Canon EOS Rebel Camera Blog |

Hi Friends and Fellow Entrepreneurs,

Ahhâ?¦wide angle photography, probably one of the easiest types of photo to take; but also one of the hardest to excel at.

Have you ever tried to cram 30 people into a single photograph? Youâ??d try to stack them, have some of them on the floor or even ask some of them at the back to jump at the press of the shutter!? Youâ??re also trying to make sure that you are able to see the faces of these people in the photograph. Difficult if your cameraâ??s lens is not wide enough and you have to move yourself further back to accommodate, which may not be possible if space is limited. When shooting indoors with flash, moving back may even give you an underexposed photograph, as flash is often not powerful enough to reach longer distances.

Apart from the utilitarian purpose of getting good group photographs, shooting wide angle lets you portray the scene in full detail with unusual and sometimes, exaggerated perspectives. This is especially true of super wide angle. Small objects can be made to appear larger than larger objects within the same scene, effectively shifting the balance of the image composition. When used well, it can bring attention to the subject of interest in the foreground, at the same time preserving the context of the whole image by showing the location or event in the background.

Choose your foreground interest wisely

-Wider Options

Lenses are categorized by their focal lengths. Typically, lenses fall into one of these categories:

· super wide angle (10~24mm)

· wide angle (24~35mm)

· standard (about 50mm)

· telephoto (70~300mm)

· super telephoto (300mm and beyond)

These numbers indicate the focal length, which describes the field of view achievable using that lens. Incidentally, the field of view of a 50mm lens is considered to be an approximation to what the human eye sees. For the DSLR owners, they can choose from a variety of lenses ranging from a super wide lens all the way up to a super telephoto. But what about the rest of us?

Digital compact camera owners are not left out of the picture. There are a multitude of wide-angle adapters for digital compacts; both made available as accessories as well as by third-party manufacturers. These can be attached via lens threads or bayonet mounts on their bodies. There are also some from third-party lenses which can be attached magnetically!

-Focal Length Multiplier

Note: The â??focal lengthâ?? of the lens determines the â??field of viewâ??, which is the angle of view seen using this lens. â??Field-of-view cropâ?? is often referred to as â??focal length multiplierâ?? for the sake of simplicity.

Digital photography, from the hardware perspective, is based on principles of 35mm film cameras. For a photographer who shoots with film, there is no such thing as a â??focal length multiplierâ??, because to them, everything is 1x. This means that a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens. Not so for a digital SLR. A 50mm lens virtually becomes a 75mm lens, when attached to a Nikon D200 digital SLR. This is because the â??focal length multiplierâ?? of 1.5x causes the 50mm lens to have a field of view equivalent to a 75mm lens.

Shooting wide angle is basically one way of depicting a scene using a wider field of view, which in turn is achieved by using a lens with a focal length of less than 50mm on a 35mm film SLR camera. These days, with the proliferation of digital SLR cameras, there might be some confusion to how focal lengths are calculated.

To keep things simple, we can use this rule of thumb. If you are using a 35mm film SLR, your focal length multiplier is 1x. If you are using a digital SLR, your focal length multiplier could be any one of these, depending on the model of DSLR camera: 1x (eg Canon 1Ds Mk II), 1.3x (eg Canon 1D Mk II), 1.5x (eg Nikon D200 or D70) or 1.6x (eg Canon 30D).

To get the actual focal length (and hence field of view achievable) of your lens, multiply the lens focal length with the multiplier.

Example 1

Nikon D200 (multiplier is 1.5x) with a 17~70mm lens

The actual focal length range of this combination is 25.5mm-105mm, achieved by multiplying the lens range with 1.5

Example 2

Canon 1Ds Mk II (multiplier is 1x) with a 70~300mm lens

The actual focal length range of this combination is still 70-300mm.

Example 3

Nikon F5 (35mm film camera with multiplier of 1x) with a 15mm fisheye lens

The actual focal length of this combination is still 15mm.

