davidsmeaton.com

wow … 2008 was a hell of a year. for me, it was probably the busiest and craziest year of my life.

the year started with a bang. first came the big d, followed by quitting my university job and starting work at an adult education school. i really missed my university position. it was such a fun, cruisy job. moving to the adult school was hell on earth. i spent the entire year waking up at 5.40 am, having to be at school by 6.20 am. i began classes every day at 6.30 am.  the school had its ups and downs. the schedule was terrible, but my students were always fantastic. the management was moronic, but the actual classes were fairly easy … overall, however, i’ll be very glad to leave that school … worst. job. ever.

i’ve saved a lot of money this year … a bi-products of working like a dog. that’s definitely been the biggest highlight of the year, since it has opened up a lot of doors in terms of future options. it’s hard to believe that i worked four jobs this year. i had money coming in from everywhere. just when i thought i couldn’t get busier, i’d pick up a job editing a thousand page textbook, or some other assignment which would keep me up late at night, make me tired and grumpy, but keep the bank account ticking along nicely. i have to be honest and i can definitely say that i know now how it feels to be korean - working long hours, getting very little sleep, having no social life, and focusing on the money … it’s a terrible way to live, and i definitely couldn’t do it forever.

this has also been a good year for photography. i picked up a few odd jobs, made a little bit of money, bought some lenses and gear, started a photography club, published columns in korea’s english newspaper, made a bunch of friends and taken heaps of photos. i’ve learned a lot and had a lot of fun with photography this year. i think i’ve improved and i can take away a lot more skills. but i’ve still got a lot to learn, especially with editing, but there’s plenty of time to work on that.

i bought my first leica this year. my film camera was so much fun … and just what i needed to mix things up a bit. i got to play with film, as well as do some printing and developing. the leica is going with craig back to australia. hopefully he’ll get some use out of it for the next few years.

my website has done well. i’ve started getting traffic and making a few friends. the site has been through a few redesigns as i try and find my style. the design that i’ve got now is hopefully the design that i will keep for a while. it’s fantastically minimal. i bought a few domains and played around with internet stuff.

i don’t usually talk about my relationships on my blog, but i did have a good relationship this year. i know i have not always been a perfect guy, but i’ve learned a lot from my mistakes.

i started reading books again, which was nice. i tried to learn the ukulele, but gave up. i tried to learn korean and spanish, but gave up. i tried to spend more time learning php and css, but gave up too. i attribute my failures to a lack of sleep and lack of time, rather than a lack of willpower!

liverpool had a good year. despite the lack of trophies, they fought hard and played well. the signings of torres and keane have been huge for the club. liverpool finish the year on top of the table, for the first time in 12 years. here’s hoping that they can hold on until may and take home the league title.

rubberchicken winging his way to korea in december was the cherry on the cake. i hadn’t seen my little buddy in three years, so it was good to hang out with him. happy new years mate!

the year will finish tonight and now i have to look forward to 2009.

my resolutions are to travel, take more photos, learn spanish, work as little as possible. i’m not a big ‘resolutions’ person, and 2009 is a difficult year to make promises, but i’m hoping that it’ll be a good year with much more fun and much more freedom.

to all my friends and family, happy new year. i wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009.

The number of megapixels in a digital camera is not a good measure of image quality. If the size of the image sensor remains the same, increasing the number of pixels will often have a detrimental effect on image noise while having limited impact on image resolution. The skill of a photographer, the quality of the lens and the number plus size of individual pixels all impact image quality. Many digital compact cameras are criticized for having excessive pixels.

thank you wikipedia! megapixels do not equal quality. a small point and shoot camera with 10 megapixels is NOT AS GOOD as a dslr with 10 megapixels. this is because the dslr sensor is bigger. a larger area to receive light is much more beneficial for the camera than just the number of actual pixels.

next time you buy a camera, of course it’s nice to consider megapixels. but don’t buy a camera just because of this one factor.

