Spoiler alert: I prepared this a few months ago, as you can tell from the images and clips (we are in winter here in Canada). Things have changed a bit in terms of the equipment used since this was prepared but the message is the same. Read on to the end to find out…
One of the things I have always found a bit ironic in photography is that as you become more and more proficient in the craft, you might seek out better equipment typically, and then, also typically, you TURN OFF all of the advanced automatic features of that better equipment and go “full manual”. I’ve never really understood that. Why would anyone do that?
I decided to try a totally different approach with an area of activity that is growing for me: vlogging. Instead of turning everything off, I’ve put together a basic but decent rig and turned ON all of the automatic functions I could find. I’m doing nothing manually. I think it’s working really well so far. Read on to see what I’ve done. I’ve included a few video clips as well for your entertainment.
I live near Toronto, Canada. On April 8 of 2024, my city will be just on the fringes of a total solar eclipse, with 99.8% of the sun plunged into temporary darkness. Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Rochester, New York, will be in the direct path of the eclipse. Might be doing a drive across the border. 
The eclipse is expected to last almost 2-1/2 hours, with “totality” lasting about 4 minutes from 3:18 to 3:22 p.m. local time. NASA has a full web page dedicated to the eclipse at: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/.
Photographers and astrophotographers everywhere are making preparations to capture the eclipse. Some have elaborate plans to drive to, fly to and/or camp out in areas where they “know” there will be no clouds. They have multiple setups with long lenses, wide lenses, telescopes, video and still photography planned. There are whole collections of people from astronomy clubs, photography clubs and those just out for an adventure that are planning to camp out. Regardless of how you plan to experience the eclipse, if you do plan to capture it, there are some things you need to know.
I love to learn. Have all my life. And the winter season is a great time to learn new things, since most of us are stuck inside.
I’ve been concentrating on two paths of learning this winter: astrophotography image processing, and architectural image processing. The first deals with doing the utmost to ensure good image quality and colour representation in the tiny objects photographed in the sky. The second deals with adding tone, contrast and artistic adjustments to architecture to turn them into works of art (beyond the work of art that the architect already produced).
Both paths have brought me in touch with several teachers, respected in their fields. But they could not be more different in their teaching styles. One of the challenges I’ve had has been finding a teaching style that gives me the right learning experience for me.
A very Happy New Year, everyone! Hope that you all have the best year ever in 2024!
I had an interesting experience recently. Many of the YouTube channels I follow have a tradition of publishing their predictions for the coming year, as well as their assessment of the best and worst products of the past year.
In one such review (and I won’t name the channel), the reviewer put out a poll to their viewers and asked them to weigh in on the best and worst cameras of 2023.
I’ll just analyse one of the results: the worst camera. The camera voted as the worst camera of the year by that crowd of several hundred (wonder what statisticians would say about that response rate with a subscriber base of 50K…), with 54% agreeing, was the Canon EOS R100. So just above break even. And that was deemed worthy of a dedicated video. Ok, then.
The Canon R100 was released in July 2023 for a retail price of $799.99 CDN, with the included RF-S 18-45 f/4 kit lens. The camera was marketed as an entry level, first interchangeable lens camera, for new content creators and those moving from their cellphones to their first real camera. It was marketed as the replacement for the T-series of DSLR’s and the M-series of early mirrorless cameras (which have since been discontinued). It provides a low cost entry point with some, in my view, admirable features taken from its higher end brothers and sisters.
But the complaints of this particular group included: no flippy screen and no touch screen and no high speed burst rates or high megapixel count. So obviously a piece of crap. Seriously?
This made me wonder about the standards generally used by these reviewers to assess best and worst. At the end of the day, it takes a lot of skill to offer an objective view of a product, particularly when you yourself are an advanced user of typically much more sophisticated products. Tony Northrup, long regarded as one of those with a lot of this skill, called the EOS R100 a “capable” camera. So why such a difference in views?
In this case, I think it boils down to the simple task of crowdsourcing an opinion. The channel in question is known for mining the opinions and research of other people and makes its name by packaging those for delivery and saving you the time of going out to do your own research. It doesn’t really offer unique perspectives – only those published by others. So it’s not surprising that an opinion on best and worst of the year would be sourced the same way.
Apart from that, I wondered why there was this chasm of divergence in views between Northrup and this other channel. I guess it comes down to what you personally mean by best and worst. The biases that you apply to an opinion are the foundation for debate in a democratic society and we relish those. I certainly do. But I also expect to see a factual basis for a particular viewpoint. And maybe even an agreed standard way of assessing something that purports to provide a ranking at the end of the day. That didn’t happen here in the case of the poll. No standard questions were provided, no guidance on what to consider and what to leave out.
Separately, another channel I very much respect (and which also will not be mentioned) conducted a poll of viewers as well to determine the best cameras and lenses for the current year. Not surprisingly, the cameras and lenses that won top prize just happened to be the ones used by the channel owner and the majority of its viewers.
