Tag: photography

The P6000

Last November I was very happy with my Canon 50D purchase. Melissa was a little stunned and confused when I started toying around with the idea of getting another new camera. I was taking more and more photos I wanted a little point and shoot camera I could take with me everywhere. I shopped around a lot and eventually settled on the Nikon P6000.

Has it lived up to my expectations?

Yes.

And no.

Nikon P6000

Let’s start with the pros. The P6000 is smaller and more portable than my than my DSLR, so I was able to take it with me more often than the 50D. The quality of photos is excellent. It’s not DSLR quality, but it’s better than any other point and shoot camera I’ve used.

Like DSLRs, it can shoot in RAW format, which I have used with this camera exclusively. This allows for better control when making adjustments (things like exposure, brightness, etc) on the computer after the fact.

It has built-in GPS. This was a big feature for me. It automatically embeds latitude/longitude when a photo is captured so I can later find the exact location where the photo was taken. This is the first mainstream consumer camera to have this feature, though it won’t be the last. This is such a wonderful feature it will only take a few years until cameras have it.

It has a built-in time lapse mode. Again, this is another feature so fantastic all cameras will come with it in the future. In fact, how is this not standard already?

Nikon P6000

Now on to the cons. It’s big. Well, it’s all relative I suppose. The primary reason I got this camera was I thought it would be small and I could take it with me everywhere. It’s somewhat small, but not small enough to take everywhere. It easily fits in a jacket pocket, but not as well in pants/shorts pocket. It also has enough weight to it that it pulls on the pocket noticeably. For most people this wouldn’t be a problem, but I was riding my bike with it every day and it just wasn’t ideal.

Next, GPS. Wait, didn’t I list that under the pros section? Yes. For you see, this is a wonderful feature, but the GPS in this particular camera doesn’t work as well as it should. Even with a perfectly clear, unobstructed view of the sky it takes a very long time to acquire a fix on the GPS satellites — at least a minute or so. That means even in perfect conditions for GPS you can’t just take the camera out, turn it on, snap a photo, and have GPS data embedded. The only way to get the GPS data is to take the camera out and turn it on well ahead of time, wait, wait, snap a photo, leave the camera on (because you don’t want to have to wait around again next time). I got it working sometimes, but it was a hassle. Next, when conditions were not ideal (i.e. obstructed view of sky, like in a forest) the GPS didn’t work at all. I tried several times in the forest and could not get signal no matter how long I waited. Grrrrrr.

The camera has a built-in ethernet jack. It works… so why is this a con? Because it’s a completely useless feature. Practically speaking it can only be used when your computer is nearby (in which case you could just as easily plug it into the computer). If it had wireless, rather than wired, networking perhaps someone might actually use it.

Finally, the battery life is quite poor (by my standards). This is probably mostly due to the GPS. When I was using this camera every day I had to charge it every other day, even with light use (only a couple photos per day).

These things said, it’s still a good camera… but I no longer use it. I have since purchased a smaller, lighter, (waterproof even) point and shoot camera which does not have GPS or take quite as good photos as the P6000… but I truly can take it with me everywhere.

This camera just wasn’t right for me. It could be right for other people though. If you want a high quality point and shoot camera, and you’re not concerned with ultimate mobility, and you accept the fact that the GPS is a nice bonus for the camera rather than a true selling point, I would have no problem recommending this camera. Anyone want to buy mine?

Anyway, here’s a few of my favorites from this camera:

Commute

Moon over Memorial Stadium

Red arrows mark the trail

Greenhouse

The lonliest cart

Puddle

Rob & Melissa say goodbye to Iris

The 50D

As long time readers may recall, I retired my beloved Canon Digital Rebel camera (which was a low end DSLR) last fall. I really, really wanted a high end Canon 5D mark II, but the price was simply prohibitively expensive (and they weren’t released yet). Instead I replaced my Rebel with the 5D mark II’s little sibling, the mid-range Canon 50D. The 50D has most of the features of the 5D mark II, really only lacking video and the full frame sensor, yet cost half the price.

