Back to a Point and Shoot

Okay, I didn’t sell my Nikon D700 Digital SLR and thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment and go back to shooting point and shoot cameras.  I was actually trying to cheat time lapse movies with my camcorder and the nightmares of dealing with that caused me to find an easy way out.  While I was searching online to solve my problems I saw a video on youtube of a tilt-shift time lapse which really was simply a trick from a Canon point-and-shoot camera’s video mode.

In addition to having the cool video mode I have heard so much lately about the Canon Powershot S95 I really had to check it out.  Not taking the bulky digital SLR and camera bag had been a recurring thing when walking around Bangkok and I missed so many shots because of it.  I figured to kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak and try out a handy point and shoot that fits in any pocket.

A Face-off with what I usually Shoot with & the S95

Buying the Canon S95 in Bangkok

The choice was not easy as there were numerous attractive cameras for sale including the brand new Canon PowerShot G12 a level up from the S95.  I tried the G12 out and thought it was fabulous.  Everything from the controls to the performance were excellent.  What impressed me with the most was the close focusing as it could focus on something like my finger from a couple cm away and the photo had a perfect sharp view of my finger print.  I read that the G12 was basically the S95 with a better lens and more advanced body but when it came down to it, the G12 was just too bulky.  I already have a SLR why would I get a bulky point and shoot?

There was also the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 which boasts Leica components and is the same camera as the $800 Leica D-Lux 5.  What attracted me to this camera was the maximum wide angle (24mm) which was 4mm wider than both Canons (28mm).  What turned me off from the Panasonic was the size and the lens cap.  It was almost small enough to fit in your pocket but a little too wide.  A lens cap on a point-and-shoot is completely stupid, just something else to lose and an annoyance every time you turn it on to get a shot.  I have read and assume the Panasonic Lumix LX5 along with the Leica D Lux 5 take great photos, but again in a point-and-shoot camera pocketability is my #1 priority especially since I own an SLR and a host of lenses.

I saw on Amazon and most online retailers the S95 selling for $399.99 so I set off in Bangkok seeing if I could get a deal.  I guess the camera’s popularity allowed the stores to jack up the price because the cheapest I could find it for was 12300 baht ($411 USD).  I bought it at a new AV center which is the place I have confidence in finding all the cheapest camera equipment in Bangkok although this AV center was not in Pantip Plaza but in MBK where I found myself to be shopping for a business print shop.

One of the first 10 shots I took with the S95 after I bought at MBK

S95 First Impressions:  Things I like Immediately Liked

Besides the still cam on my old Canon HG10 HD camcorder the S95 was the first new point-and-shoot camera I have bought in at least 6 years.  I really have nothing to recent or in it’s place  to compare it to except my D700 incidentally which costs almost 10x more with a lens.  Even though I have shot with a digital SLR exclusively for the last 16 months I was still impressed by the Canon S95.  I already knew this one but I liked the size as it fit nicely in my front pocket.

As you can see by my most popular photos (according to Flickr) I love night cityscape shots.  I managed to take the photo above using the camera’s manual settings which allowed me to use an exposure of up to 15 seconds while using an aperture of f8.  I was really impressed with the ability for the S95 to take low light shots.  I also really like the menus and special effects the camera offers.  I basically bought it for the gimmicky miniature time lapse videos and still shots.

S95 First Impressions:  Things I Do Not Like

Even great cameras have faults and while it may be due to people being  nitpicky or spoiled the S95 has a few faults for me.   First and foremost is the lack of control in most of the specialty modes.  The specialty modes (SCN on camera dial) are great but many of them are in the auto-modes which do not allow changes such as exposure compensation, colors, white balance, etc.  This limits what you can create with the camera although you can use software later to edit them later.

