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Canon EOS Rebel T3i SLR Camera review

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Unveiled in early 2011, the Canon EOS Rebel T3i (EOS 600D) continues Canon’s Digital rebel tradition of providing ‘affordable’ digital SLR cameras. Ideal for entry level enthusiast, the Rebel T3i sits on the top end of Canons entry-level EOS line-up, above the existing Rebel T2i (EOS 550D). With tools to capture beautiful still images and Full HD movies, the Canon EOS Rebel T3i makes photography easy and fun. With the matchless range of EF-S lenses and other accessories from Canon, the Rebel T3i holds the key to the perfect shot.

Body Design and Handling

Unlike its predecessors, the Rebel T3i has an improved grip that’s a little deeper, front to back, coupled with a carved channel on the back that provides an anchor point for the thumb. Although bigger hands may still find it a tight squeeze, most users should find its grip more comfortable than its predecessors. It is also heftier than its predecessor, the T2i, weighing almost 60g more (583g compared to the T2i’s 525g)

As with many cameras in its class, the Canon EOS Rebel T3i utilizes a pentamirror viewfinder. Although it is one of the better pentamirror finders in the market, it is smaller and dimmer than the pentaprism finders used in more expensive cameras. The viewfinder shows approximately 95% of the scene to be captured, and the 5% ‘margin of error’ is of little consequence in normal use.

The Canon EOS Rebel T3i has an excellent 3:2, 1,040k dot display swivel-and-tilt articulated LCD screen. Hinged on the side instead of the based, it is useful for taking shots when using a tripod, or camera above the head type of shots. The ClearView display technology which has a layer of optical elastic material between the coverglass makes for unusually clear indoors and outdoors images.

First Class Still Shots

The Canon EOS Rebel T3i’s DIGIC 4 image processor and buffer enables capture of about 34 large/fine JPEG images, 6 RAW frames, and 4 RAW+JPEG frames. The DIGIC 4 processor also allows capture of 14-bit RAW images, and the 8-bit JPEGs are created from 14-bit data. The quality from both the swiveling LCD and the optical viewfinder is excellent, good enough to shoot at ISO 3,200 for a low-noise image.

With Peripheral Illumination Correction, the Rebel T3i is able to reduce Vignetting, a reduction of an image’s brightness or saturation at the periphery compared to the image center.

The Rebel T3i also has Creative Filter functions, which provides 5 filters, including the new Fisheye mode that creates a distortion as seen through a fisheye lens. The effect is applied after the shot is captured, and the strength of the effect is adjustable. This feature is not available for videos.

Unlike its predecessors, the Canon T3i offers nine-point auto focusing (AF) with a central f/2.8 focus point and eight single-axis points. All its AF points are cross-type, an advantage, as they are sensitive to both horizontal and vertical detail.

The Canon EOS Rebel T3i also comes with an Auto+ mode, which combines five Canon T3i’s systems, i.e.; Auto Exposure, Autofocus, Auto White Balance, Auto Lighting Optimizer, and Picture Style Auto, into one smart exposure mode.

Full High Definition Moving Pictures

The Canon EOS Rebel T3i comes with movie mode with Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 pixels at 24, 25, and 30 frames per second. 720p is available at 50 and 60 fps and VGA video is recorded at 30 and 25 fps. Zooming is a breeze with Video Digital Zoom, which allows a cropped zoom from between three and 10x magnification in 1080p resolution at all frame rates.

Another feature is the Video Snapshot mode that is brought in from Canons PowerShot and camcorder ranges. This feature allows recordings of short 2, 4 or 8 second video snippets, which are then stitched together and played back as a merged video. There is also an option to add audio soundtrack, choosing from the in-built five standard background music tracks, or import music to the SD card via the EOS utility. With this feature, multi-take videos can be produced without computer editing.

Other Handy Features

The T3i has a pop-up flash, with an X-sync of 1/200 second and a guide number of 43 feet (13m) at ISO 100 that can also function as an Integrated Speedlite Transmitter /wireless flash controller.

As with the T2i, it is HDMI-CEC compatible. With an HDMI to mini-HDMI (Type C) adapter or cable (purchase separately), you can play back your images on your HD TV as well as control the camera’s Playback functions via the CEC (Consumer Electronics) Protocol.

In Conclusion

With newly added features to the already impressive Rebel line, the Canon EOS Rebel T3i is a value for money investment for aspiring photographers. The quality of its still shots is among the best in its price range, and its video modes are quite comprehensive, offering excellent quality, if handled correctly.

Besides the Rebel T3i, Canon offers the T2i and the 60D, another two outstanding 18-megapixel digital SLRs within the same price range. All provides excellent image quality. However, in this authors opinion, the Canon EOS Rebel T3i has the best mix of features among the three.

