This is a Field of View Calculator that let you graphically visualize on what kind of field of view (FOV) that you can get when using a specific camera at various focal length. For most modern SLR cameras, there are several crop factors available in the market. Mainly, there are:-

• Full Frame bodies (35mm) as the reference with the crop factor of 1.0x
• Canon APS-H with crop factor of 1.3x
• Canon APS-C with crop factor of 1.6x
• Nikon DX, Sony, Pentax crop bodies uses crop factor of 1.5x
• Olympus crop bodies with crop factor of 2.0x

You may read the details at Wikipedia – Image sensor format. Examples are:-

Full frame

• All Canon 1Ds series – Canon 1Ds MK III…
• All Canon 5D series – Canon 5D, Canon 5D MK II…
• Nikon D3, Nikon D3s, Nikon D3x, Nikon D700…
• Sony A850, Sony A900…

(more….)

This article serves as a guide and as a reference to kick-start yourself into buying your first ever D-SLR system. For this article, we will be only focusing on 5 models. They are Canon 450D, Canon 500D, Canon 550D, Nikon D3000 and Nikon D5000.

Before we go deep into the discussion on the camera models and start comparing each of them, it is essential that we all understand some of the very basic terminology of a SLR system.

DSLR Camera Lenses and Abbreviations – What is USM, HSM, SWM, OS, IS, VR?

If you already know what is shutter speed, aperture, depth-of-field, ISO etc. probably you can skip this step or you may spend some time reading the basic terminology of camera glossary of Digital Photography Terminology first. If you are very keen into it, try reading the much more detailed .

It is also highly recommend to read DPeview’s Buying a digital SLR article as it makes you understand what you are really buying here.

Quoted from DPReview:

One last word. Buying an SLR is, for many people, only the first step on what can become a lifelong relationship with a specific camera system, so it’s important to look at the ‘bigger picture’ when making your choice. The camera is only part of the equation when it comes to image quality; the lens has an equally important role to play. Most of the major players have broadly similar lens options (and there’s plenty of third-party alternatives for those that don’t), but inevitably each has its relative strengths and weaknesses. If you have a specific application that needs specialized lenses (or other accessories) it’s worth doing some research before committing to one system or another; dpreview’s lens reviews and user forums are an excellent place to start.

Entry Level

Models enlisted: Canon 450D, Canon 500D, Canon 550D, Nikon D3000 and Nikon D5000.

Nikon D3000. In short, do not buy.

Quoted from CameraLabs.com

But like its predecessor, the D3000 eschews a number of features which could frustrate more sophisticated owners over time. There’s no exposure bracketing, no depth-of-field preview, no autofocus on older lenses and no battery grip (at least from Nikon anyway), while some settings can take an unnecessary number of clicks to access. We know the D3000 is primarily aimed at beginners who won’t care about any of this, but equally there’s a number of enthusiasts who are looking for a DSLR on a tight budget who’ll be put off.

While Nikon proudly markets the D3000’s ease-of-use at DSLR beginners and those upgrading from a point and shoot camera, it also can’t hide the fact there’s no Live View or movie mode facility. The latter may not be available on budget DSLRs quite yet, but Live View is expected by many buyers who’ve become used to framing with a screen. Embarrassingly for Nikon, Live View has also been a standard fixture on entry-level DSLRs from Canon and Olympus for well over a year. Indeed it was notable by its absence on the earlier D60, which makes it even more painful not to find it here on a mid-2009 model.

Canon 450D has now reaching it’s end-of-life pretty much soon with the announcement of the new Canon 550D. It’s price has now come to a all-time low. If you are hunting for a bargain, go with this model.

The Canon 500D inherits pretty much all that you can find in a Canon 450D but with a higher megapixels sensor, a better LCD, a higher ISO although practically not really usable at its highest levels. What’s really missing in the Canon 450D is the ability to record video. In term of overall image quality, there’s not much in it compared to the Canon 450D.

