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Tuesday, June 30, 2009 -
Kit bag: Balda Baldixette
After consuming LomoKev's excellent and inspiring book Hot Shots (which has been on my todo list to review for months now) I was inspired to dig out some different cameras and go back to film to see what it could teach me rather than relying so very heavily on the LCD on my DSLR. I'd already got my autosampler for Christmas (review coming soon) and figured that digging out my Mum's old camera, the Balda Baldixette, could be fun.
The Balda Baldixette was made in West Germany in around 1956. It takes a 120 film, and is similar, at least in function, to a Holga.
It has 3 focussing zones - 5ft-10ft, 10ft-25ft and 25ft-infinity
It has 2 shutter speeds - 1/60th of a second, and bulb
It has 2 apertures - f9 and f16
It has a flash hot shoe (which I haven't tried yet)
It has a fixed prime lens
I put the first film through it to see if it still functioned, and after being delighted with the results I took it to Clock Tower cameras for a general clean and service, after all it is over 50 years old and deserves a little care and attention. To be honest, this didn't make that much of a difference to the resulting images - there are still dust marks and scratches but I'm not too bothered by this - a perfect camera after at least 20 years neglect would have been rather too much to ask.
I've been using Kodak Portra VC400 film which, combined with the in-camera vignetting, seems to bring out the vintage feel rather nicely and I've been getting them processed and scanned at Colourstream.
Some sample photos:
Other photos taken using the Balda Baldixette can be found on my flickr stream under the tag baldabaldixette.
By using this camera I've learnt:
- it's harder getting the horizon completely straight through a viewfinder than post-processing in lightroom (and I'm not post processing any of these scans at the moment)
- that the square format takes some getting used to - seeing the world as a square instead of a rectangle makes composition different - not easier or harder, just different
- that the Balda Baldixette is simple to use
- that spending time before taking the shot to ensure that all the camera parameters are correct (aperture, focus zone, shutter speed) is something I'd stopped doing because I was relying on the camera too much
- that the guys at colourstream do a great job
- that I love the Kodak Portra 400VC film stock
- and that there is something very sentimentally pleasing about taking a photo of your Dad with a camera that your Mum used to use - no idea if the photos will come out at all, but I'm pleased with the emotional connection it made for me
I'd recommend getting hold of a simple camera, popping a film in and going for a wander - it's a great way to rediscover the simple side of photography and if it has some family value then even better - now, where did I put that Conway Camera Popular Model (also my Mum's I believe) or the Kodak Instamatic 200 (my first ever camera)
Sunday, May 3, 2009 -
Review: Silver Efex Pro
I downloaded the 15 day free trial of the lightroom plugin for Silver Efex Pro and decided to give it a go. It
I picked a photo from my recent weekend in Margate which I thought would look good in black and white, and tried out some of the different settings.
The original: taken on a d80 at 9am in RAW format, edited in Lightroom using Auto Tone.
There are a couple of main ways to do the editing, firstly from the pre-defined styles, which covers things like undexexposing, overexposing, pull process, push process, different filters, and even holga and pinhole. There is a neutral image always available to reset any settings.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the Pinhole style - makes it look like a moonlight shot.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the Soft Skin style.
Some of the more interesting settings are using the stylistic qualities of 18 different black and white films.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the film emulator for Kodak ISO 32 Panatomic X.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the film emulator for Ilford Delta 100 Pro.
This tool is definitely worth a download and play with and it gives a lot of predefined options for making some really impressive black and white images but I'm not sure I can justify the $199.95 price tag for a tool that'll be used now and again.
is the most powerful tool for creating professional quality black and white images from your photographs.The tool is pretty self explanatory but there is also a comprehensive user guide available.
I picked a photo from my recent weekend in Margate which I thought would look good in black and white, and tried out some of the different settings.
The original: taken on a d80 at 9am in RAW format, edited in Lightroom using Auto Tone.
There are a couple of main ways to do the editing, firstly from the pre-defined styles, which covers things like undexexposing, overexposing, pull process, push process, different filters, and even holga and pinhole. There is a neutral image always available to reset any settings.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the Pinhole style - makes it look like a moonlight shot.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the Soft Skin style.
