[ad#content2]

Outstanding speed and resolution for the discerning photographer: the EOS 50D

Canon 50D

Amstelveen, The Netherlands, 26 August 2008: Canon today strengthens its EOS range with the addition of a powerful new digital SLR: the EOS 50D. With a 15.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor, 6.3 frames per second shooting and Canon’s latest DIGIC 4 image processor, the EOS 50D delivers unparalleled speed and resolution at a price point that is unique in today’s market.

Outstanding, clean images
A newly designed 15.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor delivers ultra-detailed, low-noise images – ideal for large-scale reproduction or creative cropping. New manufacturing processes, plus redesigned photo diodes and microlenses, extend the light gathering capabilities of the sensor – allowing more pixels to be fitted on the CMOS sensor without compromising image quality. These changes ensure improved high ISO performance and low noise. High-speed, low light shooting is enabled by ISO levels of 3200, expandable to an ultra-sensitive 12800.

The EOS Integrated Cleaning System – including the improved Self Cleaning Sensor Unit with a new fluorine coating – increases protection of image quality by helping to reduce, repel and remove unwanted dust from the sensor. Stubborn particles can be removed automatically in post-production with Dust Delete Data and Canon’s included Digital Photo Professional software.

Rapid-fire performance
Canon’s new DIGIC 4 processor is fast enough to allow up to 6.3fps continuous shooting, in bursts of up to 90 JPEGs with a UDMA card. Used with Canon’s wide area AF system, which locks onto subjects with 9 individual cross type sensors, stunning action sequences can be captured – even in low-light conditions. This makes the EOS 50D particularly suited to sports and wildlife shooting.

DIGIC 4 works with the CMOS sensor to deliver 14-bit image processing, for smooth gradation and natural-looking colours – as well as ensuring ultra-fast startup times and near-instant image review after shooting.

See everything
A new 3.0” Clear View VGA LCD provides extra-large and wide angle-of-view image review, with plenty of clarity for accurate focus checks in playback. By switching to Live View mode – which displays a real-time image on the LCD – photographers can enjoy simplified shooting from awkward angles, or connect to a PC for remote shooting. Live Mode now offers three ways to auto focus: Quick AF, Live AF, and new Face Detection Live AF, which optimizes focus based on faces detected in the frame – for fast, spontaneous portraiture.

Control and ease
The famously intuitive EOS menu system includes a new Quick Control screen, for instant access to the most commonly-changed settings. A new Creative Auto mode offers automatic focus and exposure – while still allowing creative ‘tweaks’ to settings such as background sharpness.
“For advanced amateurs and semi-professionals – or professionals looking for a powerful backup model – the EOS 50D stands alone,” said Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging, Europe. “No other camera in this price bracket offers a comparable combination of speed and image quality.”

Technologies Explained

CMOS
Canon’s CMOS technology is one of the company’s key competitive advantages, with noise reduction circuitry at each pixel site delivering virtually noise-free images. In comparison with CCD technology, the lower power consumption characteristics of Canon’s CMOS sensors also contribute to longer battery life.

Signal conversion in Canon’s CMOS sensors is handled by individual amplifiers at each pixel site. Unnecessary charge transfer operations are avoided, vastly speeding up the process of getting signal to the image processor. Noise generation is reduced, power consumption is limited and faster frame rate potential is increased.

DIGIC
Image data captured by the CMOS sensor is processed by Canon’s purpose-built DIGIC image processors before being written to the camera’s memory card. DIGIC technology uses advanced image processing algorithms to ensure precise, natural colours, accurate white balance, and advanced noise reduction. Ultra-fast processing speeds result in highly responsive camera operation and near-instant start-up times.

DIGIC chips work with a high speed DDR-SDRAM image buffer – reading, processing, compressing and writing image data fast enough to keep the buffer clear during long continuous shooting bursts. And because DIGIC integrates all key processing functions, power consumption is kept to a minimum.

