Digital Camera Repair Blog

The island of O’ahu is famous for its beaches but once there you will quickly discover a whole other world that you never knew existed! There are royal palaces, lush landscapes fresh food and fresh air all around you. If you are lucky enough to have remembered to bring your digital camera, you will be able to capture all these fantastic memories to cherish forever. If you forget and need to buy a new digital camera there you can, but be prepared to pay a premium over buying a digital camera online instead.

The native Hawai’ian language can be difficult for the average person to grasp, but that’s ok because people there also speak English, Japanese, Spanish and several other languages as well. All you have to do is ask about where you can discover authentic Hawai’i to get away from the tourist traps and you will quickly be off exploring.

There aren’t many roads on O’ahu being that it’s a fairly small island, so getting around in a rental car is easy. You are usually either heading “mauka”, towards the mountains or “makai”, towards the sea. Head east from Honolulu to the Kalaniana’ole; it’s a wonderful highway that heads around the island, and it makes for a very scenic trip.

You will want to stop at many scenic overlooks to take in the cliff-top panoramic view of the sea where you may see breaching whales and are sure to see scores of shore birds. Be sure not to miss the Makapu’u lookout on the southeastern tip of the island and hike up to Makapu’u Point Lighthouse; it’s breathtaking! They say the view from the lighthouse stretches as far as Kanaloa (god of the seas) allows… which is amazingly far!

Next head further down the northeastern coast to one of the real working cattle ranches and see how you fare as a Paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) by taking a horseback ride through the valleys and dense rain forest. You will not regret the experience, but you will regret not going!

One thing that many tourists miss completely is authentic Hawai’ian food even though it’s a huge part of the overall experience. Because of the nearby ocean and the islands different climates, food only found in Hawai’i grows abundantly year-round. Don’t miss out on the chance to sample dishes you will never see again.

The Kapi’olani Community College Farmers Market has booths that offer Kona avocados, dragon fruit, local pineapple, locally grown spices, chocolate made from  Waialua-grown cacao and much more! Be sure to ask the vendors if you can take these foods home with you through customs (if applicable) and how to package them properly for the journey. Don’t just assume you will be allowed to import any fruits or vegetables into your country, so maybe only buy enough to eat while you are in Hawai’i. The market across from the entrance to the dormant Diamond Head volcano is one of Hawai’I’s landmarks. Hike up Diamond Head and then refuel at the market afterwards! Food trucks also spot the island and offer amazing chicken and shrimp dishes like nowhere else.

Last but not least is the North Shore which is rightly famous for its amazing beaches. Yes this area is a little tourist oriented, but you will not want to miss it anyway. Just swimming in the ocean with wild turtles and lying on the beach is a great way to spend an afternoon as my wife and I found during our trip to Hawai’i. If you are up to it, check out the sky-diving on the north side of the island as well! There is nothing quite like jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet plus and watching the island below you as a huge beautiful map. It’s an experience you will never forget.

If you do spend a lot of time at the beach, take care to protect your camera from sand, water and being dropped. You don’t want to try and look for a camera repair shop while on vacation, and not having your camera operational can put a big damper on your travels. Have fun, be adventurous, and don’t forget to ask a local for tips, pointers or help so that you fully enjoy your Hawai’ian vacation!

Continue Reading

While all photographers have their own favorite lens, probably the most commonly used by professionals in nature photography is the 70-200mm zoom. This lens can be used in so many different situations and if the situation quickly changes, the lens can also so that you don’t miss a single shot. Granted the high-end 70-200mm lens is big, heavy and expensive, but if you make your living with your camera or are highly dedicated to it as a hobby this is one amazing lens to have available.

When zoomed out to 70mm, the lens is wide enough to take in a broad landscape or show animals in their natural surroundings. On the other end of the spectrum at 200mm, it is telephoto enough to get tight on an animal in many situations or to create a foreshortened perspective on a landscape. And for even more of a zoom range; some 70-200mm lenses will work with a 1.4x teleconverter which will bring the zoom range up to 280mm on a full-frame sensor DSLR, or about 450mm on a DSLR with an APS-C sized sensor.

Even though the 70-200mm lens is big and heavy, with the f/2.8 versions being even more so than the f/4 models, even the biggest 70-200mm is smaller and lighter than a 300mm telephoto and especially a 400mm. This allows you to more easily carry the camera and lens combination for extended periods while shooting outdoors, and allows for easier setup when you are trying to get a shot as well.

The first zoom lenses were not very sharp, and serious photographers tended to avoid them. Then roughly 30 years ago, manual-focus zoom lenses with a range of 80-200mm appeared and were had good enough image quality that the serious shooters started to use them. Professional quality autofocus 80-200mm zooms appeared in the 1980’s, and eventually became the standard 70-200mm zoom that many pros use today.

