Recently I picked up a new hobby to play with ----- Photography. Well, what makes me into this photo thingy anyway?
I'm not a photo-graph-y enthusiast to start with, in fact, I'm more to computer hardware maniac that frequently reads up news and trends about the computer world.
Well, the idea of taking photographs came to me when I was in university. Friends around me often takes alot of photos and then post them on facebook frequently. One day, I got the chance to ask them why, and the reply I got was simply --- "memories"
I'm not a photo-graph-y enthusiast to start with, in fact, I'm more to computer hardware maniac that frequently reads up news and trends about the computer world.
Well, the idea of taking photographs came to me when I was in university. Friends around me often takes alot of photos and then post them on facebook frequently. One day, I got the chance to ask them why, and the reply I got was simply --- "memories"
Yes, memories.. The existence of digital cameras encouraged the trend of taking daily photos and then share with friends through various online medium, because it is simply easy, convenient and cheap (film-less). Compare to the old days where I still remember we refrained ourselves from taking too much pictures when concerned about the price of films and often inconvenient to change the film while in the photo-taking-spree.
At that time, my family only possesses an outdated and bulky digital camera, which is a 3.2MP Canon PowerShot A75. This camera was bought quite some time ago and it's really not appealing to me (at least for me) to use it, but well, it does its job fairly well at the time. Pictures will be updated later.
Often I use my k810's camera to take my daily pics and the image quality is just OK only if you compared to a camera, but it is still way better than other phone cameras, at least for that time being.
It was last year, 2009, when my mum suggested to buy a new camera because we often missed out some special moments and gatherings during festive seasons and so on. We often rely on other people's camera and wait them to transfer or send the photos to us through email. Furthermore in some occasions, like a family outing, where no relatives are around, we only use our phone's camera to take pictures, as our A75 has already end its service some time ago. The outcome of the photos were frustrating and that's when my mum decided to get a decent one.
We stumbled upon some camera booths in a book fest that was held in KLCC in 2009, Sony and Olympus booth to be exact. After comparing and discussed, we decided to buy the Sony CyberShot W190 due to a few reasons. More details can be found in my previous post about the book fest.
Book Fest 2009 KLCC
The trendy look of the camera and the purpose of storing "memories" builds up my interest of taking photos (yes, photos, not photo-graphy) and slowly we start to take more pictures than before. However, because we knew nothing about camera, or to be precise, photography; pictures that we took often look not-so-appealing and was just basically point-and-shoot (PnS). Well, this is what compact digital cameras are designed for anyway, point and shoot.
Being unsatisfied with the auto-mode, we (my brother and I) start to explore the manual functions of this Sony W190 and noticed that we are able to adjust some manual settings such as white balance (WB), ISO speed, image quality (resolution) and some basic filters. This is the first time we go into the camera settings and to learn what it is used for. We also learn that the small flower symbol is actually macro-mode, and was previously mistaken as TO-TAKE-PICTURES-OF-FLOWERS-ONLY. Yes, I know it sounds dumb, well, who's a born genius anyway?
With the newly "discovered" function, we go more into macro photography (for compacts, not SLRs) than normal mode because this is the only way we are able to capture some images with soft background rendering i.e. bokeh.
It's during this year's CNY trip to Cameron Highland that initiates my interest of taking nice photos. There are a few photos that I particularly like that were taken in macro mode, it gives the feel of the photo was actually taken with a DSLR. It gives me confident on taking nice pictures and encourages me to learn more.
However, my main frustration is the performance of compacts under low light. As known, low light capturing is a nightmare to most, if not all compact digital cameras. At high ISO, the image taken is really unbearable and hand shake often occurs due to the low shutter speed and nothing we can do about it because we are unable to change any setting about it. Due to this reason, we often missed out many occasions and also wasted a lot of shutters on blurry images taken under low light conditions. However, it still performs fairly well under proper lighting especially the creamy bokeh it produces even for a compact digital camera.
The idea of getting a DSLR often struck me when I was poisoned by the photos taken by DSLR and also the trend that is on going where many people starts to own one. Many people around me, including friends and families are getting a DSLR one by one. I held back my idea to get one due to a few reasons:-
After my exams and finished my university life, I took up some time to read about DSLRs and photography while waiting for my result. And when I got to know my results, it is when I saw the light coming from the end of the tunnel, I will consider of buying a DSLR to reward myself. But of course, I will not simply buy something without doing proper survey about it and how to use it.
It took me some time to decide on the budget and model that I want and started to hunt for the best deal. Not long after that, I went for National Service and my plan of buying a DSLR was halted. At the same time, I asked my gf and my brother to continue surveying the market for the best deal.
When I got to know that Canon has a promotion of 1+2 years warranty that will end on 31st of August 2010 (which is then extended to 31st of December 2010), I know I could no longer wait because I do not want to miss out the additional 2 years warranty, and yes, the model I was looking for is a Canon, a Canon EOS 550D to be exact.