Another thing I don’t like is the tiny mode dial on the top right of the camera.  There is very little to grip when you turn it and any sweat or grease on your hands will make it a pain to turn.  I know it is like that to conserve space and limit things protruding from the camera but it seems like it could be better.  The last thing I don’t like is the battery.  First of all it doesn’t pack too much power.  Canon says it can take 200 shots but I find that 10-15 minutes of video eats the battery life significantly.  In addition to being rather weak, the battery is perfectly rectangular and can fit in the compartment all 4 ways.  This is slightly annoying as it takes a couple seconds to figure out how to put it in.

Overall Impression

I like the S95 a lot.  I was buying it specifically to test for this blog and do a fake time lapse video (posted below) but after taking some shots I have fallen in love with the ability to pop the camera out of my pocket and be shooting within seconds without drawing attention to myself.  Do I see myself hiking to the top of a mountain to get a beautiful landscape shot of a lifetime with the S95, no.  I will still use my D700 for night cityscapes, landscapes, and anything in which I know I will be shooting a lot of photos but I my S95 will definitely be in my pocket when I’m out and about.  Stay Tuned as I took some test shots w/ the Nikon D700, Nikon N90 film camera and the S95 to compare low light photos.

Coming Soon:  Night Image Quality Comparison between Nikon D700, Nikon N90 film camera and Canon S95

Because I am not a professional photographer I am not biased by years or decades of prior experience, changing technology and times. I do not take pictures of brick walls or test charts and critique lenses for fun. I travel anywhere in the world and I take photos of things I think look cool.

Almost everyone has a digital camera these days. Point-and-shoot cameras are the most popular because they take great photos, are small, light and cheap. For those of you who like to carry as little as possible gear, don’t like to spend that much money and value having a camera that can go with you everywhere with very little hassle and cost, a quality point-and-shoot is everything and more than you need. My favorite is the Canon S90 which is not the tiniest point-and-shoot but has a great interface, lots of cool features and takes tremendous photos.

For those of you like myself, who aren’t satisfied with getting a great or even excellent photo but want a PERFECT photo, you will likely have to go through a trial and error process to develop a camera kit which suits all your needs. This camera kit will no doubt have a digital SLR camera body and an assortment of lenses.

Benefit from My Obsession

Use my painful and expensive method to finding the right camera gear for my bag to help you. I spent a better part of 4 months literally spending all day reading about lenses, buying them and testing them in real world situations. This was a good and bad experience for me. The bad was instead of traveling and going to new places I was inside reading about the lens options I had and taking photos of the same things over and over again.

The good was I learned a lot about photography, experienced quite a few lens and camera options and found a kit which I am 100% completely satisfied with. Testing lenses inside camera shops wasn’t good enough for me. I just went out and bought the lenses I read about and used them in real world situations.

My Experience with Camera Bodies & Lenses in the Past Half Year

Nikon D90 Camera Body

I loved the D90 when I had it and I still love it when comparing it to the Nikon D700 which I upgraded to. I actually miss the D90 on a daily basis when I’m shooting with the D700! First of all, the D90 has everything you need and then some. The buttons seem to be all in the right place and it is light but not cheaply built. I bashed the video recording capabilities when I first blogged Nikon D90 Digital SLR Camera but I would like to take that back!

The video lacks autofocus which renders the camera useless for things which move in the vertical plane but it also allows you to control depth of field which is what really differentiates amateur from professional film! Watch any movie or TV show and you will see focus shift from the foreground to the background almost every scene. The D90 allows you to achieve this professional effect which is virtually impossible on all camcorders. Of course if you’re shooting anything other than small scenes for a commercial or movie such as sports or your kids playing you’re still going to want to get a camcorder but the D90 video capabilities can create some professional looking cinematic moments from your digital SLR.

Of course 99% of people, myself included buy a digital SLR to capture still images. In order to get the still images you desire, choosing the correct lens and knowing when/how to use it is crucial. I had a chance to work with a number of popular lenses with the Nikon D90 and here is my experience with each of them.

My Lenses with the Nikon D90

Nikon Nikkor 18-105mm VR

The Nikkor 18-105 mm VR was the first lens I ever used which came with the Nikon D90 kit. I liked the lens performance initially as the focal range was good for a variety of uses and the photos turned out nice and sharp but as I started reading about the many Nikon and 3rd party SLR lens I decided to ‘upgrade’.

