And, yes, this is also where I plug things that I have purchased. If any of my posts have convinced you to buy a particular piece of gear- please, buy it via one of the links below. It doesn't cost you a thing, and it will help me buy more gear, which I can then post about, and plug. It's the great circle of life!
Production
Camera: Casio EX-FH100
This is the first still camera I ever purchased myself- at the ripe old age of 30. My main motivation was the upcoming birth of my first daughter, who is possibly one of the most photographed babies ever.When I started shopping, I had a few important criteria. Note that these criteria immediately rule out any sort of DSLR, which I hope will be my next major photography-related purchase.
Must Have features:
- Portability: I needed a pocket-ish-sized camera, one that I could take everywhere.
- Affordability: I was on a relatively strict budget of under $400.
- HD Video: I wanted to be able to record at least 720p.
Desireable features:
- High-speed photo: This is an incredible feature for photographing action.
- High-speed video: I have always loved high-speed (slow-motion) video.
- Shockproof / waterproof: I plan to do a lot of outdoor photography, so this would be nice.
Ultimately, the Casio ticked off all the boxes save for that last one- it is not waterproof, nor (I imagine) very shockproof. My wife also owned an older Casio Exilim model, and we've been very happy with it, in terms of size versus image quality.
So far, I've been quite pleased with the camera. It takes fairly nice-looking photos and HD video (you can judge for yourself, of course), and the high-speed features are tremendously fun.
My main complaints, after a few months' usage, largely boil down to missing "wishlist" features, and other "hey, it's a point-and-shoot" type of issues:
- Limited aperture range:. It's a beefy camera, but it's still a point-and-shoot.
- No intervalometer: This has forced me to use other cameras for time lapse photography.
- No digital zoom or auto/manual focus while recording video.
- No A/C power: Not uncommon with cameras, but worth mentioning.
- 4GB video limit: It does not continue to shoot video once the 4GB file size limit is reached, without manual intervention.
Those last two complaints make it difficult to take long video, even with a large memory card.
Clearly these are all minor issues. I would love to see an intervalometer added via some sort of software update, but otherwise I am quite happy with the camera.
Crucial add-on: Extra battery
. Never miss an opportunity to take a picture!
. Never miss an opportunity to take a picture!
Camera: Canon PowerShot Pro 1
My wife purchased this camera some years ago. It was a very major purchase, at the time I think she paid over $1,000 for it. It's still a very nice camera. Though not quite a DSLR (the lens is not interchangeable) it's still more power than I am yet able to fully use.It takes great photos, and it also does SD video- though I have not used it, and can't vouch for it.
What I have mainly used this camera for is its intervalometer, for time-lapse photography. That is, sadly, the main thing thus far I have found lacking in my little Casio. Unfortunately, the feature is even somewhat lacking in the Canon- limited only to 100 photos per batch.. I'd like to be able to just "set it and forget it" for hours, days, or months at a time, ideally.
I'm still learning to use this camera, and will add more here as I explore its features.
Canon PowerShot Pro 1 on Amazon
Tripod: Opteka 70"
A good tripod is crucial for any kind of staged photography or videography. I chose this particular tripod for its combination of size, price, and good reviews on Amazon. I'm really happy with this particular model. At 70 inches, it stands very tall when fully extended- but it is also quite short when retracted, making it great for baby videos.It can be used portrait or landscape, which is nice- and it has a little hook for a camera bag underneath, which I can't say that I've used yet.
I'd be interested to play with one of these suction cup mounts, and I've seen some mounts with a vice-like grip as well. In general, it's not the brand or model of tripod that really matters. Any flat surface or DIY mount can work- you just have to get creative.
Tripods are great not only for your typical uses (family and self-portraits), but for a wide range of creative uses as well. A quick list includes:
- Long, steady video of a non-moving subject (babies)
- Triggered video (waiting for wildlife)
- Time-lapse photography
- Light art
- Stop-motion animation
After a camera, this is the first photography or videography purchase I would recommend.
Opteka 70 on Amazon
Accessory: Eye-Fi
While not at all an essential accessory, an Eye-Fi card can be a really great value-add to any digital camera. Assuming, that is, your digital camera is not already Wi-Fi equipped.
If your camera supports it (check first!) an Eye-Fi card will Wi-Fi enable your camera, allowing it to wirelessly upload its photos to your computer, and (optionally) any of several online photo-sharing sites.
There are several flavors of Eye-Fi:
If your camera supports it (check first!) an Eye-Fi card will Wi-Fi enable your camera, allowing it to wirelessly upload its photos to your computer, and (optionally) any of several online photo-sharing sites.
There are several flavors of Eye-Fi:
- Connect X2: The basic 4GB card.
- Geo X2: A 4GB with geotagging.
- Explore X2: An 8GB with geotagging.
- Pro X2: Adds RAW format, ad hoc network support.
