I’ve had my eye glued to the viewfinder of my D200 to a degree that friends assume I’ve had an incident with a bottle of superglue. The short story is that the results have been great (considering the mug using the camera) and I simply love this camera to bits.
I’ve found it exceedingly easy to use, very responsive and relatively simple to set up to my tastes once I got my head around the intricacies of all the available menu options.
Being keen to keep this mint camera looking as new for as long as possible, I eventually managed to get some Camera Armor – after working through (and losing) three Trade Me auctions, I got miffed and just bought a D200 set at the buy now price and I’m pretty chuffed with it. I already had an LCD protector on the camera and had no intention of using the hideously ugly lens protector, so I really only wanted the body armor.
The armor adds a fair amount of bulk to the body, especially around the grip. It’s manageable for my hands but anyone with small hands need not apply, regardless of how much they want to protect their beloved camera.
Thanks to a very kind gift from my father, I’m now the proud owner of a Nikon D200 and a Nikon 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 DX lens.
This DSLR is a bloody gem; it looks good, feels good and takes a mean picture when the brain behind the viewfinder is appropriately engaged. I’ve spent more than a few hours going over the manual, the Magic Lantern guide and Ken Rockwell’s D200 User’s Guide (great site BTW www.kenrockwell.com) and I’m still only just getting to grips with the many options.
The build quality is a level beyond the entry level DSLRs I’ve been trying out recently – as good as they are, the D200 is just better built in every respect, which makes sense because it was just below Nikon’s top of the food chain professional D2 range in its day. It’s long been superseded by the somewhat improved D300, which is apparently due for a facelift any day now, so the D200 is an aging star but it’s aging very gracefully indeed.
It’s a perfect fit for my hands, everything just seems to be in the right place and while it’s relatively heavy, it’s not too big to stash or too weighty to stash in a small bag.
The lens is a marvelously versatile unit as well, sure it’s compromised compared to a lens with less of a zoom range but with an equivalent 27-300mm on the camera at all times, I’m not exactly swapping lenses on and off on a regular basis, so I don’t have any dust problems. I’ve got a Tamron 70-300mm in the bag for the days when I have to reach out into the far distance but I haven’t needed it yet.
I’ll grab a 35mm prime lens soon and then a wide angle but they’re for specific situations, so I can see that I’ll be doing most of my shooting with the 18-200mm, which suits me down to the ground.
First reactions to the GH1 vary wildly – D-Photo’s art director shoots with a conventional DSLR, so when he raised the Pana to his eye, he took one look at the electronic viewfinder (EVF) and blurted out “What the hell? That’s not a viewfinder”. One of the sales team thought it was ugly, while two others thought the size and looks were very cool.
The GH1 is a bit of a conundrum. It looks like a DSLR but it’s very definitely not. There’s no mirror system and no pentaprism, so no reflex action happening anywhere. It’s actually an interchangeable lens digital camera (an ILDC I suppose, although some would include “compact” in that description making it an ILCDC). The GH1 is very similar to the G1 that Harley Ogier rated very highly in D-Photo 28 but the new version shoots full HD video.
The GH1 is beautifully built, although the smooth plastic finish won’t be to everyone’s taste. The body is light, weighing in at a svelte 385 grams. Attach the 14-140mm (equivalent 24-280mm) MEGO OIS stabilized kit lens however and the scale swings to just over 900 grams and the balance becomes quite front heavy, handling almost like a standard DSLR with a chunky lens on and hanging a little awkwardly from the neck strap, which is way too narrow for almost a kilogram of camera – memo to Panasonic – wider straps please.
The body is really compact, my little finger hangs underneath the GH1 because I just can’t fit it on the grip. It’s still stable to use but the controls are small and close together– the rear cursor controls in particular are undersized because the big folding LCD screen takes up a huge whack of the available real estate. The left hand cursor button happens to be placed awkwardly alongside the folded screen, just where my thumb needs to be to operate it.
I’m making this sound worse than it is because I’ve got reasonably big hands (they’re not Sasquatch paws though) and I can still use the GH1 quite easily. Anyway, some of the best photographs ever were taken with small rangefinder and SLR cameras, so it’s not the end of the world. It just took a while to get used to the various functional eccentricities and once I did, I found it very easy to use. The advantage of the aforementioned small body and close controls is that you don’t have to reach too far to get to all the bits that count.
