The moment I found out about his purchasing fiasco (which was on a Friday, approximately after two weeks since he placed the order), I picked up the phone and started calling AjRichard. I wanted to cancel the order as soon as possible and hoped to be able to recover his money. It was around 4 PM Mountain Time, which was 6 PM Eastern Time – the phone rang and then an automated message said that the store was closed. Unfortunately, it was the Memorial day weekend, so the store was closed for an extended period of time. On Tuesday morning before calling AjRichard, we checked the order status and the item was marked as “shipped”. A tracking number from UPS was provided, which indicated arrival on the third of June, two weeks after the order was placed – and that’s with the item being “in stock” with a free three day shipping. I called AjRichard and asked if it was possible to cancel the order. I was told that cancelling the order was not possible since the item was already shipped. Bummer. Now we had to wait till the package arrived. Meanwhile, my friend called his credit card company only to get disappointing news, that he would have to resolve the dispute with the merchant first. The whole dispute process could take several months.

I then decided to give a call to AjRichard and explore the purchasing process myself to see what I would get sold on on a $2,500 5D Mark II (as it was listed as of that day on their website). Here is an audio of the last part of the conversation, after I gave a fake name, address, email and credit card info:

Recorded Conversation with Mark @ AjRichard – click to listen/download.

And the above audio in text:

Me: Is this a new camera?
Mark: Brand new, factory sealed. OK, sold you the camera, we’ll do the warranty, then what else do you need?
Me: That’s it.
Mark: And the battery, you want to get the battery as well?
Me: Uh, doesn’t it come with a battery?
Mark: It comes with one battery, which is only 35-40 minutes, so I would definitely recommend getting one of the extended life batteries.
Me: What do you mean by 30-40 minutes?
Mark: It is a short battery, it is not a long-life battery. You need to buy the extra one, the long one.
Me: So when you say 30-40 minutes, it is for taking pictures or video?
Mark: Both of them. When the screen is on or anything, it cuts down very short (yawns).
Me: Oh, so the one that comes with the camera only lasts for 30 minutes?
Mark: Yeah. Then you have the two hour which is $129 and a four hour which is $169.
Me: Wow, so if I take this camera and take pictures, it is only going to last for 4 hours?
Mark: If you do the bigger battery, yeah.
Me: Let’s go with a bigger battery then.
Mark: OK, I will put the charger as well.
Me: Wait, wait, what is a charger?
Mark: No, you get the charger as well I am saying.
Me: Oh, so the battery comes with a charger?
Mark: Correct.
Me: Doesn’t the camera come with a charger though?
Mark: That’s what I am saying, you get the charger with that! The camera comes already with a charger in the bag with the battery.
Me: OK, so the only thing I am buying then is the battery, no charger right?
Mark: Correct. If you want, there is a separate charger, which is faster, if you want the “rapid” charger. It charges the battery within an hour, instead of waiting for 8 hours, it charges your battery in an hour.
Me: Oh, well, I guess I travel a lot, so let’s add that too.
Mark: And do you want to get a memory card?
Me: No, I already have a compact flash memory card.
Mark: Now they have a special memory card if you are doing like video and stuff. They have a special card which is for high definition.
Me: Yeah, I just got the one from Best Buy the other day and they told me that it can record video.
Mark: I mean if you want, because we have the new ones which are “error free” and “ultra high speed”. They are the ones that when you take a picture you are not going to have a 3-5 second delay time, and they actually say on the packaging “1080p high definition video”.
Me: Uh…I think that’s what my packaging says – it says “for recording 1080p video”. It is the “Sandisk Ultra” or something like that.
Mark: Hmm yeah, those aren’t error free, but they’ll work, they’ll take pictures and stuff.
Me: So when you say “error free”, what does it mean?
Mark: Error free means you are not going to get any glitches if you do action shots and someone running, you are not going to get any blur in the picture or anything like that. And you are not going to lose any pictures.
Me: Ohh.
Mark: You know, I’ll do this deal for you. I have a kit you might be better off doing, like right now if you are doing the camera with the battery, charger and the warranty and your total price was $3149.88, I have a kit I could do for you. It is a little more like $3399 as a whole bundle, but you would actually first get instead of the 4 hour battery I would give you two of the 6 hour batteries, so you get two batteries and it would be the six hour ones. You get also the charger now, which is the the charger that charges your batteries within one hour and it works in the house and in the car, so it is both AC/DC and it charges your batteries within one hour. Also, if you ever travel overseas, it is going to work overseas as well. You’ll get the 5 year warranty and I will give you the “platinum” warranty, it is the warranty you could take to any local service center. It will cover the screen, cover everything on that full parts and labor and it also covers professional cleaning as well.
Me: And the warranty we are talking about is US warranty right?
Mark: Yes, this will give you 5 years that you could take local, so you don’t have to ship to them or anything. And also covers the screen and everything. You are going to get the 32GB memory card, the ultra high speed “error free”, which is the bigger card.
Me: What brand is it?
Mark: That’s “Digital Film”, that has the full 5 year warranty, it is made for high definition video 1080p and also when you take the stills you are not going to have the delay time or the errors or anything. It is ultra high speed and error free.
Me: What was the company name again? Digital Film?
Mark: Digital Film, uhum.
Me: I have never heard of them.
Mark: Oh they are very good. The make the special ones for video and stills as well. Also if you do that kit you will get the car reader, so you get the ultra high speed card reader and you get everything for $3,399, which is worth it, because it is like $200 more, but you are getting the memory card, which is usually like $300 by itself, you are getting an extra battery, and you are getting the 6 hour one, so you are getting 3 batteries total.
Me: Oh wow, that sounds like an overkill for me though.
Mark: Yeah, so I will do that for you.
Me: OK.
Mark: So everything together comes out to…let me give you the order number as well, do you have a pen and paper?
Me: Sure.
Mark: The order number will be 1152214 and the total with everything will be $3549.98. And that’s with shipping, insurance, everything in that.
Me: What kind of shipping do you guys have?
Mark: You will get that probably within 3 to 5 days.
Me: So on the website it says “free shipping”.
Mark: Yeah, that is free shipping I did for you. The insurance is extra, usually it is like 8 percent, I gave you a break on that as well, so this way it comes to you insured and everything.
Me: So insurance is 8 percent of the total dollar amount on top of that?
Mark: It usually is, but I gave you a break on that, I did not charge you the 8 percent.
Me: Got it, OK, sounds good. How much did you say it was for shipping?
Mark: Everything together was $3549, with insurance and everything.
Me: So that includes the shipping.
Mark: Yeah and everything. I put the express shipping and everything for you.
Me: When you said “express” shipping, is that like through Federal Express?
Mark: No, UPS. Instead of like 10 days, you will get it in like 5 days, so you will get it quicker.
Me: Oh, OK. Can I change that to 3 day shipping?
Mark: Yeah, you want to do that? I can do that for you.
Me: How much is that going to cost?
Mark: I will do it for the same price.
Me: So instead of 5 days I will get it in 3 business days then?
Mark: Yeah, you will get it by Friday.
Me: OK, that sounds good.
Mark: All right, so I will do that for you and I will process it right away.
Me: Sounds good, thank you very much. What was your name again?
Mark: My name is Mark, my extension here is 218.
Me: Thank you very much Mark.
Mark: Thank you Nick.
Me: Bye.

The camera that was $2,499 is now $3,549, thanks to Mark’s sales efforts. Wow. I can’t imagine what they are selling to other people that don’t know what they are doing. Everything was going so wrong, I don’t know how I did not just explode in laughter (which we did, as soon as I hung up). The best part is when he says “Error free means you are not going to get any glitches if you do action shots and someone running, you are not going to get any blur in the picture or anything like that”. A lesson for beginners – now you know where all that blur is coming from! Just buy the right card and your images will be sharp and you will catch all the action shots in the world. LOL. Did you notice how smooth he went from $3399 to $3549? And that was apparently for “insurance” that he gave me a break on. That’s $150 that I got screwed on for shipping on a $2,500 camera.

Wondering what happened to my friend’s order? He received an opened half-empty 5D Mark II + 24-120mm kit box with what looked like a new 5D Mark II, with no lens or warranty card. Everything else was in the box, including manuals and battery + charger. The second battery and charger he got were from some unknown brand. He also received a worthless $3 cleaning kit and some other junk he did not need. He called AjRichard and this time it was supposedly a different guy, but with the same voice as Mark. The sales person said that he shipped a brand new 5D Mark II and that the box was not open. When my friend told him that he wanted to return the order and get his money back, Mr. Mark said that he would have to charge a 15% restocking fee for the entire order. Plus, he would be responsible for shipping and insurance as well. My friend decided to keep the camera.

Lessons learned:

1. Never buy photography equipment from an unauthorized seller/dealer.
2. Never fully trust third party sites like Nextag.com for vendor ratings and trustworthiness.
3. Know that if anybody lists prices significantly lower than top sellers like B&H and Adorama, most likely they are scammers.
4. Do not assume that your credit card company will help you when you make stupid decisions.
5. Do not engage in phone conversations about your order with sales people, unless the company is calling to verify your payment/address information.
6. Do not believe in 8% insurance fees, there is no such thing.
7. Buy from reliable online and local sellers with a long history.
8. Always check your gear after buying it. Check for camera shutter actuations and check all lenses you receive.
9. Always be extra careful when buying from online merchants. Read seller reviews from multiple sources and Google for information on the seller.

These guys should be shut down for what they are doing. The good news is, they are probably not going to stay in business much longer. The bad news is, they will probably reopen another company under a different name and continue to rob people. If we as consumers do not learn how to differentiate good guys from bad guys, companies like AjRichard will thrive on new, often “not-so-knowledgeable” customers. Please spread this message to your friends and family and do not let it happen!

Let me know if you have experienced anything like this before – our community should know who to stay away from. I will soon create a list of sellers I fully trust in a separate post and provide some tips on purchasing camera gear.

1) How to Inspect Lens for Dust

So, how can you find out if you have dust inside your lens? Actually, let me rephrase this question – how can you find out how much dust you have inside your lens? Because even brand new lenses normally do have some foreign particles in between lens elements. A quick visual inspection of the lens front will often reveal large dust particles behind the first lens element, if there are any. Just make sure that the front is thoroughly cleaned beforehand and any protective filters are removed. Look straight and then inspect the lens at an angle and you might see some dust behind the front glass element. Now if you really want to see dust, and I promise you will, here is the best way to do it. First, find a very bright LED flashlight. You can find those pretty much anywhere nowadays, even in a grocery store. Next, you will need to open up the lens aperture (the lens obviously needs to be dismounted from the camera, rear lens cap should be removed). If you have an older lens with an aperture ring, you just need to set the aperture ring to the smallest value (which is the largest aperture) like f/1.4 or f/2.8 and you are ready to go. If you have a modern lens like Nikon “G” type AF-S lenses, then you will need to push up a small metal lever to open the lens aperture as seen below. To keep the lens aperture open, you will need to keep pushing it with one finger:

Once the lens aperture is fully open, turn on the flashlight and point it towards the rear of the lens with the front lens cap off. Do this in a dim indoor environment with lights turned off. Look at the front element of the lens at an angle and see how much dust you have inside the lens. If you have never seen any dust, you will certainly see it now. Better yet, now you can see dust in between pretty much every lens element, because it will be visible when a bright source of light goes through the lens. Now here is a word of warning – as I have pointed before, don’t be surprised to see dust even if you have just bought your lens. Some of those particles might be dust, others might be small bubbles and other glass imperfections. Why? You guessed it right, no lens is perfect! But don’t panic, every lens I own has dust in it, even the brand new Nikon 35mm f/1.4G prime that I have recently received from B&H. Take a look at how much dust my Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G accumulated over the years of abuse:

And here is how the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G looks:

Looks scary, doesn’t it? But I don’t really care, because both lenses produce excellent results and I am sure will continue to do so for many more years.

2) How and Why Lenses Get Dust

You might be wondering how and why lenses get dust inside. Let me explain a couple of things about lenses. Every time a lens focuses or it is zoomed in and out, it “breathes”. And no, I am not talking about the effect of lens “breathing”, when an image appears smaller or bigger when focus is adjusted – I am talking about the process of inhaling and exhaling. Lenses have to breathe, due to lens elements constantly moving inside them when focus is adjusted and/or when zooming takes place. Remember what happens with pressure inside a closed plastic container? If you try to reduce the container size, the pressure inside the container will only let you reduce it to a certain level before it pushes back. A simple concept of air pressure in physics. Now take the same concept and apply it to lenses. What would happen if lenses were completely sealed from all sides? You would only be able to zoom in a little before the lens would force you back to its original state due to pressure, especially on lenses that extend in size. A similar thing would happen with lens focus. Hence, there was no other way for camera manufacturers to design lenses – lenses with moving lens elements must inhale and exhale air. Some lenses are better than others in managing the air flow. While some expensive lenses are sealed against dust (which does not fully stop dust from entering the lens) and will only suck the air in and out of the camera chamber, cheaper consumer zoom lenses are the worst in this regard – they might suck the outside air and blow it out right into the camera chamber. Let’s take a look at which lenses are worse than others in handling dust.

3) Lenses Prone to Dust

As I have explained above, some lenses are more prone to dust than others. Here is the list of lens types that are more prone to dust than others, in the order of “worst to best”:

1. Consumer zoom lenses with extending barrels – examples: Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX, Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. Most cheap plastic consumer lenses have no weather sealing of any kind, including rubber gaskets that wrap around the camera mount. In very dusty environments, they will suck the outside air into the lens and then into the camera chamber.
2. Professional zoom lenses with extending barrels – examples: Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR, Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS. Cheaper pro-level lenses with Red (Canon) and Gold (Nikon) rings often have similar weather protection as expensive pro-level zooms, but are generally more prone to dust due to significant changes in lens barrel length. Most come with rubber gaskets on the lens mount to prevent dust from entering the camera chamber through the lens mount.
3. Expensive/top-of-the-line professional zoom lenses with extending barrels – examples: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L. Top-of-the-line professional zoom lenses typically have better weather sealing all around the lens. Rubber gaskets are always included and other rubber seals are present in other parts of the lens such as zoom ring, focus ring, switches, etc.
4. Professional zoom lenses with fixed barrels – examples: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. Lenses that do not change in barrel size are generally better against dust and moisture. Since nothing moves, there are fewer places where dust can accumulate and then make into the lens. Rubber gaskets and other rubber seals are also present in all areas where dust can potentially enter the lens.
5. Prime lenses with extending front element – examples: Nikon 50mm f/1.4D, Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM. Prime lenses are generally less prone to dust than zoom lenses, because fewer parts move inside them. Prime lenses with moving front element that changes in length as you focus are generally better than zoom lenses, but dust can still make it into the lens through the front. Rubber gasket on the mount is sometimes absent (especially on older models), which can also contribute to dust making it into the camera chamber and the lens.
6. Prime lenses with fixed barrels – examples: Nikon 35mm f/1.8G, Nikon 24mm f/1.4G, Canon 24mm f/1.4L II. Prime lenses with non-extending barrels are typically protected best against dust. Some of the prime lenses with rear focus feature (such as Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and Nikon 35mm f/1.4G) might have a moving rear lens element as you focus, while others have a fixed glass element that never moves. The latter is typically better than the former. Many of the modern prime models are designed with rubber gaskets around the lens mount and high-end models have additional weather sealing in other parts of the lens.

As you can see, prime lenses are generally better protected against dust than zoom lenses. However, there are exceptions, where some primes are worse than some of the zooms in terms of handling dust and moisture.

4) What to do with lens dust

Once you spot lens dust, what should you do with it? The answer is – nothing. Don’t worry about it and just keep on shooting, concentrating on creating great images. As I have explained above, lens dust is a normal fact of life, just like dust on your camera sensor. Even if you take a good care of your gear on a daily basis, you will eventually end up with dust in your lenses and cameras, guaranteed. You can certainly minimize the amount of dust getting into your gear by storing it properly and performing regular cleaning and maintenance (which I will cover in an upcoming video tutorial), but you cannot fully prevent it from happening. Dust is inevitable and it does get into camera gear one way or another, so you should not be sweating over it if you have it. Try an experiment – come close to a dirty window in your house and look outside. When your eyes focus on the outside, can you see the dust or dirt on your window with your eyes? No, unless the dirt particles are huge. The same thing happens inside the lens, if there are small dust particles, it is not a big deal. So take a deep breath, chillax and stop worrying about dust.

The only case where you might need to call your lens manufacturer, is if you spot an abnormally large spec of dust more than several millimeters in size that moves when you rotate the lens. There are cases, when particles break off inside lenses, typically after lenses are dropped/damaged.

5) How to remove lens dust

Never, under any circumstances try to remove dust from inside lenses yourself. Disassembling your lens will not only void the warranty, but I can almost guarantee that you will not be able to assemble it back the way it was yourself. If large amounts of dust are heavily affecting your images and you have a very low level of contrast, call the lens manufacturer and find out if they can clean the lens interior and how much it will cost. Your normal lens warranty will NOT include disassembling the lens and cleaning its interior, so you will have to pay a hefty sum for that kind of service. In many cases, you are better off buying a new lens than trying to get an old one fixed. So, once again, never attempt to do this yourself and certainly never let a non-professional attempt to do it for you.

6) Minimizing dust and fungus

Shooting in relatively clean environments, properly storing your gear in a cool, dry place and taking care of it by performing regular cleanup and maintenance is a good way to eliminate fungus and minimize the amount of dust that ends up on and in your gear.

As you know, I have been mainly writing about Nikon – simply because pretty much all of my gear is from Nikon and it is the system of choice for me. Why don’t I shoot Canon or Sony? Is Nikon superior than these brands? No, not really. Read on to understand why.

Lola and I used to have some debates on camera gear in the past. She was very impressed by the beautiful imagery from wedding and portrait photographers that shot with Canon, pushing her to think that we had an inferior brand of choice. It took me a while to convince her that it was not the case and here is how I explained everything to her, which I hope will help our readers understand this topic in detail and answer questions about different camera systems.

A camera is just a tool

What happens if you give the best set of painting tools to someone who does not know how to paint, and an ordinary, much inferior set of tools to a good painter? Who is going to have a better painting? The same rhetorical question is valid for photography – if you get a better camera, does it necessarily mean that you will take better pictures? No, I do not want to bring up another “camera does not matter” debate, since we are all getting tired of it.

You know what, on the other hand, let’s discuss it for a second…does the camera truly matter? It does and it doesn’t. For most people who use a camera for family snapshots, the camera does not matter. For an amateur photographer or hobbyist, it does. For a professional photographer who makes a living out of photography, it matters big time. When somebody hands a crappy camera to a good photographer, he/she will most likely be able to utilize it fully and capture great pictures. Similar to how a good painter is able to work on a painting with a low-quality set of tools. However, no photographer would want to continue working with low-end gear and no painter would want to use low-quality tools for the rest of their lives, since they know that the good tools do help them tremendously in achieving the best results that differentiate them from the rest of the competition. Ansel Adams loved to work with the best gear for a reason – he knew how to push it to its limits and get the best possible results.

I forgot where I heard or read this story, but it got stuck in my head for a while. The story goes like this. Two photographers are standing side by side and taking pictures – one is a professional photographer who makes a living selling his pictures and the other one is an amateur/hobbyist. The pro obviously shoots with a very expensive camera and lenses, while the amateur is shooting with an average camera and a kit lens. The amateur knows that the pro is famous and that he sells his pictures. At one point of time, he turns towards the pro and says “sure enough, with gear like that I bet you can get great shots that sell”. The pro tries to convince the amateur that his camera is just his tool, but the amateur keeps insisting otherwise. At one point, the pro says to the amateur “I will give you my camera gear and you give me yours. We shoot for several hours. The photographer that comes back with better images gets to keep all camera gear”. Without much thinking, the amateur just walks away…

So, when does the camera matter? If you are just getting into photography, I would say the camera you pick does not matter. If you are an amateur or hobbyist and you shoot for pleasure, having moderate to good photography skills, the camera you use does matter to a certain extent. If you are a pro making a living selling your pictures, the type of camera you use is extremely important.

Sensor size matters. No matter what some people say, sensor size does matter. There is a significant difference between a tiny sensor on a point and shoot camera and a DSLR full-frame sensor. Things like dynamic range, depth of field, viewing angles and noise all contribute to the overall quality and perception of an image and the difference is quite apparent. This difference is certainly smaller between full-frame and cropped sensor cameras, but still enough to impact the look of the photographs.

Lenses matter. The type of lens you use, its focal length, aperture and color rendition also play a huge part in how the final image comes out. You will never be able to isolate a subject with a point and shoot camera like you can with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. You cannot replicate the effect of a tilt/shift lens with an ordinary zoom lens.

The Photographer’s Eye. Finally, you have to remember that a camera is just a tool in a photographer’s bag. Without the photographer’s skill set, patience, vision, creativity, planning, timing, lighting and post-processing, even the best camera in the world will not be able to create a good picture.

Different Camera Systems

Now let’s talk about different camera systems that are available today. Since the demand for DSLR cameras has been increasing significantly (just pay attention to how many people carry DSLRs in parks today), companies have been putting more money on R&D and more players have been entering the DSLR market. As of today, the current manufacturers of mainstream DSLR cameras are: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Pentax, Leica, Samsung, Fujifilm and Sigma. With so many different brands and types of cameras to choose from, it is getting harder to choose a particular brand over another. On top of that, the new players are offering more features at lower prices, luring cost-conscious customers their way.

So, which brand should you invest in? Yes, you heard it right – invest. If you are planning to be serious about your photography, you will be buying more gear over time. Whether it is new cameras, lenses, filters, flashes or memory cards, the type of the camera system you pick is important. If you make a wrong choice, it will be very costly to sell all of your gear and replace it with a different brand. On top of that, you will have to spend some time to learn the new system and get used to it. So, going back to the question on which brand should you invest in, as I have pointed out in my “How to buy a DSLR camera” article that I wrote a while ago, I would pick between Nikon, Canon and Sony. I added Sony to the list, because the company has been releasing solid products during the last few years and uses the excellent Zeiss lenses. Choose between these three brands and you won’t go wrong. Nikon and Canon certainly lead with the widest selection of cameras, lenses and accessories, but Sony will most probably catch up pretty soon.

There are some other brands such as Olympus, Pentax and Panasonic that have also been doing well in the market. Olympus and Panasonic have been quite successful with their four thirds and micro four thirds systems, but they are in their early stages still and just do not yet have a wide array of lenses to choose from at the moment. While smaller sensor systems are relatively lightweight, they cannot match the image quality of larger sensors. Unless weight is your major concern, I would skip these types of camera systems at the moment.

Another thing you can do, is see if anyone you know already has a DSLR and ask for their suggestion and advise. If the person you are asking is a good photographer, it might be a good idea to buy the same brand camera, so that you could learn from that person and even possibly borrow gear in the future before you buy your own. This is very helpful especially if the photographer is a professional – you won’t have to surf the Internet for hours to understand something or make a decision.

The grass is always greener on the other side

No matter what camera system you pick or use today, you most likely pay a lot of attention to other brands. If you own a Nikon camera, you look at Canon cameras and compare. If you own other brands, you are probably looking at Nikon and Canon. The thing is, the grass is always greener on the other side when it comes to cameras and lenses. The topic of Canon vs Nikon, for example, always comes up between photographers. Nikonians look at some of the Canon cameras and want more megapixels, while Canonites look at some of the Nikon cameras and want less noise. Lens debates between these two brands are also endless… At the end of the day, the question you should be asking yourself is, how much better would your pictures get if you picked one brand over another (or switched from one brand to another). Most likely, the change would be very insignificant. You gain one thing and lose another. What if one brand comes up with a breakthrough product tomorrow. Are you going to switch or regret your purchase decision?

It is all about you

Again, think of your camera as your tool for the job. Without good technical skills and creativity, no matter what camera system you use, you will never be able to capture anything good. Read, learn, learn and learn, then experiment and shoot a lot – that’s the only way to become a better photographer. Don’t become a gearhead and buy more and more useless stuff you do not need. Once you become a better photographer, you will know exactly what you need to get the best results.

Good luck! If you have any questions or would like to leave some feedback, please do so in the comments section below.

1) EXIF Data

The information on the total shutter actuations on your camera is preserved in file headers, known as “metadata” or “EXIF”. If you do not know what EXIF is and what it is used for, check out my “What is EXIF” article that I wrote a while ago. Basically, your camera writes all exposure-related information such as date, time, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and a bunch of other important information into the header of each file. Some camera manufacturers like Nikon and Canon also add unique shutter actuations data fields that are used for seeing the total number of exposures or “shutter actuations” cameras have.

2) Switch to JPEG format

If you are shooting RAW, it is best to switch to JPEG format just for getting the required information from your camera. While the camera native RAW format preserves all of the EXIF information that is coming out of the camera, third party conversion software like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom can strip out some of the proprietary EXIF data, including the number of shutter actuations. Therefore, switching to JPEG will allow you to view EXIF data straight, without having to import the image into Lightroom or Photoshop first. It doesn’t matter what size of JPEG files you choose – even JPEG BASIC works fine. Once selected, take a picture of anything you want.

3) Download EXIF viewer

In order to view the proprietary EXIF information from files, you need to use an image EXIF viewer that does not strip out anything from the file. Unfortunately, almost all current image viewers only display generic EXIF data that most people use and ignore the rest. Instead of properly reading EXIF data from files and then parsing the results, they typically just look for generic EXIF tags within the file and display them when they are available. If something is not available, it stays blank. To reduce the number of blank items to the minimum, they only provide generic information that is more or less standardized across most camera manufacturers.

Since these kinds of image EXIF viewers are not going to work to find the total shutter count, we will need to use less popular versions of EXIF data viewers, such as Phil Harvey’s “ExifTool” and Opanda’s IExif.

4) Viewing Shutter Count EXIF Data via ExifTool

Once you download the single ExifTool executable from this website, move it to the root drive of your main drive (typically C: on Windows and / on MacOS), then open up the command prompt via Start->All Programs->Acessories->Command Prompt. If you are using a Mac, fire up the shell terminal. Type “cd c:” in Windows or “cd /” in MacOS to be in the same folder where the ExifTool executable resides. Then type:

1. Nikon DSLR:

   exiftool source_jpeg_file.jpg | find "Shutter Count"

2. Canon DSLR:

   exiftool source_jpeg_file.jpg | find "Image Number"

Obviously, replace “source_jpeg_file.jpg” with the name of your actual JPEG file. The program should return something like this: “Shutter Count: 19889” or “Image Number: 19889” – the number to the right of the string is the total shutter count on the camera.

5) Viewing Shutter Count EXIF Data via Opanda IExif/Simple EXIF Viewer

If you do not want to mess with command prompts, the best alternative is to use either Opanda IExif (for Windows) or Simple EXIF Viewer (for MacOS). Just download the latest versions of the Opanda IExif or Simple Exif Viewer and install using defaults.

Once the program is installed, open it up and then click the “Open” button to browse to your file. Select the JPEG file and you will see something like this:

Opanda IExif

Now scroll down until you see either “Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera” and note the number:

Opanda IExif Shutter Count

Simple EXIF Viewer for MacOS has a different interface, but works similarly.

If you shoot with a Canon camera and your shutter count is not displayed by any of the above images, check out this website.

Major differences between the two cameras

1. Sensor Resolution – Nikon D300/D300s is 12.3 Megapixels (4288 x 2848) while Canon 50D is 15.1 Megapixels (4752 x 3168).
2. Pixel Pitch – Nikon D300s is 5.49 microns and Canon 50D is 4.7 microns.
3. Crop factor – All Nikon APS-C (DX) sensors have a crop factor of 1.5x, while all Canon APS-C sensors have a crop factor of 1.6x.
4. Autofocus focus points – Nikon D300/D300s has the same professional autofocus system as in Nikon D3/D3s/D3x with a total of 51 focus points, while the Canon 50D has a much inferior 9 focus point system.
5. ISO – Both cameras can handle up to ISO 3200 in native mode. Nikon D300/D300s can be boosted to ISO 6,400, while Canon 50D can go up to ISO 12,800.
6. Wireless flash master – Nikon D300/D300s has a built-in flash that can be used as a master flash to control other Nikon flashes, while Canon 50D does not have such feature.
7. Exposure compensation – Most Nikon cameras can handle -5 to +5 EV, while Canon 50D can only handle -2 to +2 EV.
8. Frames per second – very similar performance between the cameras. Nikon D300 is 6 FPS, Nikon D300s is 7 FPS and Canon 50D is 6.3 FPS. With the MB-D10 battery pack both Nikon D300 and D300s can shoot 8 frames per second.
9. Movie mode – Nikon D300s can handle 720p video and Canon 50D has no video support.
10. Viewfinder coverage – 100% on Nikon D300/D300s and 95% on Canon 50D (pentaprism on both).
11. Weight – Canon 50D is lighter (730g) than Nikon D300/D300s (840g).
12. Custom Functions – 25 on Canon 50D and 48 on Nikon D300/D300s.
13. Price – Canon 50D is currently selling for $925 at B&H and Nikon D300s is $1,519.

High ISO Comparison

Let’s move on to high ISO tests for both Nikon D300s and Canon 50D. Here is what I photographed for this test:

Because there is a difference in sensor resolution and crop factor, I had to move the Canon system back a little bit to compensate for the difference. The below crops are 100% crops from both cameras and they have NOT been resized in any way. The tests were performed on a sturdy tripod, with timed exposure to prevent camera vibration. Both Nikon D300s and Canon 50D were shot in manual mode. I used the Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 VR and Canon 17-35mm f/4.0L USM lenses, both set to f/8.0 and focused between the round candle and the green tray. Shot in RAW, then imported into Lightroom, cropped and exported with “Camera Standard” camera profile. The rest of the data is available via EXIF on the files to those, who are interested in technical details.

ISO 800 (Left: Nikon D300, Right: Canon 50D):

ISO 1600:

ISO 3200:

ISO 6400:

Conclusion

Considering the price difference between the two cameras, it is unfair to compare Nikon D300s versus Canon 50D. My main focus in this test was to show the difference in ISO performance between the two cameras and it is pretty clear that Nikon D300/D300s cameras handle noise levels about a stop better than Canon 50D (ISO 3200 on Nikon D300/D300s looks about the same as ISO 1600 on Canon 50D). This is expected, because of the difference in resolution and crop factor – Canon 50D has more pixels per square inch than Nikon D300/D300s and the difference in pixel pitch plays a huge role in high ISO performance. Also, Nikon D300s is a higher class camera than Canon 50D and it would be more fair to compare Nikon D300s with Canon 7D instead. Hopefully I will get my hands on a Canon 7D soon to be able to run a similar comparison.

The image on the left is Nikon 16-35mm and the image on the right is Canon 17-35mm. Both were shot in RAW with no post-processing in Lightroom besides adjusting white balance.

Let’s take a look at the far corners @ 17mm f/4.0:

The Nikon 16-35mm clearly has both sharper image and better contrast in the corners.

Let’s now take a look at the center @ 17mm f/4.0 where I was able to match the view:

As can be clearly seen, Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 VR is significantly sharper than Canon 17-40mm f/4.0. When compared at f/8.0 both lenses are very similar in terms of sharpness and contrast. Now let’s see the performance @ 24mm f/4.0:

Again, Nikon 16-35mm is the clear winner, delivering more sharpness wide open.

The final test is both lenses at 35mm:

As expected, there is no change – the Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 is sharper than Canon 17-40mm f/4.0 @ f/4.0 across all focal lengths.

I did not bother uploading the images at other apertures, because both lenses perform very similarly at f/5.6 and higher and at f/8.0 there is practically no difference between them. The above test is to show that the Nikon 16-35mm is sharper than its counterpart Canon 17-40mm when shot wide open both in the center and in the corners.

The above has been posted to the Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 Review on the fifth page.

Corporate Portrait

1) Indoors Corporate Portrait Photography

Indoors corporate portraiture can be a challenging experience, especially when the task is to photograph people in their work environments. When presented with a glassy room with white walls and dim light, many photographers get lost, because they do not know how to deal with light spills, reflections and outside light. It can also be challenging to photograph a simple business portrait for a company profile or for a magazine/newspaper article. How many light sources do you need? How do you position the light? What kind of background do you use? What type of flash should you be using? What is the ultimate portrait setup? We will answer these questions by looking at two case scenarios – one in a regular office environment and one in a studio-like environment.

But before I jump to the photography side, let me go over the business side first. I won’t talk about how much you should be charging your clients, since there are too many factors to consider just like with any other type of photography, but I would like to concentrate on what you should be doing before the photo shoot. Here is a quick compilation of general tips for corporate photography:

1. Create a relationship – your first objective is to establish a good relationship with the client and convince them that you are the right person/company to work with. Meet with the client face-to-face and start building a relationship by showing your interest in their company, showcasing your work and asking the right questions. Think of it as an interview process – you will only get hired if the company likes you and finds you competent for the job. You must present yourself as a reliable businessman and partner, who is looking for a long-term relationship with the company. Keep in mind that if you get hired once and prove yourself worthy, the company will most likely come back for your services in the future.
2. Find out exactly what the client needs – most of the time, companies know what they need when they call a photographer, whether it is a simple business portrait for their website or pictures for their marketing material. In some cases, however, you might get people who are clueless and just want some pictures of their employees. No matter what the situation is, you should find out exactly what the company is looking for. During your first meeting with the client, find out what they are looking for and show samples of your work to see if they might be interested in other opportunities. Do not forget to ask if the photo shoot will be indoors or outdoors (or perhaps both). When you leave the meeting, you should have a clearly defined list of objectives for your upcoming photo shoot.
3. Scout the location – if the client does not mind, scout the location and take some sample shots to see what challenges you might have later. Pay close attention to windows and glassy surfaces, in addition to walls and ceilings. Also note the size of the facility and find out how much space you will be given at the time of the photo shoot. For office environments, ask if the outside scenery should be included in the photograph.
4. Provide a quote based on the needs – once you know exactly what needs to be done, you can evaluate your time/labor/equipment and provide an accurate quote for your upcoming work.
5. No contract, no work – if you do not already have a contract, work on creating one. If you do not know where to start, there are plenty of contract samples on the Internet that you can download and modify for your needs. If you can afford hiring good legal advice, look into that option first, preferably with someone who has already worked on contracts for photographers. Contracts are needed for a reason – they are there to protect you and your work from potential lawsuits.
6. Guarantee satisfaction – companies love when you guarantee satisfaction. Why should they pay you if you suck and cannot get the work done? Guaranteeing your work and having a 100% money back policy would give an additional boost of confidence to your client.
7. Schedule early photo sessions – always try to plan for early morning photo shoots, about one hour after start of the business day. Late afternoon sessions are never fun, because people look too tired and you might not get much cooperation from them.

1.1) Office Environment – Ambient Light

As I have pointed out above, when you go through the location with your client, you need to pay very close attention to the environment and how it is illuminated. If there are large windows on the sides and you can see plenty of light entering the room, you might be able to use that available light for your photographs without the need to use flash. You will have to turn off the indoor lights and fully rely on the light coming from the window, so you need to make sure that there is enough of it reaching your subject. If you are shooting in ambient light without flash, you need to make sure that your camera can deal with noise in case you increase camera ISO. For corporate photography, high level of noise in images is unacceptable and you need to make sure that your images are crisp and beautiful, without any color casts and heavily overexposed/underexposed areas.

The diagram for shooting with window light is very simple – you just need to make sure that the light source is coming from the side or front of your subject:

Window Light Diagram

Obviously, you need to make sure that your subject does not get hit with direct sunlight, or you will end up having nasty shadows all over the place.

1.2) Office Environment – Flash

If the windows are directly behind your subject, using ambient light with no flash will result in a completely over-exposed background, due to the fact that it is brighter outside. If you want to retain the outside scenery, you will have to use flash. When it comes to flash, there are many different ways to light up the environment. You can either use expensive professional lighting gear with high-powered lights or a simple strobe with a light diffuser such as softbox. I personally use the latter and the setup works quite well in almost all cases. Here is my off-camera lighting kit that I use for corporate photography:

1. I use the Westcott 28×28″ Apollo Mono Softbox with Recessed Front for most of my corporate portrait photography and I’m in love with this softbox. It is very compact and I carry it with me all the time. If you want a bigger light source, you can also get the 50×50″ version here.
2. A set of trusty PocketWizard Plus II Transceivers. You will need two of these babies – one will go on your camera hotshoe and the second will be used as a “slave” in your off-camera flash.
3. A good camera flash that accepts PC sync cords. I am currently using the Nikon SB-900, but you could also use the older SB-800 if you can find one at a bargain price. If you shoot Canon, I recommend the Canon 580 EX II flash units (if you are shooting with PocketWizard transceivers, the brand actually does not matter).
4. Manfrotto 5001B Light Stand – I have a couple of these and they are very compact and sturdy light stands. There is also a much cheaper alternative by “Impact” that I have used in the past and they also work very well.
5. Manfrotto 026 Swivel Umbrella Adapter to connect the Apollo softbox.
6. Stroboframe Shoe to connect the umbrella adapter with an external flash.

The nice thing about the above setup is how compact it is. I can fit the whole kit into one bag and assembling/disassembling literally takes minutes. I do not have to worry about plugging my lights into a wall outlet, because everything is battery-operated (which also means that I can easily move the setup around the room). Once you get everything assembled and ready to go, put one of the pocket wizards on your camera and connect the second one with the flash inside the softbox via a PC cord. Set both pocket wizards to the same channel and fire a test shot on your camera to see if the flash is getting triggered.

So, what is the best way to photograph a person in an office without over-exposing the background window?

1. To decrease the amount of reflections on the surrounding objects and windows, use a minimum number of flashes (preferably just one).
2. Using a softbox instead of an umbrella is better, because you can easily direct the light and control it without much spill.
3. Angle the softbox so that the light just reaches your subject and does not spill around the room (especially on windows).
4. Position the softbox on the side, so that it does not stand directly across the windows and make sure that it is not visible in the window reflection. Another thing you can do is position the light higher, pointing it down at a 45-60 degree angle and shoot with your camera down on the subject. That way, the flash won’t show up on the window.
5. Place it several feet away from your subject – the closer, the better.
6. Set your camera to Manual mode.
7. Meter for the window light and take a sample picture. Make sure that the outside scene is correctly exposed.
8. Start with 1/4th of power on your flash inside the softbox and see what you get. Are you getting your subject correctly exposed? Is the room properly illuminated? If your subject is properly exposed but the room is too dark, decrease the shutter speed to a lower value to let more ambient light in and either decrease the flash power on your flash or move the lightbox a little further away from your subject.
9. Experiment with an assistant and see how well the subject and backgrounds are lit.

Here are a couple of lighting diagram examples for different setups:

1.3) Studio Environment

Photographing portraits in a studio environment with a background requires more lighting equipment for best results. There is really no magic formula for setting up the lights and everybody does it differently. Let me show you a couple of common examples and what works for me. I encourage you to experiment and try out different things to get a real feel on what works and what doesn’t. This part will be easy for you if you already have experience in a studio environment, except you will have to work with a small number of lightweight portable equipment. Let’s first start with the equipment:

1. You need a good portable studio. I have been using the Savage “Port-a-stand” support system for both corporate and home studio photography and I absolutely love it! It is very cheap (around $100) and yet super flexible and compact – I carry it in one bag.
2. Savage 107″ x 12yds Black Background Paper to be used as a black background.
3. Savage 107″ x 12yds White Background Paper to be used as a white background.
4. Pony Spring “A” Clamp to hold your paper. Get at least two of these.
5. Either the Westcott 28×28″ Apollo Mono Softbox or the Westcott 50×50″ Apollo to be used as your main light.
6. At least three PocketWizard Plus II Transceivers. One will go on your camera, one on a softbox and one on a lightstand behind the subject.
7. At least two flash units like Nikon SB-900 that accept sync cords, but you could also use the older SB-800s (for Canon, use Canon 580 EX II flash units).
8. At least two light stands such as Manfrotto 5001B or Impact.
9. At least two Manfrotto 026 Swivel Umbrella Adapters – one to connect the Apollo softbox and one to mount an external flash/softbox.
10. At least two Stroboframe Shoes to connect the umbrella adapter with an external flash.
11. Optional: a set of umbrellas and reflectors. Other useful items are color gels, bounce cards and snoots for controlling and modifying the light.

Some quick definitions:

1. Key Light – your main light with the most power that you place to the side of the subject.
2. Fill Light – typically placed on the other side of the subject at lower power to lighten up the dark shadows on the opposite side of the subject.
3. Rim Light/Back Light – placed behind the subject to separate the subject from the background.

And here are just some of the ways you can set up the studio with just two lights:

Two Lights

Three Lights

The first setup only uses two lights – key light (softbox) on the front of the subject with a back light that stands high above the background, pointing down on the hair and shoulders of the subject. Since there is no fill light to the left side, you have to place the softbox just a little to the side or you will end up with shadows on the other side of the face. If you do not have another flash and you are getting nasty shadows, simply use a white reflector to bounce some of the light coming from the softbox to the other side of the face.

The second setup on the right is what I use the majority of the time. The key light illuminates one side of the face, while a less powerful fill light removes the shadows on the other side and the backlight separates the head from the background and adds a touch of light on the shoulders.

Two Lights - Umbrellas

Four Lights

You can also use umbrellas to get some nice results when using a white background. If you try this with a black background, some of the light from the umbrellas might spill on the background and lighten it up. If you see that your background is not completely back, move your subject away from the background, which should help with reducing light spill and keeping the background black. If you need to make the white background whiter, set up an additional light right behind your subject and point it at the background. In this setup, one of the lights should have more power (key light) than the other (fill light).

The example on the right is with four flashes. You can get some nice images with this kind of setup, but it is an overkill, in my opinion.

Again, the best thing is to experiment and see what you and your client like the most.

Key softbox, right fill light and one high backlight

2) Outdoors Corporate Portrait Photography

Outdoors corporate portrait photography is no different than regular portrait photography in terms of lighting and composition. While you can always utilize the available light without flash and perhaps add some light reflectors to eliminate the shadows, using off-camera flash as fill-light during the day can actually add a nice punch to your images and highlight your subject(s).

Start off in a shady area and set up your main light just like you would in a studio. Because of abundance of ambient light, you should not worry about setting up side lights or rim lights in most cases, so a single light should work great. Leave your camera in manual mode and meter your exposure off the background rather than the subject. Your subject is going to be lit up with flash, so you only need to worry about underexposing/overexposing the background area instead. In some cases, the amount of ambient light might be intense and you might need to add much more flash power to even see the effect of your flash on the subject. You should also move your light source as close to the subject as possible.

3) Camera Body and Lenses

If you are shooting strictly with flashes, any DSLR should do the job. If you are shooting in available/low light, you might need a camera that can handle noise fairly well, since you will most likely be shooting at higher than normal ISO values. I have used the Nikon D90/D300/D700/D3 cameras for corporate portrait photography in the past and they all work extremely well.

When it comes to lenses, my personal favorites are:

1. Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR – one of Nikon’s best for portraiture/headshots.
2. Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G – when wider angles and full body shots are needed.
3. Nikon 50mm f/1.4G – if you cannot afford the above.

Canon has a similar selection of lenses:

1. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
2. Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
3. Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM

If you are shooting in available light, the Nikon 70-200mm VR II and Nikon 50mm f/1.4G will produce beautiful, creamy bokeh.

4) Camera/Flash Settings

What camera settings should you use and why? Here are some generic settings that I suggest you set on your camera:

1. Image Quality: RAW. Read why you should use RAW.
2. White Balance: Auto. I do not mess with White Balance and deal with it during post-processing.
3. Auto ISO: Off. Set it to camera’s base ISO (200 on Nikon and 100 on Canon).
4. Focus Mode: AF-S “Single” mode.
5. Camera Mode: Manual, for consistency reasons when using flash. Start at 1/100-1/200 shutter speed and f/4.0 and go from there.
6. Metering: Doesn’t matter, since you are shooting in Manual mode.
7. Active D-Lighting: Off (Nikon only). If you are shooting RAW, there is no need to have it turned on.
8. Key Light Flash Power: 1/4 Power. Turn other flashes off, start at a quarter of power and adjust as needed.
9. Fill Light Flash Power: 1/32 Power. After key light is set and configured, add fill light and set between 1/32-1/64 and see how you like the results.
10. Back Light Flash Power: 1/16 Power. Adjust to your liking.

Watch your flashes and let them recycle and cool off before firing again. If you are shooting at full power for whatever reason, make sure that you are giving enough time for your flashes, as recommended in the manual. Many photographers end up burning their flashes, because they do not pay attention to this. I highly recommend not to shoot your flashes at full power and decrease aperture or increase the camera ISO instead.

5) Group Shots

Group shots are tougher to photograph, since you need more/bigger lights. If you have a small group of three to four people, you might be able to get a good exposure with just a single softbox or umbrella (you will just need to make sure that they stand close to each other and you might need a bigger background). If you have a large group, plan on adding more lights or using much larger and more powerful light sources. The best thing to do is to shoot groups outside in a shady area, because you will not have to worry about setting up the light and making sure that it is distributed evenly. If you are taking a picture of a group outside, then your biggest issue is going to be putting the group together and making them all look good for your pictures. Talk to your group, come up with a nice joke or two to make the group laugh naturally. Do not just ask for a “cheese” moment, since you will end up with fake smiles and stupid faces. Take lots of pictures and shoot in bursts. That way, if some of the group members blink, you will still have something to work with.

If you are shooting a group in an office environment, the best thing to do might be to bounce the light off the dropped ceilings. If you have a small or medium-sized group with 8-10 people standing close to each other, you might get away with a single flash, as long as you can bounce it off a white ceiling. Try to keep the group as tight as possible, which means asking the group to stand in multiple rows and close to each other.

If you have a relatively large group of people in three rows, you could set up two or three light stands with external flashes, put them in manual mode to quarter or half power and point them at a 30-45 degree angle towards the group. The flash power will obviously depend on the amount of ambient light in the room, so you will have to play with that beforehand and make sure that you are providing sufficient amount of light to bounce off the ceiling onto your subjects. If you are not getting enough power from your flashes, try increasing the camera ISO. Make sure that the light bounces off and hits the center of the group (middle row), not the front or the rear row. That way, the light will spread evenly across the group and illuminate everyone. If the room is lit with florescent light, you might need to use some gels with your flashes to match the light.

Here is a simple lighting diagram that you can use for group shots:

The above diagram is for rooms with dropped ceilings. The flashes are pointed up at a 30-45 degree angle to land on the center row.

In terms of lenses, this is when you need to switch to your wide-angle lens, because you need to fit the group into the frame and need the most depth of field. I personally use the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for these kinds of shots and I really like the results.

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

1) A good camera bag

As soon as you buy a camera, you buy a camera bag, because you want to protect your investment and easily transport it between locations. But choosing the right camera bag is not always easy – there are so many different bags out there, that it gets frustratingly difficult to make the right decision. Often times, people end up buying a small camera bag, only to replace it in a couple of months with a different one, realizing that they need more room for their camera and lenses. This happens all the time and it also happened to me! I got my first Nikon D80 DSLR, thinking that I wouldn’t spend a penny more on an already expensive camera. I bought a compact camera bag that fits the camera and a couple of lenses and thought that I was good to go. Eventually, I ended up buying another lens and extra accessories and my bag was too small to accommodate everything. So I had to go and buy another camera bag with more room. Instead of wasting your money like this, you should buy a good camera bag from the get-go. I personally prefer a backpack, but some people like the convenience of using sling-bags and shoulder bags. It is a personal preference and you should definitely try before you buy…a local camera store is a great place to start. My personal favorites are LowePro and Kata bags, specifically LowePro Pro Runner 300 AW and Kata 3 in 1 Sling Backpack.

Kata 3 in 1 Sling Backpack

2) Extra battery

An extra battery is an indispensable accessory that will definitely come in handy, especially when traveling. If you do not already have an extra battery, you should definitely buy one before your next trip or vacation. One more thing – batteries do not last long when you shoot in cold temperatures, so be prepared for a short battery life if you are shooting in freezing conditions.

3) LCD Protector

Although many DSLR cameras come with a plastic protector for the camera LCD, I still highly recommend protecting the rear LCD with a regular screen protector. Sometimes dust gets in between the LCD and the plastic screen protector and scratches the LCD. A DSLR camera with a scratched LCD is not going to have a good resell value, so that’s the first thing you should do to keep it away from scratches. The ZAGG invisibleSHIELD LCD protectors work great and you can find those at almost any size to fit your LCD. Once you protect it, don’t forget to put the plastic protector back in place, if you have one.

4) Padded neck strap for your DSLR

The neck straps that come with DSLR cameras are very uncomfortable. When you carry a heavy camera+lens combo on your neck, a standard camera strap can leave painful bruises on your neck, after just an hour or two of wearing the camera. Gladly, there are many excellent neck straps available today such as Op/Tech Pro Loop Strap that I cannot live without. It is soft, very comfortable and can easily hold my heavy Nikon D700 + battery pack with a large lens such as Nikon 70-200mm VR II without any problems. Another super-popular camera strap is the RS5 Strap from Black Rapid, so check it out as well.

Op-Tech Pro Loop Strap

5) Lens cleaning kit

Dust and dirt in front of the lens element reduces lens contrast, resulting in cloudy-looking images. Therefore, you should always keep lens front and back elements clean at all times. There are plenty of different brands to choose from and any of the optical solutions should work fine. Check out some cleaning kits from Nikon and Zeiss.

6) Giottos Rocket Blower

The Giottos Rocket Blower is a miracle when it comes to blowing off dust from your camera gear. It only costs ten bucks, but this is one tool that you will be carrying with you in your camera bag at all times! It helps me keep my lenses clean and it does a really good job blowing off dust from the camera sensor when I’m traveling. Give it a try and you won’t regret it.

Giottos Rocket Blower

7) Sturdy tripod

A good, sturdy tripod is a must-have for low-light, night and landscape photography. Don’t buy cheap plastic tripods that can easily break – you do not want to put your expensive DSLR equipment on a crappy tripod. Always make sure that the tripod you are buying can handle at least twice more weight than your DSLR and lens. I have heard plenty of horror stories about expensive DSLR cameras falling off from crappy tripods! The best tripods are made by Gitzo, but they are expensive (starting from $400 and up). Manfrotto also manufactures very good tripods and you can buy tripod legs and a head separately, or buy a tripod system. Some of the cheapest tripods are by Sunpak (priced under $100) and you can find them even in such stores as Best Buy. I have also heard that the Slik tripods are very good in terms of value and price, such as the Slik 700DX Pro.

8) Remote Shutter Release

Don’t forget to grab a remote shutter release for your DSLR along with the tripod. You can easily cause camera shake on a long lens setup, even if you are using a sturdy tripod. When you work with slow shutter speeds, ever bit of vibration can cause your image to be blurry. A remote shutter release will let you fire your camera without touching it. Many of the entry-level DSLRs have infrared remotes that are very lightweight, compact and best of all – wireless. If you are shooting on a pro-level body, you will most likely have to buy a wired solution. Both Nikon and Canon have a good selection of remote shutter releases and I recommend getting one that supports “bulb” mode (more than 30 seconds exposure) with an exposure lock.

9) Lens UV/Protection Filter

Get used to buying a lens protection filter while buying a lens. If you do not already have one, definitely buy one as soon as possible. Not only do protection filters help protect your lens from accidental damage, but they also make it easier to clean lenses, especially when the front element of the lens sticks out in a round form. Although some photographers claim that filters degrade image quality, I have been shooting with filters for years and have learned that good filters almost do not affect image quality. Just buy good filters such as B+W or Hoya Pro series and forget about what everyone else says.

10) Polarizing Filter

If you are thinking about taking pictures of landscapes and architecture, a polarizing filter is another “must-have” accessory. I wrote an article on how to use a polarizing filter before and I highly recommend to check it out. Basically, a polarizing filter can reduce reflections from objects such as water and glass and can be used to darken the sky and bring out the clouds, making the scene look much more vivid. I do not recommend keeping it on your lens at all times, since a polarizing filter slows your camera down by reducing the amount of light that passes through it.

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

Here is a quick excerpt from his article:

It’s worth noting one other fundamental difference between the AF system in the D3S and that of the EOS-1D Mark IV. When Nikon focus is out, it doesn’t tend to be way out. More often than not, peak action frames that are not perfectly focused aren’t that blurry, making some of them still viable. That is, if you’re of a mind that it’s better to have a slightly soft frame of a great peak moment than a totally blurry one. The EOS-1D Mark IV, on the other hand, produces many more frames that are too soft to use for anything, no matter how sweet the moment.

To sum up, our experience with the D3S’ AF system is that it’s trustworthy and dependable enough for us to be confident using it for peak action sports. Not perfect: it needs to be a bit faster off the line, in addition to the other quibbles we’ve mentioned. But it does work as needed most of the time, which is in stark contrast to the experience of the EOS-1D Mark IV in the last month.

The above review is pretty much in line with what many other sports and action photographers have said after doing comparisons between the two cameras – the Nikon D3s is currently, without a doubt, a leader in both autofocus and low-light photography (high ISO performance).

When I looked at some sample pictures of the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, I got a little worried about Nikon D3s future. However, after seeing some high ISO comparisons and hearing from pros on autofocus performance of both cameras, it turned out that D3s is the leader and it looks like it will stay that way for at least another two years! Sure, it is unfair to compare Nikon’s full frame sensor with a 1.3x cropped sensor, but poor autofocus performance has been Canon’s biggest weakness (especially in 1D Mark III) and despite the fact that Canon re-engineered their autofocus system from scratch in 1D Mark IV, it is still worse than Nikon’s legendary 51 point autofocus system.

Nikon D3s wins, end of story.

Here are the prizes:

1. Grand Prize wins £1000 or a Canon EOS digital SLR camera and 500 free business cards
2. Second Place wins £100 and 250 free business cards
3. The first 15 contestants to submit their photos will get 200 free business cards
4. For our UK entrants: The town that submits the most photos will be featured on our web site. We will include local sites, facts and a showcase of the photos you submit.

The photo can be of any genre from landscape to animation, portrait to classic black & white.

Here is how to submit:

1. Attach your photo (max 1Mb & JPEG) and send it to contest@optimalprint.com
2. Include the following
3. Your name
4. Country
5. City/Town (important for UK entrants)
6. Description of your photo

It doesn’t matter if you shot your picture on a point and shoot or on a DSLR – pick your best picture and send it to them for a chance to win! The photo contest is open until Thursday, March 18, 2010.

Here is the link to their website: http://www.optimalprint.co.uk/businesscard-photo-contest

Good luck and let us know if you win! :)