Amazing Cebu City Timelapse by Garyl Paras

Timelapse videos are a technique used to compress time by reducing the number of frames per second (fps). The standard video frame rate is 30fps or 60fps. On the other hand, Timelapse shoots video at a significantly lower frame rate that speeds up and reduces the length of the video. This technique produces stunning results and is often used to compress hours and days in a few seconds. Timelapse photography needs patience and discipline to deliver quality results. Unintentional movements, exposure variations, and focus can ruin the final output.

Can a Smartphone Camera Outperform an Old DSLR?

Huawei P30 vs Olympus E30 + Zuiko 14-54mm & 9-18mm

Smartphone cameras have seen dramatic improvements over the last few years, with image quality and low light performance way ahead of what cameras offered a few years ago. The image quality of current smartphones is adequate for casual photographers, and even entry-level phones have decent image quality.

Capable of taking high image quality in low light, I decided to replace my phone with a Huawei P30 last year. Since the bulk of my shots are taken indoors or in low light, a camera's low light performance is essential to me. I also needed a backup camera if I left my camera at home and needed to take a photo.

Since purchasing my phone back in December, I noticed that I seldom use my camera anymore. The quality of the photos I take from my phone is decent enough that I no longer need to use my camera. The only time I bring out my camera is when I need a shot that requires a shallow depth of field. 

The LCD of my main camera malfunction a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't decided if I should buy a new one. Impressed with my phone's performance, I am now having second thoughts about buying a new camera body. So I decided to test and compare how the image quality of my Huawei P30 compares to my 11-year-old Olympus E30 DSLR, which will help me decide whether or not I should buy a new camera.

The Olympus E30 has a 12-megapixel sensor and was released back in 2009. The lenses used are the Zuiko 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 (28-108mm equivalent) and Zuiko 9-18mm f4.0-5.6 (18-36mm equivalent). The E30 needs both lenses to match the Huawei P30's range. The Huawei P30, on the other hand, was released back in 2019, and it has a 40-megapixel f1.8 27mm primary camera, an 8-megapixel f2.4 80mm telephoto camera, and a 16-megapixel 17mm ultra-wide camera.

Metabones Speed booster Mirrorless Adapter

I've been using the micro four-thirds system for a while now and I love the system for its portability. The only issue I have with the micro four-thirds system is the lack of fast and affordable lenses. I love using prime lenses. I have a few fast legacy prime lenses to cover my need for fast primes. The only problem with the legacy lenses is the lack of autofocus.

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A few days ago, I read an article from 43rumors that made me love more of the micro four-thirds system. Metabones is going to introduce a new adapter which will increase the speed of the lenses by a full stop. It will also widen the focal length by a factor of  0.70x. Which will bring the crop factor of the Micro Four Thirds system to 1.40x.

Image Averaging - How to Increase Detail and Remove Noise from Images

Shooting with low light means that you need to use high ISO, resulting in a lot of noise. I found two articles that improve the quality of photos taken at a high ISO level. The first method is to stack underexposed photos to create a proper exposure. The other method is to stack a few high-iso photos removing the noise and increasing the detail.

Single Image ISO 3200

9 images averaged at ISO 3200

Going Wide, Fast or Tele

I have been browsing a lot of websites on some reviews on my next possible lens purchase. On my list are the Sigma 30mm f1.4, Zuiko 9-18mm f4-5.6, and the Zuiko 70-300 f4-5.6.

Although I rarely use the telephoto end of my current telephoto lens, I have been considering buying the Zuiko 70-300 as an alternative lens for my macro works. It would also be useful for my street photography because I can capture my subject from a distance and take candid shots of them.

The Sigma 30 mm f1.4 will be perfect for my food photography, as I shoot indoors with minimal lighting. It's also going to be great for portrait and low light shooting.

The Zuiko 9-18 ultra-wide lens would be perfect for taking photos of interiors and buildings that are useful for photographing my projects. It's decent for landscape photography too.

