Canon Vs. Nikon: Which is Which?

Canon Vs. Nikon Debate

For the past decades, the debate between Canon Vs. Nikon is still unsettled and many are still asking which of these two camera companies is the best? These two companies were the first to make the leap from film to digital, and their initial presence in the market make them the dominant players and still developing and pursuing innovation. If you have read some digital SLR press releases, you'll notice some similarities on both products of these two companies especially in terms of technical aspects and innovation. Either Canon or Nikon will come up with almost the same innovation on their products.

Canon Vs. Nikon Experience

I have spoke to several photographers and I asked their opinions about this issue. Each have their own views in which many tried to defend the the company of DSLRs they have. However, I got a chance to borrow and try shooting with a Canon 600D together with a Nikon D3100. I asked the owner to set up it with the same settings like mine. During his set-up, I see it a little bit confusing on changing the Menus on Canon. I found Nikon's menu more user friendly compared to Canons' menu. During my test shots, I noticed that the color in my shot with Nikon is more vivid/vibrant than my shot on Canon 600D. When I ask some photographers about it, many have agreed with me.

Canon Vs. Nikon Conclusion

This issue is still unsettled nowadays, and the worst is, it created a barrier and discrimination between the users of both Canon and Nikon. Both companies have their own strength and weaknesses on their products. If you are planning to buy one, try to get a hands-on on both Nikon and Canon DSLRs. Try to compare and see it with yourself on which of the two your more comfortable. Feel your grip, try shooting on both cameras with same settings, post process it on you PC and do some comparison on the results. In my opinion, it does not really matter which is better. What matters most is that how you utilize and bring your camera beyond its limit.

I'm really interested about your opinion about this issue. For you, which is better, Canon or Nikon? Try to leave your comment and opinions on the comment box below!

Camera Modes Explained

Most digital cameras do have a variety of exposure modes. There are several different 'modes' on your camera that determine the level of automation which your camera will provide. These modes are generally adjusted by a dial located on top of your camera, and may range from fully manual, meaning you have control over every single aspect of the shot, to fully automatic, meaning the camera will control everything for you based on the current conditions.

In the following paragraphs, I am going to explain the basic yet powerful modes of your camera.

APERTURE PRIORITY

With this mode, it enables you to have full control on the aperture(f-stop). Your camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed to give the correct exposure. Usually, this mode is particularly useful in low-light conditions where you want to set the brightest, widest f-stop in order to get the highest shutter speed and minimum amount of movement. If more depth of field is needed, you can use a small f-stop to get as much of your picture in focus as possible.

SHUTTER PRIORITY

This mode enables you to set the shutter speed and the camera will automatically select the aperture(f-stop) to give you correct exposure. This is very useful in shooting action pictures and you want to freeze the motion by setting high shutter speed. If you want to photograph a waterfall and you wanted blur, you can set a slower shutter speed and the aperture will adjust automatically.

PROGRAM

This leaves all the decision-making to the camera. The camera will set the combination of shutter speed and aperture so you don't have t think about exposure at all. It offers you the option to manually override settings such as focus and etc. Program mode is decent for beginners who want to be able to get quick shots without putting too much thought into it.

MANUAL

In this mode you have the most control of all, as you are able to adjust every aspect of the shot. There is absolutely no camera assist in this mode. You are able to adjust aperture, shutter speed, and ISO for yourself. Most experienced photographers will exclusively use manual mode due to the level of customization it offers.

PORTRAIT MODE

This mode brings subjscts in the foreground into sharp focus, and may enlist the use of a larger aperture to blur the background.

LANDSCAPE MODE

This mode is for taking shots of distant objects, or wide-angle shots, and will bring background objects more clearly into focus by setting a smaller aperture.

NIGHT SCENE MODE

This mode uses flash and a slower shutter speed to illuminate the subject and allow more light to enter the camera.

MACRO MODE

Used for extreme close-up shots where the camera may have trouble focusing in other modes.

SPORTS/ACTION MODE

Use this mode for shots in which there is a good amount of motion which you want to capture without blurring.

Understanding these mode settings and how they work is one of the fundamentals of photography. You will never be able to take your shots to the next level unless you understand these settings.

