I received this e-mail today, from a Canon Digital Rebel XT owner:

I shoot pictures mainly for my kids marching band. Which means I’m usually shooting at dusk or night. It also means I’m either in the stands on on the sidelines but still want good close-ups. What is a good (read affordable) lens for shooing long distance in low light?

What he wants is a lens that has the reach, is wide (for night shooting) and is cheap. Image Stabilization isn’t an issue because I’ll assume he’ll be buying a monopod or owns a tripod. He’ll have to push the ISO to get the shutter speed up to 1/60 or better which is what he’ll need to prevent bluring of a moving marching band.

Unfortunately there is no such lens that is both long, fast, and cheap.

[Recommendations after the jump]Continue reading →

Another thing I missed from the photography world is the release of the Canon G7.

The spec sheet is very impressive for a compact camera:

• 10 megapixel 1/2″ sensor
• 6x zoom (though a slow f/4.8 at max zoom)
• Image stabilization
• ISO 1600 with a super-high ISO 3200 scene mode
• hot shoe for external flash
• $550 retail

Not on the spec-sheet, but appreciated nonetheless are a nice control layout and an optical viewfinder.

From the its non-budget-but-very-reasonable price, its complex control layout, it’s overpowering spec sheet, and it’s not-exactly-svelte-like size, you’d think this camera would be ideal as a second camera for enthusiasts. But no, because the dang major thing missing is RAW file support. Which many people speculated was to protect entry level dSLR sales.

Now I read today that this is because the high photosite density makes the superfine JPEG indistinguishable from the RAW shot:

Smaller pixels means it’s harder to distinguish the signal from the incoming light from the random electronic noise in the sensor, said Chuck Westfall, Canon’s director of media and customer relations.

“The net result is that even if the G7 offered raw image capture…there would be no discernible improvement in image quality compared to…superfine JPEG mode,” Westfall said.

What a load of bullshit.

[An explanation why, after the jump.]
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I’m a little out of touch with my photography recently o I missed that Nikon released the D200 Firmware version 2.0.0. It’s really nothing to write home about. All It does is add support for Image Authentication and the WT-3 Wireless transmitter.

But for other people with a D200, you can download the Mac version here.

Dave Pogue of the New York Times talks about some fun he had having people on the street compare a 5, 8, and 13 megapixel version of the same photograph.

As he predicted, this post gets a lot of people “riled up.”

[Some commentary after the jump]Continue reading →

When I get tired of taking the same photos over and over, I put a Lensbaby on the front of my camera. It’s the ultimate “fun” lens:

The Baby has arrived!
Mountain View, California

Nikon D70, Lensbaby 2.0, Tokina .45x macro
1/50 sec @ f/2.0, iso 800, 50mm (75mm)

A lot of people stop and ask me what that funky thing is on my camera. Now that I have a Nikon D200, I let them have a go at it. They “get it” pretty quickly on the D200, though I wouldn’t risk it with a Nikon D70.

I love my baby!

[Find out more (with photos) after the jump.]Continue reading →