Archive for Guest Bloggers

6 Tips for Mastering Macro Photography: by Shane Haumpton

By Guest
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017

Macro photography is a fun and rewarding niche that allows you to showcase the mesmerizing, otherworldly beauty of your subject by highlighting the minute details that are normally not visible to the naked eye. It also allows you to tell a unique story and connect with your audience through your images.

Whether you’re practicing to improve your craft or just learning how to get started, here are some of the best tips for mastering macro photography:

Choose the right macro lens

Even if you already have a macro lens in your kit, it’s important to make sure that you have the right one for your needs. Macro lenses are not the same across the board—there are certain nuances that differentiate macro lenses from each other, such as focal length, magnification, and focusing distance. There are a few more, but these are the three most important factors to consider when choosing a macro lens.

The right macro lens for you will largely depend on the subjects you plan to photograph. If your primary subjects are flowers, blades of grass, drops of water, and other inanimate objects, you can choose a shorter focal length of at least 45mm. If you plan on shooting skittish subjects such as insects or small animals, you need a macro lens with a focal length of at least 90mm.

Maximize the use of stabilization devices

Just as it is with other popular photography niches, camera stability is also important in macro photography. Photographers commonly use tripods to keep their cameras steady, which also enables them to use slower shutter speeds. In effect, having a slower shutter speed allows the use of smaller apertures that are perfect for bringing out more detail in your macro shots.

Other unorthodox but commonly used tools for keeping cameras or subjects in place include clothespins and clamps. Even a piece of cardboard can help keep your device in place and minimize the impact of the wind while you frame your subject. By all means, be creative with your camera, subject, and even backdrop support to improve your shot and achieve your desired output.

Learn to focus properly and accurately

It goes without saying that losing focus on your subject, despite having a well-composed frame or good depth of field, can ruin an otherwise beautiful shot. Focusing on different parts of the frame or subject can yield interesting changes in perspective, but you’ll still want to have the star of your image in sharp and clear view at all times.

One technique you can use in keeping the focus of your camera while shooting in macro is to set your camera in manual focus and then set your macro lens and focus ring at 1:1.

Afterwards, you can then slowly move the camera forwards or backwards while using a tripod or your stability device of choice until you find that “sweet spot” where your subject or a specific area of the frame is in sharp focus.

Be particular with your depth of field

Depth of field is crucial when taking macro pictures. If you’re a professional or an aspiring photographer, you’ve probably already noticed that sudden changes in depth of field can greatly affect the outcome of your shot. To avoid inconsistencies, you’ll need to use the correct settings.

One way to achieve the right depth of field is to set your camera on a surface parallel to your subject. This way, your sensor will be perpendicular to the object you are shooting and you can optimize your depth of field.

If you’re using a 1:1 macro lens setting, it is recommended that you set it to shutter speeds of 1/200 or faster to ensure sharp images, then use an aperture of f/22. However, many shooting conditions often require you to sacrifice either your shutter speed or aperture. If you have a choice, go steady with a still subject or tripod for your camera and shoot with slower shutter speeds. This way, you can use apertures of f/16 to f/22, where you can have a sharp subject and a good amount of background bokeh without underexposing your shot.

Experiment with various angles and lighting

Proper perspective and lighting play an important role in bringing out the beauty of your photographic subjects, so don’t be afraid to experiment. You can always use additional lighting, such as external flashes, ambient lights, sunlight, or makeshift light sources like lamps and flashlights, and even filters, to expose your subjects to your liking. Or, you can use reflectors to make harsh or direct lighting bounce and create a more diffused, soft lighting for your subject.

At the same time, Instead of capturing a macro photo that looks just like your favorite close up shot from a magazine, look for a new angle and make the shot your own. Simply tilting your camera, placing your subject off center, or changing your perspective can instantly make your macro photography stand out among the rest.

Be mindful of the composition

It is a common misconception that you do not have to bother with a subject’s surroundings in macro photography, since it involves the careful art of zooming in so close to a particular subject that the background is barely visible. In reality, you still do—especially if you want to capture a good photo with a more meaningful composition.

Photographers in general need to consider how their subjects and backgrounds work with each other in the frame. As a macro photographer, you also have to be mindful of how colors and textures play into the mix, especially when you’re zooming in to bring out details of a particular object or living thing.

While certain parts of the background will most likely be blurred in most of your close up shots, the photo will visually look and feel a lot better for your viewers when you are careful with your entire composition and the elements in the frame are in sync with each other.