The reason behind the focal length multiplier falls to the size of the recording media, the CCD or CMOS. Different cameras use different sized CCD/CMOS for different reasons eg. to make a smaller camera and for better power efficiency. For compact digital cameras which do not fall under the digital SLR category, focal length multipliers are rarely used because they donâ??t have interchangeable lenses. What they do have are wide angle adapters or telephoto adapters. A wide angle adapter may be referred to as a 0.7x wide adapter. What this number means is that this adapter shortens the focal length of the built-in lens by multiplying it with 0.7, effectively creating a wider field of view.

Super wide angle shots sometimes appear distorted, but they do show a lot more in the background, lending context to an image

-Focusing with Wide Angle Lenses

An inherent characteristic of camera lenses is that wide angle lenses come with more depth-of-field compared to telephoto lenses. This reduces focusing errors to some extent, which means that you can focus on almost anything around the center of the frame and get an acceptably sharp image. In this case, a small aperture further increases the chance of a sharp image. For best results though, we can use the â??1/3 of the distance rule”. Look inside your camera viewfinder, estimate the distance from the nearest point that is visible in the viewfinder, to the furthest point that is also visible in your viewfinder. Focus on a point that is roughly one-third of the distance away from you. If you cannot use autofocus effectively on that point (perhaps due to very dim light levels or low contrast early in the morning on a mountain), you can estimate the distance and manually focus your lens, using the distance scale on your lens. A small aperture (eg. f16) gives you more depth-of-field, so use it if possible. Thatâ??s why itâ??s good to carry a tripod, which will let you use smaller apertures without camera shake.

-Composing with Wide Angle Lenses

Wide angle photography has its own set of challenges. While it lets you show more of the scene, sometimes less is more. If not properly framed, a super wide angle image may include distracting elements which detract from your image, because a wide angle lens sees a wider field of view than a normal lens. Therefore itâ??s good to fill the frame well, composing it in such a way that only the necessary elements are included. Landscape photography is a classic candidate for using wide angle lenses. In order to shoot great landscape photography, foreground interest is important. Wide angle lenses let you include a sizeable portion of the foreground in the frame, so use it well by choosing a foreground that is actually interesting.

When shooting super wide angle, we can also get away with a slower shutter speed because the shorter focal length downplays slight camera shake errors, opening up new possibilites with photography. One example is hand-holding your SLR camera in a busy street downtown, capturing a sharp image of your subject while rendering the pedestrian traffic as a blur, due to the slower shutter speed.

-Wide Angle Care

Exercise more caution when handling your DSLR or digicam with a wide-angle lens/adapter. Some wide angle lenses have protruding glass which is more exposed and susceptible to accidental contact with dirty fingers or worse, it may end up getting scratched. If your lens accepts a UV filter, get one. It will protect your lens from countless dangers. Many wide angle lenses allow you to focus closer than a telephoto lens, so a lens hood helps to some extent to protect your lens from your overzealous attempts to get a closer shot.

Wide angle photography is exciting, go forth and experiment!

Enjoy !

Warmly,

Bernard Tan Min Chun

Photographic Artist

http://www.dreamentry4u.com/photo.html

BERNARD TAN MIN CHUN
http://www.articlesbase.com/graphic-design-articles/seriously-wide-110362.html

I’m trying to find a good, reasonably price macro lens for my 35mm but I can’t seem to find a list of what lenses will fit my camera anywhere.. Any suggestions?

You need to look at Canon’s EF lenses. They fit all EOS cameras (both film and digital).
One of the very best Macro lenses available is the EF100mm f/2.8 USM. It’s not just good, it’s in fact rated as excellent. It costs under US$500. A better Macro lens is the EF180mm, but it’s larger, heavier and more costly than the 100mm.

check out the reviews below…

If you want to take high quality pictures you will surely need a high quality camera but which one? Today there is a wide range of cameras that you can buy. There are the old fashion cameras, the automatic cameras and of course the digital cameras. One of the best is the digital camera Canon PowerShot s2.

You will find that the digital camera Canon PowerShot s2 is packed with high quality features. The new version of the PowerShot s2 is an amazing improvement compared to its predecessor. The Camera Canon PowerShot s2 is like having a mix of a high quality camcorder and a high quality digital camera.