When I got the 50D I immediately started shooting RAW instead of JPEG and switched from using iPhoto to Aperture to manage my photos. I’ve always been very interested in photography, but these three changes marked the point when I dove in more deeply.

At the same time I also purchased a pair of new lenses, a wide angle zoom (Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM) and a telephoto zoom (Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM). These are both on the low end of Canon’s top of the line L series of lenses, and they’re both much much nicer than any of the lenses I had used previously. In addition to the large apertures and great focusing, one of the neatest things about these two lenses is that the zoom mechanisms are internal to the lens on both. When you zoom in or out the lenses don’t change length.

The camera itself is relatively heavy, and these two lenses with their large glass are heavy as well. Whenever I hand the camera to someone else, the first thing they mention is how heavy the camera feels. I prefer to think of it as solid.

Canon 50D

The Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM quickly became my favorite lens

Canon 50D

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM is great for sports

After eight months of use I can say that I’m quite happy with the camera. It’s not perfect, but it is very, very good. The resolution of the photos is very high. The focus is very fast and very sharp (particularly with the Canon L lenses).

The 50D (along with my newer lenses) have produced some of my favorite photos.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM (wide angle zoom)

The Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM is great indoors.

Garter toss

Piña

…and for portraits.

Musician Rob

Lemon

Dynamic duo

The Bassetts

…and outdoors

Luke & Mark

1503

It's that time of year

…and it’s perfect for landscapes

Shine

Sunrise at the Riddle Run

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM (telephoto zoom)

Marla & Brian

Happy holidays from the Ragfields

Icicles

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM lens is great for sports.

50 Free

Sandra finishes the 23K with a smile

…and wildlife.

Bird on stick

Dragonflies

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM Macro

The Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens allows close-ups.

Bzzzzzzzz

Japanese beetle

…and landscapes.

Fence

an agile tree-dwelling rodent

…and portraits.

Ravage meets Fig

I love almost everything about this camera. I can only really think of a few complaints. First, I always leave the camera in Auto White Balance mode. When I shoot indoors (usually without a flash) the white balance almost always needs adjusted. This is simple enough to do (though I can’t always get it just right), but it’s a little annoying sometimes.

Second (and this one’s kind of big), is the camera is very noisy at higher ISO speeds. This model was supposedly much better than previous generation DSLRs, but it’s not good. In most cases 800 and above are unusable, so I rarely shoot higher than 400. That by itself isn’t atrocious. The bad part is that the automatic ISO mode will set the ISO up to 1600 (which is nearly always unusable), and it almost always errs on the side of setting the value too high. This means I can’t use the automatic ISO mode and instead I have to set it manually. I usually use 100-200 outdoors and 400 indoors. I switch between indoors and outdoors multiple times per week so I always have to remember to change the ISO settings, but I often forget. I have two cheaper cameras that solve this problem with a simple setting allowing you to choose the maximum ISO value for the automatic mode. I would love to have a similar setting on the 50D. It’s frustrating, but given that this is my biggest complaint about an extremely sophisticated piece of technology, it’s not that bad in the scheme of things.

Third, the live view focusing is very slow. Other camera manufacturers have made this work (live view focusing on my Olympus E-420 is much faster). Additionally, the traditional half-press of the shutter button does not activate autofocus in live view, a separate button is required. Perhaps they did this on purpose because they knew their live view focus was so slow. Who knows. Regardless, it has room for improvement here.

This is by far the nicest camera I’ve ever owned (or even used). Quibbles aside, I wouldn’t trade it for anything else (in the same general price range). I still dream of owning a full frame DSLR some day, but until that day comes, this one is a keeper.

The Insect Photography Workshop

Last week was National Pollinator Week. Who knew?

The UIUC entomology department held a number of events, including an insect photography workshop. I thought it would be fun to try something a little different so I walked over to the Pollinatarium yesterday for the workshop. The workshop leader is a UIUC post-doc in entomology who studies ants (my sister-in-law Kim is an entomologist who studies fire ants in Texas). He also photographs insects for text books.

Among his tips were:

  1. Know your subject
  2. Use your camera’s manual settings
  3. Simplify the background
  4. Place the subject away from the center of the frame
  5. Light is important
  6. There is no single correct way to take photographs

We tried to keep these points (and more) in mind as we walked around the nearby prairie & forest to practice. It was a lot of fun. Here are a few of my favorites.