Some of the more interesting settings are using the stylistic qualities of 18 different black and white films.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the film emulator for Kodak ISO 32 Panatomic X.
Processed in Silver Efex Pro using the film emulator for Ilford Delta 100 Pro.
This tool is definitely worth a download and play with and it gives a lot of predefined options for making some really impressive black and white images but I'm not sure I can justify the $199.95 price tag for a tool that'll be used now and again.
Labels: lightroom, review, silver efex pro
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 -
JigZone - make a photo into a jigsaw puzzle
I found a link to jigzone over the holidays and decided to give it a go today. So, I took one of my Lego Santa photos, uploaded it to their server and generated a 48 piece classic jigsaw. There are quite a lot of different options, like 240 piece classic and 91 piece lizards but I figured I'd stick with a simple-ish 48 pieces.
This isn't something I can see me doing very often, but it was a fun way to spend a few minutes
This isn't something I can see me doing very often, but it was a fun way to spend a few minutes
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 -
Touchnote.com
A couple of weeks ago, I received a photo card in the post from Richard. I hadn't heard of Touchnote.com before the card arrived so it was a pleasant surprise. It arrived in a small plastic envelope with a first class stamp on it. It has quite a bit of Touchnote advertising on it, below the address and a small logo on the inside. More that a moo greeting card does for instance. The quality of the image on the front is acceptable, not the best reproduction I've ever seen, and not to photo standards, but good enough for what it is. The ability to add captions etc to the front is a nice touch too.
It appears to be a relatively simple process to order a card. The service links to Picasa or you can upload your photos directly. No flickrage unfortunately. There are also some sample images which can be used should you wish. Once you've selected your image, you can move your image around a bit, and zoom in - getting a low quality warning if you go too far. You can add speech bubbles, thought bubbles and captions if you want. You can then change what goes into the inside of the card, chosing a webcam shot of yourself for the inside, different emoticons, fonts, colours etc. Not a lot of options, but enough to customise it a bit. Once you're done, you can preview the card before progressing to the delivery options stage, and this is the bit that I can see being useful, the ability to get the cards delivered directly to your friends for you. The price for a single card is a bit steep at £1.99, plus postage but laziness costs right?
So, would I use them? I think if I had a bulk event to announce, maybe a house move, or something similar then yes because I'd let them do the posting as well. If I wanted to get my photos produced into a greeting card for me to send out, then I'll stick with the moo greeting cards because I've found them to be better quality and have a better finish.
// posted by Jane @ 6:58 PM
Comments:
Sunday, November 23, 2008 -
Review: Poladroid
I stumbled across Poladroid during the week and promised myself an opportunity for a play, so this morning I downloaded it and experimented a bit.
The application is currently mac only, but apparently a windows version is coming soon. The mac version is really nicely designed. A polaroid style camera is displayed on the screen, and you drag an image onto it. It then thinks for a while and spits out an image. That image starts off brownish, and over a few minutes the picture starts to become visible, little by little. Eventually the photo is ready and a chime sounds. Very nicely put together, and quite fun and silly. I'm not sure I've got any real practical purpose for this application, but I'm going to keep it around for a while and see what I can find to do with it. There are quite a lot of other poladroid images to take a look at in the be Poladroid! flickr group.
Saturday, November 8, 2008 -
Photography bookshelf
As part of my preparation for an "Introduction to Digital Photography" talk I'm doing at Madgex next week I thought I'd take a look at my bookshelf of Photography books and see which I'd recommend to others. This is my list of books, ordered according to where they are on my shelf, the most recently looked at are at the top of this list as that's where the new ones or recently read ones end up:
- On Photography by Susan Sontag - bought after recommendation from the Creative Digital Photography course. I haven't read it yet.
