Again on Buying Camera

Yesterday I bought a seven month old Samsung NX200 with kit lens for S$400.00 from a young lady. The reason for selling is to get a Canon S110 instead. The reason for me is the APS-C sensor size on the mirrorless small body, the 20.3MegaPixel picture output and most importantly, the price.

I start to understand that as there are individual preferences, there are choices made regardless of specifications and functionality, appearance, availability of lenses, picture quality.

Or is it the easy of use? Like the case of camera phone?

Or training needed to let the user learn to use the camera?

Or is it because manufacturers understand these points and produce many different models to cater for each individual needs?

Default Camera Settings

Yesterday I bought a used Casio Exilim EX-FH100, a similar model which I had for three years from a young man who sold it for just S$75.00 after using it for his project requiring slow motion video. I like the compact size and 10x zoom capability of the little camera, so as soon as I saw the advertisement, I ordered it without negotiation.

As I had all the settings finalised on my camera over the years of using it, I had forgotten about all the settings I set until I took out and started shooting with the newly acquired EX-FH100. I could not get what I used to get on my original Casio. Only after a little while, I realised that the new Casio was not set up in the way I used to have.

The camera has settings for memory which would remember the settings for AF Area, metering, ISO, white balance etc. My preference is using spot metering and also spot for AF area, without memory settings, these settings need to be set every time. That's why I could not get what I want as I could not remember those settings until I digged further on the Menu settings.

The problem with most of the cameras today is too many settings and the settings are not set to be the best practical options. The novice users are left with too many options they would not be able to understand if this is their first camera.

However, after say that, I also start to appreciate the level of control in this camera, the information display on screen as photos are taken. As I learn to look at the histogram, I like the feature of on screen histogram display on the left instead of in the middle as in my Olympus E-P1.

Storage Craft ShadowProtect IT Edition Version 4.1.3

Excited with the newly received IT Edition USB, while reading the pdf document on the USB drive, downloaded and applied the upgrade wizard, the version became 4.1.2.

Contacted StorageCraft on whether I can just copy all the original files back to the USB so have version 4.1.3 back, the answer was 4.1.3 was no longer available and I have to use 4.1.2.

Since it was the result of my mistake reading the document without realising the document was old, and thinking that I could run the wizard again if I copy all the files back to the USB, I took the risk and tried.

I should have done a backup of the USB using the IT Edition before I proceed with the upgrade wizard and restore it back later. Then I would not have to find out whether I can just copy all the original files back.

Uninstalling Avira on Windows 8

Upgrading from Windows 7 to 8 resulted in several programs having compatibility issues. Avira is one of them, unable to update .... Decided to uninstall Avira, however, every attempt to uninstall ended up in system reboot.

After some searching, using MSConfig to set Windows 8 to boot into safe mode (safe boot), uninstalled without automatic system reboot. Set MSConfig back to normal boot.

Shadow and Timing

Reached Seraya hut at around 9am, the bright sunlight casting shadows of the trees on Bukit Timah hill  onto the water of Singapore quarry right infront of the viewing platform.

Aperture and Depth of Field

Although it is very clear the relationship of aperture and depth of field in theory, in practice, we might make mistake when we are in low light condition to open the aperture to the widest so that we can use a higher shutter speed without realising the impact of narrowing the depth of field.

As I come across morning glory on the way to Bukit Timah hill in early morning, I used to take pictures of morning glory with the largest aperture until last Saturday. After reading some article, realising my mistake, reviewed all the old photos taken before, all were taken with very shallow depth of field, I took this picture with smaller aperture.

Exposure Settings

Used to criticise people who told me that they were using manual settings with exposure compensation. Now realised that on manual mode, there is setting of aperture and shutter speed and the camera would show the exposure compensation value on the screen. So it is a miscommunication, as I do not know exactly what they mean. Logically, I was thinking that as they set the aperture and shutter speed, why there was a need to set exposure compensation.