NZ Photo Info - Photography Tips and Techniques - Photography Directory

Adequate Camera Insurance

As your interest in photography increases and you demand more from your photography you will undoubtedly end up spending some money upgrading and purchasing additional equipment. By the time you consider your camera body (or bodies), lenses, flash, flash cards, tripod, camera bag, portable storage devices and other peripheral equipment you may be surprised at how much your kit is actually worth.

Once you have an itemised list of your equipment it is a good idea to take a look at your insurance policy to ensure that you are adequately covered. Depending on your circumstances your requirements will vary.

Olympus F2.0 Macro Lens

I recently purchased the 50mm F2.0 Olympus Macro Lens for my E510 and have been putting it through its paces over the past couple of weeks. It has proven to be a very versatile lens and works extremely well when combined with the in-built Image Stabilisation of the E510.

Being a fixed focal length lens the manual zoom (feet) does take a little bit of getting used to.

Some will argue that it is not a true macro with only a 1:2 magnification. But, I'm not going to get into that debate here.

Although it is marketed as a macro lens there are three key areas where I feel it performs exceptionally well.

  1. Macro Photography
  2. Low Light Photography (without tripod)
  3. Portraits

Extended Warranty

When I purchased my Olympus E-300 Digital SLR twin lens kit a couple of years ago I had the option of purchasing an extended 5 year warranty for an extra $200. This seemed a bit much to me at the time did and I didn't really want to spend the extra money.

But after some gentle persuasion (and a big wad of cash in my hand) I was able to talk the sales rep into giving me a $200 discount on the deal. So, effectively I got a 5 year warranty on the package for free.

For the past 2 1/2 years it has performed exceptionally well without any issues. That is, until I went to adjust the diopter but the dial would not move.

Backup Your Images

I can't stress enough how important it is to ensure that you make regular backups of your images. If you don't, you run the risk of loosing your images forever.

A good backup plan should be an integral part of your digital work-flow! Don't rely on a single layer of redundancy to secure your images. After all, you can't afford to loose your images, or worse still loose the image files which you have created for your clients.

There was a time when CD/DVD backups were an economical and effective way to backup your images. But, I have found that with the sheer volume of digital images this method is no longer viable. After all, who wants to end up with 100's of DVD's to search through in the event of a Hard Drive failure? Not me!

Digital Versus Film

Things have come along way since I was at school. There are a lot more choices when it comes to subject choice. When my daughter came home with her subject choices, she was keen to take up photography as she has developed an interest over the past few years being dragged around the countryside with me. Having my hand-me-down Olympus E-300 she has started to explore and experiment with her own photographic techniques.

So, it would be a good choice to reinforce what she is already starting to learn. But my surprise came when I learnt that what they would be taught was film rather than Digital. Sure, the basic principles of photography and composition are going to be the same but once you have learnt the basic that's where it ends.

Perhaps it's a monetary thing? Not everyone can afford a Digital SLR for their children to learn with (I would say that most can't, but perhaps a few can). While you can pick up a reasonable film body and standard lens for around $100 - $200. Regardless of what the reasons are I believe that they are not being taught what is relevant as a photographer today. But, on the other hand film and film development cost are becoming very expensive now.

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