Dragonflies

Japanese Beetles

Translucent

Bee

You can see more of my insect photos from the workshop here.

The Cobb Park Crit

Yesterday was the Cobb Park Criterium in Kankakee. This is one of the closest bike races to Champaign-Urbana, so a lot of my Wild Card Cycling teammates participated. Unfortunately, I’ve been struggling with some knee pain the past two weeks. It finally seems to be getting better, but I definitely didn’t want to aggravate it by racing again too soon.

I still wanted to support the team so I went up to watch the category 4 race (the one I would have been riding). We had six guys in that race — Mark, Q., Chad, Thomas, Luke, and Nick. Earlier in the day Alexi, Scott, and Art rode in the cat 5 race, while Greg & Karl rode in the masters 50+ race. As with many other types of racing I’m much more accustomed to competing than spectating. I always forget how fun it is to watch friends race.

Mark jumps off the front

Chad in is first race with Wild Card

Just think how fast Luke would be without all that extra hair

Q. takes a flyer

Nick looked as cool as a cucumber the entire race

Thomas takes a flyer

One lap to go

Karl and Scott cheer on the team with one lap to go

I took a lot of photos of my friends (some of which can be seen here, or in the video below), as well as some video footage. I mounted my little Flip video camera to the hot shoe of my Canon 50D DSLR and captured video while I was taking pictures.

I planned to quickly throw together the video clips late last night and post it online. I thought it was kind of cool how the sound of my still camera’s shutter can be heard clicking in the video so I spliced in some of the still photos around the time they were taken. Once this was in place the video clearly needed a soundtrack, so I added the greatest cycling music from the greatest cycling movie (American Flyers). This took considerably more time. I finally finished around 2 a.m., but it was totally worth it.

If you can watch this without a huge smile on your face you clearly haven’t seen American Flyers enough times.

The End of 2008

2008 was one of the most successful years I’ve had for racing. I competed in running (5K to ultra-marathon), cycling (road, crit, time trial, cyclocross), swimming (50-1000 yard), triathlon (sprint & olympic), and duathlon races. I set new PRs (personal records) in 5K time, ultra-marathon time and distance, olympic distance triathlon time, 40 KM cycling time trial time, 1000 yard swim time, and yearly cycling distance.

In case you missed them, here were a few of the highlights:

Stats

This was the worst December weather I’ve seen in 30 years living in Illinois. Everything (streets, sidewalks, & grass) was continuously covered in ice for several weeks.

Icy streets

As a result I only did one recreational bike ride in December and fell short of my best case scenario year end cycling goals for 2008: 6,000 miles total & 366 separate rides (2008 was a leap year). For the purpose of my records, separate rides are two consecutive rides on different days, on different bikes, or wearing different clothes. This means I count riding to work in the morning and home from work in the evening as one single ride. I probably would have been closer to 600 or 700 separate rides using a different standard.

Despite not making my best case scenario goals, I’m still quite pleased with these numbers. 5,838 miles is much higher than my previous highest yearly total of around 4,600 miles.

Cycling: December 2008 by Bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Big Red 4.2 Mile 1 4.2 Mile
El Fuego 73.2 Mile 13 5.63077 Mile
Pocket Rocket 13.7 Mile 3 4.56667 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 16.43 Mile 1 16.43 Mile
Total 107.53 Mile 18 5.97389 Mile

Cycling: 2008 by Bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 682.99 Mile 109 6.26596 Mile
Big Red 299.04 Mile 22 13.5927 Mile
Dahon 164.63 Mile 29 5.6769 Mile
El Fuego 121.6 Mile 16 7.6 Mile
Litespeed 334.465 Mile 13 25.7281 Mile
Pocket Rocket 1051.23 Mile 64 16.4255 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 3184.03 Mile 89 35.7756 Mile
Total 5837.99 Mile 342 17.0701 Mile

