2 My camera
All
the examples in this book (and the cover shot) were taken with a
Fujifilm HS50EXR. I read a lot of reviews before buying it. It was
generally well thought of by professional reviewers and recent
purchasers alike.
This
is what I got for my money:
16
megapixels
24-1000mm
equivalent lens (42x zoom)
11
frames per second
20th
of a second auto-focus (at best)
<0.5
seconds start-up time
 |
| My lightly pimped Fujifilm HS50EXR |
Simply
put, it has a decent resolution, a massive zoom range and works
quickly. Significantly more quickly, in fact, than any DSLR under
£1700, body only (which means before you buy any lenses), at the
time of writing this.
The
form of the thing
My
camera is about the size and weight of a DSLR with a 18-55mm lens
fitted. The saving in bulk comes from not having any other lenses to
carry around. And it takes a lot of glassware (and a heavy duty
tripod) to get a DSLR to zoom to 1000mm.
It's
not too much to sling around my neck when out walking or cycling and
doesn't fill my rucksack when it's in there.
The
zoom on my camera is manual. A lot of bridge cameras have a motorized
lens and a couple of buttons under your right thumb to control it. I
deliberately picked a manual lens (its the only manual thing on my
camera) because it's faster to adjust and doesn't use the battery.
This is not a recommendation, just a personal preference.
Optional
extras
This
is about photography without a bag full of bits and pieces, but I
have added a UV
filter to the front of
my camera. In theory, it cuts out haziness on sunny days but it's
also doing a great job of protecting my lens. A broken filter is
cheap and easy to replace and makes me a lot less paranoid about the
lens cap.
A
spare
battery cost less than
£10 and, being the size of a matchbox, is hardly noticeable in my
rucksack. It's not often needed unless I try to get two or three days
photography in without recharging. This camera goes a long way on one
battery. At the Rhyl Airshow, in August, I came home with 4202 photos
in the camera and still had juice in the battery.
I
don't have a dedicated camera bag. Instead, as I have a perfectly
good rucksack, I use a neoprene camera cover that stuffs in a coat
pocket when not in use and protects the camera from anything else
that happens to be in my bag.
You'll
notice I've added a rubber eyepiece too. It came off a telescope and
is just to stop me banging my shades into the camera.
I'll
own up to having a tripod but all the examples in this book are taken
hand-held so it doesn't count as an optional extra. My book: my
rules.
The
other extra, which I do not regard as optional, is an old copy of
Photoshop CS2 for £9 off ebay.
I
do not believe anyone gets the best out of any camera (or camera
phone) without a copy of Photoshop. It's a fact of life for digital
photographers and I hope to convince you of that, and that you don't
have to be intimidated by “Professional” software.