Miniature Chu-ke nu Chinese Repeating Crossbow is now FOR SALE!

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The Chinese repeating crossbow. Quite a legend. Online research shows that it originates to the 4th century.
A very famous Chinese strategist, Zhuge Liang (226-481 AD) is believed to have “upgraded” an earlier design from a tomb dating 4th Century BC.
This new design was able to fire multiple arrows (bolts) in succession, was last used in mass formations which helped shape the China-Japan war of 1894. It was named after Zhuge because of his improvements. You can see it spelled a couple of different ways; or “Chu-ke nu” or “Chu-ko-nu”, the first being correct. It literally means “Zhuge Crossbow”

The weapons were very common among the Manchurian troops, and can be seen in photographs from that era.

It was introduce to the Koreans in 1418, and was given the name “sunogung”. Everyone seems to be impressed by it’s mechanism and ease of firing. This rapid firing design is why it was so impressive.

Even though it has a short range, the owner of the weapon would dip the bolts into poison. So even if an enemy were to be hit by a bolt, and not suffer a mortal wound from the bolt itself, the poison would work it’s way into the bloodstream and inevitably end their life with a “slight delay”.

In China, the crossbow revolutionized the war. The warriors would line up and fire multiple bolts at riders on horseback as a fist strike. Because of the rapid fire mechanism of the Chu-ke nu, it was used as the “first strike” defense in close combat situations.

What I like about firing the miniature Chinese Repeating Crossbow is the sound and feel of the bolt leaving the chamber. You can load 6 to 7 bolts, and the firing mechanism is just “push forward and pull back”.

Other people who first fire one will do it slowly, thinking that it needs time to load the next bolt. This is not so! Once they have been exposed to how fast it can fire, the fun begins. The accuracy is good too.

In conclusion, the Chinese Repeating Crossbow, often called the Chu-ke nu, has been around for a long time. The actual detail that goes into the design and assembly of the crossbow is what gives this weapon it’s uniqueness.

Anyone who has fired the Chu-ke nu and realized how fun it is, usually asks the same question: “Where can I get one?” ScanzonCraft, makers of fine wood products, in association with Micro-Weapons.com have answered that question – THEY do!

The Popularity of Beanie Babies

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One of the most popular toys ever with kids is Beanie Babies. They were originally launched in 1993. From the very start they were very popular with people who would often stand in long lines in order to buy them.

The toys might have been named Beanies because of the beans (plastic pellets) that are stuffed inside them.

Beanies Babies in a smaller size were called Teenie Beanies and they were given away at McDonalds. If you purchased a Happy Meal then you would also receive a free Teenie Beanie. At one time a complete set could sell for about $100 on eBay.

From the introduction of the Beanie Baby there were two tags attached to them. The heart shaped “swing tag” and the “tush tag” on the toys bottom. As time went by both the tags have changed. The later generation heart tags also had a poem and birth date.

The creator of Beanies, Ty Warner, had a winning marketing strategy in the beginning that created a lot of excitement and demand for the toys.
Ty kept the price of the toys low so they were affordable to the masses. Just about anyone could afford to spend about five dollars for these cute stuffed toys.

In the beginning production and distribution was limited to only small retailers. Retailers could only order a certain quantity each month. By making them scarce Ty was able to increase the publics demand for them.

Ty would also “retire” them after a few months. To “retire” a Beanie meant that it would no longer be manufactured. This created even more scarcity and demand for the toys.

In 2008 the toys went online and were referred to as 2.0. Ty had a special website for them. It was a short time later that production of the 2.0 Beanies ended because they just werent popular enough with people.

Some of the most notable Beanie Babies among them is Garcia the bear which became popular for its ty-dyed colors.

Decade the bear was also popular and was made in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Beanie Babies.

Beanie Babies went through many changes, but they always remained the most popular soft toy in the marketplace.

Today you can find the Babies anywhere from a small gift shop to big box stores like Target.
The toys popularity and the demand for them decreased as Ty increased the production and distribution outlets for them.

Even though the Beanies arent as popular as they used to be, children still love them. It is hard to find a quality stuffed toy that sells for about five dollars that brings so much joy to people.

Jobs For Friends That Are Not In The Wedding Party-photography

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Your wedding day will only happen once. The memories will last forever but, great pictures and videos will allow you to keep and share the memories in a special way. If you are planning to hire a professional photographer, it might be a good idea to have friends and family taking pictures as well. Every moment of your wedding day is only going to happen once and everyone will see it differently. Photographing your wedding is a fun way for friends that are not in the wedding party to feel they made a valuable contribution.
There might be guarantees from a professional photographer but, what good will those do after the ceremony? Those moments can never be captured again and if something goes wrong you will have no recourse but perhaps a financial refund. Ask others to take photographs and video also, you should have no problem enlisting back up photographers.

