Category: Photography

Canon Powershot G12

I blogged awhile ago that I was thinking about getting a Canon Powershot G12. Well, I brought one a while ago but have not gotten around to talking about it here until now.

The G12 is very much in the same spirit as the G5 but much more modern; more pixels, bigger screen, more clever processing such as face detection, etc. It retains the screen articulation, RAW mode, fast(ish) lens and Tv, Av and manual modes that are the G series trademarks.

So far I am enjoying using the G12 very much. It feels good in the hand(s) and takes some very good photographs. The only real issue I hgave had so far is that Photoshop Elements 8 will not read the RAW files from the camera, it needs an upgraded version of “CAMERA RAW” which is not compatable with Elements 8. This is not the G12’s problem but an attempt from Adobe to get more people to upgrade to Elements 9. I am using the supplied Canon RAW software and this works OK but is not so convenient. I am not sure that I will upgrade as most of the other changes in “9” are additional “automatic” processing options that I do not use anyway.

Some pictures taken with the G12 can be seen on my flickr page, search for the G12 tag!

Canon G Series

Over the past few weeks I have been taking a lot of photos with my old Canon Powershot G5. It is only five mega-pixels and has some knows issues with purple fringing but I like the form factor and it can take some usable photos if its limitations are kept in mind.

I have programmed one of the custom positions on the main control dial to give me direct access to the Black and White mode. I like taking B&W photos and this mode removes the purple fringing problem. Using the G5 in this way takes me back to when I used an Olympus OM10 with B&W film as a “walk around” camera. The G5 is even butter in many ways but the stand out feature is the articulated screen which gives so many creative framing possibilities.

Here is a link to some of my pictures taken with the G5.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrybridgens/tags/g5/

I have been enjoying the G5 so much that I am considering bringing my G Series ownership up to date by getting a G12. This camera is definitely from the same mould as the G5 but is has a much higher resolution sensor and even more “bells and whistles”. More of this anon….

Practical Photography DSLR Skills 2010

Its the time of year again for the the Practical Photography DSLR Skills course. This year there are six modules

  • Module 1  – Urban landscape / movement
  • Module 2 – Still Life
  • Module 3 – Wildlife & Animals
  • Module 4 – Nature
  • Module 5 – Portraiture
  • Module 6 – Rural landscape

Following the course will give me some incentive to get off my backside and get out there taking photographs. I will try and do all of the modules this year, I didn’t manage it last year!

Cosford Airshow

I was at the Cosford Airshow on Sunday and took a lot of photographs. Some of the better ones are on Flickr.

 www.flickr.com/photos/barrybridgens/

One thing that I noticed when reviewing the shots back on the laptop at home was that most of the pictures that I took are not as sharp as I would like. My old 75-300 (non-IS) lens significantly limits the quality I can get in these situations. Time to think about upgrading (when the financial situation improves!).

Macro Lens

My new macro lens (Canon EFS 60mm F2.8) arrived today. There was not much light left when I got home from work but I had to try it out! I managed to get a couple of shots outside in natural light and then had to resort to flash.

As I was in a rush I didn’t get out the tripod or the external flash. This left me hand holding and using the internal flash on the EOS 40D. With these handicaps I am surprised that I got any “keepers” at all but a couple of the shots were OK. These I have put on Flickr for the world to see!

Take a look on www.flickr.com/photos/barrybridgens/

Some photographs on-line

I have been updating my website Barry’s Bailiwick and have added links to some of my photographs. These are split across two sites, my own photo album site and Flickr. There may be some duplicates and I must find the time to add some more photographs and decide on the purpose of the two sites. I think that having both will be useful but I need to come up with a rational reason for this rather than just a feeling!