The biggest rival of Canon 550D from the other camp? It’s the Nikon D5000.

Quoted from CameraLabs.com

Nikon’s D5000 is undoubtedly the biggest rival for Canon’s EOS 500D / T1i, with both sharing HD movie modes, HDMI ports and similar price tags. There are however a number of differences between them to weigh-up.

At first glance, the Canon EOS 500D / T1i appears to trump the D5000 in a number of key specifications: the resolution is higher (15.1 Megapixels versus 12.3), the maximum sensitivity is higher (12800 ISO compared to 6400), tonal depth is greater (14 bits versus 12), the screen is bigger and more detailed (3in VGA vs 2.7in QVGA), the viewfinder slightly larger and the headline movie mode can capture 1080p video compared to 720p. Like all Canon DSLRs, you also get free PC / Mac based remote control and decent RAW conversion software. So Canon’s won the battle, right? Well not necessarily.

In its favour the D5000 has a fully-articulated screen which allows great compositional flexibility in Live View, it sports quicker continuous shooting (4fps vs 3.4fps), a slightly more sophisticated AF system (11-point versus 9-point), on-demand grid lines in the optical viewfinder, and an easier user interface for beginners. In terms of resolution, the 500D / T1i may have the advantage in numbers, but in our tests there was very little in it, and crucially, the D5000 boasted superior noise and detail at higher sensitivities.

It’s also important to debunk Canon’s claim of Full HD video, as the 1080p mode on the 500D / T1i is ‘only’ at 20fps, so in reality, both it and the D5000 are arguably in the same class with 720p. Many will also prefer the Motion JPEG compression system employed by Nikon which is much easier to edit than the H.264 format used by Canon, not to mention its choice of 24fps over 30fps.

As always, it boils down to choosing the model which best-suits your needs. See our Nikon D5000 review for full details.

Canon 550D is arguably the best entry level that we can find to date. It’s often compared to the Nikon D90 in the enthusiasts level. Of course, it doesn’t has the build quality and robustness of the Nikon D90 as both of them are positioned differently in the market.

Quoted from bythom.com

Low-end consumer: The winner here would have to be the Canon T2i (550D). This is the category where Nikon seems to have lost all reason. They’ve simply taken a D40x and iterated almost nothing meaningful on it for two more generations (D60, D3000). Nikon’s product feels outdated, out-of-place, underspecified, and unremarkable compared to the competition. This is a trend that has been continuing for some time. The T1i started to move the bar significantly in Canon’s direction; the T2i put some real space between the Canon and Nikon products.

If you are going the Nikon way, do take not that some of the Nikon lenses do not have built-in focusing motor and both Nikon D3000 and Nikon D5000 do not have “screw-drive motor” built into its body to drive the manual focus lens to focus. You will need to focus manually unless you fit it into a body that has “screw-drive motor” (Eg, Nikon D90). This might become an issue when you are upgrading your lenses later on.

Canon, on the other hand, do not have such an issue.

Ending Notes

If you are buying Nikon, we are actually not going to recommend neither Nikon D3000 nor Nikon D5000. Instead, you can get a Nikon D90. Due to Canon’s recent price drop in some of its models, Nikon D90 is surely a very good deal to grab now!

If you are buying Canon, do not need to record video and on tight budget, you may go for Canon 450D. For those who want to get a taste of Canon’s latest technological breath through, Canon 550D is the way to go! Anything in between would be the Canon 500D.

You can’t go wrong with either brand. They are the leaders in the field and have extensive line-up of lenses and related equipments. Both have very large user base as well. Of course, other makers are trying to grab a bit of the market share but let’s discuss about that later on.

Pricing

• Nikon D90 body only – RM 2585
• Nikon D90 with 18-105mm – RM 3495

A new 18-55mm lens cost about RM 800. A stripped out from a kit lens package may cost you RM 500 but 18-105mm offers better quality and more focal length range.

