What's the going rate for a Rolling Stones print?

About £2,600, if it was taken by Terry O’Neill and auctioned in aid of the charity Help for Heroes.

Last night 16 limited edition prints by Terry O’Neill went under the hammer at swanky London club, Movida. They included photos from the cover shoot for David Bowie’s 1974 Diamond Dogs album, Faye Dunaway luxuriating in her Oscar-winning glory at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and a fabulously candid shot of Audrey Hepburn in a swimming pool.

Terry O’Neill made his name by taking slightly unconventional portraits of celebrity types, mostly during the 60s and 70s. The lots up for grabs last night didn’t disappoint, either. If you could meet the reserve of £1,650, you could have woken up this morning looking at the rather dashing Steve McQueen, or Raquel Welch, if that’s whom you prefer.

The Rolling Stones, by Terry O'Neill. All yours for £2,600

Me? I would have gone for the Audrey Hepburn; there was something about the picture that felt joyful. Unfortunately, I think that my bank manager might’ve thrown a pink fit, despite the profits going to Help for Heroes.

All the same, I hope that the winning bidders enjoy their new acquisitions, especially the Dutch shipping company, Lowland International, who took home the Rolling Stones picture.

A moment of calm

I thought that I’d do something a bit different today, something to bring a bit of calm. (Admittedly this might be more for my benefit than necessarily for yours, but who doesn’t appreciate the odd moment of tranquility?) So I’m pointing you in the direction of two videos that have caught my eye over the past two days. To fully appreciate the first, you should really click through and read all the comments that it generated, too. As for the second, just sit back and enjoy it.

Wallpaper from Philip Bloom extras on Vimeo.

Glide 2 by Graeme Taylor

Mid-week round-up

I’ve had quite a few little bits and pieces drop into my inbox over the past couple of days, from competitions to community projects. I thought that I’d round-up the best of them so that you can see what you think. Oh, and that reminds me: if there’s something photographic going on near you that you think other people might appreciate – let me know!

An Englishman in New York, at the National Portrait Gallery

There’s quite an ex-pat community in New York, and some of them have quite a big influence on its cultural scene. The photographer Jason Bell has sought out some of these movers-and-shakers, the likes of Thomas P. Campbell (Director of the Met), Zoe Heller (writer), and Simon Noonan (TV pundit), and photographed them. Go take a peek at the NPG until 17 April next year.

From Where I Stand, at the National Portrait Gallery

From Where I Stand is Mary McCartney’s first book of photographs. To celebrate its publication, the National Portrait Gallery has a free exhibition of 15 original prints from her archive on display in its Bookshop Gallery until 13 February next year. Even more, on 7 December McCartney will be there to sign copies of the book and take questions on her work at 15:00.

Images of Thanks, from Adobe

The idea for this community art project from Adobe is to share images that make you smile and bring about a bit of cheer. If you’d like to share something, or take a look at other people’s contributions, then head over to Lightroom’s FaceBook page.

Landscape Photographer of the Year Award

The winners of this competition have just been announced, and if you want to take a look at the photos in real life, and not just through the wonder that is the intergoogles, you can do so at the free exhibition running at the National Theatre, from 22 November 2010 to 16 January 2011.

Facebook and the post-operative cancer photos

Does a scar and a piece of skin where a breast used to be constitute nudity? If you ask me, no. If you ask the FaceBook nudity-detecting software, it might spew out a different answer. You see, the omniscient powers-that-be at FaceBook demanded that pictures Anna Antell posted of her post-operative scar be taken down because they were ‘offensive’. Thankfully, after a bit of a to-do, FaceBook has backed down. But really? Nudity?

Ms Antell (who’s 43 and lives in Oxfordhsire, if that sort of information floats your boat) wanted to document her treatment and recovery from breast cancer, and posted some photos showing her scar. In one, you get to see her bare shoulder. Her other breast is covered. The photo is neither a nude nor offensive. In fact, I happen to think that it’s a rather lovely photograph.

Offensive?

