Fatdragon100

Introduction to digital photography. The beginning....

2015-10-27T14:26:00.001-07:00

In the words of Freulin Maria, "Let's start at the very beginning". The most important question to you all is, does this make sense?!?

I'm Back!! Get Ready for some videos!

2015-10-25T14:37:00.001-07:00

Putting your pictures into the past! (Gimp 2.0)

2013-09-27T12:43:00.001-07:00

I have just posted a similar blog post about editing a digital image and making it look like it was taken on film a long time ago. This is the version of that tutorial for Gimp. Whilst Photoshop is an absolutely fantastic piece of software, Gimp gives you great opportunities to get to grips with image editing and completely for FREE so if you don't yet own Photoshop, have a look at Gimp as you can still learn a lot from it.

So onwards and upwards, here is a step by step tutorial on how to make a crisp digital still look authentically old. Here's the before and after:

1 - Follow this link: http://gimp-registry.fargonauten.de/node/17267 and download Vignette.SCM. Open the file in your downloads folder and copy it.
2 - Go into your computer and program files. Find Gimp and the Scripts file. Paste the file in here.
(Mine was under Gimp>Share>Gimp>2.0>Scripts)
3 - Open Gimp.
4 - Open your original image and "Save As" a new file so you preserve your original image.
5 - Go to Image>Mode>Grayscale

This will remove all of the colour information from your image.
6 - Filters>Noise>RGB Noise

RGB noise (in my experience) has a more even spread than the other options so that the noise effect will apply to the whole image evenly.

Within the RGB noise dialogue you have a couple of options. Check the preview box to see how the effect will work with your image. Unfortunately it zooms into the picture quite a lot but if you focus on areas with shadow then you can see the effect on dark areas which is where you will notice it the most.

Checking "Correlated Noise" keeps the speckles quite uniform and clustered in their groups depending on their darkness whereas keeping it unchecked allows a messier grain to be applied to the image which is the style I use for this type of image.

You can then use the grey slider to choose how intense you want to make your grain.

7 - Image>Mode>RGB
(You will need to revert back to RGB mode in order to use the vignette otherwise you will just get a bunch of error messages.)

8 - Select the whole image using the Ellipse select tool.

9 - Filters>Light and Shadow>Vignette

In the vignette dialogue box you have several options:

Softness decides on how far the vignette edges will spread. The more you increase the softness the less obvious the vignette will be and the dark edges will spread further towards the centre of the image. The lower you pull the slider for softness, the further towards the edges of the image the vignette will stay. For this style of photo I am keeping the softness quite low in order to make the vignette quite obvious.

You can then select how dark you want the edges to go, I went to about 75 for my image as I wanted to vignette to be noticeable but not too blocky.

You could change the colour if you wanted to experiment but I kept mine black to keep it authentic.

I always check the "Keep Layers" option as it applies to vignette effect onto a different layer instead of putting it directly onto the image. This way, if I decide to remove the vignette at a later date, it is as simple as deleting the vignette layer, rather than trying to go back through all of my editing.

Once you are happy with your image, accept to flatten the image when you save it as a jpeg and all of the layers will collapse down into one final picture.

Putting your pictures into the past! (Photoshop CS5)

2013-09-27T06:33:00.001-07:00

This tutorial is all about using post production techniques to make a digital image look like it has been taken on film, and a long time ago too! I have also done this tutorial for GIMP Image Manipulation software which I will write a follow-up blog for also.

I'm going to make this a step by step tutorial to break it down but here is the beginning and end result:

Obviously results will vary on how you set up your techniques so enjoy playing with your images and please do share what you achieve with this technique! So, on with the tutorial...

1 - Open you image in Photoshop and "Save As.." a new file so that you preserve your original.
2 - Go to Image > Mode > Grayscale

This will remove all colour information and make the image black and white.

3 - Filter > Noise > Add Noise

This will add grain to your image. How much grain you choose is up to you. Gaussian Noise mixes up the light and dark shades so that the grain appears more scattered. Uniform Noise tends to be more collected so that the darks and lights are more grouped.

I go for Gaussian for this style of image so that the grain is more obvious but it's up to you which you use. I set the amount to around 14% for obvious graininess but the amount you need will vary on the shades within your image so have a play around as you can preview the effect on your image before you commit!

4 - Filter > Lens Correction

5 - Choose "Custom" tab on the right hand side and edit Vignette Settings.

Amount = +values go light at the corners
-values go dark at the corners
Midpoint = Low values create a small spread of light from the centre of the image
Higher values create a larger spread of light so the corners are clearly darker than the rest of the image.

And that's it! Convert an original sharp digital image, to an old-fashioned style image as if it is taken on film not digitally.

Figuring out the CHDK shutter speeds

2013-01-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

This table is to try and help figure out the calculations for the different Value Factor fractions against different shutter speeds to help you figure out the maths.

Shutter Speed Value Factor Final Shutter Speed

1/10 5 0.5 sec (1/2 a second)
1/100 5 0.05 sec (1/20 second)
1/1000 5 0.005 sec (1/200 second)
1/10000 5 0.0005 sec (1/2000 sec)
1/100K (1/100,000) 5 0.00005 sec (1/20000 sec)

1/10 5 0.5 sec (1/2 a second)
1/10 50 5 seconds
1/10 500 50 seconds

CHDK Shutter speed... a reminder that I hate maths!

