About Me
Alright. So here is the skinny about me. I work as a photographer for an ecommerce website that sells surf clothing and equipment. Of course this also means that we sell skateboard gear as well. At work, I use a Nikon D70 DSLR Camera, and spend most of my day taking pictures and then getting them ready for the website. “Getting them ready for the website” means that I have to remove the object from the photographed background (usually a seamless paper background, but occasionally concrete), color correct as needed, then add a drop shadow and resize for upload to the website.
For my own shooting, I use an Olympus e520 DSLR. I did a lot of research before selecting the Olympus line as my camera of choice. I asked other photographers in online forums what camera they chose and why. It seemed to be a pretty even split between Canon and Nikon, but the comments on “why” were all pretty much the same:
- “they have great glass” (lenses)
- “I have always shot with ……”
- “because that is what was recommended by …….”
- “because everyone else shoots with …….”
- “they lead the industry in features and image size”
Amazingly enough, there were not any comments about it being the most affordable. And there seemed to be entry points of the same features and lens packages for about the same price across the board. So, I also had to weigh some of my own personal experiences into the decision.
My very first SLR was a 35mm Canon AE1. The camera was good, took good pictures, and had a good variety of lenses (for the time – we are talking the early 1980s here). However, there came a time when certain “auto” features were not working. It turned out that certain mechanical prongs, or tabs, or something, had broken or bent so that the lens was not mounting properly to the camera body. I do not know if this type of function is still in place on Canon cameras and lenses, but in my mind, Canons break easily.
So, then I thought about the Nikon brand. The only Nikon that I have used is the one at work. And while it does take fine pictures most of the time, when I am shooting in the studio, and I am shooting either dark or light products, I tend to get a red/cyan color shift. Dark colors, like blacks and browns go red, while lighter colors – whites and greens – go towards the cyan. Now I have tried working with the white balance, and even setting the white balance manually, but nothing that I have done seems to help.
Now there was also a Sony model on the market at the time, but I really could not find any outstanding reviews of this brand/model, and I had no personal experience with the brand to build off of. So, in considering the Olympus (at the time it was the e510), I compared it’s package to the other 10 Mega Pixel cameras from Canon and Nikon. For the same, or lower price, the Olympus came with 2 lenses – a 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f4-5.6. From what I could tell by looking at pictures online, I felt that the Olympus also delivered a sharper, clearer, image over the 10 Mega Pixel Canons and Nikons. So those are the main reasons why I went with Olympus as my camera manufacturer of choice. And then about a year later, in 2008, I upgraded from the e510 to the e520.
I have also added some accessories to my camera bag as well. The IR remote, a cable remote, and the FL-50R flash unit. I hope to one day add a 50mm lens (preferably an f2.0) to my collection, but we will have to wait and see how the money goes in these economic time. That is probably the one thing that I did not take into consideration enough when I made the purchase, was the cost of the accessories. It seems like just about everything is $400+, while equivalent items for the other brands are nearer to the $100 mark. Now, quality of the item may be a consideration. Some of the lenses that are in the $100 range have plastic elements instead of glass, and I do not know how that affects the quality of the image, but they do seem to still get good reviews. However, you do always have to take the “fanboy” factor into consideration.
