Digital Photography Hints & Tips

All the Best for 2009

Matt — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:53:57 +0000

As most of us enjoy a chilly holiday break, all of us here at Digital Photography Hints wish you a very happy year ahead, in fact a very happy new decade.

Hopefully you all got the wonderful camera gifts and presents that you hoped for. Or at the very least had plenty of opportunity to practice your camera skills on family and friends. Now is a great chance to think about how your photographic ability has improve over the last year, if not the last decade, and how you want it to get better in the coming years. Maybe you could put together a portfolio of your personal favourite images to share with others. Or you could think up a great photo project to stretch yourself in the next year.

Whatever you decide to do, thank you for reading Digital Photography Hints. Have a great 2010!

All the Best for 2009

Canon S90: First Impressions

Matt — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:13:36 +0000

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be over in New York for a few days so as usual I headed to the ever wonderful B & H on 32nd/9th to check out the latest cameras. It transpired that the PhotoPlus exhibition was on round the corner, which meant the store was busy even by their standards as many smiley faced photographers wandered round what is, for most of us, some kind of photo heaven!

My goal on this visit was simple.. either bite the bullet and get the wonderful Canon 5D Mk II, Canon’s full frame SLR camera that has been getting rave reviews and has been incredibly hard to get until now, or to find a replacement for my beloved Canon G7 - ideally a pocket camera something more akin to the Yashica T4 Super (a great little point and shoot film camera). After some drooling at the Canon demo stand over the 5D Mk II, a glance at the Canon G11
and a brief fight to get a look at the new Canon 7D
- a very random release indeed that seems to be focussed on HD video more than photography - I plumped for getting a new point and shoot.

After a surprisingly unhelpful exchange with one of the Canon reps as to what would be a good small, controllable pocket camera akin to the Yashica T4 I found myself at the Panasonic stand checking out some of their Zeiss lens pocket wonders. It felt like a betrayal of my fondness for Canon cameras, but as a photographer I want the best tool for the job I have in mind so it’s good to check around. As I played with some Panasonic cameras that had great Carl Zeiss lenses (a la the Yashica T4 Super) and some very clever focussing tricks - you touch the screen to define what you want to stay in focus and it follows it around, creepy but cool - I was starting to come around. Yes, the UI and controls were different, but were they really so bad? I mean, they have a fondness for arrow directional buttons over other controls and the camera feels a bit off in my hand, but is that just because they’re different?

My mind almost made up to get a Panasonic (with reservations) a fellow camera browser overheard my questions to the camera expert and said ‘Why don’t you check out the Canon S90?’ to which I replied ‘Because it’s not out yet’ and he said ‘Yes it is, it’s over on the Canon stand’. Quick as a flash I was back at the Canon stand, to find there was indeed a slim, slightly matte, beautiful little black camera hidden away to one side - the new Canon S90. I picked it up, felt the perfect weight, saw how quickly it started up and played with the two wonderful control dials positioned right to hand around the camera lens and under your thumb next to the large, bright screen. “Do you have any in stock?”, I asked the shop assistant - expecting the usual negative response I hear for ages after Canon releases a world beating camera… “Yes we do”, “I’ll take it!”, said I. At which point the usual B and H antics really started as I then had to queue to buy the camera from someone else.

Eventually, the S90 was in my hand. A few hours later it was charged and ready to go. Then the whole rest of the weekend I barely used my Canon 20D - my usual camera for wandering around the stunning visual sights of New York - instead favouring the S90 to see how it behaves, and it behaved extremely well. First impressions - light in the hand, quick to start, RAW is supported in all manual modes, fast (f2.0) lens, excellent low light response, easy to adjust exposure for with your thumb and it slips easily into your pocket, something the G7 could only do with some squeezing and a fear that I’d accidentally press the ‘on’ button and the lens would open in my pocket. Not only that there is a dedicated low light option on the options dial - perfect.

