Canon L lenses

I've always wondered if canon's L, or luxury lenses were worth the extra bucks. And by extra bucks I mean anywhere from 300 to 1000 dollars more than the standard version. I will be covereing Nikon's lenses in a future post, but this time, were sticking to Canon.

After hours of research I came to the conclusion that you get what you pay for. So for instance yes, the canon L lenses are better, but in some instances you can buy another camera with the additional money that you would save it you went with a normal lens. A rule of thumb that I follow is to get the best gear that you can for the money that you have.

So how does the L lens work in practice. Well generally they're faster, they come with a lens hood, and are weather sealed. So it doesn't matter if it rains while you're out taking photos. It also has better glass, quite literally  There are fewer minimal obstructions, and the elements are made of finer materials. The bodies of the lenses are generally a metal such as aluminium.

You can tell if someone has an L lens by the distinguished red ring at the end of the lens as seen in the photo below.

Hope this helps
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Cleaning cloths

While I'm on the topic of cleaning solutions, why not discuss a simple solution that you can always have with you. And that is a simple microfiber cleaning cloth that attaches itself to the strap of your camera. Regardless of what camera you use this is a great solution for getting rid of fingerprints on the screen and lens of your camera. Whats more? You can find them for no more than just a dollar or two. Making it a must have in your camera kit. You can easily pick them up online or in your local camera store.

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iKlear Cleaning Kit

Keeping the devices we use on daily basism can be something that many of us overlook. Thankfully though there are plenty of options out there. With some better than others, I'm here to discuss the iKlear Cleaning kit. I personally think its the best kit out there, and for a relatively cheap price. So here's the overview.

The iKlear cleaning kit comes in all types of combinations. You can get just the solution, just the travel wipes, etc... Although I will be covering them all, as I bought the package that has all of them. Here's what you get:

1- 2 oz. iKlear Spray Bottle
1- 6 oz. iKlear Spray Bottle
1- Large "Chamois" Cloth
1- Travel Size "Chamois" Cloth
1- Medium DMT Antimicrobial Cloth
1- Travel Size DMT Antimicrobial Cloth
12- iKlear Travel Singles

The full kit can be found for around twenty five dollars. But how does it work in practice? Well lets just say that amazing is an understatement. It woks extremely well, and keeps all of your devices looking brand new. Speaking of devices, the cleaning kit can be used on almost any electronic. From you computer, to your phone, gaming controllers, cameras, lenses, glasses, keyboards, trackpads, and even your T.V.

So overall, I would recomend it to anyone who is looking for a cleaning kit. It also comes with an added keyboard cover for when you are not using your laptop or keyboard. I personally give it a 5/5.

Hope this helps

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RAW vs. JPEG

The discussion between wich file format to use has conflicted photographers quite a bit. Now like I mentioned, these are two different picture formats. As I was getting into photography, I really didn't find anything just laying out the facts between them, and their pro's and con's. So here go.

JPEG files are the more common of the two. And for quite a few reasons. To begin with, the pictures come out of the camera looking adjusted. Now what do I mean by this? Well when you shoot a photo in RAW, think of it like having the negative, or the full original info of the picture. EVERYTHING that is captured is stored. Now this brings up the next difference, file size. If a JPEG photo coming out of an 18 megapixel. camera is 5 megabytes, the RAW file will be approximately 25 megabytes. Which means on an 8 gigabyte card you will only be able to take about 260 photos in RAW.

So which is best? Well it comes down to a few things:

- The type of photography that you do: If you're just shooting some unimportant photos, and you do not  want to tweak them afterwords in an editing program, JPEG is best for you.

- If you have a small memory card, and looking to take many photos, shoot JPEG.

- If you have a big enough memory card, and are doing work for a client you can shoot whichever you     prefer, but keep in mind that you can also shoot in both formats.

With that said, in my opinion it is best to shoot JPEG and RAW. The camera will save the file in both formats. So if you would like to edit the photos, and have the originals for extensive recovery and flexibility, you can shoot RAW.

Megapixels: Do they really matter?

Now when most people go looking for a camera, the first thing they look at is the megapixels. It's been the decision point for tons of people, and for good reason. Well, not really they were just tricked, but that's good enough a reason for me to share this with you; and hopefully getting rid of this misconception.

So for those people out there who have no idea what a megapixel is, it's essentially how many pixels a camera has. Now each megapixel has one million pixels. So an 18 megapixel camera has 18 million pixels. Although truthfully, megapixels don't matter at all unless you're going to be printing poster size images. So really anything above eight megapixels or so will look great on any computer screen. So if you're looking to print really large prints, the more the better, but how many of us are really going to be doing that.

So if megapixels don't matter, what does? Well there are really three things that contribute to having a great quality image. The camera sensor, the lens, and post processing. To discuss these briefly, the camera sensor should optimally be a DSLR sensor, as they are larger and have more pixels per sensor size. The point and shoots don't have such sensors. As for lenses, the kit lens is good at everything but not great at anything. Meaning it will serve you OK for most areas, but not great in any specific. Do get the best image quality from a lens go with the l lenses if you are shooting Canon, or Nikon's pro lenses. They are made out of the best glass around; resulting in the best image possible. And post processing, is post processing. Making the image look its best.

Photo of a camera sensor

Hope this helps
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***Don't forget about the Giveaway! Check out the post below for details.***

Shutter Speed

I want to first start off by explaining the title of this blog. If you saw Shutter Shot, and were like WTF, well now you'll understand it. But you still need to work on watching your language.

Shutter speed is how fast the shutter on your camera opens and closes. Now lets focus on just this, and again, we will be fitting the pieces of the puzzle together in a future blog post. Now the speed of the shutter does a few things. For one, a slower shutter speed lets in more light than a faster one. Pretty simple right. The longer the shutter stays open, the more light that comes in. But there are a few other things that could happen. For one, bugs could get in(yes that is a joke). No but seriously, a slower shutter speed creates motion blur. Take a look at the two images below. The first one taken at a relatively fast shutter speed. The second, at a considerably slower one.

1/125th of a second

1/6th of a second

Now if that thing of yours you call a brain is any good at math, you will clearly see that the second image was taken at a slower shutter speed. And if you notice, the second image has motion blur, while the first one is still. Now don't look at how much light was let in or anything like that. Just focus on the concept, and the rest will be tied in earlier.

As always, feel free to comment below or e-mail me if you have any questions.

Hope this helps
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Giveaway!

So to thank all of my readers and followers, I will be doing a giveaway when I hit 500 followers(amongst both blogs). I have not yet decided what it will be but I seem to be leaning towards a brand new iPod touch. So spread the word! And if you have not yet done so, subscribe to other blog(link below). Again, I just want to thank everyone who has been supporting the blog!

Use the links below the post to share via twitter, facebook, e-mail, you know. The good stuff.

True Tech: truetek.blogspot.com

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Shutter Shot