Photography Chemo Regime #1 - Introduction
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 11:33PM 
After taking upon myself to write about photography, I thought I might start by introducing my gear. I have been using Canon for a number of years. I used to borrow my uncle's T70 in the pre-EOS days, before getting myself an EOS-500N in 1997. It was a good camera but needed a better lens. I then upgraded to EOS 5 in 1999 and over the years bought the 50mm f1.4, 75-300 IS (the first lens with image stabilisation) and the 100mm Macro. I was using this kit regularly until I went digital in the summer of 2003 with the Canon G3. G3 was a great compact. Even at 4MP the lens was superb and all the posted UK pictures were from this camera.
Unfortunately I lost all my camera gear except the G3 during shipping home. I nearly given up photography all together but as my boys were growing up, I realised the power of photography in documenting them growing up. The focusing mechanism on my G3 was starting to become unreliable, and the lure of digital SLR was too much. In December 2007, I bought the EOS 400D, the entry level camera. Instead of upgrading the body, I feel that the what is in front (the lenses) and behind (the skills of visualising the shots, then manipulating it post-production) is more important than the camera body itself. I went through a few online seminars and invested heavily on quality glasses. My main lenses are the 17-40mm f4L, 50mm f1.4, 70-200 f4L IS and the 60mm EF-S macro. Each of the L lenses costs twice the lens body!
In terms of genre, I like sweeping landscape with blue skies and flower macro photography, mainly orchids and waterlillies. My main problem is getting the skin tone right. My camera tended to render them too warm (with a red tint). I therefore prefer black and white portraiture. For the landscapes and macro, I can crank the saturation up a few notches without noticeable problem. Since my wife wanted a small compact, we got ourselves the Sony T500. It can shoot decent quality HD video which is a boon. However, personally I would have preferred the Lumix LX-3, with a bright f2.0 Leica lens at the wide end.
For post-production, I use either my MacBook Pro or iMac desktop with Photoshop CS4 (the latest). I also bought a couple of Kubota actions to streamline my photoflow. I used to exclusive in RAW, but I find it too time consuming. I therefore switched into RAW+jpeg, only opening the RAW files if I need to do major tweaking. I also use the Wacom tablet with the Photoshop.
In the near future, I will going for the Speedlight 580EX flashgun, tying it with my 7 year-old 420EX for remote flash. Ultimately I will go for a full-frame digital body in the EOS 5D mark II plus a standard L zoom. I also wish that before I leave for Australia I can do a roadtrip on the west coast shore road from Penang to KL, or even maybe down to JB. My late grandmother was originally from Sabak Bernam, so I might stop over on the route. I plan to publish the journey online in a blog.
A quick photo news before signing off, Panasonic will launch the GH1 before end of April. I am also eager to learn about the new DSLR offering from Canon the EOS 500D. It will be a 15MP crop body camera but capable of producing HD videos, but disappointingly 1080p at only 20fps.
From next week onwards, I will be concentrating more on news and recent pictures I have taken. Thanks for reading.
Reader Comments (1)
DR,all ur photos are nice!!