If it’s not clear already - I love the Canon S90. I truly believe that this will become the pocket camera for most semi-pros and pros who need something that satisfies their desire for proper control. This is the digital version of the Yashica T4 Super that I wanted, with added features I didn’t even know I needed but now, already, can’t imagine doing without. The two dials allow for rapid adjustments to get exactly the photo you want - at present I’m favouring staying in Aperture Priority (A) mode with the standard dial settings - use the lens dial to choose the aperture you want and the thumb dial to adjust exposure. I’ve also set the programmable shortcut key to give me exposure lock, as a halfpress of the shutter button does not hold exposure information when you re-frame the picture, and I like to ‘pick’ exposures up from somewhere in the frame. The only downside is a lack of significant zoom - optical or digital. This flexibility and control is unparalleled in my mind and it sets a new standard to beat in semi-pro point and shoots.

Want to buy this camera? Then click on one of the links below to find out the latest prices:

Canon S90 at Amazon.com (US)
Canon S90 at Amazon.co.uk (UK)

Quick Warning Note: As a new camera packages such as Lightroom and Aperture do not have out of the box support for the specific flavour of RAW that the Canon S90 provides! This is what happens when you end up at the early adopter part of the curve. Thankfully there is an early version of S90 support in the latest Adobe Lightroom release (2.5) and in the meantime the Canon software provided (Digital Photo Professional - DPP) creates stunning, pin sharp images from the RAW source.

Update (2009-11-29): Adobe has now introduced a release candidate version of Lightroom 2.6 that includes support for the Canon S90.

Canon S90: First Impressions

Search for Matching Images Online

Matt — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:15:08 +0000

A new site, TinEye, has been launched in Beta that lets you search for images that match, or match part of, a source image you provide. This differs hugely from Google’s text based image search which relies on the person uploading an image and putting appropriate keywords around the image to help find it.

To use Tin Eye, just upload a photo from your computer, or provide a link to a photo on the web and off it goes. Any matches it finds, including partial matches, are presented for you to peruse at your leisure. As you can see in the example below from their ‘cool searches‘ page it’s pretty clever:

You can probably already imagine the uses, especially when finding where people have used your photos without permission or attribution. Unfortunately at the moment the site’s search index is nowhere near as comprehensive as Google’s, but that should change with time. Tin Eye is also quick to point out that they are not a facial recognition site, so different pictures of the same person will not be matched - it’s the shape and forms of the original photo that are searched on.

Go check out the site, if it becomes successful it will be a huge resource to all of us who take photos.

Search for Matching Images Online

Camera Battery Life: Keep Batteries Healthy

Matt — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:11:28 +0000

In our post the other day we suggested a few tips on how to extend the life of your digital camera battery while taking photos. In an ideal world every battery would last forever, but we all know that isn’t yet the case. In fact with older digital camera batteries you may have started to notice that they don’t last as long as they used to. In many cases this will get so bad that you have to buy new batteries, which often aren’t cheap, but once you get them you realise how bad your old batteries were. Plus that means we’re throwing away old batteries that contain many environmentally unfriendly chemicals - less than wonderufl.

So how can we maximise the lifespan and capacity of our camera batteries? Read on for some hints…

When you first buy your camera and/or battery

Charge and discharge your battery completely four times: Fully charging, then using the battery till it is completely dead, then recharging fully again - four times - will help teach your battery about its capacity and ensure it lasts longer at a higher charge. This may sound easy, but normally when we get a new camera we rush out and use it a lot, then quickly charge it partially to use it some more and this is where the danger lies.

In normal use

Li-ion batteries do not suffer from a memory effect (an issue where batteries think they are smaller than they actually are) but you might find they decrease in capacity by up to 20% a year depending on how you use them! So only buy batteries when you need them rather than stocking up - that said, you should always have at least one spare battery around if you’re serious about taking photos.