• Nikon D5000 with 18-55mm kit – RM 2690
• Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm kit – RM 1950

• Canon 450D with 18-55mm kit – RM 2250
• Canon 500D with 18-55mm kit – RM 2650
• Canon 550D with 18-55mm kit – RM 2998

Article last updated on 24 May 2010.

Well, if you arrive at this page by the keyword “DIY Drybox“, then, you have come to the right place.

Making your own dry box is actually very straight forward. Firs tof all, you will need to prepare the following items:-

1. A container. A air-tight, transparent container is recommended as we do not want any humid air to enter the container and a transparent box means some light can still go on hindering fungus growth.
2. A humidity level gauge or better known as a hydrometer. It’s a vital device that tells you how dry the container is. Most of the hydrometer sold today includes temperature reading too. You can get a decent one from Shashinki at RM 76.
3. A dehumidifier agent. You can get silica gels in the market or maybe even buy those meant for keeping clothes dry like ‘thirsty hippo’ and such. If you are going to buy thirsty hippo then it requires you to replace it from time to time. The cheaper way is to actually use silica gels.

Going the silica gels way

When the silica gels absorbed all the water that it possibly could, it will turn pink. You may re-use/recycle them by putting them into the microwave, heating them up thus removing the stored water/moisture within. The gels will turn back to blue when it’s dried. Just make sure that you are on guard when the heating process is performed! We do not want anything silly to happen. If the process is done properly, you make re-use them virtually forever.

Or if you would like to save the hassle or do not have a microwave/oven at home, you can get a Electronic Moisture Absorber at RM 46.

How to put things together

1. Put a layer of bubble plastic wrap as a cushion for your gears inside the plastic container.
2. Drill a hole if needed to connect the hydrometer sensor into the container.
3. Place the dehumidifier elements in the container.
4. It’s just like that! You are done.

Monitoring the humidity level

It’s a manual job and that’s the dangerous part of the entire idea actually. An typical electronic drybox would automatically maintain the humidity level by itself but a custom made one here would require you to maintain it yourself.

You should maintain the relative humidity level at the range of 40-50% for camera equipments. You will need to add or reduce silica gels to achieve that level.

Cost

It’s the cost that make your want to DIY! And here’s the estimated breakdown.

A decent hydrometer : RM 76.
Electronic moisture absorber : RM 46.
A decent air tight plastic container (40L): RM 100.
Total: RM 222.

As a comparison, a decent AIPO 38L electronic automatically regulated dry cabinet costs RM 418.

To do it yourself or not its your say!

There are simply too many terms/abbreviations used to describe the specifications of a piece of glass. We try to compile everything that we know and we can find in the Internet. Please do comment if there’s a new term found.

And the term used may differ from one brand to another one. Just like in cars, there are DVVT, VVT-i, CVVT or VVT but they all actually perform similarly in the end result.

Learning by examples

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6

55-250mm is the focal length of the lens which implies that it has variable focal length which makes it a zoom lens as well. At the wide end (55mm), the maximum aperture size is at f/4 while in the tele-end, the maximum aperture size being at f/5.6.

Note that the focal length shown on all lenses are of 35mm (full-frame equivalent). You will need to multiply it with the crop factor when you are shooting with crop body to get the effective focal length.

For this case, the Canon EF-S 55-250mm can only be fitted on 1.6x crop factor body thus we will get a effective focal length of 88-400mm (after a multiplication of 1.6).

Nikon’s crop body has a factor of 1.5x. Canon’s crop body has a factor of 1.3x and 1.6x. Olympus’s crop factor is 2x.

This is a Canon made lens. It is classified in the EF-S category.

There are many terms used for Canon, and here’s the widely seen ones.