2013-01-15T12:41:00.001-08:00

So I have frazzled my brain a lot and with thanks to 89rafa from YouTube for explaining the basics of the maths to me on my original video, I now believe I have an understanding of the way in which you can calculate the shutter speed in CHDK when you are multiplying the shutter speed by fractions. For a loser in maths like me this is a real headache but I hope I can simplify it the best I can to make it clear for others too.

So the easy part of overriding shutter speed with CHDK is taking the value factor (number you multiply the shutter speed by) as a single number and working out how many seconds you want your shutter speed. This would be something like:

Shutter speed: 60
Value Factor: 1

1 x 60 = 60 leaving a 60 second shutter speed.

Not too tough right?

This is the way the shutter speed is calculated in "EV step (Exposure Value step) shutter speed enum type" in CHDK. However when we use the "Factor shutter speed enum type" it gets harder to calculate.

We change the bottom number to a fraction and it gets more complicated.

Here is a simple version...

Shutter speed: 5 (seconds)
Value Factor: 1/10 (One tenth of a second)

Here we are multiplying 5 seconds by one tenth of a second. The easy way to do this is to divide 5 by ten which leaves us with 0.5 of a second, or.. half a second.

As another example...

Shutter speed: 50
Value Factor: 1/10

We are still dividing the top number by the fraction so if we divide 50 by 10, we get 5. So the shutter speed is 5 seconds.

And so on and so forth. So in those examples we were changing the shutter speed and always dividing the number by ten.

However, we can also change the fraction and this is where things switch around and the shutter speed can be lower than the number dividing it.

As an example...

Shutter speed: 5 (seconds_)
Value Factor: 1/100 (One hundredth of a second)

Here we are dividing 5 seconds by one, one hundredth. The way to figure this one out is to calculate how many 5's there are in one hundred, in this case the answer is 20. This number then goes into a fraction as we are dividing 5 by 100 and the answer is 1/20th of a second.

It's a lot to take in but once you get used to it you can figure the maths out. Here are some ways to remember how to calculate it...

If the shutter speed number is smaller than the bottom fraction number e.g SS 5 VF 1/10 then you are calculating a faster shutter.

If the shutter speed number is larger than the bottom fraction number e.g SS 50 VF 1/10 then you are calculating a slower shutter.

If you are keeping your value factor at a certain fraction, then all you have to do is move the decimal point. For example here I am always using the fraction of 1/10 so I am always dividing by ten:

1/10 x 5 = 0.5 of a second
1/10 x 50 = 5.0 seconds
1/10 x 500 = 50.0 seconds

So if I were using a Value factor of 1/100 I would move the decimal point two points over instead of one.

Using Photoshop to blur out image details/logos

2013-01-08T11:31:00.001-08:00

Sometimes we take a really great picture, and then we realise we have someone's car registration or personal information or perhaps a child walking through the image that we don't really want to expose to everyone just incase it could upset the child's parents or upset the car owner etc.....it's nice to respect other peoples information.

So with a little help from the Filter Gallery in Photoshop we can still keep that picture we took and share it with whoever we like by covering up those individuals details.

I took this shot of a car going through a puddle on Christmas day and decided to share it having covered up the registration number first. This gave me the idea that it would be worth doing a quick tutorial on some techniques for covering up parts of pictures.

By selecting the area of your image you would like to blur out you can cntrl/apple + C to copy that part of the image and cntrl/apple+ V to past the copied part of the image into a new layer. When we use the filter gallery it will affect the whole layer that we are on so we only want those small parts to be affected, hence why we copy and paste to a new layer.

On the top bar select filter and then filter gallery and there is a whole menu of different effects to choose from so it's worthwhile taking your time to look through them.

Check out the new tutorial to see some suggestions:

Buying Calendars from the Photo Themes

2012-12-29T12:43:00.001-08:00

Hi All,

I have a way for you guys to order your calendars through me which means I can take your orders on a separate site but I will then have to send off for calendars to be printed so it will most likely take til mid January for calendars to get to you all.

If you would like a calendar, please follow the link below and put your order through. I will stop taking orders on Wednesday the 3rd of January and will order the calendars on this day. Hopefully they will get to me in speedy time and I can get them to you quickly. I know I haven't given you very long to order them but I don't want you to miss out on the first month because of deliveries.

I will be happy to take orders after the 3rd but I can't guarantee their delivery date before January if you are not in the UK!

Thanks all!

http://fatdragon100.bigcartel.com/

Animating in Photoshop

2012-12-21T03:46:00.000-08:00

I have been playing with Photoshop CS6 at work and learning how to animate with their new Motion layout.

I have animated in CS5 but, unless I have missed something, the timeline is a lot better in CS6 and the only downside I can see is that you can only make a 10 second clip. This is as far as I know anyway but as my clip was only 10 seconds I didn't pursue it. I guess if that is the case it is always possible to make a string of 10 second movies and put them together in simple video editing packages.

Either way it was great fun. I may do a tutorial at some point if people are interested in it, or just because I enjoy it anyway ;) It's a great additional feature to an already intense program.

One thing that is great about animating in Photoshop is the ability to change layer opacity which means that you can 'onion skin' (see the frame before and after the one you are drawing) to be able to animate a lot easier. I really like it and it's a great resource if you want to play with animation without committing to buying a whole package of animation software!

Here's my rough run through of a 10 second clip from The Count of Monte Cristo:

Understanding aperture and background blur

2012-12-18T07:54:00.002-08:00

A lot of people keep asking how you achieve good background blur with the SX40 - the quick answer is that you can't. Or at least you can't do it in the same way you can with an SLR.