… and the next salesman who pitches a camera based on it’s pixel count, needs a cockpunch!

i headed out today to do some buying and selling. i sold a few little items, including one of the crumpler camera bags. i also picked up a lens to replace the lens that i sold yesterday. the new (used) lens is the nikkor 35mm f2. it’s a nice sharp lens and a tad wider than my old 50mm f1.8. while i liked the 50mm, i didn’t like the fact that it was actually 75mm on my camera. it was just too long for most practical purposes. the 35mm is a bit better, which i like.

so i headed to itaewon to have lunch at the aussie shop. i had a pie and chips, washed down with a vb. i took a few shots with the new lens too.

so i’ve sold most of the stuff i needed to get rid of. all camera bags are now gone, as is the unwanted camera equipment that i had left over. i will try and sell the liverpool jackets, my big blue suitcase and that will be it.

I thought I knew a lot about photography, but I was completely taken by surprise when some photographers started talking about pancake lenses. What is a pancake lens? Jessica, Jeju Island.

Photographers are strange people. Sometimes photographers like big lenses, sometimes they like the smallest possible lenses. The smallest lenses available are commonly called pancake lenses because they’re flat, like a pancake.

For quite a while, pancake lenses had fallen out of favour in photographic circles. A little while ago Olympus released a pancake lens for its new DSLR cameras. That kicked off a surge in renewed interest in pancake type lenses.

Why are they so popular? Well, the biggest reason is that they’re small. One benefit of their size is that the lenses are light and easy to carry. However the biggest benefit is that the small, flat lens makes the camera much more discrete.

Pancake lenses are popular amongst street photographers for this very reason. A long lens is quite obtrusive. Pointing it at someone can attract their attention or make them aware of the camera. Since photographers want to capture people in natural situations, a big lens is too noticeable. A pancake lens makes the camera appear much smaller and less obvious. It allows a photographer to remain unnoticed while taking photos of people.

Pancake lenses are usually short range prime lenses. Most pancakes are between 35 and 50mm in length and around f1.8 to f2.8 maximum aperture. These apertures are important and one of the biggest benefits of prime lenses - because it means the lens is fast and sharp.

Often, pancake lenses will be manual focus, due to their small size - autofocus pancakes are rare indeed.

The other important aspect is image quality. Short prime lenses are a playground for bokeh; out of focus area. Bokeh is important to photographers because it determines the aesthetics of any area beyond the camera’s depth of field settings. If a lens is poorly designed, it will not render out of focus areas very well. The bokeh will look harsh and flat. A good prime lens will produce great bokeh, much better than most zoom lenses.

The resurgence in popularity has resulted in a number of companies developing pancake lenses. Nikon and Canon both have new pancake lenses hitting the market. Panasonic and Olympus have already released lenses with various mounts. There are also a number of third party lens makers who have pancakes; the two most popular being Zeiss and Voigtlander.

The only real downside to pancake lenses is their price. Usually, a pancake will be two or three times the price of a similar standard prime lens. The higher cost is due to the engineering required to make the technology work in a ‘flat’ lens.

With photography’s recent surge in popularity, camera makers have been outdoing each other to make newer and better equipment. This will probably result in companies also developing many more lens types. Nikon have already released tilt shift lenses to appeal to architect photographers. It’s likely that there will be more pancake lenses on the market in the next few years.

For now, it’s probably not worth owning a pancake lens, unless you want to practice your manual focusing. Save your money and invest in some good standard prime lenses, such as a 50mm f1.8.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

What exactly is lomography? I’ve seen lomo cameras, but I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Joanna, Seoul.

Lomography is one of photography’s happy accidents and is a really funny story. A Russian optics company called Lomo produced low grade camera called the Lomo Kompakt Automat. Due to the camera’s cheap design and parts, they produced photos which were terrible in terms of colour rendition and focus.

The camera was destined to be forgotten when it was re-discovered and used by some Russian students in the 1990s. The students used the camera to pioneer a new style of photography based on fun, casualness and ‘off the wall’ photos. The fact that the camera produced unpredictable results heightened the attraction.