Here are some more tips:

Fully charge/discharge your batteries every few weeks: As with when you first buy a battery, charging and discharging them every few weeks helps keep them in peak performance. This applies to those batteries in common use or being stored. See the base of this post for info on how to fully discharge your battery.
Using multiple batteries make sure you rotate them regularly: Most people tend to keep one battery in their camera at all times until it needs charging, then they charge it and put it in. However this means your spare battery just sits in your bag at full charge waiting for its day in the sun and getting progressively weaker and weaker from un-use. So make sure you regularly swap round your batteries and don’t play favourites.
Set up a repeat calendar event to remind you to swap/discharge batteries: We’re all forgetful by nature, so set up handy calendar reminders for battery actions you need to do like swapping your main/spare battery round every week or so, or discharging/recharging your battery fully every.
Be organised and create your own battery management system: New batteries aren’t cheap (although they are compared with the olden days costs of buying film & developing, so its not all bad) so there’s a big incentive to learn to handle your batteries well. Setting up your own system of labelling and tracking to ensure all your batteries are evenly used and maintained is worth the effort. You only need one of your batteries to be left at the bottom of a bag for a few months at full charge for it to lose a significant part of its capacity.
NiMH batteries don’t like short recharge cycles: Whereas Li-ion batteries are very resilient to any length of charge cycles, NiMH prefer long charge cycles, although neither has significant memory effects. That said if your NiMH battery looks like it’s developed a memory effect then a full discharge/recharge cycle will normally set the world to rights again.

Storing Batteries

Only keep your batteries at 50% charge when not in regular use: This is especially tricky with spare batteries as you want them to ready to go at all times, but if you know you won’t use a battery for a while take it out of the camera, discharge it and then charge it to 50% then store it with the contacts covered. You may also want to put it in the fridge (see later).
Cold is bad? Or good? You may have seen professional film being stored in fridges, but batteries? Surely we’ve discussed how cold is bad for your battery in other articles? Well extreme cold is bad for your battery when in active use, it reduces capacity hugely, but when storing batteries keeping them in a fridge (NOT A FREEZER), sealed in a plastic bag with silica gel should extend its life greatly. Noone ever said taking good care of your equipment was easy… go figure!
Always store batteries with the contact cover on: Accidents will happen, and if something accidentally crossed both the battery contacts then watch out! Not only is the battery damaged but it may even cause a fire. The same applies to moisture, hence why a cover is best.

How to discharge your battery

Some advanced battery chargers have a ‘discharge’ button, in which case that’s the best approach. For the rest of us, simply turn on your camera in preview mode, and in the menu turn off the auto-shutdown. Then just leave your camera to wait, perhaps changing the picture occasionally to prevent burn-in, and eventually it will run down. Obviously this will be quicker if you’ve just been out and about shooting!

Quick hint: If you are discharging your battery using your camera, than be sure to turn the auto-shut down mode back on after you’ve finished. I spent a very frustrating few days after doing this when all my batteries seemed to be dying in about an hour rather than the usual day. I felt pretty stupid after that I can tell you!

Extend the life of your digital camera battery while taking photos

Camera Battery Life: Keep Batteries Healthy

Camera Battery Life: Extending During Use

Matt — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:11:10 +0000

In the world of digital photography how long your battery lasts is a big issue. Whereas old school film cameras tended to use easily replaceable standard size batteries, digital cameras tend to have their own, proprietary rechargable batteries which, while they tend to last a long time, are tricky to quickly replace while out and about. Digital cameras also suck battery life much more quickly than their elder film brethren, simply because they have so many more electrical parts to manage - preview screens, storing to memory cards and giving you all those amazing face focussing functions. So how do you ensure you get the most shots out of your battery when out and about?

Basic Battery Tips

Make sure your battery (or batteries) are fully charged before you step out for the day’s shooting. Caveat: over-charging batteries can damage their shelf-life, so follow your camera manufacturer’s advice and in general don’t charge batteries overnight if you can avoid it.
Minimise the use of flash: Flash photography sucks your batteries dry in no time at all. So unless you have an off camera flash with external batteries try and work more with the ambient light sources. Not only will you save battery but you may also get some more interesting, less flat photos.
Don’t preview photos unless you have to make sure you got an angle. If possible turn off your screen and use the viewfinder.
Repeated and regular previewing will drain your battery, whether due to you wanting to see whether you captured an angle or because your friends want to see what you took. A word of caution: often friends will be put out if you don’t let them see the photo, so if you must show them make sure you show everyone at the same time.
Deleting photos drains battery: Deleting a photo takes battery energy firstly because you have to preview it on the screen, and secondly because you have to do the memory card action of the delete. So unless you have to free up space, avoid deleting photos.
Turn off your ‘after shot’ preview, or reduce the length of time it shows. Often you can choose between 1 second up to 10 second post-shot previews in your camera settings.
Minimise ‘half press’ pre-focus of a shot

Turn down your camera screen’s brightness: It’s a simple trick and can really extend your battery’s life, especially if you have to compose your shot using the camera screen.

