SLR Camera Bags Are Like Rabbits

They must be multiplying while we aren't looking. Have you seen the wide variety of slr camera bags on the market? Have you ever tried to choose one?

It is particularly surprising for many amateur photographers to hear that the camera bag market is jam packed with options. Unlike point and shoot cameras where the choice is a soft or hard case, there many more options when choosing an SLR camera bag.

Above all, the focus when looking for a carry bag is, "What kind of pictures do you like to take?" The answer to that question will help you narrow down what type of bag you'll need.

Many amateur photographers think they're going to take their camera everywhere. Only to discover they only really use it on family occasions and holidays. In this case, an inexpensive soft case is probably all you need. A good example is the Opteka Short Zoom Holster. It offers protection against dust and dirt. Of course, rarely using your camera is not the intention of most photographers. So it's good to know there are a wide range of different bags available.

Although it's not cheap, the Naneu Pro Urbangear U-120 is one of the best SLR camera bags for traveling. With a capacity to safely store two camera bodies with lenses attached, an additional four lenses, as well as all of the necessary flashes, battery chargers and leads, there is very little room for improvement. The bag is fully padded and has an additional compartment for a laptop for on-the-go photograph viewing and editing.

And don't forget my favorite from jill-e designs. I just love their small yellow camera bag priced at $140. It will accommodate: 1 Camera Body, 1 Flash, 2 Lenses (dependent on lens size) as well as, Memory Cards, Batteries, Cables, Manuals, Filters, Camera Strap, Lens Cleaning Cloths, Expo Disco Waterproof Camera Jacket, and a Camera Card Reader. They also make bags for men as well.

Whatever camera bag you choose, you have to ensure that the bag is not only able to keep your camera and equipment safe, but also is easy and convenient to carry. Whether it is light, portable, sturdy or secure - or a combination of all of them- taking your time to choose the correct one will ensure that your camera is always by your side when you need it.

Mamatus Photographs

Mamatus
Originally uploaded by Rick Blythe.

While I barbecued some chicken this evening some amazing clouds were forming overhead. Of course I had one of my cameras at hand. My trusty Canon G10.  These are color photos!

Mamatus-2
Originally uploaded by Rick Blythe.

QTsi 35mm - The Ideal Minolta SLR Camera Kit With Changeable Lens

I've been waiting for years for an SLR camera model to come out that has changeable lenses and has the vibe of an instamatic camera. A camera that would be affordable and user-friendly even to amateur users by making the focusing, and customization and adjustment of settings a breeze. This is exactly what I found in the Minolta SLR camera QTsi 35mm kit. The bundled 35-80mm lens is great for taking closeup shots and extending shooting distance.

If you want to take closeup or telephoto shots, all you have to do is add one or two lenses and you're all set. The Minolta QTsi also comes bundled with a flash that lets you capture amazing photos even in low-light or dark conditions, given your subjects are within the covered distance of the flash. You also have the option of attaching a larger flash if you want to take photos from greater distances.

The Minolta QTsi's Automatic Focus or AF feature is also a big help to those who wear contact lenses or glasses or have poor vision. Thanks to the Minolta QTsi's AF feature, no longer will you get those out-of-focus shots. The camera also has a feature that lets you eliminate red eye in close up shots. The QTsi's tripod comes in handy if you want to take shots on 10-second timer mode.

The Maxxum QTsi also has the vibe of a point and shoot camera because of its ease of use and auto-programming of settings. The camera has an auto-exposure feature which lets you choose among five preset modes or settings for exposure: portraits, sports, night scenes, landscapes, and close-ups. I tried out each of the modes and was able to come up with great pictures and without complications. Another great thing about the camera is that at an affordable price, you will get the 35-80mm Minolta zoom lens along with the lightweight camera. The camera is also compatible with all of the lenses in Minolta's AF line as well as with filters and lenses of other brands.

The downside, however, is that Minolta SLR camera models seem to have a two to three year lifespan. I used the QTsi for two years until I began to experience electrical problems with it. Two of my friends who also used Minolta cameras complained of the same thing after using their SLRs for two to three years. Another drawback is that the Minolta Maxxum QTsi doesn't have a B or Bulb mode, so you can't use it for astrophotography or for taking longer exposure pictures.

If you're a casual or amateur photographer, the QTsi is a good choice because it's affordable, easy to use, and has great picture quality.

Aerial Photography - Photographs From Above

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Aerial photography is that segment of photography in which the camera is elevated high above the subject. Some photographers go up in airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, or gliders to take their aerial photos. In other forms, the camera itself is sent up by balloon, tall pole, or kite, and the photo is taken by remote control. High level photography can be taken from blimps and dirigibles, rockets, space stations, satellites, or parachutes. Not all aerial photo shooting involves a person going up in the air with the camera, because automatic or remote controls can do the job needed.