There are certain shots that you will need to make sure do not get overlooked. Provide a list of people and shots that are to be taken and have more than one person take each one.

1. If you hire a professional photographer you probably want to save money where you can. Ask them to show up only when needed and be specific about which shots you want and where they should be taken. There is probably no need for them to take pictures of the wedding party getting ready but this might be a lot of fun for one of your friends. Have a friend or family member with the groom and his groomsmen and one with the bride and her attendants taking pictures.

2. It would be a lot more fun for the bride to have a friend riding with her to the church taking pictures stead of a strange photographer.

3. Make sure that whoever will be taking pictures gets good photos of the venue before your guests arrive. Of course there should be plenty of pictures as guests arrive as well.

4. Besides pictures of the actual ceremony there should be pictures of the seated guests and wedding party. These should include the entire wedding party and the parents of both the bride and groom.

5. You will need to let your photographers know what pictures you want right after the ceremony and who is to be in them. These pictures should include pictures of the bride and groom together with their parents. One picture of the new couple with his parents and one with hers is a photo that often gets overlooked. If parents are remarried, you should get a picture of the biological parents alone with the couple if you can. Don’t feel too uncomfortable asking for this particular photo, you will be so happy you did.

6. Put disposable cameras on the wedding reception tables and encourage all guests to take pictures of each other and anything they think will be important to you. Instruct them to leave the cameras on the tables for you to develop and you will make sure whoever wants pictures will get them.

If you hire a photographer you can save a little money by asking to buy your pictures unedited or on a cd, you will want to ask about the reprinting rights. Limiting the amount of time they spend at the event and the number of pictures they take is also helpful. But, friends and family will be happy to take pictures all day long for free. Everyone can’t be a member of the wedding party but this is one of those great job for friends that are not in the wedding party, and it will save you a ton of money.

Still Life Photography – How to Shoot Good Pictures

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Still life photography has many uses. Perhaps you want to take a picture of a beautiful shell or perhaps take a picture of a product that you’re selling on eBay. Other reasons for learning still life photography may include selling still life photograph downloads at microstock sites or to food magazines. No matter what your reason, still life photography is a great skill to learn.

Unless you are photographing specific products or pictures for a magazine assignment, the subjects for your still life photography are endless. Despite common belief, still life photography isn’t limited to just pictures of apples and grapes. Even super simple items like a few artfully arranged spools of thread can be interesting and attract attention. There are a couple of microstock sites like Shutterstock and iStock that have a high demand for all sorts of still life pictures from simple to complex.

People often times think of still life photography as a lot easier than other types of photography like sports or landscape photography. With still life pictures, you can arrange the objects exactly how you want them and have full control over the photo’s composition.

In other ways, good still life pictures are more challenging to capture. Because still lifes are taken up close, it’s easy to see imperfections on your subject that you would normally never see.

Despite its challenge, by using some basic photography skills and applying these tips, you can create stunning still life pictures with just a little practice.

Still Life Photography Lighting

Professional photographers usually use a soft box or a light box to shoot their still lifes. However this isn’t absolutely necessary as you will see in a moment, but it can be a big help. However, if you do want one, you can find a soft box online or you can easily make one using instructions you find online. The purpose of these lighting tools is to provide even light on the subject.

Another way to get this good quality light is to set up your shoot outside. A high overcast or bright sky can create a natural soft box effect without having any of the harsh shadows.

Composing Still Life Pictures

Arrange your objects in a pleasing composition. Use a classical composition technique such as “Rule of Thirds” or “Leading Lines” or “Frame within a Frame” to create a good composition. Artfully arrange the objects, and use your imagination. For example, if it’s a picture of a piece of cake, instead of including the entire table setting, place a gleaming, silver dessert fork upside down on the plate and remove a tiny bite from the cake.

Fill the Frame with Your Still Life Subject

Remember, the only thing that should be in your viewfinder or on your preview LCD screen is your composition. You need to remove any distractions or clutter from the background so you can have a clean and up close image. If you have a backdrop or background you don’t like don’t worry about it because it can be easily solved. The light box or soft box will solve this problem, but if you’re taking pictures outside and have a distracting background simply place a piece of white foam board behind your subject and you’ll be all set. If you want a sharp image, make sure to use macro mode or you can end up with a fuzzy image.

Look for a Good Angle and Start Shooting!

Rather than taking a picture from your head level, try holding the camera so that it’s at the same height as your subject. You should also try shooting from a variety of different angles.