When I have my holiday break during August 10~15, I decided to buy it. "Born" on 11 August 2010, my new baby, Canon EOS 550D, joined my gadget family and photography become my new hobby.
More details about how and why I decided to get a DSLR and why Canon 550D will be updated in the next post.
Photos will be uploaded soon.
At that time, my family only possesses an outdated and bulky digital camera, which is a 3.2MP Canon PowerShot A75. This camera was bought quite some time ago and it's really not appealing to me (at least for me) to use it, but well, it does its job fairly well at the time. Pictures will be updated later.
Often I use my k810's camera to take my daily pics and the image quality is just OK only if you compared to a camera, but it is still way better than other phone cameras, at least for that time being.
It was last year, 2009, when my mum suggested to buy a new camera because we often missed out some special moments and gatherings during festive seasons and so on. We often rely on other people's camera and wait them to transfer or send the photos to us through email. Furthermore in some occasions, like a family outing, where no relatives are around, we only use our phone's camera to take pictures, as our A75 has already end its service some time ago. The outcome of the photos were frustrating and that's when my mum decided to get a decent one.
We stumbled upon some camera booths in a book fest that was held in KLCC in 2009, Sony and Olympus booth to be exact. After comparing and discussed, we decided to buy the Sony CyberShot W190 due to a few reasons. More details can be found in my previous post about the book fest.
Book Fest 2009 KLCC
The trendy look of the camera and the purpose of storing "memories" builds up my interest of taking photos (yes, photos, not photo-graphy) and slowly we start to take more pictures than before. However, because we knew nothing about camera, or to be precise, photography; pictures that we took often look not-so-appealing and was just basically point-and-shoot (PnS). Well, this is what compact digital cameras are designed for anyway, point and shoot.
Being unsatisfied with the auto-mode, we (my brother and I) start to explore the manual functions of this Sony W190 and noticed that we are able to adjust some manual settings such as white balance (WB), ISO speed, image quality (resolution) and some basic filters. This is the first time we go into the camera settings and to learn what it is used for. We also learn that the small flower symbol is actually macro-mode, and was previously mistaken as TO-TAKE-PICTURES-OF-FLOWERS-ONLY. Yes, I know it sounds dumb, well, who's a born genius anyway?
With the newly "discovered" function, we go more into macro photography (for compacts, not SLRs) than normal mode because this is the only way we are able to capture some images with soft background rendering i.e. bokeh.
It's during this year's CNY trip to Cameron Highland that initiates my interest of taking nice photos. There are a few photos that I particularly like that were taken in macro mode, it gives the feel of the photo was actually taken with a DSLR. It gives me confident on taking nice pictures and encourages me to learn more.
However, my main frustration is the performance of compacts under low light. As known, low light capturing is a nightmare to most, if not all compact digital cameras. At high ISO, the image taken is really unbearable and hand shake often occurs due to the low shutter speed and nothing we can do about it because we are unable to change any setting about it. Due to this reason, we often missed out many occasions and also wasted a lot of shutters on blurry images taken under low light conditions. However, it still performs fairly well under proper lighting especially the creamy bokeh it produces even for a compact digital camera.
The idea of getting a DSLR often struck me when I was poisoned by the photos taken by DSLR and also the trend that is on going where many people starts to own one. Many people around me, including friends and families are getting a DSLR one by one. I held back my idea to get one due to a few reasons:-
- I'm not good at photography
- I don't wanna follow trend unless I'm sure I really wants it
- I know nothing about DSLR/brand/lenses/accessories
- I believe I can do better with a compact
- and lastly, I DON'T HAVE THE MONEY
After my exams and finished my university life, I took up some time to read about DSLRs and photography while waiting for my result. And when I got to know my results, it is when I saw the light coming from the end of the tunnel, I will consider of buying a DSLR to reward myself. But of course, I will not simply buy something without doing proper survey about it and how to use it.
It took me some time to decide on the budget and model that I want and started to hunt for the best deal. Not long after that, I went for National Service and my plan of buying a DSLR was halted. At the same time, I asked my gf and my brother to continue surveying the market for the best deal.
When I got to know that Canon has a promotion of 1+2 years warranty that will end on 31st of August 2010 (which is then extended to 31st of December 2010), I know I could no longer wait because I do not want to miss out the additional 2 years warranty, and yes, the model I was looking for is a Canon, a Canon EOS 550D to be exact.
When I have my holiday break during August 10~15, I decided to buy it. "Born" on 11 August 2010, my new baby, Canon EOS 550D, joined my gadget family and photography become my new hobby.
More details about how and why I decided to get a DSLR and why Canon 550D will be updated in the next post.
Photos will be uploaded soon.
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