How to choose my first DSLR (Part 1)?

This is definitely the most asked question for anyone who has been using a compact camera and wants to upgrade to a DSLR. I'll try to answer this question here, based upon my experience and the knowledge I acquired from reading thru so many forums / reviews / blogs for the past few months.

I'll categorize the potential buyers into 2 groups:
Group 1) these people believe a DSLR will produce better pictures compared to a compact camera
And
Group 2) these people have an interest in photography, wants to upgrade their gear, skills and knowledge in photography and are willing to spend time to understand more before taking the plunge.

For group 1 users, the answer is very simple:
Just buy any DSLR within your budget, and that the camera feels good in your hands.
Some people may prefer brands than the feel. For users from this group, I say just buy whatever you want.
No offence, but from the interaction with users of this group, I've come to realize this: it doesn't matter what you tell them. They have already set their minds on a particular brand / model and they are also unwilling to learn more on the subject matter. They have the mindset that the DSLR is a point and shoot compact camera. And with this 'heavy investment', these cameras should behave the same as a compact, but deliver stunning results. This last statement is partially true, as DSLRs have a better and larger image sensor as compared to a compact. The image quality (IQ) produced will definitely be better. That is why, any DSLR will work for them.

(...to be continued in Part 2)

Microsoft Photosynth

Wow! I chanced upon this software while idling away on the iPhone app store. It was given pretty high ratings and most 'reviews' says to download it. I did that and I just tested it out a few minutes ago.

I AM AMAZED! I just did some random shooting in my living room to try out what it can do and let me tell you this: if you have an iOS device (iPhone / iPad2), you MUST have this software! It will only make your life so much more interesting! I can imagine myself doing panorama's everywhere I go! Just tap once on the screen and move your 'camera' about. The software itself will calculate the next image to capture. You can snap a lot of images for stitching. Once you are satisfied, just hit the 'Finish' button and the software will proceed to stitch the images together automatically. Just 2 clicks and you have a panorama picture! Where else can you get this? You simply have to try it!

The post processing isn't perfect --> if you are like me who was happily snapping away in all directions, you may end up with a distorted panorama picture. Still, the software itself is pretty well written and fast. If you are serious when you are taking the panorama, I believe you will love the ease of use from this tiny software.
Kudos to Microsoft! You have made one software that made my jaw drop!

A New Bag!

Hurray, I've got a new bag!!! This has been on my pending list for a while now and I've finally decided to buy it! Cost me S$49 from SLR-Revolution.

Nikon Bag

It's a beauty isn't it?
Gotcha! ;D

This is the Nikon bag used to carry the bag I bought. I wasn't given one of these when I bought my camera. It should come in handy to hold the toys and stuff for our picnics!

I actually bought the Lowepro Passport Sling. Yes, S$49 from SLR-Revolution.

Lowepro Passport Sling (Mica)

I chose the Mica colored one as I didn't really like the blue and the black (inner lining of the black actually). I carry a sling bag to work everyday, and it's mainly to hold my umbrella so I reckoned I could do with a replacement and bring my camera along.

I didn't notice this when I was browsing at the shop and this wasn't mentioned in any of the reviews / blogs that I have read before making the purchase: The padded camera box is not a full rectangle! If you look closely at the picture above, you can actually see that the box is a trapezium. The slimmer end goes into the edge of the bag (from the outside, this is the corner where the water bottle will sit). If I flip it the other way round, I lose the memory card compartment and the other edge where the slim end is now in will sort of 'collapse'.

In terms of ergonomics, the slim end is not that camera friendly. Since this is the end which is nearest to the edge, this is where your hand will be grabbing your camera from the bag. Because of the slim end, it may feel a bit tight for those with big hands. I'm Asian with a medium sized hand. Reaching into the bag and grabbing my camera was just 'OK' for me. And this is only for an empty bag with only the camera. I'm not sure how it will feel when I start to load other stuff into it.

The box itself will only be able to hold a camera with lens attached and a spare lens / flash unit. A camera with a grip mounted will definitely not fit into the box.

I can't wait to test it out! I have a BBQ tomorrow night with my colleagues, and my wife and child are coming along so I'll be bringing my camera. This bag will be used tomorrow. Let's hope it performs well!

Ask and you shall be given!

Armed with my D7000, I've been taking quite a lot of pictures for my wife and girl. And my wife was telling me the other day: "It's time to get an iPad or a digital photo frame, our girl will definitely love it!"

Ask and you shall be given!