These photos were so popular that major exhibitions were held all across Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Lomo images were shown in a single exhibition. People were attracted to the fun, amateur nature of the photos. The colours were often oversaturated and sometimes quite out of focus.

Since then, Lomo was bought out by an Austrian company and the photographic style has achieved cult status around the world.

The entire concept of Lomography is cheap. Very cheap! Photographers use cheap printing processes, cheap cameras and very few accessories. Lomo cameras are renowned for being great in low light situations. The cameras are easy to use and produce interesting results.

Lomo users often shoot at strange angles, use crazy techniques and get their subjects to use unorthodox poses.

Lomo is considered a spontaneous and casual style of photography. No real photographic skill is required and the emphasis is on having fun. It’s believed that over half a million photographers world wide regularly use Lomo cameras (or similar replicas). Flickr.com has entire communities devoted to Lomography and it’s also possible to find online tutorials for turning your regular photographs into Lomo-esque pictures.

If you’re interested in getting into Lomo photography, it’s very easy to do. For under $100 you can buy a Lomo camera. Many replica Lomo cameras are less than $50. Buy some colour film and ’snap’ away happily.

Don’t take the photographs seriously and don’t think too much about controlling the result. Ask your subjects to pull silly faces or jump in the air. Shoot from strange angles or try extreme close ups. Take the film to a local, cheap developing store and have them print the shots in an hour. Some photo processing stores will often try to ‘help’ your photos look better by adjusting the mixture. Tell them to print ‘as is’ and let the results be as random as the original photographs.

Lomography is a very unique and entertaining style of taking pictures. The best part is that it is accessible to all photographers of all skill levels and of all ages. Try giving your kids a Lomo camera and watch them create brilliant, random images of the world as they see it.

Next time you plan a trip, grab a Lomo and take it with you.

Happy shooting!
David Smeaton

i’ve got myself a handy little device, a geometr gps unit which attaches to my nikon camera. the unit locks on to satellites and tracks my location. then, when i take a photo, the data is automatically added to the exif data.

as a result, i can locate the exact position i was standing when i took the photo, which is very cool. the device arrived from the taiwan distributor last week. i had it on my camera thursday when i went to work and tested the gps tracker out. i took a few photos and also used the gps tracker on friday when i went to seoul forest.

here’s a photo i took on thursday (exif data is available in the photo’s properties):

once i downloaded the photo to my computer, i edited it and uploaded the photo to flickr.com. flickr has an automatic mapping service thanks to their owners at yahoo. i pulled up the map and got this result:

that’s very cool. the longitude and latitude points are very precise. i recognise the area and it’s exactly where i was standing when i took the photo. the pink dot represents where i stood. the arrow is pointing in the direction of the world trade centre.

the gps unit is great, although it does take about a minute to lock its position when i first turn the device on. however, that’s not a major problem. it doesn’t seem to use much battery life, so i can leave it on while i’m walking around and it constantly updates my position.

i definitely plan on taking the tracker with me during my travels … and i’ve promised the geometr company that i’d write a review of the gps device, which will probably appear in the next week or so.

as a photographer i know the agony felt by all photographers when it comes to finding a suitable camera bag. i’ve owned 5 camera bags over the last 3 years.

the first bag was a lowepro nova mini aw which i outgrew quite quickly. it was a great bag, but it wasn’t big enough for my needs. the second bag was a crumpler 7 million dollar home. i loved that bag, however it was quite uncomfortable when laiden with gear. the bag was good around town with a little bit of kit. however over one shoulder (messenger bag style) it was quite tiring to carry around all day. the third bag was a lowepro slingshot 200 aw. this bag was the perfect size (although sometimes a squeeze getting my gear in) and was a very useful bag. i liked the way it was able to slip around under my arm, allowing me access to the bag without taking it off. however, because it was a single shoulder bag too, it got uncomfortable and heavy during extended use.