- Ways of Seeing by John Berger, as with On Photography - bought after recommendation from the Creative Digital Photography course. I haven't read this one yet either
- Icons of Photography: The 20th Century - a good collection of 20th century photographers with sample photos and biography
- The Photographer's eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman - bought after recommendation by Chris Orwig at Flash on the Beach, a really excellent book that I haven't spent as much time reading as I'd like
- Image Makers, Image Takers: The Essential Guide to Photography by Those in the Know by Anne-Celine Jaeger, as with The Photographer's eye, bought after recommendation by Chris Orwig at Flash on the Beach. Similar to the Icons of Photography lots of history
- Portraits by Fergus Greer - a beautiful book with lots of back stories
- Examples : The Making of 40 Photographs by Ansel Adams - how the master did it - a great backstory into how the selected photographs were produced
- Night and low-light techniques for digital photography by Peter Cope - I love low-light photography
- The Digital Photography book by Scott Kelby - an excellent book full of recipes of how to take a different style of photo
- The Digital Photography book Volume 2: The Step-by-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros! by Scott Kelby - just as good as the first one
- The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers by Martin Evening - a book explaining Lightroom (version 1) in great detail
- Photos that changed the world by Peter Stepan - an excellent, excellent book with lots of examples of photographs that made a difference
- The Complete Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography by Lee Frost - covering low-light photography across film as well as digital
- Viewpoints from "Outdoor Photography" - some of the best photographs from the Viewpoints section of Outdoor Photography magazine
- The Camera Phone Book: Secrets to Making Better Picture by Aimee Baldridge - a great small book of photography from the camera phone perspective - I reviewed this some time ago
- Techniques for Black and White Photography: Creativity and Design by Roger Fremier - a lovely book talking through different techiques for making excellent black and white photographs
- Understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson - a great, not too technical, guide to exposure
- Lonely Planet Travel Photography: A Guide to Taking Better Pictures - a good all round guide to photography, focusing on making travel photos look stunning
- Photos That Sell: The Art of Successful Freelance Photography by Lee Frost - ideas on how to make money from photography - not something I've perfected yet
// posted by Jane @ 12:37 PM
Comments:
Thursday, October 30, 2008 -
Brighton Photo Fringe
On Saturday, I met up with one of the ladies I met on the Creative Digital Photography course and after a little bit of plotting we headed off to visit some of the galleries in the Brighton Photo Fringe.
Our first destination was the Brighton Media Centre and the Bystander exhibition. There was a good collection of photos displayed, and my personal favourites were those by Claire Pepper and Laura Pannack which I found really arresting. Next up was the Rimini-Beach exhibition, still in the Media Centre, by Beatrice Haverich. These had some amazing colours.
We left the Media Centre and headed down to the seafront to see the Petrusco exhibition in the Fortune of War. These photos, whilst not exactly to my tastes, have obviously had a large amount of planning to result in some eye-catching images.
Next up was the Human Endeavour exhibition at the Bellis Gallery. This was probably my favourite exhibition and covered a theme which covered the societal impact of consumerism and waste, geological scars on the landscape, globalisation etc. I left this exhibition clutching a map styled collection of photographs entitled Textures of Time: landscape architecture produced by Richard Chivers. This document is a really different way to display images, which is probably why I felt compelled to buy it. My favourite diptych photo is that of a quarry, mainly because if you just saw the left hand photo on its own you wouldn't really see anything remarkable about it, but when it is displayed next to its partner the full story becomes apparent.
All in all, a great wander and some wonderful inspirational images. I'd recommend a wander around if you get an opportunity.
Our first destination was the Brighton Media Centre and the Bystander exhibition. There was a good collection of photos displayed, and my personal favourites were those by Claire Pepper and Laura Pannack which I found really arresting. Next up was the Rimini-Beach exhibition, still in the Media Centre, by Beatrice Haverich. These had some amazing colours.
We left the Media Centre and headed down to the seafront to see the Petrusco exhibition in the Fortune of War. These photos, whilst not exactly to my tastes, have obviously had a large amount of planning to result in some eye-catching images.
Next up was the Human Endeavour exhibition at the Bellis Gallery. This was probably my favourite exhibition and covered a theme which covered the societal impact of consumerism and waste, geological scars on the landscape, globalisation etc. I left this exhibition clutching a map styled collection of photographs entitled Textures of Time: landscape architecture produced by Richard Chivers. This document is a really different way to display images, which is probably why I felt compelled to buy it. My favourite diptych photo is that of a quarry, mainly because if you just saw the left hand photo on its own you wouldn't really see anything remarkable about it, but when it is displayed next to its partner the full story becomes apparent.
