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28.05.09 |
Full HD video capabilities of the EOS 500D |
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My friend Charles Lim just sent me a copy of his latest work - a video shot on the Canon EOS 500D! Charles is a super-duper talented visual artist who pushes the limits of digital media, and he's exploring how to exploit the potential of the Full HD video capabilities of the EOS 500D. He simply loves the colour and shallow depth-of-field of the Full HD video. I'm inspired to shoot more videos with my camera now!
Charles has kindly agreed to let me host his video on my blog, so you can download the video from the link below. The copyright of the video belongs to Charles, so please do not use it for any purpose than personal viewing.
You can also check out Charle's website here!
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Full HD video
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| posted on Monday May 28, 2009 at 3:00 PM |
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18.05.09 |
Adventures in Chinatown with EOS 500D |
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| Click on the above thumbnails for the actual size of the images. |
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The weather is really good today, and I feel inspired to take the Canon EOS 500D out for a photo shoot. I wanted to see how the EOS 500D would fare as at street photography, so I picked up my camera with the two kit lenses (EF-S 18-55mm IS and EF-S 55-250mm IS) and left for Chinatown. The first thing I noticed was the compactness and lightweight of the bag, which made the camera perfect for travel and street photography.
I usually shoot in Aperture Priority, but I wanted to try out the Program mode today during street shooting to see how intelligent the camera can be. Surprise... surprise... the EOS 500D delivered very good results even when I left it to make the exposure decisions! The Auto ISO was also a great feature, since I can focus on capturing the moment and leaving the camera to pick the best ISO speed setting as I moved in and out of the shadows.
I had to move really quickly to capture those elusive moments in street photography, and the Ultrasonic Motor (USM) lenses snapped into focus so ever silently and swiftly. Even when shooting in darker conditions, the Image Stabilizer ensured that my photos came out pin sharp even with slow shutter speeds. The EOS 500D is a brilliant camera, and I'd definitely be bringing it for my next photo travel trip.
Check out the details in these photos! Even under high ISO conditions, the DIGIC 4 image processor ensured minimal noise intrusion in the photos so the details can be preserved.
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Range of lenses,
Program Mode,
Ultrasonic Motors,
Image Stabilizer,
DIGIC 4
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| posted on Monday May 18, 2009 at 8:36 PM |
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12.05.09 |
Night photography at the Esplanade |
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| Click on the above thumbnails for the actual size of the images. |
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I heard so much about the impressive performance of the 15MP sensor, and I thought that some night photography is in order to test the noise-performance of the EOS 500D. The Esplanade is a perfect spot for night photography, with its stunning architecture (no durian jokes please... this is a national monument ok? Heheh!) and a good mix of light sources.
I brought along the EF-S 10-22mm together with the EF-S 18-55 IS kit lens, and that proved to me more than enough for the night shoot. Even at the higher ISO speeds, the resulting images from the Canon EOS 500D were very impressive with low noise levels and very good sharpness, thanks to the CMOS sensor and DIGIC 4 image processor. That's a pass with flying colours from me!
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CMOS sensor,
DIGIC 4,
Range of lenses
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| posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009 at 11:10 PM |
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10.05.09 |
Come fly with me to the Jurong Bird Park! |
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| Click on the above thumbnails for the actual size of the images. |
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It's Good Friday today, and I'm off to the Jurong Bird Park! My buddy is an avid wild-life photographer and I've been bugging him to lend me his super telephoto lenses. I wasn't about to risk a whole day in the Sungei Buloh without returning home with some avian photos, so I dragged him to the Bird Park for some easier targets!
Matthew turned up with his assortment of white super-telephoto L-lenses, from 300mm up to 600mm. Don't you just love friends with exotic lenses? We were soon ''hunting'' for great avian photos in the Bird Park armed with the great white Canon L telephoto lenses. Even with such spectacular tools, it wasn't easy nailing great shots! I was busy trying to spot the birds and keeping them in the frame, which is not as easy as it sounds. Trust me!
But the fast autofocus of the EOS 500D is doing an amazing job of focusing and capturing the birds in action. I just love the Ultrasonic Motor (USM) on the Canon lenses - they work so quietly and efficiently in keeping focus on my subjects! I set the EOS 500D to shutter-priority and let the camera take care of freezing the action while I focused (no pun intended) on composing the best images. For a newbie in avian photography, I though I did a decent job. What do you think?
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Range of lenses,
Ultrasonic Motors,
Shutter Priority
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| posted on Sunday May 10, 2009 at 9:46 PM |
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03.05.09 |
HD video at Underwater world |
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| Click on the above thumbnails for the actual size of the images. |
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Part of my New Year resolution is to spend more time with my family, and they wanted to visit Sentosa during the weekend. Which was completely fine by me, since I suddenly have more opportunities to try out my new camera! I took some great shots of my family, but what I really had in mind was to try the Full HD video recording from my EOS 500D.
