Wednesday, January 16, 2013

How to mount a Tablet PC above a Canon EOS Camera to read a video script.?

Q. I want to make a more simple version of a teleprompter, my idea was to sit a tablet above my Canon EOS 650D to help me memorize what to say when recording YouTube Videos.

I know you can mount microphones onto the top of the camera with that silver strip, but is there any way to mount an iPad or Kindle onto the top of the camera.

There might not be such a thing because I can't find one, but maybe I'm just using the wrong search terms.

Let me know if you find anything!

-Jack
I found out the Silver Strip is called the "Hot Shoe", trying to find one as we speak!

A. Jack, Try using your imagination in solving this.
Hint 1. stay away from your hot shoe - you may need it for something essential. There are other mounts that you could use. Try to think of one. Have a look around at camera mounts on the web and you are bound to find something that you will capture your desire. Be adventurous.
Putty (blutack) on the end of a stick! Why does it have to be assembled to the Canon?

Contrast detection vs phase detection for movies?
Q. I am looking at buying a DSLR camera, and I am mostly looking at the Nikon D5100 and the Canon EOS 650D (or Canon Rebel T4i in USA). I will mostly be using it for movies, but also for photos as well. I see that the Nikon camera has contrast detection, whereas the Canon camera has phase detection. I have heard that phase detection is better, but I really don't know much about cameras yet.

Could someone please explain the difference between contrast detection and phase detection for movies, and which one would be better, to someone who is an amateur with cameras?

Thanks in advance for the help.

A. Contrast focusing is more accurate, but much slower and tends to hunt because it doesn't know which way to focus the lens at first.

Phase is faster than contrast and doesn't hunt as much as contrast because the tricky phase detection system knows which way to focus the lens at first. Phase can have front/back focus (doesn't focus at the point you want) issues which can be corrected in some camera models.

If you're worried about focus for movies, then look to the Sony line of DSLRs. They have Nikon and Canon beat regarding focus technology.

Of course, if you're really serious about video, then get a real video camera. It's a whole lot easier to use than a DSLR. DSLRs are great still camera tools, toys for video unless you get a whole bunch of extra stuff.

How to use canon eos 650d?
Q. Okay so I just got a canon eos 650d and I'm not really used to it yet. It's already set up but I just don't know how to use it?
1. How can I change the effects? e.g. black&white, fish eye...
2. General set up ideas?
3. it takes a long time to actually take the photo. I have to keep my hand on for over 4 seconds, how can I change that?
4.More information I need to know?
5.Other things I may need to change, recognise or learn about?

So yeagh I need help :(

A. 1. The effects that you use depend on a few things- the lens that you use or the effect that you use on the computer after taking the picture during the editing process. Most washes that you will use on your photo (sepia, red tone, black & white, grayscale, etc) will be done on the computer. There might be a way to change this on the actual camera body itself, but I'm not too sure. You can check under the functions and settings to see, but I would bet that there isn't. The other effects that have been mentioned (for example fish eye, tilt lenses/lens baby, etc) would obviously be altered by using a separate lens. So in this case, you would press the sides of the camera (there are two separate buttons) that you press at the same time. The lens would pop right off and you would put another one right back in its place. Make sure that it's locked on properly. I know that on my camera, the camera will not take pictures at all if the external lens isn't locked in place.

2. Set up ideas? Ahhh there's so much that you can do with SLR cameras. I would experiment with lighting. The lighting can make or break your shot. I find that the best times to shoot anything would be in the morning when the sun is coming up or in the evening when the sun is setting. There is a "golden" way about the way the light refracts . Also, improve your shots with a tripod. You need to know when to use it. The general rule of thumb is that you use a tripod when the exposure is slower than a 60th of a second. The longer the exposure, the longer the lens will stay open. This is to be used in areas where there is limited light because the longer the lens stays open, the more light will be permitted through the aperture. I know that I'm loading you up with information here, but also it will help you to learn to frame shots. Try not to shoot things that are centered. In plain English, I would say that your shots should be slightly off center in order to appear more dynamic. This is called the "Rule of Thirds". I would recommend that you look it up to get a better idea.

3. As I had previously mentioned, the time that the lens stays open depends on the exposure that you decide to use. Go into the manual function and change the exposure level. A long exposure would be something like one second. A quick exposure would be something like one thousandth of a second. However, unless you're sure that the photo needs to have a different exposure level on it, I wouldn't change it. Look it up on the internet first. Just experiment with it too- that always helps. Otherwise, I would stay in automatic mode until you get the hang of things.

4. I would/could say so much more, but I'm limited in the amount of characters that I have. Just look things up on the internet. There are so many talented photographers out there that have blogs that you might find of interest. I need to mention that I think that you should learn how to properly edit your photos as well. Look to Adobe Photoshop... or Lightbox I think it's called? Eh. Either way, they're effective for changing up effects and even drastically altering a photo (making realistic changes in body type. Excess fifty pounds? Photoshop it right off).