All in all, a great wander and some wonderful inspirational images. I'd recommend a wander around if you get an opportunity.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 -
A Photographic History of Yosemite
After attending the Creative Digital Photography course I realised that one of the areas of photography I really needed to brush up on was the history - where did photography start, how did it develop, who were the key players at the various times etc. I did a quick search for history of photography and a video entitled A Photographic History of Yosemite was amongst the results found (also downloadable for the iPod via this link - the talk starts properly at around 4 minutes in).
I watched this video, about 30 minutes long, on a train journey from Brighton to London and found it really informational in how techniques have developed, and how different photographers will have worked to produce some highly memorable images. Obviously photographers like Ansel Adams, are mentioned, but also Charles Leander Weed who took the first photographer in 1859, through Carleton E Watkins who made a living by selling landscape photos and on to more recent photographic collaborations by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe. One of the things I got a great appreciation from (at around 10 minutes in), with help from images like that of William Henry Jackson with his mule is the sheer quantity of equipment they must have lugged around, how fragile some of these glass sheets must have been and how awkward the process must have been. Something to consider next time I complain that by camera is too big, or heavy, or bulky. Not to mention that they'd have probably only have been able to produce one photograph per day - again, not a restriction that I've ever had to work with.
Photo © and reproduced with kind permission from Roger Minick
Amongst the photographs that I found inspiring and amusing was the photograph Woman with scarf at Inspiration Point by Roger Minick (displayed above) - I love the observation of the lady, of the capture of a great moment, the composition, everything and above all it makes me smile.
All in all, a good overview of photograpic history using a single, well photographed, place to explore the changes in processes and practice over a period of over 150 years.
I watched this video, about 30 minutes long, on a train journey from Brighton to London and found it really informational in how techniques have developed, and how different photographers will have worked to produce some highly memorable images. Obviously photographers like Ansel Adams, are mentioned, but also Charles Leander Weed who took the first photographer in 1859, through Carleton E Watkins who made a living by selling landscape photos and on to more recent photographic collaborations by Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe. One of the things I got a great appreciation from (at around 10 minutes in), with help from images like that of William Henry Jackson with his mule is the sheer quantity of equipment they must have lugged around, how fragile some of these glass sheets must have been and how awkward the process must have been. Something to consider next time I complain that by camera is too big, or heavy, or bulky. Not to mention that they'd have probably only have been able to produce one photograph per day - again, not a restriction that I've ever had to work with.
Photo © and reproduced with kind permission from Roger Minick
Amongst the photographs that I found inspiring and amusing was the photograph Woman with scarf at Inspiration Point by Roger Minick (displayed above) - I love the observation of the lady, of the capture of a great moment, the composition, everything and above all it makes me smile.
All in all, a good overview of photograpic history using a single, well photographed, place to explore the changes in processes and practice over a period of over 150 years.
Thursday, May 1, 2008 -
Vodcast: The Daily Critique
Since getting my iPod touch I've been on the lookout for good photography related video based podcasts. I've previously mentioned some of my favourite Lightroom instruction/tutorial ones, but I recently came across Radiant Vista's The Daily Critique.
This vodcast takes an image or a series of images and then critiques them in a constructive and pleasant manner. The video aspects are simple - primarily the photograph is displayed and a red marker is used to highlight areas that the commentary is paying particular attention to. This simple approach is a great tool for people like myself to learn from. And, because it is a digital image, Craig (the reviewer) has the ability to actually edit the photo and show what impact some seemingly simple manipulations can make to it.
This vodcast takes an image or a series of images and then critiques them in a constructive and pleasant manner. The video aspects are simple - primarily the photograph is displayed and a red marker is used to highlight areas that the commentary is paying particular attention to. This simple approach is a great tool for people like myself to learn from. And, because it is a digital image, Craig (the reviewer) has the ability to actually edit the photo and show what impact some seemingly simple manipulations can make to it.
