The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You

Hi everyone,

it's been a while but here is a little story. If you don't know Chase Jarvis check him out at http://www.chasejarvis.com/ to find some of the greatest shots I've ever seen. Why do I mention him - because he said something that changed my situation completely “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You” and therefore he has also this amazing iPhone app: "the best camera app"

I went to Spain with my cousin to visit my brother and also for a bit of relaxing. As I mentioned in my last Blog I got rid of the EOS 450D. Thinking about a new EOS 550D and spending 1000 Euros I decided not to use the money and follow Chase with his idea. And as you see, the pictures are really nice for taking it with my iPhone 3GS.

Due to the strike at the Spanish airport staff we had to stay for two days in Mallorca. AirBerlin/Flyniki supported us with a very nice hotel at the harbor and we had the chance of taking great shots. Here are the results.

Finally on Sunday we arrived at my brother's flat(near Gibraltar) with a big portion of luck... We organized a fishing trip at dean's charter (which I really can recommend!) and of course we caught fish! the only problem was, that my cousin got seasick and hadn't got the fun we planed :) But also Chase's idea worked out pretty well...

my brother talking to the weather god...

lucky bastard

My brother went to Vejer with us on the last day and we caught few impressions there. If you have the chance try to get there it's a very special village...

Vejer downtown :) - check out the clothes of this Spanish guy

On our departure day my cousin asked if I can take a foto of him for his facebook profile. I think made the best out of it *gg*

standing out at the balcony i remembered a shot of Scott Kelby or Matt Kloskowski and I tried to reproduce it and even with the iPhone the result is not that bad!

I hope you get the idea and check out Chase's blog


cheers
cvg

sorry

Hi everyone,

i know it's been a time but due to personal reasons, I kind a lost the EOS 450D and I'm saving my money for a new DSLR. Of course it will be a Canon because I still have the Speedlite 430exII and the 55-250mm and the 50mm lens.

What am I thinking of:

I'm interested in making videos so I decided that it should be an EOS 550D (Full-HD video baby!). Body only? Yes, because I'm sick of kit lenses so I decided to get this baby for proper shots Tamron 17-50mm F2.8

All together 1060 EUR which results in 1470 USD so a lot of money! But maybe I have a very pretty solution for this!

There is still one Problem:
3rd-9th December I'm going to my brothers place in Spain and yes I need a proper cam for this trip!! so time is not on my side!

stay tuned!
cheers
cvg

Sprachenen>de GoogleDicKE

dürfen, können, mögen

i had my first paid job - kind of

Hi folks,

on Saturday things changed in my photography - i was hired :) u know kind of...

A friend of mine asked me if I could take pictures of his "open door day". Surly I agreed and my first thoughts were about my gear. I decided to get myself a 55-250mm lens for taking shots of people without disturbing them. I had great experience in this "technique" at family parties with our old 80-200mm lens from the analogue EOS 500.

Stefan - the client - is a very good friend of mine so I told him not to take money for the job - so he(!) bought the new lens as kind of a present! That's also a good kind of saying thank u :) - THX Buddy!!

So I had the kit lens EF-S 18-55mm lens which was kind of good and bad to have it with me, the EF 50mm 1.8, the EF-S 55-250mm lens and the Nissin Di622 flash attachable to the EOS 450D. Of course I used the flash the hole day because of shooting indoors. Gladly the walls and the ceiling were all white so I could bounce the flash into the "sky".

EF 50mm 1.8:
This lens is really great! I used it for all the food shots and a also for the guests but learned that all under aperture 2.8 is very difficult because the DoF (depth-of-field) is to 'depthy'. But using it at 2.8 let the magic happen.

EF-S 18-55mm 3.5-5.6:
This was the best for close ups although i think, this lens is $#!%. I think it is not sharp and it is not very good for using it with an external flash. But it was the best tele-lens-option for this situation.

EF-S 55-250mm 4.0-5.6:
Is this lens good? i can't simply tell you because the lens was not the best choice for the event. I think in is because there was too little space for moving around to get the best view. Normally when I use this kind of lens to photograph people  I'm outdoors having enough space to move around. Space is really important!