the 4th bag was a complete mistake. i bought a crumpler whickey and cox. while the bag was beautifully designed, it was just too big for long distance trekking. it was comfortable though. my biggest annoyance with crumpler was the fact that they insist on trying to please the ‘laptop’ crowd by including a laptop option with their bags. the other annoyance was the ridiculous amount of padding. it resulted in less room inside the bag, while being much bigger outside. sure, i want to protect my gear, but there needs to be a happy medium between padding and size.

the problem with bags is that they try and do too much. every bag these days has a laptop pocket. photographers also want spaces for water bottles or bladders. so bag makers are trying to make bags that do too much.

however, i finally found the right bag … and this bag is going to do plenty of work over the next 18 months as i start my round the world trek. the criteria for a bag is that it needs to be smallish (definitely no useless laptop compartment), but big enough to carry camera gear, have some padding, have a tripod holder, and preferably be water resistant.

i didn’t think this would be difficult, but it turned out to be more difficult than i thought. however, after making the mistake with the crumpler, i returned to the company i love most; lowepro.

enter the lowepro flipside 400 aw …

lowepro’s production photos

i picked up this bag and i’m really glad that i did. the lowepro flipside 400 aw has everything i need in a bag. actually, when i went to the store, i intended to buy the flipside 300. i thought the size would be perfect for my needs. however they also had the 400 version, which i took a careful look at too. i realised that the 400 was only slightly bigger, but was significantly better. also, the 300 doesn’t come with a rain cover. the 400 does, which was a major selling point. i live in korea and i picked up this bag for 100,000 korean won. that’s approximately US$110. the price was also very good.

there is only one small difference between my bag and the production photos above; image 3 (loaded bag) shows that the pocket on the bag is somewhat see through. mine is not. that pocket cover is definitely not see through at all.

lowepro’s production photo

the store had 3 colours: blue, black and green. i went with the green. the reason for my choice was simply because the green looks less like a camera bag. in a few days, i’ll remove the lowepro logo on the front and replace it with an australian flag patch. i’ll dirty the bag up and cut off some of the unnecessary straps. i want to make the bag look as much like a regular backpack as possible. i know that when i’ve got a tripod attached it will be obvious that the bag is full of camera gear, however i still want to make the bag as generic as possible. the best thing about this bag is the security. i’m not sure who did it first (crumpler or lowepro) but both have the zipper inside the back, meaning that the bag cannot be opended unless the bag is physically removed from my back and opened. this is a great feature. it means that nobody can steal gear on a crowded street or subway. the back still has a pocket for gear, which can be opened, but that can be protected with a small lock.

i got the bag home and took some photos. i realised that i can get a hell of a lot into this bag. actually, i got more into this bag than i got into the crumpler. it surprised me, but i realised that the padding in the crumpler bag was ridiculously inhibiting.  lowepro have struck a better balance between padding and space.

the lowepro bag i bought. from the outside it has a few very nice features. the small orange logo at the bottom indicates the location of the tripod holder. the strap in the middle is adjustable. it’s good for holding the tripod. there are two straps on the top (left and right sides) which can be adjusted to give the bag more depth. this is useful to keep the bag nice and tight. there are two pockets (one on each side) which are big enough for misc. junk. a water bottle fits in the pockets comfortably.

the bag has an all weather cover, which folds in the bottom of the bag. however, the all weather cover will not cover the bag when a tripod is attached. so if it rains, i’ll have to take off the tripod and carry it. i don’t think this is a fault of the bag, because it would simply be too impractical to make the weather cover big enough to go over the tripod as well.

the flipside 400 also has a waist strap which is positioned well. it sits high on my waist (i’m average height, about 172cm) and is very comfortable. there’s a chest strap too which is thin and a complete waste of time. it’s one of the first things that will be cut off.

inside, this bag is plenty big. the pockets and compartments are completely adjustable. after the crumpler bag, i was amazed how much fit into the flipside 400. without adjusting the compartments too much (i removed a couple of partitions) i managed to fit my:

- Nikon D200 (with strap and battery grip)
- Nikkor 18-200mm VR (on camera)
- Tokina 11-17mm fisheye
- Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 ultra wide angle (this is a big 77mm diameter lens)
- Nikkor 50mm f1.8
- Nikon SB-600 flash
- 7 filter boxes
- Leica R5 and summicron-r 50mm f2 lens
- Spare space at the bottom

that’s a fair amount of gear. even though most lenses are short, there’s a large space in the bottom. i could easily get a longer lens in there, or extend the main column in the centre to accomodate a large telephoto into the bag (on camera). for the moment, i’ve packed the bag so that the space is at the bottom, protecting the more valuable gear if the bag is dropped too heavily. if i put more gear in the bag, the filters and flash (or the leica, which is a solid metal body) will be moved to the bottom.

i forgot to mention, there is also a small pad which can be used in the main compartment. the pad is designed to sit under the camera (in lieu of a battery grip) and is held in place with a velcro strap. the pad will keep the camera sitting firmly in the main compartment. it prevents the camera from moving and bumping around when the camera is stored in the bag. it’s a nice feature for people who don’t use battery grips. if the lens on the camera has a tripod collar, it will sit nicely.

in the opening flap, which sits against my back, there are 3 pockets at the top which are designed to hold memory cards. the main sleeve is currently holding my spectra diffuser. the diffuser kit is quite slim, so even though it’s too long for the sleeve, it still sits comfortably on my back with the bag zipped up. i may rearrange that sleeve later, depending on my final arrangement when i start traveling.

the compartment on the back is a half flap which opens on a section full of small pockets for carrying miscellaneous odds and ends. currently i have my lowepro filter case, geometr gps device, shutter release cable, a few ziplock bags, waterproof cf card case, batteries for the flash, and the battery holder for my camera’s grip (handy during traveling). there’s a lot of room in this big compartment and i can probably get a lot more stuff in there. i haven’t packed it too seriously just yet. there’s one small cute addition, which is a latch for a set of keys or something similar (visible in photo, top right). although, the elastic and plastic clip aren’t very strong, so i can see it breaking quite easily if pulled too hard.

the tripod shoe is big enough to fit two tripod legs and give the tripod more stability and security. the strap at the top is big enough to fit around the entire tripod, however i usually run the strap over two legs and under the third leg, to make it more difficult for someone to remove the tripod without my knowledge. this tripod is a slik pro 330dx. it’s quite a big tripod and sits out from the bag’s top and bottom a long way. before traveling i plan to buy a gitzmo carbon fiber travel tripod. it’s a smaller build and weighs about 1kg, which will sit on the back very nicely.

the cover sits on the bag nicely and (thankfully) doesn’t have a big ugly ‘lowepro’ tag on it. there’s a logo, but it’s not too obvious. technically the bag is not waterproof, but with the rain cover on it, and the bag against my back, the bag will stay dry. so the all weather tag is justifiable. this feature is not available on the flipside 200 or 300 models.

in the wild …

the bag is really comfortable and sits high on my back. with gear in it, the weight is not a problem at all. carrying the bag fully loaded over long distances doesn’t create any undue back strain or tiredness. the bag does sit out a little way, but no more than a regular backpack. i think that’s the beauty of this bag, it doesn’t look like a camera bag. the waist straps are comfortable too, although i don’t strap the bag over short distances. long distances or hiking though and the waist straps are very handy.

conclusion …

the lowepro flipside 400 aw is a great bag. actually, it’s exactly the bag i’ve been looking for. i can see this bag staying with me for a while … and come next march, this bag is going to be doing the hard yards during an 18 month tour of planet earth. the reason i went for the smaller bag was that i need to be able to carry the bag on my front when in transit, because my hiking pack will go on my back. i think this is a better bag than the crumplers and the kata bags i looked at in the store did not look like very comfortable bags at all (and they were bigger too).