Saturday, April 26, 2008 -
Contemporary Photography : Lydia Yee
On Wednesday evening I attended another of the Contemporary Photography talks. This time it was Lydia Yee, curator of the current Barbican exhibition Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art.
She showed imagery of exhibits, as well as of some of the signage that has been used, and explained how they'd organised the exhibition of contemporary art according to anthropological categorisation. So, the exhibition is broken down into sections such as "Kinship and Descent", "Magic and Belief", "Ritual" and "Communication". Amongst the exhibits is a copy of the calibrator that Damian Hirst created to go to Mars on Beagle 2 - it is present because it might well have been one of the first earth based objects that a Martian would come across.
Lydia was a very engaging speaker, and did an excellent job of explaining how the exhibition came together, as well as describing the taxonomy and organisation of it. There are another 2 of these events to go. Next week is Anne Hardy, and the final talk, on the 7th May is Julian Germain.
She showed imagery of exhibits, as well as of some of the signage that has been used, and explained how they'd organised the exhibition of contemporary art according to anthropological categorisation. So, the exhibition is broken down into sections such as "Kinship and Descent", "Magic and Belief", "Ritual" and "Communication". Amongst the exhibits is a copy of the calibrator that Damian Hirst created to go to Mars on Beagle 2 - it is present because it might well have been one of the first earth based objects that a Martian would come across.
Lydia was a very engaging speaker, and did an excellent job of explaining how the exhibition came together, as well as describing the taxonomy and organisation of it. There are another 2 of these events to go. Next week is Anne Hardy, and the final talk, on the 7th May is Julian Germain.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 -
Contemporary Photography : John Stezaker
This evening I attended a talk as part of a series on Contemporary Photography being staged by Photoworks in conjunction with the MA Photography course of the University of Brighton.
John Stezaker isn't an artist I've come across before, but from this talk I felt I got a really good understanding of the evolution of his works, where he started from, and how his more recent work (the marriage and betrayal series) builds on his work of the past. As with the Joachim Schmid exhibition I saw last year at the Photographers Gallery there still seems something slightly sacrilegious to me about the deliberate destruction of photographs, even to then use these elements to produce something more. In fact, a member of the audience this evening asked John about this, and John accepted this, and said that he couldn't use photos of his family or loved ones in this manner, but was more than comfortable using film stock and postcards. He mentioned that he liked using damaged photographs, and has also used postcards and images from his own past - postcards from his parents when he was a little boy, a picture of Queen Victoria from a book that he scribbled all over as a child.
John recorded a video interview with Tate Britain for Tate Triennial 2006 which gives a flavour of the content of his talk.
There are three more talks in the series, all being held at the Friends Meeting House in Brighton over the next 3 Wednesday evenings. To reserve a place, all you need to do is drop an email to events@photoworksuk.org.
John Stezaker isn't an artist I've come across before, but from this talk I felt I got a really good understanding of the evolution of his works, where he started from, and how his more recent work (the marriage and betrayal series) builds on his work of the past. As with the Joachim Schmid exhibition I saw last year at the Photographers Gallery there still seems something slightly sacrilegious to me about the deliberate destruction of photographs, even to then use these elements to produce something more. In fact, a member of the audience this evening asked John about this, and John accepted this, and said that he couldn't use photos of his family or loved ones in this manner, but was more than comfortable using film stock and postcards. He mentioned that he liked using damaged photographs, and has also used postcards and images from his own past - postcards from his parents when he was a little boy, a picture of Queen Victoria from a book that he scribbled all over as a child.
John recorded a video interview with Tate Britain for Tate Triennial 2006 which gives a flavour of the content of his talk.
There are three more talks in the series, all being held at the Friends Meeting House in Brighton over the next 3 Wednesday evenings. To reserve a place, all you need to do is drop an email to events@photoworksuk.org.
Saturday, January 26, 2008 -
Braun PixelBank - first impressions
I have recently bought a Braun PixelBank as a backup for my photographs whilst I'm on the move. I had a set of criteria which were:
I unpacked the box and found some nice features - they've included screws and a screwdriver so that you can change the hard drive if you so wish - it takes a standard 2.5" one. One disappointment was that the power supply has a European plug so an adapter is necessary. I couldn't find one around the house, so used the provided USB cable to charge the unit up initially. I left it charging overnight, to ensure it got a good solid charge, and when I looked at it this morning the LED had changed from red (charging) to green (charged).
