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Memory’s cheap, kid

I have a steal for you – for $149.97 (plus shipping) you get a Hitachi Microdrive equipped with a cyclopean 2 gigabytes of storage. That’s a basement price $.074 a megabyte.

Shudder.

I’m not kidding about having Microdrives lurking in our warehouse (I think I’ll start referring to them as the Great Old Ones), gathering dust (or inspiring early twentieth century horror). My E-410 will take a Microdrive, but even my chimp-heavy shooting habits beg for better than 2mb/sec transfer rate. And how could I excuse that, what with our steal price of $39.97 for 4gb Ducati CF cards and persistent rebates on Sandisk extreme III and IV cards. And we’ve just added a new family of what I think I’ll have to call candy SDHC cards from easystore (no caps, really).

The easystore SDHC line consists of 2, 4, and 8gb cards for 6.97, 9.97, and 19.97 respectively. That makes for a wallet-busting $.0035 a megabyte on the 2 and $.0025 a megabyte on the 4 and 8 gigabyte units. Ouch.

I understand that they’re rated as SDA2.0 class 2 devices. I figure that means unless you’re the proud owner of a D5000, D90, or Rebel T1i and keen on using that video function or you really like continuous drive -these cards are A-OK for throwing in the bag as a back-up. Or at your 75 year old grandmother who owns an AE-1 and a Kodak Easyshare so old it’s got pictures of your last two ex-girlfriends on it…not that I know anyone like that.



Size matters? / Daddy’s got a brand-new bag.

I should preface by saying that I love our used department. Given that they’re also the lighting department. And bags. They handle a lot downstairs and I like to chat with them when I’m making my way back from our warehouse.

They are also some mad-hat haters. I for one am pretty thrilled that my e-410 can, with an adapter, mount a manual focus 50 1.8 from the OM system or Nikon or EOS and have an equivalent 100mm 1.8. Mr. Proctor quipped that he could achieve the same result by cropping his images by 50%. My retort was that my cropped sensor still has all its pixels…and he shot back with the higher pixel density = more noise argument. I weakened, fell back on “control your lighting” and was trampled under the powerful tag-team assault of from Rich’s “I like shooting at ISO 3200 and having it look like 1600″ and Scott’s “why don’t you just draw a picture” jab at my fumbling “I’ll fix it in post!”

My Shooting-Fu is yet weak in its reliance on fixing things like white balance, exposure recovery, and cropping in post, and I must yet tremble before the masters who complete mathy-like equations involving focal length, aperture, apples, oranges, and jalapenos while panning their manual focus lenses without even thinking about it. I am currently more concerned about composition and the more squishy notion of a photograph’s “feel” than being technically perfect right from the camera (because, you know, there’s no on-board firmware making decisions about color balance, contrast, etc).

So have fun with the below:

Where my new Crumpler bags were hellishly in need of some white balancing I went back and used the handy one-touch WB function and shot it again. Mostly to keep playing with the new gallery function Mr. Martin has implemented in the blog.

See you Thursday, folks.



Walken about

Derek pondering the puddle before him.

Derek pondering the puddle before him.

So Webmaster Derek and I went meandering around the lovely environs of Downtown Indianapolis in the rain yesterday morning. At his more experienced recommendation I punched a hole in a trash bag and fitted it around my Olympus E-410′s kit 14-42. The protection from the minimal rainfall was sufficient, if unprofessional. His E-3 was unperturbed. Jody tells me today that we have more sophisticated (read: reusable) polyethylene rain covers at the counter. I’ll have to pick one of those up on my way out today, as I discovered a big tear at the bottom of my lens at the end of the shoot -thankfully after the precipitation gave up.

The trick is, I’m stretching my budget to get into this habit and can’t yet afford an Aquatech rain cover. When $200 is five to ten percent, or less, of your kit’s cost it’s an appropriate accessory. A heck of a value, even. Since I’m starting out with a D-SLR kit that cost less than some semesters of text books, the Aquatech will have to wait.

Above is the one picture from my shots that morning which I thought had anything going for it. I was a little disappointed as the Friday prior I felt like I’d taken a fair number of decent shots and that I might not be entirely too inept to own a camera. The only cure, I suppose, is more cowbell.

We’ll be doing it again, for those of you who missed out on the fun, on Monday, March 30. Meeting 8-815am on the corner of South and Meridian, and from there we’ll go exploring, cameras at the ready.