pros:

- good security (the bag can’t be opened without taking it off)
- doesn’t scream ‘camera bag’, especially thanks to various colours (i like the khaki green)
- no obnoxious logos to attract unwanted attention
- lots of room and adjustable compartments
- small build
- good strapping (waist and shoulder straps)
- numerous pockets in the back compartment, useful for small item storage
- all weather cover, which folds away under the bag
- tripod holder and adjustable strap
- multipurpose side pockets, good for water and non valuable items
- nice carry handle on the top
- adjustable body straps on the top left and right sides
- small pad which can be used under the camera
- bag is well padded against the wearer’s back

cons:

- useless chest strap (i don’t know why bag makers insist on installing them)
- non removable chest and waist strap (crumpler does allow these to be removed, which is a better option)
- too many plastic buckles - i’d like to see a few more solid buckles, especially the clip that holds the tripod on
- the back compartment has two zippers and is easily opened - the main compartment has good security, so lowepro needs to think up a way to secure the back compartment too

actually, most of my complaints are quite small. i have nothing that i seriously dislike about this bag. and some of the points i like most are related to the bag being secure, unobtrusive and small.

overall, i highly recommend this bag. i look forward to putting the flipside 400 though its paces more thoroughly over the next 18 months.

if you read this review, please leave a comment. i love getting visitors

this review is posted at the following sites:

www.photo.net

www.dpreview.com

www.trekearth.com

www.lightstalkers.org

the camera industry has gone insane over the past 12 months. nikon and canon are releasing new bodies at ridiculous speeds, full frame cameras are setting all new standards in photography, and olympus has committed itself to a 2/3rds system in cooperation with other camera companies.

then along comes leica with a completely unexpected announcement: their new S2 camera will have a larger sensor, in a weatherproof slr body. this is astonishing news. the sensor size is 30×45mm and produces 37.5 megapixels. we’re talking medium format photography here, with leica producing an slr sized camera that can compete with hasselblad’s medium format cameras.

leica’s new S2 body

you can read the full press release details at dpreview.com, or read about leica’s new 50mm f0.95 prime lens, the fastest in the world. leica have also released details of three prime lenses, and more lenses are expected to be announced soon.

update: another link lists the price at around US$30,000.

thanks to ryan for the heads up!

With winter coming, I’m worried about snow and rain ruining my camera gear. Other than leaving it covered with snow, how can the cold weather affect my camera? Craig, Guri.

All photographers secretly fear the weather. When you’re carrying hundreds or thousands of dollars in equipment, weather can easily cause enormous damage. However, that doesn’t mean photographers need to be overprotective.

Most cameras should be able to handle some weather conditions. It is relatively safe to use your camera in the snow or light rain, for example. Too much snow on the camera could cause a problem. If the snow melts from the heat of your hands, that water could run into the camera body or lenses, damaging your gear.

These days, cameras are quite hardy; even lower end cameras have solid fittings and mounts which are relatively weather resistant. Higher end gear is usually made with metal chassis and rubber seals to further protect the camera. Olympus is probably the best of the bunch as far as weatherproof gear is concerned. They claim that all their lenses and bodies (including the mounting bracket) are weatherproof. So, technically, all dust and water should be kept out of the camera.

For other photographers, a few simple precautions are enough to keep your equipment in good condition.

Obviously, don’t start taking photos in a torrential downpour, or during extremely heavy snow. But that doesn’t mean running for cover at the first sign of rain.

Avoid changing lenses too often. The fewer times you change your lens in the field, the less chance there is of dust, water or other foreign elements getting into your camera.

The most important part of protecting camera gear is a bag. Most bags are fairly weather resistant, but many also incorporate weatherproofing or weather covers to prevent the bag from becoming wet. Lowepro make good bags which have very high weatherproofing standards. Most also have a rain cover built in.

Lastly, try not to move between extreme temperatures too suddenly. Going from an air conditioned room to hot outdoors can result in condensation forming inside the lens or in the camera. Condensation can lead to fungus growth inside your equipment which is expensive and difficult to remove.

