What’s in the Bag?
Another feature we’re going to be including on our blog is something called What’s in the Bag. Most of these posts will be about equipment that we use for weddings, but for our first installment I thought it’d be cool to give some recommendations for what should be in your bag.
Let’s start with your standard point and shoot camera, for all you folks who just want something light, quick and easy they can take with you on family vacations. I chose the Canon Powershot A590IS for a few reasons. First, I want to emphasize that a tried and true method of camera companies to dupe the public has been to tell people that megapixels are the most important variable in photo quality — and that simply isn’t true. Once you get above around six megapixels, you aren’t going to see a whole lot of difference. If you do see an increase in quality, it will be because of the camera sensor and lens. So if you see a new camera with 100 billion megapixels, don’t jump to the shelves just yet. It could have a ton of megapixels and still produce crappy pictures.
Back to the camera at hand…what I love about the A590IS is that you can either shoot in Easy Mode without worrying about settings at all, or you can shoot in manual almost like you have a DSLR. If you’re curious about how professionals do it, manual mode will give you a chance to figure out how shutter speed, aperture and ISO work together to create stunning images. Plus, it has an Optical Image Stabilizer built in, so you take fewer blurry photos due to hand shake in low light conditions.
You’re still going to get noise at higher ISOs and the flash is kind of harsh, but that’s almost inevitable with all point and shoot cameras. Overall, the A590IS is a great little camera for just a little over $100. If you’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that you need an expensive camera to take good photos, stop right there! It’s the person behind the viewfinder that makes all the difference. I’ve seen photographers take absolutely amazing photos with old polaroid instant film cameras (remember waving the square picture around to help it develop? those were the days!).
Speaking of instant photos, Polaroid has debuted its first handheld, portable printer for the digital age: The PoGo. Connect to your camera, phone or computer (it even has Bluetooth!) and instantly print 2×3″ photos that you can peel and stick to any surface. It’s great for scrapbooking, school projects with kids, and scavenger hunts. I can foresee couples leaving romantic photo messages for each other in cabinets, books, etc. using this nifty little printer. You could use it to make a photo guestbook at your reception, too. The best part? It prints without ink! Using the same principle as television, the camera uses a “zink” (zero ink) process that involves heating the special photographic paper to varying temperatures to produce color. It’s not professional print quality, of course, but that was never the point! It’s on sale at Amazon.com now for $93.
Now, let’s start burning some serious greenbacks. If you’re the beginning enthusiest who wants to invest in a committed lifelong pursuit of photography, you’ll probably want to start with the Canon Rebel XSi. At $623, you get all the bells and whistles of a real SLR camera: 3.5 fps, 9 point sensor, spot metering, you name it. Definitely read your camera manual like it’s your religion, and check out Ken Rockwell’s website for lots of helpful articles, starting with the very basics here. Practice with the kit lens that comes with the camera first before buying anything else! You’ll be overwhelmed and your other lenses will gather dust if you buy too many accessories before learning the fundementals. Once you’re ready to start adding to your equpiment list, I recommend the 50mm f/1.8 ($75), 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS ($400), and 430ex II Speeldlight External Flash ($245).
Since I’ve probably just about bankrupted your savings account, I think I’ve done enough work for one day. If you have any questions about the equipment I’ve recommended or photography in general, ask away!