Background blur is your depth of field which refers to how much of your image is in focus. The Aperture is a big part of this in SLR cameras however it does not seem to do the same job in the SX40. I hope by now that a lot of you know I won't go into technical detail, mainly because I don't know the exact technical reasons for the aperture behaving differently on the SX40 but I would assume it is down to something in the camera being digital rather than a mechanical function.

But I digress... the aperture, as I have explained before, behaves very similarly to our eyes. When we open our eyes wide, a lot of light gets in and it's harder for us to focus. Vice versa, squinting our eyes often allows us to focus more and limits the amount of light that we are receiving.

When we use a low/wide aperture with an SLR, the background blur is also affected in the same way our eyes blur the scene when we open them wide. So taking a picture with a low/wide aperture on an SLR, enhances the background blur and gives us more light.

Taking a picture with a high aperture on an SLR decreases the amount of light, but also allows for more focus which means our image is focused over a bigger space so background blur is limited.

The SX40 doesn't behave in the same way. I took the following examples to demonstrate:

This is a side by side comparison of images taken on the Canon 400D SLR. The image on the left has a low aperture of F3.5. Notice the background blur and the focus on the foreground.

The image on the right has an aperture of F8.0 so the background is more in focus whilst the foreground remains in focus.

This image is from the SX40. As you can see there is little difference between the two images even though I used the same settings for the SX40 as I did on the Canon 400D.

Whilst the exposure is a little off on the 400D thats because I wanted to keep the same settings as the SX40 so I couldn't balance the light completely.

So when you are stressing over getting good background blur, do bear this in mind. I did make a video about creating Bokeh (which is essentially creating background blur) which you can see here. But it's not as easy to create as it would be on an SLR as these examples will demonstrate.

I apologise for the camera shake in this video, it was tough juggling three cameras! :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpMDiEbIJ3g

I just upgraded my SLR...

2012-12-14T06:33:00.000-08:00

I was trying to make a video last night making aperture a lot clearer and explaining what it is that the SX40 is missing when it comes to creating background blur when the SLR can do it a lot easier. So I had the two cameras side by side on the bed and my demo set up to show that one lot of photography settings has a much different affect on blur with one camera than it does on the other. I was trying to preview my Nikon pictures (I have a Nikon D70) and the screen was so tiny I couldnt really see them without moving the camera and ruining the shot.

I realised that I really don't use my SLR because it's just so difficult to see through the viewfinder and the back screen and navigation around the camera isn't the easiest. I still love my SX40, it is a lot easier to carry around and the zoom is epic, but it is nice to have an SLR for special occasions and for more photography experimentation so it was about time I upgraded!

I stuck with Nikon as I already had the lenses for the camera and lenses are so expensive that it wouldn't make much sense for me to switch to Canon unless I had a lot of money to spare which I don't. As I know the Canon models better, having worked with them every day, I decided that I knew I liked the 50D and 60D in the Canon range so I looked up the Nikon equivalent. The D90 is the apparent equivalent to the Canon 50D but with the option of video which the 50D doesn't have.

So it was the D90 I eventually picked and I am waiting for it to arrive. Hopefully when it does I will will have some good time to play around with it and start to explain photography in more depth. Don't fear the SX40 videos won't be completely out of mind but as I have covered a lot of information on them already, it will be nice and refreshing to show some other parts of photography that are still relevant in terms of learning and relevant to both the SX40 and the D90.

So there's an update on my SLR situation, I'll be back soooon!!

Huge Apologies, I've been off the radar!

2012-12-13T01:34:00.001-08:00

Hi All,

I'm so sorry I haven't been updating my blog. I deserve a good old slap on the wrist as I really do appreciate that people read my blog.

Last week I had Tonsillitis which I was trying to deal with without going to the doctor for four days before I gave in and went anyway. Following a week of antibiotics I am now back and ready to roll.

I am still looking to move house which is another reason why I am finding it hard to make more videos. I'm in a bit of a pickle as I need to look for jobs so I can move, but once I find one, I won't have access to the video camera I make the videos with which means making new videos could be a pain.

I was going to start doing a series of videos about SLR cameras and also I was considering doing some animations to talk through Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO to help those who are still struggling with the theory of it. I think the animations may be easier for me to complete at this point in time as doing the other videos requires a lot of set up which I don't have the time to prepare!

I did do a vote on the facebook page to see what people were interesting in seeing from my Youtube channel and the top suggestions were:

I have taken this into consideration. The tough part is really being able to suggest the settings for concert photography without actually having a concert to go to. I previously mentioned in a video about changing your white balance to help in low light situations, it tends to bring in more light but it does remove that atmosphere that the concert lights can give.

In terms of low light, I will need to employ one of my family members again to try and get them to help me demonstrate photography in low light.

Sunset pictures is also a tricky one at this time of year as I am leaving work in the dark so I don't get a chance to capture many sunsets. Also with it being winter, the chances of nice clear skies and sunsets are limited here. I'm hoping that the next time I go to Wales on the weekend I will be able to grab the opportunity for sunset shots out in the hills and I can bring both cameras to talk through it!

The Raynox is one I am admittedly slow at moving my butt into gear on. I do own a Raynox and it's a great tool, I just need to get a bit more time practising with it and I will be able to talk through it as an accessory and the best ways to use it.

The zoom blur effect in photoshop isn't something I am familiar with so I will need to find out what effect it is exactly that you want to achieve and I can demonstrate that in Photoshop with no probs.

Fireworks... again a shot that isn't easy for me to do a demo with as the opportunities I get to see fireworks don't really allow me to take two cameras and to talk through a demo with so it would be a case of showing pictures I have taken and explaining the settings but I can do that if it's needed?