When selecting a new 70-200mm zoom lens you have important decisions to make as they are a considerably expensive purchase. Do you stay with the OEM manufacturer or aftermarket? Do you want f/2.8 or will f/4 work for your needs? Do you need image-stabilization or not? And most importantly, do you really need to make this investment to improve your photography?

- Thankfully both OEM and aftermarket lenses are all excellent quality these days, and you can’t really go wrong with either choice. Some people prefer to only buy OEM equipment, and it’s not a bad decision though it may cost slightly more in the end to do so. It doesn’t matter if you have a Sony, Canon, Nikon, Sigma or any other brand as they are all excellent quality and worth the investment.

- The choice between the lightning quick f/2.8 and the slower f/4 is a big one. The f/4 lens will cost roughly half as much as the f/2.8 and it is smaller and lighter to carry. The huge benefit of the f/2.8 lens is that it lets in so much light you will never have to worry about not having enough ever again! Imagine that your perfect shot will never come out blurry due to low light. Just one perfect shot due to the f/2.8 can earn you more than the lens costs, and that shot lost due to the f/4 giving you a blurry photo can cost you a lot more than that.

- Image-Stabilization or Vibration-Reduction is another great advancement in lens technology. These two terms mean basically the same thing; clearer images at lower shutter speeds, and who doesn’t want that? Just expect to pay about $500 extra for it.

- Will a 70-200mm lens help you in the field? Will it allow you to capture shots you’ve been missing? Will it make it easier to spend time shooting instead of changing out lenses all the time as conditions or situations change? In short will the $1500 – $2500 price of the lens bring you at least that much or more in return?

If you do get a 70-200mm lens in any configuration I’m certain you will enjoy it and will get good use from it for many years to come. Remember that upgrading your lenses is more important than your camera body. You will keep the lenses no matter what camera you have, and a quality lens makes all the difference to your picture quality.

Continue Reading

Yes it’s OK to buy used equipment online, including Craigslist, but be careful when making a big purchase. Thankfully on some sites like eBay you have some protection if you aren’t happy with your purchase. On Amazon for example you can return anything for any reason and get refunded directly from Amazon.

Craigslist is the last online place I would look for a big camera purchase, but if you like using Craigs and want to buy something take a look at this list first. Yes it’s going to take some time to try and do all these things, but if the seller is being honest with you then it won’t be a problem.

1. Does the camera power up? Obviously this is the most important thing on the list.
2. GENTLY (so as to not upset the seller) squeeze the camera body. Does it sound “crunchy” or is there very little or no noise? Crunching sounds coming from the camera means massive liquid exposure, even if the camera seems to be working.
3. Any problems with the battery door or corrosion inside the battery compartment? If there is corrosion just walk away.
4. Use your own memory card if it’s the correct format and make sure it works in the camera.
5. Check all the terminals (USB, Video etc) and look for bent pins or damage.
6. Check the camera’s lens mount (look for brassing or scratches) and be sure that the mirror box looks clean (no actual dirt or water spots).
7. Use you own lens, does the camera recognize it?
8. Does the shutter work and sound OK. If the camera can do multiple frames per second, test it and make sure it will.
9. Does changing the aperture and shutter speed actually change the exposure?
10. Check that all the modes on the dial work as they are supposed to.
11. Does the LCD Screen work?
12. If the camera has live view or video, be sure that they work as well.
13. Do all the buttons and dials work?
14. Test the hotshoe (they can get burn out and not function).
15. If the camera has a pop up flash, check that as well. If the camera can do remote IR flash, check that as well if possible.
16. Be sure the viewfinder looks good (clean) and that when using spot metering, the meter actually changes based on the scene.
17. Take one completely black (underexposed) and one white (overexposed) frame. View them on the LCD and look for dead pixels on the LCD and on the sensor.
18. Compose a picture, select a focus point and AF on it and capture it. Play back the images and check that your focus point is in fact, in focus. Be sure to do this with a lens you already trust.
19. If the camera has a diopter control wheel, be sure that it works. Set it up correctly for your eyes, select a focus point and take a manually focused capture. Check playback to confirm your focus point is in focus.
20. Last but not least, be sure the battery charger works, even though you can’t be 100% sure it’s working until the battery has been on the charger for several hours.

List first posted on JonMartinPhoto.com

Continue Reading

I love finding amazing photos on www.boston.com/bigpicture and they never fail to amaze!

Here we have the ‘Nikon Small World’ competition: www.NikonSmallWorld.com. Check it out for yourself, it’s pretty spectacular photography!

Continue Reading