Nissin Di622 flash:
What should I tell you? after 3 hours of using the flash it simply broke down!! It stopped flashing from time to time and by about 12 o'clock it wasn't working anymore(the event should end at 6p.m.)! You might say new batteries? but the same - no flash! Try a manual/pilot flash? no result! What I did? I checked out a few shops and than i got a Canon 430 ex II.

Canon 430 ex II:
I think this one works way better than the Nissin - of course it is 100,- € more expensive! In my opinion it meassures the light way better but with one little minus point - it has now reflector card built! I will go for a bouncing box around the flash or maybe a 7in1 set from amazon

Any conclusion? Yes I don't know why I always have a problem with the White Balance? I tried "flash" and "auto" but not the result I expected - maybe I should get a gray card... Anything else? Yes, the pictures later in the evening were a little to dark. I only used the flash in "auto" mode with a few tries of overpowering it half a stop but this was than to bright. The EOS 450D isn't really made for shooting at ISO 1600 because the pictures are too noisy! Maybe i should get one this babies here Tamron SP AF 28-75mm 2.8

Some shots from saturday...

Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens

Canon EF 50mm 1.8 lens

Canon EF 50mm 1.8 lens

my buddy Stefan

So finally you can take a look at all the pictures at nikl.bausi2k.com

cheers
cvg

p.s.: you can checkout Stefan's' work at www.nikl.at

Website updated!

Hi folks,

I've updated the bausi2k.com with a few pics from my friends doing a ride with their "old-school" mopeds

have fun

cheers
cvg

awaiting and dissatisfaction - but hang on!

Yesterday i got a new gadget for our DSLR - a Nissin Di622 external flash. I bought this because i expect to need it at a galleryshooting for a friend of mine!
When i arrived at home, the first thing was - of course - put the camera out of the bag and take a few shots. Unfortunately the pics didn't look like i expected then! I took AV mode(4.5@ISO400 - 18-55mm package lens) in a room with only one light switched on and the flash directing to subject but surprisingly the EOS suggested 2" shutter speed?! The result - obvious - was a blurred normal bright photo. Flash on TTL mode!
I switched to Tv selected 1/125sec same ISO and suddenly the aperture was 5.6  and it was a really good shot! I even tried the AUTO mode which resulted in 1/60sec, 5.6 and ISO400 and a quiet nice photo.

The best results where at Tv with 1/125 and Auto ISO bouncing the flash via the ceiling at the subject - So what was my mistake? I will give you an update on that - maybe my i take a look at one of these books from Scott Kelby to find out more!

I don't want to shoot people in Tv mode or even worse in AUTO?! What's next? using the LCD to take photos?

cheers
cvg

----
Update:
still testing the external flash and as far as i can tell you, I'm satisfied although I don't have a reference because it is my first one. But I still can't figure out my Av/Tv issue even the books in my bookshelf couldn't help me further...

Taking a shot of the moon

Yesterday a colleague called me because he wanted to take shot of the moon in this clear night. I thought no problem and started giving him tips:

• use aperture priority with a small aperture
• put the ISO up to the max
• use a tripod
• take a self-timer-shot not to introduce vibrancy
• keep your view-glass dark

and so on...

He is new to DSLR photography and therefore his had exploded because of the mass information. I told him that i will take the photo for and show him all the relevant things next day in the office.
So I headed out in the garden to take the shot and walk back in my house but the result was this:

f 5.6; 1/4 sec; ISO 1600

My first impression was - This is not what i would expect! I made a few shots that were even worse! I changed the aperture to 27 - and of course the shutter was open longer. I did another few shots changing everything possible on my 450D and the only result I got was this spooky kind of moon with violet space ships - of course it is only a lens flare :)

f 27; 3 sec; ISO 1600

I called my colleague and told him, that I don't believe, the camera is not made for this shots but I will keep a look on this topic. But standing there behind my tripod looking up to the moon I thought about the basics I've learned in D-Town TV. Suddenly it made boom like a bulp flashing over my head. My problem is a shutter that is too long open. The moon aka "the sun of the night" is to bright! I changed my camera to M(anual) mode and tried a shutter speed of 1/45 of a second with aperture 27 and surprisingly i got my first shot with textures of the moon. Playing around with the shutter speed I found that 1/350 of a second is the best...

f 27; 1/350sec, ISO1600

So i learned for myself that theory is good but go out and shoot the get the results you want!

cheers.cvg