I took a selection of photographs on 2 different SD cards, and 1 xD card and put the cards in one at a time. Next to the power button there is a play button, and pressing this starts the copying process. There is a % count displayed whilst the copying happening, ending at 100%. If you leave the machine to do this, don't be surprised if it turns itself off after doing the copy, it has an auto shut off to protect battery life. Displayed on the right of the unit is the remaining capacity of the unit. It is probably worth doing some mental arithmetic to validate the saving by checking that the capacity is decreasing as you'd expect.
Attaching the PixelBank to the computer via the USB cable results in the screen lighting up, with just the HDD and USB signs being displayed.
Opening the drive in Finder, shows a top level folder named CARDS. Under this is a folder for every card copy that has been done. The folders are prefixed with SD for an SD card (presumably also for MMC and MS), SM for an xD card (presumably also for SM) and according to the manual CF for CF or MD cards. The cards are then numbered sequentially, so the first card is SD0001, the second SD0002 etc. There is no different naming conventions for different physical cards - I copied my first SD card twice (SD0001 and SD0002), and the second one once (SD0003). The data stored is a full copy of the disc, so includes any extra files that get stored by the camera (e.g. NIKON001.DSC for my Nikon D80).
So, there ends the first impressions. I'll add more thoughts as I use it and rely on it more.
- Reads SD cards
- Reads xD cards
- Accepts Nikon Raw format
- Works with a Mac
- At least 40GB
I unpacked the box and found some nice features - they've included screws and a screwdriver so that you can change the hard drive if you so wish - it takes a standard 2.5" one. One disappointment was that the power supply has a European plug so an adapter is necessary. I couldn't find one around the house, so used the provided USB cable to charge the unit up initially. I left it charging overnight, to ensure it got a good solid charge, and when I looked at it this morning the LED had changed from red (charging) to green (charged).
I took a selection of photographs on 2 different SD cards, and 1 xD card and put the cards in one at a time. Next to the power button there is a play button, and pressing this starts the copying process. There is a % count displayed whilst the copying happening, ending at 100%. If you leave the machine to do this, don't be surprised if it turns itself off after doing the copy, it has an auto shut off to protect battery life. Displayed on the right of the unit is the remaining capacity of the unit. It is probably worth doing some mental arithmetic to validate the saving by checking that the capacity is decreasing as you'd expect.
Attaching the PixelBank to the computer via the USB cable results in the screen lighting up, with just the HDD and USB signs being displayed.
Opening the drive in Finder, shows a top level folder named CARDS. Under this is a folder for every card copy that has been done. The folders are prefixed with SD for an SD card (presumably also for MMC and MS), SM for an xD card (presumably also for SM) and according to the manual CF for CF or MD cards. The cards are then numbered sequentially, so the first card is SD0001, the second SD0002 etc. There is no different naming conventions for different physical cards - I copied my first SD card twice (SD0001 and SD0002), and the second one once (SD0003). The data stored is a full copy of the disc, so includes any extra files that get stored by the camera (e.g. NIKON001.DSC for my Nikon D80).
So, there ends the first impressions. I'll add more thoughts as I use it and rely on it more.
// posted by Jane @ 12:29 PM
Comments:
Hi Jane,
I bought exactly the same storagedevice like you. I´m happy with it. You can change the harddrive if you want and the battery is changeable too. I use this for my holidays last summer. It´s doing his job well. Just the transfer rate could be faster :-)
Have fun with it!
I bought exactly the same storagedevice like you. I´m happy with it. You can change the harddrive if you want and the battery is changeable too. I use this for my holidays last summer. It´s doing his job well. Just the transfer rate could be faster :-)
Have fun with it!
# posted by 
: January 30, 2008 8:13 PM
: January 30, 2008 8:13 PM
Hi Jane
By coincidence I have just bought one of these devices, also from Park Cameras - though I collected mine in person. You might want to contact them, because the one I got contains a UK power lead as well as a European one.
