Casual Photographer

GoPro HERO3®

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Saw this promotional video of the new GoPro HERO3® camera. It's pretty good quality for such a small camera.

Here's a brief description.

Shot 100% on the new HERO3® camera from ‪http://GoPro.com.

The Wi-Fi enabled HERO3: Black Edition is the most advanced GoPro, ever. No expense was spared during its development, resulting in a GoPro that is 30% smaller, 25% lighter & 2X more powerful than previous models. New resolutions and frame-rates include 4Kp 15, 2.7kp 30, 1080p 60, 1440p 48, 960p 100, 720p 120 and 12MP burst photo capture at 30 fps. Yes, for real.

How Does The iPhone 5 Camera Compare To A DSLR?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 07:38:00 +0000

I found this one on Youtube from Weapons of Mass Production.

The iPhone 5 has arrived and we have the iPhone 5 camera app review you've been waiting for. In this episode, Kevin and John compare the strengths and weaknesses of the iPhone 5 camera to other prosumer cameras (Nikon DSLR, Hasselblad H4D) including how to get the best resolution, how to get the best focus features, and how to get the best overall image quality for your respective camera. Kevin tries to answer the question: should you get the expensive camera or just use an iPhone and keep the extra thousands of dollars?

Signs of Autumn

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 05:35:00 +0000

Taken with an iPhone 4, Camera+ and Adobe Photoshop Express.

Camera Stolen By A Seagull

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 22:59:00 +0000

Funny video of how a seagull stole a photographer's GoPro camera, flew over the water in front of Golden Gate Bridge and how the camera incredibly managed to survive, recording everything!

A flying video from a seagull's mouth!

Nikon D600 hands-on review

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 23:21:00 +0000

The Nikon D600 looks like a really great camera. The smallest and first full frame prosumer DSLR.

Color Temperature Scale

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:11:00 +0000

I just found this, this explains how you should set you white balance setting depending on the light you're using. This is mostly the problem you'll have if the color of your photos are not coming out correctly.

Lytro Light Field Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:29:00 +0000

There's a new camera in town, this camera allows you to shoot now, focus later.

Mountain View, California-based startup called Lytro unveiled its new light-field camera.

According to the Lytro website.

"Lytro lets you take pictures like never before. Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.

Capture everything - instantly.

Capture living pictures with the press of a single button. By instantly capturing complete light field data, the Lytro gives you capabilities you've never had in a regular camera.

Focus after the fact.

Since you'll capture the color, intensity, and direction of all the light, you can experience the first major light field capability - focusing after the fact. Focus and re-focus, anywhere in the picture. You can refocus your pictures at anytime, after the fact.

And focusing after the fact, means no auto-focus motor. No auto-focus motor means no shutter delay. So, capture the moment you meant to capture not the one a shutter-delayed camera captured for you."

Here's a photo of the new camera.

Here's a hands on video of the new camera.

And a video of its 3D picture gallery.

How-To Build a Cyclorama Photo Studio with Ashley

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:32:00 +0000

I kind of lost track of what she was building.

The Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:10:00 +0000

This is an incredible time lapse video of the Milky Way taken at El Tiede in Spain.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Industrial Grade 3D Animation Suite for Sale at $40

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:36:00 +0000

messiahStudio is a powerful animation & rendering software package specifically designed to handle the most demanding character animation & rendering needs. It has been quietly used in feature films, commercials, games, music videos and print ads for over 10 years; and is now one of the fastest growing CG packages on the market.

According to their website, "We're doing an unprecedented viral test marketing campaign where your success in sharing this offer will allow you and others to get our amazing award winning animation and rendering software ( messiahStudio5 ) for the unheard of price of just $10 (regularly $499) or choose the Pro version for just $40 (regularly $1195). When this experiment ends, the prices will return to normal."

I know this has nothing to do with photography, but a lot of artist do work in various media and this is quite a deal.

Here is the link to their website.

Licensing Music for Your Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:07:00 +0000

I was reading Jasmine Star's blog about using music in her photo slides. The dilemma she had was making sure the music she used was properly licensed. Since it can be quite hard or expensive to actually use commercial music, she discovered a site called With Etiquette that makes it easy to license Indie music for your photography slideshows, wedding videos as well as your website background music.

The license is for a 5 year, single user license and each song is USD$99.00.

Check out With Etiquette.

Street Portrait Photo How To

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:33:00 +0000

Clay Enos, the photographer who did the photoshoot for the Watchmen movie show us how he does street portrait.

78 Photography Rules for Complete Idiots

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:42:00 +0000

I found this website about 78 photography rules for complete idiots. It's both funny and informative.

Check it out here.

The Suicide of the Point and Shoot Cameras

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 00:58:00 +0000

I saw this article on TechCrunch the other day and I found it to be quite interesting.

The article shows how camera companies are committing Seppuku or suicide with their point and shoot cameras. The main reason is the lack of innovation, not in terms of the technical ability of the cameras, but in terms of how people are using their cameras nowadays. Sure, they get better at low light situations, higher ISOs and speed, but they die in social networking or sharing your photos.

I can tell from personal experience, that while I prefer using a point and shoot compared to an SLR due to the size, I prefer using my iPhone now more than using my point and shoot.

