Category: photography

“Year of the Digital SLR?”

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

Popular Photography has an article on the question “Have we entered the Year of the Digital SLR?”. There’re some interesting bits in there, including the apparent equivalency that a traditional analog SLR would be comparable to a 20 MP digicam.This was my favorite part, though:

And 2002 could turn out to be the year of the affordable digital SLR (or, as Japanese designers would say, “Kotoshi wa digital SLR yasuhunarimasu!”). […]

That quote just came out of nowhere, and I’m not even sure what it means. But, I like it ;).

Dallas Darkroom

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

At the DFWBlogs Cocktail Event yesterday, I asked Mike how he would recommend learning the techniques of photography framing and composition (as he deals with photography professionally). After all, with a decent SLR, taking physically good picutures isn’t as difficult as it once was, but framing and composition is still a bit of a learned art.

He recommended Dallas Darkroom — “A Teaching Darkroom Featuring Enlarger and Studio Rental”. According to Mike, they even offered basic black & white darkroom training for just $5 (which is true).

It turns out that they offer many photography classes (not just the $5-darkroom training). And, confirming a hunch, most of them were more normally-priced ($150-$300 or so). At first, that was a bit of a let-down but I then realized that if you’re spending a kilobuck on a camera anyway, then an additional $150 to learn how to use it is Money Well Spent.

So, after I purchase an analog SLR (this spring sometime, hopefully), I’ll definitely take one of those classes as well (and, after briefly perusing the course descriptions, it looks like “Elements of Photography” would suit me well).

Digicam Meetup

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I’ve quite enjoyed the Meetups that I’ve been to so far, including Slashdot and other topics.

In case you’re not familiar with the idea, people sign up with Meetup for their interests, and the system matches people up so that they can meet as a group.

Anyhow, I thought that some of the bloggers may be interested in the Dallas Meetup for Digicams. Right now, there’re only three people signed up (myself and revjim included), so we need more people :).

Film vs Digital

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From the comments of this Slashdot story on Canon’s new 11 Mpixel camera is this article comparing digital cameras to traditional film:

It was only a couple of years ago that a 6+ megapixel camera cost over $15,000. How times change. The D60 is currently (May, 2002) available for well under U.S.$2,000 from mail-order dealers, even though supply is still short. (This is for the body only, suitable for someone upgrading from a D30. The full kit is two hundred dollars more). […]

Granted the author is comparing a digital SLR to film, so the results may not apply to a run-of-the-mill digicam ;). But, the results are interesting nonetheless.

Picture Day

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

Today was “picture day” at work, where a photographer came in and took our pictures (separately, and as a group), supposedly for the website or something. But, I had to wear a suit today, so that was a bit of a bummer.

During the small talk that photographers seem to do, I asked him whether he was using an F5 (I saw its Nikon badge, so that helped narrow it down). However, it turns out that he was using a digital camera! Granted, this was no ordinary digicam, but Nikon’s D1X, a digital SLR. At $6,000 for the body alone (lenses are extra), the D1X is a very capable camera.

Interestingly enough, the D1X doesn’t have a huge resolution. It “only” has 5.33 Megapixels, and there are other 5 Megapixel cameras available from Nikon at less than a fifth of the price. Of course, the big difference is in confiigurability and picture quality. And, in many ways, I can relate to that sentiment. I’m also starting to look over digital cameras and, though I don’t typically need ultra-high resolution, I would like optimum picture quality.

Anyhow, the photographer had the camera setup with wireless triggers for external flash-stands (the flash hotshoe on the camera just had a box with an antenna). It was really quite a fascinating setup. And, I had wanted to talk to him more about his equipment, but when I came back after I thought all the photographs were completed, he had already left.