Adding these tips to your existing knowledge about this niche will further improve your photography skills and quality of your photos, as well as allow you to market yourself as a more versatile photographer.

 

 

Shane Haumpton is a beginner in terms of writing, self-confessed coffee addict and shutterbug, and manages to do all these while enjoying life as a nomad. She is interested in writing on a variety of topics, ranging from lifestyle, photography, travel, and arts and crafts to gadgets, social media, and internet safety.

Twitter: @shane_haumpton

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Categories : Guest Bloggers, Macro Photography, Make Better Photographs

Motion Blur Photography: by Erik Kerstenbeck

By Guest
Thursday, September 21st, 2017

Using a fast shutter speed will freeze motion in its tracks, and using a slow shutter speed with moving objects will spread the image over time. This creates a sense of motion.  There are many methods to achieve this motion blur, such as panning on a moving object, shooting from a moving platform (train, car etc), using the zoom feature while the shutter is open, moving the camera on a still subject, or keeping the camera fixed while the subject is moving. Here we will focus on the latter.

The Concept

Keeping the camera still while using a slow shutter speed will generate a blurring of the moving objects giving a sense of speed. Slowing the shutter even further may exaggerate this and tend towards the abstract. Blur is nice, but keep in mind the basics of composition for all the objects that are not in motion, such as buildings, street signs with the Rule of Thirds in mind. Remember, you are trying to convey a storey and not just execute a technique.  Imagine the lights as a river and compose the flow as if it were a landscape photograph. Look for low angles, and perhaps use a wide angle lens to exaggerate the motion as the subjects pass through the frame.

I have found that traffic is a great place to start and especially in an Urban environment. Shooting just after sunset provides just the right balance between ambient light and the ability to catch the oncoming or receding lights. When it gets darker, lights become highly saturated and non-moving objects a bit more difficult to expose properly.

If you have time, check out the traffic patterns before it gets dark and take a couple of test shots to check your composition. Also, try to get as close to the traffic as possible by looking for traffic islands or other vantage points. This will save some frustration later once you want to execute your shot. Look for some other vantage points as well, so you can quickly relocate if you are not satisfied with your first results.

The Set Up

You will need to have a camera that allows control over Aperture and Shutter speeds, or even better a DSLR that you can set to Manual. A good sturdy tripod will help to avoid any unintentional camera movement when the shutter is open to keep the non-moving objects crisp. You can also weight down the tripod with you camera bag hanging it from the center hook to further stabilize it. Using a remote shutter release helps as you will not even have to touch the camera, but if you don’t have one, use a self timer on your camera after you have composed and see the shot emerging.

Some DSLRs allow a “Live View” from the back LCD display. This allows you to have a bigger view, but more importantly, locks up the mirror for less shake when you trigger the shutter. If you have a lens hood, use it to avoid unwanted light intrusion.

The Camera Settings

How slow is too slow? It depends on the light and the speed of the subjects. Try a shutter speed of between 3 and 10 seconds and start with an aperture settings of f8 to f16. If you like the blur but it is too dark, open your aperture and take another shot. If the exposure is right, but not much blur, slow down the shutter and compensate with a smaller aperture. I always shoot in RAW, so I can make some adjustments later with my post processing software. Keep your ISO settings low (100) to avoid noise. Also look at the scene and try to judge the temperature of the light. Is it mostly incandescent, neon, sodium vapor and try a few test shots to adjust your White Balance. Often it can be a mix, so some experimentation might be in order.

My Examples

During a recent trip to NYC, I wanted to create a vintage postcard look to the hustle and bustle of Grand Central Station. I wasn’t carrying a tripod, so I sat the camera on the balcony and held it down with two hands while Kathleen, Wife and Photographer, released the shutter  with the remote release. Sometimes you don’t need to haul all sorts of gear to stabilize your camera, just a bit of creativity. My Nikon D90 was set for ISO 100, f22, 2s and Incandescent WB. The Vintage look came in post processing with Adobe Lightroom.

Times Square, NYC

This image was also without a tripod. I found a sturdy traffic sign that I used to stabilize my camera and fired the shutter without any remotes. I took a number of shots with varying shutter speeds until I got what I was after, the zooming Yellow Cabs. Here I had to have some anticipation to judge the ebb and flow of traffic.

