Sunset from Mountain Top @ Letterkenny, Ireland.

Thanks to Tejas Gokhale for arranging the drop and pick-up.

casual clicks ... with a sip of sermon :)

Started from office early today…  while on my way back, was wondering if the clouds would stay back after sun-set. As it happens often, the clouds create hope in your mind and just at the right moment (10-15 mins that follow after sunset)  go missing !!!

Reached home, and peeped out of the window. There was a gentle glow on buildings outside (I can only see other ‘buildings’ from within my ‘building’ :-( )

Such light it always amazing …

2 quick (and contrasting) thoughts crossed my mind… 1. Rush to terrace and take pictures 2. Forget it.. clouds will usually just play tricks... not worth the effort.

Such are the moments when one has to push oneself to take chances …. I did and I made tea for myself !!
(a Big ‘thank you!’ to the inventors of induction cookers… made tea in 40 seconds flat!! :-P)

And peeped out the window again, telling myself not to be disappointed if the clouds and the awesome light are gone by now, but to my surprise, the glow was still there.

This was too tempting, even for lazy person like me. Went into my bedroom to fetch the camera. There it was, lying abandoned for days…  it had acquired layer of dust, quite literally! (yeah, I am too careless at times!)

Took the terrace keys, went straight up and guess what, the game was still on !

Made a few shots, but more than that, the experience was amazing…

Felt like the central character of some novel from the 50s, watching the sun-set, sipping on the coffee (mine was good ol' tea!), having philosophical thoughts and blah blah !!
My philosophical thoughts? "For God’s sake! why isn’t having tea considered hip ?! .. I might as well kill one of these novelists for not liking tea and more so for making ‘the coolest guy’ not drink tea. Just spoils my fantasy, you know !!!"

The picture, even by my standards (which I ensure are low enough so that I can qualify often :-P),  isn’t ‘quite there’! But nevertheless, 'its there', for it made me realize (for the nth time, and yet I don't learn) that the ‘effort itself can be worth it, although the outcome may not!’ :-)

Little Grebe

Little Grebe

Cisticola

Cisticola

Birds in flight

Harrier

Short-toed snake eagle

Common kestrel - female

Which camera to start with?

Note: This article is for people who wish to take up the photography seriously. It isn’t for people who wish to buy a camera just to have memories of a trip/function/party etc. So I assume that a person who is really interested, will be ready to do some ground-work and with reasonable detail.

I received about a few mails asking what would be a good camera to start with or how should one start with learning photography. Most of the queries were of the kind ‘I am new to photography, so I want to buy some equipment that will help me learn and then a little later I’ll buy better equipment… what would be a good buy for me?’

OR

‘such and such is the latest camera introduced.. how is it? Should I buy it?’

Personally I am against buying something just for learning, without knowing performance (advanced point and shoot, OR an lower end entry level DSLR OR kit lenses)
I believe one should first find out:

1. What kind of photography are you interested in?

2. What kind of output quality will you be satisfied with?

3. Which equipment is suitable for your interest and can give the desired quality?

And then go ahead and buy that thing. You can always learn how to use your camera by reading manuals. It doesn't take more than a few hours provided, you know some basic technicalities.

I have following reasons for this belief:

1. You are going to spend on something which may or may not be according to type of photography you wish to do.
Ex. Let’s say you are interested in bird/mammal photography. You buy low-end entry level DSLR like Nikon D40x OR a Canon 1000D and a kit lens for ‘learning’.

Typically a kit lens will be 18-55 mm which won’t be of very good quality. For bird photography, typically the focal lengths required would be in the range of 300+ or for mammals you might need something like 70-300 lens.

The entry level DSLR is likely to give you a continuous drive of 1.5- 3.5 FPS which is not going to be good for action shots. With birds and mammals that are fidgety it becomes very difficult to capture action.

Result: you are dissatisfied with the output and your investment isn't quite in the right place.

2. Quality of output

Ex. You may buy Canon 50D because its introduced after 40D in the prosumer range from Canon. However there’s a catch. 50D – 15.1 MP has same sensor area as Canon 40D – 10.1 MP and also the sensor technology used isn't the one used in higher-end cameras. This has resulted into degraded higher ISO performance in 50D compared to 40D.

Result : once again, hard-earned money is wasted.

In entry level DSLRs also the output quality (especially at higher ISO) isn’t as good as compared to prosumer cameras.

At this point you might be thinking ‘Alright, now how can I answer the 3 questions especially the 1st one?’

Try each of your potential liking areas without a camera. If you are interested in photographing herpes (reptiles and amphibians) you should first be able to identify some snakes/frogs understand their habitat, their life-cycle etc. This will enable you to think of a photograph that can create an impact. This learning is more important than learning the technical nitty-gritty. The technical part is much easier to learn and is easily available on the internet.

So once you have answered the first question you can look for the properties of equipment that will enable you to get the result you wish to get. Like if I am interested in shooting birds I need a camera with higher FPS, good higher ISO performance especially for action and flight (pro OR prosumer range DSLR) and a lens with high focal length (a telephoto lens - 300mm+)OrIf I am interested in doing macro work like flowers/insects/herpes... I might spend slightly less on the body (get a consumer range DSLR) and use the saved money for a better macro lens, and a ring flash.

Budget is big factor too, however I always feel that it’s better to wait till the funds accumulate rather than use equipment that keeps me dissatisfied with result more often than not.

Hope this helps. Good luck!!