So there's an update in the world of Fatdragon100!

Lastly, I have been running a weekly photo theme over on Facebook which is proving to be quite fun and popular. I noticed that this weeks theme is the 11th week we have been doing it and I was thinking of making a 2013 calendar using the photo theme winners for each month and perhaps popping a Fatdragon picture in on each month too. Is this something people would be interested in? I will run a vote over on Facebook too to find out and to see if the winners would be happy for their photos to be used.

I hope everyone is well and looking forward to a nice Christmas break!

All the best,

FatDragon :)

Taking long exposure night shots using CHDK

2012-11-02T07:12:00.001-07:00

My most recent video is up on YouTube and it's all about using CHDK to override the ISO for night time photography.

As the SX40 limits the ISO to 100 when you are taking a long exposure, the images are often too dark to really capture night time scenery and star scapes.

When we override the ISO a lot more light can enter the image and we can see a lot more stars/scenery than if we were limited to an ISO of 100. In the video I demonstrate using an ISO of 500 and of 800 to show just how much you can expand the light

Some things to remember:

When you take a 15 second exposure, it takes 15 seconds to process afterwards.
Use a tripod/stable surface, when you take long exposures your camera is taking in light and detail for the whole 15 seconds and if you move slightly, it will cause a blur.
Use the 2 second self timer option so that there is time between you pressing the shutter and the image starting. This will eliminate blur caused when you let go of the shutter button
To focus on night skies it's often easier to maintain focus if you can find a bright star to zoom in on slightly and to keep it in the center of the image, once the focus is locked on that star, the rest of the night sky should be in fairly good focus.

Anywho, any more questions let me know. I will upload examples of the pictures from the video later.

Fat Dragon's Super Duper Simple SX40 Manual

2012-10-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is still a work in progress but please feel free to have a browse through my simplified SX40 manual based on the videos from my YouTube channel.

I will expand it more as time goes on but obviously it takes time and I want people to be able to use it as soon as possible so I thought it couldn't hurt to start posting and updating :D

Nip over to my website http://www.fatdragon100.co.uk/ and you will see the manual available in the Downloads tab :)

Comparing the SX40 to the SX50

2012-10-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

As of late, everybody is excited because Canon have released the new model in their SX range which is the Canon SX50. Now I am not one to dash off and buy the latest model just because there is a new model out and really, if I can get past the bits about the SX40 that niggle me (especially using CHDK) then I don't see the point in spending another £400 just because the new camera is out.

However, given good reason and advanced features I may be swayed so as I am typing this new post, I am checking out the specifications of the new camera compared to my beloved SX40 to see what it really offers.

Now, I love to share what I learn in photography for the SX40 but as it comes to the end of the series when I have exhausted all topics, I will eventually have to look towards new things to chat about and as I plan to move house to a different part of the country and a different job, I will eventually have to invest in a new video camera. I am half considering using my SX40 to film if I get a new camera so we will see what my new purchase is. But anyway I digress, point being, I am in a position where a new camera would be nice in terms of technology and new tutorial series but also I need to consider what would be ideal for my own needs and I think that investing in a camera that is pretty much the SX40 would be a bad move, I may as well venture out there and see what else is on sale but nevertheless, lets look at how the two compare!

So first off, megapixels. 12.1megapixels on the SX40, 12.1megapixels on the SX50 - no changes there, I have never felt that the SX40 particularly needs more but I know that a lot of people will be itching for more! From the reviews I have read, it seems that overdoing the megapixels can just result in slower camera performance anyway so really, I wouldn't be let down by the lack of extra megapixels, as I say, there's not really anything wrong with the SX40 quality anyway so why change it right?!

Looking at the image processor, the two cameras are listed as having the same image processor as each other. Now as I have said many times before, I don't know everything technological about cameras, I am not a whiz kid and I learn most of my information from others who know more than me and from the research I do on the internet. So bear with me as I try to explain how the image processor will affect the images as we can then see how the new model will remain consistent with the SX40 seeming as they are using the same image processor.

So the image processor affects the following areas:

Colour and brightness information - Filtering the correct colour and light to each pixel in an image and comparing them to the neighbouring pixels to ensure the correct colour value for each pixel.
Assessing the pictures overall contrast to ensure tones are realistic. It does this by adjusting the mid-tones using the gamma value.
Reduces noise in the image. Noise is otherwise known as grain and looks as if the picture has blocks of colour in places where there should be more variety. The image processor tries to remove areas of noise that are appearing however, it can be quite a difficult process as it may remove areas of the image that have fine detail but appear as noise to the camera.
As the camera assesses colour and light as mentioned before, the adjustment of colour can sometimes cause an image to be too soft. The image processor will enhance image sharpness to maintain any depth and detail that can be lost when fixing the pixel colour/light and to do this it must correctly detect the edges that need sharpening and avoid making them too sharp. This is all analysed by the image processor.
Speed of image processing. The speed at which the camera completes the above actions is determined by the image processor in the camera. Canon have named their processors DIGIC and the most ideal processors don't really show a noticeable delay between taking the picture, processing it and allowing the photographer to carry on shooting. You will notice more of a delay with longer exposures.

Now I personally don't have an issue with the speed of the SX40 however I know that there are quite a few people who were frustrated in the delay between shots when they want to take burst mode especially at a distance. It doesn't seem like this is going to change with the SX50 as they are keeping the same image processor so for a lot of us that won't make a difference but for those who want faster processing, perhaps this isn't an ideal feature in terms of 'upgrading' aspects.