The main things to note are the geotagging, and the Pro version.
The Pro version adds RAW file format support and ad hoc network support. The RAW support is of dubious use, I'll get back to that in a bit. Ad hoc network support could, potentially, be very useful- under the right circumstances. What this means is that your camera can talk directly to your laptop, instead of requiring a hotspot or wifi router. This could be an ideal situation if you are out in the wild, capturing tons of pictures, and you want them saved straight to your laptop- great for the "endless memory" mode these cards have.
However, if this is not a situation you will frequently find yourself in, I doubt it's worth the extra money for the Pro model.
If you don't care about geolocation, or your camera has a built-in GPS, then the geotagging is not a must-have feature. It's also very important to note that this is not GPS-based geotagging. It only works when you're near a public hotspot, and when that hotspot is part of the Skyhook Wireless database. Which, for me in my remote location, is not that often.
Ultimately, for most people I would recommend that they get the basic "Connect" model if they don't need or want geotagging.
As far as the size is concerned- this is up to you, but I honestly don't know if it matters that much. If you find yourself running out of space, turn on "endless memory".
If, however, you're going to be shooting a lot of video or a lot of photos when you're not near your computer, it might be worth the extra 8MB. This is what I did, though I should mention that the 4GB "Geo" model was not available at the time of my purchase.
My only real complaints about EyeFi are that it puts a decent drain on the camera's battery, and the transfer rate is limited. Neither of these are really the fault of the card, but in terms of video is is crippling. The transfer is far too slow for HD video, my camera battery will die before a short video finishes. It's really disappointing, because it means I still have to regularly plug my camera into the computer.
The limited transfer rate is also why I find the RAW feature may not be that useful. For most cameras, a RAW formatted file is quite large, and I really wouldn't want to be transferring those over the Wi-Fi anyway.
The limited transfer rate is also why I find the RAW feature may not be that useful. For most cameras, a RAW formatted file is quite large, and I really wouldn't want to be transferring those over the Wi-Fi anyway.
Accessory: Intervalometer
If you're lucky enough to have a DSLR camera, but it doesn't have a built-in intervalometer function (or the one it has is not sufficient), you can probably buy an external hardware intervalometer.
I can't speak for one or the other, because I don't own one- but I do want to mention them here in case this is something you need.
Post-Production
Computer: Apple MacBook / iMac
I use Apple computers for all of my post-production work. I'm not going to proselytize, it's just a preference. Some of the software that I will use in my tutorials is available on other platforms (such as the Adobe products) and some is not.
My day job is computer programming, so we happen to have quite a few computers in our house. This gives me the flexibility to work on either a laptop or a desktop. Most often, I'm on a laptop for the sake of convenience, but I use the desktop as my main workstation- meaning that's where the camera gets synched.
Ultimately, if a computer works well it should be transparent. If you can't find the exact software I'm using a tutorial for your platform of choice, there is probably a free or open source alternative out there. If you come up with a variation on any of my tutorials using different software, and you don't mind me sharing it- I'd love to post it on my site!
Software: Abobe Creative Suite 5
I use a subset of tools from the Adobe Creative Suite- so far, mainly Photoshop and After Effects. The current version is CS5, but most of what I do is available in earlier versions, possibly with a slightly different workflow.
Now, I word on economics. Here I am, trying to have a photography blog for the masses- and I'm using what is really quite expensive software.
While I don't advocate lying or piracy, I will say that if your goals are educational or hobbyist in nature, I don't believe there is anything wrong with using some trial software. Adobe CS5 is available as a timed trial, directly downloadable from their website. Give it a try, if you're able.
For educators or students, the software is deeply discounted- though, admittedly, still quite expensive.
Adobe Creative Suite 5 on Amazon
Software: iLife
iPhoto is a fairly nice organizational tool. It's limited and frustrating sometimes, but it does what it does well enough. I like that I can keep all of my photos and videos in one place, mixing them in albums and events. It will even do face detection on videos, which impressed me.
The "smart albums" feature is nice, but it feels limited at times. I do use it for making albums containing only photos and videos, or certain faces.
iMovie was, in my opinion, very much "dumbed down" for the HD version (the on I use). Once you get over some of its odd design choices- something that may not be as big of a deal if you don't come from a timeline-based editing background- it can be a useful tool for quick edits.
I usually use iMovie to do quick "fade in/out" transitions between cuts and at the end and beginning of simple videos. Failing anything else, I find a nice fade transition to be easy on the eyes. Amateur, I know, but I think it's better than nothing. I also do a lot of my movie uploading directly from YouTube, because it's convenient. The version I have will not upload 1080p videos directly to YouTube, however.
I haven't fully explored iMovie, I'm sure it can do quite a bit more than the simple soundtracks and transitions I have used it for up to now.
Software: Quicktime Pro
I use QuickTime Pro for doing quick editing and conversion. If you've never used the Pro version of Quicktime, it is a paid upgrade (about $20, I think) and highly worth it if you do any kind of video editing.