The Flatiron Building in NYC

The Flatiron Building in NYC is just Iconic. There was a convenient traffic island where I could set up a Gorilla Pod instead of a nice tripod. These are small, flexible contraptions that allow you to anchor your camera to almost anything. This shot was taken after securing the camera to a trash can. Once again, careful observation allowed me to get my Yellow Cab zooming through the frame.

Take your Time

If your first attempts give you a dark shot with vague bright lights do not be discouraged if it isn’t what you expected. Look at your camera settings and make adjustments and try again until your vision is captured. Photography is all about learning and making your gear capture the image in your mind and the story you want to convey. And most of all, enjoy the journey.

I would like to thank Trevor Current for inviting me to craft this article. His website is a source for all things Photographic.

 

 

Erik Kerstenbeck is the Co-Owner of Kerstenbeck Photographic Art, a small outfit operated from San Diego, California. Erik is an Electrical Engineer by trade but has been self studying photography for 30+ years starting with an old Brownie Box Camera given to him by his Dad.

Erik thrives in all aspects of Light, Composition, Technical aspects of equipment and Post Processing Techniques. His newest interest is High Dynamic Range Photography, and Infrared Imaging. He and Kathleen (Wife, Photographer and Partner) travel extensively creating unique Landscape and Urban images, as well as Event, Environmental and Studio Sessions. But most of all they both have a great passion for the art of Photography and have fun on the roads of discovery!

Company: Kerstenbeck Photographic Art
Phone: 858-603-3412
Email: contact@kerstenbeck.com
Website: http://www.kerstenbeck.com
Blog: http://kerstenbeckphotoart.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @ErikKerstenbeck
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kerstenbeckphotographicart

Photo Credit: © Erik Kerstenbeck

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Categories : Guest Bloggers, Make Better Photographs, Shooting Tips
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Scenic Outlook – 3 Easy Ways to Not Look Like an Amateur

By Guest
Thursday, August 24th, 2017

Amateur (noun) – a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity

I think we can all agree that the definition of amateur doesn’t exactly have the nicest ring to it. A lot of photographers out there do fit this description, which is perfectly fine or everyone with a camera would be doing this for a living. The trick is not letting other people know it. There are difficult methods for your images to look like a pro’s but also very easy ways to NOT look like an amateur. I have seen countless photographs of beautiful sweeping landscapes and majestic sunsets only to be ruined by the simplest (read: careless) mistake. The three things I am about to cover are major pet peeves of mine that will instantly drop an image from the ranks of great to mediocre. My goal is to have you think the same thing by the end of this article. Remember, our work doesn’t have to stand up to the likes of Ansel Adams, but it does have to be better than that guy snapping away with a disposable camera. These tips are easy and you CAN do this.

Straight horizons

Number one. Numero uno. The be all end all. I can probably go on for days how crucially important this is but I will spare you the diatribe. Just repeat after me: I will make sure my horizons are straight. Very good, you are already on the non-amateur path. My advice is simple; take your time composing and framing your shot. There is a simple approach I take every single time I compose a landscape image to make sure my horizon is straight. Get this right in camera and you won’t have to straighten and crop part of your scene later. If you are using a DSLR, place it in live view mode once it is secured to your tripod and enable grid lines if they aren’t already. Take your time adjusting the angle of the camera until the lines show a perfectly straight horizon. Remain in or cancel out of live view and snap your shot.

It was imperative that my horizon was straight for this image given that I was playing off of symmetrical reflections.

Dead center is dead boring

Being that we are already on the topic of straight horizons, lets keep the mojo going with another absolutely crucial non-amateurish tip: avoid centering your (now) perfectly straight horizon. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when a centered horizon will work, but for the most part that isn’t the case. When there is equal space above and below a horizon line, your eye wanders looking for a place to focus on in the frame. Our eyes are followers and need to be told visually where to go. As a general rule of thumb, if you want to emphasize a really dramatic sky, lower your horizon. If the foreground is the main point of interest and you are faced with a so-so sky, raise the horizon to the upper third portion of the frame.

The only reason this image works and has any impact is because the sky is dominating the frame. Your eye is led by the reflection in the water, to the sun, then traverses around the dramatic sky.

Dust it off

Step 3 in the non-amateur program: dirty sensors. It happens to the best of us. Well, actually, it happens to all of us. Sensor dust is part of the game whenever you are changing lenses and for the most part, it’s unavoidable. Dust spots will be the most present in the under exposed areas of your image, but they are easily abolished. The first thing I do when processing a photograph is look for dust spots. Sometimes I will spend 5-10 minutes making sure I took care of every single one because to me, a single blemish can ruin a photograph. Inspect your shot from every viewing angle on your monitor. Some spots are only visible from the sides or straight on. Then use content aware fill or a healing brush to rid your image of those nasty specks.

