HOW MUCH DOES SENSOR SIZE MATTER?

I was reading through an article on cambridgeincolour.com, which talked about the factors that the sensor size of your camera would influence. The author shares the research he made when he was contemplating if upgrading to an EOS 5D was worth it. Some of the facts he mentions are obvious, like the effect on depth of field, crop factor and noise, but there seems to be much more than that. There is a more detailed analysis on noise level, influence on dynamic range, diffraction and a few other factors. You may never bother to buy a camera with a smaller or larger sensor than what you have, but still the article is educative and worth reading.

THE OLD MAN'S LAUGHTER

I was browsing through my photo archives when I saw this image I had shot 2 years ago at Haridwar, India. His generous laughter had caught my attention. It was a time when I was shooting film. This image was taken with Canon EOS 300 film camera, using Ilford Pan film.

RHODODENDRONS FROM ARUNACHAL

Getting really up close is the way to get the best out of a flower. And when flowers occur in a bunch like this, they make the photographer's job easier.

Finding Rhododendrons is a difficult task in India. One needs to go pretty high up in the Himalayas during the short flowering season. This one is from Arunachal Pradesh, north east India.



Exif: Canon EOS 350D, 100-400L at 400mm, 1/125sec, f/5.6, ISO 200

PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR ON LONG TRIPS AND TREKS

How much gear to carry is a question that always comes up when preparing for a long trip or going on a long trek. It is easy to get carried away and try to fill in as much gear as possible. It may be wise to carry all your gear if you are driving to the destination. But when backpacking or on long treks, photography gear can often add up to lot of space and weight and it is essential to make a compromise.

Cameras: There was a time when I used to carry two cameras on important journeys. I was then shooting slides and would carry a high-end digital point and shoot camera to take casual images of the trip. After going digital, I did take a film camera as second body for a few trips, but never used it. Now I have settled for carrying one camera. Especially when backpacking, every small weight reduction helps.

Lenses: This is the toughest part. There is always a temptation to carry as many lenses as possible. Most photographers say that when you have an array of lenses, most of the images are taken from a few - may be one or two lenses. It is preferable to identify those lenses and keep the rest at home on a backpacking journey. Personally, I always need a telephoto lens to shoot birds and wildlife, and a wide-angle lens for landscapes. I think hard about taking the heavy telephoto, and if I feel that I would spend most of the time shooting only landscapes, I leave it behind. But most of the time I have little choice but to take it with me. I always wished to get a 70-200 lens, but have avoided the temptation so far.

Tripod, filters and other accessories: A tripod may be essential, but they are a complete no no for a backpacking trip. Unless you are driving to the destination or unless you are very fit, carrying a tripod is a big burden. But not having a tripod means missing shooting opportunities in good times like early morning and evenings. I have arrived on a middle ground, and now carry a lightweight travel tripod everywhere. It may not be the best I can get, but it is sufficient to get me images with up to one-second exposure when there is no wind. About other accessories like GND filter, polarizer and cable release, they are essentials, don't take up much space in the bag and are not heavy. So there is no question of leaving them behind.

Batteries: When you are going to be away from habitation for a long time like in the mountains, it is good to carry as many batteries as possible. I once camped deep in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh, India. It is a place known for rare birds that are hardly seen anywhere else, and offers great photo opportunities. But I got to know only when I went there, that I will have to live without electricity. It was a great camp and we saw plenty of rare birds but my telephoto lens with image stabilization sucks a lot of power and batteries got exhausted in no time, giving me little photo opportunities. I now know the hard way that it is important to carry as many batteries as I can.

NEW CANON EOS 400D RELEASED

So the rumors were indeed true that Canon was about to release a new digital SLR. It is now up on canon website and is called EOS 400D.


(Image from Canon website)

Some of the features include

1. 10.1 megapixel sensor.
2. A self-cleaning sensor unit
3. 3 fps continuous shooting
4. 9 point AF

I could not see any mention of the dates when the camera will be available. Even this camera does not have auto-ISO. Fortunately it displays RGB histograms also on the LCD. Metering options are limited to evaluative, partial and center weighed.

See more details on Canon website. and
preview at dpreview.com

NEW CANON DSLR CAMERA?

With Nikon releasing the D80, they have much more options in their SLR line than Canon does. So I was wondering if Canon is now thinking of launching any new cameras to boost their SLR line. There are indeed some rumors, and the grapevine says that there is a new EOS 370D or Rebel XTi in the cards, which would be a 10 mp camera to match the new D80. Of course we will never be sure until Canon makes announcements, but here is the story with some more details.