Check our Indy Photo Calendar for more events and happenings in the area. If you’ve got a heads-up on photography/photographer goings on within an hour or so of our fine capitol city, shoot me an email at nhenry@robertsimaging.com.



Walkabout #1: Picture Summary

So, yeah, the first walkabout was damp. Wet, even. Stupid rain. I pick the one day the forecast doesn’t show awful weather and by the time it rolls around it’s the only morning with awful weather. Natch. But, being dauntless, Mr Henry and I did in fact brave the spitting moisture.

E-3 Gets Damp

E-3 Gets Damp

The E-3 and my 14-54 proved as unbothered by the rain as Olympus would have you believe. I’m pretty fond of the above shot I had Nick grab of my camera at the end of the day of shooting. Poor Nick, however, lacking the funds to get a proper rain cover for his E-410 looked a bit odd:

Nick and the E-410

Nick and the E-410

Did that work? Yeah, for a spell. But, an hour later it was getting sketchy and the rain wasn’t that bad. Aquatech = superior idea, in this case.

The shoot? I got a few tolerable shots, despite the flat light and lack of people. More after the jump.

read more



Derek and Nick Go Walkabout

We announced this over on the Indy Photo Calendar, but I thought we should post it here as well.

Starting next Wednesday morning, Mr Nick Henry (seen below peering curiously through an Olympus digital camera we like to call the “E-410” [which is still 300 bucks with a lens, by the way]) and myself will kick off our weekly photo walk.

Each week we’ll pick a day the next week forecasted to be nice enough for shooting, and for an hour or so before Roberts opens we’ll make use of the morning light and wander around downtown shooting. And we want to invite you along. All of you, any of you. Whatever you shoot, no matter what level of shooter you are, you’re welcome along. I mean, heck, we shoot Olympus, we know what it’s like to feel out of place.

So, grab that Canon EOS Rebel! Pick up your Nikon Coolpix digital camera! Dust off that Sony digital camera you keep promising yourself you’ll get out and use. Break out your digital camera kits, and make your way to the intersection of South St and Meridian St, where you’ll find ready and affordable parking and two young goofballs peering quizically at the world through a lens.

We’ll hang around from 8:00 – 8:15 AM or so, and then we’ll be off to explore the city. Be there.



New and exciting.

As a soon to be proud owner of my third Olympus digital camera, I would say I am a fan of their products (I’m no Derek Martin, but who is).  I have on order an Olympus E-420, the updated version of the E-410′s which we still have in stock.  Here is what’s next.
Olympus E-30
Yesterday David Linsell our regional Olympus digital camera representative was in the store with one of the newest Olympus offerings. The E30 is a really cool camera, far more advanced than my soon to be model.  The E-30 has some very cool Art mode settings, and still features one of the most comprehensive LCD information screens in the industry. Of the many other advances and upgrades the E-30 offers are some cool ones that are fairly unique. The E-30 will allow in camera multiple exposures of at least 4 images that you can compose right on the LCD in the Live View Mode!

If I had to do some quick digital camera comparisons I would say that Olympus has the best live view, the Alpha line of Sony digital cameras are very close, and then everybody else falls a little short. The Nikon digital SLR cameras “that have live view” are slowed down considerably when it is in use as are the Pentax and Canon digital SLR cameras, and then there are focusing issues with the last three on my list. The Sony and Olympus cameras still focus quickly and accurately in live view, a real plus that makes live view fun and practical instead of just a “need to” option. A few models of Olympus and Sony digital SLR’s (Sony’s Alpha 300 and Alpha 350, Oly’s E-30) have pivoting  or even rotating and swiveling LCD screens.
Another Olympus plus is memory card versatility, Olympus digital SLR cameras, even the baby DSLR the 410-420 take both the Olympus style xD cards, and compact flash cards, and you can select between the cards at will.

Who knows maybe my next Olympus digital camera will be a E-30. Heck maybe that will be your next Olympus Digital Camera too.



Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

While there’ll likely be a slew of nex-gen point-and-shoot cameras hitting my desk in the coming months, there’s a bit of an announcement lull going on right now. But, don’t let that fool you into thinking nothing is going on. At least not in the ol’ Circle City.

Those of you not in the habit of poking around our site might have missed the following things going on in Indy soon:

Under “Upcoming Events” we have several seminars coming up, including Amanda Arrick (last seen in this Raw Footage video) giving a seminar on the 40D and 50D Canon digital SLR cameras, and Nikon’s Jason Stewart giving two sessions of his seminar on the D300 and D700 Nikon digital SLR cameras.