5. Nope... that's it. For now. There's always more that you can learn, but it would be better for you to just go out and shoot things! Wait. There is something. If you want to become an overall better photographer, I would highly recommend trying film photography. It will teach you to think about the way you shoot differently. For example, it's essential to really plan up a shot while using film because you're only limited to the amount of space that you have on the roll, whereas digital allows you to take as many as you want and then delete the extras that you didn't like all that much. Developing and enlarging on the other hand are just different from anything that you will ever see in digital media. It's a dying art form, but it's worth a try before going completely extinct.

Sorry for this lengthy post. I'm on break and I'm bored. What better to than to help someone out? :) In all seriousness though, I think that you should have stuck with a point and shoot camera to start out with. My first camera was a Canon SX125 and it was a "fancy" point and shoot (a hand-me-down from my step brother) and that worked just fine. Right now, I have the Canon EOS Rebel t3-i. I absolutely love it. It was a present to myself... and I bring it everywhere with me. My friends and I taking a trip to Taiwan (after I turn seventeen in the early summer) and I plan to bring it with me then.

Image quality issues at maximum zoom?
Q. Hi

I am not an expert in photography, so for those who are lending a helping hand by replying to the questions please explain in detail and in simple language so that i can easily digest with.

I own a Sony Cybershot DSC H9 camera which has optical zoom of 15x. I have 4 questions on this.

1. The quality of images taken at a zoom range between 1x to 5x are really good but for the images taken at a zoom level between 12x to 15x are very poor in quality. (please note that the images are taken at same lighting condition, same place, position and the only difference is the area/subjet of focus). Why this happens or what makes image quality poor for snaps taken at maxim zoom level.

2. Please suggest some tips to get really good quality images in DSC H9 at maximum zoom range.(like what parameters to set in the camera such as focal length, aperture, ISO, Shutter speed etc)

3. If i get a canon EOS 650D SLR mounted with a canon 100-400mm lens or canon 55 - 250mm lens will i get great pictures at maximum zoom level such as at 400mm or at 250mm.

4. Does DSLR lens too have the problem of low image quality for snaps taken at maximum zoom level?

A. A 15x zoom will always be compromised for quality at at least one of the extremes. It's hard to make a long zoom anyway. Making a long zoom cheaply means quality corners have to be cut. A 4x DSLR lens is not going to have the same sorts of problems at the longest focal length.

As you zoom out the maximum aperture decreases substantially on a 15x zoom, meaning slower shutter speeds have to be used and that increases the chance of camera shake.

Any DSLR with 100-400mm lens should give you far better quality. The larger sensor will give you clearer images with less noise anyway and the superior lens quality will not drop off in quality in the same way as your compact.

A tripod isn't always necessary with a 400mm lens for daylight shots, but settings and technique are important. With a proper DSLR stabilised lens, you should be able to hand-hold down to 1/250 second shutter speed - maybe even 1/125 if you practice. In lower light you might need to bump up ISO to get the shutter speed high enough, but ISO 800 or 1600 should still give good pictures on a good DSLR, whereas anything above 400 is likely to show too much noise and/or colour fringing on a small sensor compact like your Sony. When the light gets too low for 1/125 at ISO 1600 you really do need the stability of a tripod.

For your Sony I would be surprised if you can use much faster than ISO 400 without excessive noise, so I would shoot ISO 400 when using extreme telephoto to allow as fast a shutter speed as possible.

Historically, the rule of thumb was that shutter speed ideally should be at least 1/focal-length, so at 250mm 1/250 second or at 400mm 1/500 second (as there is no 1/400 setting). In practice, image stabilisation should give you at least 1 speed slower, maybe 2 speeds if you steady yourself, so you might just about get away with 1/60 second at 250mm or 1/125 second at 400mm - but I would still recommend at least 1/125 second at 250mm and 1/250 second at 400mm whenever you can.

Lenses tend to give the worst results at their widest apertures, and that's even more noticeable on cheap long zooms, but unfortunately you will want a wide aperture to get the faster shutter speeds. If you can, try to use an aperture which is at least 1 stop smaller than the widest aperture, but keeping shutter speeds high enough is still more important for hand-holding long zooms.

With a tripod you can avoid the widest apertures and use a lower speed shutter when necessary - but that doesn't necessarily help if you are trying to catch a fast moving animal!

All in all the DSLR would be a good move. You can use higher ISO which in turn allows you to use higher shutter speeds and smaller apertures, so you will be able to hand-hold with reasonable stability more often and still get crisp, high-quality images at longer distances.



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