Keeping with the subject of speed, the SX50 has a very slightly improved continuous mode shooting at 2.2 shots per second compared to the SX40s 2.4 shots per second so no real huge improvement there. However the High Quality burst mode which does a pretty good job on the SX40 at 10 shots per second (which actually gives you 8) has been bumped up to 13 shots per second (which actually gives you 10) so a couple of extra shots per second which isn't too shabby at all.

So now for that all important zoom!

The SX40 has a 35mm equivalent zoom of 24mm - 840mm and they have bumped this on the SX50 to a whopping 24mm - 1200mm which is absolutely crazy. I hope the image stabilisation does its job well as that is a very large zoom for handheld photography! I am curious about those new moon pictures for sure! They have also bumped up the digital zoom from 140x to 200x which means you will get that extra bit of distance on top of an already crazy zoom size.

The image stabilisation remains the same which is handy and hopefully still enough to maintain good quality with the extra zoom. I find the image stabilisation excellent on the SX40 so it's good to know that they are maintaining a good standard on the lens if it can handle the extra zoom.

One potential downside to the SX50 is the cut in Aperture where the SX40 could range as low as f2.7 - f5.8, the SX50 starts at f3.4 - f6.5 so there's a slight cut on how low the aperture can go.

However, their ISO range is increased by quite a large amount which will compensate the lack of aperture in a way. Considering that the aperture doesn't necessarily affect background blur the same way it would on an SLR, the lack of aperture isn't the end of the world. However, relying too heavily on the ISO would introduce a fair amount of grain but as a bigger picture, the cut in aperture is probably not as bad as people are thinking.

The ISO of the SX40 ranges from 100 - 3200 whereas the SX50 has a range of 80 - 6400 doubling the top ISO of the SX40. Canon claim to maintain the best quality possible when choosing their settings limits so I assume that even with an ISO of 6400 the quality shouldn't be compromised to a point where the image quality is bad and therefore, with the extra range of ISO this is definitely a handy tool to have.

In terms of focus, Canon are carrying across the Face detection, tracking and central focus features which are handy and do the job just fine.

One good change in focus settings is that the SX50 can run continuous focus in all modes whereas this feature is limited to certain modes on the SX40. They have also maintained the use of flexizone focus, which is a feature I haven't really used too much but it is handy to use when you want to focus on one particular area of the frame.

On to Shutter Speed. Now I think Canon really should have thought harder here as one of the main complaints I have heard about the SX40 is the limitation of the 15 second shutter speed as the maximum time. Now I know that the camera will only be able to deal with a certain amount of time for a shutter speed as we don't want to over heat the camera or anything like that but I'm pretty sure they could have considered a longer shutter for at least 60 seconds or so. That little bit extra would have made those night shots a little more satisfying for sure.

Not too much has changed in terms of white balance but to be fair on the SX40, it pretty much had everything covered anyway. The SX50 has an extra custom White Balance option which could come in handy when photographing at events with different lighting in different places/rooms.

Using the viewfinder seems to be staying the same which is ok although I'm not sure on other peoples thoughts but I sometimes find that the viewfinder options can be a little small. I don't know how easy it would have been for Canon to make that more user friendly but it puts me off using the viewfinder. That's just me though.

They have doubled the resolution of the SX50 LCD back screen so that you get double the pixels for a more accurate display if your images. I like this idea but I wonder if I will really notice by just looking at it, I'd imagine it is a noticeable difference but would like to have a play with an SX50 in a store to see.

The only real difference in Flash options is that the SX50 at wide angle doesn't actually cover as far as the SX40 does. The SX40 at wide angle covers between 50cm and 7 meters (700cm) whereas the SX50 only covers 50cm - 5.5 meters (550cm). I'm not 100% sure why this is, if I find out more information I will add it into this blog post!

One smart move they have done is to remove the sports mode on the newer SX50 model. I really didn't think much of the sports mode and although I originally reviewed it to be quite good, I grew to dislike it and struggled to get many decent shots with it. It's overall removal is a good idea in my opinion, waste of a good Mode switch!

With regards to the other modes, I'm glad to see they have kept all of the standard modes such as AV, TV, Manual, Custom 1 and 2 and Auto (with enhanced scene detection). They have also added in a smooth skin mode which sounds like it could be quite nice for portraits, although they have kept in the portrait mode too so will have to check that one out in more detail if I get a chance to play with one.

They have put in a new HDR (High Dynamic Range) creative filter which would be interesting to see. I know that they are introducing RAW so I'm not sure if this will be real HDR or just simulating what HDR can look like. I would assume the latter as the amount of processing for a HDR image is probably to much to do directly on the camera. These are my assumptions though.

It was only upon looking at these comparisons that I even found out the SX40 could film with a lot of the colour effects. I've recently made a video about this and they have carried this feature over to the SX50 which is great, if only I had discovered this earlier!

One thing that I know will make a big difference for a lot of users is the introduction of RAW files which I mentioned previously. RAW allows you to keep your files uncompressed which means the file has all of the pure data that is captured in your shot without the camera compressing it into a smaller file such as JPEG. This means that you can manipulate your images a lot more and keep the quality higher whereas editing JPEGS can degrade the quality quite quickly in comparison.

Canon have also introduced the Superfine quality mode which they neglected from the SX40. This is an option Canon have used in past cameras and is pretty popular with Canon users. It uses a lot more memory as it is a larger file size but you will notice the difference in sharper edges and clearer definition of subjects however most would probably not notice this immediately when just looking at the image by eye. The difference would be more noticeable when editing or taking images of objects with more refined edges like text.