The good news is that FaceBook has rescinded its ridiculous stance on the shots, muttering something about needing to protect their young users from offensive postings but realising that Ms Antell wanted to share her experiences with her family and friends. You’d have thought that FaceBook might have learned its lesson when something similar happened with Sharon Adams in May last year. For a few different reasons, I hope that something similar doesn’t recur.

It puts a bit of a slant on the definition of ‘offensive’, doesn’t it?

The White Cliffs of Not-Dover

When you think of iconic images of Britain, what springs to mind? The Palace of Westminster? A London bus crossing Waterloo Bridge? Stonehenge? How about the White Cliffs of Dover? If you’re Dover Town Council how hard do you think it would be to come across a photo of one of your town’s most famous landmarks to put on your website? Surprisingly, would be the answer.

If you toddle over to Dover Town Council’s website, the striking image of white cliffs rising out of the breaking waves aren’t those at Dover, but they are the cliffs at Seven Sisters, found up the road in the next county, Sussex. The Council has put it all down to these times of austerity and not wanting to pay for the requisite image. That, most certainly is commendable. But why choose an image of a landmark over 70 miles away?

Dover-not-Dover

Why not look for images of Dover Castle? Or, heaven forfend, run a competition inviting people to submit their favourite images of Dover, or more specifically of the White Cliffs. Is it that hard?

And if you happen to have any awesome shots of the White Cliffs, I’m sure that Dover Town Council would love to hear from you.

Geo-tagging for all! (If you've an iPhone)

A little while ago we wrote about the bolt-on GPS units for Nikon cameras, which’ll allow you to geo-tag all your pictures. Provided that you use a Nikon, of course. Now you can geo-tag your photos whatever camera you use. Provided that you have an iPhone.

gps4cam is an app that you download to the iPhone for $1.99 and to your computer for free (you need both bits), which then allows you to geo-tag your photos when you stuff them into software such as Aperture, or iPhoto, or Picasa.

The really, really good news about the iPhone app is that it doesn’t require a connection to function. You turn it on at the start of your trip; at the end of your trip, you press the ‘export’ button to generate a QR-Code for the trip and take a photo of the barcode that shows on your iPhone screen. Then you upload all your photos with the gps4cam software and taa-dah! Geo-tagged photos.

Much more detail available from gps4cam.

Kuwait bans public use of dSLRs

Taking photos in Kuwait used to be difficult anyway – someone using a dSLR in public could be the recipient of suspicious looks or find themselves part of a nasty scene – but now the Kuwaiti government has managed to go one step further. All dSLRs have been banned from use in public places, including shopping malls, unless for photojournalistic purposes.

There doesn’t appear to be any especially clear rationale behind the move, because although photographing people is generally frowned upon in Islam, compact cameras and camera phones haven’t been subjected to a similar ban. It doesn’t seem to be that the Kuwaiti authorities are making a public bid to save the souls of their citizens. Unless of course, an outright ban is next on the agenda. Who knows?

I’m not sure whether my rant earlier this year about not being able to use a dSLR at a music festival, despite others waving their camera phones all over the shop, or using their compacts and irritating flashes, now seems unpleasantly churlish, or oddly prescient.

More details available from the Kuwaiti Times.

NYU professor to install camera in his head

A New York University professor has decided to surgically install a thumbnail-sized camera into the back of his head for a project titled “The 3rd I.”

Wafaa Bilal, an Iraqi assistant professor of photography at NYU, is creating this project with the help of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, located in Qatar. Once the project begins, the camera on the back of Bilal’s head will snap one still shot per minute for an entire year. The camera will then feed these images to the museum, where visitors can watch his personal activity on several monitors.

However, the project seems to be creating some controversy over the issue of privacy. Students are crying foul about having a camera watching their every move. After some debate among the NYU administrators and faculty, Bilal has agreed to place a black lens cap over the camera while on university property.

It seems odd, though, that these students are putting up such a fuss. After all, he is a photography professor, and these are photography students. If anything, you would think they might be completely supportive of such a project. And what can this tiny camera, snapping one image per minute, actually capture that might incriminate these students? And what the heck are they doing in class that they don’t want anyone else to see anyways?

