Canon EOS 1000D (Rebel XS / Kiss F) Preview

When Canon launched the EOS 300D back in 2003 it was widely regarded as the first affordable digital SLR and secured Canon a seemingly indomitable number-one spot in the market. Since then the 'small' Canon has gone through three further iterations and the current model - the EOS 450D - offers a feature set and image quality that could only have been dreamed about five years ago (and at a price point well below the 300D's). However, the competition haven't been idle spectators and have recently launched a number of de-spec'ed cameras that have redefined the entry level segment and undercut the EOS 450D in the DSLR hierarchy.

Canon has now responded to this mounting pressure by launching a new model one tier below the 450D in its current lineup - the EOS 1000D. It shares bits and pieces with Rebels gone by and, depending from which angle you look at it, the new model is either a stripped down 450D or a 'reheated' 400D. It's a lower specification camera than the 450D, by every measure you might see listed on the shop shelf, but is not the huge step down that its market positioning might lead you to expect.

On the next page of this preview you'll find a detailed comparison between the 1000D, 450D and 400D but the headlines are; a 10MP sensor, 2.5 in LCD monitor, 7-point AF system and no spot-metering (like the 400D) but Live View with both phase- and contrast-detect AF, SD/SDHC for storage and a control and menu layout that is pretty much identical to the EOS 450D's. In fact, because it's based around the same Digic III processor, it shares an interface with almost every current Canon DSLR all the way up to the 1DsMkIII.

Note that throughout this preview we will refer to the EOS 1000D by its European name; if you live in other parts of the world you'll know the camera by Rebel XS or Kiss F Digital, but they're all essentially the same camera.

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Edit your RAW Image using Adobe Bridge

First time, Adobe Bridge was just a glorified file browser and Camera Raw a neat alternative to the RAW processing software that came with your camera. But, now if you have Photoshop CS3 and you don’t delve into these programs added, you’re wasting your top-dollar investment.

I have some favorites RAW image editing tips using Camera Raw on Adobe Bridge. It’s so good and you may not even need to open Photoshop. Some of this great stuff wasn’t here when CS3 first launched, so before you start, go to Help > Updates to ensure you have the latest versions.

Adobe Bridge also can copying your images from your memory card into individual folders, and back them up while it’s at it: go to File > Get Photos From Camera.

Here are some of my favorites tips on Camera RAW Adobe Bridge:

Clarity slider in Basic panel Find the new Clarity slider on the Basic panel, and crank it up. Essentially, it adds midtone contrast to make your image pop all the more.

Sharpening in RAW Your best bet used to be to sharpen in Photoshop. Now, with Camera Raw’s excellent sliders, and the fact that the sharpening is done to the luminance data (essentially helping you avoid sharpening noise), you may want to use Camera Raw’s sharpening tool on your JPEGs and TIFFs, too.

Click on the Detail tab (symbolized by two small triangles). Then, to harness the full power of sharpening, zoom in to 100% or more.

The Alt key on a PC or (the Option key on a Ma

c) is your best friend when you’re using all of these sliders. Hold it down when you move the Amount slider to hide the color and see what happens to your luminance data as it gets sharpened.

As with Photoshop’s Smart Sharpen and Unsharp Mask tools, the higher the radius, the more pixels on either side of an edge get sharpened. Hold down Alt (Option) to see that effect in action.

Similarly, hold down Alt (Option) to see w

hat happens when you move the new Detail slider left to prevent haloes, or move the new Masking slider back and forth to determine how much detail within the edges gets sharpened. (The screengrab shows Masking at work.)

Healing in Raw Sometime we probably have a little dust on our camera sensor or lens. Without Photoshop, we can fix it on RAW image. Grab the Retouch tool from the toolbar at the top of the screen, and click on your bad spot to surround it with the red circle. Use the Radius slider to make sure it is encompassed. Then find a good area and drag the tethered green circle over a patch that Camera Raw can use to heal your dust spot. Of course, this works on blemishes, too. And, if need be, you can switch the function type to "Clone."

Zoom and Compare in Bridge One of the most frustrating tasks in the old Bridge was trying to compare two images. But now you can select and compare as many as you want just by holding down Shift and clicking the first and last of a set with your mouse. Or, to select a few at a time, click on them while holding down Control (Command on a Mac). Then, to examine a detail for sharpness or facial expression, click on one or all of the images to bring up the magnifier.

Stack them into a group In order to avoid an enormously crowded Bridge window, pile all of those shots into a stack. Just select them and go to Stacks > Group as Stack.

Once they’re stacked, a small number will show up in the upper-left corner of the stack telling you how many are present. Click it to show or hide the group. Then, to see them all in the Preview window, click the edge of the bottom image in the pile. To see only the front one, click the bottom of the pile again.

Buy Adobe Photoshop CS3 complete with Adobe bridge or Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Standard full with tutorial

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The Basic of Exposure by rick gondrong

Making a good photo require us to pay attention to the exposure of the photo. Camera have to ascertain the amount of optimal light to the camera censor to create a good color tones of the photo. This matter is obtainable by arrange long exposure (shutter speed) and light intensity of lens (lens aperture). All digital camera at this time have arranged the exposure automatically. But its still need the human to readjust the exposure to get desire photo.

Extremely Illumination
At the extremely level of light brightness is not possible to get the right exposure which recording the detail of shadow without light excess at point of interest the object. Or the otherwise. Generally the camera own the dynamic range value about 4EV. Its meaning we still can see the detail of shadow which is 2EV darker than mid tone of photo. And otherwise, 2EV lighter than mid tone of photo.

Mid-Tone
The concept of the mid-tone is a tone or detail at the middle area of the object photos. Mid-Tone is representing the parts of picture that we want as a point of interest at the photo. To maximize the exposure, the camera work at the standard of grey color tone, precisely its 18% grey. Thereby, we shall arrange the object at this level of brightness. This is one of weakness metering from all camera.

Metering
Light Metering on camera cannot differentiate the object which owning a different inheren brightness level. But, the camera at least can catch the contrast of illumination. By default, the metering system of the camera is Multi Pattern, which is measuring light brightness value of the object. With multi pattern metering, the camera automatically can accomodate a type of light which is captured from the object.
But all photographers most prefer to use the center weighted metering, that is emphasize the light measurement at the middle of the frame. While a spot metering, also emphasize the light at the middle of the photo which is centralize at the smaller area.

Aperture And Shutter speed
The camera arrange the exposure by using shutter speed and lens aperture. The combination among shutter speed and lens aperture can give various creativity in photography. The smaller aperture, earn the compensation with the slow speed of a shutter speed. Otherwise, by boosting up the speed of shutter speed, will need a larger lens aperture.

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