What attracted me was the prospect of being able to change the disk drive and the battery. Such a change from the usual "no user serviceable parts" syndrome. In a few years much bigger drives will be cheaply available; indeed I already have a dead laptop with a perfectly good drive in it.
Michael Hooker, Surrey
By coincidence I have just bought one of these devices, also from Park Cameras - though I collected mine in person. You might want to contact them, because the one I got contains a UK power lead as well as a European one.
What attracted me was the prospect of being able to change the disk drive and the battery. Such a change from the usual "no user serviceable parts" syndrome. In a few years much bigger drives will be cheaply available; indeed I already have a dead laptop with a perfectly good drive in it.
Michael Hooker, Surrey
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 -
Review: The Camera Phone Book: How to shoot like a pro
Having recently bought a Nokia 6110 Navigator, a phone with a 2MP camera, I wondered what helpful hints and tips this book could give me.
The book is split into 5 chapters which cover
- Choosing a camera phone
- Taking Pictures
- After the snap
- The camera phone community
- Troubleshooting
As I had already bought my phone based on other functionality, much of the advice in chapter one was too late for me although there was still a good section on accessories along with appropriate links.
Unsurprisingly many of the techniques in the Taking photos chapter are the standard set - rule of thirds, using ISO settings to compensate for lack of light, shutter speed and aperture etc etc. The camera on my phone doesn't allow access to all of these settings.
After the snap concentrates on what happens next - covering printing, sharing on mobile social networks (including some I'd never heard of - like fotochatter), digital frames and of course on-line galleries.
The community chapter covers mobile blogging, more about on-line galleries and camera phone cinema (I didn't realise there were camera phone festivals) including linnks and reviews of a number of providers of the various services.
The final chapter, troubleshooting, is what you'd expect but has an intersting paragraph about what to do if you've dropped your phone into salt water, chlorinated water or a fizzy drink (wash it in distilled water apparently).
All in all a great introductory book to the world of cameras in general, but obviously with a heavy mobile bias. The included links are relevant, and useful and all come with an explanation of what the service/site has to offer.
Review by Jane Dallaway, October 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007 -
Which DSLR?
After 4 years of solid use, the time has come to say goodbye to the trusty Canon Powershot G3 and upgrade to a DSLR. As the last 2 digital cameras had been Canons, then I'd assumed I would remain true to the cause and remain a Canon girl. I have no lenses and therefore free choice at the moment.
My initial thoughts were to go for a Canon EOS 400D, and so I headed off to Jessops to try it out. I got on ok with the system, but it felt a bit too plasticky, and felt somewhat unbalanced with a larger lens on it. I began to think that I needed something in the "semi-pro" range instead of the prosumer range.
I continued to read up on options, and to ask about for recommendations. The next stop was to go into Clock Tower Cameras, here in Brighton which was a master stroke. The gentleman behind the counter was knowledgable, and patient and extended my models to consider by introducing me to the Pentax cameras. As always I'd headed off armed with 2 memory cards - one CF and one SD - and so proceeded to snap away and try them out. What became apparent very quickly was how much more robust the Pentax 100D felt in comparison to both the Canon 400D and the Nikon D40. Based on that, and the ease of use, in this range the Pentax would be the one.
But now I'd started thinking about the next range of cameras, so the Nikon D80, the Pentax K10D and the Canon 30D, so back to Jessops to hold and try. In this range, the Nikon and Canon catch up on robustness, and so there was no clear winner on this factor. I plugged all three models into the Digital Photography Review side-by-side comparator to get an idea of the differences.
The flickr Camera Finder has proven useful giving the ability to see what photos have been taken with each of the cameras:
Pentax K10D
Nikon D80
Canon EOS 30D
Unfortunately, it doesn't break it down by lens, but does give an idea.
After reading the reviews, it is between the Nikon and the Pentax (read the hands-on report), so a complete change from my original thoughts, I am leaning towards the Pentax at the moment, but I think another trip to the camera shop is required, to try a few more settings based on what I've read - including the Adobe RAW format on the Pentax K10D as all my test shots were taken as JPEGs.
