Here's an article in today's NYTimes on photo management software. Seems Adobe introduced Photoshop Lightshop this week ($200), while Vista has a photo suite already built in. But the writer also makes a strong case for Elements. Perhaps he's been reading this blog.

RAW or JPEG

This is my quick 5min version of duplicating the test done on http://www.phototestcenter.com/html/raw_v_jpeg.html

No other modification was done here:

Shot Setting: ISO 1600, F/4.0, 1/15 sec.

Original Image:

JPEG 100% crop:

JPEG converted from RAW 100% crop:

In real life situation, it is more than just details. RAW allows you to have much more flexibility.

picasa?

And now for another segway. What type of post-processing software have you guys found useful? I'm currently using Picasa (is this even considered post-processing?), which seems great for beginners like me, but I wonder what some of our other more prosumer-ish contributors use? I really like that "dark-edge" look which I see on a lot of Tim's photos -- that seems to be more advanced than what Picasa can do.

Does anyone use the software which comes bundled with the Canon DSLRs? I haven't loaded it on my computer yet, but I wonder if it's worthwhile to do so.

Inside Canon Irvine, U.S.A.

I went to Canon Irvine today to pick up the camera from service. When I got home, I found some test images on the memory card. (Normally, they don't take the CF card but they were testing my lens with my camera and the images were left on the card that I brought home.)

I always wanted to see what is behind the door :)

I'm a relative beginner at DSLRing, with equally basic equipment (Canon 350D w/kit lens). Reading these entries has inspired me to both shoot more and purchase more. Unfortunately I'm on a limited budget and usually carry around limited space, so I'd like to purchase one good all-around lens which doesn't need to excel at any particular one thing, but is adequate for a wide variety of purposes (though mostly scenery and family shots). Budgeting maybe around $600 max, but wouldn't mind a cheaper one. Any recommendations? Does such a lens even exist?

These are some photos I've taken with the kit lens, which I've found to be serviceable but not very flexible. They are also examples of what I enjoy shooting.

Tamron 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 Macro LD Di Sample Shots

In addition to the post below, here are some sample shots taken with the new Tamron 70-300mm. It is taken @ f/8, ISO 200

Some more shots of the lens (it does have the metal mount),

Image quality test will follow next week.

Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 Macro

Accompanying the 17-50mm lens was this lens, which hopefully will be the last of my lens purchases for a while. I wanted something for standard and wide angle, which the 17-50mm covers; and this 70-300mm provides me with zoom and macro. It's a relatively cheap lens, at around $170, but it had decent reviews. Below is the unboxing:

As with the other Tamron lens, in the box were:

• lens
• manual
• lens hood

This lens is surprisingly light and the build feels light as well. But it's all about how it performs. We shall see.

I went to Laguna Beach today with some friends to take pictures. I ended up shooting over 370 shots, which was easy to do with continuous shooting enabled. When I have some time in the coming week I'll post a few pics.

Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8

My lenses finally arrived this past Saturday from BuyDig. I only got the XTi body so I needed to get a standard lens. At this stage I'm not ready to go all out on lenses so I compromised and got this one, which, though still not very cheap, had decent reviews. Below is the unboxing.

In the box were:

• lens
• manual
• lens hood

I took these shots with a lens that arrived earlier (the "new lens" I refer to at the end of the first post), the Canon EF 50mm F/1.8, which many say gives the most bang for your buck, priced around $70. It has a very shallow depth of field, which gives these pics their look. These were taken in low light because the sun was going down. During sunset my room turns orange/pink, which these pics hint at.

Box Up Your DSLR Equipment!

There's something about unboxing a brand new gadget that you just bought. I LOVE IT. I love receiving it, checking on the shipment on the internet, delivery person handing it to me, and finally, slowly taking my fine-edged knife and separating the tape from the box. Granted, "unboxing" is not a dictionary word, but it's such a exciting term that goes with an exciting action! The problem is, in the DSLR world, you don't really buy gadgets constantly..unless you're me, that is. So I say, let's box up your DSLR equipment, unbox them, and write about them. So who's with me!?!!

Sandisk "Extreme" III

Looks like I'll be unboxing for a bit as my equipment arrives. I'm documenting this unboxing because I bought this card for its "extremeness."

The card touts the ability to hold up in extreme conditions (-13º F to 185º F : -25º C to 85º C). A couple of years ago I spent a couple of weeks in the mid east. The desert heat was too much for one of my 512mb cards and its data got corrupted. Half of my pics were on that card and I was really sad. When I got home I found a software that recovers data from flash cards. I was able to recover most of the pics, but some of them were still partially corrupt, and some were unrecoverable.

All this to say, I'm expecting much from this "extreme" card. It also came with recovery software but I hope to never use it.

A hearty welcome to the new contributors. Thank you for your gracious and informative comments. Looking forward to learning together!

2GB Sandisk Extreme IV CF

Santa came late for me last year and started delivering this year. My wife is going to kill me for buying all these stuff... Oh well, I'm going to enjoy them for now. Here is Sandisk Extreme IV CF card. It has a whopping 40MB/sec read and write! Pretty much the fastest out there. Decent price at $89. Sorry, rebate is over.


Question is ... is 40MB/sec really necessary? Anyone?

Canon 24-70 f/2.8L Lens

I love unboxing and yesterday, my new Canon 24-70 f/2.8L lens arrived. Not much inside, but I still had great anticipation for the lens. Let me tell you, this is one HONKING BIG GLASS! HEAVY TOO! But the pictures that come out of this lens are simply stunning. I'll post some pictures later. Here are the contents:

• 24-70 f/2.8L Lens
• Lens hood
• Lens bag
• Manual
• Registration Card

If you have to have one lens in your life time, this is it. I'm not much of a zoom fan. I much prefer prime lenses over any zooms, but zooms are very practical and don't have to constantly change lenses. It's a good time to buy now since you still have a week to turn in your double rebate for many Canon lenses.

The XTi Arrives

This is obviously not a product announcement since the Canon Rebel XTi (aka. EOS 400D) became available late last year. Being this is the first post on ShutterVista I guess it's appropriate that it begin with an unboxing. My XTi arrived today and I thought I'd show you what came in the box. Here are the contents:

As you can see, the package comes with:

• manuals and literature (English and Spanish)
• manuals CD
• Canon software
• USB cable
• Canon strap
• battery
• video cable
• camera body
• battery charger (not pictured)

Of note, there is no compact flash card, nor a separate charging adapter.

I ordered this camera from Dell, and at the time (the moment) it was the best deal going. One thing I was reminded about Dell is how long it takes for products to ship out. It was in "in production" status for a restlessly long time and took its time in finally arriving. In all it took 18 days from order to arrival. Something I'll have to keep in mind when ordering from Dell again.

As I enter the world of DSLR I'm taken aback by how expensive the lenses are. I know, I sound like a complete noob. But in fact, that's what I am. I've had a lot of fun shooting around with the Canon G3. It was indispensable in capturing the memories of the past 3 years. During that time I took over 8000 pics and it's still working well - a good camera. But I finally decided to enter the DSLR world, wanting to get a bit more "technical" with my shots and deepen this particular palette for artistic expression.

Since I had to wait for the battery to charge and the sun sets rather early these days, I had only indoor lighting to try out my new camera and lens. I leave you with the most interesting of the shots I took tonight, which highlights the new lens' wide aperture and light sensitivity.

Welcome!