You can still customise your startup image and sounds which is a nice little extra on the SX40 but not vital of course.

They have also maintained the image tagging feature which I will mention in the near future in a video which allows the user to put the images in the memory card into categories based on the type of picture they are or if they are a favourite. This is good when you want to quickly play back through your images however my images don't tend to be on my camera long enough for that feature to be necessary.

The self timer is also unchanged but I don't really know how much more you expect the self timer to do. 10 seconds to let you get in the shot, 2 seconds if you just need to take the picture without wobbling the camera and custom if there's a specific time you want and multiple shots.

They have also kept all of the plugs the same, standard USB, AV lead and HDMI cables are all still useable with the SX50.

Software wise, the SX40 and SX50 do not differ when it comes to PC computers however on Mac computers, the SX50 will work with the newer operating system whereas the SX40 won't necessarily. I don't know a great deal about these aspects of the camera as perhaps this is just down to using the software rather than the camera being acknowledged by the computer. I will see what new information comes along and update.

The SX50 takes the same battery as the SX40 however the battery life drops a little with the SX50. Perhaps this is down to the use of the larger zoom or down to the larger image sizes or something along those lines but I don't think it's anything to panic about. It's just an average but it seems that the SX40 can take approximately 65 more shots before running out of battery and approximately 80 minutes more footage. Looking at it, it looks like SX40ers have something to smile about but really... it all depends on what functions you are using and how often etc so these averages shouldn't be taken too specifically. Just remember if you are moving from the 40 to the 50, this may be a little annoying if you are used to a little more battery power.

However a spare battery is not expensive and could solve that problem easily :P

The SX50 does come with a piece of software to help with development of RAW images which is nice. I don't know anything about it but I'd imagine it's a good added feature if it gives you a nice bit of control over your RAW images.

You still need a filter adapter for the SX50 as you did on the SX40. This is such a silly feature, Canon should have rectified this when working on the SX40. There doesn't seem to be a logical reason for having a filter screw thread that doesn't work with filters properly but hey... I got the adapter and didn't think about it twice so I shouldn't get too stroppy :P

It seems that the SX50 is a little smaller and lighter than the SX40 but I would want to go and look at it to see if that made a real difference. I doubt it will be a huge change.

So any who, there's a not so short, and definitely not technical run through of the SX40 and the SX50. If I were to get the SX50, I think it would be because my SX40 died (god forbid!) but for now I think I am happy and if anything, if I look towards a new model, I think it will be from another brand to see what else is on offer.

Good luck with your decision making!

Using Long Exposure for Light Trails

2012-10-04T01:21:00.003-07:00

I have just uploaded a new video about using Long Exposure to create light trails.

We have already covered this topic when we were experimenting with light writing in previous tutorials but this just shows how any moving light can create it's own light trail. All we need to do is set up the shot and stay as still as possible!

With traffic, you get a great mix of headlights and taillights and the occasional indicator which, on a moving car, will show up as a dotted line as it flashes on and off.

When we set our shot to 15" (seconds) the SX40 automatically limits the ISO to 100. As annoying as this is, it doesn't really affect us too much when we are playing with light trails as the focus of the image is the moving light which provides us with the extra illumination we need. It is also handy in a way as then the only things we need to adjust are our shutter speed and aperture according to what settings are more appropriate.

My examples are based in a well lit street and therefore I don't actually need the lowest aperture number and the longest shutter speed to achieve my light trails because there woudl be too much light in my image. However, I want to keep my shutter speed fairly long so that I get a good amount of time capturing the light trails. Therefore, my first step, when knowing that my settings are letting in too much light, is to increase my aperture from the lowest, up towards the highest f number in order to block out a little more light.

Whilst this would probably be sufficient in a lot of evening street scenes, I have a lot of lights and a lot of cars in most of my shots, so there is still too much light entering the shot. Therefore, I cut my shutter speed down to 8" (seconds) and then down again to 6" (Seconds) in order to get the right balance of light in my shot to keep the scene illuminated, but so that the car lights don't over expose the image too much.

I left the images on my other computer so I will upload them late on but I just wanted to update the blog for the moment to keep you in the loop.

Things to remember:

1 - Always use a tripod. 15 seconds is a long amount of time to keep still and likeliness is, you will move and blur your image if you aren't careful.

2 - On a similar note, set your self timer to go at 2 seconds. This gives you enough time to press the shutter and either leave the camera on the tripod, or steady your hand, whichever method you are using and let the camera take the picture.

3 - Put your Shutter down to 15" (seconds), your ISO will be limited at 100 and put your aperture as low as possible. If you zoom, your lowest aperture will be higher up the aperture scale as it can't go aas low as f2.7 if you are zooming.

4 - If you image is too bright, change your aperture to a higher number. This will maintain a long exposure for the light trails but block a little of the light out. If this isn't enough, start to shorten your exposure time by a couple of seconds until the balance of light is right.

Step Twenty Seven - Using long exposure to create light trails

CHDK Override ISO Video Up

2012-09-25T11:18:00.001-07:00

The next video for Overriding ISO using CHDK is up.

It's pretty straightforward and is really handy when you want to capture pictures of the night sky without the SX40 stumping you with the ISO limitation. Even though you can mess around with longer exposures, this is probably the simplest way to do it however it will cause more grain than using a long exposure.

Facebook based photography theme

2012-09-25T07:04:00.002-07:00

I decided to run a photography theme over on the Facebook page just to give us something to challenge ourselves with! See Below for the post:

"Light and Shadow!