While I was almost 100% satisfied with this lens I figured I could get more out of a longer focal length or wider angles.  The lens is great for any Nikon SLR because of its built in motor which makes it a perfect lens for anyone on a budget who is just getting into SLR photography.

Users of the D40, D60 and D5000 will like this lens a lot more than the standard kit lens (18-55mm VR) simply because it is just as sharp and has that useful extra 50mm of zoom to work with along with the same valuable VR (Vibration Reduction).

Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm VRII

Like many people who have used the internet to find information about lenses I read the glowing review by Ken Rockwell about this lens.

I researched it and determined that the optic performance was likely the same as the kit lens I wanted to be able to cover more range and this popular lens covers 300mm equivalent telephoto.

I will admit I didn’t know enough about DSLR photography at the time I had this lens to get the most out of it.  I believe this lens is a great pickup for almost all photographers who have DX  (Nikon cropped frame) sensors.  Like Mr. Rockwell says, this truly is a do-it-all lens that can get almost everything the average travel photographer shoots with the exception of the super-wide angles.

Nikon Nikkor 50mm F1.8

Another glowing review by Ken Rockwell caused me to purchase this little lens. It was probably the easiest choice to make as it costs around $100USD and auto focuses with the D90’s built it motor. The lens is simple, light, cheap and gets great performance in even the lowest of light.

You can expect VERY sharp images when taking shots of people or animals within this range. Being a prime lens, the drawback is you have to move your feet rather than twisting a zoom ring.

Nikon Nikkor 10-24mm

Even though the D90 was giving me great images I still desired more. At the time I thought it was the camera I needed to upgrade when comparing my shots with the D90 and 18mm (27mm equivalent) and people with the new, expensive full frame cameras.

It turned out what I really was missing was the wide angle from an ultra-wide angle lens. This Nikkor DX lens was expensive and while the range 10-24mm (15-36mm equivalent) was nice, the performance didn’t meet my satisfaction after spending over $900 USD on it. While images in good light looked pretty good, when the light wasn’t there, the images almost never looked sharp, even when mounted on a tripod.

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8

I was hesitant to buy a 3rd party lens for my Nikon D90 but I read many positive reviews on Amazon and flicker about this Japanese made Tokina ultra wide. The main knock on the lens from reviews was there was a sample variation with some lenses having issues. It cost $300USD less than the aforementioned Nikkor so I decided to give it a try and I’m glad that I did.

The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 quickly became my favorite lens for the Nikon D90.  Everything about the lens was impressive from the quality of build, to the very smooth zoom ring to the great low light performance and topped off with almost perfectly sharp wide angle images.  Although some reviews criticized its focusing ability, it focused perfectly on my D90 although you should take note if your SLR body has a focusing motor or not because this lens does not have one.

Sigma 18-50 mm f/2.8

After experiencing the vast difference between a lens with a standard (f/3.5+) aperture and the professional Tokina 11-16mm with a f/2.8 maximum aperture I decided to give this Sigma a try. As I planned to sell my Nikkor 18-200mm VR I chose this lens for 3 reasons including the one I just mentioned.

Another reason was the Nikon equivalent lens cost several times more and finally this Sigma had very close focusing capabilities. I thought the macro abilities would make this a great “walking around” lens and it did, well kind of. I found when I used this lens I would only use it for close up objects at 50mm. I originally bought it for the versatility but found it wasn’t versatile at all for the kind of shooting I like to do, especially ultra-wide angles.

Part II:  Upgrade to the Full Frame Nikon D700

Buying the Camera

In the previous post I explained the marathon of  choosing a digtal SLR camera and now it was time to find the best price.  I pulled an unusual maneuver for shopping in Bangkok and called camera places over the phone to get a general idea of the price I would be paying for the Nikon D90 Kit (lens included).  I called places in the expensive mall Central World and in the cheap mall (my favorite) MBK and the price quotes I got were all in the same ballpark.  They consistent prices I got over the phone ranged from 43,500 baht ($1,300USD) to 46,500 baht ($1,390USD) which is around what I saw in stores.