Then we come to the electronic viewfinder, which is a strange beast. I know it’s there because there’s no mirror and so an optical viewfinder isn’t possible but at first, I felt as if I was looking at a computer monitor from an inch away. It’s a tad pixilated and noisy especially at night and judders like a donkey cart on cobblestones when you move it too fast but after a day with it, I barely noticed that it wasn’t a standard viewfinder, the detail and contrast are excellent and it’s got a few features that absolutely rock.
Change the film mode to black and white or vibrant and you immediately see the effect in the EVF, just like on the LCD on a compact. You can also navigate both the quick and full menus in the EVF without dropping the camera down to look at the LCD and even better, because it’s an LCD, you can play back images immediately without changing your composition, which I really liked. How about a live histogram in the viewfinder in the position you choose or adjustable gridlines if that floats your boat? I pretty much kept the LCD folded away so I couldn’t see it and just ran the camera for the weekend on the EVF, after a while it becomes almost instinctive and being able to change ISO settings, white balance, focus settings etc with the camera to the eye is fantastic.
Set the GH1 into manual focus, touch the focus ring on the lens and the EVF automatically zooms in so you can set the focus as accurately as possible; you can control the level of magnification in this mode as well.
I love the way the single command dial operates both shutter speed and aperture, just push it in like the scroll wheel on a mouse to change from shutter to aperture, push again to change back.
So my first impressions of the GH1 after a weekend are quite positive, it’s certainly different and we’d better get used to this type of unit. Micro four thirds format cameras and lenses are here to stay and Samsung has its own range of hybrid interchangeable lens cameras coming – according to a March 09 issue of UK magazine Amateur Photographer, the Samsung NX series will use APS-C sensors with no mirror box or pentaprism and they’ll be released in late 2009, all going well.
Hah! Scored another Friday afternoon camera to borrow for the weekend. A Pana GH1 arrived yesterday but won’t be picked up by a reviewer until next week, so home with me it goes. You snooze, you lose and no one ever accused me of being asleep when there was loot to be had.
The GH1 is the current state of the art in DIGITAL single lens reflex cameras, not from a performance or functionality point of view but rather in terms of adopting digital camera technologies and forcing them into the SLR form factor.
It’s got full time live view on a 3 inch articulating LCD, an electronic viewfinder i.e. no mirror (which equals a tiny body), can accept an external microphone for the full-HD 1920 x 1080 video at 24 fps or 1280 x 720 video at 60 fps that it can record and it even has continuous autofocus in video mode. There’s Panasonic’s iA or Intelligent Auto mode to make transitioning to a DSLR easy while still offering full manual control and just like any self respecting digital compact, it’s available in multiple colours as well.
The supplied kit lens is a 14-140mm zoom, which translates into a 28-280 super zoom in 35mm terms according to my maths. One lens to rule them all?
So will all this digital functionality I love so much be a blessing or a curse in an SLR? We’ll soon see – updates to follow.
I ended my last blog entry singing a sad song about not being able to use Adobe Camera Raw to process images because the version of Photoshop I’ve got won’t support the RAW files from the 500D. After using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional, I’m somewhat happier. It works, maybe it doesn’t look quite as flash as Camera Raw but it definitely does the job. Given a choice, I prefer the Adobe Bridge into Camera Raw into Photoshop workflow process but I can get that if I upgrade to the latest version of Photoshop, so enough said.
Getting back to the EOS 500D, Phil Hanson collected the review unit today but I’ve wangled another one from Canon on loan, so I’m stoked. Hopefully the Nikon D5000 will be back soon so I can borrow it because that will be an interesting comparison (hint – check out D-Photo 31). Phil will comment in detail about the image quality when he does his D-Photo review but I’m entirely happy with the quality of the files coming from the 500D and its 18-55mm kit lens.
I reckon Canon will do very well with the 500D and I’m confident that its enhanced digital functionality will become the standard on DSLRs going forward. After all, they’re DIGITAL SLRs, so why not have the benefits of digital photography onboard? I’d be surprised if features like HD Video with external mikes, useful live view and articulated screens, even touch screens for that matter along with GPS and WiFi don’t eventually filter up and down the DSLR ranges from most manufacturers.
