Black Friday Special: dltphoto

Just wanted to point out a nice sale at Lens & Shutter for the next 5 days... Lots of good deals to be had especially the Canon Powershot 520HS which was featured by me in a previous blog post. Perfect for an Android phone user or someone who wants a super small compact with great zoom.
The other one I thought I would suggest  as a good deal is the Panasonic TS20 ( Shock proof and Waterproof), great kids gift for the budding photographer

Check out the Full Special list at Lens and Shutter

Photoclub Submissions, December 2011: dltphoto

For this months submissions I chose to enter two actual prints instead of the digital file, since I work in Lens & Shutter and I have all these printing capabilities.
My first  print into the Film Category was a sweet little shot I did on my Agfa Isolette 1 ( 1952 camera), using a Kodak E100VS slide film cross-processed in colour development for more interesting contrast and colouration. I happened to catch a scene just up on the top of my street. Since the camera has no metering system I winged the exposure and pretty much nailed what I wanted!

"hands down"

I thought it an interesting composition although originally it is a square format since the Agfa uses 120 (medium format) film.... I cropped it to a more workable 11x14 for the more common 11x14 mattes that I have. I was expecting this to score poorly but apparently I got a middle of the road 7.

My second printed image was a autumn shot I just snapped with my Nikon D200 and my 70-200 2.8 VR on my drive home one day. The trees on the street were wild with colours. I cant pass up an opportunity like that. Usually people would tend to shoot the tree from a distance with a wider lens, this time I wondered under the trees looking upward hoping to catch some more unique angles and colours from a different direction.... clearly this was my downfall!!!

"Autumnal Rainbow"

Now I haven't quite gotten used to naming my images yet....and I dont think I ever will. Apparently it makes a big difference for scoring with the Judges or at least it can do. Maybe I titled this one poorly since I only got a lowly 6 ( which your pretty much guaranteed to get for just turning up). Since I couldn't be at the club that evening due to parenting responsibilities I didn't get the chance to find out why it scored so poorly. I thought it one of my better submissions so far!

So what I have learned so far about submitting prints for a competition? Not a heck of alot. So far my best scored image has been a shot right out of the camera, time invested workmanship hasn't gained me a lot extra and the technical ability of being able to use a 1952 camera successfully hasn't really paid off either. Back to the drawing board  for me.


As I suggested before, don't ever be discouraged by what another person thinks of your images, after all they no nothing about the story behind the image or maybe they lack the artistic ability to understand the shot you have created. I personally really like both shots, composition of both for me are great and both have eye-catching points within the image. I thought the colour popping of the autumn shot would have been more well received.

Next months submissions should be interesting!!

Camera Blog for Lens & Shutter: dltphoto

From now on I am going to be adding alot of Camera style content to a New Blog I have started for Lens & Shutter Cameras, reviews news etc will be posted as often as time permits!! Eventually it will be intergrated into the Lens & Shutter main site as well... but for the meantime I'll post content here!!!

Seattle Seahawks Trip, Canon Canada: Lens and Shutter

I had an amazing NFL trip courtesy of Canon Canada, through Lens and Shutter a while ago. Not only did I get to see my first American Football Game in the US, but I also got to play with there New ( at the time) Canon EOS 60D for the entire day! Sadly, I wasn't going to Watch the Redskins in Seattle, but I have now adopted Seattle as my secondary team as they are clearly the closer team to me!!!
Anyways here are some of the shots I got finally from that day. I messed around with it a bunch and I really liked it, I couldn't really find any fault with it. Nice feel, Fast, easy navigation... all around a pretty spectacular camera. A great Serious enthusiast camera and definitely a Camera someone wont necessarily out-grow! The only part I wasn't thrilled with was the fact they gave me the Canon EFS 18-135IS.... Not the best lens in there range for sure, my preference for anyone getting this camera would be with the Canon EFS 15-85 IS. fantastically sharp and nice build. A real decent lens you wont out-grow and hate the performance of!!!!
You can find all the specs on it on the Canon Canada Link posted above....

 

These two were both shot with different cameras.... one with the 60D and the other my Fuji F200EXR

This one also.. one shot with Fuji F200EXR and the other the Canon 60D....
Well hopefully this will entice some people into the 60D... like I said.. great performance and actually not a bad price....

Scott Kelby Photowalk in Abbotsford, BC

Had some real fun the other evening with a bunch of avid photogs here in Abbotsford. Scott Kelby announced the 3rd Annual Photowalk. Thanks to Duane Bradley for arranging it all in my absence to the UK. These are a few of my faves from the fun Old Downtown Abbotsford. There are more from the group on Duane's Flickr Group I think there was about 15 of us. Maybe next year we can double that!

Another Lucky Find!!!

