders used for? They make it possible to darken the image like normal ND filters. The only difference is that you can adjust the density of the filter (range from ND2 up to ND400 with this fader). This makes it possible to shoot videos with a wide open lens in bright sunlight without changing the shutter speed. Another nice thing that you can do with these faders is to take a long exposure picture in bright sunlight without getting it overexposed. This is a nice technique to shoot a sight on a crowded place if you don't have the chance to shoot it without people in front of it - the people will be blurred and you can see the whole sight. Another thing that many people do with this type of filter is to shoot water with longer exposures to make it look smooth.
What can I say about the optical quality? I think it's great. Colors are nice and I can't see any distortion or vignetting at all. Only when I twist the fader over it's maximum - but this is not what it is supposed to do. I will use this filter for shooting videos primarily, but it also works nice for taking photos.
If you want a really cheap Fader, get this one. Maybe the more expensive faders will give you even better quality, but the price-performance ratio of the H&Y fader is excellent for people on a very tight budget. My rating: 5/5.
Cheers,
jonni
Here's a sample video of the H&Y Fader ND on my Canon 550D with a EF 50mm 1.8 II lens. The setting was 1080, 24p, 1/50s, f/1.8, ISO100 and I twisted the fader from it's minimum to the 8th stroke (the maximum is on the 10th). It was really really bright when I shot the video. I had to choose f/20.0 to get the same image without the fader. By the way, the colors are flat because of my camera setting.
The thread on the outer side (e.g. for a lens hood) is 77mm. Build quality is really good (metal and glass) and the box it comes with is also really nice. Only negative thing so far: it doesn't come with a lens cap so you have to get one seperately. I ordered one for 5,98€ on ebay. I also ordered a 3 way rubber lens hood for 4,45€ to avoid lens flares and to protect the fader.
I will use this fader with my EF-S 18-55mm kit lens and with my EF 50mm prime lens. The kit lens has a 58mm filter thread, the 50mm prime has a 52mm thread. So I ordered 2 stepping rings (each one less than $2 on ebay) which make it possible to thread the Fader ND to these lenses. I decided to buy a bigger fader because I want to use it with lenses I will get in the future, too.
What are these faders used for? They make it possible to darken the image like normal ND filters. The only difference is that you can adjust the density of the filter (range from ND2 up to ND400 with this fader). This makes it possible to shoot videos with a wide open lens in bright sunlight without changing the shutter speed. Another nice thing that you can do with these faders is to take a long exposure picture in bright sunlight without getting it overexposed. This is a nice technique to shoot a sight on a crowded place if you don't have the chance to shoot it without people in front of it - the people will be blurred and you can see the whole sight. Another thing that many people do with this type of filter is to shoot water with longer exposures to make it look smooth.
What can I say about the optical quality? I think it's great. Colors are nice and I can't see any distortion or vignetting at all. Only when I twist the fader over it's maximum - but this is not what it is supposed to do. I will use this filter for shooting videos primarily, but it also works nice for taking photos.
If you want a really cheap Fader, get this one. Maybe the more expensive faders will give you even better quality, but the price-performance ratio of the H&Y fader is excellent for people on a very tight budget. My rating: 5/5.
Cheers,
jonni
2010/06/12
A cheap 50mm f/1.8 lens for good photos and superb low light videos
The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is a $99 lens that's great for shooting photos and videos with. It gives you a very shallow depth of field and also makes it possible to shoot under low light conditions. It has a focal lenght of 50mm which equals 80mm on the 550D (crop factor 1.6).
Yes, most of the lens is made of plastic - but I don't care because the price is really good. One advantage is that it's very lightweight, but on the other hand you will hear some ugly noises (same as on the 18-55 kit lens) in your videos when you focus manually. But with an external microphone this problem should be solved. Autofocus is very fast and works great under low light conditions. But be aware that this lens has no image stabilization. So running around and shooting videos will not give you the best results (to avoid shaky images say Hi to a Steadicam).
What's really poor is that the lens hood for this lens (ES-62) costs $30. 1.8 lens - $99. Some plastic with Canon written on it - $30. This is a price I really didn't want to pay. So I ordered a $5 lens hood from China. And I think it's basically the same as the Canon lens hood. So here you can save $25.