Cycling: 2008 by Month

Month Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
January 136.72 Mile 21 6.51048 Mile
February 340.15 Mile 29 11.7293 Mile
March 590.33 Mile 29 20.3562 Mile
April 597.9 Mile 29 20.6172 Mile
May 665.06 Mile 36 18.4739 Mile
June 785.95 Mile 31 25.3532 Mile
July 774.115 Mile 36 21.5032 Mile
August 715.01 Mile 26 27.5004 Mile
September 591.615 Mile 36 16.4337 Mile
October 328.34 Mile 31 10.5916 Mile
November 205.27 Mile 20 10.2635 Mile
December 107.53 Mile 18 5.97389 Mile
Total 5837.99 Mile 342 17.0701 Mile

In early December I ran the Tecumseh marathon, which was my big goal for the end of the year. Then I eased up a bit on the running in order to recover.

Running: 2008 by Month

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 90.18 Mile 8 11.2725 Mile
February 23.35 Mile 4 5.8375 Mile
March 53.6469 Mile 9 5.96076 Mile
April 49.3 Mile 8 6.1625 Mile
May 28.3569 Mile 7 4.05098 Mile
June 21.25 Mile 4 5.3125 Mile
July 47.7537 Mile 8 5.96921 Mile
August 29.24 Mile 4 7.31 Mile
September 43.0637 Mile 8 5.38296 Mile
October 97.91 Mile 9 10.8789 Mile
November 94.17 Mile 10 9.417 Mile
December 77.49 Mile 9 8.61 Mile
Total 655.711 Mile 88 7.45126 Mile

I did very little swimming in December. I will probably not do a whole lot in January either, given the restricted pool hours on campus during winter break.

Swimming: 2008 by Month

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 1.55448 Kilo Meter 2 0.77724 Kilo Meter
May 0 0 0
June 4.1148 Kilo Meter 5 0.82296 Kilo Meter
July 11.5446 Kilo Meter 10 1.15446 Kilo Meter
August 11.2774 Kilo Meter 8 1.40968 Kilo Meter
September 18.9329 Kilo Meter 13 1.45638 Kilo Meter
October 16.7335 Kilo Meter 6 2.78892 Kilo Meter
November 12.8016 Kilo Meter 5 2.56032 Kilo Meter
December 6.4008 Kilo Meter 4 1.6002 Kilo Meter
Total 83.3602 Kilo Meter 53 1.57283 Kilo Meter

The WiFi Camera Remote

I recently picked up a cheap RF remote for my new Canon 50D.

Camera remote

Unfortunately, it arrived a little bit too late for the two family portraits I was enlisted to take over Thanksgiving. Additionally, the 50D doesn’t have an infrared remote sensor like my old 300D, so I couldn’t use my old infrared remote. My options were limited. I really didn’t want to have to set a 10 second timer then run into the picture, wait, pop, run back, repeat. Instead, I took advantage of the wireless networking capabilities of the attached WFT-E3 (wireless file transmitter) unit and I used my iPhone as a WiFi remote. It wasn’t ideal, but it definitely did the trick in a pinch.

This would have been much easier by connecting to an existing 802.11 network, but I could not rely on a network being present. So I instead chose to use an ad hoc direct wireless network connection between the camera and the phone. Additionally, since the iPhone doesn’t support creating an ad hoc network, I needed to setup the network on the camera first then connect to that network with the phone.

It wasn’t completely obvious how to get this setup working, so I will explain here in case anyone else out there on the internet ever finds themselves in a situation where something like this might come in handy. The required gadgets are:

  • Apple iPhone (or any mobile device with WiFi and a decent web browser)
  • Canon 50D or 40D (or probably 5D) camera
  • Canon WFT-E3 wireless file transfer unit (or probably the comparable 5D-compatible unit)

WFT Configuration

The first step is to configure the WFT to create an 802.11G Ad Hoc wireless network.

Under the WFT settings > Set up > LAN settings choose Set 2 (assuming Set 1 is your home network) and choose the Change button.

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Under the WFT settings > Set up > LAN settings > Set 2 menu set the LAN type to Wireless.

