Photography tips: Don't wait for full frame

Digital SLRs come in two types, full frames and crop cameras. The distinction between the two is that the full frame has a sensor the same size as 35mm film, whereas crop cameras have a smaller (cropped) sensor, also labeled APS-C. Since picture quality (at least the part that the camera can influence) is positively related to sensor size, full frame sensors deliver better pics. Moreover, manufacturers tend to put full frame sensors in better cameras, hence full frame cameras are likely to produce better results. No wonder full frame cameras are major wannahaves

Some lenses out on the market are designed specifically for APS-C cameras. They won’t fit on full frames and if they fit, they’ll cause heavy vignetting. Someone who owns a full frame camera will not buy such a lens. That makes sense. People who plan to buy a full frame camera in the future don’t buy these lenses either, which makes a whole lot less sense.

Let’s face it, most people who plan on going full frame one day, in fact only dream of going full frame one day. Even if they do buy one, ‘one day’ might be months or even years from now. All this time, they’re missing out on the good lens. Some people even buy the wrong focal length, since they are going to switch ‘one day’. Why not just have all the fun you can have with the right lens on your APS-C and resell it once you switch to full frame? The second hand market for lenses is pretty good.

And then there is technical progress. Every new generation camera is better than the previous one. If the APS-C camera is a couple of generations newer than a full frame one (as is the case with Canon’s 40D versus 5D), it might be as good and in some respects even better. Of course, you can wait for the next generation full frame. And put up with the wrong lens even longer.

More resources
Advantages of ful frame
A comparison between full frame and APS-C

What's in a name?

The world of photography contains all kinds of cameras, and even if we limit the 'world' to amateur photography, the variety is still huge. Sometimes, I get the impression that people are afraid of diversity and feel the urge to tame diversity through classification. There is nothing against classification. In fact, classification can be very useful. If you do it right, that is. And that's where the shit hits the fan.

Some people seem to think that they can divide cameras into the cattegory of Single Lens Reflex cameras (SLR's) and 'point-and-shoots'. I think this is a silly distinction. 'Point-and-shoot' refers to the way one uses the camera rather than the type of camera.

In the very early days of digital photography, point and shoot was all that you could do with a non-slr camera. But times have changed. Many of the non-slr type cameras have a range of possibillities and their use can go way beyond pointing and shooting. Sure, you can still point and shoot with these cameras, but you can do that with an SLR as well.

But wait. There is more. The people that use the term 'point-and-shoot' often use it in a condescending fashion. They seem to think that people using those cameras are low quality photographers. They make the classic mistake of thinking that it's the camera that makes a picture. It's not, it's the photographer. In fact, pointing and shooting are the two things that the photographer can not leave to the camera. Exposure and focus can be automated pretty easilly, but picking a subject, composing a picture and timinig the shot can not. Those (and not the price of the camera) are the core elements that make a great photo. Pointing and shooting form the shere essence of photography.

CamerA AbsurdA updated

I have added a new serie of pictures from a recent shoot to my online portfolio @ CamerA Absurda. This serie, featuring male model Nicky, is called The Gardener. The Gardener is the first shoot in a series of five within the Earth People-theme, featuring different male models. Other shoots still have to be planned, so it may take a while. I´ll keep you posted though.

Photography tips: dSLR or high end compact?

Many people literally grow into photography. They have a simple point-and-shoot camera for holidays, kids and so on. Gradually, they find out photography is fun, and they want to go a step further. Now they have the choice of switching to a high end compact or a low end digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex camera). This article lists the pros and cons of both, which might help to take this decision.

Sensor size
The most important difference between a dSLR and a high end compact is sensor size. Compacts, it may be no surprise, have a smaller sensor than dSLRs. The thing you will note in everyday use is that large sensors are less prone to noise at higher ISO-levels. This means that the dSLR will perform better in low light. Sensor size has several other aspects, as you may find when reading the ‘further resources’ below.

Value for money
The high end compact is clearly a winner in terms of value for money. You’ll get a great zoom range, a macro function and sometimes image stabilization as well. If you want these functions on a dSLR, you will pay twice to three times as much, and that is without the image stabilization. Sure, you’ll have a higher image quality, but under normal light conditions, the difference will hardly be noticeable, until you start buying high quality lenses. But then the price difference will obviously explode.

