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Gillies

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Everything posted by Gillies

  1. "Running to get you" Camera: Canon EOS Digital 20D ISO Speed: 400 Shooting Mode: Tv Shutter Speed: 1/800th Focal Length: 70mm Gillies
  2. I backup everytime I take shots. Have folder on my computer called 'Photos', in there I make a new folder each time I use the camera ... usually with a naming convention of monthyear_subject and copy the photos from the card into the newly created folder.... ie February2006_CarloRun2 ...... for photos I took today of my dog 'Carlo' running about .... did ones of Sunday also, hence CarloRun2, they were February2006_CarloRun. I have a Maxtor 250 Gig external hard drive attached, and in the photos folder have folders for each year, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 ......... so I copy the newly created folder into the current year folder '2006'. At the end of the week, I usually copy any new folders I have created onto a blank DVD, and keep going until I fill up the 4.7 GB and then throw in a new blank DVD and so on, and so on. For Post Processed Photographs, I have seperate folders and similar naming and backing up processes. Thats my process - have done it for years ... Gillies
  3. I got sent this link from a friend, I have no idea who took these photos, but I thought they were fantastic! Makes me want to go to rural China to take some shots :-) http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~fj102/photo/b...ful%20china.htm Gillies
  4. Am shocked we beat the French, the French the first couple of minutes torn us to shreds ... us getting the try gave us the confidence to go on and play some great Rugby and come out deserved winners in my eyes. Who knows, from a Scottish point of view hopefully this result will inspire the players and give them a self-belief in themselves ... making the competition all the more interesting. Lamont looks a really good player - anyone with Lamont surname will be hoping he can wipe the memory of the other famous (infamous) Scottish Lamont (Norman). Gillies
  5. If photoing someone or something - I take into account what does the surroundings (background/foreground) bring, if anything to the photo to enhance it, or do I just want the subject to be isolated in the photo with the surroundings blurred (the bokeh). For instance if I was photographing someone, I may just want them in focus ... so I would use a shallow depth of field, depending on the distance I am away from them (ie F2) ... so they are firmly in focus, nice and sharp and their surroundings are blurred. Then I may be photoing someone whoms surroundings does bring something to the photo - ie, lately I was photoing a darts competition and I photographed the winner with the trophy, I would normally want the winner to be the main subject of the photo with no distracting surroundings in the shot ... BUT ... I wanted a dartboard in the background just to the side of him, so I wanted that just slightly OOF (out of focus), so anyone who sees picture in local newspaper can spot straight away what the person has won the trophy for, but yet the winning guy holding the trophy is nice and sharp. (hope that makes sense). (depending on distances between me, subject, and backgrounds ... around F4 to F6 usually ... or you have to take a few shots until you find setting you are happy with) Landscape photography you usually want a fairly large depth of field to get as much i, so shooting at F11 upwards (I usually use F16) ... available light is a main factor here also. Lenses with shorter focal lengths generally produce images with larger depth of fields (ie your wide angle lenses ... or wide end), where as lenses with larger focal lengths (70mm + ... your telephotos) produce images with shallower depth of fields ..... this all depends on situation and surroundings you are photographing, and distance. As you can expect, coming closer to a subject will reduce depth of field (as you are physically closer), where as moving away from a subject will increase the depth of field - depending on what F stop you have chosen. Here are two examples that I have at hand online ... (not the best of photos or examples I know - but I have them at hand online) This Flower was taken at F4 (shallower depth of field) This Landscape was taken at F16 to squeeze as much detail out of foreground and the background (an ND grad filter was on the camera also, to try and not to overexpose to much at F16 .... shot taken at midday ... thats why its generally said to be better to photo landscapes during last hour of light and first our of light if your not using filters so you have a litte bit of control over the exposure. Anyway, hope my ramblings on and on have been of some interest to someone. Gillies
  6. I thought I’d put this on here first to see if anyone wants it before I put it onto eBay, it’s the battery grip for the Canon 300D Digital SLR. What it does is gives you an extra chamber for an additional battery to go in, therefore giving you more shooting time when your out and about, it does not come with an extra battery, I had hoped it would when I bought it, but you can pick them up on eBay cheaply – that’s what I did. The best feature of the grip I found is the vertical controls (shutter release, buttons and dial etc .. just the same lay out as ones on camera itself), which makes shooting when holding the camera vertical much easier and comfortable. Here is the battery grip. and this is what it looks like on the Canon 300D (note - the 300D camera is not included in the sale ) All in all, I find it adds much more stability to the 300D, more battery life and makes handling it much easier. It comes boxed, with user guide etc, and I’ll be looking for around £55 + around £5 postage for it. If anyone’s interested give me a pm or email in next day or two, if not I’ll just throw it on eBay … just thought I’d give anyone on here option first. Gillies
  7. Canon Photographers on Internet are all excited today, as a leaked photo of the new Canon Camera has finally found its way onto the Internet .... still lots of arguing over whether its a fake or not, but a the 20D replacement is expected to be announced at PMA 2006 in Feburary (Photo Marketing Association). Here is the photo of the Canon 30D (well, thats name they think it will be) camera they are getting so excited about - attached is a 85mm Lens. For anyone who follows the canon line up, its going to be interesting to see what the new cameras specs are as Canon in August just introduced a full frame (35mm sensor) 5D .... guesses to the spec of the new camera are it will still be a 1.6 FOV, but possibly it will have a moisture resistant housing, more mega pixels, bigger view finder, and maybe the troublesome 20D autofocus may be improved .... who knows! Im just going by what I read, and this photo could well turn out to be a fake ... just look at how the name is blurred out ... Gillies
  8. Another great from years gone by lost - ironic that she passes away the same year the remake of The Poseidon Adventure comes out. Gillies
  9. You got a very good card there, with the 350D your card will not be much of an issue, you should not notice any real problems with any card used ... having a look at the cameras spec it is "2.8 fps for 14 JPEG or 4 RAW frames" which is very good .... only time you would maybe notice a problem is if you are locked on a subject such as a bird flying by, or a football match and take over 7 seconds worth of photos in continous shooting mode ... even then you may only have a second or two of delay after the 7 seconds worth where the camera is busy writing away ...... I would not worry about it at all. Gillies
  10. I hear the Kingston Ultra x100 CF is a very fast card, but these cards are only as fast as the camera can handle. There is the x40 etc which are very very fast also. Good point made by David about the Buffer, it has a lot to do with the speed, the 20D I have knocks of 5 shots per second, and stores around 23 photos. Had a go of a friends pro Canon 1d Mk2 camera, 8 shots per second up to over 40 shots ... its like holding a machine gun, and with 45 point AutoFocus and a good fast bit of F2.8 glass on the end, the results were amazing. Paul, which camera is it? just to check what they say about the amount of shots - it could be your CF card is fine, and its the camera. Gillies
  11. Gillies

    I'm So Excited

    Ive got the Sigma 70-300 also, it is a really good lens once you get to play with it a bit and understand more about it ... the Macro on it is great feature, been in the 200-300 range also means its very handy for wee fellows you dont want to get to close to .... ie Wasps, Bees and for getting closer to things that might fly or run away ... I love the results from it in manual focus. When the 300D first came out in 2003, it was seen as the standard zoom for everyone to get as it was such a good value for money lens. I only tried it with a Teleconverter once ... it was seeking autofocus to much for my liking, and I wasn't happy with the results. The battery in these cameras are really good, life span wise I find. I'd get the Battery grip if you find you need it, I would not be without it, it makes holding the camera much more comfortable and having the additional side controls on it makes going vertical so much easier ... especially doing portrait shots .... plus having 2 batteries in the camera gives a wee bit more ease of mind when out taking shots. As Tony says, you get spare non-canon batteries at a fraction of the price .... eBay great for them. Gillies
  12. Gillies

    Lenses

    J.K for more information on the crop factor of digi SLRs have a look here: http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=focal%...th%20multiplier Lid, yep is a good to have a look around at reviews of the 18-200mm .... a fantastic focal range to have, Ive read mixed reviews. You never know though until you try one ... here are user reviews of them both: http://www.epinions.com/content_192627838596 http://www.epinions.com/content_185158569604 Tamron 18-200mm - around £270 Sigma 18-200mm - around £255 My dream non-Canon telephoto lens would be a Sigma 300-800mm (aka Sigmonster) ... its a wee bit pricey though LOL - imagine putting a 2x Teleconverter on that ... Gillies
  13. Gillies

    Lenses

    With Digi SLRs you have to keep in mind the crop factor (or focal length multiplier) on Canon and Nikon DSLR bodies (ie Canon 300D, 350D, 20D, 1D ... Nikon D50, D70, D200, D2X, D2H) on the Canons it's 1.6 (except the pro bodies of the 1D range which is 1.3), and on the Nikons I think its at 1.5. The Canon 1Ds and 5D have a full frame 35mm Equivelent which is 1:1, no crop factor at all. For anyone who doesnt know, this refers to the the size of the sensor diagonally on the camera in comparison to sensitive area of 35mm film. For example the sensor on the Canon 350D is 1.6 times smaller than 35mm film, so a smaller sensor than a 35mm film frame captures only the middle portion of the information projected by the lens into the 35mm film frame area, resulting in an image that has been cropped. If you put a 28-200mm lens on a Canon 350D, it is actually 45-320mm (1.6x28 and 1.6x200). This is very good when doing Telephoto shots, but when you go wide its not so nice. The 20mm prime lens I use is plenty super-wide enough for me (32mm) on my 20D, also there is the kits lens of 17-55mm (27-88mm) is enough for me, if I ever need to go wider, and its an option I foot zoom. The Nikon's have a terrific range of super wide angle zooms if top quality on large prints is important to you, in my eyes I wish I could say the same about Canon super wide zooms .... the Canon 17-40mm F4 and the Canon 16-35mm F2.8 are the top of the range super-wide zooms from Canon. At £550 and £1000 respectively they are pretty pricey - there is also the absolutely superb Canon 10-22mm super-wide angle (which I'd love to get) ... BUT its an EF-S lens like the kit lens (17-55mm), 60mm Macro and 17-85mm ..... which means in short it will not work on any Canon camera other than the 300D, 350D, 20D if you are to upgrade to a non-EF-S camera (ie 5D, 1D, 1Ds) in future. If you want the full focal lengths of lenses on a Canon digi SLR you need to get the full frame 5D and 1Ds, at £1900 and £4700 .... they are not cheap! The way technology is evolving though and Canon looking to sway towards Full Frame, I think in a year or two full frame digi SLRs will be the norm .... though a number of photographers do prefer having the Crop factor. A new Canon camera is expect to be announced to replace the 20D in February according to rumors, its going to be interesting to see if it supports the EF-S Lenses. Im expecting it to have crop factor of 1.3 and peform on a par to the new Nikon D200, which is a super camera. Gillies
  14. Like Ken says, great report and really good photos .... looks like it was a great day out. Gillies
  15. Fully hold my hand up to been stupid cant even blame the label been in French ..... anyone can feel the sachet contents and guess. Gillies
  16. Its a fantastic pano !!! so much to look around in it ... saving it, and having look at it zoomed out ... there loads of images stiched together, Im very impressed. Im in no rush to return to France ... last time there was in Charles de Gaulle waiting for hours for a flight to New York, was in a restaurant went to put a sachet of salt on my chips and it turned out to be very small sweetners ... gave the table across me a good laugh. Gillies
  17. Good point made there by Wurzel ... the amount of fresh water drives the fish out to sea if your fishing a relatively shallow area. There is a shore mark I fish for Thornbacks, Plaice, and Dabs, it has a small Salmon river around 200-300 meters away from it, when the river is in spate the mark is next to useless ... though the Common Flounders dont mind, as expected. Gillies
  18. Well done Judy .... keeping in line with the theme of the challenge, I thought yours was the clear winner. Gillies
  19. Nice report, enjoyed reading it, you really painted a good picture of a fun day out ... and of course the photos added to it a lot! My pal was using the Gulp Crabs from the shore a few weeks ago when we were fishing, funnily enough mostly he caught crabs with them, and a number of very small Codling and Whiting. Gillies
  20. Went shore fishing today, didnt catch a single thing .... so took a few photos to make sure day wasn't a total loss ... didnt have my proper camera gear with me, but did have my 300D with the kit lens and a Polarizing Filter. If your intrested in the shooting settings, all were Av, ISO 100, F 16 ... on sunset one, Exposure Compensation was set to -1. Gillies
  21. Ha Ha - thats a good one Pete. Circular Polarizing filter is a fantastic aid for landscapes, especially for bringing out the clouds and emphasizing the difference in colours between the sky and water. It can produce fantastic results. If you dont have an ND filter, and you want to blur some water ... just take the shots when its getting dark (or getting bright but a wee bit dark), you can use a slower shutter speed then and not have to worry to much about overexposing the rest of the image, this is what I used to do before I got an ND. But an ND filter is much much better for this kind of situation gives you much more scope throughout the day as it lets you play with your exposure for water blurring etc. One tip when taking longer exposures is to preferably do it not on a windy day, otherwise you get blurred grass, leaves or trees. Phil, I'd be lost without my filters ... love the Cokin P system, very cheap compared to screw on filters ... the ND filters can be pretty delicate though and scratch easy ... but not to much of a problem. I got a Polarizing filter for my 18-55mm lens ... they are pretty pricey for what you get .... instead of wasting money on one for each lens size, I just got the Cokin sytem one so its fits my 58mm, 72mm, 82mm glass sizes that I used it sometimes with. Some of the best photorgaphers I know says she would be lost without her Cokin system. Gillies
  22. Im also toying with the idea of getting a decent Macro Lens ... the Canon 100mm Macro F2.8 at around £388 is tempting ... the shots I have seen with this lens are amazing! There are also Sigma Macro's with more reach that deliver great shots for silimar prices .... then you can look at the Canon 180mm Macro comes in at £1019 ........ no way, not for me !!! When you go down the SLR path ... the costs do start to tally up, much more than I would have thought when I got my first SLR, there are some great lenses out there. A good carry round lens that has a usefull range is handy to have, wide at one end - telephoto at other, I have the Canon 28-135mm IS for that ... there is also the highly rated Canon 17-85mm, and the new Canon 24-105mm F4 L (a superb lens in theory, but there are serious glare issues with it that Canon acknowledge). You get similar lenses from Sigma and Tamron. Phil - I also agree Sigma lenses are great ... I know a number of people, and pros whom use them all the time. As I mentioned in another thread I now use a Sigma 20mm for my wide shots ... and I also have the flagship Canon wide the 17-40mm, the Canon is very rarely used since I got the Sigma, I much prefer the Sigma 20mm which at F1.8mm is usefull for loads of scenarios. In the 70-200 range of telephotos ... though you can get a F2.8 Sigma for half the price you pay for the same speed for a Canon 2.8, I hear the Canon really outshines the Sigma here. I also have a Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO Macro II Super, for the moneyt its a super lens up to around 200mm, after that Im not to happy with it .... it does have a pretty good Macro feature on it for the money though, so I still keep hold of it. If I was to give one tip when buying an SLR set up is get a decent camera bag with space straight away ... one that will take a selection of lenses and bits and bobs ... lots of people buy a bag that is to small first (I did ... 2 of them were very soon dust collectors). Now, I have the LowePro CompuTrekker AW for when Im travelling, out on my bike, or walking the hills ... its a backpack that take loads upon loads of stuff - plus a laptop, as well as fitting for a tripod, and more. For more general stuff I got a LowePro Nova 5 AW ... its a fantasic bag, opening it up just now I have in it (Canon 20D+Batter Grip with Sigma 20mm attached, Canon 70-200mm F4 L, Canon 550ex Flashgun, Canon 28-135mm IS, Canon 50mm F1.8, Canon 18-55mm, Canon 300D, Stoffen Omni Bounce, and there is still space for more .... in side pocket loads up bits and bobs, including a Cokin system for 58mm, 72mmm, and 82mm thread lenses .... oh, and a 20 pack of Duracells for flashgun.) Gillies
  23. You can pick up the Nikon D70s and D50 for around the sam price as the lowest priced Canon EOS setup. Its a huge argument in photography ... who is best, Canon or Nikon. Since the competition is so great, the only winners can be the photographers as the cameras get better and better, both setups produce great results ... and you wont go wrong no matter what road you go down. I'd say right now for the money the Canon 350D is a super buy ... a great camera that really packs at punch for the price compared to similar rivals. Thats my 2 pence worth. Gillies
  24. Lovely fish Pete, thanks for posting the image ... nice to see more big Cod been caught somewhere ... nice big grin on anglers face, and I dont blame him! Would of been a great sport on semi-light gear. Gillies
  25. I use a 1.5 converter ... its on my 70-200 F4 all the time, and the image quality is still superb. I think on glass of above F4 when you are at the short end on a telephoto lens (ie at 300mm) ... there can be pretty noticable image degration, or problems with Autofocusing due to the loss of stops ... good light hopefully would help though. Anyone wanting to shoot the moon, its pretty easy to photo, and you can get great results with the simplest of gear, I was amazed first time I photoed it ... keeping the camera steady as possible (tripod, timer or shutter release etc), and there seems to be general agreement of settings in and around F11, 1/125 on a film speed of 100 depending on the brightness of the moon. I have a few shots I took last year on my web site ... they are resized to fit the site, and were taken with my cheapo Sigma 70-300mm. Have better ones lying around somewhere from my 70-200mm + TC. http://www.gilliesmackenzie.com/photograph...on.aspx?ID=moon Have seen what some of the pro boys with the 600mm lenses have shot of the moon .... amazing. Your looking for wee green men walking around on it, its so close and clear. Gillies
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