Only 15 months passed from the first time I putted my greedy hands on a professional digital photo camera.

But, people likes my work (and I do too) and in this period I had the pleasure to work with many many important artists like Ismael Ivo and Carolyne Carlson.

That’s why 4 months ago I decided to invest my money (3500 €) and buy an accessorized Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and after using a Canon EOS 40D for one year I can say it’s the best camera I used in my life, and I’m so happy to have it.

However, the world of Stage photography is hard.
Low light, people always moving, and often you can’t be near to the stage.
Sometimes you can’t even be with the spectators of the show but you have to be in the back with technicians.

That’s why I recently decided to invest other 2500 € to buy:

• Canon EF 70-200mm 1:2.8 L IS USM
• Extender EF2X II

But, because my technical knowledge of photography is zero (and I don’t want/need to learn too much) it took me some days to decide.
I want to put here my thoughts about what I learned from other people and the informations I found interesting for who, like me is, undecided.

My previous situation

So, let’s begin saying that my previous telephoto lenses was a cheap-but-nice Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 APO DG.
And it did his dirty work for the 200 € I paid it.

It’s flaws are a noisy and imprecise AF system (but it’s not too slow in low-light situations) and the bad luminosity (working costantly at 5.6 is really hard for me and obly me to use 5000-6400 ISO to shoot at 1/80).

My doubts

So I said to myself: “You have to do a big job in october, why waiting 6 months to buy a professional lenses when you can buy it now and use it while you’re waiting?”

But my doubts warsened soon because I found no 70-300 in the L series family to help me, and the only 300mm alternative for me was to buy a prime Canon 300mm 2.8L lens or a 28-300 3.5-5.6L lens.

The first was too risky for me cause I really need to frame my subjects using the zoom.
While the second is really heavy (1,8 Kg) and also I don’t like the pull-push system of zooming that I know cause I used it in the 17-85 with my previous Canon EOS 40D.
In the long time It makes the lenses weaker and if it falls you’re going to trash it away.
That for me is a huge investment and I hope I’ll use this lenses for at least 6 years.

So my only choice was the 70-200 2.8L, and I had to choose just between the version with Image Stabilizer and without it (1500 € or 2000 €).
I’ll explain my choice in the end.

Testing time

First of all I started to do some tests to see what I was losing from 200 to 300 mm, and I saw it wasn’t so much like I thought.
That are two couple of pictures (100 ISO and 6400 ISO) done at 300 and 200 mm.

A test in outside daylight was useless for me so I did the 6400 ISO shoots also trying  to recreate the situation of low light in wich I work using a very fast shutter speed.
Both of the pictures where taken at 5.6 aperture size, this is important for the second part of this “guide”.

After that test I tried to crop the picture with photoshop obtaining, from a 200mm shooted picture, the same “zoom” (of course with a different angle of perspective) of a 300mm shoot.
Because of the rules of the lenses from 200 to 300mm you have a doubled zoom, the result is a half-size picture (in megapixels), so the resize goes from 21 to 10,6 megapixels (6516×3744 to 4100×2700~) .

It’s interesting that even with high ISO and half size of the picture, I can get a decent quality of the subject even shooting with a 200mm lens.
Even I have to admit that the difference is viewable, (also for the vignette effect that in the crop is removed)

So I thought:
“if I do the same thing with the L series lenses I’m going to buy, the extra quality of the lenses will allow me cleaner and better crops”

But I NEVER use crops in stage photography like Silvia Lelli, my master teached me… so I don’t want to start now.
So this was not enough for me and that’s why I started to study about lens extenders.

The EF 2X II extender double the lenses zoom, so a 70-200mm becomes a 140-400mm.
The back-side effects are:

• AF speed reduced by 4 times
• 2 steps less of aperture

So… the Canon 70-200 2.8L haves the faster autofocus speed in the world of telephoto lenses, and even reduced by a quarter it will be faster than my old Sigma 200 €  lens.

About the aperture, that (should) be the Canon f-steps:

f/#     1.0     1.1     1.2     1.4     1.6     1.8     2     2.2     2.5     2.8     3.2     3.5     4     4.5     5.0     5.6     6.3     7.1     8     9     10     11     13     14     16     18     20     22
(they could be aproximated by 1/8 depending on the lenses)

So the extender will make my 2,8 aperture a 5,6 aperture from 140 to 400mm.
And that is enough for me because I work every day with a Canon 24-105 4L.
It’s also like my cheap Sigma lenses but with an even bigger zoom and a different level of quality in the lenses.

