Your Canon Photos No. 30: 26th November to 2nd December 2023

David,

I really enjoyed seeing your night time photos during this Holiday season. Yes, I understand the need to use higher ISO levels. On my cameras, I would keep the shutter speeds much lower, but then I might have had darker conditions too. My night time photos do not show us the same image quality that I see you get with the Canon R6 even though they are acceptable for small prints and resized web photos.

So you all inspired me to upgrade a little. I just bought a refurbished Canon RP with the kit lens at a steep "Black Friday" discount. I've got extra memory cards, a wrist strap and another camera bag, all waiting to join them when the gear arrives in the mail sometime next week. I hope they work well and we'll see whether buying refurbished from the Canon website was a good idea or not. Over the years, I've heard nothing but good things about Canon refurbished gear...so we shall see. Then I hope to capture similar scenes as you have done. I'm impressed at how sharp your images are...great photos David!

Simplejoy,

Your photo for the weekly theme "National" is really good with the background spheres of light. Could you explain to us how the image reflects "National"? I had asked OpenCube the same type of question. It's interesting to understand the thought process of what you were trying to achieve and what it means to you.

Also, secondly...did you need ideas to "potential content"? For me, it's landscape scenes, buildings, farms, people, wildlife, zoos, sporting events, celebrations, dancing, and travel. There are a few others I could think of, that might help...please let me know. I don't do macro photography now. I used to do that with my Olympus Zuiko 70-300mm lens, particularly of damselflies, but that was over 10 years ago. With my Canon gear I would need another lens for that, but because I'm so active with so many other things, macro photography is on the "back burner". But I do enjoy seeing what you produce, by getting up close.

Digi,

Thanks for your kind words! This was a special case, in that it is easy to get the lights overexposed, because the camera ignores them. (It is the same problem that I had with the roses in June.) I just deliberately underexpose and let the ISO set itself. As I think you can see, this works -- but, in this case, I do also use PhotoLab's noise reduction for the shadows that I bring up later.

I dont think you'll be disappointed with the RP. I have also heard good things about "refurbished by Canon" cameras. There is a special scene mode for night photos on the RP which is worth exploring.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions and seeing your RP photos.

David

Congrats - wish you lots of fun with that camera. I'm sure it's very good!

Thank you! The 'thing' I'm trying to depict is music (more precisely: classical music, which Austria and Vienna is quite famous for all around the world). We even have a line in our national anthem:

"Heimat großer Töchter und Söhne, Volk begnadet für das Schöne" ("Home thou art to prodigious kin, Shining brighter than ever been")

making a reference to the importance of art in our country... So if I have to depict something positive for a theme called "National" that will likely be it. It probably won't be surprising to hear that I'm very sceptical of any form of overt Nationalism, given our countries horrible past in that regard...

The image is for a macro-only group on flickr, so it can't show something bigger than 3 inches/7.5 centimeters across. While the things you mentioned will likely be more effective for the theme, many of those will be hard to capture in such a tiny frame unless you have some miniature stuff at hand.

This is a wonderful capture, David! Love the composition you chose and the beautiful tones, both on the walls, as well as in the reflections, with the warmer looking center drawing the attention towards it - very effective.

I agree with David you won't be disappointed with the RP. It's a fun camera to use.
You might also like the 24-240 in combination with the RP. We actually do ownand use two. One for her and one for me
(I use it with my R) 😎

Subject: Autumn Colors 12 Years Ago

I did find a photo I took my my Olympus gear about 12 years ago of the same autumn colors scene. This was before they constructed that building. This was at peak colors.

Make - OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Model - E-500
ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds
FNumber - 8.00
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ExposureBiasValue - -0.70
FocalLength - 14 mm
Lens - Zuiko 14-42mm

Photobygms,

Thanks. I just received the Canon RP by the delivery man. It looks completely new; there's not even any dust in the viewfinder. It uses the same batteries as my Canon T7i (800D) cameras. That's good to know because I already had two extra spare batteries for that.

Unfortunately, I can not even test it. The reason is that I had to keep trying to order the Canon RF 24-105mm F4-7.1 lens. It would be available for $129 (USD) and then be out of stock (before I could even finish filling out the order). It was a little crazy, but that's what makes Black Friday fun. 😀 Black Friday in the USA is the day after Thanksgiving when a person can get super deals. I kept trying during the day hour by hour, until it went through. The regular price was $319.99 to $399.99 (I believe). I just checked a few minutes ago and the Canon RP for the price I paid for it is also out of stock. This time of year not only do you get a refurbished discount, but they have greatly chopped down the price for some of these. I was looking for Black Friday specials, but there was nothing as inexpensive as this (that I saw on the Canon website). I'm looking at that website now, and the Canon RF 24-240mm lens is $719.99 (USD) refurbished. They did not slash the price of that one any further. I've noticed over the years that manufacturers often offer (reasonable quality) kit lenses at good prices, to get us set up. Then later we can buy more expensive gear if we want, after enjoying the product. I'm not going to rush out yet and buy another lens (but thanks for letting me know). I already have many other cameras and lenses, but this deal for the Canon RP and kit lens was too good to pass up. I was interested in getting better low light images anyway and winter is the best time for those kinds of pictures...can't wait.... 😀

I see the Canon RP has the same LCD screen that pulls out and twists. The camera is nice & small. I can't wait to get the lens so I can test this all out. I was surprised that they delivered this to me on Sunday.