The lens is really fast and it's much fun to shoot videos with it since you can turn down the ISO values when shooting under low light conditions which will avoid ugly noise. This lens + hood combination is definitely a great deal if you're on a budget. If you have more money you should take a look at the 1.4 lens which is even better but much more expensive ($350).
Cheers,
jonni
Yes, most of the lens is made of plastic - but I don't care because the price is really good. One advantage is that it's very lightweight, but on the other hand you will hear some ugly noises (same as on the 18-55 kit lens) in your videos when you focus manually. But with an external microphone this problem should be solved. Autofocus is very fast and works great under low light conditions. But be aware that this lens has no image stabilization. So running around and shooting videos will not give you the best results (to avoid shaky images say Hi to a Steadicam).
What's really poor is that the lens hood for this lens (ES-62) costs $30. 1.8 lens - $99. Some plastic with Canon written on it - $30. This is a price I really didn't want to pay. So I ordered a $5 lens hood from China. And I think it's basically the same as the Canon lens hood. So here you can save $25.
The lens is really fast and it's much fun to shoot videos with it since you can turn down the ISO values when shooting under low light conditions which will avoid ugly noise. This lens + hood combination is definitely a great deal if you're on a budget. If you have more money you should take a look at the 1.4 lens which is even better but much more expensive ($350).
Cheers,
jonni
2010/06/11
High Resolution Screens from the "Timelapse test 2" video
Here are 3 original screens from my second timelapse video. Click the photos to see the full resolution.
Looks really great on a full HD television but uploading to vimeo messes it up a little bit.
Cheers,
jonni
Looks really great on a full HD television but uploading to vimeo messes it up a little bit.
Cheers,
jonni
2010/06/10
Timelapse test 2
This is my second timelapse video. It's made of 393 pictures that I shot on my Canon 550D with the aide of my cheap timer remote control. I think the quality of this video is much better than in my first one. That's because this time I set the ISO to 100 instead of leaving it in automatic mode. What I really don't like is that all the thin lines look interrupted. I think this has to do with the resize filter (nearest neighbor) that I used to convert the video to 1080p.
Here's some data from the video:
cam: Canon 550D
lens: Canon EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6
settings: manual mode, 36mm, MF, f/4.0, ISO 100, 1/2500s, picture size small
production: interval 10s, 393 pictures, 24fps, 1080p
-----
Another thing that I had to deal with this time was the flashing overheating icon on the display of my 550D. It occured after only 250 shots! So I do really recommend to place your camera in some shade or make shadow with some objects before you start the shooting. The low battery icon was also flashing on this shoot, but the camera still had enough power to finish the shooting.
Here are some pictures of my setup and the flashing icons on the display (shot with my 1st gen. iPhone).
As you can see nothing special. Kit lens, cheap timer remote cord from China and an old tripod I got for free ;)
I hope this was helpful.
Cheers,
jonni
Here's some data from the video:
cam: Canon 550D
lens: Canon EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6
settings: manual mode, 36mm, MF, f/4.0, ISO 100, 1/2500s, picture size small
production: interval 10s, 393 pictures, 24fps, 1080p
-----
Another thing that I had to deal with this time was the flashing overheating icon on the display of my 550D. It occured after only 250 shots! So I do really recommend to place your camera in some shade or make shadow with some objects before you start the shooting. The low battery icon was also flashing on this shoot, but the camera still had enough power to finish the shooting.
Here are some pictures of my setup and the flashing icons on the display (shot with my 1st gen. iPhone).
As you can see nothing special. Kit lens, cheap timer remote cord from China and an old tripod I got for free ;)
I hope this was helpful.
Cheers,
jonni
2010/06/08
Timelapse test 1
Here's the 1st timelapse video that I recorded with my new timer remote cord.
I did a lot of mistakes, but I'm still learning and I learned a lot from this short video. I forgot to set the ISO to a fixed value. Therefore there's a lot of flickering in the video (looks ugly because you can see that the video was created with single captured photos). This won't happen again the next time I shoot a timelapse video ;)
Here's some data from the video above:
cam: Canon 550D
lens: Canon EF 50 f/1.8
settings: MF, f/1.8, ISO auto, AV auto, picture size small
production: interval 4s, 356 pictures, converted to 1080p with VirtualDub, 24fps
If you don't know how to make a video out of a lot of stills, check this tutorial - it's really easy.