Under the WFT settings > Set up > LAN settings > Set 2 > TCP/IP menu set:

  • IP address set to Manual setting
  • DNS server to Manual setting
  • DNS address to 0.0.0.0
  • IP address to 192.168.1.2
  • Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0
  • Gateway to 0.0.0.0
  • I just left Security tuned off for simplicity, but feel free to use WEP if you want

 

Under the WFT settings > Set up > LAN settings > Set 2 > Wireless LAN > SSID menu enter the name of the wireless network you are going to create. I called mine ragfield-50D.

  

Under the WFT settings > Set up > LAN settings > Set 2 > Wireless LAN > Advanced settings menu set:

  • Conn. method to Ad hoc 11g
  • Channel to Auto
  • Encryption to None

    

Now it is time to activate the WFT’s HTTP server. Under the WFT settings menu set Communication mode to HTTP.

In order to access the HTTP server we need to set up an account with a user name and password. Under the WFT settings > Set up > HTTP settings > HTTP account > User 1 set the Login name and Password to your desired login name and password.

     

At this point the green LAN indicator light on the back of the WFT should be blinking and we can now connect the iPhone (or other device) to the camera. Go ahead and take one last look at WFT settings > Set up > Confirm settings and scroll through the four screens to verify the settings are correct.

   

iPhone Configuration

The iPhone configuration is much simpler than the camera/WFT configuration, and the user interface is much better so this goes quickly. In the Settings application choose the Wi-Fi list item. A list of available wireless networks will be displayed and, if the WFT is configured correctly and running, the WFT’s network name will appear in this list. Choose this network (in my case ragfield-50D).

After the iPhone switches to your WFT’s ad hoc wireless network click the blue circle button to the right of your network’s name to open the TCP/IP settings. Configure the network by setting:

  • IP Address type to Static
  • IP Address to 192.168.1.3
  • Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.0
  • Router leave blank
  • DNS leave blank
  • Search Domains leave blank
  • HTTP Proxy to Off

Now the iPhone is correctly configured to connect to the camera/WFT. One interesting thing to note is that even though the iPhone is using WiFi to connect to the camera the WiFi icon does not appear in the status bar. A 3G or E(dge) icon will appear instead. This is fine.

Press the home button to exit the Settings application and tap on the Safari icon to launch the web browser. Type 192.186.1.2 in the address bar and press Go. Safari should prompt you for the user name and password you entered into the WFT settings > Set up &gt HTTP settings > HTTP account > User 1 menu. Enter these values and press Log In.

The WFT’s default web page will appear. Press the Capture button next to the image of the camera on the web page.

The button to do a remote capture is the little blue circle on the image of the wired remote control on the web page. Zoom in for a target large enough to hit with your finger while you’re looking at the camera.

 

It helps if the hand holding the iPhone is hidden behind another person. Thanks for covering for me Melissa!

The Raguet family

The Bassetts

The Whole Fam Damily

Melissa & I had a busy Thanksgiving holiday break. We travelled to four family events in four days. On Wednesday it my niece Vivian’s first birthday party. On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad’s extended family in Danville. On Friday we celebrated Thanksgiving with Melissa’s family near Rockford. Finally, on Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom’s extended family near Indianapolis.

Since both my brothers were visiting with their families from Texas, this was the first time my mom’s extended family had all been together since well before my nephew, cousin, and niece were born. We commemorated the event with a family photo.

The Bassetts

Grandma and Grandpa with 3 sons, 2 daughters, 5 significant others, 9 grandsons, 4 significant others, 1 great grandson, 1 great granddaughter

The Rebel

In 2003 I wanted a SLR camera to replace my old Vivitar, but at this point I was already accustomed to the extraordinary convenience of digital cameras. Digital SLR cameras existed, but they were targeted solely at professional photographers (and they were priced accordingly). That is, until the end of 2003, when Canon released the Digital Rebel (EOS 300D). The Digital Rebel was the first digital SLR (DSLR) camera priced under $1000, and it wasn’t targeted at professional photographers. It was targeted at me.

Shortly after the camera was released, Digital Rebels could not be found anywhere. There was a huge demand for this device and it was sold out of every store that carried it. I went to cameras stores. I went to electronics stores. I went to generic stores that carried cameras or electronics. While visiting my grandparents for Christmas my dad accompanied me while I looked at half a dozen stores in Evansville, IN. I think he thought I might be a little crazy looking high and low for a camera. I mean, it’s just a camera right?