Of course, I’m not buying a luminous lens to put a stupid filter on it that will make me use it at 5,6 … but that’s for me a way to surpass my doubts about the fact I’m loosing some zoom.

So after looking at the extenders-lenses compatibility table I passed trough.

Time to choose

So, the only thing that I’m missing now is to choose between:

• 70-200mm f/2.8L USM
• 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

In the end I decided to order the second (and much more expensive) even if my teacher said me that, if she could go back, she would have bought the cheaper (not IS) one.

The man that made me change idea is that guy from the-digital-picture.com that says in this article:
“Many people question the additional cost of the IS version of the 70-200 f/2.8. My advice – unless you are only shooting fast action or in bright lighting conditions, go for the IS version. “

My doubts are about the fact that, of course, ” Image Stabilization will not stop subject motion”.
But the point is that the lens is so heavy and I DON’T work with a tripod, never.
So after some hours of shooting my hands will be really tired after using the 2,5 Kilograms camera+lenses couple.
And a stabilizer could at least reduce the vibrations of my hands.

That’s why I choosed, in the end, to order a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM + Extender EF2X II.

I’ll post a complete review with tests and pictures when I’ll have it in my hands !!!

In the previous review I wrote some technical first-touch tips about my new Nikon Coolpix P5100.
The best bridge camera by Nikon.

Now, after more than a month of use, I want to complete that review.
I tested the camera a lot, in night, fog and rain situations, and I’m really satisfied.

I bought also a tripod (gorillaPod) to make some photos of Venice in odd and hard places.
Very funny.
I will talk about him later.

The Coolpix behaves very well.

Let’s begin with the sad part… the macro.

I did a lot of tests between my new Nikon Coolpix P5100 and my old Samsung digimax i6, and I can say that the Samsung Digimax is insuperable.

Here are some… examples…
A spider web with some crap behind it:
Nikon: Samsung:

And another spider web with some free space behind it:
Nikon: Samsung:

Focusing with the Nikon is very hard, and the 4 centimeters of limit don’t helps.
I will still go around with both of them, for a while…

The manual modes features up to 8 seconds of exposition, and a lot of interesting options.
That allows to do very bright photos, even in very low light situations.

Indoors, the camera is definitive, cause every kind of light is well compensated, also neon flickering light.

For example, look at this photo did with the programmed manual mode and 8 seconds of exposition:

That light was hurting my eyes: low, and blinking very slowly.
But that was nothing for the camera.

After that I did some very bright photos of Venice…

This is a bit exagerated (I over exposed it on purpose):

And that is really cute:

I did also one without tripod, just taking the camera in my hands, obtaining a nice result:

I love Venice in the night:

• gloomy
• no tourists
• a lot of colors

Every photo you do with the Nikon Coolpix P5100 you can be safe that she did her work, always on focus, always good quality.

So, let’s round off with a pros and cons list:

• STRONG POINTS
  • Awesome quality (12 mega pixels, all in their place)
  • VERY LOW rumor (I still have to see any red-blue-green pixels)
  • Compact size (98 x 64,5 x 41 mm) and a light weight (200 g)
  • Well working functions and automated modes
  • the battery really endures a lot
  • Manual functions comparable to a reflex digital camera
  • The quality is the same of my father’s Nikon D70, a very expensive reflex.
• WEAK POINTS
  • Not good for Macros… it tries to imitate the reflex cameras inheriting this flaw
  • I had to buy a case for it, buyng a too large one.
    Was it too much expensive to gift one in the box?

This is the first part of a review about my Nikon Coolpix P5100… after 3 weeks of use.

As I already wrote, the first approach wasn’t good because it’s really different from my previous camera.
However, I can say it’s a lot better in everything, except the macro function (I will talk about that later).

The camera is small, so it can be considered a “portable” camera…
… so after some inital doubts (it’s not something you can lost and buy every month) now I bring it with me every day.

I started to experiment, first of all, every automatic function.
The scenes (the classical sunset, landscape, and so on) works great and are a good way to be “almost sure” you will not burn a good occasion to do a nice photo.

I was surprised more than everything else by the potrait and night potrait functions, that target faces automagically and follow them if the person moves.
The result is very good.

Of course, the semi-manual modes are the top feature of this camera.