I was going through the forums searching for iPhone accessories and chanced upon quite a few folks selling brand new digital photo frames! Happened that these people have just received the Sony DPF-A710 from the Standard Chartered Bank's credit card promotion and are trying to sell them off. I managed to get one of it at S$55, while the normal retail price is S$129. Lucky us!

Sony DPF-A710

The unit I got was brand new and the box had no signs of being opened. It was all factory fresh! It even came with 12+3 months warranty (online registration) by Sony! Nice buy I would say! ;D

The contents

The frame came with a remote control, manual, CD-Rom, power adapter and stand. It cannot be powered by battery, which is something I'm wasn't hoping for since it will be placed near my TV. The stand fits on the right bottom corner at the back and the frame can be placed in portrait or landscape orientation.

Frame in action!

You can see the frame in action in the picture above. We display our family portraits rather than these random shots I took. We love the frame 'cos we are able to have a single display that shows all our pictures but the frame does have it's pro's and con's.

Pro's:
- Nice size --> Doesn't occupy too much space
- Remote controlled
- Good variety --> The frame allows you to display a variety of information: single picture or slide show/clock/calendar/picture with calendar or clock/multiple pictures in a frame etc.
- LCD brightness can be adjusted (the above is set at brightness 2 out of 10)
- Auto on / off timer
- Auto rotate images
- Supports SD / MMC / Memory Stick

Con's:
- Not able to select folder to display. It just reads all images in the memory cards and displays them.
- Resolution: The display is not really high quality so you'll be able to see some pixelation in some photos.

Improvements I'll like to see:
- Ability to select folder to display. This will really allow a user to make full use of the frame. We can sort our pictures into Portrait or Landscape folders and display them in the correct orientation. This will definitely increase the user experience!
- More time choices in between pictures. Currently for slide shows, I'm displaying them at 7secs interval. The next lower allowable interval is 3 secs. I think this is too short. If we can custom set the time interval, it will really be nice!

Overall I give this frame a 7 out of 10. -2 points 'cos of the resolution, -1 'cos I cannot select folders to display. Imagine you put in a 2Gb card full of pictures from different events --> it will be really tedious trying to find the set of pictures you want to display! If the pictures are separated into folders and we can choose the folder to display, it definitely will make everyone happier!

I hope someone from Sony sees this post and work out something for this frame! I will really be thrilled if they tell me the frame's firmware can be upgraded! =D

Nikon EN-EL15 battery and ML-L3 remote

Finally, after 512 shots, 11 movies totaling 11mins 23secs, the battery ran flat.
It's pretty amazing how long this battery lasted (almost 4 weeks from the 1st charge). In between these shots and movies, I spent quite a lot of time messing around with the settings and playing back the recorded movies for my daughter (over and over and over again).

I also finally opened up the ML-L3 remote for testing. Quite nice to just press a button and make the camera take pictures. It's pretty responsive and I'm quite surprised at the range it could work in! The furthest I tested was about 6 meters away from the camera. It still sensed the signal and fired off like a piece of cake. I was too lazy to go beyond that range as I will have to reposition the camera somewhere else. And for my personal usage, I highly doubt I will be placing the camera further than 6m when I'm using the remote.

Nikon LF-1 rear lens cap

I went to Cathay Photo Marina Sq today (14th Apr 2011) to buy this. Of the 3 lenses I bought, only the 55-200mm came with this rear lens cap. The other two came with the cheapo white cap. The LF-1 is a really good cap to protect the lens! It turns into place and won't fall off, as compared to the cheapo white cap which slipped out quite easily.

Nikon LF-1 Rear Lens Cap in the original packing.

Cheapo white cap and the Nikon LF-1

Receipt for my purchase (S$6 only for the cap)

The cap cost my S$6 which I think is well worth it. I saw some OEM's going for S$4 but decided against it cos you never know the quality / build. Yes, it's only a piece of plastic that covers the rear but personally, I do not want to run the risk of damage to the threading! My 50mm f1.8D is happily protected by this cap now! =D

I also took the chance to have a look at the Lowepro Passport Sling which I'm considering to use as my everyday bag. It's retailing for S$58 at Cathay, slightly more expensive than the S$49 which SLR Revolution quoted. It can definitely hold my D7000 and a spare lens. But I think it won't be able to hold A4 documents. Really need to see if I have a need to be lugging documents around now.

Hmmm...

Haven't really had the time to blog recently. Been feeling rather tired at the end of the day. Maybe it's due to the weather? It's been rather hot during the day and wet come late afternoon. Been doing quite abit of reading on magazines / forums and manuals. I noticed that most newbies are asking questions that I would have asked if I were in their shoes. So I've set my mind to write up some articles, for newbies, by newbies. Keep watching this space as more content unfolds over the next few days. =)

Google Ad-Sense approved!