IMAGE: ROCKS AND THE RIVER

An image from my last weekend's outing. It was raining, which made the water stand out. And as it often happens with me, I got plenty of water drops on my camera. I do not mind taking the camera out for short durations even when it is drizzling. But I do not stay for long in the rain, and when I retreat, I wipe the body dry. So far my camera(which is not weather proofed) has not complained.



Exif: Canon EOS 350D, 17-40L at 29mm, 1/60sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

DEALING WITH FUNGUS IN THE LENS

The dreaded fungus is something that bothers every photographer. I have suffered from it before, and every coming rain gives me constant worries of possibilities of fungus growing somewhere inside my lenses. I am more vulnerable to fungus than most people because I don't think much about taking out the camera to get some good shots even if it has been raining a bit, and have often got plenty of rain drops on the camera and the lens therefore.

The first time I saw them was on my 70-300 kit lens that I got removed for minimal cost. I was then using Silica Gel, but it had not helped me much. I have now moved on to using L glasses and was hoping that they are well weatherproofed enough to prevent fungus. But alas, not so! After 2 months of inactivity in the rainy days, I opened the lens last week and was depressed to see the first signs on fungus inside the glass. It was my 100-400L this time. It was just beginning to show a few small lines at one edge of the glass. Luckily it did not look like it would affect the images. And fortunately my other lens, 17-40L was intact.

I was going to be out for two days last weekend and that's when I saw the fungus on the lens. I had read somewhere in a photo forum that exposing the camera to sunlight will kill fungus. And fortunately it was sunny last weekend. While I used the lens often through the weekend, I exposed the lens to the sun when I was not photographing. I left the lens cap open even when I was not shooting and occasionally exposed it to the sun. I had to do this carefully and intermittently, since a telephoto lens can converge sunrays and cause lot of heat. Sunday night when I came back home, I had a look at the lens again. To my surprise, fungus seems to have mellowed down to an extent that it was difficult to see it unless I closely inspected it! Lucky for me, I think that has saved me a lot of money and the trouble of going to Canon service center.

My tryst with fungus has made me do some research on preventing them and getting rid of them in the last one year. Here are some of the methods that I have come across that people seem to use.

1. Silica Gel. This seems to be the easiest and common way to avoid fungus, but I haven't had much success with it either.
2. Store the lenses in an airtight container. Again, you may need to put a few Silica Gels in the container. Putting too many of Silica Gel is known to dry out the lubricants in the lens, so you need to use your discretion with quantity of the Silica Gel.
3. A popular idea is to install a low wattage tungsten bulb in the closet where you keep the lens. This will keep the place warm and dry, preventing the fungus. This is known to work.
4. Store the lens in transparent container. Fungus is known to fear light and love darkness. Also make sure that the lenses are not stored in leather bags, as leather can easily attract fungus.
5. And finally, of course, the best way to prevent fungus is to get out and shoot more often.

SOME DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEK

Here is a couple of digital photography related news and articles that I have come across and found interesting while browsing in the last few days. Rediff.com has an interview with Steven Sasson, the man who invented digital camera in the labs of Kodak, where he talks about the way digital camera happened, and some ideas that Kodak is working on. Digitalcamerainfo has a story which talks about deblurring using a new software algorithm from MIT, or fixing images that were spoilt due to camera shake. That reminds me of another software which helped to set focus point after taking the image(an old story, am still searching for it's link) and makes me wonder what all would the softwares of the future do. Yomiuri.com makes an analysis of progress in digital camera technology and looks up to the future with software that can analyze the image in the frame, or batteries that can be charged instantly.

THE NEW NIKON D80

It has become common for Nikon and Canon to 'accidentally leak' information on the new camera on their website and create more buzz on it. The pattern continues with Nikon's new camera that is expected to be released in next two days and supposed to be under wraps. The new 10MP camera, with not much of the features revealed, is said to be called the D80, which would put it one level above the D70s or could well be a successor. See the websites below for more.



1. Stuff Magazine
2. Engadget
3. Cameratown

IMAGE: THE SUNBIRD'S DILEMMA

A female Mrs. Gould's sunbird wonders which flower to have a go at! An image from Eaglenest National Park in Arunachal Pradesh, India.



Exif: Canon EOS 350D, 100-400L at 365mm, 1/250sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, handheld