Maybe it’s just me, but I think this privacy issue is getting a little out of control. While NYU classrooms may technically be considered private property, I think a university campus can also be seen as public space. Personally, I don’t do anything in public that I don’t want any members of the public to actually see. Makes sense to me.

A different take on urban decay

If you search for ‘urban decay’ on the Flickr-webs you get thousands of photos of dilapidated tower blocks, crumbling tenements, abandoned factories, and shored-up houses. Oh, and a healthy dose of makeup, too. There are some really gorgeous shots amongst them, but then, when I was perusing the BBC news website today – as I am wont to do – I was reminded of the hundreds of abandoned settlements that populate the British countryside.

The majority of these villages and small towns are barely identifiable today; they were depopulated through plague and war and have collapsed into nothingness over time, to be ploughed over and are now just fields. Some have surrendered themselves to the sea owing to coastal erosion or have been flooded to create reservoirs. But there’s also a small selection of villages that were taken over by the army during the Second World War and now serve as time capsules for the fateful day, sometime in the 1940s, when their residents packed whatever they could carry, and left.

Many of these villages remain under army control and are completely inaccessible, but there are a couple that enjoy limited access and they strike me as places that would be wonderful to explore and photograph: Tyneham in Dorset and Imber in Wiltshire. Tynham is open most weekends throughout the year, but access to Imber is more restricted. You could head to Tyneham this weekend, if you fancied, but would have to wait until 17 December to get into Imber.

I’m going to try to plan a visit to one of them soon. I’m intrigued. If you’d like to plan an excusrion, more information is available from Tyneham.org and Forever Imber.

A camera that sees around corners

It’s super-early days, but the super-clever people at MIT have developed a camera that can see around corners. And when I say super-early days, I really do mean it. At the moment, the prototype camera is the size of a room and relies on a femtosecond laser. It’s not exactly technology that Canon or Nikon will be making available next year!

The camera works by firing a beam from a laser that bounces around the scene, and some of the light particles will eventually make their way back to the camera’s sensor, where they will be pieced back together to make an image. It’s a process that needs to be repeated at least 12 times to form a complete, if at the moment somewhat fuzzy, image. In order to protect the sensor from the ultra-strong intensity of the laser, the shutter won’t open immediately, either.

Images are basic right now, but still. (Picture thanks to BBC.)

Professor Ramesh Raskar is heading the team that has developed the camera. They’re envisaging it being used to assist in search-and-rescue missions, and with robot vision, although they are working towards an endoscope right now. And there’s a way to go yet as the camera still gets confused by complex scenes and only works in the lab. But still. Wow!

(Headsup to the BBC.)

G-Technology Driven Creativity exhibition

Last night I meandered off to Brick Lane to see the G-Technology Driven Creativity exhibition. The exhibition features the short-listed entries from the G-Technology Driven Creativity competition, which was run by Hitachi. I was most interested in the photos that were on display, but films were being shown (in the basement) and music was being played (on the ground floor), too. It’s a very creative undertaking, this one, and featured work by both professionals and amateurs.

The professional photography prize went to Iain Weir for his photo of swimmers gathered in the Thames at stupid o’clock in the morning, ready to participate in the Henley Swim.

The Henley Swim, by Iain Weir

The amateur prize went to patty, for her photo Eternal, showing a tree somewhat incongruously in the midst of a timber merchant’s yard.

eternal, by patty

If you’re looking for something to do for an hour before grabbing a curry on Brick Lane or catching a train out of Liverpool Street, then you could do worse than to head to the gallery for a look-see.

The G-Technology Driven Creativity exhibition runs from Tuesday 17 to Monday 22 November 2010 at the Brick Lane Gallery, 196 Brick Lane, London, E1 6SA.