Change that lens!
The great thing about a dSLR is that you can change lenses. This allows for endless possibilities (and endless expenses as well). You can equip your dSLR with high quality lenses, special interest lenses, etcetera, etcetera. This is going to cost you, both in money terms and in terms of having to carry all those lenses with you and changing lenses every time. With a compact, you have an all-in-one lens, but expansion is hardly possible.

Big is beautiful (?)
Compacts are smaller than dSLRs. Period. That implies that they are easier to carry and easier to tuck away. They are also less intrusive, making it easier to photograph in social situations. Size, small or big, is also important for how the camera feels in your hands. That’s very personal, depending on your hands and preferences.

A big dSLR makes you look like a genuine photographer, especially with an oversized telezoom lens. I am not being sarcastic here. Size does matter in how people see you. I know models that refuse to work with a photographer with a compact camera, no matter the quality of his work. And I have even seen models throwing awkward looks at my Holga and at my 35/2 prime, even though is was mounted on a dSLR. And apart from that, status is important to most people. That´s okay, it´s as valid a reason to buy a camera the any other reason.

Further resources
Making (some) sense out of sensor sizes
Extensive article on sensor size

Photography tips: Lens and camera reviews

When you are going to buy a camera or a lens, and once you more or less figured out what type your after, the search for the best one begins. ‘Best’ obviously depends on your personal preferences as well, but you will need information. Review pages can give you this information, but there are so many different review pages. Some of them seem to be purely commercial, some are very technical and others consist of user reviews. How to find your way in this ocean of information? Let me tell you how I gather my information. I am not saying it is the best way per se, but it might be a good starting point to develop your own.

Once you know what you want, check three review sites. FredMiranda (FM) has a large number of user reviews. User reviews have the obvious advantage that they tell you how the lens behaves in day-to-day use. They have the disadvantage that a user may judge the lens wrong. The advantage of FM is that the number of reviews is quite large, so that a single misjudgment is not likely to have a huge impact. The overall score for any lens will give you a fairly good first indication, but you should read a couple of those reviews as well. Especially focus on reading the cons of the lenses and check whether they matter to you. If a lens is voted down for its noisy AF motor but is optically sound, you may not care as much as in the case of a lens that is voted down for lack of contrast.

A second site to check is Photozone.de. They have extensive technical reviews. You may either be interested in reading the entire thing, or just the verdict, that’s up to you. Note that Photozone lists all lenses by mount. That is no problem if you are a Canon owner looking for a Canon lens, but when you are looking for a third party lens (e.g. Sigma, Tamron, Tokina etc), you may miss out on the lens you were looking for. If you are for instance looking for the Tokina 10-17 for your Canon, go check the Nikon section. Photozone tested this lens on a Nikon body, so they listed it under Nikon. If it performs well on a Nikon body, it will probably perform well on a Canon body too.

DPReview mainly tests cameras, but they do have some lens reviews as well. For cameras, you can do a feature search as well as a side-by side comparison. They also keep track of lens and camera releases, which is also nice to know.

Apart from reviews, you may also want to check some pictures taken with the specific cameras. There are many sites to do this. I would like to mention the two sites that I check out for this purpose, but others are good as well. DPChallenge has a section called equipment, where you can look for the camera or lens you are looking for. On Flickr, go to the ‘groups’ section and type the brand and focal length (brand and type for cameras) in the search box.

If you still have questions, turn to a photography related forum. Members of those froum are often very willing to help and share their knowledge and experiences. All the sites listed above have such forums, and google is your friend in finding other forums as well, or forums in your own language.

Why Camabs?

The name of this blog is Camabs, a name that I use on most of my accounts on internet communities as well. Camabs is simply short for CamerA AbsurdA, which is the url (.nl) for my online portfolio. You may recognize a similarity to the term camera obscura, Latin for dark chamber. Note that this dark chamber does not refer to the room where film photographers do their post processing and printing, but to the optical device that was the ancestor to photography cameras. If you're interested in more details, read the wiki article here. I then adapted the name to reflect my slightly different approach to photography, hence CamerA AbsurdA.