Digi,

Sorry to hear that you dont have a complete kit yet. Do you have an adaptor that allows you to use your EF lenses? They are not too expensive.

I agree with Photobygms that the RF 24-240 is an excellent lens, at a good price. It is a good stand by, and you will see that we have taken many pics with this lens if you look back at our postings. Other not expensive lenses that you will find really worth having are RF16, RF28, RF35, and you can probably get one of those at a local Best Buy to get you started without breaking the bank.

Also, I highly recommend this e-book. It is much better than the Canon manual and a good means of getting used to the differences of the RP from what you have!

All the best,

David

Introducing the latest member of our family (he is still too shy to tell us his name). His job is to guard the front door and stop the cold drafts.

Edit: he eventually told me his name is Sammy!

David

David,

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm just going to be patient until the lens comes (which will be easy for me since I already have so much gear). I've got almost everything ready, as I wait for the lens. In addition to the lens, I'm just missing a hood which I ordered from Ebay. That should hopefully arrive in about one week.

On the Canon website they have said for me that the Canon RF 24-105mm F4-7.1 lens is "processing" which means according to an internet source that it is being picked, handled and packaged for shipment. I checked and they did process it for payment. I have not been notified that it has been shipped yet. I hope it's not going to be delayed for very long. Since it was so inexpensive at $129 (USD), it was very popular (apparently)...so maybe there will be issues causing a delay...we shall see.... It is still on the Canon website at that price as out of stock (or something to that affect).

I'm hoping that since I transitioned to the M series mirrorless cameras (from a DSLR), that using this R series camera will be relatively easy. There were so many adjustments I had to make with the Canon M50 MKII camera. Just one example.... With that mirrorless camera, the sensor near the viewfinder shuts off the LCD screen. It's annoying. I have learned when I want to change some of the settings on the LCD screen that I have to use my left hand (not the right hand) to make the changes. Otherwise the right hand when it crosses over in front of that sensor, the LCD screen shuts off. So my solution to use the left hand solved all of that. That's just one example of things that I have had to do differently. I like to use the mirrorless cameras when I want to not carry heavy gear and the focal length is not needed beyond 200mm FL (which is the maximum focal length of the lens I have on that camera). I use the Tamron 150-600mm lens on my DSLR camera with a 1.6 crop factor. I use the other DSLR cameras with the other lenses too. I don't' change lenses. I keep the lenses permanently on and just switch them from my camera side bags, which allows me quick access at people events.

Speaking of side bags...I got more of them at a thrift store for about $3 (USD) each. They are much more convenient than a backpack. When I went to Portland, Oregon a few weeks ago I almost left that backpack on the train. The reason is that when you sit down, that backpack is too uncomfortable...so a person takes it off. I was exiting out the train door when I remembered that I forgot the backpack. I jumped back and rushed to retrieve it. I use if for food and water so I don't mix that with the camera gear. So now the food & water will be in a side bag also. I hope everyone doesn't mind me sharing with them these details. We can find deals and learn better how to take photos when traveling. Please share with us, your ways of taking pictures more easily too.

I'm constantly using my DSLR and mirrorless cameras (both systems) for different reasons. Also it's fun having more toys, regardless of the reason. The Canon RP will be my first full frame camera. Then we will go from there...who knows what will be next? As the technology changes, we are given a lot more opportunities. 😀

David,

Sammy looks like the perfect item to stop cold drafts at the door. That's a good idea to have something like that.

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.

Same day. Same sky.

Shall I look south?

Or, shall I look north?

Steve Thomas

Thank you for your kind comments, Johannes. I was actually not certain that it would be of enough interest to warrant uploading.

David

Steve,

The sky looks stormy and then clear. Are you all getting snow yet? We still have crazy dry weather with full sunny days. I think we may get rain in a few days. Some years we may only see the sun for a couple of days in November and December. That's why it's crazy for us to have this sunshine.

Hi Digirame,

Love the tweeked Autumn colours and the Dinosaurs, super photos.

Hi Photobygms,

Super photos of your Hike, particularly like photo 3.

Hi simplejoy,

Thought provoking as always. Excellent.