# New toy - EOS550D, now with photos.



## Steve Smith (24 Jun 2011)

Just arrived today after a long and difficult week, trying to get the delivery sorted out!  Very impressed so far   

Any tips for the HD video side of things??


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## Gill (24 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

Glad it arrived ok, but what a hassle you had getting it to you.


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## chilled84 (24 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

You ###### LOL, Im so jealos. I realy want an eos so much.


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## Steve Smith (24 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

I'm replacing a 300D which has lasted me a good 6 or 7 years!  I'm away this weekend with family, and the place we're going too is supposed to be very picturesque, and lots of mossy woodland


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## chilled84 (24 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

Great stuff, Get Nicking some moss, Try and grow it in a tank lol. Have a nice time mate.


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## Greenview (24 Jun 2011)

*New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

Have a great time away and enjoy the camera. The biggest challenge with the HD video is focus. It is slow to get focus before you start filming and you need to manually focus while filming; this takes some practice, especially if you want to try shallow depth of field. It is well worth it though, the quality of the video is fantastic.


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## Themuleous (25 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

I recently got the 550D, nice camera  cant work out the video either really, focusing with a dslr is a nightmare!

Sam


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## Mark Evans (25 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

I tend not to  use auto focusing. 

Try instead, to pick stationary shots,from different angles and then string them together with software.


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## Steve Smith (26 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

I've read about using a larger Fstop so that focus is less of an issue too.  Any thoughts on this?

I've just come back from a place called Puzzlewood, in Gloucestershire.  Amazing place, and somewhere I think anyone on this forum should visit if they have the chance.  Rock/Wood/Moss inspiration everywhere! There's just so much amazing formations.  You can spend hours looking at all the mosses, ferns and trees.  Highly recommend a day there!  Interesting challenge to photograph too.  Having had a chance to look at some of my photos on my home PC, I can see some are quite grainy, and perhaps shooting in high ISO was a bad idea...

Anyway, a few pics I've uploaded so far:


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## Steve Smith (26 Jun 2011)

*Re: New toy - EOS550D. HD Vid tips?*

And a load more photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/casa-steve ... 922271113/


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## Greenview (27 Jun 2011)

I love the photos, they really capture the feel of the place and show it as a potential aquascape. I love the vibrant greens in the pictures too.

Yeah, small apertures (large number) are the way to go for keeping things in focus in video, but often there is not the luxury for this. The big problem comes when you want to use a narrow depth of field for effect (keeping the subject sharp, but the background blurred)—a common video technique, buts the challenge is keeping the subject in focus if anything moves! If I want to do this I tend to do short clips and edit them together later (as a poster above said). 

One thing on noise, I have started exposing 'to the right' quite a lot and correcting the images when I get home. Noise is obviously worse in the darker areas, and made a whole lot worse when I underexpose. I find that by overexposing a little (without blowing highlights) I get a better shot after post-processing.


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## Steve Smith (27 Jun 2011)

Interesting thoughts about slightly over exposing.  I'll give that a try in future.

I'd be interested to know what non-linear video software people are using.  Currently I don't have anything to edit video (other than Windows Live movie maker   )


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## Greenview (27 Jun 2011)

I use a mac, so imovie does the job. I hear Adobe premiere elements is good, but have no experience of it and it is not cheap.


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## Steve Smith (16 Sep 2011)

Quite chuffed   I took some photos of a friends fish pedicure business (of which I've been advising and helping out with maintenance and stuff), as a favour, so she could use them on their website.  She had some printed out because her daughter was in them, and wanted to send them abroad to family.

Randomly, a customer saw one she'd put up in the shop and liked it, and saw the rest of them and again, liked them.  She then asked my friend if she thought I'd be willing to take some photos of her holiday cottage, in the lake district!  She offered the use of the cottage for a long weekend in return 

Feels weird to be asked by a stranger to take some photos for them


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## greenjar (18 Sep 2011)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> Randomly, a customer saw one she'd put up in the shop and liked it, and saw the rest of them and again, liked them.  She then asked my friend if she thought I'd be willing to take some photos of her holiday cottage, in the lake district!  She offered the use of the cottage for a long weekend in return
> 
> Feels weird to be asked by a stranger to take some photos for them



awesome Steve...... your first "paid" photo shoot  -  good job man


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## ghostsword (19 Sep 2011)

Damm Steve, that Puzzlewood place is just amazing! really wow.. 

There are so many beautiful sites in the UK, thanks for sharing this. Amazing inspiration for scapes on each of your photos.


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## chilled84 (25 Dec 2011)

where is the cheapest place for a canon Eos 550d?


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## Robbowal (29 Dec 2011)

chilled84 said:
			
		

> where is the cheapest place for a canon Eos 550d?



if you dont mind second hand try MPB photographic they have 550d body for around £399


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## Callum (29 Dec 2011)

Puzzlewood is not too far from me, may have to make a visit in the new year


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## Dave Spencer (1 Jan 2012)

Greenview said:
			
		

> One thing on noise, I have started exposing 'to the right' quite a lot and correcting the images when I get home.



Is it not better to get the exposure right first time, without having to post process? I occassionally overexpose/underexpose for effect, but there is no substitute for getting it "right" with a camera in your hand, as opposed to a mouse. With modern camera sensors, this should be a relative doddle.

Regards, Dave.


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## Greenview (1 Jan 2012)

Yes Dave, you are right that getting exposure correct in camera is important, but sometimes post-processing can give a hand. It is, after all, such an integral part of photography for most people now. The problem for me lies in the sensors in crop cameras which while they have come a long way, they still give more noise than I would like in the shadow areas. This is a problem when the subject of the photo is in these darker tones. For Canon (not sure about Nikon) overexposing these shadow areas results in lower noise when the exposure is corrected back in post. (It is vital that the highlights are not blown). I don't use this technique all the time, but for certain subjects it helps.


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