Common uses of aerial photography include surveillance, real estate, environmental impact studies, motion picture production, architectural studies, mapping, and military planning. Most people are familiar with seeing the live blimp videos taken over football stadiums. Actual photos taken from the air are used in real estate sales, land use planning, and commercial advertising. Some newer uses are for property and animal surveys, internet searches, pollution verification, and art.

Panorama views from the air can be made by "stitching" together photos to make one large grand photo of an area. The end result is a seamless image. A few problems occur with aerial photos that do not appear in land based photos because of the larger areas included, and that would be perspectives and registration. Model airplanes are used for some photos. Both still cameras and video cameras can be used with remote controls for above ground photography, with or without an operator present.

There are professionals who do this type of photography, and some businesses with access to airplanes may want to shoot aerial photos of their own business buildings and grounds. Amateurs can enjoy this aspect of photography also, and like to experiment with smaller ways to produce these photos, such as using kites, poles and model airplanes. Panorama cameras have a special place in aerial photography, providing the extra wide angle long shots without need for stitching together images.

For traffic control, raised cameras provide an aerial view of busy intersections, and even inside cameras such as those found on casino or store roofs, might also be considered to be aerial cameras. The true aerial camera is not connected to the ground, however, and offers a bird's eye view of the ground subject. To imitate aerial views, land cameras can use a wide angle lens, often referred to as a bird's eye lens, because images taken with it give the impression of having been taken from above, due to the perspective changes in the resulting image.

Weather professional and NASA use aerial photos for storm watching, surveillance, tracking, and weather predicting. Users of the internet can access maps in both street views and aerial views. Aerial photography, the beginnings of which are attributed to French balloonist Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon) in 1858, has moved from extra ordinary to commonly used or seen by most people. The images can be as beautiful as they are useful, and they are always interesting.

5 Good Reasons to Own a Canon Camera!

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I'm going to get straight to the point! If you don't know what a Canon Camera is then I will tell you they are a fine piece of technology to own. A Canon digital camera is a camera that can take pictures digitally without the use of film! Canon makes a great deal of cameras ranging from the entry level point and shoot all the way up to the DSLR ones professionals use. You can buy them at just about any big chain retail store, but they are not cheap. Not as cheap as the ones you see next with them in the store, but that leads me to my first reason why you should own a Canon digital camera.

1. You should own a Canon camera because they cost more! That's right, I said they cost more because there is a reason behind that. If you ever looked at something and compared it to the other same items you noticed that there are some more costly than others! They all do the same thing, but yet there is a price difference between some of them. There could be a huge difference in price too! The reason lies behind the fact that the more expensive items in the same category are made better! The manufacture decided they wanted to add some better parts or features to that them in order for to be above the competition.

Well, those extra features and parts rack up the cost a little more, and they know that when it is being compared to, the quality they give will be better than what is offered. The manufacture cannot sell these products for what the competition sells theirs for because they are using way better parts so they increase their the cost of their product a little more, but they know it is absolutely better than what is being offered. You should as a smart buyer take that into consideration and spend a little more on one of Canon's cameras!

2. You should own a Canon because they take quality pictures! Have you ever seen a picture online or somewhere and thought it did not look good? The truth is that picture you saw was from a poorly made camera. In fact, it probably wasn't Canon that took the photo. Canon have very strict standards of quality to follow in order to produce the best images. Whether it is from a low cost Canon camera or from one of their professional grade cameras, they always take high quality pictures which results in the best photos. Additionally canons are known for this in the industry! Take advantage of the excellent photo quality Canon cameras produce!

3. You should own a Canon camera because they are built very well. Well, I take that back. They are built like TANKS! These cameras are no joke. Canon's high standards have yielded a camera that can take abuse. I wouldn't advise you dropping one of these if you own one, but they can take a beating. These cameras are so well built I have heard them surviving months and months of constant neglect from their owners. An example would be a friend of mine who had recently purchased a Canon camera. He decided it was just another camera and didn't care much about it. I have seen him drop it numerous times, shake it because he thought it froze on him, and left it in subzero temperatures only to find out he forgot it was there for days. After picking it up in those conditions and turning it on, the camera immediately functioned the way it was designed to. Snap shot and abuse after snap shot they can take a beating!

4. You should own a Canon because the lenses Canon uses are of the best in the industry. Even if you buy a point and shoot Canon if you look closely the lens is made of some of the highest materials! You can see VERY clearly through them, even for a person who has less than ideal vision. Anyone will notice an absolute clarity inside. The lenses Canon produces are very resistant to scratches and swirl marks. If you see something that may consist of a scratch or swirl mark try wiping it away with a soft cloth. That false scratch or swirl will go away instantly! On to the DSLR side of Canon their lenses are made of quality standards so high you cannot ruin them easily or get a bad picture! Unless you had the focus completely off and decided to use a different approach to your photography. Other than those few briefly mentioned quality standards, Canon lenses are amazing!

