It’s always great to capture all those memorable moments with your camera for every family outing, birthday party or any other events.  Unless you own unlimited disk storage, you will notice that you will run out of space sooner or later, especially if you take high resolution pictures. You might choose to regularly back up your pictures on DVDs but it is always nice to have a copy of them right onto your computer for quick viewing, isnt it?

I am sure that only a few of you probably need to keep the original high resolution pictures but we all like to have the best quality shots so that we can later edit them (and crop them). So, I needed a (free) software which could batch resize all the pics, looping through all of my folders. After a quick search, I found out that IrfanView was the best suited software to do my job.

Here are the steps, once you have installed the software :

With the above resizing, an image file of roughly 1 or 1.5MB can be compressed down to 100-200Kb. Just imagine how much space you will be saving

You have perhaps noticed that I have selected the option (6) to delete the original pictures and save the resized pictures in a different folder. At the end of the conversion, the original folder will contain only those files which could not be edited. Examples might be videos files.

I can now overwrite the original folder with the one containing the resized files. Since the resized folder contains exactly the same sub folders, the resized pictures will be moved (or copied) to the original location. Your videos files will still be there.

I highly advise you to do a test first or you might end screwed up if you find that you lost some of your files. You can also choose to do a back up first before launching the batch resize. A back up which you can delete after verifying the results.

If you liked this post, feel free to like and share it among your friends. And come back soon

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Welcome back to yashvinblogs.com !

My advice was sought so many times on this particular subject. Just like the article about Ebay shopping in Mauritius, I hope that this article will bring some more light into your lives

Some months ago, owning a DSLR (Digital single-lens reflex) camera was considered as a privilege, reserved for the rich ones. Mauritians can now acquire the entry level camera D3000 for as low as Rs20, 000 (VAT inclusive). DSLRs are now part of our daily life, they are now everywhere…

Impressed by the wonderful shots captured by Mauritians around us, many among us are tempted to go for a camera but unfortunately, we end up asking ourselves if investing all of our savings in a good camera will really be worth. After all, we are talking about spending over 20k, at least to start with the basic camera and lens.

As a student, it is kindda difficult to go to your parents and convince them by saying “Pa/Ma, mo envie aster 1 camera Rs20, 000″ or even as an independent person, spending thousands of bucks on a camera is quite a big deal.

Today, I am writing this article with one main point in mind : A LIMITED BUDGET, putting myself in your shoes.

Features you should look for

Let’s forget about the small compact or the bulky camera for a few minutes…

If you want to step into digital photography, you should start avoiding to switch your camera to the “Automatic” mode. Instead, you should progressively learn how to control the amount of light and the time duration during which the light enters the camera, the sensitivity among others. Technically, you will be playing with the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO settings. Hopefully, I might come up with detailed articles to demonstrate each of these mentioned words very soon. [Update : It seems that I already wrote something about some of the points above, have a look at this post]

So, while choosing a camera, you should make sure that you can control/have on the camera :

• Aperture
  It is a measure for the wideness of the lens opening, thus controlling the amount of light entering the camera.
• Shutter Speed
  The amount of time during which light is allow to enter the camera’s sensor. You will need shutter speeds of several seconds in order to be able to shoot trailing lights along roads while you will need extremely short shutter speed if you want to shoot water droplets.
• ISO
  The sensitivity of the camera’s sensor.
• Viewfinder
  The small opening at the back of the camera which allows you to view what you are shooting.
• Built in flash
• Image stabilization/Vibration Reduction.
  This one helps in low light conditions.
• Macro mode
  This mode allows you to shoot much closer to the object as in normal mode.
  A side note : a normal basic camera lens of a DSLR (Nikorr 18-55 VR for example) has a minimum shooting distance of about 0.28m, i.e. the camera will not focus on objects which lie under that distance. My 70-300 Tamron lens allows me to shoot at 1.5m in normal mode while in macro mode, I can be at a nearest distance of 0.9m only from my subject.
• Memory Card and reader
  You should get a memory card of a decent size. 2GB might be the minimum nowadays. A memory card reader is optional here but do note that transfer speeds are usually higher if you connect your card to your computer using a reader.