Upon close deliberation of all three lenses, it all comes down to choosing between the Sigma 30 mm and the Zuiko 9-18. I still can't decide which of the two lenses is going to be more useful to me. I regularly take food shots for my blog, and I do require a wider lens to shoot small interior spaces.

Both lenses perform excellently and are worth every penny. I guess I'm going to have to make my decision when the time comes to purchase one of these lenses. Below is a link on a Focal Length Simulator that I used to help me with my decision. I hope this is going to help you determine whether you want to go wide or telephoto.

www.digcameralab.com

Lytro the end to unfocused Photos

Ever since I started taking photos I occassionally experienced having the perfect shot ruined due to focusing issues. Having a shot ruined becuase of a wrong focus has kept me looking for a software or solution in order to fix or prevent this problem. I've tried numerous programs such as photoshop and topaz in focus but have so far never made any drastic improvements to my out of focused images.

Importance of White Balance in photography

Exploring Action Scripts in Photoshop

Lately I've been trying to cope up with the amount of photos I need to process. I enjoy shooting photographs but I am really lazy in doing the post processing of these photos.

When I take a shot at a scene I usually have something in mind that I want to achieve during post processing, the problem is I really don't have enough time to process each and every one of these photos.

Its a good thing that there are a lot of action scripts in photoshop to help me with the post processing. Even though I use the action scripts to make my work much faster I still do a lot of tweaking to achieve the end result that I want.

Here are some of the photos that I processed with the aid of action scripts


Cesz

Through The Window

Surreal Photographer

For more photos please visit my Photoblog

Photographs of Carcar

I went on a photowalk with Zenia and Laurie to the south of Cebu last Sunday. This was the first time I had the chance to use the new things I bought on Ebay. I was so excited that I forgot to adjust my camera settings.

I set the camera with the wrong shutter speed. This mistake ended up blurring most of my shots. I was had to use manual focus in this photowalk since I was using a legacy lens in my camera. I will have to charge those blurred photos to experience. Here are some of the photos I took. 

Exploring Black & White Photography

It's been a long time since I posted anything to this blog. A lot of things have happened in the last few months that I haven't had time to post anything on my blog. I 'm back now, and I've been busy with my hobby.

I attended a photo tour of the province last week. I've had the opportunity to practice street photography. When I was shooting the images, I had a lot of good ideas, but I wasn't able to catch anything on my camera. I'm just going to have to charge that to experience.

Reviving My Love for Photography

Lately, I have been trying to revive my interest in photography. I used to love photography back in high school, my dad taught me how to use his old film SLR cam back then. I used to take a lot of pictures of different subjects. When my dad bought his first digital camera, I also stopped my hobby of taking pictures with the SLR camera.

My fascination with photography stopped since film photography was expensive back then. It was the SLR camera that made me love photography back then. There's just a lot of difference between the point and the shoot and the SLR. Apart from the difference in the results, there is a different feeling in the handling of an SLR camera

When Zenia bought her Holga camera she asked me to go with her on a photo excursion with our office mate. While we toured around the rural areas I watched my office mates taking shots with their DSLRs. They took photos of different subjects and scenery with their DSLR. I, on the other hand, took some pictures with my cellphone camera. After our photo excursions, I noticed my shots were not as sharp as the ones my friends took with their DSLR.

 I was frustrated with the results since I might not be going back to that place for a very long time. I then recalled that my dad still had his old SLR cameras. I borrowed it from him and tested it out and found out it was still working perfectly. Although these were old film SLR camera the quality of the shots were good. Even though I had to spend on film and developing it, this would still be much cheaper than buying a DSLR camera.

Eventually, I will buy myself a DSLR camera this December. As for now I will exploit my dad's SLR cameras and learn the ropes before investing in a DSLR. I still have to convince myself that this is not just a phase, that I would find time for this hobby and continue with this it for a long time.

Here are a couple of the shots I took with my film SLR.