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New toy - EOS550D, now with photos.

Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?

Glad it arrived ok, but what a hassle you had getting it to you.
 
Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?

I'm replacing a 300D which has lasted me a good 6 or 7 years! I'm away this weekend with family, and the place we're going too is supposed to be very picturesque, and lots of mossy woodland :)
 
New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?

Have a great time away and enjoy the camera. The biggest challenge with the HD video is focus. It is slow to get focus before you start filming and you need to manually focus while filming; this takes some practice, especially if you want to try shallow depth of field. It is well worth it though, the quality of the video is fantastic.
 
Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?

I tend not to use auto focusing.

Try instead, to pick stationary shots,from different angles and then string them together with software.
 
Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?

I've read about using a larger Fstop so that focus is less of an issue too. Any thoughts on this?

I've just come back from a place called Puzzlewood, in Gloucestershire. Amazing place, and somewhere I think anyone on this forum should visit if they have the chance. Rock/Wood/Moss inspiration everywhere! There's just so much amazing formations. You can spend hours looking at all the mosses, ferns and trees. Highly recommend a day there! Interesting challenge to photograph too. Having had a chance to look at some of my photos on my home PC, I can see some are quite grainy, and perhaps shooting in high ISO was a bad idea...

Anyway, a few pics I've uploaded so far:

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I love the photos, they really capture the feel of the place and show it as a potential aquascape. I love the vibrant greens in the pictures too.

Yeah, small apertures (large number) are the way to go for keeping things in focus in video, but often there is not the luxury for this. The big problem comes when you want to use a narrow depth of field for effect (keeping the subject sharp, but the background blurred)—a common video technique, buts the challenge is keeping the subject in focus if anything moves! If I want to do this I tend to do short clips and edit them together later (as a poster above said).

One thing on noise, I have started exposing 'to the right' quite a lot and correcting the images when I get home. Noise is obviously worse in the darker areas, and made a whole lot worse when I underexpose. I find that by overexposing a little (without blowing highlights) I get a better shot after post-processing.
 
Interesting thoughts about slightly over exposing. I'll give that a try in future.

I'd be interested to know what non-linear video software people are using. Currently I don't have anything to edit video (other than Windows Live movie maker :sick: )
 
I use a mac, so imovie does the job. I hear Adobe premiere elements is good, but have no experience of it and it is not cheap.
 
Quite chuffed :) I took some photos of a friends fish pedicure business (of which I've been advising and helping out with maintenance and stuff), as a favour, so she could use them on their website. She had some printed out because her daughter was in them, and wanted to send them abroad to family.

Randomly, a customer saw one she'd put up in the shop and liked it, and saw the rest of them and again, liked them. She then asked my friend if she thought I'd be willing to take some photos of her holiday cottage, in the lake district! She offered the use of the cottage for a long weekend in return :)

Feels weird to be asked by a stranger to take some photos for them :)
 
SteveUK said:
Randomly, a customer saw one she'd put up in the shop and liked it, and saw the rest of them and again, liked them. She then asked my friend if she thought I'd be willing to take some photos of her holiday cottage, in the lake district! She offered the use of the cottage for a long weekend in return :)

Feels weird to be asked by a stranger to take some photos for them :)

awesome Steve...... your first "paid" photo shoot - good job man :thumbup:
 
chilled84 said:
where is the cheapest place for a canon Eos 550d? :D

if you dont mind second hand try MPB photographic they have 550d body for around £399
 
Puzzlewood is not too far from me, may have to make a visit in the new year :thumbup:
 
Greenview said:
One thing on noise, I have started exposing 'to the right' quite a lot and correcting the images when I get home.

Is it not better to get the exposure right first time, without having to post process? I occassionally overexpose/underexpose for effect, but there is no substitute for getting it "right" with a camera in your hand, as opposed to a mouse. With modern camera sensors, this should be a relative doddle.

Regards, Dave.
 
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