Flickr has been the place where I host pictures for a while now (since 2004) and despite some commentary on the interwebs it’s been doing just fine for me thank you. As it’s now time to renew my subscription I’ve taken a look at possible alternatives. One widely recommended is 500px. For me, for now, I won’t be switching. Here’s why.
One to watch then, but not one to switch to. Yet.
It’s that time of the year again when people ask about cameras. This year I thought I’d share…
Rule of thumb: as you go down the list image quality gets better and price gets higher.
Don’t under estimate pocket-ability. The best camera is the camera you have with you.
Budget to also buy a case and a big memory card.
Nikon do decent SLRs too, but this list was originally composed for people I know for whom being able to borrow my Canon glass would be an advantage.
Around 100 of your English pounds:
Panasonic Lumix FS35 Digital Camera – Black (16.1MP, 8x Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD
Great reviews, both officially and via friends and family.
Canon IXUS 115 HS Digital Camera – Silver (12.1MP, 4x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD
Great camera, but Canon compacts have reliability issue with the lens mechanism (based on the number we’ve had go wrong) so you need to be careful with them and treat with extra TLC.
Around 250:
Panasonic Lumix FT3 Waterproof and Shockproof Digital Camera – Blue (12.1MP, 4.6x Optical Zoom with GPS)
We have this one and it works well (when I charge it!!!!) and it’s waterproof so good for the beach etc. The door for battery/memory card needs to be kept clean to keep things waterproof and that can be a pain.
Around 500 and 500+
Olympus E-PL3 Compact System Camera – Black (M.ZUIKO Digital 14 -42mm II R Lens Kit)
Bigger than a compact, smaller than a Digital SLR, nice image quality.
Canon EOS 1000D EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (non IS) Lens Kit
Entry level digital SLR – better picture quality than the compacts but big and bulky so you’re less likely to carry around. No video mode on this one.
Canon EOS 600D Digital SLR Camera (inc. 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens Kit)
Like the 1000D but better, and with video. But more spendy too :-)
Enjoy.
[If you’ve landed here because you’ve experienced an error 99 then you should read this.]
This is a story of an error 99 on a Canon EOS 40D told through the medium of contact strips. Contact strips from great photographers are fascinating – they can be a great way to learn about the creative process they used. But most of us mortals only share the best frames, sharing contact strips can feel like sharing your dirty laundry.
Strip 1: camera shooting in high speed motor drive. Frame IMG_8602 has white band – not present in any previous frames.
Strip 2: white band appears intermittently, e.g. not in IMG_8608. Edge of band is not as hard in e.g. frame IMG_8610 than in IMG_8602.
Strip 3: continuation of intermittent banding in frames, after IMG_8649 camera reports error 99 every time shutter button depressed.
Strip 4: In live view mode, images can be captured (no error 99 reported) but white band in every frame (trying to shoot boarding with live view mode is not recommended, but it does make you think differently…).
So, it’s off to the repair shop we go…
These similar pictures were in the Guardian this week. On the left, illustrating a story on children and commercialisation. On the right, a story that implies that last years trunks are a fashion error. Fortunately my trunks are somewhat older than that.
Context is everything.
A question from today’s Guardian Book Blog which I was perusing with a spot of lunch:
Do you put books in colour order, or only place novels together whose characters would get on? We’d love to see your photos
The answer is in a flickr group:
My Bookshelf
Here’s the books on the shelf above my head at the moment…
…from which you might erroneously conclude that I don’t read fiction :-)
Photographer Martin Parr photographed celebrities with the one item they would save if their home were flooded. The Guardian has a selection, juxtaposed with images from Martin Parr’s trip to flood-hit Quang Tri province in Vietnam in 2009.
Thought provoking inspiration
National Geographic is running a series exploring energy issues. One part is a photo-story on the Chernobyl “Liquidators”.
It’s probably just me, but seeing the “Sponsored by Shell” tag gave me a wry smile.