Video recording is really new to me, and I'm just overwhelmed by the quality of the movie recording function. This is not just HD recording... this is FULL HD recording at 1920x1080! For those less geeky than me, this is the highest resolution of High Definition in the market today. And to find this performance in a DSLR that costs just over a grand? I'd laughed my head off if someone said so a year ago!
Video recording on the Canon EOS 500D is really simple - just set it to video mode, focus, and press the record button. The camera captures the video and sound, and if a really great photo opportunity comes up, just press the shutter release button and you've just captured your still photo WHILE shooting video!
There's no need to digitize the clips either, since all the videos are in individual clips ready for viewing and editing on my computer. I can even watch them directly off the EOS 500D on my HD television, as the camera features HDMI output. I've done up some video clips I shot at the Underwater World using my very basic video editing skills. Video documentary of wildlife is not easy, and my videos are certainly not materials worthy of National Geographic. But hey... my respect for the wildlife cinematographers just went up a hundred-fold!
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Full HD video,
Quick Snap
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| posted on Sunday May 3, 2009 at 10:02 PM |
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02.05.09 |
Singapore's Next Top Model? |
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| Click on the above thumbnails for the actual size of the images. |
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Guess who just called? My good friend Shin wanted to update her portfolio for her modeling job and asked me if I can help. Time for the Canon EOS 500D to swing into action again!
We met at Fort Canning for a morning shoot, and Shin was there bright and early. The light was perfect for the photo shoot, and I set the PictureStyle to Portrait mode to slightly lower the contrast and achieve a more pleasing skin tone. The 15MP sensor picked up the details very nicely, and the portraits achieved just the right amount of sharpness without being too over-bearing. Lovely...
The lighting became too harsh near noon, and we moved to the more shady areas. While the light was even and flattering, the shutter-speed in the shady areas was giving me a hard time in maintaining sharp images. Fortunately, my Canon lenses were equipped with Image Stabilizers so I can continue shooting without fear of unsteady handholding techniques.
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PictureStyle,
Image Stabilizer
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| posted on Saturday May 2, 2009 at 11:23 PM |
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25.04.09 |
Nature and macro at Singapore Botanic Gardens |
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| Click on the above thumbnails for the actual size of the images. |
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What better way to try out my new EOS 500D than at the Singapore Botanic Gardens? I love macro photography, and the capture of fine details of the plants and flowers is a real acid test for any camera. So is the Canon EOS 500D a pretender to the throne? No sir... it passed the tests with flying colours and it's the new king of affordable DSLRs!
I was really impressed with the details captured by the 15MP CMOS sensor. Every microscopic vein and hair on each leaf was clearly reproduced in the images. And more impressively, I deliberately left my EF 100mm macro lens at home and used only the EF-S 18-55mm IS kit lens that came with the camera, and I never expected the results to be THIS GOOD! To those whom I showed the images to, everyone was astounded that the photos were all shot with the kit lens. Stunning!
Another thing that impressed me greatly was the ability of the EOS 500D to capture details in the highlights and shadows. Some of the shots had reflective and glossy leaves, as well as foliage in the shadows. For any DSLR to capture the wide range of details in such high contrast conditions is simply amazing. I'm in love with the EOS 500D already...
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15MP resolution,
Auto Lighting Optimizer
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| posted on Saturday April 25, 2009 at 8:20 PM |
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24.04.09 |
Canon EOS 500D - first impressions |
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After reading so much about the EOS 500 online, I got a call from my favourite dealer that the stocks are in. Yay! I was practically dashing down to the store to pick up the camera. My first impressions are very positive - the camera fits nicely into my hands, and the texture and feel are very reassuring. The menu system is really easy to navigate, and it's a great improvement from my old EOS 350D.
You know how it is sometimes frustrating to not know how to change a certain function when you're in a hurry? The EOS 500D has a Quick Set function that allows you to change all the common modes and settings with a SINGLE button, so you never need to mess around to nail that shot! Finally I can leave that instruction manual at home!
I am really impressed by the new LCD screen. It's HUGE at 3'', and the 920k resolution is so GORGEOUS! It almost feels like looking at the scene itself, and it's a far cry from the old 230k resolution screens. Checking focus and viewing of the images is so easy now. It's also anti-reflective, so it is so much easier to view images outdoor.
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Clearview LCD,
Quick Control Screen
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| posted on Friday April 24, 2009 at 12:20 PM |
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Friday May 28, 2009
Full HD video capabilities of the EOS 500D - My friend Charles Lim just sent me a copy of his latest work...
Monday May 18, 2009
Adventures in Chinatown with EOS 500D - The weather is really good today, and I feel inspired...
Tuesday May 12, 2009
Night photography at the Esplanade - I heard so much about the impressive performance of the 15MP sensor...
Sunday May 10, 2009
Come fly with me to the Jurong Bird Park! - It's Good Friday today, and I'm off to the Jurong Bird Park...
Sunday May 3, 2009
HD video at Underwater world - Part of my New Year resolution is to spend more time with my family, and...
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