Seorang rakan telah memberi komen tentang previous post aku yang agak berat sebelah dengan mengutuk-ngutuk kamera lain puas-puas, pastu aku kutuk Olympus ala-ala cubit manja sahaja. Huahua. Aku lupa nak tambah pasal Olympus nie, due to its different ratio of sensor size, ia tidak memberi depth of field se-shallow kamera-kamera dari brand lain pada bukaan aperture yang sama.
Pada yang tak reti menatang hapa pasal all the technical jargons namun gigih gak nak baca, aku recommend link ini untuk mengetahui sedikit sebanyak pasal what dslr is all about. Even though some of the features mentioned are brand-specific, but the basic philosophy is there. Plus it is very very easy to understand and doesn't feel like reminiscing bad memories about studying quantum physics post-SPM.
Ok, berbalik kepada isu utama. Ada bermacam-macam faktor yang anda kena timbang sewaktu nak beli kamera.
1) Niat.
Penting nie. (seperti yang diulas Imam Nawawi dalam hadis pertama kumpulan Hadis 40). Kalau niat anda cuma sekadar nak mengikut trend semasa, lantak anda sebab duit (scholar?) anda. Tapi rata-rata yang datang bertanya tak berapa minat sangat pun nak jadi macam Ted Adnan or people of the same ilk. Kebanyakannya cuma mengagumi kejelasan dan kebersihan gambar yang dihasilkan dan tiba-tiba sedar what they've been missing with their old compact cameras. Kalau sekadar nak gambar yang cantik untuk percutian, rata-rata semua dlsr tak kira brand apa pun dah lebih dari mampu untuk melakukannya. So shoot for the lowest price you can possibly find. U might wanna save some dough for your trips. Kalau ade kamera mahal lagi canggih tapi pusing-pusing pun tangkap gambar ayam dalam reban belakang rumah anda, baik tak payah. Baik sembelih makan ayam itu. (huh ape kene mengene?)
Since the quality of images these entry-level cameras can offer is about the same, you are now looking for perks that each of them can offer.
2) Features
Live view facilities I think is a tad too overrated. In the end, the fun of photography is all about connecting with the scene through the viewfinder. Canon eos 450D has the largest viewfinder among all while Sony and Olympus has the smallest, hence the need to squint a little bit more. Tapi kalau anda dah biasa menangkap gambar dengan melihat skrin di belakang kamera, this can facilitate you to get used to your dslr. Sony usually has the best live view facilities with its alpha 300 and 350 models. Hands down, the award of best live-view implementation goes to them. If you are still wondering what exactly is live-view, go Google.
I'm quite indifferent with the dust-buster facility that has become a must-have for any manufacturer that is rolling out new models. If you regularly change lenses for various occasion, go for one with the most effective dust remover. Olympus has received rave reviews for this, yang lain-lain tu aku tak pasti sangat. But again, if you're primarily using your camera for nice vacation shots and almost likely to own a single lens for a long time, this feature will not matter much.
Even newer models (but slightly more expensive) model like the Nikon D90 even has a movie mode. Yeah you dimwits, u can't shoot movie with a dslr. So Nikon d90 is a little bit of s a breakthrough.
3) Harga
Harga kamera dslr sekarang boleh didapati dari serendah 99 sen, terbanglah dengan airasia. (huh, saja mengarut sket). Ianya boleh didapati dari serendah rm1500 hinggalah berpuluh-puluh ribu ringgit. rm1500 is not rm5, so i am sure it matters so much for you to get your perfect camera (kecuali bapak anda tokey ladang gandum).
Selalunya kamera-kamera dari sesuatu jenama dibahagikan mengikut target pasaran dan titik harga.
Yang paling murah ialah the entry-level line up (nikon d40, sony alpha 200, canon eos 1000d, olympus e420), has the most basic set of features dan berharga dalam lingkungan rm1500-1800. Eloklah untuk orang yang nak gambar cantik untuk jalan-jalan dan nak save up duit.
Kemudian atas sikit dari entry level aku pun taktau naming convention dia tapi selalunya berharga dalam lingkungan rm2000-3000. Selalunya dengan model-model seperti Canon eos 450D, Olympus e520, Nikon d60, dan Sony alpha 350, pengeluar kamera memperkenalkan the latest set of features while trying to keep the price down to keep the buyers happy. If you're starting and have even a tiny little hunch about this might grow into something, I recommend you start from here.
