It's been a while... Photo links.

Wow, jeepers, it's been some time since my last post... Anybody even notice? Yeah, well... If you've been visiting and noticed, sorry... It helps me know if I have an audience if you leave me a comment or subscribe to my rss feed.

I've been delving more and more into photography as a pursuit, which is both challenging and rewarding. It offers an excellent way to practice seeing all things creatively. Plus, once in a while I might capture an image I can be truly proud of... Aside from flickr being one of the best websites anywhere; I also find it truly inspirational, with so many talented photog's and stunning images. The rest of this post is basically links.

While I don't understand the appeal of some subscriber services (like Rhapsody), and wouldn't use this service, the list of plug-ins and software app's for photo editing is comprehensive. I've taken a look a few times, just to see a summary of what's out there.

This comparison is far from perfect, but still offers great insight into the difference between full-frame (1.0x crop) and APS-C sensor formats (usually 1.5x crop) for dSLR cameras. I'm still sold on the idea that if I ever do get a dSLR, 1.5x crop would be better for me than FF.

This doesn't seem to be an official Canon website, but has some wonderful info on white balance comparisons for Canon cameras. Lots more photoshooting techniques as well. Similarly, this other website has great macro shooting info.

This image speaks volumes about what you may be missing without a wide angle lens- actually an UWA (Ultra-Wide Angle) lens for your APS-C dSLR. Figure a FF dSLR (like Canon 5D) shoots a 24mm lens as a 24mm equivalent, but a 1.5x crop (Nikon D80 or D200, Pentax K10D, or Fuji S5 Pro) or 1.6x crop (Canon 30D) actually shoot a 24mm as 36mm and 38.4mm respectively- not very wide at all. This image shows field of view through a Canon 1.6x crop camera.

I am trying to learn as much as I can about photography, and that includes equipment. While I certainly realize this is not the only component (nor even the most important), I'd like my camera and lenses to not be a limiting factor in the images I capture.

If I were shopping for a dSLR, my first choice would've been a Canon EOS 40D. But Canon seemingly has dropped the ball on this one and chosen to not update the old 30D model yet. I've been looking at the Pentax K10D, which is very appealing with its advanced feature set, weather seals, sD card format, and user-customizable options. Did I mention price? Ridiculously less than others (about $900 with a 18-55mm f/3.5 kit lens).

Next would be the Nikon D200, slightly better build and image quality over the D80, and a much more comprehensive feature set- but with a higher price tag, too (about $1300 for body only). This D200 has a lot of appeal, especially since the Nikon flash system is so versatile, and a couple of lenses from the Nikon family would cover a remarkable focal range (like the 18-200 f/2.8 VR).

Lastly, is the newly minted Fuji Finepix S5 Pro. While the price tag is considerably more (about $1900 for body only), this unique offering simply cannot be ignored. Being incarnated in a Nikon D200 body means this Fuji can accept all Nikon F-mount lenses and the acclaimed Nikon i-TTL hot shoe flash system. The biggest appeal, to me, is the wide dynamic range and high ISO, shown in these photos and these photos. Thanks Hugo for posting.

But now, a friend (Marcus Ericsson) knows I'm interested in a dSLR. And he's considering selling his D200 to me so he can switch to Canon. I believe the shooter is a bigger factor than equipment, but if even an inkling of the magic of his shots is due to his camera... I could only aspire to have shots as captivating as his.

Marcus shoots all the product/images for Nike's jumpman23.com website- the Jordan product line. His images are absolutely sick, and these are from his D200. While these images are available from his website subdisc.com and his flickr photostream, I remind you, please don't steal his images. Give the man his credit where credit is due.

What's the difference in megapixels? Well, thank goodness that race may actually be kinda over. After you get to about 8-10 MP, getting an increase in resolution means jumping up "geometrically." This chart is a good example.

Wanna be inspired by the top 500 images on the internet? I'm not sure how these got ranked, but they are astonishing. More quality shots are the World Press Photo Winners Gallery 2007.

Well, I'm gonna try to get out later today to go shoot the Chinese New Year Parade. We'll see how that works out. If I get any decent captures, you can bet they'll be up on my flickr photostream soon.

Oh, and speaking of my flickr. A buddy Doug and I had set out a little competitive experiment... To see if either of us could manipulate flickr and try to get a specific image into the explore pages of interestingness. Explore basically finds the top 500 interesting images each day... And with somewhere well over 3,000 images upload evey hour (I'm not sure of stats or methods here); we figured this would be putting us up to quite a task.

Well, I can't say Doug actually uploaded anything (he didn't), I'm amazed that I actually accomplished this feat in less than four days' time from my upload! Our goal was to try to make the best "eye candy" possible, and the rules we set were simple: nothing exploitative, no spending lots of money, and no getting people we knew involved to help our cause (like getting peeps to 'favorite' or images during our campaign). This was a great exploration (pun intended) for me, and made me learn more about my camera in the process.

Here's the image I used no man is an island. In less than a week, it's had 173 views, 17 comments (including some of my own), and 3 'favorited' it.

A second photo attempt, when starfish go wild, has made my #1 interestingness ranking, but did not make it to the explore pages of flickr. With 101 views, 20 comments (some my own), and 7 'favorited,' I am truly flattered. This is all in a short four days' time since its upload. Enjoy your weekend. Cheers.


image credits: 10-28mm comparison from maartenbreda on dpreview.com/forums, Fuji S5 Pro from dpreview.com, Jordan XIX by Marcus Ericsson at subdisc.com, XX2 by Marcus Ericsson on his flickr photostream, no man is an island and when starfish go wild are my own original photos from my flickr photo gallery.