• EOS –Electro Optic System: Canon’s current SLR camera system which was introduced in 1987.
• EF – Electronic Focus: Canon’s current standard lens mount designation. It is compatible with all EOS bodies.
• EF-S: Lens mount designation for Canon’s APS-C (1.6x Crop factor) DSLRs.
• IS – Image Stabilization: Canon’s optical based stabilization system.
• L – Luxury: The designation that Canon gives to its professional range of lenses. Normally one can easily tell from its red ring around the barrel or if the lens body is in while color.
• MP-E – Macro Photo Electronic. Specialised Canon lenses designed for macro photography. MP-E lenses are manual focus and E (Electronic) refers to the electronic aperture control.
• T/S (TS-E) – Tilt/Shift. These are the lenses that can be shifted and tilted to control the plane of focus and correct perspective distortion. Used especially for architectural and studio works.
• UD – Ultra-Low Dispersion Glass: Special glass used for correction of chromatic aberration.
• USM – Ultrasonic Motor: Auto focusing motor that offers fast and silent focusing using piezoelectric elements. There are two types;
  • Micro–USM: Low-cost but slower, does not support fulltime manual focus.
  • Ring–USM: Faster and features fulltime manual focus override without switching off AF.

Credit to photolectic for the Canon abbreviations list.

Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G

This is a prime lens as the focal length is fixed at 50mm. The aperture size is at f/1.4. Nikkor is the branding term used by Nikon corporation to name its lens line-up. AF-S implies that the lens has built-in focusing motor. G implies that it does not have aperture control ring on it.

And this is the commonly used terms for Nikon.

• AF-S: AF-Silent Wave Motor. Lens with built-in focusing motor. Some AF-S allow manual focusing override. All AF-S lenses are AF-D.
• DX: As with Canon EF-S lenses, DX lenses are optimised for cameras with smaller sensors. They will fit on other cameras but this is not recommended.
• G : No aperture ring. Aperture is adjusted electronically by the camera body.
• VR: Vibration Reduction : Nikon’s version of Canons IS system, designed to cut down on the effects of hand shake.
• Silent Wave Motor: Silent Auto focusing (as Canons USM)
• DC: Defocus-image Control that adjusts the spherical aberration and therefore the blur giving rounded defocussing effect often used in portraiture.
• ED: Extra-low Dispersion glass. Gives superior sharpness and optimal colour by correcting the differences between the angles that blue and red light travel in as they pass through the lens.

Further reading

If you would like to learn more about the lens technology and how they name them, it is recommended that you spend some time on the links below. They offer great guide!

Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Tamron camera lenses abbreviations by squidoo.com

Making Sense of Lens Acronyms (Nikon) by bythom.com

Nikon Lens Technology by kenrockwell.com

Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Sigma, Tokina, Tamron, Pentax complete camera lenses abbreviations (Chinese) by fotolah.com forum

I want to take landscape/scenery photos from afar today. I want to travel light and do not bring all the glasses with me but just when I open up my cabinet door, I paused. No, nothing is missing in the cabinet. I do not have idea on what to take.

Imagine that you have a ultra-wide lens (say 16mm in Full-frame equivalent) and a few telephoto primes like 200mm, 300mm and 400mm. Which one to pick? Yes, you can pick one ultra-wide with you but just which telephoto prime suitable for you today?

For example, you have decided that you are going to take the picture of Penang’s famous Kek Lok Si temple complex. You have picked a high-rise building not far away for the shot.

1. Estimate on how far you will be from the subject. You may make good use of Google Map or Wikimapia.

2. Then, you will need to pick a lens based on the distance from the subject with the suitable coverage range. You may use the calculator below.

By citing the sample case above, we are 1200m away from the subject and we would like to try using 200mm lens. Thus, just fill in 200 in the “focal length” column and “1200″ in the “distance from subject” column. Assuming that we are using a full-frame camera, so, we just leave the “crop factor” column with the value 1.

3. By using the calculation above, we can find out on just how close we can get to our desired subjects.

Again by referring to our sample case above, we know that we can cover 216 meters horizontally which is in our case here, it is more than enough if we were to take a shot of the whole temple complex!

Now, you know what you going to get even before you step outside of your house!

Enjoy photo shooting folks! Thanks for visiting our website!