DX, full-frame, APS-C, FX, crop factor, 24×36, image circle. Confused yet? Good.
With the new Nikon D700 hitting store shelves and the Canon 5D MkII imminent, now is a good time to clear the air on the whole sensor size thing.
Back in the film days, the rectangle that captured the image on a standard SLR (the film) was one size: 24mm x 36mm. That was all there was to it, and nobody really gave it a second thought.
Every camera manufacturer is slightly different; models from the same manufacturer are even different. People usually refer to a sensor’s size by its “crop factor.” That’s the number you use to find the 35mm equivalent of a given lens. It’s just like taking the middle of an image and throwing away the outside edges. If a sensor is 24mm x 36mm, then there is no crop factor, since it covers the same area as 35mm film.
Nikon has two different sensor sizes: full frame (FX) and 1.5x (DX).
Canon has three sensor sizes: full frame, 1.3x and 1.6x. Other manufacturers are in the same range, with Olympus being the notable exception, at 2x.
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Wedding photography is a topic that many of our readers are interested in learning more about. Today Charles Clawson from blog.chaselliot.com shares some tips on getting into Wedding Photography.
Wedding Photography is unique among all other photography mediums. As a professional photographer you have free reign over an incredible event full of emotion, action and beauty. Being able to use your skills to capture these moments forever, and have them be cherished by your clients is an honor wedding photographers take very seriously. It isn’t for the faint of heart. The pressure is as high as the clients expectations, but it can be a very rewarding occupation. For these reasons, wedding photography is quite a competitive field.
With camera equipment simultaneously rising in capabilities and dropping in prices, it means more and more photographers have been able to make the leap from enthusiast to professional. For those already established in the industry, they might resent the added competition and the downward pressure on prices, but for those photographers who have what it takes, now more than ever are opportunities to start the transition into becoming a true professional photographer. In this article I identify 5 things you can do now to prepare yourself to make the leap.
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Those readers who subscribe to Digital Photography School via our RSS Feed or via our daily email updates will know that up until today we’ve only ever shown the title of new posts and very short excerpts in the feed and emails.
One very common request that we’ve had from those of you subscribing in these ways is that you want to see full articles in the feed and via email. We’ve resisted this mainly because having full feeds opens us up to other sites ’scraping’ (stealing) our content and republishing it on their own sites.
However due to popular demand we’ve taken the decision over the weekend to open up our feeds and daily email updates to include full articles - this also includes pictures that we publish in our articles.
You’ll also notice in our feeds that we’ve added the ability bookmark our posts in some popular social media sites, click through to leave a comment and
Those already subscribed should be seeing these changes already.
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If you’re not already subscribed to DPS using RSS or our daily email updates you can read more about them on our Subscribe to DPS page.
One often overlooked aspect of digital photography is the filter on the end of your lens. It is common practice for may SLR photographers to keep a UV/Haze or Protective filter on the end lenses and as more and more switch to digital, little thought is given to that age old practice.
In principle the practice is a good one. Especially when the better lenses cost in excess of $1000USD. Adding another 5-10% onto the cost of that lens to protect against scratches, dust, sand and salt spray is a wise investment. But before you purchase a lens filter there are a few important distinctions to look for.
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Have you ever made money with your images through MicroStock photography sites?
Over in the Earning with Photography section of our forum we have quite a few members who are right into making money by selling their images from sites like:
(There are lots more sites and services around)
Today as a DPS community discussion I’d like to hear your experience of making money from MicroStock?
- Have you sold images this way?
- If so, what tips would you give those just starting out in MicroStock - to better their chances of success?
- What type of images have you sold?
- What kind of money is it possible to make?
I’m looking forward to the discussion around this topic!
PS: we’ve previously published a short tutorial on this topic at Microstock for Digital Photography Students.
Weekly Assignment
This week’s assignment was Auto-Mode, and the goal of the assignment was to “forget” about using manual for a few shots and show us something that you took in auto mode that still blows us away. The shots that we saw this week really did show that it’s not always mandatory to set everything yourself in order to get a great shot. Our winner this week was Rivethaus for the picture of the stone angel. The shot had nice shadows and contrast as well as a good composition. We felt that it probably couldn’t have been improved much in any other mode. Our first runner up was lawnyo for not only a well composed, but funny shot of the martini drinking dog. Our final runner up was JRONJ for the picture of the artist setting up. We felt like the setup and composition of this photo and the colors and shadowing came out quite nicely for the daylight, and the fact that it clearly wasn’t setup made it stand out.
This week’s newest assignment is Affirmative! This fun assignment is all about taking pictures of things that suggest affirmation or approval. Applause, those giant #1 foam fingers, anything that makes it an affirmative shot. In order to be eligible for the mini-contest, your photo needs to have been taken between 6-20 August 2008, the exif must be intact, and you must include “Assignment:Affirmative” somewhere in your post. Our next assignment will be “The eyes have it” so start taking those pictures!
Hot Threads
Photographer’s Guide to a Happy Marriage: There have been a lot of threads about weddings and marriage on DPS lately, and Digidave felt it was his place to share his wisdom about how to keep a marriage happy as a photographer. If you’re looking for a bit of a laugh, this thread may be just the thing to brighten your day!
The greatest length you have gone for a shot…: Sometimes you really go to some extreme lengths to get that great picture. So, why not come over to this thread to share your stories and even a picture or two that you went to some great length to get.
The bad side of photog knowledge: One forum member mentioned one of the more difficult problems with learning about photography… critiquing every shot that you see! The knowledge “opened their eyes” to all the various aspects that we start thinking make for great photos. Come share your own experiences with the matter.
Waterfall photos: A little older of a thread that’s remained popular is this one on waterfall photos. If you have you own waterfall photos or words of wisdom about how to take waterfall shots, this is the thread for you!
What Would You Do #64: Come join us in our weekly post-processing thread where forum members get a chance to edit someone else’s photos. You don’t have to be an expert, you just have to want to try out your post-processing skills. So, why not come and show us what you would do!
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