360 degrees of London

An awesome 80 gigapixel (yes, that’s right, 80 billion pixels), 360 degree panorama of London has just been let loose on the intergoogles. The detail on this picture is so fine that you can zoom in close enough to be able to see papers lying on desks, through windows, and people picking their noses whilst they peruse Oxford Street. Astonishing. Google Street View, eat your heart out.

London panorama by Jeffrey Martin, www.360cities.net

The panorama was shot by Jeffrey Martin from the top of the Centre Point building, on the corner of Oxford Street (possibly my most hated street in London, good only for John Lewis, Selfridges, and pickpockets) and Tottenham Court Road (electronics shop heaven). It took three days over the course of summer 2010, and uses 7886 photographs. If you printed this baby at normal resolution, it’d be 35 metres long and 17 metres tall (115 feet x 56 feet for you imperial types).

Inside view of an office, by Jeffrey Martin www.360cities.net

Go take a look for yourself, but I warn you now, it is captivating. I think I’m just going to have to write-off my afternoon to oogling this masterpiece.

80 gigapixel London.

(Thank you, Graeme.)

Teaching yourself photography

Imagine, for a second, that you are a young person with a camera. There are other cameras in the world around you, and there are people who use those cameras, too, but nobody really knows what they are doing, nobody can teach you anything you don’t already know, and the only tool you have in the world is the internet. All hope is lost … Or is it?

I was recently speaking to Elisa Longhitano, who found herself in the same situation. As she was telling me about how she was teaching herself photography, I found myself smiling, and wishing I had access to the internet back when I was learning. Either way, Elisa’s story is a lovely reminder of the fact that all you need to do to learn the dark (well, technically, the perfectly gradient) art of photography, is to be curious, and just that little bit inventive… 

“It was during my last year in high school”, Elisa explains “that I decided to surf the web to find useful information about photography. During the search I stumbled across, and ended up contacting, Walter Lo Cascio, an Italian architect who has a powerful passion for photography. We became friends, and he ended up giving me a lot of great advice”, she recalls. The most important piece of advice was to seek inspiration from the outside world. “look at those great pictures that are in books and on the web if you want to learn how to take a good picture”, he told her.

Like many others would, Elisa was worried if it was possible to learn how to take photos without active mentoring. “I thought it was impossible to learn how to take a good picture just looking at others’ works”, she recalls. “Walter would be relentless, however, and started showing me some of his and of others’ best pictures.”

Learning by recreating the work and techniques of others

“I started surfing through photography forums and reading the comments left for the pictures that fascinated me.”, she explains. “Reading the comments has been pretty useful to me because I have been able to learn from others’ mistakes and also because I’ve been able to find some interesting information about topics like ‘lens aperture’, ‘shutter speed’, and other technical aspects of the shot.”

One of the photos which got Elisa inspired is the photo by Adolfo Fabbri, on the right. (Bigger version here) She started experimenting with the very dark, almost Frank Miller-esque low-key photography style, wanting to recreate the effect herself.

She started off trying to use partial back-lighting, arriving at something like this:

Which, despite being a pretty attractive photograph, was nowhere near what she was trying to accomplish. Further experimentation resulted in something which was a little bit more like it:

Which is, well, Elisa is pretty much straight on the money: It’s not a bad shot, but “It is just a meaningless underexposure!”.

Obviously, more experimentation would be necessary to really learn this new technique. She continued experimenting, and eventually happened upon a photo which turned out to be rather beautiful. The only problem? “I didn’t remember exactly what I did to reach this result!” – I’m sure most of us have experienced the same at one point or another…

As a physics student, the fact that she was unable to recreate the shot drove her spare: “I just couldn’t be satisfied because I kept thinking ‘In physics, too, an experiment makes sense only if you can repeat it’”. So she did what any good scientist would do: Set herself a target. “I must be able to repeat this kind of shot”.

So, the experiments continued.

“I started thinking about what I had to do, and I realized that beyond the shutter speed or the lens aperture, it was also important to care about where lights come from, and what is behind the subject”

The further experiments involved a lot of taking photos into the light (or ‘backlighting’, as it tends to be called), as you can see from the photos on the left. “I liked these pictures”, Elisa told me, but still wasn’t quite happy: “Even if they are both taken against the light there were too many details”.