Saturday 08h35
It’s time for breakfast at Jafa in Grey Lynn, which should be café of the year in my opinion – the Tone and D-Photo teams spend a lot of time here and I even come back for more on the weekends. I’ve got the Saturday papers, some just right scrambled eggs and a strong latte to keep me happy. At my feel is a heavy backpack with both the 500D and my Fuji S3Pro (got to be prepared for any eventuality).
I took a few shots on the way over and the small form factor of the 500D is no handicap but getting used to the Canon’s single dial to adjust both shutter speed and aperture is proving a bugbear. After a month of daily use with the Fuji and its Nikon style dual dials, I’m already hardwired to the front and back controls.
On the other hand, the 500D’s 3” LCD screen is great, the Fuji’s screen is an old school 2” number, which looks like a postage stamp in comparison.
Saturday 10h40
Walking around the CBD on a tour of galleries hosting exhibits from the Auckland Festival of Photography and thus far, editor Grey has only poked me in the back twice with the monster 70-400mm Sony lens he’s dragging around the city. It’s a review unit attached to an Alpha 900 and it’s an impressive package. I’m not entirely sure if I should be feeling a little emasculated considering the 18-55mm kit lens on the 500D but eventually decide that photography doesn’t work that way, which is a good thing – 600mm lenses aren’t cheap.
The light weight of the 500D is a blessing, if only I’d left the backpack behind, I’d be no more encumbered than if I was carrying a large point and shoot camera. Where’s a 30mm pancake lens when you need one? The handling of the Canon is starting to make sense the more I use it and running it in manual is no hassle at all now that my fingers aren’t automatically reaching for different controls. I’m noticing a tendency to rush my shots though; the minimal mass in my hands is making me treat the 500D like a point and shoot and of course, with all its auto modes, it can function as one but that’s not my agenda. Must slow down.
Saturday 17h25
Shooting the sunset at Herne Bay and finding it hard to concentrate on what I’m doing as the other photographer leaning on the railing has a lovely Leica rig. How much do you get for a kidney these days? He’s had a go with the 500D and his first comment was “so light”, which I’ve heard three times today from different people.
I’d still like a bigger camera body but I could live with something the size of a 500D. I’ll have to try it with a bigger and heavier lens when Dan our photographer shoots it for D-Photo, just to see if the balance and handling go to pot because of the light body. I will also have to grab a Nikon D5000 to compare it to the 500D, these two cameras are going to be hero products for these major brands and it’s going to be interesting to see how they’ve implemented very similar feature sets.
Saturday 18h19
Running images through my laptop and getting grumpy because my usually smooth workflow has been disrupted – Photoshop CS3 supports up to v4.6 of Adobe Camera Raw and that doesn’t support the RAW files from the 500D. I’m using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional to process the RAW images. Mutter moan, I’m a creature of habit and I like using Camera Raw so I’m packing a sad and will look at this situation in the fresh light of day.
Friday 16h32
Sometimes the fates are kind, it’s late on the last day of a long week, “beer o’clock” as it’s called in NZ and a courier has just dropped off a box from Canon NZ addressed to photo titles editor Tim Grey. It’s an EOS500D DSLR, come in to be reviewed in the next issue of D-Photo.
Now Tim’s occupied with moving into his first Auckland house and the Parkside photographers are nowhere to be seen, so it won’t go into our studio today. It would be a shame to consign this camera to a lonely weekend in the ultra secure product room in the depths of the compound, so I guess I’ll just have to look after it until uncle Phil Hanson pops in to grab it on Monday.
Friday 18h13
Carefully opened the box (yeah right) and found the 500D has a charged battery and an SD card. Hallelujah! We’re all systems go. I must remember to “borrow’ one of our studio tripods more often because I suddenly feel like charging off into the night to photograph Auckland by night but without a tripod, I’m not sure. Oh well, will have to content myself with arty shots of the inside of my cupboard.
My first impression is a double take of the size difference between the 500D and the old Fujifilm S3Pro DSLR that I’m currently using; fitted with the 18-55mm kit lens, it’s actually tiny compared to the Fuji and so much lighter. It vanishes into my camera bag where the Fuji just sort of sits on top of everything.