EOS Integrated Cleaning System
The EOS Integrated Cleaning System combats sensor dust in three important ways: Reduce, Repel and Remove.

1. Reduce – Internal camera mechanisms are designed to minimise dust generation. The redesigned body cap prevents dust generation through wear on the cap itself.
2. Repel – Anti-static technologies, including a special fluorine coating, are applied to the low-pass filter covering the front of the sensor so as not to attract dust.
3. Remove – A Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit uses hi-frequency vibrations to shake dust from the infrared filter for a period of approximately one second after each start up. For instant shooting after power up, this feature is disabled immediately the shutter release is depressed.

Canon has also developed an internal Dust Delete Data system, which can map the position of visible dust on the sensor. This can then be deleted automatically after the shoot with the latest Digital Photo Professional software.

Picture Style
Picture Style pre-sets simplify in-camera control over image qualities. Picture Style pre-sets can be likened to different film types – each one offering a different colour response. Within each selectable pre-set, photographers have control over sharpness, contrast, colour tone and saturation. The camera’s factory default configuration is set to deliver immediately-usable JPEG images without need for additional menu settings. Picture Style presets applied to a RAW image can be revised with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software.

The six pre-sets are:

1. Standard – for crisp, vivid images that don’t require post-processing
2. Portrait – optimises colour tone and saturation and weakens sharpening to achieve attractive skin tones
3. Landscape – for punchier greens and blues with stronger sharpening to give a crisp edge to mountain, tree and building outlines
4. Neutral – ideal for post-processing
5. Faithful – adjusts colour to match the subject colour when shot under a colour temperature of 5200K
6. Monochrome – for black and white shooting with a range of filter effects (yellow, orange, red and green) and toning effects (sepia, blue, purple and green).

Software

Digital Photo Professional Software
Digital Photo Professional software provides high speed, high quality processing of lossless RAW images. Processing with Digital Photo Professional allows real-time display and immediate application of image adjustments, giving control over RAW image variables such as white balance, dynamic range, exposure compensation, noise reduction and colour tone – plus the ability to view Auto Focus points on an image. The Lens Aberration correction tool allows precise correction of different types of distortion caused by certain cameras. Images can be recorded in camera with sRGB or Adobe RGB colour space.

Digital Photo Professional supports sRGB, Adobe RGB, ColorMatch RGB, Apple RGB and Wide Gamut RGB colour spaces. ICC (International Colour Consortium) profiles can be attached to TIFF or JPEG images when converted from RAW. This allows faithful reproduction of colours in software applications that support ICC profiles, such as Adobe Photoshop. For improved efficiency, a set of image adjustments can be saved as a recipe and applied.

EOS Utility
The latest version of EOS Utility provides essential support for Live View remote shooting, camera configuration and image transfers. Tightly integrated with Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility can be configured to monitor ‘hot’ folders, automatically renaming and moving incoming images to a structured file system. Users can also tag their images with EXIF data, including copyright information.

Picture Style Editor
Picture Style Editor allows users to create individual Picture Styles that fit with their personal requirements. Each Picture Style contains detailed information on how specific colours should be represented within an image. Once new Picture Styles have been created, they can be uploaded directly into the camera and applied to JPEG or RAW images. When working with RAW files in DPP, both personal Picture Styles and the 6 predetermined Picture Styles can all be adjusted.

[ad#content2]

It is clear that Canon needed to do something against the success of D300 produced by Canon’s biggest rival, Nikon. So Canon upgraded 40D as expected. But soon everybody saw that 50 D was better than expectations of the photographers and people of the photography industry. We can obviously see some major differences between 50D and 40D, such as the totally new image processor Digic 4. It’s price is also quite good for this kind of DSLR. It is cheaper than Nikon D300. Canon 50D Body Price is $1400 in Amazon.com pre-order (While D300 costs $1600 in the same website). Long story short, with this new semi-pro model, Canon will surely satisfy the customers.

