Getting to Know Your New Camera

Indian Pond : Canon 5D Mark IV : Nice Dynamic Range

Sure is Pretty

I have been shooting with my trusty Canon 5D Mark 2 for about 7 years.  Seven years is an eternity for digital technology, but Canon has not been quick with innovation in there 5D series.  I decided not to upgrade when the Mark 3 came out.  I just didn’t feel that the improvements were worth the increased in price.  It was missing many of the features that I was looking for as part of a truly innovative step forward.  I thought that advanced features, such as GPS, WiFi, intervalometer, increased image bracketing, a touch screen with an articulated LCD screen, 7 fps, and 4k video would come quickly, but Canon had stuck with the Mark 3 for years.  Now that the Mark 4 is finally out, with almost all these features and more, I had to breathlessly take the leap.  

Upward : Mark IV

From my early experience with this camera, I am very pleased.  Compared to my Mark 2, the image quality is in another world and the features meet most of what has been on my wish list.  The one disappointment is that the articulated LCD is missing.  Given the ubiquitousness of this feature, it seems an unnecessary omission, but I’m not here to quibble.  I’ll just glory in all the new stuff I get to work with.

Sunset Shore, Spofford NH
Canon 5D Mark IV

It has been awhile since I acquired a new high end camera, and I thought it would be a good time to discuss a few key elements and functions with which to becoming familiar in any a new camera.  Fortunately for me, when compared to my 5D Mark 2, the Mark 4 has a familiar layout of controls.  I don’t have to retrain my muscle memory for many of the essential buttons and dials, but there are still some basic steps required to become familiar with these remarkably capable tools.

The Basics

As soon as you open the box, before the new camera smell fades, and before you take a single shot, there are a few basic steps to get your camera ready to go.

Batteries
Charge the battery and get a second battery to keep charged and ready in your bag at all times.  You should never risk running out of juice in the middle of an important shoot.  There are few electrical outlets in the forest.

Memory
Confirm that you have the right memory card and have extras.  With bigger sensors, image files are getting massive.  Make sure that your cards have sufficient capacity and that they are fast enough to keep up with the pace of your shooting.  Especially with 4k video, only the fastest read speeds will serve.

Filters
Before I take my new camera out into the nasty, dusty, environment, I always take measures to protect my lens.  Sure, new cameras always come with a lens cap, but it has been my experience that you can’t capture many pictures with the cap on.  A simple clear, or UV filter, can provide an extra level of protection

Disaster Avoided

when you are shooting, and I will often order the filter when I order the camera.  Some photographers question the value of placing an additional piece of glass in front of your lovely expensive lens, but for me, this simple protection has avoided disaster on numerousoccasions.  It is shocking how expensive these simple filters can be, but I never skimp on my filters.  Don’t put a piece of cheap plastic in front of your beautiful multi-coated, multi-element glass.  

While we are discussing filters, you might as well add a polarizing filter to your order.  It is THE one essential filter especially for landscape photographers. 

LCD Protection
You can choose to get a piece of plastic or glass to protect the LCD from scratches and cracks.   Just make sure that your touch screen will work through the added layer, and that the screen is clean before you apply the protector.  I never took this precaution on my Mark2 and, after seven years, I do have a few scratches and even one small crack, but nothing that has affected the camera’s function.

·   Struggle with the Camera Strap:
Anything you can do to reduce the risk of dropping your precious baby is definitely worth the effort.  I like to replace the corporate strap with one that is more comfortable, functional and that doesn’t scream to the world that I am packing an expensive, mugger attracting, camera.

·  Camera Bag:

Bagophilia, a Common Affliction

Do I need to say that you should protect your gear in a camera bag that is comfortable to carry and provides easy access to your camera.  I belong to a bag support group which helps me deal with my pile of thirteen bags!  Again it is a good Idea to look for a camera bag that doesn’t LOOK like a camera bag.

·   Add Your Camera to your Insurance

Whether you have separate insurance for your photography business or add your camera equipment to a rider on your household policy, you should not waste any time getting your new camera listed, including the value and serial number.  Stuff happens!

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Ok.  I suppose you actually want to take pictures with your lovely magic maker.  There is a lot to consider as you become acquainted.  Here are just a few suggestions, but it all comes down to, practice, practice, practice. 

Practice, Practice, Practice

Make Lots of Mistakes, Learn from them
and
Read the Damn Manual

 
Most camera manuals have “QUICK START” section which should get you going in a couple of pages.  Don’t expect to get through the full manual in one sitting.  My manual for the Mark 4 is almost 700 pages long.  Most of it is a reference, not a novel and it will be solving my insomnia for months to come.