So, Elisa continued experimenting systematically. By taking a photo at one shutter time, evaluating it carefully, and then dialing back the shutter time yet a little bit more, her vision of what she wanted to do with low-key photography started to take form.

“I did nothing special or original”, she claims with just a little bit too much humbleness for my liking: “I only tried to learn and take inspiration from other works, and with a lot of attempts and effort I think to have reached something decent.”

Of course, this wouldn’t be much of a story if it didn’t have a rather stunning end… And it does, in the form of a portrait of her boyfriend Emanuele, titled Against the Darkness:

Lessons learned

1. Use the internet to find photographs you like. With services such as Flickr (in this case, try searching for Low Key and select ‘most interesting’ as the sort order) or DeviantArt (Same, but ‘Low Key’ and ‘Popular’), you can find tons of inspiration.
2. Don’t let anyone tell you what is good or bad. Make up your own mind. Select 5 photos in the genre you are trying to learn something about, and then put them in order of best to worst. What makes the best photo ‘best’? How could you recreate this?
3. First, re-create a photo. This is a purely technical exercise – worry about creativity later.
4. Once you have the technical skills down pat (again, a website like DeviantArt can be incredibly useful in this respect – Tell people what you’re trying to do, ask for feed-back, sit back and be amazed), try to think out a photo where you can use the new technique you’ve learned.
5. Keep trying a new technique for a while, create your own style based on the technique.
6. When you go bored of it, or feel like you’re ready for another challenge… Well, go to step 1!

A huge thank-you to Elisa for contributing so strongly to this article. Check out more of her photos on Flickr!

---

Do you enjoy a smattering of random photography links? Well, squire, I welcome thee to join me on Twitter - Follow @Photocritic

© Kamps Consulting Ltd. This article is licenced for use on Pixiq only. Please do not reproduce wholly or in part without a license. More info.

Fujifilm Student Awards

The nice people at Fujifilm are running a competition to remind UK-based photography students that shooting on film can be a fun and rewarding process. It’s the 2011 Student Awards, with a first prize of £200-worth of film, a trophy, and a professionally designed 15 photo portfolio.

This year’s theme are the five senses. Entrants can submit as many photographs as they’d like, and it won’t cost them anything, either. Of course, all pictures have to have been shot on film, and Fuji film, too.

The competition is now open and runs until 28 February 2011. More information, including The Rules, are available from the competition website. I’m really looking forward to seeing the results of this one.

Seeing double?

Fabulous! You can now record your concentration-skewed face at exactly the same time as you focus on recording your nephew cycling without stabilisers and hoping that he manages to avoid the pigeon that’s just landed in front of him, with Ion’s twin lens video camera. One lens faces forwards, the other points backwards, and it can record audio in both directions, too.

It’s hand-held, rechargeable, has a 3x optical zoom, and is USB-connectable. You can switch between looking at what you’re filming, or admiring your own mush on the LCD screen when you’re recording, but you can’t see both simultaneously. Ah well. Can’t have everything, I suppose.

Available from Amazon UK for £119 and Amazon US for $130.

(Headsup to Geekologie.)

Photographers' most wanted

According to a survey conducted by the insurance company Photoguard (which specialises in insurance for photographers, unsurprisingly, and insurance for musicians, golfers, and cyclists, slightly more surprisingly), the most desired portrait subject of the 600 amateur and professional photographers whom they asked, is …drumroll please…

HM The Queen.

Yep. The Queen. Not Cheryl Cole (who seems to be everywhere at the moment) or Kate Moss. They came seventh and ninth respectively.

Perhaps more interestingly, it was Sir David Attenborough who came second, followed by Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, and Lady Gaga.

Who’d be top of your subject wish-list?

(Headsup to Amateur Photographer.)

Interchangeable sensors from Nikon?