Remember, do not fight over the number of megapixels. I don’t think that most of you will be printing your shots for your family album or even posting billboard-sized printouts.

Optionally, you can go for the following features:

• Recording Movies
  You should not forget that you are looking for a camera to make photos. If you really want to shoot video, go for a camcorder instead, it might offer more options for a lower price!
• Live View
  The live view allows you to see what you are shooting using the LCD at the back of the camera, just like in compact (point and shoot) cameras. However, do take note that in Live View mode, things turn out to be much slower, focusing can turn out to be a real pain.
• RAW
  Cameras usually save the processed images in JPEG Format. On the other hand, a RAW shot contains all the data captured when the shot was taken. This allows the photographer to access unprocessed values, thus modifying them at his will.
• Time lapse/Interval shooting
  This feature allows you to automatically take a shot at a regular interval. You can then turn these sequence of images into a nice movie like the one I have here.
• Continuous shooting
  Ever pressed the shutter button 1/2 a second before the actual time? In continuous shooting mode, the camera can take several shots per second when the button is pressed.
• Spare Rechargeable batteries
  The recent cameras now come with rechargeable batteries, specifically designed for the camera model. It costs less than AA or AAA alkaline batteries or even, rechargeable AA/AAA batteries and I believe that they might be more effective for camera use.

Should you really wait for the latest model?

Do you (or your parents) wait for the latest BMW or Mercedes model to be announced so that you can go to purchase it?

Unless you already own a camera, I do not advise anyone to wait for some camera model to be announced for a few reasons :

• You do not really need to the latest camera model to learn photography.
• You probably won’t find any difference between a camera offering a video mode of 720p or 1024p, except for the price. As I said, you are most probably looking to buy a camera for still photography not for shooting videos.
• New stuffs usually cost more and the price of previous models will be most probably reviewed.

And finally, by the time this new item is onto the shelves in Mauritius, another model can probably be announced by either the same manufacturer or a competitor.

Will you wait for that new one to be available too?

So, if anyone advises you to wait for a new model to be announced and you are especially tight on budget, you know what you should do.

And what zoom should I go for ?

Everyone dreams of a camera which can shoot as close as a few cms to get the minute details of an insect’s eyes and also, do some paparazzi work in order to grab a nice portrait of a “zoli 35″ sitting 500meters away, using the same camera and lens.

Unfortunately, we live in a real world and these are rarely possible with limited budget. Point and shoot cameras usually offer a 3-5x zoom and may additionally offer digital zoom, which is completely useless in a digital camera. On the other hand, zoom on DSLRs depends on the lens attached to it. The most common basic kit lens offered with cameras nowadays are about 3x. You can read more about this in an article in which I demonstrate and talk about the power of lenses.

If you are really planning to invest into a DSLR, I would highly recommend you to spend a few thousand bucks for a higher zoom lens instead of the basic 18-55 lens, just as I did a few months ago.

My 18-55 VR lens for sale

As I just mentioned, I went for a 18-105 lens recently. Since then, my kit lens, a nikkor 18-55mm VR lens is carefully packed and stored, waiting for someone to take it away. A similar unused lens usually costs around Rs6k in Mauritius and around $150 on ebay (shipping, customs charge included).

I can offer my lens at half the price or even less. It comes together with a free UV Filter and a free lens hood. So, instead of buying a camera with a brand new 18-55 lens, you can go for mine at a much cheaper price. Feel free to contact me.

The last words…

Bridge cameras are usually more interesting. They are available at very affordable prices while offering more or less the same features of a DSLR. The zoom on these cameras can go up to 20x and I can tell you that 20x on a DSLR costs a lot of money, I really mean A LOT!

For info, I previously owned a 5MP second hand bridge camera before I took the decision to invest into my D5000 camera. You should also keep in mind that if you go for a DSLR, that might not be your final purchase. After nearly 1 year, I ended up spending twice the initial amount allocated to photography. Photography is a costly hobby, so be careful in your setting your budget.

