If you recently upgraded from a compact camera to a DSLR, one of the first things you probably noticed was that focusing is done completely differently. Instead of simply pointing your camera at a subject and letting the camera figure out what to do, you now need to think about autofocus points, which often don’t seem as “intelligent” as the focus systems in point-and-shoot cameras. The truth is, autofocus points are extremely powerful and give you a great deal more freedom — you just need to know how to use them.
To get you started, here’s a great primer video by photographer Phil Steele. Over the course of 9 minutes, Steele steps through five fundamental tips for achieving fine focus and tack-sharp photos: ditching full auto, focus and recomposing, looking for edge contrasts, using manual pre-focusing, and making use of live view to aid in manual focusing.
The veil of secrecy is starting to lift from Sony’s upcoming high-end full frame DSLR. sonyalpharumors has published a detailed list of specs that give a pretty complete picture of what we’ll be seeing in a few weeks. The camera features a 24.3 megapixel full frame CMOS sensor and Sony’s Single-Lens Translucent (SLT) technology. Read more…
If your DSLR ever dies in your arms or starts acting funny, here’s a simple thing to check before shelling out money to have it examined by professionals: the camera’s internal clock battery. Redditor Aero93 writes,
So my camera died out of nowhere. No matter what I did and tested, it wouldn’t turn on. Canon quoted $400 to check the cam + labor parts. Independent repair guy was around $250. It was too much for me. I decided to tackle the problem on my own. I got the manual online. Started taking the camera apart. I got stuck on one thing.
After that, I started asking around on a forum. Somebody suggested I check the internal clock battery, I didn’t even now it existed and its right next to the regular battery. I went out and bought a new one. Boom, camera fired right up.
The internal clock battery is the one that keeps the clock in your camera running even when the main battery is removed. They usually cost about a buck each. Read more…
Israeli photographer Ido Nassimi wanted to geotag the photographs shot using his Nikon D90, but didn’t want to shell out $200 bucks for Nikon’s official GP-1 GPS receiver. Since he had a GPS Bluetooth receiver lying around, he decided to do some research and make it compatible with his DSLR. He ended up successfully building one for around $50. Read more…
Are you the once-proud owner of a Canon Rebel T4i DSLR? Has your camera’s grip changed from black to white? Have you developed a rash from touching the white grip? Apparently there’s at least one of you out there, because Canon has issued a voluntary recall on nearly 68,200 of its T4i DSLRs. As we first reported last month, some of the DSLRs were loaded with too much “rubber accelerator”, which can lead to a chemical reaction that causes allergic reactions.
The company issued an advisory at the time and offered free repairs, but is now cooperating with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in issuing the recall — despite the fact that it has only received a single report of a “minor rash”. Read more…
You know the major firmware update that just rolled out for the Canon 7D? The purpose of it might have been to hold Canonites over through a couple months of DSLR-less news. Northlight Images is reporting that Canon will not be unveiling a new DSLR at Photokina, but will instead be waiting until October to unleash a new full frame DSLR on the world. Read more…
Nikon might be releasing an entirely new camera to upgrade its Nikon 1 lineup in small ways, but Canon is going a different route with its 7D DSLR. The company has rolled out a major firmware upgrade that makes major improvements to the features of existing cameras. Read more…
If you need to do a quick shoot in the rain but don’t have a proper rain cover handy, you can quickly put together a makeshift one using a large Ziploc freezer bag. Photographer Kariann Goodkey over at Purple Summit Photography has a step-by-step tutorial on the conversion, which basically involves cutting out a whole and using gaffer tape to secure your lens hood to the “cover”. Goodkey writes,
If you are going to be out in the rain a long time you might want to get a proper cover to protect your investment though! That said I used this in over 6 hours of continuous rain sitting in the bush photographing a horse ride and my camera kept dry. After about three hours with this set up I did start to get condensation on the inside of the bag. This limited my view quite a bit through the viewfinder but I could still photograph and my camera was fine. For a quick shoot in the rain though this will work great.
Everyone knows you shouldn’t leave DSLRs unattended in public places on land, but did you know that the same is true for when you’re shooting on the ocean floor? In the video above, one unlucky diver leaves his DSLR rig sitting on the ocean floor while swimming with sharks, only to have a klepto tiger shark swipe it and swim away.
Apparently tiger sharks have a thing for cameras: here’s another video that shows what it’s like to be gobbled up by a shark and then spit out.
P.S. Can anyone identify the rig and/or the camera being used?