Once again I located some forgotten Images I had left on a Roll of film from one of my trusty Film cameras!!! It was a slide film, but not remembering exactly what I shot on it, and knowing the type of film it was I assumed I would have intended that film to be good for Cross-Processing...... Anyways, here is a few of the real winners from the roll. I guess i should get with the times and shoot only digital, right?? hahahahaha

A Personal Challenge: "Picture a Day "(365)

So I have decided to take on a new personal challenge. Several of my friends recently committed to a "Picture a Day" project ( for a year).... pretty much as it sounds. I am going to use my vast array of cameras and learned techniques to document things (scenes, events,people... etc..) within my ordinary and un-ordinary day to day life. I am going to be using Film ( yes Film) for this project so that I cannot manipulate the images. They will appear as I shot them so if I screw up an image then thats what I shall post and hopefully it will look creative!!!.
     I am going to use a variety of films and film cameras ranging from my Nikon F5 , Nikkormat FT ,to my dads Yashica-D twin lens. Being that its only one picture a day I will post the images at the start of the following month, so when my 31 ( depending on month of course) days are up I will wind out the film and process it and scan it so it can be uploaded! Obviously when I use the Yashica camera I will have a shorter time to wait as the exposures are only about 12 shots.....
  Why would I do this? Why not! Maybe I can revamp my creative juices, find interesting compositions within my everyday humdrum, without replicating anything within that year....I hope to, at the end of it all, produce a photobook with all the images in, being 365 images it will be more than likely smaller images montaged by month so I can fit it all in!!!
  So heres wishing me luck and yes I already took my first shot! February is Nikon F100 month!!! whoop, such an amazing camera to use!

Camera Choices for the Christmas season!

Hello all,
            Once again my annual picks for cool cameras that are current on the market. Firstly I will tell you about a few of the compact models.....
 Canon Powershot S90  Its a new Sleak, nearly 4x (starting at 28mm wide) optical with a beautiful build and some sweet looking image quality under lower light conditions... Not cheap but its a great investment!
Nikon Coolpix S640 Again a nice little build with some pretty rapid autofocus. This one has a 5x  (starting at 28mm wide) optical zoom and is pretty simple to use!!
Fuji Finepix F70 EXR  And why not.. seems as I am a current owner of one of there other models.... 10x optical (28mm wide angle). Smallest camera with the largest zoom and using there fabo EXR sensor it does a great job and currently is the cheapest out of the bunch!
Canon Powershot SD980is A cool little touch screen unit...5x optical (staring from 24mm wide).  HD video which is nice if your into video!

 now we move onto the Bigguns...
Nikon D5000 Great body with great low light performance and with HD video. Can come with two good starter Lenses with VR and will be around $999 i believe for the christmas period
Canon EOS 7D. Wow what an amazing body. A great reaction from Canon against the Nikon D300s. Has a sweet viewfinder and all the trimmings. MP's are a little high which has become a little unnecessary but thats what its got. Brilliant weather sealing and of course HD Video. Speed and wireless flash also make there appearance on this body.
Nikon D700  Still a massive favourite amongst SERIOUS enthusiasts and Pros... Performance and durability combined with superior low light performance with the 12MP full frame CMOS senosr.. Wowzers... would still love to take one of these home!!!

 Lastly I am putting some binoculars on my shopping list...
Nikon Sporter 8x42 EX Nice build for the price ($200approx). Bright and fast to focus and are fully waterproof.
Vortex Viper 8x42 Better than the previous but come with a price tag!!!!

 Again.... all products are available at Lens & Shutter. Ask for Duncan or mention my name if I am not there!

is it the Best Buy??

New Best Buy "Open Now"! Actually they are not. SIGN Failure! As the little hand written note on the door says... "Sorry for the inconvenience we are not actually open yet".

Fuji Finepix F200 EXR Review: Lens and Shutter

Here are some Random shots from my new Fuji Finepix F200 EXR camera. Possibly the best Point & Shoot style camera I have seen to date and now with more EXR models coming Fuji is going to be quite successful.... Here are some shots from my camera!

Using the DR mode i was able to catch tremendous Dynamic Range... the Sun is directly behind Lucy making here face and body in shade.. see how it captured wonderful detail!!!
A self portrait with Lucy....on the Auto EXR mode.
Mr Beattie's cat, "Jasper". Such fine detail on the fur. Sorry these low rez images dont let you see what i see!!

A sweet shot at a recent wedding!!
Walking through Willband Creek! Impressive wide angle for creativity


High Dynamic range

An Interesting skyline....

So overall this Camera has tremendous features for a little compact. My highlights are the quick response time, the ease of use in the EXR Auto mode and the nifty 5x optical zoom (28mm-140mm) starting at the creative wide angle end! Also i havent tapped into the HD stills yet.. still i have so much to explore with it... It has a surprising amounts of features!!! I imagine most wont get into the different metering systems and custom white balances but i have touched on them and when used correctly can improve ones images greatly... All these images on this review were unedited, shot mostly on the Auto EXR, but only resized for my blog and my logo added of course!!!