The first, and the most obvious, point to make is that practice is essential in becoming familiar with your camera’s controls.  Experiment with all of the settings and carefully review the results.  Don’t take a new, untried, camera on an important shoot.  You don’t want all the pictures from that critical family gathering to be hopelessly overexposed and out of focus. 

Foot Photography

I always suggest that you settle onto the couch, enjoy a glass of wine and try all the setting while shooting pictures of your foot.  Fortunately, with digital cameras, the results can be immediately reviewed and corrections made.  Learn how to figure out what went wrong by examining the details from each shot, not only by reviewing the LCD screen, but also by studying the image’s EXIF Data.  The EXIF data is embedded in each image and includes a mass of information, including the f-stop and shutter speed, ISO and file type.  Eventually, you may not want all the image data to show up on the screen after each shot, but while learning, it is essential to have that immediate and specific feedback.

Start by understanding the location and function of the essential controls.

Find the Essential Controls:
Discover what is familiar and what is different from your previous camera.  Even cameras from different manufacturers tend to follow similar schemes.   Find the labeled diagram with all the buttons and dials.  Only a few will be needed to get you started.  It all starts with the shutter.

 

• Shutter(duh)
• Shooting modes (Aperture & Shutter priority, manual),
• ISO 
• Exposure Adjustment
  
  
• Auto Focus
  
  
• Image Types

Once you have found the essential controls it is time to start playing.   Isolate the individual controls and experiment with them one at a time. Resist the urge to run out and shoot randomly.  I know the feeling, but you will get there faster with a systematic approach.

Exposure Control

Add caption

Shooting modes, Aperture and Shutter Priority, Manual, and ISO, all have their effect on exposure, but they also have secondary effects.  These include depth of field, motion capture, sharpness, and noise, that are important to understand during the early exploration of your camera’s features

Exposure,the Basics and More

Know the Secondary Effect

Aperture Priority: Depth of Field
 
 In aperture priority exposure is determined by the size of the opening.  That is simple enough, but you should explore the depth of field with various apertures.  DOF is dependent on the size of the aperture, but it is also affected by the size sensor.  For any f-stop, the DOF is much greater on the tiny sensor of an iPhone than from the ‘full” size sensor of many DSLRs.  

Shutter Priority:  Shake

Slow Shutter : Cotton Candy

Shutter speed directly controls the exposure, but it also affects your ability to capture motion.   The shutter speed’s impact on freezing or blurring motion is obvious, but as you first explore your new camera your question should be, “How fast does the shutter need to be to make it possible to hand-hold a shot”.  Most modern cameras or lenses have some form of shake reduction and a bit of experimentation is needed to determine how slow a shutter speed can be before some form of external stabilization is required.  Of course the “shake limit” is not strictly related to the camera.  It is also dependent on the focal length of the lens, and the amount of coffee you have consumed.  I’m not as stable as I used to be and I keep my monopod or tripod close at hand.

ISO: Noise

Modern cameras have remarkably sensitive sensors that can, with high ISO levels, shoot in low light situations, but, with increased ISO, noise inevitably becomes aproblem.  Again systematic experimentation is necessary to determine how high the ISO can be pushed before the noise becomes unacceptable to your eye.  Larger sensors tend to have less noise at high ISOs, but every camera is different.

ISO Noise Test

Automatic Exposure Schemes

Most camera have an array of choices for evaluating the amount of light reaching the sensor and adjusting the exposure in response.

Different exposure patterns can be selected, including center weighted, spot or various evaluative modes. It takes practice to understand how to select between them, and which works best in different lighting situations.  Evaluative might work well for generally even lighting, while a center weighted mode will be better to deal with the challenges of strong back-lighting.

Auto Focus:

9 point auto Focus : Canon 5D Mark II

Sharp focus is an essential part of capturing a great image, but it is not only about seeing clearly.  The location and depth of clear focus can direct the eye to the important parts of an image and de-emphasize the effect of distracting elements.   

63 focus points : canon 5D Mark IV

Manual focus is functionally simple, but often difficult to nail precisely, especially when viewed through a small, dark viewfinder.  Live view can help zero in on focus, but the ability of auto focus to find and lock on to precise focus is remarkable.  It is a matter of knowing how to give enough direction to the auto focus system so that it knows where you are looking.     

Learn how to activate and hold auto-focus over the desired part of the image.  Most cameras start with the “half press” shutter approach to achieving focus, but you might eventually consider the advantages of “back button focus”.  This typically requires a deep dive into the mysteries of your camera’s menus, but you will find that it can be worth the effort.

Image Types

Images can be recorded in a few different formats, typically Raw, JPG or both.  If possible, RAW is generally the best choice to capture the most amount of image data for eventual editing, but not all camera can shoot in RAW.

Digital File Types

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Practice

That is a very brief look at the first few pages of your massive manual.  It should get you started on an exciting exploration of the incredible capabilities of a modern digital camera.  Don’t be intimidated. To paraphrase a familiar quote, “ 99% of cameras are smarter than 10% of photographers”.   