Canon 50D

Basic Features of 50 D

• 15.1 Mega-pixels CMOS sensor
• 6.3frame per second continuous shooting, maximum burst 90 JPEGs with UDMA card
• DIGIC 4 image processor
• ISO 100-3200, expandable to “12800″
• 9 point wide area Auto Focus
• 3.0” Clear View VGA (640 x 480) LCD with Live View mode & Face Detection Live Auto Focus
• Magnesium  body
• EOS Integrated “Cleaning System”
• HDMI connection : for high quality viewing and playback on a High Definition TV
• Compatibility with Canon EF and EF-S lenses.

[ad#content2]

Compact cameras are light and quiet compared to SLR’s but they lack a lot of technical abilities, such as speed, lens quality etc. SLR cameras are lauder compared to Rangefinder and compact cameras, so what? Unless you are taking pictures in a library it wont be a problem, plus street itself is a crowded and laud place.

In sum, it is up to the photographer, i’ve seen people who took amazing shots even with the simplest compact digital camera. Equipment doesn’t matter for many categories of photography. Th most important thing is creativity and imagination….

I never used 450D or Rebel Xsi but i read about it a lot. It seems it is quite better than other cameras of the series (Digital Rebels). It has Dust Control System, Lİve LCD screen and it is 12 Mega-Pixels. Plus it is light and compact also it comes with a lens with image-stabilizing ability. I think it is a good deal, but considering it’s price it is so close to more professional cameras like 30D and 40D.

[ad#content2]

The average price difference between Rebel Xsi (450D) and 30D is $100, and between Rebel Xsi (450D) is $250. If you can afford a Rebel Xsi (450D), you probably can afford 30 D and 40 D too. These cameras are semi-professional, unlike Rebel Xsi (450D). They are faster than Rebel Xsi and have higher ISO speeds are available. Their fastest shutter speed is 1/8000 second, and highest ISO value is 3200, these values for Rebel Xsi (450D) are 1/4000 second and ISO 1600.

Both of these cameras are good, and preferable. But if you ask my opinion about these three, i’ll pick 40D.

There’s a web site that i appreciate; Imaging Resource. You can easily make a technical comparison between these three by clicking the following link

Compare Rebel Xsi (450D), 30D and 40D

[ad#content2]

It sounds ridiculous, but i watched the video and thought it may be useful. ıt is not a miracle gadget but it will sure help to prevent shaking the camera. you better see it yourself;

$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera – Lose The Tripod – video powered by Metacafe

[ad#content2]

I will just give basic information about the recommended cameras for beginners. Also i want to say that there won’t be huge differences between the cameras that i’m going to recommend to you. Of course some of them are better than the others but you can easily understand which one is better by looking it’s price.

Canon DSLR Cameras for Beginners

Canon is a famous camera producer from Japan and it has a wide range of products, from beginner level cameras to most expensive professional ones. But we are interested in beginner level right now.

Canon 350 D (or Canon Digital Rebel XT)

This is the cheapest model of the Rebel series (2nd generation Rebel series), it is low-weight, small, easy to use and effective. Most probably it can satisfy all your expectations from a DSLR if you are first starter. This camera is released in March 2005 so it is a little bit old.

Features

• 8 Mega-pixels
• US Kit Price : $ 380 – 440
• ISO : 100 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Sensor Type : CMOS
• Storage : Compact Flash Card

Canon 400 D (or Canon Digital Rebel XTi)

This is another camera from 2nd generation Rebel series of Canon. It is very similar to 350 D which i mentioned before. It is a newer camera released in October 2006 and it has couple of new features. Also it is one of the cheapest 10 mega-pixel cameras that you can buy.