I'm new to this thing. And since I'm gonna start blogging, I might as well sign up for it.

From now onwards, you'll start seeing AD's coming up on the sides / bottom of my blogs.

Please click on them if you see anything worthwhile.

It'd encourage me more to add more content. Thank you! =)

My Screen Protectors arrived!

The AC٠MAXX Screen protector arrived in 10 days after I bought them off ebay. I was thinking it may take a little longer but it was a pleasant surprise! Just in time before we took our trip! ;D

I've got mail!

The package came as shown above. Contents were protected by bubble-wrapped envelope.

The Package

As you can see above, there are 2 pieces of LCD protector. One is the for main LCD and the smaller piece is for the top LCD panel. These are made to fit specific DSLRs. Do not order the wrong one!

Back of the packaging

On the back of the packaging are the instructions on how to put the protector on.

My D7000 in it's original condition

Although my D7000 already came with a screen protector (BM-11), I just can't bare to use it. The BM-11 is made of plastic and I just feel that it will get damaged / scratched too easily.

Top LCD Panel

Here's a picture of the top LCD panel before I put on the screen protector.

Screen protectors applied!

Wa La! Screen protectors in place! You can easily identify the screen protector as they come with a silver frame. Still don't see it? Here's more!

See the silver frame around the top LCD? It wasn't there previously!

And below: you see it around the main LCD panel.

I'm really glad I bought these protectors. Now I'll have no worries drawing my D7000 out of my backpack! They also do not hinder the LCD's display since they are made of glass. I still see pictures clearly from my LCD without any color distortion. The best part is: they do not stick totally onto the camera. Only the border comes with some sort of adhesive to hold the protector in place and it does it very well! I don't find the protector moving around.

If you are interested in purchasing these, their website is here

Arrival of my dry cabinet!

Went back to my wife's kampong over the weekend to pray to her grandmother for 'Qing Ming', thus no blogs were posted. It was a fruitful weekend --> my wife was finally relieved of a burden and I too am really happy seeing her so relieved!

Just before we left, my dry cabinet arrived! Hurray!!! My lenses finally have a safe place to hide in! I got it for S$240 from Parisilk including free delivery.

Digi-Cabi DHC-60L

Back of box

As you can see, the cabinet came in a carton box. The contents were well protected with stuffing both at the top and bottom. There was also a small piece of stuffing in between the box to prevent any impact during transportation. My apologies for not having pictures of the stuffing within. I actually forgot to take them! =p

Unpacked Cabinet

The unpacked cabinet. More stuffing on the trays to prevent them from hitting the glass door during transportation. Manual and form paddings were already placed properly in the cabinet.

Drawers Extended

Here you see the drawers which are not fully extended. They are made of plastic but do not feel flimsy at all (even after I put up my gear)! The cabinet comes with 2 keys which are not featured here. The drawers are stopped by a catch when fully extended. You will not be able to pull it out unless you lift them up to a certain angle. This certainly is a welcomed feature as you won't have to worry about your camera or lenses dropping off if you pull too hard!

Back of cabinet

Back of the cabinet where the dehumidifier and power point is.

Internal Indicators

The internal indicator. Red LED at the bottom represents power while the Green LED at the top indicates the box is working to lower the RH to your desired level.

Digital Control (RH == Relative Humidity)

The digital control is in front and outside of the cabinet. It is powered by the same power supply for the cabinet, not like the AD series where this controller is powered by a 'AAA' battery. To set the RH, you press 'Set', followed by the arrows keys. The blue led lights up as well (with the Green LED) when the cabinet is working to lower the RH. You know it has reached the desired RH when the light goes off. The temperature is only an indicator, you won't be able to adjust this.

NOTE: if you set RH to 47%, the box will start to lower the RH when it reaches 49% and it will bring it down to 45% before it cuts off. It works based on ±2% RH.

I chose a digital dry cabinet 'cos I'm lazy --> I don't want to be fiddling around with an analogue dial to adjust the cabinet to the desired RH. I just want to set it and forget it. Another good point is that the digital cabinet is 'greener' than the analogue. It cuts itself off when the desired RH is reached. Unlike the analogue version where it works continuously to maintain the RH.

I hope this post clears the air for a lot of potential dry cabinet users who like me, are unable to find clear information / instructions online -- even from the manufacturers websites!

UPDATE (18-Sep-11): I 'upgraded' the Dry Cabinet. Take a look here.