In order to maintain all the detail in the sky and silhouette the distant boats, I under exposed this shot. With that, dust spots were present throughout.

Congratulations! You have now completed the 3 step program. With some simple care and attention to detail, you can avoid the amateur tag and start taking your work to the next level.

 

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Jesse PafundiJesse Pafundi is a photographer hailing from Long Island, New York. A lover of all things photography, he enjoys traveling and capturing the world around him as much as possible. In addition to shooting landscapes, he has a major affection for New York City architecture and urban exploration. Whether it’s HDR, lens filters, or iPhoneography, he enjoys dabbling in and learning as many techniques as he can consume. Jesse believes strongly in the use of social media and blogging as a tool to further his knowledge and share his passion with anyone who wants to listen.

Photo Credit: © Jesse Pafundi

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Categories : City and Landscape Photography, Guest Bloggers, Make Better Photographs
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Basic Lighting Setup For Business Portraiture: by Daryl Brown

By Guest
Friday, August 11th, 2017

When acquiring a Business Portraiture client it’s always best to know before hand how the client will use the image. Meaning if the client will be using his/her image for web posting or high quality publication it’s best to light for deeper shadows. This is more or less for men especially as deep shadows can indicate Strength and Intelligence (not that women are equally the same) but non the less you’ll see more Business Portraiture for men photographed this way. Now I will say some women like that type of lighting scenario and will occasionally ask for it as in the following images


Now if the client is using the image for lets say newspaper paper pre-production or other venues where the image quality is lower, then you should aim to fill in the shadows. The last thing you want in that scenario is poor reproduction that will render darker areas without details. Even if the imagery will be used for general usage, fill in the shadows as a matter of course.

Business PortraitureBusiness Portraiture
The following are two setups that I use in my Business Portraiture session for both men and women.

business portrait for men

The above diagram is my typical setup for men and women who want deep shadows for the portraits. This is more for men so I suggest again knowing what your client wants well in advance so that you can prepare appropriately. The setup uses three lights, a key light, a hair/rim light and a background light. The gobo or black subtraction panel is optional but I like it to deepend the shadows depending on where you place the panel. Now you can use whatever light modifier you are most in tuned with. For most of my portraits I generally use a large softbox and occasionally I’ll use a medium soft box or an umbrella. The hair/rim light uses a 30 degree grid as well as the background light (play around and try some with the light off you may like the result).

Business PortraitBusiness Portraiture

 

Business Portraiture for women
This diagram is what I use for most of my Female Portraits and it also works well for Business Portraits. The setup is three lights; key, hair, background and three white or silver reflectors. Key light is primarily postioned directly in front 4 feet from the subject and about 4 feet above camera height. The reflectors are generally placed two feet from the subject on either side (you can place them closer or further depending on the look you are going for). The third relfector in front is placed chest high underneathe the subject’s chin to fill in those shadows (you can place the reflector closer or lower to the subjects chin depending on the final look). If you have the budget for it or have the space for it add a second light in place of the third reflector. The results will be just as beautiful, but be sure to meter the light one f-stop below your main/key light. The hair light is placed directly above and slightly behind the subject’s head about 6 feet and angled toward the camera and uses a 30 degree grid. The background light uses a 30 degree grid and is generally placed 2 feet behind the subject and aimed at the middle part of the background (white or studio gray) to give it a gradation. The results are always flattering and complimentary for women subjects.

Business PortraitureCasual Business Portrait

These two are just a handful of setups I use for my Business Portraiture. I encourage you to try the setups and practice the lighting schemes until you produce images you and your clients are happy with. In the end the client is who we want to be happy and return again and again and again.

Daryl BrownDaryl Brown is an award winning beauty, fashion, and portrait photographer located in Arlington, VA. Daryl’s career as a photographer has spanned nearly two decades from his start as a news videographer to his work today photographing all types of individuals…from radio and TV personalities to aspiring models to new borns.

Daryl has received the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award and an Emmy award for photojournalism in investigative news.

Daryl is known for his attention to detail from prep to post in all of the images he has produced. His work has appeared in Council Magazine, The Washington Post and an exhibit at Century 21.