And then there's prosumer level camera. Harga pun selalunya dah lebih dari rm4000. Ini untuk orang-orang yang banyak duit ataupun dah kerja ataupun intend to make some money with wedding photography etc. Contoh kamera ialah seperti Olympus e30, Canon 50D, Sony d700, Nikon d90 or the d300. They're usually bigger and harder to lug around but offers the most amazing and latest set of features you can possibly get.
4) The bigger picture
Ini khas untuk orang-orang yang rajin menambah equipment. Kalau di Malaysia, Nikon reigns supreme with the most number of accessories possible. Senang kalau nak bertukar-tukar lens sesama member-member anda dan trade in second hand items. Canon pun begitu juga. Olympus dan brand lain agak kurang, but i'm sure the fans are out there, though less in number.
Canon premium glasses are exorbitant in price, so is Nikon and Sony with its Carl-Zeiss specials. Unless you're content with the piece of mediocre glass you currently own, you pretty much would have to burn a very deep hole in your pocket to get the best out of your camera. Olympus punya premium glasses pun mahal gak cuma taklah mahal sangat macam yang lain-lain.
Nikon is also known for its great flash accessories. The nikon sb600 and sb800 are very highly regarded. Jenama-jenama lain pun ada flash masing-masing and you usually have to fork out around rm800-rm1500 if you think a flash accesory is vital for your photography.
Kesimpulannya:
Belilah sekadar yang mampu. Tak guna beli yang mahal-mahal sangat dan sibuk berdebat pasal equipment namun gambar hampeh2 je. Plus there is no one perfect camera that does it all, so u should weigh your options, know the strengths and weaknesses that each camera possesses.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
on buying your first ever camera part 1.
Salam wrt.
Nampaknya musim cuti datang lagi. (perghh macam iklan tora datang lagi). Ada beberapa orang yang tanya aku pasal kamera dslr apa yang patut dibeli untuk dibawak berjalan-jalan sebab nampaknya orang mula sedar gambar-gambar dari kamera yang kononnya kecik dan stylish itu mostly suck.
First off, jom survey beberapa main players dalam industri dslr nie.
1) Canon- no 1 camera manufacturer withe the largest market share. Aku dah pernah guna kamera Canon EOS 400D, mostly not bad but not quite my cup of tea. Known for its prowess in the high ISO department but Nikon is playing catch up and almost there already to be taking over. Kamera sangat user friendly, image quality pun mantap tapi kit lens (your first and the cheapest piece of plastic tube and glass possibly ever made) agak tak best. So you would have to invest a little bit more (And by a little I mean exorbitant) to get top quality glass.
Bukanlah nak kata kit lens dia unusable, it just leaves something to be desired.
Target model: EOS 450D or EOS1000D. (kalau bapak anda merupakan seorang tokey estet yang tidak terkesan dengan perubahan iklim ekonomi dunia, bleh je nak target EOS 5D mark II)
2) Nikon- no 2 camera manufacturer and customer base is growing very rapidly due to very aggressive marketing targeted on the lower end users. Kalau dekat Malaysia rasanya brand no 1 kot. I think the type of colors in the images that Nikon can produce can relate very well to most people, sebab tu ramai orang nampak dia sangat cantik. High ISO pun makin lama makin clean with the introduction of newer models. Aku dah selalu guna member aku punya, even though features tak banyak sangat, tapi the base-line models do a really great job on what a camera is actually supposed to do. Kit lenses are known to be fairly good for the beginners.
Nikon's entry level line-up lacks a few features that some potential buyers might be looking for like live-view. And then there are some minor niggles on how to operate the cameras (like you'd only have the ISO changed after the umpteenth time pressing some buttons) which might feel tedious to the users with a little bit of knowledge and experience. Pendek kata, leceh la.
Target model: Nikon D40, Nikon D60, ataupun kalau anda rasa duit (scholar?) anda agak banyak and u'll be in this for quite a run, go for the new and highly rated D90 (with which all my complaints will be irrelevant).
3) Sony- I think right now Sony is already in the no 3 position even though it is basically a greenhorn in this industry. (depending too much on its brand strength I guess). Sony has acquired the technological know-hows from the now defunct but a very experienced Konica Minolta, so lets just put all those doubts to rest. The lower end cameras are known to be cheap, features pun mantap dan ia memang sangat terkenal dengan the best implementation of live view among all cameras that are being made today. Kit lenses so-so je kot, high ISO image quality definitely is not quite up there along side Canon but I guess it's all right.
