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Shoot 2 Kill
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These days, just about everyone owns a compact digital camera. I am sure they are
frustrated when shooting action pictures. Many people use the AUTO mode. When they
press the button, the camera pauses, adjusts its settings and then captures the image
well after the moment they were trying to capture. In the new era, you can purchase the
SLR camera that professionals use but you don’t have to take a loan or sell a kidney to
get one! There are plenty of options on the market to choose from and are also under a
$1000. Most professionals use Canon or Nikon. I prefer Canon but don’t restrict yourself
to these two brands. Olympus and Pentax also produce quality SLR cameras. Recently
Sony, Samsung and Panasonic have joined the DSLR ranks. A SLR(Single Reflex Lens)
camera has the ability to change lenses and uses a flip-up mirror so the users view is
the exact picture that is being captured. All compact digital cameras have a view finder
that is offset from the actual lens viewing angle. This prevents the photographer from
capturing the desired image.
All SLR cameras are not created equal. For amateur photographers, the lower priced
SLR cameras are usually sufficient but they may not operate with the same speed and
have fewer options. Although they are not as fast as top models, they still outperform
compact digital cameras! As a rule of thumb, the more pixels the better, but SLR’s with
only 5 mega-pixels can also produce phenomenal images. I have been using a canon 40D
which produces great pictures.
When shooting pictures outside, dust and rain can ruin your pictures. Your pictures can
have blotches on them. Some cameras use weather sealing techniques to protect the
camera and your potential images. Currently there are several DSLR’s which are sub
$1000 with weather protection. In the past, this option was limited.
The lens department can be very tricky. Usually you get what you pay for. Lenses start
just under $100 and can exceed $5000. As for amateurs, two lenses such as a 18-55mm
and a 70-300 zoom should do the trick. Some also love the wide angle lens. Don’t be
mistaken, a wide angle lens is not a (fish eye) lens. A wide angle lens allows you to
capture a large image in one photo. These images typically appear to be round but a fish
eye will always be round. Although your pictures maybe round, this can be corrected
with many photo editing software. My favorites are Photoshop CS2 and Macromedia
Fireworks and Thumbs Plus.
We recommend purchasing your lenses new. A reputable company will offer a minimum
of 3 year warranty. All lenses sold in Germany will have a minimum of 2 years but some
offer and extended warranty. Don’t forget to ask about this during your purchase. We
don’t recommend buying a used quality lens because they price will only be several
dollars cheaper than a new one with a warranty. Quality lenses typically don’t lose much
in value! Lenses have different speeds. As for Canon, most lenses are
Ultrasonic……which means it’s very fast for an amateur or non-lightning speed objects.
Their lenses range from regular Ultrasonic to L speed Ultrasonic. Usually a normal
Ultrasonic is enough to take pictures of cars on a race track.
Data storage is another subject that must be discussed. Storage has become very
affordable these days. There are many different types of memory cards but all Canon
DSLR cameras use Compact Flash cards. A 1 gigabyte card can hold between 100-500
images unless you are using RAW mode. The CF cards vary in price depending on the
read/write speed. Many professional photographers use RAW mode which is an
unprocessed image captured by a camera. RAW images must be uploaded to a computer
to be processed. As beginners, the high quality JPEG images will work just fine for your
needs. A 1 Gig card can range from $15 to $30. Some cards are not flash memory. They
contain a very small hard drive called a micro-drive. They are typically very fast and can
store many images but some photographers prefer not to use them. Some consider
them to be very delicate and lose pictures from rough handling.
Overall, DSLR’s save you money and are very convenient. Images can be viewed
instantly. The images can also be deleted prior to developing and editing on a computer.
This provides the freedom to experiment without worrying about the cost of film or
processing. Below are several photos made with some Canon Cameras.
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