Crawling into the digital World

Sunday, May 08, 2005

I am beginning to discover digital. I took some test shots at home and took the camera out for a shot and discovered many things in the process.

1. Buy a CF card reader. Transferring data to the computer drains more battery than taking pictures.
2. 8mp is good. 20mp is better!
3. If you aint got a good image processing software and a knowledge of how to use it, you are unlikely to get a good picture ever.
4. I am very likely to get dust on the sensor very soon, knowing the callousness with which I treat my hardware.
5. Its much easier shooting digital for an amateur. No worries of buying film, no worries of paying up to get it processed.

You have invested a bomb on the camera alright but look at it - you don’t feel that daily drain each time you shoot. There is no need to keep a tab on how much you are shooting(As long as you have memory that is).

And some discoveries on my Canon EOS 350D in particular. I love the camera, I love its features, I love canon. But I have more cribs here than good things to say.
1. For someone who lived on a 1.5fps film camera, 3fps digital is heaven. Who said the birds in fight are the hardest things to shoot?
2. Features like MLU for my basic camera? Great! Thank you!
2. The software bundle from Canon sucks. They have a bundled an imaging software which is better off packaged with a consumer grade point and shoot camera. If you don’t have a better imaging software, you better stop using this camera. But then, almost everyone has some or the other good imaging software.
3. Everyone says Canon's RAW processing is no good. It looks that way in the first impression. I am quite happy with the sensor's ability to capture the image. Some of the test shots in RAW are impressive. But when you try to convert, you really feel the need for something better.
4. Shooting jpegs is a total no no. The output images are simply not worth the effort. If I am not shooting RAW, I am better off with a P&S than am expensive(for me) digi SLR.
5. The continuous shooting button sucks. It switches between single, continuous mode and timer! Now whoever made them think a timer is related to other 2 functions? Despite having read about the problem of trying to switch to continuous shoot only to see your shutter is not functioning because you set it to timer accidentally, I still suffered from the problem.
6. For a beginner who aint got those cool long L series telephoto lenses, a reduced frame sensor seems like a blessing in disguise. I know I am tricking myself to believe that it is good. But it still kinda gives a kick to see that your cheap 300m zoon lens suddenly pretends to be 480mm!
7. A dioptric adjustment wheel in the view finder is actually a problem for someone with a neat 6/6 vision like me. Sometimes if I move it accidentally, I have to put some effort to put it back in zero position. There is not even a marking for zero point. I feel they should have a marking, and also provide a facility to lock the wheel at any point I find suitable to me.
8. Custom functions seem to be nice. I need to read thru the manual once yet.
9. The metering seems to be quite good. At least that’s what the histogram readings seem to be telling me.

Despite all the cribs, I still have a great camera in hand for the price I am paying. What I sorely miss at this point is imaging processing softwares for raw as well as post creation processing. I am now furiously spending time educating myself on raw and digital image processing. What I have figured out at this point is that digital photography is good, if not great. But if you don’t know how to process what your sensor captures, educate yourself fast or you might as well stick to shooting on film. I will post some pictures soon.