The jump from the Canon 40D to the 50D was like that from the 20D to the 30D: incremental, evolutionary, but not revolutionary. The 60D is more revolutionary. Most of the changes are for the better, but others are for the worse, especially if you have a 40D, or 50D. So just consider these before making the jump, after all, your current camera didn’t stop working just because the 60D was announced!

1. Slower frame rate. The 60D shoots at 5.3 frames per second. This sounds good until you realise the 50D shot 6.3 frames per second. If you’re shooting sports or action, this is a major step back.

2. Change of controls. For years Canon has used a back wheel and a joystick to navigate photos and menus. In their wisdom they’ve changed it, meaning long term users have to relearn their cameras.

3. Megapixels. More megapixels is more of a curse. 12 megapixels is sufficient for most things, and the increased jump to 18 is ridiculous. In addition to the extra card space required, higher megapixels means more photosites on the sensors, which tends towards more noise.

4. Shutter Life. The shutter on the 60D will wear out long before the 50D with 100,000 vs 150,00 shutter cycles.

5. Battery. Rather than the BP511 that has been the hallmark of the X0D series cameras, the 60D has changed to the LP-E6, the same battery as 5DII and 7D. While the LP-E6 does allow the camera to have ‘Battery Info’, there is a lot of cheaper aftermarket batteries for the BP511 vs few for the LP-E6.

The 60D has just been announced, and this time it’s a major jump in design and features. Some great new features, some changed features too. Here’s some of the good stuff.

1. Articulated screen. Canon have finally taken the plunge giving the 60D an articulated screen. Very useful for video, and for macro and ground level shots.

2. Better metering. The 60D has the same 63 zone metering of the 7D.

3. Video. The 60D has the same video as the 7D. Mix this with the articulated screen, and you have more versatile video options.

4. Speedlite control. The 60D, like the 7D allows you to remotely control speedlites from the on camera flash. It’s great to see this becoming a standard feature on Canon cameras. This is similar to the CLS Nikon users have had for ages. I love this on the 7D, so it’s great to see it migrating to new cameras.

5. Focus. While the 60D still has 9 focus points, they’re all cross type, with the center cross being f2.8-type (meaning that it has higher precision with lenses of f2.8 or faster).

The postman had a bit of work this morning. 19 parcels to be precise. All canvas prints! When I was in the Cafe in Galway City Museum organising the afters for the Galway leg of the Worldwide Photowalk, I got talking about the exhibition that was on there at the time. The conversation led in an arm twisting direction to amy putting one on also. So a provisional booking was made. 

I’d decided in the past that if I did do an exhibition, it would be landscapes. I love canvas prints, and have a number of them about the house. That of course meant that I choose canvas for the exhibition. Being a procrastinator about personal work, I made the effort to get these done. Of course, now I’ve to mind them until December! 

Loads to do in terms of promotion and of course for an opening night, but at least it’s started! 

In the process of tidying recently, I found a roll of expired Fuji Reala 120 film (expired 2005). Reala has been discontinued for a while, so I couldn’t help but want to shoot with it. There’s a roll of Kodak Portra 160VC in my rarely used Holga, so it was to the Mamiya 645J I went. If you’re not familiar with the 645J, it’s one of many medium format cameras that use a cartridge for the film loading, rather than a dedicated film back. Of course that means I could never use a digital back with it, but it would take a lot of film and scanning to get to the price of a digital back for me!

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It’s been a rather hectic few weeks. If you’re following me on Twitter, you’ll see some of what’s been going on. Last week was spent shooting production stills for Glor Tire. They’ve a new season beginning in September, so there was a lot of work recording bands and contestants. This week I’ve had 3 shoots with Alex Popovici, one for location fashion, one for swimwear, and one for shooting on my medium format film camera. Fun! Here’s a few of the fashion shoot.

I’ll post some of the Glor Tire shots once the programme has been officialy launched.

Assuming you’re a photographer that shoots pretty girls, JimmyD may be known to you as the guy that writes the Pretty Girl Shooter blog on blogspot (yes it is NSFW and needs a clickthrough to get there). As a working professional in the glamour industry, he’s become a goto guy for information on shooting this genre. As the blog goes, it’s a mix between posts on Jimmy’s work, and a little philosophy thrown in for good measure. One thing that is the case with most blogs is that posts are bit-sized. Enough information to hold the average viewer, but not enough to qualify as indepth. That’s where the realm of the book comes in.

The posts about a future DVD on the subject of Pretty Girl Shooting have been many, and whether or not it’ll happen, Jimmy has written a book on glamour shooting in the interim. It’s called Guerrilla Glamour, and introduces the topic of shooting glamour. This is written for the beginner to intermediate level photographer, and covers the range of topics involved in shooting including, gear, lighting, finding and working with models, modifiers and post processing. Jimmy goes into great detail in choosing equipment to a budget, but also make clear distinctions on when you need to spend money to get a better result. The style of writing is that of a conversation with a mentor. Personally I quite like books that are written this way, as making a connection with the writer makes the reading easier.

The book is chocablock with great images as well as BTS (behind the scenes) photos. One disconnect I didn’t like in the book, is that often the BTS doesn’t have an actual image from the shoot associated with it. I felt this would’ve pushed the point home further. That said, it didn’t take away from what was being taught, and is merely an observation.

Chapter 4 is an especially interesting read, with a very current blog post title: 10 suggestions for improving your glamour photography. This chapter distills a lot of the essence of the book, and is a good quick reference to return to. Another superbly beneficial section is that on dealing with models, from both the rapport point of view, to how you behave, and how to get the best out of them. For the lighting section, Jimmy covers lighting with one light and then moves on with examples showing up to 4 lights in operation. He also shows many examples with different modifiers such as the Octabox, and the Beauty Dish as key lights lights. Overall, it’s a very informative read, and really sticks with the keep it simple stupid mantra.

The book can be purchased via this affiliate link, it’s the same price as on Jimmy’s site, but I do get something back to help the upkeep of this site. That fact hasn’t influenced the review either. If I thought it was crap I’d say so. Overall I’d give this book 4 out of 5 for beginner to intermediate photographers coming into working with people. If you’ve a lot of experience with people, this may still be useful as a reference.

Former Galway native Adrian Crowley played to a packed house at the Roisin Dubh, Mon 19th July for the Galway Arts Festival.

Some portraits of the performers awaiting the start of the parade.

More after the fold!

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Simon Armstrong in his leading role as Uncle Vanya, in Chekhov’s play of the same name, as part of the Galway Arts Festival.

I was at the Galway Arts Festival launch in the Radisson Blu today. Playing in the band for occasion were a number of local musicians, including Steve Hanks. Steve was at the door as I walked in after setting up the camera, and was the unlucky recipient of my first shot of the evening.
Shot with direct flash, on a camera bracket, I still love Steve’s cheeky smirk.