Oh and why I don't quite like Sony eh? Oh, I dislike the ergonomics and the weird loud sound its shutter release produces. Plus I have this thing with big multi-national corporate conglomerates (after so much with conspiracy theories on how the world economy is run). Camera u should gun for: Alpha 200, Alpha 300, Alpha 350. (even the alpha prefixes remind me so much of the character alpha 5 dalam cerita power rangers yang aku tengok masa kecik2 dulu)
4) Olympus-
Oh Olympus is the camera that I own right now, the e520 model. Olympus generally produces some very well received cameras among its loyal (cult?) followings. They usually have a very advanced and nice set of latest features like live-view and dust buster, the images are good and best known for its very nice jpeg processing that can come out with great colors and tones that are unseen in any other. Masa aku guna Canon dulu, slalu aku post process sebelum print gambar-gambar yang dah ditangkap. Tapi dengan Olympus nie, aku selalunya tak edit dah sebab warna dan contrast yang dihasilkan memang meng-eye-mo-kan mata anda. Kit lens pun sangat sharp compared to its equivalents from other brands, plus the build quality and ergonomics of the entry-level cameras leave almost nothing to be desired.
Anyway I abhor fanboyism, so I am not gonna spare anything bad about Olympus cameras either. Aku pilih Olympus for its great colors, but I'd have to live with its infamous Achillees heels which is nasty noise at high ISO. If you are mainly shooting indoor or during nighttime and do not have any plan to get a respectable external-flash unit in the near future, I suggest you look somewhere else. Ohhh and you'd miss the oh-sooooo-sweeeeet crispy colors.
Study further about Olympus e420 and e520 if u think Olympus is the right way to go.
5) Pentax.
I know almost-- zero, zilch, nadaaaa about Pentax cameras. Never ever even seen one in action. But the critics are raving about models like the K10D and K20D(which by the way I almost got for my first dslr) so I guess the critics aren't a bunch of stupid people so Pentax must have made some really nice cameras. Plus I notice most pictures taken with a Pentax that are published in the webs have some really nice colors and tones that equal that of film cameras back in its heydays.
U should go with K200d and I think they're coming up with the newer Pentax K-m for their lower line-up. Even their semi-professional K20D is not that far away from the reach of broke pitiful weaklings like us.
Ok, I am a student, and a medical one at that. So I have a life and I need to study. So I am goint to continue writing about this in part 2 discussing the objectives of getting a dslr, the features that a camera can offer, your budget, what u will mainly use them for.
p/s: I was quite undecided whether to go with english or bahasa melayu with my posts so I guess i'm just going to blab and and see which directions the wind is going to take me, (though I strongly believe bahasa melayu is the more natural way to go). huhu, tah apa apa lah.
Nampaknya musim cuti datang lagi. (perghh macam iklan tora datang lagi). Ada beberapa orang yang tanya aku pasal kamera dslr apa yang patut dibeli untuk dibawak berjalan-jalan sebab nampaknya orang mula sedar gambar-gambar dari kamera yang kononnya kecik dan stylish itu mostly suck.
First off, jom survey beberapa main players dalam industri dslr nie.
1) Canon- no 1 camera manufacturer withe the largest market share. Aku dah pernah guna kamera Canon EOS 400D, mostly not bad but not quite my cup of tea. Known for its prowess in the high ISO department but Nikon is playing catch up and almost there already to be taking over. Kamera sangat user friendly, image quality pun mantap tapi kit lens (your first and the cheapest piece of plastic tube and glass possibly ever made) agak tak best. So you would have to invest a little bit more (And by a little I mean exorbitant) to get top quality glass.
Bukanlah nak kata kit lens dia unusable, it just leaves something to be desired.
Target model: EOS 450D or EOS1000D. (kalau bapak anda merupakan seorang tokey estet yang tidak terkesan dengan perubahan iklim ekonomi dunia, bleh je nak target EOS 5D mark II)
2) Nikon- no 2 camera manufacturer and customer base is growing very rapidly due to very aggressive marketing targeted on the lower end users. Kalau dekat Malaysia rasanya brand no 1 kot. I think the type of colors in the images that Nikon can produce can relate very well to most people, sebab tu ramai orang nampak dia sangat cantik. High ISO pun makin lama makin clean with the introduction of newer models. Aku dah selalu guna member aku punya, even though features tak banyak sangat, tapi the base-line models do a really great job on what a camera is actually supposed to do. Kit lenses are known to be fairly good for the beginners.
