Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Reflections on Image Making

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesterday…

No it isn’t an episode of the Lone Ranger, it’s more about buying a DSLR with all of that ill-gotten Christmas cash and why you should want to and how to do it and all that other wonderful stuff that you never knew you needed, but you do and now you are going to learn about it kicking and screaming whether you want to or not, so why not want to cause it will make the whole process a bunch easier and starting out the brand new year things should be easier cause they are sure to get harder and there is always time for harder later in the year so let’s do it the easy way what do you say?

What is a DSLR?

It is the most advanced type of camera often used by the pros and capable of doing anything that can be done with a camera if only the operator is willing to master the controls.

“Oh God, I haven’t even learned how to add contacts to my phone and now you want me to learn how to use the most advanced kind of camera. The camera in my phone is good enough and I will probably figure out how to use it by graduation…maybe Father’s Day, but certainly in time for Halloween or Thanksgiving, but before next Christmas when I will almost certainly get a new phone and have to learn all over anyway.”

Oh yee of little faith. First you won’t do it unless the kids show you how because the manual is written in Greek, translated into Japanese and then translated into binary before it is converted back into English and you won’t read past the part about how to load the battery cause after that you’ll have it up and running and the kids will show you how to log in to Twitter or Facebook and how to download that cute cat video and then you’ll accidentally take a picture of the floor and figure out where the camera controls are and then you’ll stick it in your pocket or purse and never think about it ever again.

The camera in your phone is just one of the bells and whistles they load to get you to buy a new phone. You don’t need it to make phone calls and that is what the thing is supposed to be for so why after you get one would you ever buy another one unless it stopped working or unless the clever phone makers keep putting new gizmos in it so that you’ll have to upgrade or lag behind all of your pals and you don’t want to be the only kid on your block to send pictures by email instead of the nifty, neat and cool Iphone way where they get tagged, “Sent from my Iphone.”

Besides the camera in your phone is like the prize in a box of Crackerjacks…get your parents to explain that to you or ask Charles who is mature enough to remember when Crackerjacks had a prize in every box, it’s just cheap and flimsy and good for not much besides taking compromising pictures of your friends at the bachelor party to send out or post on Facebook to get even for that time way back in fifth grade.

You are an artist and you need a real tool to get quality images to work from.

“I don’t want to spend the money; a DSLR costs more than my first house.”

You know what you are right about that and coming from Texas where land is cheap and housing is even cheaper, a DSLR might have cost more than my first house and the car parked in the driveway.

The new models have 30+ megapixels, multi-burst capability and lenses so fine hat they could be used on the Hubbell. The new Nikon D800 starts at $3000 body only and then you add another 4 or 5 thousand for a lens and you’ve got a nine or ten thousand dollar camera which will be obsolete in eighteen months.

Which is good news for you.

You thought I was going to tell you to go buy a new DSLR and go into the kind of debt that Congress has been warning us about or so long that they’ve gone over the fiscal cliff in a barrel and don’t have a paddle anywhere in sight.

No, no I am not a Congressman. I want you to get a DSLR but I don’t want you to get a new one. I want you to get one which is a coupla generations old.

Oh yes, I do mean that. Well, let’s take a look, pixel count is impressive but after you get to about ten or twelve megapixels there really isn’t much more to be had by adding pixels. Sure you can crop the tar out of a thirty-five megapixel image, but will you ever want to do that? No you are taking pictures for reference so you want clear images, correct colors and definition. And a ten or twelve megapixel camera will do all of that and more.
So let’s start out with that goal, something with ten or twelve megapixels.

Camera buffs buy the latest, newest, shiniest gimcracks they can find and they toss their old cameras on the dust heap. I saw this time after time in the late nineties back in Dallas with laptops. The new model would come out and the older model, still perfectly capable would go on the shelf and the new one would go in the laptop bag. Made it nice for a vulture like me, cause I could get one of the old guys and be really happy.

And now you can do the same with digital single lens reflex cameras.

And it is right after Christmas when all of the hotshots got new digital toys to go with their new tablets, so the older models went in the dumpster.

What are you looking for? A Nikon D40, Canon XTi or a Sony A100 All are good, but there is one brand which stands out.

Buying a Nikon doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner.

This is the single most important truth you will ever hear, owning a Nikon doesn’t make you anything, but a Nikon owner. Nikon has such a reputation that many people buy it thinking there is magic in that ole silk hat and are painfully disappointed. Buy a Nikon if you want one.

Canon, same story, but a notch below the Nikon, there are so many professionals using Canon equipment that it is hard not to be sucked in. Sure Art Wolfe uses one and Kelle Herrick uses one and a bunch of other guys use one, but that don’t make it special. It’s a camera, a very good camera, but just as camera.

And by going with the top two brands you’ll force yourself into an accessory war position buying lenses at top dollar because of the name on the bezel.

Take a look at the Sony. Most of the ten and twelve megapixel models are in the two hundred dollar range, hardly more than you would pay for a point and shoot. And most can be had with the kit lens for that same price.

So for what you would pay for the newest point and shoot from Nikon or Canon you can get a DSLR from Sony, no slouch in the brand name department, and not have to sell your momma to an unspecified middle-eastern ethnic group for immoral purposes. (Okay so mom will be a little disappointed but life is full of little let-downs.)

Where do you find a camera like this for a price like that?

I gave you KEH yesterday and they are a great source for this sort of thing especially if you have old 35mm equipment moldering in a closet. Trade it in, get some cash and use it to buy the DSLR.


And if you have concerns about reliability or quality by all means buy the camera from KEH. They offer a great used product and will service it and repair it if anything proves to be wrong.

But if you are of a more sporting nature, try Ebay.


I know you’re worried, what if it doesn’t work? What if it only works for a while? What if it isn’t what I want?

Electronics, bless their little silicon hearts work and work and work. They just almost never break. Now the mechanicals are a different matter, but most of the DSLRs are rated a hundred or hundred and fifty thousand shutter actuations before there is any cause for concern. Take that many pictures? Maybe you should shell out for a new DSLR.

My guess is that long before you reach that threshold you’ll want a new camera or want to be rid of this camera.

Working for a while is always a concern. A great reason for picking Sony over Nikon or Canon, the prime brands are most likely to have been used and abused and over used by their ambitious owners. A hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand shutter activations remember, that’s a lot of work even if you are just click the shutter for grins.

If it isn’t what you want. Then you don’t have so much in it you can’t afford to get rid of it. Great idea! Buy something less expensive so you can see if it will be an advantage for you and if it isn’t just get rid of it like selling it to a local blogger.

Owning a DSLR opens up a vast world of picture making opportunities and every artist should have that window available. In this brand new New Year, with a day as bright and glorious as today shouldn’t your ideas be as bright and sunny as the weather?

This is my plan if I ever get out from under the medical wet blanket. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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