CalevPhoto

A Respite from Photography

As many of you know, since selling my old 5D and waiting for my new 5D Mark II I have been without a camera.  This has given me the opportunity for reflection on my current status and goals with a lot of things.

For instance, as an aside I have finally figured out a routine for learning foreign languages.  As those of you who know me well know, I speak a good number of foreign languages but I have a problem keeping up with languages I am not actively studying.  I believe I have finally figured out how to do this.

In terms of photography, I have been able to reflect on my current skills and goals.  For instance, I have realized that I need to move up a level in my macro photography to fully understand composition.  Right now, I’m content with just getting a good shot of a bug from a good angle.  However, I need to also take into mind the angles and curves in the shot and other aspects in order to make the shot actually interesting.

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My Photography Plan

While reflecting on the current state of my photography, I have come up with a new photography plan.  My end goal is quite high – to become a well known photographer.  From that goal I am currently quite distant, however in small steps I believe I can achieve this.

Therefore I have decided to name goals in different areas.

Skills – How to improve my skills as a photographer.

Equipment – What new gadgets to purchase.

Sales – How to make more money from photography so I can purchase said gadgets.

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My thoughts on the Canon 40D

Recently, one of my friends felt pity for my cameraless plight and let me borrow his 40D over the weekend so I could take pictures of my sons at two Halloween parties.

Coming from the 5D, the 40D is certainly a different camera.  I suspect that many people right now are trying to make up their mind whether to purchase a new 50D or a used 5D, so I thought I would offer my opinions on the differences (the 50D and 40D are very similar cameras).

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How to buy and sell used equipment

I suspect a great deal of this blog will already be known to many of you, but for those who are just starting out in photography you may want to know what the best ways to pick up used equipment are.  Also, some of this info may be helpful for those who have equipment they no longer use or are upgrading.

For buyers

Buyers have a multitude of places to buy used camera equipment these days.  The following are the major options.

• Buy it at your local camera store.  Most larger camera stores sell used equipment.  Typically the inspect it before putting it up for sale and will price it according to its condition.  In general most of these stores are honest, though you’ll pay a bit more for the item than you would elsewhere.
• KEH.com.  This is the most reliable place on the Net to buy used equipment.  They have a wide variety of equipment and their prices are fair, though a bit higher than if you purchase the item directly from the seller.
• EBay.  EBay can be a great source for used equipment, particularly if the item you are purchasing is hard to come by.  However, you won’t know the true condition of the item until you receive it, so there is a fair amount of risk involved.
• Craigslist.  The variety of items is not high, though the more common items (such as newer camera models) are readily available there.  Prices are all over the place, but you can usually negotiate.  Always have common sense when meeting someone you don’t know.  I have never had issues with meeting anyone through Craigslist to sell gear, but if you are a single woman I would meet in a public place.
• Groups and clubs.  If you are a member of a group or club, this is a great way to buy equipment.  Usually these are people you know and trust, and their reputation is on the line when they say the equipment is in good shape.

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Announcing my print and gallery site

As promised in my previous post, I have started my site where visitors are able to purchase prints of my top photos.  The location of the site is http://jcalev.smugmug.com and, as already mentioned, 60% of the profits from this site will go to charity – evenly divided between Doctors Without Borders, the World Wildlife Fund, and Sherwood Forest Elementary.

Besides a place to purchase prints, this is also the site where I show off my top pictures.  Actually, I learned quite a bit of humility putting together this collection as I came to realize how much further I need to go.  Clearly my work is not on par with many other photographers out there, but the process of collecting them made me realize that I need to do a better job when taking pictures today.

So far I have collected 32 pictures on there that I believe are a good representation.  I will likely add new pictures slowly over time, though my criteria are very tough and I do not intend for this site to contain all of my pictures – just the ones that I feel are the best.

Anyway, I hope you find the site interesting.  Feel free to look around and comment.  Also please feel free to comment on the image selection on the site and on the prices.  This is my first attempt at doing this so I suspect I have a lot to learn.

Bye bye 5D…

Well, I’ve sold my 5D.  For the next few weeks I’ll be without a camera, but then I will have the 5D Mark II.  This was one of my favorite pieces of electronic equipment I have owned and I have taken many great memories with it.  With hope I will have even better memories of the next camera.

Ironically, the day I sold my camera Nelya received a big listing, so I wound up temporarily trading my macro gear for someone else’s 5D that I can use for the property.

This obviously means no new pictures for a bit, though I have some older shots I have been meaning to discuss and a pile of book reviews on my plate.

Interestingly, a number of my colleagues are jumping ship to the Nikon D3/D700 due to the better AF and high ISO handling.  Granted, these cameras have better AF right now, but I think it is a mistake to switch for a single camera.  Canon has regained most of the ground with the 5D Mark II and I suspect this is a competition where Nikon and Canon will trade places for some time.

Beware Craiglist scams from Malaysia

This weekend I decided to put my Canon 5D up for sale, so I naturally placed it on Craiglist.  We sell almost everything now on Craigslist, as Ebay isn’t worth the effort.  People are much cheaper on EBay and the few items I have tried to sell there didn’t sell.  I was in no huge hurry to sell it, so I put it up at a rather high price.

Within a day we receive an e-mail from a woman in Minnesota.  She explains that she is very busy but would like to buy the camera.  She does not try to negotiate the price down.  She also asks if we have a Paypal account to organize payment.