Features

• 10 Mega-pixels
• Dust control : This is a really good feature to have, sensor cleans itself automatically with ultrasonic vibrations.
• Better Image Quality (Comparing to 350 D)
• US Kit Price : $ 570 – 610
• ISO : 100 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Sensor Type : CMOS
• It has a bigger LCD Screen than 350 D (2,5 inches)
• Storage : Compact Flash Card

Canon 450 D (New) (or Canon Digital Rebel XSi)

This is the newest member of digital rebel family of canon also it is the most expensive camera of the series. It released in April 2008 which is the current month so it is NEW. Again it is similar to other two cameras but of course canon has added some new features to this new camera that can attract most of the beginner level DSLR users, such as image stabilized lens, dust control and live view. Another change that canon made in this camera is changing the Storage Card Type from Compact Flash to SD Cards. (The other cameras of the series were using CF [Compact Flash] cards, but 450 D is now using SD cars which are lighter than CF cards.)

Features

• 12 Megapixels
• Dust Control
• Live View LCD
• Kit comes with Image Stabilized Lens (f 3.5-5.6 EF-S 18-55mm)
• US Kit Price : $ 900 – 1000
• ISO : 100 – 1600 , It also has a function that camera can automatically decide which ISO to use between ISO 100 and ISO 400 values.
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Sensor Type : CMOS
• It has bigger LCD Screen than 400 D (3 inches)
• Uses SD cards for storage

Nikon DSLR Cameras for Beginners

Nikon is another famous company of camera and photography world which is also from Japan. Prices of Nikon digital cameras are slightly higher than cameras of its biggest competitor Canon.

Nikon D40 and D40x

It is a good camera for learning photography. ıt is small, low-weight ad cheapest digital SLR camera of Nikon. These are the only good points of this camera in my opinion and i also want to say that i do NOT recommend you this camera. The reason of this camera being included in the post is making a comparison more easy for you.

Features of D40

• 6,1 Megapixels
• US Kit Price : $ 470 – 500
• ISO : 200 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card
• Sensor Type : CCD
• Only 3 auto-focus point (There are 7 focus points in 350D)

Features of D40x

• 10 Mega-pixels
• US Kit Price : $ 580 – 620
• ISO : 100 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card
• Sensor Type : CCD
• Only 3 auto-focus point (There are 7 focus points in 350D)

Nikon D60 (New)

New digital camera of nikon, released in March 2008. This is the smallest digital SLR camera of Nikon. D60 offers some upgrades over the D40x. Dust control system and improved autofocus are considerable changes for D60.

Features

• 10,2 Mega-pixels
• Dust Control
• US Kit Price : $ 730 – 760
• ISO : 100 – 1600 (+3200 with boost)
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card / MMC Card
• Sensor Type : CCD

Nikon D80

Best of these three Nikon DSLR cameras is D80, it is fast and closer to professional. This 10 megapixel DSLR is good for action photography.

• 10 Mega-pixels
• US Kit Price : $ 830 – 880
• ISO : 100 – 1600 (+3200 with boost)
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card / MMC Card
• Sensor Type : CCD

I won’t write about other brands for now because i believe starting with Nikon or Canon is better. Nikon and Canon are the sector leaders and you can find a lot more lenses and other photography equipment for these two brands than other brands. Also they have much professional and complicated cameras that you may want to buy as you get more experience in photography, probably when you want to upgrade your camera you’ll prefer to buy a Nikon or Canon just like almost every professional photographer, so if you buy a lens for the beginner level cameras i mentioned in this article, you will be able to use these lenses later when you have a much professional digital camera.

Canon or Nikon? it is a tough question, every one of them have their own advantages and disadvantages. Objectively i believe Canon has a better price/performance ratio on beginner (consumer) DSLR cameras segment.

We are living in a digital age and quality of digital cameras are getting better when their prices getting cheaper. If you are planning to buy a compact camera go ahead and buy a digital one because owning a compact film camera is costly and requires more effort; buying films, printing them, wait to see the pictures etc. And there are no significant differences between the pictures that you take with a compact digital camera and a compact film camera. In addition; you don’t have to buy films, you don’t have to print them (you can view them on your pc, tv etc.) and you don’t have to wait to see the pictures also you can adjust contrast, brightness, color tones (sephia, black and white) even you can add fancy backgrounds , text etc. Because of all that reasons, i believe that buying an compact digital camera will save your money and time furthermore you’ll have greater options on your pictures.