Take at least one spare battery… Even if it’s an older, semi-dead battery, that extra bit of charge can be a life saver at the end of the day when someone does something interesting.

Advanced Battery Tips

Buy a solar charger, or have an in-car charger if near your car: On a long day or trip away from a power source alternate charging technologies are indispensible.

Keep your batteries warm: Batteries work best at normal room temperature, so shooting outside in the cold will not only tire you rapidly, but will also reduce the chemical energy available in your camera and hence its usable life. If you have multiple batteries keep swapping them round and keep one in your trouser pocket near your body warmth (making sure to keep contacts covered and away from keys/change!). Otherwise try and keep your camera inside your coat while not taking photos. See Using your Camera in Cold Weather.
Turn off continuous focus! Unless you are shooting fast moving sports shots or wildlife it’s mostly unnecessary and, again, sucks battery. You can normally tell continual focus is on as you’ll hear the camera lens focus motor going repeatedly.

Minimise zoom: zooming in and out to get a shot means you’re using a mechanical (ie, battery hungry) device a lot. Try moving around to get a different angle instead. Or if you need to take a lot of shots at a distance keep your lens zoomed.

Buy a new spare battery: Spare batteries are your friends. Just make sure you keep switching round your main/spare batteries to ensure they stay charge and health. But more on that later.

Hopefully some of these tips help you get a bit more usage from your camera, as long as you don’t run out of space on your memory card of course! Feel free to post comments below with any more tips you’ve found over the years.

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Camera Battery Life: Extending During Use

Canon Announce G11 and PowerShot S90

Matt — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:07:30 +0000

Canon have made a couple of announcements in their small digital camera range - an update to the Canon G-Series, the G11, and the firing up of the S-Series again after a haitus of 3 years with the new Canon Powershot S90.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a huge fan of Canon cameras. They have consistently introduced feature sets and cameras that most photographers fall over themselves to own for very different reasons. Their latest prosumer SLR, the Canon 5D Mk II is an example of that customer focus - a camera released last year that even now, six months in, is harder to buy than gold dust from the huge demand.

Canon cameras put controls where you need them - in your hands rather than hidden away in menus - and the S90 has a great new take on this, a function control ring built right around the lens. This ring works in tandem with a button on top of the camera to control what you’re selecting - ISO, aperture and so on. A great ‘new’ idea that harks back to the good old days of film cameras and takes it somewhere modern. I’m very excited to try this camera, not only for the ring, but also because it’s a smaller body than the G-series which can be a pain when taken out and about - but generally takes good pictures when you have it with you, such as my recent foray to a Pearl Jam gig where Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones turned up. I was a fan of the S-series up to the S80 before my move to the G-series for that ease of pocketability, so fingers crossed the S90 lives up to the hype.

You can find some first impressions of the S90 over at DPReview.

As to the G11, initial feedback is a bit more muted. Both the G11 and S90 have an improved Digic sensor that works hard to reduce noise on higher ISOs - a big issue on my Canon G7 and a pain as I shoot a lot of low light photos. However the G-series has reverted to a flip-screen, which some people are fans of for when they hold their camera up in the air and so on, but I feel just adds more bulk to a camera that doesn’t lack for it. The construction is still sturdy metal and industry professionals are singing its praises but even they say “it’s important to have a compact camera in my bad” rather than ‘in my pocket’. However the control and features of the G11 will likely keep its legion of prosumer fans - as long as the noise reduction meets its promises.

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Canon Announce G11 and PowerShot S90

London Police Told to ‘Back Off’ Photographers

Matt — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:53:51 +0000

We’ve posted a few times recently on the worrying trend of the British police to stop and allegedly harass photographers as they go around doing what they enjoy doing. It’s one of those aspects of modern society that hasn’t gone down too well with many people - especially photographers! The belief that shouting ‘terrorist!’ at someone gives you the right to negate their rights is one that we should all stand up against. And thankfully now the London Met has decided to listen.