QuickTime Pro is surprisingly powerful for what it can do as a video editing tool. It is capable of trimming and stitching together clips, replacing soundtracks, timescaling and a handful of other advanced functions. If you're authoring QuickTime content (such as a table of contents, chapter list, or other interactive elements), then of course QT Pro is a must.
Hardware: Playstation 3
As of firmware version 3.40, the PS3 now has built-in video editing and upload software. It may seem like a gimmick at first, but after using it a bit I can honestly say it's a worthwhile addition to the already very versatile platform.I could easily see myself sitting down and using this video editor with my wife, to put together cute home videos, and instantly upload them to YouTube.
When combined with the (very affordable) MediaLink software, you can easily import movies from your iTunes and iPhoto libraries.
PlayStation 3 on Amazon.com
Web Technology
Services: Google
Google provides a wide range of services, and I use quite a few of them. The most obvious and well-known Google tool, of course, is Search. Google Search (or your search engine of choice) is the best learning tool in your belt.If you're stuck, the answer is probably "out there" on Google. If it's not, find the answer and blog it for others to use!
Chrome
In any case, there are some features of this blog that don't work as well in IE as they do in other browsers- so be forewarned.
Picasa
Picasa also has a wide range of excellent features, including face tagging, with the ability to search for any combination of faces later- a great way to find group photos of friends and family.
It's free to use up to 1GB, but beyond that you must upgrade to paid yearly Google storage. This storage can be used for any Google service, but most likely you'll use it all in Picasa.
Some might consider the Picasa web UI to be secondary to the Picasa application. I disagree- I use the application only for bulk uploading or modification of tag data. I do almost all of my Picasa work using the web site. In my opinion, the application is optional.
Picasa is also capable of storing and organizing videos, which is a great idea in theory. I would love to have all of my videos organized in the same place as my photos (much like iPhoto on my local machine). However, it just doesn't make sense to pay for web storage for videos when YouTube is free.
YouTube
Blogger
- Swapped background image for my own photo.
- Added lightbox, for fancy image viewing.
- Added domCollapse, for expanding / collapsing sections.
- Added videoize, a quick dynamic video creation script.
Script: Lightbox
Lightbox is a beautiful way to display images on a web site. The script is built on the Prototype framework and the Scriptaculous effects library.
When you click on an image on this site and it pops up in a clean black mat, that's Lightbox in action.
It's fairly straightforward to add Lightbox to your web site or blog, if you're at least a little comfortable editing HTML. I modified the code a bit to allow for auto-resizing the images, and ability to click through to the image itself.
When you click on an image on this site and it pops up in a clean black mat, that's Lightbox in action.
It's fairly straightforward to add Lightbox to your web site or blog, if you're at least a little comfortable editing HTML. I modified the code a bit to allow for auto-resizing the images, and ability to click through to the image itself.
Script: domCollapse
domCollapse is a fairly old script, but it still works great. I don't know if this code is maintained any more. There is a newer version that is based on the Yahoo UI library, but I'm not really interested in that.
This script creates the expanding/collapsing sections you'll see on this blog. Once the script is installed, it's reasonably straightfoward to add sections- though it does involve a bit of HTML editing.
I have made several modifications to the base script, you are welcome to use my edited version as freely as the original license allows (don't resell it).
My modifications include:
This script creates the expanding/collapsing sections you'll see on this blog. Once the script is installed, it's reasonably straightfoward to add sections- though it does involve a bit of HTML editing.
I have made several modifications to the base script, you are welcome to use my edited version as freely as the original license allows (don't resell it).
My modifications include:
- Handle hash links (e.g. "/gear.html#canon") to jump directly to a section, and open it.
- Hack for blogger preview to work.
- Add ability to expand all sections at once.
Script: Videoizer
Videoizer is a very simple script I wrote, borrowing heavily from domCollapse.
This script lets me use a simple tag to add a YouTube video to my blog. The main goal here is to separate the presentation of the video. This would let me re-scale all of the videos on the site later, for instance, if I change to a template with a different width. It would also let me automatically serve HTML5 video, once YouTube is set up to allow embedding of such.
To use the script, simply include it and then add a div with the class "video". Make the "title" attribute of this div the id of the YouTube video you want to appear. Videoizer will detect this at runtime and dynamically create the YouTube video player objects.
This script lets me use a simple tag to add a YouTube video to my blog. The main goal here is to separate the presentation of the video. This would let me re-scale all of the videos on the site later, for instance, if I change to a template with a different width. It would also let me automatically serve HTML5 video, once YouTube is set up to allow embedding of such.
To use the script, simply include it and then add a div with the class "video". Make the "title" attribute of this div the id of the YouTube video you want to appear. Videoizer will detect this at runtime and dynamically create the YouTube video player objects.