I popped up to London yesterday to catch up with the nice folks at Canon, to see their spring 09 collection. One item caught my eye, which didn’t fit in with my usual scheme of things, hence posting about it here.
That beasty is a Canon PowerShot D10. Now, if you don’t like its looks, don’t worry. That’s a clip on cover, so you can change the appearance if the camouflage isn’t to your personal taste (although it was a popular choice with people I’ve shown it to – I think that relates to the next bit). Love or loath the looks, you have to respect this little camera’s capabilities!
Yes, you are seeing right. There it is, hanging in a bowl of water. No protective cover. No magic. It is waterproof up to a depth of 10m (which happens to be about the deepest I’ve ever dived to). Let’s see that again shall we?
It will happily take shots – although you’ll probably want to find something more interesting than the inside of a bowl to shoot. The snake in the picture is the D10′s lanyard, which attaches to special fixings on the case. This isn’t your average camera, so it doesn’t have your average camera strap. The chord and fixings are robust enough to use in rock climbing, skying and diving. But what happens if it gets dropped? Let’s give that a try too shall we?
Now, here’s a little confession. I’m not great at timing shots. This one is from about the 6th attempt to time it right. I was feeling bad about dropping it so many times, right up until the moment someone had the idea of filming it falling down a set of stairs (a set of stairs which had The Hoff walking up them a few minutes before). And after all that?
Well, it was ready to take snaps. The lens and buttons use sealed-in-gas to ensure that there isn’t any condensation when moving between different temperatures (it will work down to -10′C). It is a 12.1 Megapixal camera (much higher resolution than my last D-SLR) and its has a 3 times optical zoom with image stabiliser. Oh, it shoots VGA resolution video at 30 frames per second too.
A very impressive piece of technology I’ll be recommending to my skiing/rock climbing/canoeing/diving friends. They can email me the photos – I’m keeping warm in my office!
A very merry Christmas to you from me! It’s been quite a year – I still have quite a few things to write about it – but for now, it is time to take a little bit of a break and spend some time with the family rather than the computers!
I spend a fair amount of my photography hours taking pictures at events / conferences, so the post “how to photograph a conference – 10 tips” on digital Photography School obviously piqued my interested when I saw it in my RSS feed. Here are the 10 tips, and my own comments:
1. Bring extra batteries, memory cards, your cables, and chargers
A definite must. Once, to my shame, in the rush to get from one event to another, I forgot to put the memory card back into my camera after I uploaded the shots. Easily solved by having a few space memory cards. I have also had a (high-end) memory card fail on my. Given the price of memory these days, it is very wise to have a good few spaces. Likewise, extra USB cables can earn you a beer (I’ve rescued many a BlackBerry user who had a flat battery). Extra batteries are a little more pricey, but always worth having at least one set if you can.
2. Get out of auto mode.
Not much to add to this one. Even with a great camera, the lighting at most venues means that you won’t get a good shot on auto mode. It will just pop up the flash, blind everyone, and leave you with a flatten shot and a cross audience. Even with a camera phone, you’ll get better shots my playing with the manual settings, once you know what you are doing.
3. Be unobtrusive. Casual shots are better.
See above. Getting good pictures, but ruining the event for everyone else isn’t a win. I like the advice Tris gives in his post: “Be the wall.”
4. Pay attention to the background.
The number of good shots I’ve lost to some clown in the background, or a chair/chart/whatever sticking out of someone’s head! Stop. Look. Then shoot. Easier said than done though .
5. Try not to use the flash.
Actually, my rule is don’t use the flash. I have top quality flash equipment, but I use it in the studio for product and portrait shots. Not for events. That said, sometimes I do have some fun with the internal flash for the occasional special effect shot, but not during the main event.
6. Pay attention to the lighting.
Use what there is. Some organizers put spots with gels around the place. Sometimes the venue has a nice window. Perhaps the presenter walks in front of the projector. All good opportunities.
7. Set the white balance.
Personally I shoot in RAW mode then fix this afterwards, but observe any pro videographer – you’ll see the grey card come out and the white balance adjusted. If you are not sure, just play with the white balance and some test shots and adjust until it looks right (white).
8. More is better.
As long as you aren’t interfering, get lots of shots. Discard the not so good. The very best shots are often a combination of skill and fluke.
9. Zoom less, walk more.
I like this tip. I need to live it more. As Tris points out “They say that zoom lenses have made photographers lazy. I don’t know about that, but if you move around, get closer, bend, twist (it’s only your body, come on) you often find you get a better shot.”
Prime lenses are always going to let in more light (bigger aperture), give a shallowed depth of field and get you more shots. Jut get used to moving around.
10. Have fun.
I like this tip. But I like this one even more:
Bonus 11. It isn’t the camera or the lens, it’s the photographer that counts.
One of the nicest complements I have had was during an attack of the green eyed monster – I was observing another photographer who had a VERY nice rig. “Ah yes,” said my friend, “but you’ll probably get the nicer shots.” Ah, the artist’s ego – easily soothed. In support of point 11 though, some of my nicest shots have actually been taken with my Nokia N95′s camera phone.
This is a nice tip for holding the camera. It works best if you are left-eyed and using a tall-bodied camera, like a motor wound 35mm or a DSLR with a battery grip. It comes from Joe McNally – a successful US photographer.
I spent Saturday at Social Media Camp London, and a mighty fine day it was too. A remarkable number of the folks there were SMC first-timers, with just a handful of the old guard. Good to have new blood into the game!
I haven’t see a complete round up of the talks (there were a lot!). The venue (Wallspace, St. Pancras) was absolutely stunning, the food delightful and Vero’s organization seamless.
I’ll write up my presentation on FOAF and Dunbar’s number (’6 degrees of seperation now 3′) and get it up on slideshare (to join this lot) just as soon as I’ve caught my breath. In the mean time there’s a nice mention here (thanks @edent!). Continue Reading…
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- is now available that takes you through Abram’s journey in creating his amazing work. 