Daryl Brown Photography Logo

Company: Daryl Brown Photography
Phone: 571-232-5349
Email: d.brown.photography@gmail.com
Twitter: @darylbrownphoto
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darylbrownphoto/

Photo Credit: © Daryl Brown

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Categories : Guest Bloggers, Make Better Photographs, Portrait Photography
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Three Reasons You’re Not Ready To Shoot A Wedding – And One Way To Fix It: by Angelo Stavrow

By Guest
Saturday, August 5th, 2017
boutonniere

Photo Credit: © Angelo Stavrow, Saad Khan and Caitlyn Bom

With the advent of low-cost digital SLRs, the field of photography is being democratized — even the most entry-level version sports image quality and responsiveness that stand head and shoulders above the point-and-shoot cameras that reign supreme in the consumer market, offering the first-time photographer an excellent tool with which to begin learning.

Inevitably, newbies flood photography forums on the Internet, wearing their heart on their sleeve and putting their best work up for critique.  A curious sequence of events then unfold for our newbie: She puts up a few colourful sunsets, maybe a few flowers, a couple of black-and-white portraits; since she love taking photos, her SLR is always with her. She gets to be know as The Gal With The Awesome Camera.  And then, almost out of nowhere, it happens: some friend or acquaintance, having seen her photography, asks her if she’d be interested in shooting their wedding.

This was exactly my situation a few years ago.  A friend of the family, looking for an inexpensive wedding photographer, asked if I’d be willing to take on the job.  They couldn’t offer me much money, but that didn’t matter — I refused the job, because I honestly didn’t feel that I was ready and able to do it.

Little did I know how right I was.

As a relatively-new photographer myself (at least when it comes to shooting professionally, and especially at weddings), I often see the old guard either a) warning new entrants of the pitfalls and perils of weddings, or b) actively discouraging these newcomers from giving it a go.  I don’t much care for the latter behaviour, but I’d like to offer some “newbie-to-newbie“ advice to those who would like to try their hand at the wedding game.

I shot my first wedding in the spring of this year, and even though it’s been years since I was last asked to shoot one, I still wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was.  So, based on that experience, here’s why you’re not ready to shoot a wedding.

1. You Don’t Have Enough Gear

For an amateur, I consider myself well equipped.  I showed up the day of the wedding with my Canon 5D Mark II, a couple of lenses, a couple of flashes, and extra batteries, and thought I’d be fine.  And, for a few hours, I was.  I was snapping away happily, until my go-to lens –a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L– started throwing sporadic “ERR00” communication errors.

the_happy_couple

Photo Credit: © Angelo Stavrow, Saad Khan and Caitlyn Bom

Great.  So I could either just grin and bear it, fussing with the lens every time it went awry, or put it away for the rest of the night, and deal with switching between primes (I had a 28mm, a 50mm, and an 85mm with me as well).  Both situations meant wasting time, and, worse, potentially missing The Shot.  If I had a second body, I’d have just put away the 24-70 and slapped a prime on each — probably the 50 and the 85 — and been fine.

Then there were the issues with the flashes.  Well, technically, the flashes worked fine, but trying to trigger them reliably via an ST-E2 transmitter when you’ve only got minutes to set up, pose, and tear down was an exercise in frustration.  Proper radio triggers would have had made this far easier.

Despite these problems, I somehow made it through the night without tossing my gear in the trash bin (or hitting the open bar).  I definitely have a much better idea now of what I should have brought, what I didn’t need to bring, and how to work gracefully around the problems that invariably crop up with gear.

2. You Don’t Have Enough Time

I spent about ten hours shooting the wedding and came back with nearly 700 photos.  That’s actually not many, by professional standards — maybe half of what could be expected.  And, hey, I’ve come back from vacations with just as many –if not more– photos, so it’s not like I’ve never had to deal with that many images at once before.

Except for one thing.  Wedding photos have to be delivered to the client within a reasonable amount of time. My vacation photos?  Yeah.  I’m a couple of years behind.

Like many of us, I have a full-time job, and other obligations besides photography.  Frankly, finding the free time to go through and process these photos for the newlywed couple within a few weeks was simply not going to happen, unless I decided to forego things like, well, sleep.  The day of the wedding is only a portion of the entire time you spend on these jobs — you’d better have an efficient workflow to get it done in a reasonable period of time.

3. You Don’t Have Enough Experience

I’ve shot concerts and art show openings (as an amateur) and figured that a wedding wouldn’t be much different.  I mean, heck… it’s basically just event photography, right?

Wrong.  So very, very, wrong.