It seems as of the clever bods at Nikon are thinking of introducing an interchangeable sensor somewhere into their arsenal, likely in conjunction with a mirror-less camera. At least, patents have been filed in Japan for an interchangeable or removable sensor that is fitted along guide rails.

A chance to play swapsies with sensors from Nikon?

My little brain is racing to consider the possible uses for a sensor-swapping mechanism. Any thoughts from you guys?

(Headsup to Nikon Rumours, of course.)

A lot of dSLR for not-a-lot of money

‘What camera would you recommend?’ It happens to Team Photocritic&Small Aperture quite a bit. Mostly we get it from people who are looking to buy their first dSLR or from very generous types who want to buy one as a gift. (Wouldn’t we all like someone like that in our lives?).

And then we do something really irritating; we answer a question… with a question. It’s not that we don’t want to recommend cameras; we both love talking about them and want people to enjoy taking photos as much as we do. Why do you think that we keep writing about that magical mash-up between technology and artistry that is the mysti-tastical world of Photography?

As with so many other questions in life, there isn’t a hard-and-fast answer. So here is a few different answers for you… 

Why go dSLR?

Usually, there are two reasons that people have for shelling out on a dSLR. If someone’s buying it for herself, it’s because she is frustrated by the limitations of a point-and-shoot and wants all the glorious control and gorgeous creativity that comes with a dSLR. If a fairy-godmother is bestowing a fabulously generous gift on her fairy-godson, she’s normally recognised some photographic talent that she wants to let him explore. The reasons for buying a dSLR are pretty obvious, then. Our question, therefore, is what does someone want out of the camera.

Maybe it’s better low-light capability. Is it for the speed you get when shooting sports? Perhaps it’s wanting to explore macro more. How about wanting to how a go with video? It might be about giving someone a good start in the dSLR world. Or it could be all of these things rolled into one and wrapped up with a ribbon?

Then we ask how much someone has to spend. That’s a pretty significant consideration. Knowing this, we might make a recommendation.

Now that it is coming up to Christmas, we’re getting more people than normal ask us for our words of wisdom. To this end, we’ve been doing some thinking (don’t ask how much it hurt our brains, it was verging on excruciating, we’ve only just recovered). What we’ve done is to come up with some suggestions for cameras that we think offer the best value for money if you’re launching yourself, or someone you love, into the wonderful world of single lens reflex photography.

The contenders

There are six major manufacturers out there who make dSLRs: Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, and Sony. None of them is going to sell you a ‘bad’ dSLR.

Let’s get one thing out of the way before we go any further. The camera body you choose is least important. More important are the lenses attached to the camera. Most important? The person taking the pictures. In general, if you’re just starting out, that’s the order you should be spending money in: Buy a cheap camera body, expensive lenses, and spend a small fortune on learning everything you can. Buy books, go on courses, spend time on Flickr, DeviantArt, and PhotoSig – etc.

However, depending on how the camera is going to be used, which brand you choose becomes more significant.

This means that we’ve thought about this from three perspectives: people who want a bit of everything from their camera, and will probably upgrade in the future; people who know that they’ll probably want to upgrade sometime soon, but can make do without all the bells and whistles available on dSLRs; and people who aren’t necessarily going to want to upgrade, but need a good all-rounder.

I want something that does everything, and I can build on as I get better

If you’re looking for a solid all-round performer that is going to launch the career of a fledgling dSLR photographer, you should be considering cameras from Canon, Nikon, and Pentax. Why? Well, once you’ve bought into a camera brand you’re pretty much stuck with it. Lenses, which are the expensive bit in this photography fandango, are brand-specific. Once you’ve spent several thousand pounds on Nikon glass, you’ll not be wanting to replace it if you suddenly decide to switch to a Pentax body.

Canon, Nikon, and Pentax manufacturers offer the best range of glass and the best progression in bodies; if this is meant to be the start of a long dSLR journey, this is what’s important. It’s not that Panasonic, Olympus, and Sony are bad, but it’s possible that Olympus won’t be making dSLRs forever, Sony has been a bit disappointing recently, and I don’t think that Panasonic has the best range.