The most important thing is to not let the weather get in the way of your photography. Protect your gear and enjoy photographing the weather. Some of your best photos will come as a result of adverse conditions.

Happy shooting.

David Smeaton

I’ve seen lots of great pictures where photographers have kept the shutter open for a long time. How can I get good shots this way? Peter, Seoul.

Shooting with long shutter speeds can be a great way to achieve unique images. It can also be very difficult to accomplish and also takes lots of trial and error to get right.

Obviously, shooting long exposure photographs is a lot easier at night. When it’s dark, you can open your shutter for much longer without overexposing the image. At night there is also a lot of artificial light from buildings and vehicles that can make your shot look much more interesting.

Daytime long exposures are much more difficult. One way to help is adding filters and using smaller apertures. Stack a few filters onto your lens and it cuts down the amount of light the camera receives. Neutral density filters are great for this purpose. Polarizers are also handy. However, when stacking filters, beware of vignetting (the appearance of circular edges in the corner of photos).

With the slow shutter speeds, it’s possible to make water blur for great effect. Waterfalls and rivers can look much more ethereal and tranquil when the water’s detail is blurred out. It also creates a nice contrast with the sharp focus of rocks or surrounding features.

As well as filters, a good tripod is essential. It’s impossible to hand hold photographs for 10 second exposures. A sturdy tripod is better, for avoiding vibrations. Many tripods have a hook in the bottom, so you can add extra weight (like your camera bag) to help make the tripod sturdier.

The third essential item is a remote shutter release. Pushing down the shutter on your camera often causes the camera to move slightly. The remote shutter release (either a cable release or newer infra-red remote unit) will allow you to activate the shutter without touching the camera.

Once you start working with slow shutter speeds, trial and error is a good method of working out shutter times. Many photographers set their camera to ‘bulb’ when shooting long exposures. The ‘bulb’ setting means that the shutter will stay open for as long as you want. It’s a manual way of controling the shutter. Once you press the shutter button (on your remote cable) the shutter will remain open until you release the button. So you can time the exposure using a watch or by counting. If you have very long exposures (such as 30 seconds or more) the remote cable has a lock function to keep the shutter open without you needing to hold the button down manually.

When you master long exposures, you can have a lot of fun. Try photographing streets at night with the cars zipping by, or the Han River with boat cruises and buildings in the background. You can also try writing messages or making ‘light graffiti’ by setting a long exposure then using a light (from a torch) to make patterns in the air. Photograph stars streaking across the sky or waves splashing onto rocks.

Long exposure photography is a lot of fun and with a little practice, some stunning results can be achieved.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

nikon continue to release new bodies at breakneck speeds … the latest in the line is nikon’s D90, the successor to the popular consumer D80. the D90 features a very interesting new set of features that has nikon fans giggling like school girls, despite the fact that many of the new ‘features’ are just bells and whistles.

amongst the most talked about features is the D90’s ability to shoot video. it’s the first DSLR with video capabilities (thanks to its other new feature, live view). nikon are also claiming that the D90’s video is better than most consumer camcorders and can produce more interesting movies (thanks to myriad of lenses, especially the fisheye, telephoto and macro lenses).

personally, i see a lot of pitfalls here. users are going to start trying to make movies with these DSLR cameras, winning users with a few ‘eye candy’ features that are starting to move nikon away from their true focus - quality DSLR cameras.

the new D90 also has sensor vibration cleaning, 12.9 mp DX sensor, live view (as mentioned, bigger 3 inch screen, better iso noise control, more frames per second, but a poor buffer rate (only 7 raw images, meaning a burst rate of less than 2 seconds when shooting raw), and a few other bells and whistles.

although the D90 is a greatly improved camera, it still fits the model of releasing minor improvements and bleeding consumers dry … amateur photographers should not be buying bodies every 12 months.