Composition is the KEY

A lot of us photography enthusiasts, especially those who are just starting have been asking on how to take good photograph or images. Every image you see is either classified as a snapshot or a photograph. What is the main difference of those two? Well, snapshots are those quick capture simple images that doesn't get your attention. Photographs are those images that can easily grab anyone’s attention without any personal or other history. In short, the image speak for themselves.

You will be thinking right away, what do those photograph have? Well, it contains the main secret ingredient called "composition".

In the next paragraph, I'm going to share to you some of those most common yet very effective composition rules.

Rule of Thirds

When you compose your shot, imagine the viewer divided like below. Think about what elements of your subject do you want to emphasize then try to position them at or near those lines and intersections of the grid. It don't have to be perfectly lined up as long as they're close.

Balancing Elements

Framing your subject off-center can create a more interesting photo, but it can leave an empty space on your shot. Balance is also essential, therefore you can balance the "weight" of your subject by including something to fill the space.

Leading Lines

Lines are also one of the powerful elements in an image. They have the power to draw the eye to key focal points in a shot and to impact the ‘feel’ of an image greatly.

Diagonal, Horizontal, Vertical and Converging lines all impact images differently and should be spotted while framing a shot and then utilized to strengthen it.

Depth of Field

The depth of field can drastically draw impact to the composition of an image. It isolates the subject from its background and foreground or it can put the same subject in context by revealing it’s surrounds with a larger depth of field.

Viewpoint

Instead of just shooting from eye level, try shooting from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on. Viewpoint has a great impact on the composition of a photo.

Symmetry and Pattern

There are a lot of symmetry and patterns around us, both natural and man-made. Emphasizing these patterns can lead to striking shots .

I myself didn't see these things as rules, instead, I consider those when setting up a cool shot. It really takes time to master these guidelines, somehow, once you are very acquainted with it, you can easily produce great shots. Always remember that "Composition will always be the Key" to any photograph.

RAW vs. JPEG

RAW vs. JPEG? Which file format is advisable for photographers who are just starting and even those who are already professionals? Each has their own opinions on which of the two they preferred the most. Some prefers JPEG, and some loves RAW. Many have been asking which really dominates among this two so I decided to share some thoughts and experiences on this debate. Before I got my first DSLR, I have read several articles about this. By the way, to those who are new, I'm talking about which file format saving you use with your photos in your camera.

I took two images with a RAW+JPEG FINE mode; 1 overexposed and 1 underexposed. I created two presets for the underexposed and overexposed images to adjust it back to a usable image. I applied the same preset to the underexposed RAW and JPEG images and other preset to the overexposed RAW and JPEG images. See the difference when you apply the same preset to the RAW and JPEG files. Did you notice how the two differs? Observe carefully how the underexposed RAW turned into a nice image while there is a little distortion on the colors of the underexposed JPEG file. Also try to observe closely the overexposed photos with applied preset. Let us try to elaborate further these two shooting modes.

RAW

Shooting in Raw provides you with plenty of flexibility when deciding how the final image looks when you post process it on programs like Adobe Lightroom. RAW files hold all the RAW data captured by the camera, uninterrupted and unaltered. It can be thought of as digital negatives. Raw gives you maximum control in the digital darkroom. It allows you to change white balance, exposure, saturation, sharpness, curves, etc with less quality loss than you’d experience with JPEG. Somehow shooting in RAW only allows you to shot less than shooting in JPEG. RAW files consume more memory on your card since it holds all the RAW data captured by the camera. Viewing a raw file is not a big problem at all, you can download softwares like PICASA Photo Viewer.

JPEG

JPEG file contains less data which depends on the specified size and compression/quality settings. JPEG compresses image data into a smaller file size. The advantage of JPEG is that it is easy to view and edit with any image editing program. You can maximize your memory card which allows you to shoot more since JPEG are stored in small file sizes. However you have less control over the way the final image appears since it is a compressed file which loses some image data. Correcting mistakes of color and exposure will be a little harder compared with the RAW shoot.

If you're the sort of person who always dreamed of developing your own film, then RAW is the perfect choice. Shooting in RAW usually makes the most sense if your goal is to get the highest quality image possible. On the other hand, if you enjoy taking photos much more than manipulating them, JPG is a much better option.