5. You should own a Canon because they have the best post processing software available to you! Canon's camera packages not only come with manuals, pages of additional information clearly written, but they include some of the best, if not BEST software package given free of charge for you to utilize after you have taken your pictures! You will have so much fun editing or fine tuning your photos to the way you exactly intended by using their top notch software. It also makes organizing your photos a piece of cake. If you want to fix sharpness issues, you can do that in their software. What about color tone? It's simple using just a few mouse clicks and your set. Got a problem with brightness? That's easy, just slide in your preference their awesome brightness tool and you're set. It doesn't get much better and easier with Canon's great software package all included with their high quality cameras!

Well, those are some strong solid 5 reasons I just gave you to own a Canon camera, and that is just scratching the surface. I haven't even talked about iso performance, flash capabilities, longer battery life, Canon DSLR being the way to go, megapixel quality, digic processors, and much more. If you'd like to learn more about these fine electronic items feel free to check out below!

Webcam Basics

Instead of just communicating over the internet with text and emoticons, people are beginning to realize just how easy and fun it is to send video clips through cyberspace. Webcam setups range from simple to complex, and increasing the complexity is only a matter of adding functionality through software, custom code and/or equipment connections.

A simple Webcam setup consists of a Digital Camera attached to your computer, usually through the USB port. The camera part of the Webcam setup is just a digital camera -- nothing out of the ordinary so far. The "Webcam" nature of the camera derives from the software. Webcam software takes a frame from the digital camera at a preset interval (for example, the software might grab a still image from the camera once every 30 seconds) and transfers it to another location for viewing.

If you're interested in using your Webcam for streaming video, you'll want a Webcam system with a high frame rate. The frame rate indicates the number of pictures the software can grab and transfer in one second. For streaming video, you need a minimum rate of at least 15 frames per second (fps), and 30 fps is optimal. To achieve high frame rates, you must necessarily have a high-speed internet connection.

Once it captures a frame, the software broadcasts the image over your Internet connection. There are several broadcast methods. Using the most common method, the software turns that image into a JPEG (compressed) file and uploads it to a web server using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). You can easily place a JPEG image onto any web page in this manner and post your webcam images on the internet.

If you don't have your own Web server or web site, you can also use your web cam to send a video email. First, launch the software that comes with the camera. Depending on the model, the process of e-mailing and recording your video messages may vary. Press Start or Record to begin the video message. Click Stop and then preview the video. You can then click E-mail or Send, which automatically opens your default e-mail program.

When sending a video e-mail, the longer the video message recorded, the bigger the attachment will be, so make sure the recipient's computer can handle the size. The recipient of the e-mail does not need special software to see your video message; they simply choose to open the attachment and the mini movie will play.

Another increasingly popular way to use your web cam is a chat session with webcams in "real time" with instant messaging (IM) programs. During an IM chat, there will be an option to start the webcam right on the screen, or under the Options or Tools menu. In Windows Messenger, for example, the words Start Camera are on the right-hand side of the screen. It is also possible to adjust the volume, window size, and video resolution with IM options. The person on the other end also needs a webcam to visually chat.

Adjust your camera's focus, point it toward your face, and most importantly, look right into the "eye" of the webcam so your friends on the other end see more than just your forehead. Keep in mind that some webcams require an additional microphone to record audio.

Don't expect terrific video quality. It's often possible to adjust the video resolution by toying with the webcam's software settings, but the higher the quality, the choppier the video frame rates will be. Webcams can also be used for remote security monitoring, but beware of hackers who could intercept your video feed and then spy on YOU. Make full use of passwords and encryption.

Nikon D40 Digital SLR Camera Review

Devastating its predecessor the Nikon D50 Digital SLR camera, the all new compact and affordable point-and-shoot Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera comes at a significantly lower price. With a subtly different set of features Nikon has trimmed some of the 'less important features and have included a range of new features including the custom Auto ISO feature available on the Nikon D80 Digital SLR cameras. Nikon appears to have concentrated on what makes a good camera. A solid viewfinder,a short shutter lag, and an exceptionally short viewfinder blackout. On the negative side the Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera does not have an internal focus drive motor and as a result no mechanical focus drive pin. Rather it has CPU contacts allowing Auto Focus only with AF-S and AF-I lenses which have built-in focus motors.

This means the Nikon 'standard' lenses the Nikkor 50 mm F1.8D and the F1.4D will be manual focus only on the Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera. The difference in the lens mount of the Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera and this is the mechanical focus drive pin at about the 7 o'clock position on the mount of the Nikon D80 Digital SLR camera. I personally purchased the camera and my family and I have been taking pictures non stop since purchasing it in January 2007. I highly recommend the Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera for an entry level professional grade camera.

I also would suggest purchasing a large memory chip I purchased a 4GB chip for under 100 dollars at Futureshop and it held over 1600 photos at the highest resolution the camera offers. Hats off to Nikon, for delivering a solid, affordable digital camera with multitude of features and resisting the temptation to enter the chase for more mega pixels.