New guidelines have been released by the London Met informing their officers that photographers are not to be treated as terrorists unless there is reasonable suspicion. This means no more stopping people who are out and about photographing random things, as many of us photographers are wont to do as we’re a strange bunch. Not only do the guidelines stress the importance of not abusing terrorism related powers, they also advise on how to work with the media during normal day to day police activities, including the advice to set up vantage points for media as soon as is possible. All good stuff, and we should raise a cheer of thanks to those who have worked tirelessly to ensure our rights as photographers. Huhrah! [From The Register]

Previously on Digital Photography Hints

England: Continuing erosion of photographers rights

Terrorist of Photographer: Know your rights

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London Police Told to ‘Back Off’ Photographers

Inside the Rat Pack with Sammy Davis, Jr

Matt — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:49:20 +0000

Sammy Davis, Jr - the original Man in the Mirror

The classic era of the Rat Pack, with Frank Sinatra, Matt Munroe and Sammy Davis Jr., evoke such memories in most of us that images of that time seem hugely familiar and personal. For Sammy Davis, Jr. these images are personal, the record of a man intimately involved with the swinging scene of the time. An innovator who carried a camera around to record his life at a time when it was practically unheard of, especially amongst the celebrity set.

You can see Davis’ amazing insider images in a book simply called ‘Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr.’. A wonderful evocative mix of celebrity and social insight that any fan of that era should own. [From Cool Hunting]

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Inside the Rat Pack with Sammy Davis, Jr

England: Continuing Erosion of Photography Rights

Matt — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:29:20 +0000

The British Journal of Photography (BJP) have another worrying article on the continuing erosion of the rights of photographers in Britain to take photos in public spaces. British police now have the right to stop photographers and seize their equipment should they be taking photographs of ’sensitive’ buildings or areas. There’s only one problem… no-one knows the official list of where these sensitive buildings are other than the Police.

All is not lost though. The BJP in an attempt to redress the balance for their members has requested a list of these restricted areas from the government. Of course the government has just said “we can’t tell you - that’s sensitive information”. So how are photographers supposed to know where they can and cannot take photos without the risk of their camera being confiscated? You can just see the exchange: “I’m sorry, sir. You can’t take a photo here. We’ll need to take your camera.” “I can’t take a photo here. Why?” “I can’t tell you that, it’s a secret”. Sigh.

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England: Continuing Erosion of Photography Rights

President Obama Photos on Flickr

Matt — Sat, 02 May 2009 09:35:40 +0000

Image from Whitehouse Flickr Stream

In his continuing efforts to bring the US Government further into the world of the modern web, Obama’s Whitehouse has embraced Flickr. You can now see a wonderful selection of Presidential moments on the Whitehouse Flickr Stream. Ranging from meetings with world leaders, through happy moments with his family to quiet moments along with his football. Obviously all the photos are carefully chosen to portray him in the best light, but this is an unprecedented, intimate look at the man of the moment.

As an aside, these photos have raised an interesting question: why are they tagged as creative commons on Flickr rather than the Public Domain licence that they should be under? The short answer is that Flickr does not offer a Public Domain setting for their licencing, which means that under the terms of the CC licence each of the photos in this stream can be used as you want but must be attributed - rather than the open use that would be allowed by Public Domain. Either way, they are still wonderful images and I’m very glad we have such easy access to them.

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President Obama Photos on Flickr

Digital Photography Hints & Tips

All the Best for 2009

Canon S90: First Impressions

Search for Matching Images Online

Camera Battery Life: Keep Batteries Healthy

When you first buy your camera and/or battery

In normal use

Storing Batteries

How to discharge your battery

Related Posts:

Camera Battery Life: Extending During Use

Basic Battery Tips

Advanced Battery Tips

Canon Announce G11 and PowerShot S90

London Police Told to ‘Back Off’ Photographers

Previously on Digital Photography Hints

Inside the Rat Pack with Sammy Davis, Jr

England: Continuing Erosion of Photography Rights

President Obama Photos on Flickr