the only thing i’m even remotely excited about is not the nikon D90, but an accessory that has been released at the same time; nikon’s GP-1 GPS unit. this handy gadget will attach to the hot shoe and add gps data to each photo as its taken. the gps data is stored into the image’s exif data for later use. this has come just in time for me to make use of it during my travels!

although i’m no expert (and nobody cares about my opinion), i think users should keep away from buying the latest camera bodies. if you have no camera, then it makes sense to buy the best body you can afford (i did that when i bought my D200). but if you have a good camera, upgrading to a new body … to get a few extra megapixels and new features … is a snake oil sales pitch that people are falling for. nikon and canon have both worked out that the ‘camera wars’ are not good for consumers, but good for profit margins. by constantly releasing new models, the camera companies are greatly improving their revenues.

live view and movies are not what DSLRs are about. DSLR cameras have a viewfinder because they’re professional cameras with interchangable lenses. let the point and shoot crowd have live view. let camcorders have the movies. nikon and canon should stick to improving lens technology. they should spend time developing DSLRs with gps built in (not a hot shoe accessory). they should be working on electronic shutters (where 50 frames per second would be possible). they should work on sensors and noise reduction … btw, some of nikon’s bridge cameras and “point and shoots” DO have gps built in.

i personally think nikon is losing sight of its true purpose with this new camera. many will disagree with me, but the serious photographers will know what i’m talking about.

i guess the next camera that comes out will also have a phone, mp3 player, and be able to make espresso … although i have to admit, that some of the D90 sample movies do look very good.

I’ve heard a lot of people talking about prime lenses, but I’m not really sure what they are. Are prime lenses better than other kinds of lenses? Mitch, Pusan.

There are two types of lens, primes and zoom lenses. Zoom lenses have a minimum and maximum focal distance and you can zoom between those distances. For example, a zoom lens might be 18mm - 70mm. Therefore the lens can capture any focal length between 18-70mm. This is very convenient for photographers, because you can get close to your subject without having to stand too near. Sometimes it’s impossible to walk right up to your subject. A zoom will help get closer to the action.

Zoom lenses cover various ranges. 12mm - 24mm would be considered a wide angle zoom. 70mm - 200mm would be considered a telephoto zoom. So the type of zoom is defined its range.

Prime lenses are much more simple. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length. So there’s no zoom in the lens. The only way to zoom is with your feet! For example, a common focal length is 50mm.

While it may seem that primes are far less useful than zooms, both types of lens have their advantages. So many photographers keep a combination of primes and zooms in their camera bag.

Thanks to the laws of physics and the wonders of engineering, primes have a few benefits that make them worth using. The first benefit is that prime lenses are often lighter than zooms, because they require less glass and mechanics inside. For the same reason, primes are usually cheaper.

However there are two more important reasons to consider using primes. The biggest reason is that prime lenses have wider apertures. Most zooms (the expensive ones) have a maximum aperture of f2.8. However, it’s easy to buy a prime lens with f1.2, f1.4 or f1.8.

Actually, the 50mm f1.8 lens is one of the most popular lenses that photogrpahers buy. This lens is very sharp and fast. It works well in low light situations and creates wonderful ‘bokeh’ by exploiting the shallow depth of field that results from using wide apertures.

Prime lenses tend to take higher quality photos than zooms. The trade off with zoom lenses is the engineering compromises picture sharpness. Primes are much sharper. Zooms tend to also be less good at bokeh and blurring the out of focus areas. This is also something primes do well.

However, these days zoom lenses are almost on par with primes in both bokeh and sharpness.

It’s worth using both types of lenses, because they give different benefits. Most photographers use a zoom as their base lens (for walking around) and switch lenses for shooting different purposes. I have one prime lens in my kit, a 50mm f1.8, but I’ve chosen to use zooms because as a traveler I need to get more range with fewer lenses.

But every photographer should definitely have one fast sub-f2 prime lens in their kit. It’s a great investment and it usually becomes the photographer’s favourite lens.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton