Camera Cube

There will be no pictures in this post even though we will be talking about them. You may have heard “Take my picture here” from your friend (or girlfriend), “Let’s take some pictures” and so on and so forth. On the other hand you may have heard that photographers don’t take pictures. If you haven’t - here’s a little brief.

Professionals say “make the picture” instead of “take a picture” for a reason. That reason is that photographer (any good photographer, both amateur and pro) sees the image he wants to produce long before he pushes his camera’s buttons. Making the picture (as opposed to taking a picture) is a process, that involves pushing that button only as a final stage. There is a lot of thinking, preparations and other things going on before the magic button is pushed.

Taking a picture - notice the difference between ‘a’ and ‘the’ in each phrase - on the other hand, involves having a camera and being able to push the button. Other than that there’s not much to it. Taking a picture could take just as long as it needed to pull the camera out of the bag and shoot. Not much thought is given, that’s how people get those horrible vacation shots with lamp poles and tree branches growing out of their heads, strange things and people in the frame and other so-called artifacts.

Photographers who make pictures are trying to envision what they want to see as a result. They think first - then shoot. If you give at least a little thought before pushing that button - the image may come out so much better, that you will be proud of yourself that you did. No matter what camera you are using - it’s the person who holds it that matters.

Don’t just shoot - give it a little thought.

Image via Wikipedia

I am selling my trusty but not rusty Fujifilm S2 Pro along with some extras. It’s a very robust and great camera. I had it for several years, but used it mostly in studio (since I have Nikon D70s to take with me). If you check Amazon.com the S2 Pro goes for over $600. Most people use it for wedding and studio photography, since it produces much better, brighter and more vibrant colors than any rival camera.

If you need to see long specs, sample images, reviews and so on - there is no better place then DPReview.com page on Fuji S2 Pro.

Short specs:

• Brand Name: Fuji
• Model: Fine Pix S2 Pro
• Optical Sensor Resolution: 6.2 MP Fujifilm SuperCCD III
• Optical zoom: 3
• Optical Sensor Size: 15.5 x 23.0mm
• Included Flash Type: Pop-up flash
• Red-eye reduction: Y
• Display: LCD display
• Display Technology: TFT active matrix
• Display Size: 1.8 inches
• Light Sensitivity: ISO 100 - ISO 1600
• Image types: JPEG, TIFF, Fujifilm RAW (RAF)
• Viewfinder Type: Optical
• Audio Input: Microphone
• Width: 5.6 inches
• Depth: 3.1 inches
• Height: 5.2 inches
• Weight: 1.8 pounds

Things you need to know about this camera:

• it has it’s own Fujifilm SuperCCD III sensor (see picture above) that gets better colors then Nikon or Canon cameras
• its auto focus is a bit slow, so it will be a bad idea to use this camera to shoot sports
• it takes standard Nikon F-mount lens
• it was built from Nikon N80 body with the mechanical film parts replaced by electronics, so the camera looks and feels like N80 (I have N80 too, so I can confirm that firsthand)
• because it was build from N80 body it uses two types of batteries at the same time: 4 AA batteries (in the bottom cartridge) and 2 CR123 batteries in the grip. They power different parts of equipment, so the indicator on top LCD screen shows the status of grip batteries while the indicator on the back panel screen reports on the status of bottom tray elements.

Since the camera has been with me for at least two moves I promise I will not bother to look for box, software and other stuff, whatever titles you can find online these days will probably be light years ahead of what you would have had on a CD that ships with the camera.

What comes in selling package:

• camera body (if you only want the body - ask me, I’ll be happy to sell the body only)
• Sigma Aspherical 28 - 105 D lens with cap and hood
• camera strap
• 340MB IBM Microdrive
• 4 Ni-MH rechargeable batteries
• charger for Ni-MH elements
• 2 SureFire CR123 batteries (non-rechargeable)

Contact me for pricing via comments.

UPDATE 1: Pictures of the camera are available under the cut!

It was quite a snow today. Despite the snowfall being very massive, I still managed to snag some nice pictures. Click on the thumbnail to the left to view Flickr set of Snow In New York images.

As you can see - I didn’t use any professional photo equipment. Canon PowerShot A720 IS 8.0 Megapixel Compact Digital Camera was all I had at the moment, so that’s what I have used. It’s relatively inexpensive (if you follow the affiliate link above you’ll see the whole kit for a nifty less-then-$300 price), yet provides amazing results. In addition to 8 mega pixels (which I don’t really care about at all) you get image stabilization, which is much more important, especially when shooting with such a small camera.

One good thing about today’s so-called “snow photo shoot” is that there weren’t too many people. So I could take my time and wait for a good moment to push the button. I often notice that people tend to look weird at you when you take pictures. Obviously, you can disregard that, just make sure you are not shooting someone else’s private property.

I wasn’t always successful in avoiding snowflakes hitting camera lens. That’s why I always carry a cloth to wipe camera lens if they get soiled by accidental touch of hand, snow or rain. If you own a SLR camera it’s almost mandatory to protect lens with UV-filter. Owners of small digital cameras can avoid this small but yet additional cost to their equipment.

If you have made pictures during today’s snowstorm - get in touch.