To end this article, I will advise you to go for something within your budget because at the end of the day, you are the one paying, not the guy who’s asking you to wait for a model which has not yet been announced.

Related Posts:

• Le soleil était au rendez-vous…
• Batch resizing your pics to free up some space
• Understanding camera lens, for beginners
• Using Photoshop Actions to bulk watermark your pictures
• My new photography gadget

Il valait la peine de se réveiller   3heures du mat et prendre la direction de la “Montagne Signaux” afin de faire des photos de la ville et aussi du levée du soleil. Environ 500 photos ont été nécessaires afin de monter la vidéo qui suit.

Ces photos ont été prises à des intervalles de 2 ou 5 ou 10 secondes. Vous avez peut être reconnu Les Beatles avec leur tube “Here comes the sun”. Rien de mieux pour donner une touche musicale à ce week-end.

Bon weekend, et n’oubliez pas, restez branchez sur yashvinblogs.com

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It may sound fairly easy to add your watermark(logo or name) onto 1 or 2 pics but how will you achieve this if you have to share 100 or 200 pictures? You may have your own technique, but let me show you mine, just discovered this feature a week ago on Adobe Photoshop CS2.

Today, I will be using  the “Actions” of Photoshop CS2 to add a watermark and also resize the image before uploading it to Facebook for example.

Step 1

Open an image and click on the small icon to open the small window shown.

Step 2

Then type in the name of the action, here defined as “Resize-Watermark”.

Step 3

All actions performed on photoshop will now be recorded. Once done, these actions can be replayed on one or a set of pictures for executing the exact actions.

As you can see above, the “Record” button has been activated.

Step 4

Now, you can add a text layer onto your picture. Additionally, you can change its position or style it.

Step 5

Above, the picture is being resized to a width of 720pixels. All these actions will be recorded accordingly.

Step 6

After you are done with the modifications, you can now click on the stop icon. So, here ends the initial set up/recording of our action(s).

Applying the watermarks and resizing (Actions) to other images.

Now, your life is going to be so easy!

Let’s say for example, you have a folder full of pictures that need watermarking and resizing before the uploading process onto Facebook.

Step 7

Go to “FILE > SCRIPTS > IMAGE PROCESSOR”

Step 8

If you wish to process files from 1 specific folder or images that are currently opened in the Photoshop workspace, this is where you should select the right image source.

Step 9

Choose the action you recorded earlier

Step 10

Click “Run”.

That’s all

No more additional steps required.

You might now witness a matrix-like effect during which the pictures will be rapidly opened and processed. These pictures will be saved at the location specified in the previous window. After all the processing is done, you can have a look at them.

You want a preview of the results?

All the shots displayed on the Infotech blog post were watermarked and resized using the same technique. As you can see, all the watermarks are exactly positioned at the same location.

Whether you have 1 or 100 pics, it will now take a few seconds to get everything digitally signed

This technique has been tested on Adobe Photoshop CS2. I haven’t tested on other versions but it might work. Anybody, please confirm.

I am sure that some of you might have other techniques as well, do you? Please share how you do it and also, don’t hesitate to share this blog post with others

Thank you for your visit

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Yeah, I know that I said that I will try to stay away from ebay… Anyways, the deal has been made 2 weeks ago and I got it from the post office an hour ago.

This time…. presenting to you……..

**drum-roll**

The “Suction Mount Tripod Holder for Car”

(Click on above image to enlarge)

lol. So, as you can see above, it allows you to fix your camera on your dashboard or window using a suction system.

Of course, the D5000 is a bit too heavy to hold on a window, but it looks “ok” on the dashboard of the car. But I will not take the risk to leave my nikon in the hands suction system of a $10 item (+$8 shipping).

(Click on above image to enlarge)

If I need to use it, I will prefer to have somebody be in the front passenger’s seat to ensure that the suction does not get loose and fall down under the weight. But I am sure that a small camera (point and shoot) will work great on it.

