Olympus E30 My Mode

I have had for Olympus E30 for a couple of years now. I really like the camera. There is a lot of functionality that I haven't been using. As I mentioned in another post, I have been shooting in the sepia mode on my point and shoot. I thought that the E30 had a sepia mode as well. It does! I don't think I've ever used it till now. The benefit of shooting in the sepia mode for me is that you can immediately see on the lcd if the image is going to work as a sepia image.

Then there is the need to save the sepia image. I usually shoot RAW only, and when the E30 is in the sepia mode, the RAW images are color as usual. Even though the lcd preview is sepia. If you want to save the sepia image you have to be in the RAW + Jpeg mode. The sepia images are stored as .jpg's. This is fine and dandy, but I don't want to stay in the RAW + Jpeg mode all the time. I don't want to shoot sepia's all the time. What to do?

My Mode to the rescue. I simply put the sepia and RAW + Jpeg settings into Mode 2 and set Mode 2 as the selected mode. I also set the fn (function) button to activate My Mode. So now, I have the camera set up as I normally shoot and when I want a sepia shot (with RAW + Jpeg) I press the fn button along with the shutter. Works great! The are two My Mode setting, so I could add another.

Film Simulation Mode on Fujifilm F505

The F505 offers 5 film simulation modes. To save and import photos in these modes the camera must be set to save images as Raw+JPEG. If the camera is in the RAW only mode, your images will be previewed as the film simulation type in the camera, but will be normal RAW images when transferred to the computer.

You can always convert a RAW image to sepia in most image processing programs like Lightroom and Photoshop. I found shooting and previewing images in the "Sepia" film simulation mode helped me with my composition. I suggest the same would be true for the B&W mode.

More on the Fujifilm F505

I have had the F505 for a couple of weeks now. Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:

1) Panorama setting is really really cool.
2) The camera can capture 3 continuous shots in one shutter click for HDR shots. The shots are set to under exposure, normal exposure, and over exposure. The amount can be set at 1/3, 2/3, or 1 stop. Way cool.
3) Macro function and the closeup ability of this camera is outstanding.

Cons:

1) Mode button is easily moved by accident
2) Buttons are tiny
3) Barrel distortion on full zoom
4) Slow image storage - you have to wait on the camera after 2 shots
5) Oversaturated colors - particularly the reds
6) Overall image quality
7) High ISO images are quite soft

There are still functions I have not used. I am still finding new ways to use this camera. In spite of the flaws, it is well worth the $150 paid.

Review of the Fujifilm F505 Digital Camera

I recently received a Fujifilm F505EXR point and shoot camera. The camera has a 16mp CMOS sensor. It has a 15X zoom. The lens is a Fujinon lens with f =  4.4 to 60mm. Min aperture at 4.4mm is 3.5 and the min at 60mm is 5.3. The camera has a 3" fixed LCD display. Mine is a beautiful black color.

I bought this camera to have a decent picture taking machine with me at all times. Particularly for the daily trips to work. It's small size makes it easy to conceal and store.

I have owned Fujifilm cameras before. My second digital camera was a S3000. I really liked that camera.

My first images with the F505 were of some Orange gerbera daisies. The first thing I noticed was the intense color saturation. I also shoot Olympus which has some pretty intense color (which I love) but the F505 colors were even more saturated. I frequently have to back off on the saturation in Lightroom.

The camera has many modes for taking images. The P, S, A, & M (Program, Shutter, Aperture and Manual)  Modes behave as you would expect for the most part. There is also a Scene, EXR, and Advanced mode.

The scene mode is pretty typical - settings for portraits, dogs, cats, night, etc. I have not used any of these modes.

The EXR sensor is interesting. Here's what fujifilm says about it on their website.

The EXR modes are: Auto and Priority. The Auto mode optimizes the settings for the current subject to improve clarity, reduce noise, or enhance dynamic range.  The Priority mode has 3 options: Resolution Priority, High ISO and Low Noise, D-Range Priority. I have not yet played around with the EXR mode.

I currently am using the Aperture mode for the most part, as I do with my DSLR's. I also set the ISO at 400 rather than using the auto ISO capability. I have taken some low light images at 3200 ISO. They were ok, but somewhat noisy.

Overall

Picture quality is good. This is not a DSLR. You cannot get the same kind of blurred backgrounds at wide open apertures as with the proper lens on a DSLR. You can get some pretty decent shots. I find it harder to isolate my subjects - particularly for flowers and insects.

The pros are that for the size and portability, the images are good. There is enough functionality to get pretty decent photographs in most situations.

There are some more functions like panoramas and video that I will consider later.

SC Dragonfly Name Database/Keyword List

I have available for purchase a sqlite3 database of SC dragonflies. This DB can be used to keep track of dragonfly sightings. Presently there are 6 fields in one table. The fields are: Common Name, Scientific Name, Family Name, Date Sighted, Location, and Notes. A clip from the DB is shown below.

This DB can be accessed from any SQLite DB browser in a internet browser or an SQLite browser application in Android. It can be used on a desktop, Android tablet or phone.

I can add more fields if desired. I can also make this available as keyword file for Lightroom. Contact me for further details.