Anyone in attending any of these seminars can find more details on the Upcoming Events page, and can reserve seats by calling 1-800-726-5544 and asking for “Classes and Events.”

And, don’t forget about our new Indianapolis Photo Calendar, which is starting to fill up with weekly club meetings, special seminars, and events. Check those out over here.

Still not enough to keep you busy this winter? Why not grab your camera (be it a Sony CyberShot camera or an Olympus digital camera like the E-410), and give our new monthly photo contest a go? Anyone can enter, and the prize every month is a 16×20″ print courtesy of our Online Photo Lab. The current theme is “Winter Wonderland,” so get out there and get shooting.



Single Digits

Poinseitta photo
Here we are less than a week left before the Holiday. We have most of the popular models in stock still, and incredible deals packages and options.
Did I mention incredible deals? One of our most popular lens shutter cameras this year is a Nikon Coolpix camera the S550. Three popular colors; Plum, Cool Blue and Black are in stock. Plum seems to be the hot color here, in fact I sold 5 of them yesterday. We have the best prices on SD memory cards too, and every camera goes out with one (or more), and as far as digital camera accessories, we have many case and extended warranty deals.
In the digital SLR arena the Canon Digital Rebel cameras are leading the parade. The Canon Rebel XS and XSi packages we have are super. How about a free Canon 75-300 lens with the purchase of a XS kit? That lens is regularly $159.97 and is perfect for getting those shots of the kids or pet in action. We have Nikon Digital SLR deals too, and the amazing Olympus Digital Camera kits. The E-410 package deal has dropped an additional $100.00. That’s what I am hoping to get from my wife next week.
Well Happy Holidays. Here’s hoping you get the perfect sruprises and thoughtful gifts you deserve.


So, We’re Plugging the E-410

As you may have noticed, we’re plugging the heck out of the E-410 Olympus digital camera these days. Which I’m OK with, actually. But, I’m totally biased, since the E-410 was my first digital camera, and one I used for most of a year.

When I bought it it had a gimmicky little feature called “LiveView” and was the DSLR in years to offer it. And while the implementation of LiveView isn’t as fast for focusing as the viewfinder, it does allow easy framing and exposure simulation right there on the LCD, and it’s precision focus feature is a dead boon for studio work.

Shot with an E-410 and 14-42mm, raw
My dad has it now, and he enjoys the heck out of it. Whenever I’m out to visit I like to pick it up and remember just how lightweight that little camera and its lenses are. And, I’m often trolling through my Lightroom photos and I’ll stumble across very astounding shots I keep forgetting I took with an E-410. If you’re a RAW shooter, you can safely ignore any criticism of this camera’s dynamic range you’ve read. The shot of my dog from the beginning of this post was shot with an E-410 and 14-42 in the middle of the day, camera pointed to the early-afternoon sky and a white dog. The preview in the camera blew the sky to white, but it took maybe 30 seconds in RAW to pull the light blue and fluffy clouds back.

Now, please, don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen equally stellar work from Canon digital EOS Rebel models and the A300 Sony digital cameras can do some breath-taking work. What I’m trying to say is don’t always believe the empirical tests online, these so-called “lower end” digital SLRs are capable of the best photos you’ve ever taken. So, trust a good deal and give that 300 buck E-410 kit another look. Hey, we’ll even throw in a 2 GB memory drive.

If you’re still fence-sitting, go here and see what can be done with nothing more than this kit: http://dingobearfoto.blogspot.com/



Olympus E-410; SLR deal of the holidays!

If you are looking to step up to an SLR from a point and shoot digital, the Olympus Digital Camera E-410 kit is a great model to look at.  It has 10 MP sensor with live view mode.  Comes with the 14-42 kit lens.  It has lots of preset exposure modes that are very easy to access, so coming from a point and shoot is very simple.  It is also one of the smallest SLR’s on the market today.  It has two memory card slots; one for compact flash cards and one for XD memory cards.  You can put two cards in the camera and shoot all day long.  The best feature is the price.  All of this for under $300.  Get the second zoom (40-150) and make it a two lens kit for another $100.  Really unbelievable!  Available at Roberts Imaging today.  Hurry.  Supplies are limited!

Olympus E-410




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