So, I bought it for shooting videos while driving, mostly in the dark or at sunset when there is enough light and drivers have switched on their headlamps to get a video like this one shot using “les moyens du bord”.

I will probably test it probably during the weekend and keep tuned for the video

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AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G IF-ED, AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR IF-ED, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 AF Di LD Macro, AF-S 50mm f/1.4G, 300-800 f/5.6 APO EX DG HSM

You may be wondering what’s all those stuff mean! Don’t worry! Today I am back with an article, aimed to help you understand stuff related to lens, in simple and easy words

A small note :
Photography is only a hobby for me. I will try to explain a few things I have been learning since the last months. Feel free to share your own experience. This blog post is aimed to newbies only… You may want to read a previous article in which I introduced photography in a few words…

What is a lens?

The wikipedia definition goes as follows :
“A photographic lens (also known as objective lens or photographic objective) is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.”

You don’t need to learn this by heart. You can skip the definition, it won’t be of much use to you right now.

What you need to know…

You have surely noticed the “14-24mm” or “18-55mm” or “70-300mm” in the first line of this post. Well, these are known as the focal range of the lens.

Before going any further, you need to understand the following, I need to mention that for the sake of simplicity, I won’t be talking the 35mm or crop factors into consideration. I need to document myself more in depth before being able to explain these parts to you. But you should note that these are widely used terms in photography.

Let’s see a few images, all at the same location (from La Citadelle, Port Louis) but shot at different focal length.

Zooming with lens (click on image to enlarge)

Typically, the optical zoom of a lens is calculated as follows :

Optical zoom = maximum focal length / minimum focal length

Example of lens :

• AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
  Zoom = 55/18 = approx 3.0x
• Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 AF Di LD Macro
  Zoom = 300/70 = approx 4.2x

Zoom, focus, aren’t they the same thing?

There is a difference between the 2 words.

You normally zoom to have a larger image of what you are shooting. This is done by extending the focal length of the lens by turning the zoom ring on the lens to make it longer. Beware, we are talking about optical zoom here, not digital zoom. In short, digital zoom is a processing done by the camera to enlarge the picture as it is. At the end, you may end up with a picture, full of small squares(pixels).

[image from http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/ ]

On the other hand, focusing allows you to select a point or a region of what you will be shooting. It is a bit difficult to explain it in words. The following images will help you to get a better idea :

Focus point (click on image to enlarge)

“3.5-5.6G”, what do they really stand for?

Good question…

That’s the maximum aperture that can be obtained using this lens. The aperture is a measurement to denote how large is the opening of the lens, hence the amount of light that can enter.

For this specific example ( AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR), a maximum aperture of 3.5 can be obtained at the lowest focal lenght, i.e. 18mm and a maximum aperture of 5.6 at the end, 55mm.

Understanding aperture can be a bit confusing. Let’s see how…

[aperture diagram from here ]

A large aperture number (ex. f11) refers to a SMALL opening of the lens (allowing little light in) and a small aperture number (ex f3.5) refers to a LARGE opening (allowing more light in).

Only one aperture marking?

Some lenses have only 1 aperture, take the following lens as example : AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED.

Well, this lens have the same minimum aperture of 2.8G over the whole focal length. Please note that these lenses are generally much more expensive.

Only one focal length(mm)?

No, they did not forget to print the other ‘mm’ value. In fact, these type of lenses are called prime lenses. They offer only a fixed focal length, for example 35mm or 50mm. You can’t zoom with this lens because of the fixed focal length. However the image is of much better quality and they focus more quickly, even in low light conditions.

Example : AF-S 50mm f/1.4G

Because of the larger aperture(smaller number), this lens will be able collect more light than a lens with an aperture range of 3.5-5.6, hence produce better images even in low light.

Built in motor into lens / body motor

Once again, a simple explanation : A motor is necessary to move the lens elements in order to vary the focal length, hence the zoom. As written above, the motor can either be in the body of the camera itself or into the lens. We often talk about auto focus motor lens in the second case.

