Canon PowerShot SD890

Well, it’s finally time to get back out there shooting again, at my favorite place on the planet to shoot. Maui!!!

We leave Sunday morning, and earlier this week I started packing up my camera gear and getting it ready for the journey west. I’ve always brought a lot of tech toys with me on our Maui trips, but this year more than ever, it seems to be almost all I’m bringing with. I took a few shots of the camera gear I’m bringing this trip, along with an inventory just to make sure everything makes it back. Photos and details below.

My DSLRs
First up, my two DSLR cameras. This will be my first trip carrying two, and while they won’t both be going everywhere with me, it will come in handy in a few key situations.

Pictured:

• Canon EOS 20D Body
• Angle C Finder
• Remote Switch RS-80N3 (for 20D)
• USB Cable for 20D
• AC Wall Charger CG-580 (for 20D)
• Additional Battery BP-511A (for 20D)
• Canon Rebel XSi Body
• Speedlite 430EX II
• Difuser
• Canon Powershot SD890 IS
• AC Wall Charger CB-2LX (for SD 890)

Lenses

Pictured:

• Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
• Canon EF 18-55mm (bringing the IS model from my XSi, though)
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8

More Cables

Pictured:

• AC Power Adapter ACK-E2 (for 20D)
• AC Power Adapter ACK-E5 (for XSi)
• USB + Video Cables for XSi
• Remote Switch RC-1 (for XSi)
• AC Wall Charger LC-E5 (for XSi)
• Additional Battery LP-E5 (for XSi)

Video Gear
In addition to the camera tech, I’m also bringing our HDD video camera, too.

Pictured:

• Sony HDD HandyCam DCR-SR82
• HandyCam Station + AC Charger + USB Cable
• Standard Battery NP-FH40
• Extended Battery NP-FH70
• Video Light HVL-HL1
• Wide Angle Conversion Lens x0.6 VCL-HA06
• Telephoto Conversion Lens x2.0 VCL-2030x
• Filter ND8 30mm
• UV Protector 30mm
• RCA Video/Audio Cable

Filters
Things are getting a little crowded here, aren’t they? Here’s a list of the filters I’m bringing for my different lenses.

• 52mm Quantarray UV Filter
• 52mm Quantarray Circular Polarizer
• 58mm Qunatarray Circular Polarizer
• 58mm Hoya Circular Polaraizer
• 58mm Canon UV Haze Filter (2x)
• 77mm Tiffen Neutral Density 0.3 Filter
• 77mm Hoya Circular Polarizer
• 77mm Hoya UV Haze Filter

Rental Gear
In addition to everything above, I’ve also rented the following gear from CameraLensRentals, which is making the trip with me.

• Canon 400mm f/5.6L Telephoto Lens
• Canon 1.4x II Extender
• Giottos Tripod MT-8340

Why all this stuff?
I plan on covering quite a bit of ground during our two weeks on Maui, including a wide arrange of shooting conditions, subjects, and locations. Pretty amazing for such a small island, actually. Everything you see above is being brought along for one or more of those different situations, and while I wish I had the time to list them all out now, I’ll have to save that for future posts.

A look at the Visitor Center in Ephraim, Wisconsin.

Weather conditions for some hockey history today here in Chicago couldn’t have been more perfect. And as a bonus, the slightly overcast afternoon in the Windy City offered some fairly nice lighting conditions for shooting a very memorable outdoor hockey game.

While I witnessed history from the comfort of my living room, and in 42″ flat screen and full HD glory, my brother and his buddy were at the game with about 40,000 others. He was kind enough to bring along my Canon SD890 for the afternoon and took some really great shots that I wanted to share. Even though the main focus of this site is aimed at showcasing my work as a photographer, I felt the quality of these photos was a strong testament to how versatile the Canon SD890 really is.

Perhaps the biggest thing that sticks out with this set of photos is the image quality using the 5x optical zoom of the SD890. While his seats were pretty decent, the optical zoom got him closer to the action without introducing noise and other distortions that digital zooms are known for. Even in the hands of someone that just picked up this particular camera for a few hours, this Canon did a very respectable job of capturing some great memories.

You can see more of these photos in the Flickr photoset Winter Classic 2009. And if you like these, check out my hockey page in Viewfinder section for more.

These photos are courtesy of Bobby Nelson.

So what can I say, sometimes I do things a little backwards. Normally, its the people who are used to their point and shoot cameras that need a little extra help with, and take a little longer to learn about the more complex settings of a Digital SLR camera. Well, after using my Canon EOS 20D for two years and picking up a Canon SD890 as an anywhere/anytime take-along camera, its the point and shoot camera that I’m still learning about after two months later.

When I tried to shoot the flurries outside here in Chicago yesterday during my lunch break, all I had with me was my SD890 (again anywhere, anytime). Trying to catch the giant snowflakes whizzing around my car window with the normal modes from the SD890 just wasn’t working. They snow was flying too fast and the shutter was taking too long. Everything was coming out blurry.

The Solution
Flipping through the Scene (SCN) options, I found the ISO 3200 setting and gave it a shot. To my amazement, the photo appeared on the screen almost instantly, way faster than using the normal shutter mode. After a few attempts, I was able to snap the photo on the right here, which was just what I was looking for. While you can only see the biggest snowflakes in this small thumbnail, click on the image to view the large size on Flickr to see the tiny flakes in more detail.

Not only was I happy to get the photo I wanted, I was also excited because I had a way to capture a wider range of photos for moments that wouldn’t be possible with slower shutter speeds. Remember, I’ve been shooting mainly with a DSLR, so this was a new problem to me.

Drawbacks
Of course, something this helpful will also come with it’s share of drawbacks. The first is in relation to the photo’s size, which isn’t too bad. Shooting with the SD890 in ISO 3200 mode puts your image size to a maximum setting of 3M, which is roughly equivalent to 3 MegePixels. It also restricts the resolution of your image to 1600×1200. Still, that’s pretty decent to use in cases where you would otherwise miss out on a shot altogether.

Now, just like with DSLR and even film cameras, the higher the ISO setting for film or an image processor, the more “noise” you will see in your photos. Depending on the situation, this can mean quite noticeable degradation in the fine details and quality of a photo. For example, the photo on the left here was taken in ISO 3200. Now, this is just a set scene and there’s no real reason why it has to be taken in the SD890′s ISO 3200, but it proves the point about the image noise that can result.

Once again, click on the photo to view the larger size on Flickr. If it was taken with the normal shooting mode of the camera (which I should have done for further comparison here), the details of the handwritten note on the Post-It would be a lot more legible, and you could probably even read my own chicken scratch on the pages underneath the bottle of water. With a proper settings and exposure time, this image, and all of the camera’s 10MP glory, would have been so much better.

What took so long?
Why did it take so long for me to figure this out? I can’t really tell you, other than the fact I don’t really read instruction guides as much as I should. I have known for years now that, for low-light and night photography, raising the ISO setting will allow you to shoot with faster shutter speeds. But I guess I never applied that line of thinking to a point and shoot camera like the SD890. Live and learn, I guess.

As a follow up to my post on my first photos with the Canon SD890, I thought I’d upload and share a few of the video clips I’ve shot with it and help give you an idea of what’s is capable of, and what it’s not.

The first one I shot was taken back in September, when it was still nice out here in Chicago. A little background, a few coworkers and I spent most of the summer rollerblading during our lunch break, and this little clip was me following them down the overpass on our normal route. As you can tell, the audio isn’t that great on a windy day when you’re whizzing down a fairly steep hill, but it kind of clears up near the end.