Back home in Champaign I put my name on a waiting list at a camera store, and I made daily visits to Best Buy. Eventually, a guy working at Best Buy was kind enough to suggest (quietly) I check back on Wednesday morning. I checked back Wednesday morning, and they had just received two Digital Rebels. I immediately tried to acquire one, but there was some bozo right in front of me (the store had just opened) who was looking at it. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! JUST LET ME BUY MY CAMERA!!!

After five or so of the most impatient minutes of my life the bozo walked away and I was able to purchase the camera. Finally. I left the next day with my parents to go to Texas to visit my brothers for Christmas, where I was first able to test it out. It was amazing.

I’ve now had the camera for almost five years. A few days ago the four-digit photo counter reset to zero, meaning I’ve taken over 10,000 photos with it. It’s still great, but it’s showing its age. So I’ve decided to retire the Rebel. Two days ago its replacement arrived, a brand new Canon 50D. This new camera takes (significantly) higher resolution photos, has better low light (high ISO range) performance, has a gigantic high-res LCD screen (the 3″ display has the same resolution as my first 15″ computer monitor), works with all my old accessories (lenses & flash), and (thanks to an extra attachment) can wirelessly transfer photos to my computer and phone (which I’ve wanted for quite some time), and can directly geotag photos.

Hopefully the next 10,000 photos will be as great as the last 10,000.

The College for Kids

During the summers when I was growing up in Danville, the local community college put on courses covering a variety of topics for, well, kids. It was aptly named College for Kids. The courses counted for no credit, just pure educational enrichment. As you can imagine, they weren’t wildly popular, but there were a few highly motivated youngsters who showed up ready to learn.

One summer I took an arts & crafts class. The summer between 5th & 6th grade I took a photography class. I don’t really remember why I thought I was interested in photography. Perhaps it had something to do with the camera shop down the street from my grandparents’ house. I would walk down there and look at all the neat equipment for hours. The course was taught by a photographer at the local newspaper.

The first day of class I showed up with my mom’s fixed-focus point-and-shoot 35mm Vivitar camera. The instructor gave each of the students a roll of film and assigned homework to take a bunch of photographs, enough to fill the roll, before the next class. He would develop them all (for free), then we would start learning what we could do to take better photos. Each class we picked up a new roll of film and turned in our previous role. In these days, long before the advent of the digital camera, film and development were somewhat tedious and expensive, so this was the first time I really had the opportunity to waste film by taking whatever types of pictures I wanted.

The class was amazing. We learned about framing & lighting. We learned how to operate really nice cameras. We even learned how to develop black & white film (color film being more difficult to develop). I was hooked. A few weeks after the class ended I took $120 I earned from my job as official scorekeeper at the little league park all summer, walked to the camera store down the street from my grandparents’ house, and purchased a used Vivitar SLR camera body and a 50mm prime lens. A couple months later I saved up some more money and purchased the matching 135mm telephoto lens. Nothing on this camera was automatic. It required manual focusing, aperture, shudder speed. It even required manually winding the film between photos. It was actually somewhat difficult to operate, but it was worth it.

I loved that camera. I used it to take photographs for school yearbooks and newspapers. I photographed family gatherings and sporting events. I took the camera with me to my job at ASP the summer after my freshman year in college. I used it all summer long to preserve many wonderful memories. Unfortunately, that’s where the story ends. At the end of the summer I packed up the camera (and all my other stuff) in one of our vans. We stopped at a few work sites in a different county to help out for a few days. I never saw the camera again. I still don’t know what happened to it. My best guess is that somebody stole it, though I can’t rule out the possibility I simply misplaced it somewhere.

I replaced my beloved Vivitar with a cheap point-and-shoot camera. The photographs weren’t as good, but it was much cheaper and easier to operate than a SLR. In 2001 I replaced it with my first digital point-and-shoot camera, which was amazing (I took 240 photos while hiking on the first day of our honeymoon). It wasn’t until 2003 that I finally got another SLR camera, the Digital Rebel.