So just enjoy the journey, and take it page by page.


Jeff Newcomer, NEPG
partridgebrookreflections.com
603-363-8338

What Camera Should I Buy (Part 2)

 Part of the "Basic Digital Series" 
 

Harvest Arch, Weston, Vermont Canon 5D Mark II

Random Thoughts on Digital Single Lens Reflex, Mirrorless and "Why Choose"

In last week's blog I discussed some of the important factors to

My Canon G11

consider when shopping for a Compact or Carry Around Camera. These little cameras can do a remarkable job particularly when conditions are not especially challenging. It is wonderfully liberating to have a camera that can slip into a pocket or a small fanny pack, but these cameras run into problems when dealing with more extreme conditions such as low light, high contrast or tricky depth of field. This is where Digital Single Lens Reflex camera offer a better and more easily manageable solution.

Digital SLRs

 

Canon 5D Mark II 400mm Lens

 

Digital SLR Cameras offer a level of quality and control beyond most compact cameras. In the days of film SLRs were contrasted to more compact "Range-Finder' cameras, with a major difference being that, with the SLR, images were framed directly through the lens rather through a eyepiece set off to the side. Today even the most inexpensive compacts provides a view through the lens on the LCD screen. Now the major advantages of a digital SLR include better controls, interchangeable lens, and larger sensors with better image quality, especially in low light. 

Better Control.

All modern cameras have automatic settings that employ remarkably sophisticated algorithms that can interpret brightness and color to create serviceable images in many situations. For

Canon 5D Mark III Controls

many, "snap shot photographers", the Automatic or Program settings are all that are needed, but, when condition are more challenging, an understanding of the effect of the basic camera controls can make the difference between a spectacular work of art and "Awh, that's too bad". As you consider a DSLR or even some of the more sophisticated Compacts look at how easily f-stop, shutter speed, ISO and focus can be controlled. Too often controls on Compacts require a search through menus on the LCD screen that can seem endless when you are trying to catch that fleeting shot. Digital SLRs usually provide much easier access to these controls. There is a lot to learn to fully master the potential of your camera, but happily DSLRs typically have the option to use automatic settings as you slowly explore your camera's remarkable potential.

Interchangeable Lens'

For serious photographers it is generally all about the glass. Camera bodies come and go every few years; the pace of advancement in
digital photography is amazing, but your lens' can be a life-long investment. Compact cameras have zoom lens' that can cover a wide range of focal length, but high quality interchangeable lens' are intricate optical works of art that provide a level of sharpness far beyond what can be achieved with the best fixed zoom lens. Many of the cheaper DSLRs have smaller, "Crop" sensors and are sold in a kits that usually will include a lens that is designed to work only with these smaller sensors. The Canon Rebel Cameras are equipped with a sensor which is about 62% of the size of a "Full Frame" (35mm size) sensor which is found on their higher end DSLRs. The Rebels are packaged with "S" lens' which are designed to work well with the crop sensors but will be useless if you decide to move up to a full frame camera. In the long run it may make sense to buy a full frame lens for your crop sensor camera, but remember, the crop sensor cameras multiple the effective focal length of regular lens'. Canon's Rebels have a "crop factor" of 1.6 which means that a regular 24-105mm zoom will 

Smaller Sensor Extend Focal Length

become a 38x168mm when the focal lengths are multiplied by a factor of 1.6. As you first dip your toe in the DSLR world, It is perfectly fine to start with a crop sensor lens. Early on, you'll have more than enough to worry about as you try to figure out why bigger f-stops mean smaller openings. When you eventually sell your first DSLR, it will be great to have a nice "kit" lens to slap on it for e-Bay. Full frames lens' can get crazy expensive, but the basic rule should be, "Camera bodies come and go, spend your money on the glass that will last forever."

Sensor Size

Here is the situation where size does matter. Larger sensors provide more room for each pixel, capturing more light with less noise. The difference is especially visible with hight ISOs in low light situations, but technology is rapidly improving the quality that can be obtained from smaller sensors. In the end, decision about Megapixels and sensor size should be based on what you plan to do with your images. The number of mega pixels can improve your ability to enlarge an image but if your goal is to display your pictures on the web or perhaps make 4x6 or 8x10 prints, you don't need 20 megapixels crammed on your sensor. Increasingly it is understood that the important thing is the quality and not the quantity of pixels, and this is where larger sensor generally excel. Finally the physics of large sensors means shallower depth of field. This can be a challenge in macro photography but provides the nice soft background Bokeh that portrait photographers prefer.