The Exposure Triangle

Exposure plays very important part in taking good pictures. This determines whether your shot was properly exposed, underexposed or even overexposed.There are three main elements that need to be considered when playing around with exposure; ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. Aperture is ‘the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken. ISO is the the measure of a camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. Shutter speed is ‘the amount of time that the shutter is open’. These three elements forms the "Exposure Triangle".

exposure triangle

To explain it simply, we'll take it like this.

Aperture is like a window. If it’s fully open, the more light gets through and the room is brighter.

Shutter Speed is how long the window is open. The longer you leave them open the more that comes in.

ISO is the amount of noise you will see when you are inside the room. The higher the ISO, the more noise you see in the room.

Aperture is measured in "f-stops", for example f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6,f/8,f/22 etc. Moving from one f-stop to the next doubles or halves the amount of light that gets in. It also affects the Depth of Field (DOF). Depth of Field is the amount of your shot that will be in focus.

Higher f-stops(e.g f/11 to f/22) means larger depth of field, while lower f-stops(e.g f/1.2, f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.8) gives you shallow depth of field.

Shot @ F/1.8 (Blown out background)

Shot @ F/11 (Larger Depth of Field)

Shutter speed is measured in seconds(1", 10", 20" ,etc ) or in most cases fractions of seconds(1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8). To freeze movement in an image you should have to choose a faster shutter speed and to let the movement blur you should have to choose a slower shutter speed.

1/400 Shutter Speed (Freezes the image)

20'' Shutter Speed (Light Trails and image blur)

The ISO speed(100, 200, 400, 800, etc) determines how sensitive the camera is to incoming light. A lower ISO speed(100, 200, 400) is almost always desirable, since higher ISO speeds dramatically increase image noise.

Shoot @ ISO 1600 (Can you see the noise?)

Remember that thinking about either Apperture, ISO, Shutter Speed in isolation from the other two elements of the Exposure Triangle is not really a good idea. As you change any of these elements, you’ll need to change one or both of the other elements to compensate for it.

For example if you speed up your shutter speed one stop (for example from 1/125th to 1/250th) you’re effectively letting half as much light into your camera. To compensate for this you’ll probably need to increase your aperture one stop (for example from f16 to f11). The other alternative would be to choose a faster ISO rating (you might want to move from ISO 100 to ISO 400 for example).

NO to SOPA and PIPA!

Web Goes on Strike! January 18, 2012 marked the Largest Online Protest. Thousands of sites went blackout and protested against SOPA and PIPA, two US bills racing through Congress that threaten prosperity, online security, and freedom of expression. However, many are still unaware of what SOPA and PIPA all about and how could it affect the Internet and its users.

What is SOPA and PIPA?

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261 , if made law would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.

PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 or PIPA), also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968 is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S.

How does it affect you? How far will they take all this?

Now the government and corporations could block any site, foreign or domestic just for one infringing link. Sites like YouTube, Twitter Facebook would have to censor their users or get shut down since they become liable for everything users post. Private Corporations will have the ability to shut down unauthorized sites where people download Movies, TV Shows and Music. An ordinary users could go to jail for five years for posting any copyrighted work-even just singing a pop song.

Sites that we have been using and had a great help to us like Wikipedia, Mozilla, WordPress.org, MoveOn.org, TwitPic, Minecraft, Free Press, Good.is, Reddit.com are just some of the many sites that will be affected with these bills.

As quoted by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, "The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can't let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet's development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet."

LEARN MORE

Let your Voices be heard before it is too late. Depend our Online Freedom.

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Welcome 2012, Happy New Year Everyone!

Goodbye 2011. Full of smiles and tears. Ups and Downs. Somehow, I think I'm still so blessed last year despite of all the circumstances I've faced. I'm really thankful on all the good things that happened to me. All the blessings that I received, from small to big things.

Welcome 2012. I hope this year would be a great one. May all the blessings and happiness be with us always! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! :)

Here are some shots on the fireworks display last night! Hope you like it! It is all hand held, no tripod that's why it is not so great.

Click on the photos to have a larger view!

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