Cheers,
jonni
I did a lot of mistakes, but I'm still learning and I learned a lot from this short video. I forgot to set the ISO to a fixed value. Therefore there's a lot of flickering in the video (looks ugly because you can see that the video was created with single captured photos). This won't happen again the next time I shoot a timelapse video ;)
Here's some data from the video above:
cam: Canon 550D
lens: Canon EF 50 f/1.8
settings: MF, f/1.8, ISO auto, AV auto, picture size small
production: interval 4s, 356 pictures, converted to 1080p with VirtualDub, 24fps
If you don't know how to make a video out of a lot of stills, check this tutorial - it's really easy.
Cheers,
jonni
2010/06/06
Tips for timelapse photography (updated)
How to shoot nice timelapse videos:
- Turn off the auto focus before you start shooting. This will avoid image "pumping" and also increase the battery life of your camera. I do focus with AF and then switch to MF - this helps me to find the right focus.
- Select a shutter speed that captures the movement in your shot. This will result in a fluid video. If your shutter speed is too fast, your video will look clipped. So choose longer shutter speeds. If your image is to bright go for higher f's or use a ND filter to reduce the light that gets into your lens.
- If your subject is moving fast (cars) select a short interval time. If it's moving slow (flowers) the interval can be longer.
- Check your camera settings before shooting the timelapse. Manual mode should be preferred. You don't need RAW and big sized images for a timelapse videos, so change it to JPG and choose a smaller size.
- Think of the ISO you want to set (keep it low to avoid noise), don't leave it on automatic. If you do so you will se ugly flickering in your video.
- Turn down the brightness of the screen and swith off the image review to increase the battery life.
- Last but not least, check your battery power and the space on your memory card before shooting the lapse. This will avoid a freak out that - in the worst case - can lead to a broken camera ;)
Continuous interval shooting is not the best treatment for your camera. Mirror and shutter are designed for a specific number of shots (some say 100.000 some say more - I don't know how long they last, but I don't want mine to get repaired). Mirror lock does not work for liveview mode (which I prefer because I think the mirror has to work less in liveview mode), but it can be very helpful when your exposure is around 1/15 and you don't want your shots to get shaky (remember that you have to turn off liveview and that only every second shot is recorded to your card).
I hope this helps. If you have other tips or if you know how to protect the mirror and shutter write a comment please.
Cheers,
jonni
- Turn off the auto focus before you start shooting. This will avoid image "pumping" and also increase the battery life of your camera. I do focus with AF and then switch to MF - this helps me to find the right focus.
- Select a shutter speed that captures the movement in your shot. This will result in a fluid video. If your shutter speed is too fast, your video will look clipped. So choose longer shutter speeds. If your image is to bright go for higher f's or use a ND filter to reduce the light that gets into your lens.
- If your subject is moving fast (cars) select a short interval time. If it's moving slow (flowers) the interval can be longer.
- Check your camera settings before shooting the timelapse. Manual mode should be preferred. You don't need RAW and big sized images for a timelapse videos, so change it to JPG and choose a smaller size.
- Think of the ISO you want to set (keep it low to avoid noise), don't leave it on automatic. If you do so you will se ugly flickering in your video.
- Turn down the brightness of the screen and swith off the image review to increase the battery life.
- Last but not least, check your battery power and the space on your memory card before shooting the lapse. This will avoid a freak out that - in the worst case - can lead to a broken camera ;)
Continuous interval shooting is not the best treatment for your camera. Mirror and shutter are designed for a specific number of shots (some say 100.000 some say more - I don't know how long they last, but I don't want mine to get repaired). Mirror lock does not work for liveview mode (which I prefer because I think the mirror has to work less in liveview mode), but it can be very helpful when your exposure is around 1/15 and you don't want your shots to get shaky (remember that you have to turn off liveview and that only every second shot is recorded to your card).
I hope this helps. If you have other tips or if you know how to protect the mirror and shutter write a comment please.
Cheers,
jonni
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