None of these events will adequately prepare you for the ten to twelve hours you spend on your feet, coupled with barely having time to inhale a granola bar, dealing with friends and family of the newlyweds ruining your shots to get their own photos, guests taking advantage of the open bar (luckily, that wasn’t an issue for my first experience), and trying to get wedding portraits in the middle of one of Ottawa’s most popular museums (where the reception was held) before closing hours.

The Fix: Mentorship

backlit_kiss

Photo Credit: © Angelo Stavrow, Saad Khan and Caitlyn Bom

So, how did I manage to not make a complete arse of myself?

I was offered a great opportunity by a pair of wedding photographers, Caitlyn Bom and Saad Khan: Tag along on a large wedding that they were going to be shooting, as an apprentice.  I wouldn’t be paid, but I’d be there as a third shooter.  They’d seen my work, and felt confident enough about my professionalism, and thus invited me to join them.  It was a win-win situation: I would get to try out wedding photography without the performance anxiety, and they’d get additional coverage of a large event.

So what if I didn’t have enough gear?  If my stuff failed, there were still two other photographers there, with their own equipment, to cover the event.

So what if I didn’t have the time to process all the photos I shot?  They took full control of the deliverables, so all I had to do was provide the images — they’re the pros and thus have their workflow down.

So what if I had no experience?  I had theirs to draw upon.  I learned a lot from the event, sure, but the most valuable lessons came from watching professionals in action: dealing with the clients, dealing with the guests, dealing with the venue management, and dealing with each other.

So, you may not be ready to shoot weddings — but there is a fix.  Talk to pros.  Seek out mentors.  You can learn plenty from a photography website, but nothing beats learning-by-doing.

Many thanks to Saad Khan (Toronto) and Caitlyn Bom (Syracuse, http://caitlynbom.com) for the opportunity to learn.

 

Update: This article has been very popular and made it’s way into many Facebook posts and forums. There’s a Flickr discussion going on here that’s worth checking out.

 

Angelo Stavrow HeadshotAngelo Stavrow is a freelance photographer and writer in Montreal, Canada, who takes photos because he’s rubbish with paintbrush and a canvas.  He prefers to enjoy the big picture, rather than examine the individual pixels.

Website: http://angelostavrow.com
Twitter: @angelostavrow

Photo Credit: © 2010 Angelo Stavrow

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Categories : Guest Bloggers, Make Better Photographs, Wedding Photography
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Samsung NX200 Review: by Jason England

By Guest
Friday, July 20th, 2012

Samsung NX200

Design: Samsung has designed the NX200 to be quite sexy. Having an all black metal body, and what really stands out is the smooth curved textured grip on the right side. They have also packed in 2 scroll wheels. One on the top and one on the back, for changing settings and navigating your photos. On the top you’ll find a full hotshoe. Which can be used for the included external flash, or a transmitter when using off camera flash. Look on the bottom, and you’ll find the battery and SD card compartment. Under the plastic door on the left is where you’ll find the HDMI and USB ports. Last but not least is the 3” gorgeous AMOLED screen, which takes up the majority of the back of the camera. It’s bright, vivid, has deep blacks and works great outdoors.

Handling: The curve and texture of the grip feel good in the hand, but the thinness of the body hurts it here. Making it difficult to hold one handed or pick up with one hand, without smashing most of the buttons on the back of the body. When holding with 2 hands though it’s very comfortable. While the NX200 offers up a beautiful screen with rich blacks and colors, you’ll still find yourself missing a viewfinder in certain situations. For instance when shooting moving subjects. Unfortunately they do not offer an electronic viewfinder for the NX200. One more thing you’ll find missing, is anyway to tether the NX200 to a computer. There is also no way to remotely trigger the shutter. All features you may have become accustomed to if you own a DSLR. I also found the arrow keys difficult to push, which are located within the scroll wheel on the back of the camera. Users with big fingers beware.

Menus: The menu system is very visual and gorgeous. They really put a lot of styling into the menus, and made the camera a pleasure to use. You can easily navigate through the menus using the scroll wheels on the top and back. It even includes a tip overlay to help you understand the settings better, and what they do. The Fn button is undoubtedly the most useful button on the camera. Push it and it’ll bring up the screen with all of the shooting settings. Allowing you to quickly get an overview of every setting and make changes. Using the back scroll wheel to move to the setting, and the top one to make any changes. Read More→

Categories : Cameras and Lenses, Guest Bloggers, Mirrorless Cameras, News and Reviews
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