The Pentax K-x might not be the newest model, but it offers incredible value for money

So what do the chosen three have to offer for a photographer who wants to get a good all-round experience? From Canon it’s the 550D (or T2i if you’re State-side), from Nikon the D3100, and Pentax delivers the K-x. Yeah, I’ve gone for the K-x here, not the brand-spanking new K-r. If we’re talking about starting out, and value-for-money, then you don’t necessarily need to buy the latest model.

They all offer good low-light performance, video mode, lots of lovely lenses, big screens, and enough megapixels to satisfy a high-street electronics shop camera salesman. (Megapixel-count does seem to be their only sales pitch.)

Not all about price

In terms of price alone, the Pentax K-x wins, hands-down. It’s an older model and available at bargain prices. But, price isn’t all that’s important. How a camera feels in your hands and how you like its interface are critical to your photo-taking enjoyment. If you’re frustrated by your camera’s knobs and levers, or if it’s too heavy or uncomfortable to hold, you’ll probably find yourself resenting using it. That’s counter-productive and a waste of money.

Definitely not all about price

Another few points to consider.

Reviews suggest that the D3100 is a complete peach

The Nikon D3100 has received rave reviews. We’re talking waxing lyrical here. And if you are going to compare it against the newer Pentax K-r, it beats the K-r on price.

I use a Canon, and so do some of my friends. My brother is thinking of getting a camera. Chances are, it’ll be a Canon. He’s already comfortable using mine and, bonus, I’m a generous big sister who’ll lend him bits and pieces of my kit, just as my friends lend me bits of theirs. We’ve these amazing expanding kitbags. You should try one sometime, they’re available from all manufacturers and good friends.

Canon's thoroughly lovely 550D

If you’re interested in using your dSLR to make video, then Canon really is where it’s at. (To quote Philip Bloom, one of the pioneers of dSLR film-making, there’s nothing quite like the Canon 5D mkII.) Whilst at entry level there isn’t heaps to choose from, as you upgrade it’ll become more important.

And finally, one of my friends commented that buying Pentax cameras and kit in the UK is a real pain because it isn’t a widely stocked brand. I already have enough problems finding clothes that fit me; I don’t want buying camera kit to be a similar struggle. It’s also tough finding places that hire out and repair Pentax kit, too. This might not be immediately important, but don’t rule it out from your criteria.

But what about price?

I can’t tell you which to buy, you need to decide that for yourself, but I can tell you that they’re all available on Amazon:
Canon 550D + 18-55mm kit lens £635 from Amazon UK or T2i + 18-55mm kit lens for $835 from Amazon US.
Nikon D3100 + 18-55mm kit lens for £470 from Amazon UK, or $630 from Amazon US.
Pentax K-x + 18-55mm kit lens for £405 from Amazon UK or around $490 from Amazon US.

Ehm, I don’t have quite so much to spend

That’s okay. When I decided that I was in photography for the long-haul and bought my first dSLR, I didn’t have a fortune to spend. It didn’t stop me, though.

When you buy a dSLR you’ll be getting a good camera whatever you buy. We’ve already said that. We’ve already said that spending money on lenses is more important than on the body. So this means that if you’re prepared to fore-go some of the bells and whistles on higher-spec cameras, for example by dropping video capability (it doesn’t bother me) and losing a few megapixels of resolution (which in the grand scheme of things isn’t that significant), you can get yourself some complete bargains in camera-land.

Again, if you buy into Canon, Nikon, or Pentax, you’ll be able to build up a collection of lenses, and then upgrade the body when you feel that you can.

The Canon 1000D is a great first rung on the dSLR ladder

So what’s on offer right now? You know, the best deal is the Canon 1000D (Canon Rebel XS in the US). You get a great sensor and processor, access to heaps of lenses, the opportunity to save up for 60D when you can, and all for under £350 in the UK (Amazon), or $500 in the US (also Amazon), with a kit lens. Of course this’ll mean that you’ve signed up to Canon, but if you like the camera and what it does, it’s all good.