Here are some of the new features for the canon digital powershot s2:

- 12x optical Zoom Lens

- A large 1.8 inch LCD Display

- A New “Night Display” Feature

- DIGIC II image processor

The new night display is very useful; it will brighten the LCD screen and the EVF when you are in dark environments. Also the New DIGIC II image processor of the canon digital PowerShot s2 will provide you with amazing quality performance ability.

On top of that the brand new canon digital PowerShot s2 comes with a stereo sound recording giving you an excellent sound and pitch. Another important factor to know is that the canon PowerShot s2 has a 5 megapixal CCD.

If you are one of those who like to make home movies the canon digital PowerShot is perfect for you. You will have a wide range of features for movie making. Features like:

- Wind Filter

- Adjustable mic level

- Sound quality level

- and more

That’s not all; this camera canon digital PowerShot s2 brings you great features for adjusting the color quality. You can swap the colors and you can even highlight various parts of the picture! That’s pretty cool in my book.

By now you should agree with me that with so many features buying a digital camera Canon PowerShot s2 is a very good choice on top of that the PowerShot s2 uses many of the features of its predecessors. Features like:

- Optical image stabilization

- USB 2.0 High Speed Support

- Rotating LCD

- Secure Digital memory card (instead of CompactFlash cards)

On top of that the addition of manual controls, an amazing movie mode and support for various lenses makes the camera Canon Digital PowerShot s2 one of the most important part of your arsenal when you go out on holiday or special events.

Frederic Madore
http://www.articlesbase.com/photography-articles/camera-canon-digital-powershot-s2-a-great-camera-for-everyone-124901.html

I need something that will support the cameras weight. Also I am going to be buying a larger lens at sometime in the future. So I would like a tripod that will hold the weight of a good size lens. Thank you.

I also own an XS. I have three tripods. I bought them all from Wal Mart. They’re an aluminum alloy and are very sturdy but very light.

I use mine all the time. I also use a Tamron 18-200 lens and a Canon 75-300 – I’ve had no tripod problems yet – mine hold my cameras just fine.

Besides, these come with a carrying bag and they’re usually around
$30 – can’t beat that with a stick!

i’m looking forward to buy a camera.
out of these two,which is a better camera :-
(1)Canon EOS rebel XSi
or,
(2)Nikon D60

please suggest.

D60
go to kenrockwell.com
to read about it

This isnt a digital rebel eos i just purchased this camera off of ebay and have no clue how to load the film

I’ve attached the links for the owners manual for this camera as well as the specific instructions for loading film. Have fun!

Here are the instructions:

Loading film.

* Check the film window in the camera back to ensure that no film is already installed. Then slide the camera back lock release lever (located on the left side of the body) in the direction indicated. The camera back will pop open.
* Take the film canister and turn it upside-down so that the plastic cylindrical end is at the bottom. Slot it into the film chamber on the left side of the camera.
* Once the film is snugly seated pull the protruding film tongue out until the end is lined up with the orange mark on the right side of the film chamber.
* Do this very carefully and avoid touching the shutter (the venetian blind-like section in the middle of the camera) since it’s a very delicate mechanism. If you poke your fingers through the shutter the camera will be useless.
* Make sure that the film is lying reasonably flat (it’ll want to curl, so you won’t be able to get it totally flat) and then close the camera back.
* The camera should make faint whirring sounds for a half minute or so as it prewinds the film. When it’s finished the total number of shots available on the roll will be displayed in the top deck LCD panel. Occasionally film manufacturers will make a roll slightly longer than they’re rated for, so don’t be surprised if you get 25 shots out of a 24 exposure roll, say.
* If the camera whirs for a few seconds and then stops and a film icon blinks in the top deck LCD it means that the film did not load correctly, probably because you didn’t pull the film out of the canister far enough. Open the camera back and make sure the end of the film tongue is aligned to the orange mark.
* Note that although the camera uses a safety prewind system to minimize the risk of film being wrecked by opening the camera back prematurely, there is no interlock mechanism in the camera back. In other words, there is nothing to stop you from opening the camera back in the middle of a shoot and ruining some of the photos you’ve just taken. So be careful when opening the camera back, and never open it if shots remaining are displayed on the top-deck LCD panel. Press the midroll rewind button first.