The case is plastic like most entry level DSLRs but it’s solidly put together, there’s no flexing or creaking. Initially it felt a little too small for my meaty paws but all the controls fall to hand easily enough, the control layout is logically laid out and the menus are straight forward, especially if you’ve used a Canon before. Gave it to my flat mate to try and in full auto mode, she was shooting happily in a moment, in addition to the manual and priority modes, there are enough other modes (macro, portrait, action, night etc) to keep DSLR novices content as they transition from a point and shoot AND there’s full HD video.
So…the EOS500D is solidly built, seems easy to use and shoots HD vids? I’ve got a busy day in Auckland tomorrow checking out more of the festival, so we’ll soon see this DSLR can live up to its promise.
It’s been a great time to pick up a camera again because I’m finding no end of inspiration out there. In addition to getting fired up by working with the passionate crew on D-Photo and The Photographer’s Mail and dealing with the industry in general, I’ve been taking in the Auckland Festival of Photography 2009.
With my fellow photo nut about town, Mr. Tim Grey, I’ve been to seven exhibitions across the city, starting with the Gravity Festival on Tuesday, where we were shuttled around in a small fleet of even smaller Minis, including one driven by a lovely young South Island lass in a Cooper cabriolet who thought barreling around the city in Winter with the top down was a fun idea. Apparently people from down South don’t consider Auckland cold. Still, despite my frozen ears, the five exhibitions were hot (or is that cool?) and well worth attending.
Being able to see a variety of exhibitions dotted around town in one night was a real pleasure and I particularly enjoyed As a Hero of Nippon by Mark Leonard Watts at the Satellite Gallery in Newton . What I initially assumed was an exercise in Photoshop turned out to be a blend of technical expertise and clever post production work – well worth a look. Harvey Benge’s BIG WORK small works at the Bath Street Gallery in Parnell was also very, very cool.
On Wednesday, we got around to the opening night of the Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards, which is a marvelous showcase of some of best photography that NZ has to offer. There are 150 images from the 2008 awards on show until June the 26th in the Vero Center Foyer on Shortland Street (7AM to 6PM Mon to Fri). The landscapes alone are worth the visit.
Last night we trekked to the last night of the outdoor show – The Big Little City Light Nights, where the images of five Magnum photographers were projected on the wall of the New Auckland Art Gallery. Very atmospheric and very enjoyable indeed. I had a long chat with festival director Julia Durkin, who told me that the festival has more than quadrupled in size since it started in 2004, which bodes well for photography in NZ as a whole.
There are shows running until the 21st of June and Auckland Photo Day is tomorrow – Saturday 6th of June (with prizes to be won), check out the details at www.photographyfestival.org.nz
There’s inspiration in the form of great photos secreted all over Auckland, so forget the cold, get out there, see what Kiwi’s are shooting and do some shooting yourself.
After a long break from serious photography, I’ve recently picked up a camera and poked my eye up to the viewfinder with real intent and it feels great. Except for a two year stint with a Sea and Sea underwater film camera, I’ve been using nothing but point and shoots for nearly two decades, despite having studied photography in college back in the days before digital.
If my camera de jour had an auto or program mode, I set it and forgot it but I’ve been bitten by the photography bug again and I’ve been trying out some more complex and capable units, starting with a Canon G10 compact and an EOS1000D DSLR before ending up with a FujiFilm S3Pro DSLR. I miss the romance of film and all the tactile processes involved in the processing but I’m loving the flexibility of the digital format (and Photoshop of course).
I’ve already bought a few accessories like a sturdy camera bag and a reasonable sized CF card (my old 256Mb wasn’t going to cut it in a modern camera) but I’ve realized that I missed out on the most critical of kiwi photo accessories – a pair of gumboots.
As a foreigner who lives in a modern city, I’ve never quite understood the national obsession with the gumboot but after repeatedly sinking into the slop that is the Herne Bay beach (ok the Herne Bay mangroves) and sliding around muddy Mount Albert like a hefty and graceless ice skater, I think I’ve gotten the picture. Winter in NZ demands gumboots, end of story.
At least I’ll have more time to process my shots if I don’t have to spend twenty minutes scrubbing muck from my shoes or hiking boots after every photo session, so the overall image quality has to improve.
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