You know, I just want a dSLR

For some people, being able to upgrade bodies and keep pushing themselves photographically isn’t a priority; all they want is the creativity and control afforded by a dSLR. For these people, looking at a Panasonic, an Olympus or a Sony isn’t a bad idea. Neither is looking at a Canon, Nikon, or Pentax, but these others are likely to come in a bit cheaper.

Excellent value for money from the Sony Alpha 290

To be fair, if my Ma suddenly turned around and told me that she wanted a dSLR, I’d probably advise her to buy a Canon 1000D and then use it to photograph the herd of pigs flying past her kitchen window. But I wouldn’t turn up my nose at a Sony Alpha 290, neither. With lots of lenses to choose from in addition to an 18-55 mm kit lens, in-camera image stabilisation, and a 10 megapixel sensor it’d give her everything that she needs for about £315 on Amazon UK or $415 from Amazon US. Right now, this makes the α290 cheaper than its Olympus or Panasonic equivalents, but of course that might not always be the case.

So, no hard-and-fast answer?

No, there’s no hard-and-fast answer. Think about what it is that you want from a camera, both now, in a year’s time, and in several years’ time; consider how much you have to spend; and then go with what feels right. Remember that lenses are more important than camera bodies, and you’re more important than both of those.

If it’s any help at all, I recently contemplated upgrading to a Canon 60D. I decided against it for two primary reasons: first, what I use right now does exactly what I need and I’d rather spend the money on lenses; second, the 60D felt too large and too heavy in my tiny hands. Lenses and feel take priority for me and they really should for you, too.

Whatever you choose, though, enjoy it.

---

Do you enjoy a smattering of random photography links? Well, squire, I welcome thee to join me on Twitter - Follow @Photocritic

© Kamps Consulting Ltd. This article is licenced for use on Pixiq only. Please do not reproduce wholly or in part without a license. More info.

Pennies for pictures at Tailcast

There are probably a few of us who wouldn’t mind making a few extra pennies from our photographs, but possibly in a hands-off, not-really-having-to-deal-with-practicalities kind of way. You know: rather than having to make and mail out greetings cards made from your photos yourself, let someone else make them and send them out. If this sounds appealing, I might have just the website for you.

It’s called tailcast and it allows members to upload images and words that they can then make into greetings cards or wall art, or allow other people to transform them into cards or canvases. If someone uses one of your images to make a card, or a piece of wall art, you get a 20% commission on the piece.

Is 20% a reasonable commission? I don’t know. But if you’ve a few images that you’re happy for other people to make into postcards or to hang in their living rooms, it’s a pretty easy way of making a bit of beer-money.

Check it out at tailcast.com.

10 brill black and whites

Black and white prints might do wonders for skin tones and therefore be a godsend for portrait photography, but that, and low-light photography, aren’t all that they’re good for. Back when I still used to shoot on film, I’d often get a roll developed in black and white just because I could. Anyway, I had a poke about the Flickr-verse to see what caught my eye in black and white. These are a few of them.

1 – Black and White Shimmer

Black and White Shimmer, by blently

2 – Cuba Gallery: Black and White

Cuba Gallery: Black and White, by Cuba Gallery

3 – Pencil Crayons Black & White

Pencil Crayons Black & White, by El Struthio

4 -Drinking Flamingo

Drinking Flamingo, by dogwatcher

5 – Sewing in Black and White

Sewing in Black and White, by riverwatcher09

6 – Black and White

Black and White, by Digit_AL

7 – Shell found on the beach

Shell found on the beach, by ianrobins

8 – Coeur de Cygne

Coeur de Cygne, by Visions photographiques

9 – Orchestration (Black and White)

Orchestration (Black and White), by steve xavier

10 – White lotus flower

White lotus flower, by Bahman Farzad

All photos used in this article are used as ‘fair dealing‘. If you have strong reservations against your photos appearing on Small Aperture, please contact us, and we’ll get them taken down. Please support the artists creating these photos by clicking on the photos to take a closer look at their work!