The next day I made up my mind I was going to buy the Nikon D90 although I was still doing some last minute research.  I ended up heading to MBK around 6pm and I was going to try to find the best price and if all else failed I was going to go to a recommended camera shop called Photofile.  Unexpectedly I had 2 friends who were at MBK and wanted to see a movie and they already had tickets.  The time was around 6:50 and the movie started at 7:00 and I just had the itch that I had to get the camera that day so I told them to go grab a seat while I bought a camera.

I walked down to the 4th floor and walked in the first camera place I saw and asked how much the Nikon D90 kit was expecting it to be something what I was quoted over the phone .  To my surprise they wanted only 41,500 baht ($1,240USD) for it.  The place was called Digilife and they had the usual suspects of beginner to mid-range SLR cameras so I figured I was getting a legit product.   I got the Nikon factory warranty for the new product which was distributed by Nikon Netherlands interestingly enough.  Their website is DigilifeThailand.com but is unfortunately not available in English.  I snatched the camera up for a good $100 cheaper than I was expecting to pay then ran back upstairs to catch the movie.

My Past and Present Travel Pictures

Taking Pictures:  HELP!

Since I hadn’t had any formal photography instruction in over 15 years I knew to get the full benefits from the Nikon D90 which is considered a “mid-range” digital SLR I would need some instruction.  I scoured Google for some helpful photography links and I found two which I really like and refer to quite often.  The first one is called DSLRtips.com and it is ran by the same guy who does CameraLabs.com which helped me choose a camera.  On DSLRTips.com there is some great videos in their ‘workshops’ section explaining the basics of night photography, motion photography, sunsets and much more.

The second website I refer to is a site that has been online for a very long time (in internet years) KenRockwell.com which has information specific to the Nikon D90 along with other cameras.  Another resource is the camera itself!  It has a ‘?’ button which provides an explanation (although not very detailed) for whatever setting your are browsing through.  I plan to get a book about taking digital pictures as well.

Low Light & Night Pictures

With the point and shoot cameras I’ve had I was always majorly disappointed with the night pictures.  I remember taking a bunch of pictures in Rio De Janeiro during Reveillon (New Years Eve) which is likely a once in a lifetime experience and having very few come out.  I remember taking pictures from the roof of Sao Paulo’s tallest building and they did not come out.  As I brought the camera home from the store I was hoping that a digital SLR like the Nikon D90 would help me take night pictures that were worth looking at.

The first picture I took with the D90 right out of the box was the Bangkok skyline right outside my apartment window and I was immediately astonished.  I used the factory settings and didn’t know how to use the camera at all and the clarity and colors were far better than anything I had taken before.  I took a picture of a friend in my apartment in very dim lighting and the picture came out looking like the room was in daylight without a flash.

When you see city lights night pictures the sky is usually black and that is what I would strive for on my pictures but a lot of times the sky appeared gray and I wondered if my settings weren’t right in the camera.  It turns out (I think) that the camera is picking the mixture of smoke, clouds, fog and smog which is constantly hovering around Bangkok.   In the first couple weeks of owning the D90 I think I have taken some very good pictures of Bangkok at Night and Bangkok Nighttime long exposure pictures which stream car lights together.  At the time of writing this, my next task is to figure out how to take motion pictures, specifically pictures that show movement by blurring backgrounds or subjects.

Typical Bangkok Night Exposure with Nikon D90

Video:  Unnecessary Feature?

First of all in this context a feature is defined as:  1.  A prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, or characteristic, 2. An item advertised or offered as particularly attractive or as an inducement.

When I first heard about the Nikon D90 it was mentioned that it was the first Digital SLR to record video.  My question was why?  Just as the limited still camera built in camcorders does not hold a candle to digital SLRs, the video recorder mode which claims to be HD does not even come close to even the average camcorder.  This being said, it could still be handy for situations where a video is more telling than a picture although I would have much rather the D90 had an extra feature, a higher resolution, or anything else which could help improve picture quality than a video recorder.