SLR Cameras (Single Lens Reflex)

Situation is a little different with the SLR cameras; however nowadays digital SLRs or D-SLRs are preferred more by photographers, film SLR cameras still have their advantages from some aspects and they are still desirable. Which one is best? It is hard to answer because; some features of D-SLRs makes them more useful and practical yet some sides of film cameras still better than D-SLRs. What are these advantages and disadvantages? Let’s see;

Advantages of Digital SLR Cameras

• They are economical; if you have a DSLR you don’t need to buy film, of course you have to buy a memory card but you can re-use it thousands of times. Also you don’t have to print your pictures to see them, you can view them on your personal computer.
• They are practical; DSLRs let you choose ISO/ASA (values that show film’s sensitivity to light) values by using their menu which means you don’t have to change films for different light conditions. You are all set by pressing couple of buttons. They immediately show you the pictures and let you delete the ones you don’t like.
• They offer greater control on your pictures; Most of the digital SLR cameras have options that let you change the contrast, sharpness, brightness, color balance etc. In addition digital pictures let you easily make necessary adjustments, changes and retouches after loading them on your computer.
• They give you more practicing chance; Since you have no film cost for every single picture you take, you can try as much as you want, until you get the right shot.

Advantages of Film SLR Cameras

• Better Quality; biggest advantage of film cameras is the quality of pictures. Films still can reach higher megapixels than even most expensive digital camera sensors (CCDs). Film is better at showing details and because of that film is better for large prints.
• They are cheaper; buying a film SLR camera will cost less to you the buying a DSLR. If you don’t have much budget and you want to start to photography, you can easily buy one.
• They are lighter.
• Feelings; if you believe that putting more effort and spending more time on your pictures make them more valuable to you, and also if waiting to see outcome of your work makes you excited and adds some magic and surprise to your work, film cameras are best for you. (This part is totally subjective, different people have different opinions about that. In my humble opinion, spending your effort and time to improve yourself in photography is much desirable than spending your time on just print and view your pictures.)

Disadvantages;

• Film camera’s advantages are disadvantages of digital cameras. Vice Versa

As an example if you are shooting a race using a fast shutter speed, your shot will be clear and sharp, car is not blur, background is not blur, wheels are not blur, road is not blur…. Your picture will look like picture of a stopping car. But it is a race car, your theme is SPEED, so you should make the viewers feel the speed. How? Well with a relatively slow shutter speed and sometimes (as in the example of race car) by following the moving object with your camera. Most of the time, a tripod and a slower shutter speed will be enough to create the feeling of motion in your pictures. When shooting a waterfall use a tripod and take two different pictures from the exact same spot with two different shutter speeds (lets say 1/250 sec. and 1/5 sec. ). You will see the difference, in the first picture that you took with a faster shutter speed, the waterfall looks like it is frozen in time but in the second picture that you used a slower shutter speed you get a picture with silky surface of smoothly flowing water. Some examples

In the picture above ; i followed the movement of the footballer with my camera while i’m taking the picture. As you see pitch, hands and legs of footballer and ball is blurry but head and torso of footballer is not. Pitch is flu because i moved the camera, footballers legs and ball is blur because of their own movement but torso and head of footballer are not flu because i followed the footballer’s movement with almost the same speed.

When taking the picture above; i zoomed in and focused on #9 and suddenly zoomed out while i’m taking the picture. This is why everything is blur but the #9.

And last one; this is an example for using different shutter speeds, i already told about it in the beginning of this writing.

Soccer pictures are also added to my Photography Page -> People and Portrait

It is really hard to keep our lenses clean no matter how careful we are. Actually the problem is not cleaning the lens, the problem is cleaning the lens properly and without damaging the lens. Do not clean your lens with ordinary clothes; to not deform the special layer on the lens it is important to know the right cleaning tools.