Nikon's entry level line-up lacks a few features that some potential buyers might be looking for like live-view. And then there are some minor niggles on how to operate the cameras (like you'd only have the ISO changed after the umpteenth time pressing some buttons) which might feel tedious to the users with a little bit of knowledge and experience. Pendek kata, leceh la.
Target model: Nikon D40, Nikon D60, ataupun kalau anda rasa duit (scholar?) anda agak banyak and u'll be in this for quite a run, go for the new and highly rated D90 (with which all my complaints will be irrelevant).
3) Sony- I think right now Sony is already in the no 3 position even though it is basically a greenhorn in this industry. (depending too much on its brand strength I guess). Sony has acquired the technological know-hows from the now defunct but a very experienced Konica Minolta, so lets just put all those doubts to rest. The lower end cameras are known to be cheap, features pun mantap dan ia memang sangat terkenal dengan the best implementation of live view among all cameras that are being made today. Kit lenses so-so je kot, high ISO image quality definitely is not quite up there along side Canon but I guess it's all right.
Oh and why I don't quite like Sony eh? Oh, I dislike the ergonomics and the weird loud sound its shutter release produces. Plus I have this thing with big multi-national corporate conglomerates (after so much with conspiracy theories on how the world economy is run). Camera u should gun for: Alpha 200, Alpha 300, Alpha 350. (even the alpha prefixes remind me so much of the character alpha 5 dalam cerita power rangers yang aku tengok masa kecik2 dulu)
4) Olympus-
Oh Olympus is the camera that I own right now, the e520 model. Olympus generally produces some very well received cameras among its loyal (cult?) followings. They usually have a very advanced and nice set of latest features like live-view and dust buster, the images are good and best known for its very nice jpeg processing that can come out with great colors and tones that are unseen in any other. Masa aku guna Canon dulu, slalu aku post process sebelum print gambar-gambar yang dah ditangkap. Tapi dengan Olympus nie, aku selalunya tak edit dah sebab warna dan contrast yang dihasilkan memang meng-eye-mo-kan mata anda. Kit lens pun sangat sharp compared to its equivalents from other brands, plus the build quality and ergonomics of the entry-level cameras leave almost nothing to be desired.
Anyway I abhor fanboyism, so I am not gonna spare anything bad about Olympus cameras either. Aku pilih Olympus for its great colors, but I'd have to live with its infamous Achillees heels which is nasty noise at high ISO. If you are mainly shooting indoor or during nighttime and do not have any plan to get a respectable external-flash unit in the near future, I suggest you look somewhere else. Ohhh and you'd miss the oh-sooooo-sweeeeet crispy colors.
Study further about Olympus e420 and e520 if u think Olympus is the right way to go.
5) Pentax.
I know almost-- zero, zilch, nadaaaa about Pentax cameras. Never ever even seen one in action. But the critics are raving about models like the K10D and K20D(which by the way I almost got for my first dslr) so I guess the critics aren't a bunch of stupid people so Pentax must have made some really nice cameras. Plus I notice most pictures taken with a Pentax that are published in the webs have some really nice colors and tones that equal that of film cameras back in its heydays.
U should go with K200d and I think they're coming up with the newer Pentax K-m for their lower line-up. Even their semi-professional K20D is not that far away from the reach of broke pitiful weaklings like us.
Ok, I am a student, and a medical one at that. So I have a life and I need to study. So I am goint to continue writing about this in part 2 discussing the objectives of getting a dslr, the features that a camera can offer, your budget, what u will mainly use them for.
p/s: I was quite undecided whether to go with english or bahasa melayu with my posts so I guess i'm just going to blab and and see which directions the wind is going to take me, (though I strongly believe bahasa melayu is the more natural way to go). huhu, tah apa apa lah.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Yang pertama
Salam wrt.
Lama gila tak blog.
Aku rasa nak start blogging balik dengan menulis tentang benda-benda yang (insya Allah) kurang menyinggung perasaan mana-mana pihak kalau timbul sebarang perbezaan pendapat.
Aku nak tulis pasal fotografi.
:)
Aku ada beberapa objektif dengan memulakan blog ini. Aku harap ada mana-mana yang boleh dicapai.
Lama gila tak blog.
Aku rasa nak start blogging balik dengan menulis tentang benda-benda yang (insya Allah) kurang menyinggung perasaan mana-mana pihak kalau timbul sebarang perbezaan pendapat.
Aku nak tulis pasal fotografi.
:)
Aku ada beberapa objektif dengan memulakan blog ini. Aku harap ada mana-mana yang boleh dicapai.
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