I am not a photophile. I like making images and enjoy technology, but I am a person that has trouble keeping track of which Canon dSLR is the latest and greatest... 5D or 7D. I am totally lost when it comes to Nikons. But generally I shoot with at minimum a SLR that is capable of manual exposure. But this blog has changed everything. I simply can't drag around a Canon 5D all day long. First, I would look like a nerd (i.e. photophile) and second, it makes people nervous. Why do you have such a large camera? Are you staking out the place?So recently, to keep up with this project everyday it is practical to shoot with a smaller camera. And what has been in my hand non-stop for the last 3 months... yes my iPhone. I am surprised it takes darn good snaps. But unfortunately, there is nothing to control, all auto focus & all auto exposure. Today I borrowed a Nikon Coolpix P6000 from school.
It is a range viewfinder digital camera but it still qualifies as a pocket camera. For a smaller camera it has adjustable ISO, F-stops, and shutter speeds. Limited, but adjustable. So I set out today to make some more controlled and beautiful images. Well, the camera sucks! I can't even use the images. I ended up reshooting my favorites with, you guessed it, with the iPhone. Check out the difference: the iPhone image is on the top and the Coolpix on the bottom. If you click on the images to enlarge them you will notice the poor image quality of the Nikon. So I guess I will have to start looking for a decent little camera with manual exposure if I am going to make it through this year of creating photographs.
I think of this photograph as Katie's composition. She creates one every morning on the bathroom floor and I destroy her artwork every afternoon when I pick it up. There was a two hour duration between the photographs and I noticed she hung up her towel before I took the second shot. Why just the towel? Why not pick up the rest? May be she was making improvements to her work and this composition isn't as arbitrary as I originally thought.
I agree that carrying a large heavy camera, like the 5D, around is a bit much at times - but I can say that when I see a shot and I don't have the monster camera, I regret it. The iPhone is cool, however it does take some time to take the shot and sometimes the moment just passes. The Rebel series is just not enough camera for my needs so I am seriously looking at the 7D. It is a lot lighter than the 5D and it is a powerful camera. Yes maybe I qualify as a photo geek - however losing the shot due to not having a good camera is much too frustrating. So geek that I am I'm favor of lugging around the big black monster of a camera with me rather than just using my iPhone as my camera. I, too, am not familiar with the Nikon line of cameras so it's a Canon for me and the 7D is looking better all the time :) Geek on!
ReplyDeleteI am not against Nikons in general. In the days of film I shot them exclusively... but since COC has Canons I ended up being more familiar with them.
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny. The last time I carried my camera around someone asked me the same thing. "Hey are you staking someone out?" No I just like photography. They agreed they did too and took out this tiny little point and shoot with no features. Photo classes have definitely changed my view on cameras. I don't mind so much carrying around my 50D. Too many times I've "missed the shot" and I can't go back. I'm amazed at many photograpers images you can name from the top of your headjust by their style. Amazing
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