I'm thinking that's it's time to get our thinking caps on for some photography fun. If anyone is up for it, why not join in just for the challenge and if we enjoy it, we can make it a regular thing.

So let's do a photo theme! I can't really do prizes but it's really just for fun and practise and a change to get creative!

I think this week (may as well finish it on Sunday) can

be related to light and shadow. Have you taken - or can you take - a picture that gives the feeling of the contrast between light and shadow?

It can be anything you like, and anywhere, from the shadow of trees as the sun goes down, to torches behind glass bottles or strange shapes you can turn into interesting shadows. Something like that.

As I said, a bit of fun but we will see how interesting everyone finds it ;) Enjoy!

P.S Don't forget to write in the description what you did to achieve the picture ;)"

Good Luck!

Whoops!

2012-09-18T08:49:00.003-07:00

Just a quick note to say that I have had to temporarily take down the Step Two for CHDK on Shutter Speeds as another user has informed me that my maths is off. Need to review the video but as I have made the rest of the series, I will continue to upload those whilst Im figuring it out :/

Huh? ND In or Out? What's the deal?

2012-09-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who are venturing into the big bad world of CHDK and all the wonders it reveals, you will have seen the option in the Extra Photo Operations Menu for ND Filter State.

For those who don't know, an ND filter is a Neutral Density filter and is essentially darkened glass that is placed over the front of your camera lens. This glass allows you to take a photograph in a brightly lit environment without over exposing your image.

The most common example is with Waterfalls and rivers. Have you ever seen those pictures where the water looks so smooth and silky? This is done with a long exposure. Taking an image for approimately 1.5 seconds or more, allows the photographer to capture the motion of the water which leads to this very silky looking water.

However, if you have ever tried to take a long exposure of even half a second, in daylight, that image will be incredibly over exposed/too bright. So we place this dark glass over our lens. The dark glass means that light slowly creeps into the image, without flooding in too fast. This allows our picture to capture the movement of the water over time, e.g for 2 seconds, without too much light hitting the sensor too quickly.

The result? A nice balanced exposure, but that great smooth looking water from our long exposure.

Some cameras have a Neutral Density filter built in and those cameras apply the filter to images in this sort of situation. The camera is quite often doing this for the user without the user actually being aware of it.

When the camera has a built in neutral density filter, it will swing the filter down between the lens and the camera sensor to act the same way a filter in front of the lens would work - stopping too much light hitting the sensor too fast. The SX40 doesn't have a built in ND filter but the override in CHDK allows us to have a bash at it!

The options for the ND filter state can sound confusing but now we know how a built in ND filter works, we can understand the odd phrasing. The options for the Neutral Density Filter are Off (self explanatory), In (The filter is swung down in front of the sensor) or Out (The filter is swung out and not in use).

Assuming we had a camera with a built in ND filter we would have the following options with CHDK:

Off - Let the camera choose whether or not to use the ND Filter
In - Force the camera to swing the ND filter down in front of the sensor
Out - Force the camera to stop using the ND filter and swing it out of the way

As the SX40 doesn't have one built in, all we really need to see is Off and In options as Out will essentially be the same as switching it off for us.

When CHDK activates the ND filter state, it overrides our camera to allow a long shutter speed but maintains a darker image. As we don't actually have a built in filter, it can't work miracles and if you were trying a 15 second shutter in daylight, it can't actually override our settings in a way to stop that being over exposed but it certainly works to a point as I demonstrate in the new video.

I hope that's pretty clear and have fun playing around with it :)

Exposure Value and balancing light - Prepare your brain!

2012-09-05T01:57:00.001-07:00

I have just uploaded a new video about Exposure Value and balancing the light in your image.

When we use the exposure meter on the camera it gives us an average balance of light to work towards to match the light in the room for an accurate picture. In a lot of situations, we may want this light to be a little brighter or vice versa but it's always handy to be able to find an average exposure level to begin with.

The exposure meter changes depending on what settings we are using, so when we make an adjustment to our Shutter Speed, Aperture or ISO, the light in the image changes and the meter will show us if those settings are causing the image to be over exposed (too much light) or under exposed (too little light).

The measurement of exposure is often referred to as a 'stop'. This is not referring specifically to just shutter speed, just aperture or just ISO, it is a combination of all of them. However when we are changing our exposure, the change we make is measured on a scale that uses the 'stop' system.

Stops for Shutter Speed are seen as this:

1/8000, 1/4000, 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1" etc

For Aperture:

f22 (f/22),16 (f/16), f/11, f/8.0, f/5.6, f/4.0, f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.8 etc

And for ISO:

100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200

So each of these numbers are a stop measurement.

If I had a shutter speed of 1/60 and I was told to increase my shutter speed by two stops, I would then change it to 1/250 as this is two numbers up the scale.

Sometimes we need to use a specific setting. As an example, if I wanted to take a slow exposure of water, but I had already balanced my exposure to 1/250 and f2.7 and ISO 400 then I would need to adjust my shutter speed - this would then put my exposure out of balance. But if we use the stop measurements as a guide we can easily get back to a balanced exposure without guessing at our settings.

So we have 1/250 SS, F2.7 A and 400 ISO but we want a shutter speed of 1/4000. So we are moving 3 stops up the shutter speed scale:

1/8000, 1/4000, 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1"
+3 +2 +1

So we have moved 3 stops and our image will be too dark as we have sped up our shutter and not compensated for the lack of light.