I’m slightly skeptical, but agree to it.  I do a search on the individual and find that there is someone by that name who lives in Minnesota – though I could find no reference of her photographic work.  Still, Paypal is generally trustworthy – so I agreed.  We also offer to include the shipping in the cost.

The next day we receive an e-mail that ‘the person who the camera is for has left town’.  The person is now in Malaysia.  The woman apologizes for this and offers to pay the full shipping costs to Malyasia, plus the 3% Paypal fee.  This immediately sounds fishy, so I do some investigation.

I find out that there are a number of Paypal scams (many of which occur with addresses to Malaysia) where they send you a fake e-mail saying the money was deposited in your Paypal account.  You then send them the item and they get it for free – as the money was never deposited.

There were other things fishy about the e-mails as well.

1. She (though most likely a ‘he’) went into detail about her business and how busy she is.  Most buyers send very short e-mails.
2. She never mentions the item by name, calling it “the item”.
3. She never negotiated on the price
4. The name in Malaysia was not a Malay name but an English one

Curious to have some fun, I said – “sure, send the money”.  In the meantime I sold the camera to someone else.  Sure enough, the next day I receive a fake e-mail stating that the money is in my account.  I forward the mail to Yahoo’s phishing department.

So beware this scam in case you run into it.  Craigslist and Paypal are both reputable companies, but like anywhere skepticism and caution are good traits to have.

Why autofocus on the 5D Mark II wasn’t improved

For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past several weeks, there is a new camera coming out that replaces the current Canon 5D.  Although the new camera introduces a number of improvements over the old one, a lot of people have been voicing strong concerns that the autofocus wasn’t improved at all over the one from the original 5D.  In a recent interview a Canon exec stated that the reason is due to size.  He stated that it is not possible to fit a newer AF in the 5D without expanding the size of the body.  For some reason, though, Nikon engineers managed to figure out a solution to the same problem.  In my opinion, and in the opinions of pretty much everyone else out there, his answer was complete BS.  However, I disagree that the reason why the 5D Mark II does not have an improved is because Canon doesn’t want to reduce sales in their 1D line.

First though, I do think that for the majority of uses the AF on the 5D isn’t so bad.  I took the picture below recently in poor lighting and with AI servo.

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Oh Canon! Thou dost disappoint me!

Well, Canon has finally announced the new 5D Mark II and my initial thoughts are of disappointed.  I had waited for this camera so long and all they did was release a 21MP full frame 50D.  While this camera is certainly a step up from the 5D, I’m not entirely sure that it’s worth the upgrade.  I don’t intend to use my SLR for video – that’s what I have my video camera for.  At first, the thought of creating macro videos would be interesting, but I would then need a new lighting source as a flash won’t cut it for video.  Really, for me video is not a very useful feature on a professional camera.

In particular I am very disappointed with essentially the same AF as the current 5D and a paltry 3.9 fps.  The fact that the camera is 21MP isn’t very helpful.  I would have preferred a 15MP camera with a higher frame rate and even better noise handling in high ISO cases.

While the UI certainly appears to be an improvement over the current 5D, they still haven’t added the features I most desire.

1) More than 3 shots in exposure bracketing

2) One button mirror lock

Right now I find myself at a bit of a crossroads.  The better ISO handling will help my travel photos, but I’m just not sold on the upgrade.  I am also incredibly disappointed in Canon’s lens announcements.  I had really hoped to see a Canon 100-400 4-5.6 IS and I was considering a 24-70 2.8 IS if I could figure out how to fit it in my bag.

My current thoughts are one of the following.

- Save my money for a real professional camera or in other words the successor to the 1Ds Mark III.  At least this camera will be guaranteed to have top notch AF.  This is probably where the 5D Mark II disappoints me the most.  If they had significantly improved the AF, I may have jumped on it.

- Purchase a 24mm tilt shift lens for real estate photography.  Currently I have not been actively going after agents, but I am considering letting the word out more (currently I only work with my wife and other agents she knows).

- Consider again getting into photomicrography, which will cost more than the 5D Mark II any ways.

To be honest, I am currently undecided, but I do have to wonder what exactly is going on at Canon.

Tips on photographing fireworks from a fireworks professional

Since it is getting to be that time of year again, I thought I would repost a short article I did for a private forum on photographing fireworks. 

While I have rarely taken professional fireworks photos myself, I grew up in the fireworks industry and have worked on numerous professional fireworks shows in the past.  Both of my parents work in the fireworks industry – my mother (who has sold fine art prints of fireworks for some time) full time and my father part time.  I am also a member of the Pyrotechnics Guild International, where my father has won several international competitions. 

1)     Use bulb – no one shutter speed will work for all shots

2)     Use a tripod – should be obvious

3)     Place the tripod on stable ground – bleachers do not work

4)     Photograph away from any lights – particularly street lights.  Often they turn them out just before the show but sometimes they do not.

5)     If you are photographing from a popular place, get there early because you don’t want people in front of you and the best spots will be taken quickly.

6)     Don’t try to get too much in one shot.  You want to be able to recognize the shells – this is especially relevant during the finale.

7)  You can get more fireworks in a shot by putting a piece of black paper in between shots while using bulb mode.  In my opinion the effect looks a bit fake and you can tell it was done by the smoke patterns, but a number of people do prefer the photos.

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