Photography Nuts & Bolts

[Tizer]

Stanley, have you got the new camera? If so, are you pleased with it?

[Stanley]

Yes Tiz and it's doing exactly what it says on the tin. Smaller than a fag packet and I am taking more pictures outside the house because it slips into the pocket so easily. Canon Powershot A1 400, a solid little number!

[Big Kev]

A message for Stanley; does 120 roll film fit in your scanner?

[Stanley]

The neg holder is for 35mm but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't do 120. Have you tried normal scanning and reversing the scan? If you want to come and have a play with it feel free.

[Big Kev]

https://flic.kr/p/pQsxH1
Got a new Photoshop plugin to play with, SilverFX. Basically it desaturates images but with plenty of options to play with.

[Stanley]

I've always wondered what 'saturation' and 'hue' mean in colour... Never needed to find out.

[PanBiker]

Saturation is the level or strength of colour and hue is which part of the spectrum it leans to if not in perfect balance of the primaries. Drummed into me during my apprenticeship for servicing colour TV's.

[Tizer]

Stanley, you'll find desaturate under the Colours menu in Gimp. Good fun for making B&W versions of colour photos!

[Stanley]

I just save them in greyscale.....

[Tizer]

There's an interesting comparison here of the different Gimp methods including greyscale:
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Color2BW/

[Stanley]

That's interesting Tiz. If my eyes were better I'd be playing with it!

[Big Kev]

Not specifically nuts and bolts but relevant, perfect weather for the wedding shoot today at Stirk House. Dry, warm with a bit of cloud cover, should be a good day. Silly hats and masks and the portable studio all ready for the reception.

[Stanley]

Hope it went well Kev, I have scar tissue from wedding pics.....
Remember the back up Canon SX610 camera I bought? I'm using it as my carry round camera now and it is brilliant. The old Powershot that preceded it (16 mega pixels) is still in use in the shed where the environment is a bit more aggressive! The new one is better than 20 mega pixels..... How do they do it?

[Tizer]

Stanley, you made a brilliant choice, it's the same camera as I now carry around in my pocket, the Canon SX610. As well as the 20 megapixels, it's got 18x zoom. All in a case not much bigger than an old fag packet. I still have my G11 for some applications where it scores higher but it's bigger and heavier. We met a couple walking on the cliff at Lizard Point, Cornwall, and chatted about the scenery. I noticed they were festooned with old style Canon SLRs so I showed them the SX610 and they admitted it might be time they `downsized'!

[Big Kev]

Hope it went well Kev, I have scar tissue from wedding pics.....

It went very well thank you, life is so much easier with digital photography. The photo booth was very popular, people are more comfortable when you point a camera at them when they're dressed up in a sparkly cowboy hat and a feather boa

[Stanley]

Good Kev!
Tiz, yes I'm pleased with it. My only beef is that it hasn't got a viewfinder like the old A1400. Last week in the strong sun I couldn't see the screen.....

[Tizer]

Not many compact digital cameras have viewfinders. The screen on the 610SX is brighter than many, the brightest one I've had so far. And you can increase the brightness by going into the Menu settings and scrolling down under the Tools icon to get `LCD brightness'. You'd get a shock if you tried some of the older models. My G11 has a viewfinder but I almost never use it, the viewfinders usually have a different extent of view compared with the screen, and you can't be sure of getting the same photo.

[Big Kev]

You can get an aftermarket hood for led screens, they do make a difference and are less than a tenner. They fold down to which makes it easier to get them back in the case.

[PanBiker]

The compact Panasonic Lumix range has a viewfinder in addition to the LCD screen. They have LEICA lenses and 30 x optical zoom. I bought Sally one of these as a replacement for her previous Sony compact which gave up the ghost with a jammed auto lens cover. The Panasonic is a much more robust design, feels more like it is properly engineered if you know what I mean, nice to hold and slightly heavier than the average compact. Takes brilliant photo's.

[Big Kev]

Unfortunately Paulette's Lumix DMC FS45 only has the LCD screen, I've been looking at a hood for it. It's exceptionally good for a compact.

[Tizer]

In recent years, with the Canon G11 and then SX610, I haven't found I needed a viewfinder or hood except in a few unusual instances. But the earlier cameras did give me trouble and that's why I went for the G11 with a viewfinder - but then found the screen was good enough without it! How do you get on with the Panasonic's 30x zoom Ian? It always seemed to me that such a powerful zoom was a bit over the top unless you like carrying a tripod, and that defeated the advantage of a small light camera.

[Stanley]

I was spoiled with viewfinders after years of Nikons. What you saw was what you got! (Remember WYSIWYG?) No problem with the screen except in very strong sun.....

[Big Kev]

[quote="TizTizeover top unless you like carrying a tripod, and that defeated the advantage of a small light camera.[/quote]
Unless you have a very small light tripod

[PanBiker]

The main point is that it's an optical zoom all the way, lots of compacts split the zoom between what the cheaper lenses can do then extend with digital. It has a mount but for general use you can steady using local objects, it has never been a real problem in normal use, but it's handy to have the capability. If we were predominately doing distance, action, wildlife or sports stuff we would tool up accordingly with bigger kit.

[Tizer]

Very true, Kev. Do you ever use one of those bendy tripod thingies, I think they might be called `Gorilla'. They look handy for fixing a camera in all sorts of locations.

Ian, Canon always give the zoom factor as optical zoom even though there is also digital available. So the SX610 is quaoted as 18x optical but you have a further 4x digital if you want it, with a total of 72x. I never use digital zoom and keep it disabled in the Menu to prevent me going into it by mistake. With 20 megapixels there's plenty of scope for enlargement on the PC.

Digital cameras must rank as one of the best inventions ever!