Richard's Online Journal
[18/03/08] Depth Of Field
Something I’ve been meaning to do all year is replace - or rather, complement - my Canon digicam with something a little more heavyweight. I don’t take a vast number of pictures, but when I do, they’re often intended for magazines, reports, and silly web slideshows, and often in the exact situations that digicams break down in tears over.
Honestly, digicams depress me. It’s hard to imagine how a whole branch of consumer technology wound up being so pitifully inappropriate for its purpose…
“I want to take photos of parties, friends, good times! I want to remember my wild, crazy adventures!”
“Too bad, because what you’re getting is a camera that can’t handle indoor movement without perfect lighting, unless you don’t mind it looking like your whole social life takes place in a circle of light surrounded by the gnawing darkness where you may be eaten by a grue.”
“I can still be spontaneous though, right?”
“Yes, but mostly you’ll be a blur.”
Obviously, a dSLR - the next step up from a standard digicam - isn’t a panacea for the problem, but it doesn’t hurt to have a combination of grown-up glass, and menu options that let you take the driving wheel on command. The only downside is the price, which was the main reason not to press the shutter on upgrading.
Then I spotted the Nikon D40, with a mix of good reviews and a My First Real Camera type price, and… Wait. According to the manual, I’m obliged by law to stop at this point and show a boring picture of a leaf in close-up.
Zzz. Why do photographers find these so fascinating?
There we go, honour satisfied. Where was I? Oh, yes. The D40 has a few advantages for an amateur like myself, not least that it comes with a decent, multi-purpose lens, and a built in “HELP!” button to remind you of what everything does and whether a bigger aperture is a good thing, or you just forgot to put the big pointy thing on the front. It’s plastic, but pretty sturdy, and the toughest part of getting it set up is trying to get the stupid strap on. At least until the time comes to clean the sensor. Or take the lens cap off.
It’s not a replacement for my old digicam - it’s much heavier, and definitely isn’t going to slip easily in a pocket when stooging around. But that’s not really the point. It should give a much better chance of getting decent pics when there’s something specific to photograph, and remove the whole showers-after-PE feel of waving around the Canon Happysnapdeluxe at official engagements. I’ve already coupled it with one of the SLR Gorillapods (bendy tripods - really cool), and just need to go grab a proper carrying bag since the one I had on hand isn’t quite big enough to fit everything in. Until then, I’m stuck taking photos of stuff around the house. Still…
Much better. Ah, sweet, sweet depth of field…
And now I really need a Cherry Coke. I think I’ll nip down to the shop and buy one. I doubt there’ll be an epic slideshow coming for that exciting little adventure, but if you want to join in the fun, start drinking your fizzy drink.... now. Aaah.
Oh, god, no. Avoid Diet Cherry Coke like the plague.
Posted by Richard on Tuesday 18th March
A leaf? Mmh, shouldn’t it be a cherry or almond blossom? At least, I’ve seen those a lot more often.
I’m a horrible photographer. I’ve been carrying my digicam along with me for the past few days only because I’ve taken up driving again after five years, so should I do something really bad at least I can take pictures of the disaster and use them later for “It’s not my fault, the idiot didn’t stop at the traffic light” purposes.
I’m afraid I can’t “join the fun” though, they don’t sell cherry coke here. :(
Posted by Marianna on Tuesday 18th March
A leaf? Mmh, shouldn’t it be a cherry or almond blossom? At least, I’ve seen those a lot more often.
True, but not in my garden.
I tend to take my digicam most places, just in case. Although I only really bother grabbing pictures of things of interest rather than pretty shots - usually if I’ve got a caption in mind. A picture may tell a thousand words, but if there isn’t a story behind it, I don’t usually bother hanging onto it.
Posted by Richard on Tuesday 18th March
I wish I could still find coke with lime (unlike the diet crap.. all “diet” drinks taste horrible to me), I really liked that.
Is that a walkers salt and vinegar packet in the out of focus part?
Is this my most inane comment to date?
Posted by Nick on Tuesday 18th March
It is indeed a packet of the aforementioned crisps.
Don’t know about the last bit, but Akismet ate it ;-)
Posted by Richard on Tuesday 18th March
I think I see a LoveFilm disc envelope in the background, too - although that’s surely not as impressive a piece of identification as the brand and flavour of a packet of crisps from a blurry shot of the back of the bag.
Posted by Paul Cosgrove on Wednesday 19th March
I’ll be impressed when someone can reconstitute the dust on the desk and tell me what flavour biscuit it used to be.
Posted by Richard on Wednesday 19th March
Chocolate hobnob?
Posted by Nick on Wednesday 19th March
I accidently tasted a diet cherry coke. Why God? Why do you punish us like this?
Anyway; i have a Canon 350D and it does pretty well with both the kit lens and the 50mm lens i bought for it. I’m happy. I think they’re not quite cheap as well since the 400D replaced them. And the difference between the 400D and 350D is extremely small.
Posted by William Main on Tuesday 18th March