Manufacturers are partly to blame for this divergence in views as well, shaping expectations of the next great thing by plugging speed, capacity, automation and the quality of the results. At the highest price points, that makes sense. But those same expectations now seem to be applied to more budget friendly options, and is the source of most of the “indignation” and complaints found online when a budget product does not deliver what Joe Public feels it should. In this case, it’s a ridiculous list of expectations in a camera that costs less than 10% (with lens) of the highest price models in the same family (without lens). 
In fact, Tony Northrup, in one of his most recent videos, made the case that its time to stop pumping out more megapixels and more speed, and instead make the gear more usable, with things like built-in face recognition security to help prevent thefts, LCD screens you can see in the sunshine, internal storage and reliable wireless transfer of files.
And I guess as a final comment, those same manufacturers (and channels like the one mentioned) are creating an even bigger problem, convincing us (or trying to) that we need those extra features and capabilities just to be functional. In 2015, I purchased a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, which at the time was regarded as one of the best DSLR cameras on the market. It has 20 megapixels, no flippy screen, no touch screen, no high speed burst rate and no tracking of human, animal or insect. I still own the camera and still use it regularly. It gives me the same great quality images I expect from any Canon pro camera. It’s still listed on Canon’s website. But I guess against the standards of the aforementioned channel, it wouldn’t even make the list of has-beens. 
That said, in all fairness, I also own two of the EOS R series cameras: the R5 and the R6 Mark II. Both serve very specific purposes and fill very specific needs. It was NOT the hype that lead me to these purchases.
The bottom line: take reviews and gear rankings with a grain of salt. Understand the basis of the opinion and judge if the person giving the opinion is worth listening to. It wasn’t in this case.
It’s that time of year when we stress out about getting gifts for the people in our lives that already have everything. Seniors (and I am one) are particularly hard to buy for because of three main things:
They already have pretty much every possession they need. Buying more stuff isn’t really a priority for them.
New technology while fascinating, isn’t always useful to a senior. It becomes about convenience and ease of use, not more complicated and sophisticated functions. The stuff that offers “more” is often the stuff that is worth “less” to us.
And I guess there is a third driver too. Cost. New technology is becoming outrageously more expensive. You used to be able to buy a high end DSLR camera for under $1000. Now you are lucky to find new tech under $2500. Even I’m getting to the point where I say no bloody way.
So, what do you get for the senior photographer in your life? Family, take note:
I’m still recovering from major surgery this past September. But I’m mobile enough now to get out of the house for some photography, so I decided I would go out to a local area known as the migration pathway for Sandhill Cranes. These are large birds, similar to other species of cranes, with huge wingspans and beautiful graceful flightlines. Many photographers in our area “flock” to the farmers’ fields where these birds stop on their journey, to fuel up on the remnants of corn fields.
Sandhill Cranes on the Wing
I had one particular challenge this year in getting out to photograph them. They are notoriously shy and make it a point to stay as far away from the roadways as possible. My challenge: because of my surgery, I am still walking with a cane, so trekking around the countryside to get the best vantage point for photographing these birds would be no easy task. Here’s how I did it.
A few days ago, I published a single image that was the result of months of elapsed time (days of actual time) and represents the most effort I have ever put into a single photographic image. The image? The Rosette Nebula, a hydrogen gas cloud in the Milky Way Galaxy, our galaxy. These gas clouds are either stellar nurseries or the remnants of stellar explosions. Either way, they populate the sky with amazingly photogenic objects.
Rosette Nebula
These gas clouds either emit or reflect light. As such, we should be able to photograph them as we would other subjects, right? While all the photographic “rules” apply about exposure, composition, white balance, sharpness and colour saturation, they are multiplied exponentially when dealing with objects that, in this case, are a whopping 5,000 light years from us in distance.
This is a bit of a hypothetical discussion, as I am at home, recovering from surgery. All is well and I will be back on my feet in no time, but for now, I have to imagine what it would be like to live this topic that I am writing about. What is the topic? How our mood can affect our photography. Duh!
As we approach the end of summer here in the northern hemisphere, many activities will begin to ramp up after summer vacations. One of those is the resumption of camera club meetings. Many of us find our creative outlet there, along with camaraderie and friendly competition. For the past 7 years, I’ve been a member of a competitive camera club. One of the traditional validations of photographic work is through competition. It’s actually quite natural for us to think that one of the best validations of a photograph comes from having “expert judges” assign a number to it. But I no longer think that. Here’s why.
Back in 2014, I made the decision to retire from full-time work. I was proud at the time that I was able to make a career in jobs I never really loved but that were enough to fund my other interests, such as photography.
In 2021, I decided a little more work was ok, for the first time in a field of interest, and accepted a part-time job at Henry’s, one of Canada’s leading camera and video retailers. This week, that too has come to an end, making room to move forward into new personal challenges.
The job at Henry’s was not just another job. It filled a gap that was years in the making. And it came at a time when the Covid pandemic had stripped away all of my regular face to face human contact. I needed it more than it needed me. So why am I leaving?
oldgirlphotography.ca 