Tag: digital camera

Camera replacement batteries

There was a time, a camera, even professional ones, needed no batteries at all. In fact, you could buy a new one until as recently as 2006.

I have such a habit of purchasing a spare battery for any camera that might become my primary that I once purchased an EN-EL4a for my Nikon D3.

Normally I only buy the manufacturers approved batteries, because there are a lot of stories floating on the internet about exploding Li-Ion batteries, and because ever since Sony introduced the infoLithium, many manufacturers introduce an extra “smart” feature with circuitry where the lithium battery informs the camera about its age and charge, and I figure why risk it?

Nowadays, 3rd parties have done a good job of figuring it out, so I decided to take a dip.

Olympus replacement battery
South of Market, San Francisco, California

Sony DSC-WX1
1/30sec @ f/2.4, 240, 4.3mm (24mm)

I purchased an Olympus PS-BLS-1 3rd party from Amazon. I haven’t used it yet. Olympus, unlike Nikon, has been using the same battery design across most of their Four-Thirds and Micro Four-Thirds camera line.

Another reason for this purchase is the Olympus PS-BLS-1 holds 1080 mAH of charge, while this replacement is rated at 1800 mAH—almost twice as much!

Continue reading about the what, where and why of spare camera batteries after the jump

Posted on by tychay 5

Talent and tools

“Photoshopped!”

So often people ask what digital camera they should buy. That’s a tough question since invariably people suggest the camera they own. I tell people:

The best camera to have is the one you have on you.

By this, I mean, the best camera to purchase is the one that you’ll carry with you. If that means, you bought it because it “looks cute,” then go with it! If cute means you’ll carry the camera around and use it, then you’ll take far better photographs then most people.

I was thinking last night of my friend, Bill Tani’s, first ever blog post. In it, he mentions that real designers do not use the word “Photoshop” as a verb.

Since I’m not a real designer, that’s okay. But what he says makes sense. It is natural but naïve to think that talent can be found in tools. A real artist knows that in the end, Photoshop is just a tool, and a tool is just a conduit of the creative expression you find inside yourself.

After all, does a photographer say, I “Nikoned” that photograph?

terry

“Terry” by linoleum jet

Someone might say that “It’s easy for you to say, you shoot a legendarily (expensive) camera. But did Julie “Canon” this portrait of me? Am I “Leica”ing a photo of her?

Take.
More.
Photos.

Parting shot, xkcd-style.

Posted on by tychay 5