Nikon examples

• without a motor in the body : D40, D60, D3000 and the D5000.
• with a motor in the body : D80, D90

A lens for a D80 will work on a D5000 but due to that lack of a motor in the body (of the D5000), the auto focus will not work. Hence, the person needs to manually use the focus ring when taking pictures. Older lenses did not have any motors, hence the D80 has a wider choice of lenses for use, while the D5000 is restricted to newer lenses only.

Please bear in mind that a lens designed for one make of cameras cannot be used on another make. We are here talking about the mount, which basically allows a lens to fit into a specific camera. However, there exists adapters which can be used.

I hope that this article helped you to have a better understanding of lenses used in digital photography and some of the terms used in this field.

Feel free to ask any questions and also, don’t hesitate to share your experience. And of course, please leave any comments if I made errors in the article above.

Other images from

• http://kenrockwell.com/
• http://digicam-print.com/digital-camera-lenses/

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• Le soleil était au rendez-vous…
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The group members organized quite a few events in the past (Catamaran, 24/7 night out, Shooting in Port Louis among others)  and today, we met Chez Pepe, Flic en Flac for lunch. 25 members turned up at the restaurant at around 1230… There was loads of things we talked about, for example photography, photography and photography. We tried to discuss about other things like photography and photography. Do I need to say that people around us most probably talked about photography too, lol!

I felt a bit “shy” with my 18-55mm lens when I was among those holding huge lens. One of the most amazing lens is the first one in the picture below : a 70-300mm lens which all of us had the opportunity to hold and shoot a few pics. Wow, it weighted so much but the weight does not really matter once you start playing with it

This part of the beach was crowded with girls and boys holding their big DSLRs and shooting everything which moved around…  Even the static objects were not spared!

Sorry to people out there in case you felt that we were a group of paparazzi!

Leave all of you here, I will upload my shots later tomorrow (hopefully).

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Hello everyone!

Hope that you had a nice weekend, and perhaps some of you may still be enjoying, especially those who just finished exams or those who got their CPE results. But I have a doubt; I don’t think that the last group of people read my blog, not yet

And my weekend was great.

On Saturday night, I got a few people who were willing to play the models for me during a “Saturday Night BBQ and Beach Dancing floor” which ended after 1 am. Nice opportunity for me to try my new camera and despite having it for more than 1 week now, I am still learning new things.

Now, lets come back to something more serious.

I am selling my previous camera! SOLD (20th Dec 09)!

My previous camera is looking for a new owner. It is a Fujifilm S5200/S5600 which I bought from the first owner (a colleague) a few months ago.

Great camera for learning photography and also for normal shooting!

You can have a look at the pictures I shot on my flickr account or on my photoblog (Pictures taken before 4 December 2009)

Quick specs

5.1 million effective pixels
10x optical zoom
Real Photo Technology and ISO 64 – 1600 sensitivity range
Anti-Blur Mode to minimise blurring from photographer and subject
Max resolution          2592 x 1944
Low resolution          2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
Aperture range          F3.2 – F8.0
Min shutter          15 sec
Max shutter          1/2000 sec
Movie clips
640 x 480 @ 30 fps
320 x 240 @ 30 fps With monaural sound

More details can be obtained here.

The deal

Included in the deal :

• The Camera
• 1 Memory card (1GB)
• 1 Memory card (256Mb)
• Powered by 4xAA batteries
  Note : You can easily take up to an average of 200 shots with a set of fully charged batteries.
• 1 camera bag
• 1 USB cable
• 1 TV cable

Optional

• 2 sets of 4 AA batteries
• 1 battery charger

I have set the price of the package (without optional stuff) at Rs6000.

The camera is in good working condition and I am sure that some of you might agree, the pictures taken with it are great! December is here, celebrations, parties! Get yourself a camera at a good price and immortalize all those great moments for ever!

And with this S5600, you can look like a pro while learning and improving your photographer’s skills!

Anyone interested can drop me a mail at yashvin@gmail.com. We can then discuss about the price and you can also have a look the camera before buying it.

Camera sold together with the batteries and charger.

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