Air Blower

Air blower is a simple air pump that blows air from a thin pipe. It helps you to clean the dust on lens or on sensor (if you are using Digital SLR) without touching it. There are types that have brush on them so you can also sweep the dust out of lens. But i think having blower and brush separately is better because hairs of brush will definitely reduce the air pressure, thus creating a less powerful blow. You can also use blower for the dust inside your camera so this is a useful tool, get one.

*When you are using a blower inside your camera, you may move the dust from somewhere else in your camera, directly onto your sensor. And believe me you don’t want to deal with the dust on the sensor. Dust will appear all of your pictures with high f values. It is hard to get rid off and if you scratch it , it will cost you quite much…

Wash Leather

Wash leathers are basically animal skins that are used for for cleaning and polishing. You can use them for cleaning your lens or filter. However it loses its antistatic feature after couple of uses, because there’s no chemical on wash leather. That means instead of cleaning the dust, it may carry the dust on it and leave them on your lens. So be careful with these…

Antistatic Clothes

These are like wash leathers but there are two main differences that makes them better. First antistatic clothes carries a chemical on them which prevents the dust hang on to your lens, even if there’s dust on your lens after cleaning it with antistatic cloth you can easily blow it out with air blower. The second; they don’t lose their antistatic ability as fast as wash leather does. Keep it in a bag away from dust and do not leave it under direct sun light (chemical vaporizes under direct sun light). And throw it away as it gets dirty, antistatic clothes can not be cleaned or washed.

Air Spray

Air spray are based on same principle with air blower but air spray creates much more air pressure than blower. It is basically compressed air in a can, just like a deodorant (of course it has no chemicals inside, only air). Some say it lefts stains on lens if you apply it too close, so be careful with it. It is mostly advised to use air spray for removing the dust on the body (not sensor) and rings of lens , but not directly to lens or sensor of D-SLR’s.

Lens Cleaning Liquid

Lens cleaning liquid is a special solution that removes dirt and oil (that your hand leave on lens when you touch it). Especially it is hard to get rid of oil on lens but you can do that easily with lens cleaning liquid. Apply the liquid on lens and wait for until lens dries. You can use cleaning swabs to apply it on lens or you can just use the spray lens cleaning liquid.If you are using cleaning swabs (two cotton headed straws) there are two things that you have to be careful; first try not to leave any cotton pieces on lens and second which is more important than first; check for any plastic pieces coming out of the cotton tat may scratch your lens. If you are using spray just do not spray it all over the camera (it can harm plastic parts) , use it just on lens and let lens dry.

Optical Tissue

Thin fibres for single use that have chemicals on them to clean lenses and filters. Do not use them more than once because optical tissues loses their sensitivity and chemicals on them moreover they may left some particles of fiber. Just throw them out after using once.

Lens Pen

An equipment specially designed for cleaning dust on lenses. There’s antistatic brush at one side and lens cleaning pad on the other. There’s also reservoir for chemicals inside the pen which prevents brush losing its antistatic ability. It is highly effective against dust but not so useful against oil and finger prints on the lens. When choosing a cleaning pen; try to buy ones that have soft and quality brushes.

Some Extra Tips

• Use a filter; using an UV filter will help protecting your lens and has not so much effect on your photos (but try to choose quality ones). When using a filter you will be cleaning the filter instead of your lens and as you know lenses are a lot more expensive than filters so even if you scratch the filter, you will not be sorry as much as you scratch the lens.
• Use lens caps; while you are carrying your camera inside your bag a cap will keep your lens safe and clean
• Face the camera down when changing lenses; that way you will decrease the risk of letting the dust enter inside your camera

Still if you believe that you are not experienced enough to clean your lens or sensor (especially be careful about sensor) please take your camera to authorized service of your camera’s brand. Because making a mistake may cost you a lot of money.

Note : The article above is informative, please clean your sensor or lens with your own risk. Ermany Photography is not responsible for unexpected and unwanted results of your actions (such as scratching your lens or sensor.)

*(More cleanly we are not responsible for any damage you have done to your camera, lens or any equipment you have.)