We can then balance this out by moving either out Aperture or ISO an equal amount of stops. In this situation, we started off with an Aperture of f2.7 and as this is the lowest we can go on the SX40 we won't be able to move this setting to let in more light. This leaves only our ISO to change, so we move our ISO 3 stops up the ISO scale in order to compensate for the Shutter Speed and to let in more light:

100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
+1 +2 +3

So we now have a new setting for our image of 1/4000 Shutter Speed, f2.7 Aperture and 3200 ISO which allows us to take that picture with a faster shutter, and to maintain a good level of light in our image.

It seems a little complex but it's actually quite straightforward.

One last thing to mention is that on the SX40 you can also do fractions of a stop so instead of our Shutter Speed jumping from 1/30 to 1/60, the SX40 allows us to use 1/40 and 1/50 too. These smaller fractions are not part of the scale to measure light changes. Only the parts of the scale that have a number above them are full stops. You'll see what I mean in the new video.

I hope that is fairly easy to follow as it isn't so easy to explain!!

Meeting fellow SX40ers and making those videos!

2012-09-04T02:10:00.006-07:00

I was out in London Zoo (ZSL) yesterday afternoon and came across a fellow SX40er from youtube. It was a really nice encounter and quite a surprise but it's probably a good thing I was fatdragon as I can imagine a stranger being asked that question may have wondered why they looked like a fatdragon in the first place haha!

But back to business... I have made the most ridiculous mistakes in the la

st month or so that are stopping me from making videos. If it's not cloudy, I have forgotten my charger or I have forgotten the battery or something like that and when I say I forgot them, I was moving around during the weekends and trying to get videos made on the move and as you can see... not working out too well.

So anyway, I am hoping that I have time this week to finally finish off the two videos I have been working on. The first was about using CHDK to take long exposures at night time, particularly for taking images of the stars. This was all going well until every night clouded over and I wasn't able to take demo shots so once I get those, that video is done.

The next video is talking about CHDK in more depth and my my there is a LOT to learn! I have been going through the menu thoroughly and there are many things I have to learn, practise with and look up before I can demo them in a video, hence why this video is taking longer to make.

Add on top of this, the fact that I am travelling every weekend and busy most weeknights and making videos becomes a little more difficult, but persistance is key!

I also have a giveaway video coming up after those two so keep your eyes peeled ;)

It's great to see everyones posts and experiments with photography so keep them coming!

HQ Burst Mode Vs Sports Mode

2012-08-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have often found that, when trying to use the Sports Mode on the SX40, the focus is too slow and the amount of frames per second the camera captures just doesn't do the job.

Well I was out for a walk this afternoon in an area with a lot of bees and thought about how I could really do with a camera that can do lots of frames per second so I could capture the bees in flight. Well along comes HQ Burst Mode which I had neglected to try out since getting the camera really.

This mode shoots 8 frames per second and continually focuses during the picture taking process which means that likeliness is... you will get at least one decent picture of the 8 that you took.

So I went chasing after the bees and managed to get some pretty decent shots:

I went to a Rodeo in Wyoming a few months ago and the sports mode couldn't get one shot in focus... if onyl I had known about this setting then!!

Anyway, just sharing some thoughts ;)

Canon gave a response! (+ new upcoming video)

2012-08-23T04:49:00.002-07:00

So exciting times indeed when Canon respond to a question!

I wrote to Canon to ask them if it was likely that they would release an update for the SX40 that allowed us to have a higher ISO when we are using a slow shutter. This would improve night photography and instead of giving us a couple of dots on a black background... we would actually start to see constellations and clear stars.

I didn't expect and answer but Canon kindly responded to explain their reasoning for locking the ISO on the SX40 and potential plans for changing this in the future. Note that I say "Potential" plans as we all know it would be much better for Canon to just wait until the next model so that it includes one more extra thing that seems superior over the SX40!

So here's Canons response anyway:

"I am pleased to advise that I have received a response regarding the ISO limitation on the SX40.

I have been advised that this feedback has been provided before, and therefore Canon Inc are aware of this request from customers.

As suspected, unfortunately we do not have any further information on if this will be changed - either by firmware for this model, or if it will be removed in subsequent models.

They advise that this limitation has been placed on the SX40 due to the small size of the sensor, and the fact that this combined with higher ISO's will mean that the noise/grain will be significant. They have therefore decided to restrict the ISO to guarantee a certain standard of image quality.

I appreciate that this is disappointing for you, I apologise for this and hope that this is of some use to you."

So whilst they aren't guaranteeing anything, they have explained the thought process behind the limitations and they have acknowledged that it is frustrating for SX40 users.

So rather than wait to spend another 400-500 pounds on a new camera and wait another who knows how many months for its release... we are going to have a play with CHDK to unlock that ISO and get ourselves some good old night photography.

As we all know by now, the SX40 only allows a 15" shutter speed and when we use that 15 second our ISO is limited to 100. So we are going to use CHDK to unlock our ISO and capture that night sky whilst still keeping our pictures at 15 seconds.

Now, CHDK can unlock shutter speed as well, and to be honest, the picture quality will be better with a slower shutter, than it would with a high ISO but we are going to take this one step at a time. So the plans for the next video is to show how to use CHDK to override the ISO and take long exposure night shots. And then we are going to top up that knowledge with how to extend the shutter speed instead to get the same result with higher quality.

I hope that hasn't baffled anyone too much and keep your eyes peeled for the next video.

Photoshop Tutorial: Using Actions to Batch Edit - Black and White

2012-08-08T15:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a new video for Photoshop running through the methods you can follow to get Photoshop to edit lots of pictures in one go for you. Sit back and let Photoshop change all your pictures to Black and White whilst you go have a dance in the kitchen and make a cup of tea!