Video Examples

This video demonstrates the shortcomings of video on a digital SLR like the Nikon D90.  Keep in mind that unlike camcorders, there is no autofocus during video mode so if you are trying to record an object which is moving towards you, it will become out of focus and you will have to manually adjust the focus which is clumsy at best.

Here’s an example of something that the video could be good for. I took a bunch of pictures of this odd mask clad Thai rock band and none of them really showed the on-stage antics and look of this odd couple of singers so I decided to take a short video.  You can see since the band is not coming toward or going away from the camera, they are in perfect focus for the duration of the video.

The message I’m trying to make is for anyone interested in the Nikon D90.  If you are buying this model specifically because it is capable of recording video you may want to reconsider your purchase as the video may not even be considered a “feature” at all.

Impression so Far

In the first couple weeks I love the Nikon D90!  Even though I paid the equivalent of 4 months of rent in Bangkok for the camera plus another month of rent in accessories I am fully satisfied.  The only thing I am slightly disappointed with is the camera is slightly too small for my (average sized) hands and the compartment where the SD memory card slides open accidentally too easily.  The picture quality has been amazing and I can see myself using this camera for the next few years to come unless I can comfortably afford a semi-pro model like the d700 or a professional model such as the D3.  Since the price tag of the D3 body only is around $5,000USD I doubt I will be looking through it’s viewfinder any time soon.

Check for the Best Deals on the Nikon D90 at Amazon.com

The Petronas Towers are Kuala Lumpur

Even more than the Golden Gate Bridge and the pyramid building  of San Francisco or the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty of New York City, if you asked someone from anywhere in the world if they knew anything about Kuala Lumpur the vast majority would probably say something like, “isn’t that where those two connected twin towers are?” I wouldn’t have went to Kuala Lumpur to get my Thai Education visa if not for the Petronas Towers although I am a big fan of tall buildings.

Business & Pleasure

The Petronas Towers are first and foremost a business center.  One whole side is for the Malaysian oil & gas company for which its named while the other side is leased out to other major companies.  You will see thousands of suits going in and out of the Petronas Towers at any given moment during the work week. If you’re into shopping don’t worry, there is also a huge shopping mall in between and below the towers with high end shops such as Louis Vouitton and Ferigamo as well as normal stores.  To be honest I didn’t spend more than 5 minutes in the shopping mall but I could tell it was pretty big and had a wide variety of high end stores.

Warning/Tip

Listen up, if you want to be able to go up onto the skywalk you need to go and get a ticket EARLY.  I went once in the early afternoon and once in the late morning and the tickets had been sold out for a while.  This was also a Tuesday and Wednesday so if you want to be able to view the main attraction go early in the morning and wait as they limit the visitors to the skywalk to a couple thousand every day.

Photo Opportunities Galore

I love taking pictures.  My father used to be a pretty good photographer and I like to take pictures of ordinary things and try to make them extraordinary.  By no means are the Petronas Towers ordinary but you can get some extraordinary pictures day and night from all angles of the Petronas Towers. I could stay there a whole day and take pictures and if I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for an extra day I would have probably traveled around the city and found cool shots of the Petronas Towers.  There were numerous tourists with the same idea as taking tons of pictures of the towers at all hours of the day. The people who worked there and the security guards also had no problem of tourists taking pictures but you could get the idea that they thought you were silly for taking pictures.  It was one of those things where the main attraction in a town means nothing to the residents who see it every single day.

Overall Impression

The Petronas Towers are one of a kind and on the kind of grand scale which defines the country of Malaysia in the minds of many people across the world.  I would say that statement pretty much sums up how impressive these twin towers were during day and night.  Any visitor to Kuala Lumpur will immediately notice and be drawn towards the Petronas Towers regardless if that is in the plans and for a day or 2 nobody will be disappointed.