My initial thoughts were to go for a Canon EOS 400D, and so I headed off to Jessops to try it out. I got on ok with the system, but it felt a bit too plasticky, and felt somewhat unbalanced with a larger lens on it. I began to think that I needed something in the "semi-pro" range instead of the prosumer range.
I continued to read up on options, and to ask about for recommendations. The next stop was to go into Clock Tower Cameras, here in Brighton which was a master stroke. The gentleman behind the counter was knowledgable, and patient and extended my models to consider by introducing me to the Pentax cameras. As always I'd headed off armed with 2 memory cards - one CF and one SD - and so proceeded to snap away and try them out. What became apparent very quickly was how much more robust the Pentax 100D felt in comparison to both the Canon 400D and the Nikon D40. Based on that, and the ease of use, in this range the Pentax would be the one.
But now I'd started thinking about the next range of cameras, so the Nikon D80, the Pentax K10D and the Canon 30D, so back to Jessops to hold and try. In this range, the Nikon and Canon catch up on robustness, and so there was no clear winner on this factor. I plugged all three models into the Digital Photography Review side-by-side comparator to get an idea of the differences.
The flickr Camera Finder has proven useful giving the ability to see what photos have been taken with each of the cameras:
Pentax K10D
Nikon D80
Canon EOS 30D
Unfortunately, it doesn't break it down by lens, but does give an idea.
After reading the reviews, it is between the Nikon and the Pentax (read the hands-on report), so a complete change from my original thoughts, I am leaning towards the Pentax at the moment, but I think another trip to the camera shop is required, to try a few more settings based on what I've read - including the Adobe RAW format on the Pentax K10D as all my test shots were taken as JPEGs.
// posted by Jane @ 6:31 PM
Comments:
Hey, I recently went through exactly the same DSLR dilemma :)
I was going to go for the 350D or 400D, but as soon as i picked them up, i found they were too plasticy and too small for my hands.
After trying a lot of DSLRs in Jessops, and researching them all on the net, i eventually returned to buy the Nikon D70s - a lovely, lovely camera at a good price, and the kit lens is great - 18-70mm :D
To be honest, all of the DSLRs are great, and whatever you buy, you're pretty much going to be happy!
One quick thing which you're no doubt aware of - if you want an AF lens with the D40, you need to get a newer lens with the focusing motor built into the lens, which are more expensive.
I was going to go for the 350D or 400D, but as soon as i picked them up, i found they were too plasticy and too small for my hands.
After trying a lot of DSLRs in Jessops, and researching them all on the net, i eventually returned to buy the Nikon D70s - a lovely, lovely camera at a good price, and the kit lens is great - 18-70mm :D
To be honest, all of the DSLRs are great, and whatever you buy, you're pretty much going to be happy!
One quick thing which you're no doubt aware of - if you want an AF lens with the D40, you need to get a newer lens with the focusing motor built into the lens, which are more expensive.
Jane,
Get the K10D. I looked at all the others and picked the Pentax. Image quality is, to all intents and purposes, identical whichever camera you choose. The deciding factors for me were the Pentax's superior build quality/weather sealing, the in-body anti shake, the fact you can use lots of older, cheaper Pentax lenses with it and the availability of top quality, compact and light DA prime lenses. It's not perfect-no camera is-but it was the best of the bunch for me. Having said that, make your own mind up. Handle them all and get the one that you feel most comfortable with, everything else being equal.
Regards,
Bruce
Get the K10D. I looked at all the others and picked the Pentax. Image quality is, to all intents and purposes, identical whichever camera you choose. The deciding factors for me were the Pentax's superior build quality/weather sealing, the in-body anti shake, the fact you can use lots of older, cheaper Pentax lenses with it and the availability of top quality, compact and light DA prime lenses. It's not perfect-no camera is-but it was the best of the bunch for me. Having said that, make your own mind up. Handle them all and get the one that you feel most comfortable with, everything else being equal.
Regards,
Bruce
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 -
Digital vs Film
According to Guardian Unlimited, The British arm of Ilford, one of the most famous names in black-and-white photography, has been forced into administration. Ilford has the lion share of the global black and white market, and is suffering, this doesn't bode well for the other players.