The Cool Factor:

Ok, lets admit it, a massive, microwave sized camera looks cool and "professional". You don't want to show up at your next wedding shoot with a pocket sized compact, but do you always want to lug that behemoth around with you? And that brings us to the major disadvantage, other than cost,  of DSLRs.

Disadvantages:

Weight

10Lbs 4Oz of Lens' - Without the Camera

Digital SLRs are weighty items especially when your kit includes several lens'. My primary Canon lens' total over 10 Lbs and that's without the camera!  My SX50 HS tips the scale at only 1 Lb 8Oz.  The heavier the camera, the harder it is on your back and the less likely you are to carry it around with you to catch that unexpected, once in a lifetime shot. 

Obtrusiveness
Big cameras are also hard to hide when you are trying to catch candid shots such as with street or even family photography. People get very self-conscious when they find themselves staring down the barrel of a massive "professional" camera.

Temptation
 Finally it is unfortunately true that in some sketchy locations a big, obviously expense camera can be an invitation to theft or worse.  We had a fantastic time at the street festival in Quito, Ecuador.  The people were wonderful, but there was no way I was going to carry around my Canon 5D Mark II.  My little, unobtrusive G11 worked just fine and it was WAY easier to hold up over my head.

Quito Street Festival

  
Why Choose ? :

It should be obvious that the selection of a camera involves a long series of decisions all of which open some possibilities while closing others, but why choose. There are couple of options that provide hybrid solutions.

The Mirrorless Revolution:

All compact cameras are mirrorless that is, they don't use a mirror to see through the lens. What appears on the LCD screen is the actual image seen by the sensor. Many newer DSLRs have the same capability in "Live View" mode. In recent years a new class

Olympus "Micro Four Thirds System

of mirrorless cameras have appeared that combine the benefits of a relatively compact camera with the ability to use interchangeable lens'. Most of the major camera manufactures have come out with their versions of these cameras, which include the capability for full manual control. They have been called Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras (MILC), Mirrorless System Camera (MSC) or, my favorite "Evil" ; Electronic Viewfinder with Interchangeable Lens. I'll just refer to them all as"Mirrorless".  These cameras are advancing rapidly in terms of quality and capabilities. They come in a wide range of sensor sizes from the Olympus OM-D with a small "4/3" sensor to Sony's full frame A7. There is nothing that a mirror flapping in front of a sensor can do to improve image quality and I predict that Mirrorless will be the future of photography. For the time being Mirrorless cameras suffer from some of disadvantages. Although the quality of the images coming from cameras with even small

Sony Full Frame Mirrorless

sensors are quite remarkable they can't match noise level and low light capability of full frame digital SLRs. Mirrorless cameras generally use Contrast-based Autofocus rather that the faster Phased-based systems common in many DSLRs, but this difference is quickly disappearing as manufactures have upgraded their systems. The anchor that slows many of us elderly photographers from Mirrorless systems is our vast, and expensive collection of lens'. Mirrorless cameras are not compatible with standard DSLR lens' and although adapters are available, it seems awkward to carry around a massive 10 lb. lens with a tiny one lb. camera hanging off the end. For those of you just starting out, be grateful that you can approach your decision without this nasty encumbrance. If I was just beginning my photography career, I would have to strongly consider a larger sensor Mirrorless camera system. They are not cheap, and they are not as tiny as many compacts, but they do offer an interesting alternative to the big DSLRs.

Why Choose? Get Both.

Canon SX50 HS 'Carry Around"
1 Lbs 8 oz

Currently my solution to the camera dilemma is to have both a DSLR and a more compact "carry around". I like to have a decent camera with me at all times and that means more than just a camera phone. My new Canon SX 50HS is more than I can fit in my pocket without looking EXTREMELY excited to see everyone I meet, but I keep it in a small fanny pack making it easy to bring along whenever I don't want to be encumbered by my DSLR kit. I still have my G11 which can easily fit in a jacket pocket or my brief case. The two

Nellie with Canon SX50

camera solution works well and eliminates many of the awkward compromises necessary when relying on just one camera. The two major difficulties with this approach is, first, deciding which camera to bring on a shoot (I often bring both) and secondly, managing the cost of two cameras. No matter how much camera you need most of the time, a small Carry Around can be the best solution for special situations.

Once again, I apologize for my rambling and incomplete discussion of this difficult question. These articles have been two of my most challenging to write,  primarily due to how much of this expansive and evolving topic I had to leave out. My goal was to briefly introduce a few points that you will want to consider as you approach a decision about a new camera. Purchasing a camera should involve careful research, into both the equipment options, and, more importantly, your goals for your photography. The great news is that modern cameras are amazingly capable pieces of technology, and whether you pick a compact, DSLR or Mirrorless, you will be getting a magic-making machine which will be limited, not by its buttons and dials, but by the expanse of your own imagination. 

Part 1 of What Camera Should I Buy?
 
Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com