Is my P&S better than the iPhone? In many situations yes. It's great when shooting in snow, low light or fast action. But it's a pain to carry all the time whereas I have my iPhone with me all the time.

To share my photos with my P&S, I have to plug it into the computer and then upload the photos.

With my iPhone, I just connect through WiFi or 3G and upload my photos to Facebook or Flickr right away. So my iPhone has actually taken over as my main camera and I only use my P&S occasionally.

And as you can probably see from some of my photos lately, a lot of these were shot using an iPhone, they were also editing in the iPhone. They will never beat the sharp photos of a high end DSLR, but if nothing else is around, a low end camera with you is better than having a P&S or DSLR that's not with you.

The best camera is always the one that's with you and the iPhone is always with me.

iPhone War Photographer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:25:00 +0000

I just wanted to share this article I found from the New York Times. Photographer Damon Winters found out that his iPhone was an effective way to capture the day-to-day trials of the First Battalion, 87th 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division in northern Afghanistan.

“Composing with the iPhone is more casual and less deliberate,” Mr. Winter said. “And the soldiers often take photos of each other with their phones, so they were more comfortable than if I had my regular camera.”

Full story and photos at the New York Times article Lens.

Lensbaby

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:14:00 +0000

This lens that attaches to you SLR looks awesome. Just imagine what you can do with your photos with this lens.

iPhone 4

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:37:00 +0000

I have to apologize for how my blog looks right now. I just got an iPhone 4 and have been linking my uploads to my blog but somehow, the photo size doesn't come out right. I'm going to be redesigning my blog to accommodate the larger photos and will be blogging about how I've been using my iPhone as my replacement camera for my point and shoot.

Chase Jarvis is right, the best camera is the one that is with you and my iPhone is the one that's always with me right now.

It's really fun to use and there are some advantages and disadvantages in using it. I'll be posting some reviews one I have enough time to use it.

Lovely Colours

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:26:00 +0000

Love the colour of the trees this time of year.

Shadow

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:39:00 +0000

Random shadow shots.

Photography Tip

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:48:00 +0000

Want to take better photos? Here's a tip. Shoot for color. Stop worrying about composition, exposure or subject. Stop fiddling with your camera settings. Instead, look for the color and shoot of it.

Shoot contrasting colors, complimentary colors, absence of colors (B&W), monotone and duotone.

You get the best colors outdoors in the early morning and at sunset where the sunlight fills the sky with rich colors.

Autumn is also great in taking photos as the leaves are changing colors and you'll see an explosion of red, orange, yellows and browns.

Go ahead, try it.

Fracture

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:23:00 +0000

I found this company that lets your upload your photo and they will print it in shatter-proof glass. It also includes a frame so it's a one stop shop for your photo framing needs.

I haven't seen the quality but it looks like it's going to be awesome.

Check it out at Fractureme.com.

Hitler finds out his Nikon D7000 is not shipping until November

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:59:00 +0000

Hitler finds out his Nikon D7000 is not shipping until November from nikonreviewcentral on Vimeo.

Strap A Camera On a Falcon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:36:00 +0000

What happens when you strap a camera on a Peregrine Falcon and a Goshawk? Watch as BBC put a spy camera on top of each. Amazing video.

Fujifilm FinePix X100 large-sensor compact

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Fujifilm just unveiled it's new large-sensor compact camera. This has a larger sensor than the micro 4/3rds format made by Olympus and Panasonic.

It is based on the 12MP APS-C CMOS sensor. It features a new hybrid viewfinder which allows you to switch between optical and electronic viewfinder.

It is aimed for the DSLR users who need a small backup camera when the large DSLR camera is inconvenient to use.

I like how it has a classic design and controls much like the old film cameras before.

Read the press release here. Photos courtesy of Fujifilm.

Nikon D7000

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:07:00 +0000

Nikon just announced their replacement for the Nikon D90. Introducing the Nikon D7000.

Key features based on Nikon's website are:

Approx. 16.2 effective megapixels. Employs newly developed Nikon DX-format CMOS sensor.
New image-processing engine "EXPEED 2" that achieves high image quality, high-speed image processing, multi functions and efficient energy saving.
Wide sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 6400, expandable to Hi 2 (ISO 25600 equivalent).
Newly developed AF system featuring 39 focus points including 9 cross-type sensors in the center of the frame.
Scene Recognition System with improved accuracy by utilizing newly developed 2,016-pixel RGB sensor.
Full HD (1,920×1,080, 24p) movie-recording function "D-Movie", compatible with external stereo microphone featuring high image quality and operability.
Viewfinder employing glass pentaprism features approx. 100% frame coverage and approx. 0.94x high-magnification.
Light and rugged magnesium alloy employed for top and rear covers. Secure sealing achieves superior weather-resistant and anti-dust capabilities.
Double SD card slots, SDXC compatible.
Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D11 that employs magnesium alloy for exterior cover features seamless switching of power feeding with the battery of the D7000.

More details at Nikon's website.
Here's a video made with the new Nikon D7000 shot by Chase Jarvis.

You can pre-order the new Nikon D7000 from Amazon.com below.