I call them semi-manual cause there is no way to play with the focus, and that for me is really a great loss.
Probably, that is normal for a bridge camera… but from the best Nikon bridge camera I expected something more.
So there are only the most common three ways of using the focus:

• Automatic (infrared or yellow-light pointer)
• Macro (for very-near targets)
• Infinite (for landscapes or outdoors)

That of course means that you can’t do immediate photos (snapshots) cause the camera has to focus the target before you can do the shot.
That is an example:

Of course with some hacking you can… :

1. pre-focus another object that is at the same distance of the real target, keeping the “soft shot” button pressed
2. turn the camera against the real target
3. do the photo instantly just pressing harder the shot button

That can be done also with the flash removing the “red-eye” function.
This is another example:

I have still few photos of the same objects, to compare the two cameras …
… and I don’t think I will do more, cause the cost of Coolpix P5100 is nearly the double of the Digimax i6, so there can not be comparison between them.
However two of them are these:

There is clear that the new camera is a lot better than the old one.
Unfortunately the swans was not in the scene in the second photo, that was done two weeks after the first in the same hour.

In the next review I will:

• Compare the macro function that is the only thing I miss from my old Samsung Diximax i6 (I have to decide if sell it or not!)
  I will of course upload examples.
• do a list of the “pros and cons” of this amazing camera.

This tuesday the gift I did to myself finally arrived.

My new camera, a Nikon Coolpix p5100.

I bought it at a good price at pixmania.com. It was 80€ cheaper than the shops around there, and so, also to give them some more incomes, I bough also an additional battery, a fast (150x) SD memory of 4 Gb, a bag for it, and a multy-memory-card usb-reader to make some order on the desk.
The total, with expedition and taxes, was 450€.
My only regret is that the italian nital.it insurance+service is missing, cause the camera is imported for Europe and the services Nikon provides are displaced nationally.

The choice, was really hard.
My initial intention, after a really good experience with Samsung, was to trust the brand and buy another Samsung.
Infact, my final step is to buy a reflex, but I needed a “nearly-professional” camera before that, to learn how to use it in a more professional way, so I thought to buy a bridge.

The problem, was that Samsung have done a lot of confusion with it’s cameras, and I was unable to decide wich one to buy (and to find wich one was the NV-series best camera).
Also, the peak Canon bridge camera was too much expensive for me, 100 more euros and I could have had a small reflex for the same price.
So finally I choosed a P-series Nikon, the best one. Coolpix P5100.
Nikon coolpix p5100 is a bridge camera, so, it’s in the middle between a compact and a reflex.

I arrived home at 19:30 like every day, and I opened the box ensuring that every thing I bought was working correctly.
When I finished, I had a very fast dinner and I runned out of the house with her in my hands.

The initial approach wasn’t good. My “old” Samsung was more intuitive and simple, but that did not worry me cause it is a more professional camera, and that was ok for me.

It’s body is bigger than a normal compact camera, and it have an objective that cames out from the front when it turns on.
It’s not portable like my “old” one, but it can be also carried easily in a small bag (even to attach to the belt) or around the neck with it’s strap.

My first photos with her was really impressive, of course I used only the “automatic” mode but I was really surprised.

I had a Dungeons & Dragon session that night, but I played with her a lot during the game and I setted it up totally before the end of the day.

I will write a serious review of that camera when I will know it better, for now, I can just say it do very nice photos and I’m particularly surprised by the indoor and night shots, they are so bright even with very few light.
Also the flash, the times I tried it, is very well-balanced with the shot.
So if you do a photo with the flash (I hate it but sometimes I have to use it) the target is perfectly illuminated, not too much, not too less.

One of the first reason why I changed camera was that, the impossibility of doing photos in low-light situations, even in morning or just after a sunset, or indoor.

One year is passed…

How much memories, how much experiences.

My Samsung digimax i6 was really a nice camera.

Samsung, really, was never been a famous brand of Digital Cameras, but, they always created a lot of components for the cameras of others brands. Expecially LCD screens and other electronics. And electronics for a compact camera is so important.
That was clear to me when, the last october, I bought it.

She keeped company to me for an entire year, and the photos I did with her are in this website in my galleries and personal galleries section.

I can speek only well of her, cause for the price I payed it’s really a great camera.

I could speak for hours about her, cause in a year I can say we know so much each other, but the best way to make a review is to list it’s strong and weak points:

• STRONG POINTS
  • Very cheap
  • DivX video recording
  • Awesome quality of the images
  • Intuitive menus and functions
  • Amazing macro function
  • It can be used as mp3 player

• WEAK POINTS
  • The battery lasts less than a hour if you use the camera intensively like I do
  • The flash cannot be customized (only red-eye double flash, and that prevent to do snapshots at night)
  • No way to play a little with the advanced functions that some compact cameras have.

What else to say?

After a year… I needed something more professional.

Farewell, I will never forget you.