A visit to the Canon Service Centre

As I mentioned in a previous post, there were images turning up with a strange squiggly line everything I shot something. Tried the sensor cleaning that the 1000D comes equipped with but the squiggly line remained. So it was time to take the camera in for a sensor cleaning.

A quick google later, this was the address I got... (sorry about all the caps lock! Copied straight fron the Canon website: http://www.canon.co.in/section/contactus/servicenetwork.jsp)

CANON MASTER SERVICE CENTRE
6TH FLOOR,CENTER POINT BLDG,
ABOVE STANDARD CHARTED BANK
S.V. RD, NEAR TRIBHUVANDAS BHIMJI ZAVERI,
(JUHU TARA ROAD-JUNCTION)
SANTACRUZ (W),
MUMBAI
MAHARASHTRA
Pin : 400054
Tel : 022 67605000-01
Email : sheetal.more@canon.co.in
Contact Person : Sheetal More
Timing: 9:30AM to 5:30PM

The place is not too far from the Santacruz railway station. Its about 10-15 mins walking distance. Take the road from the station to get to the main road (SV Road), move due north and you'll find the place. Ask the shops if you're not too sure.

After getting to service centre, I was quite surprised to notice so many people there, I mean people who have come to drop off or retrieve cameras. It took some time, but I finally dropped off the camera. The 1000d for sensor cleaning (they call it CMOS cleaning, which is the sensor actually) and the EF 50mm f/1.8 II to check for focus issues.

Now if you register your camera when you buy it with Canon, you get a free sensor cleaning thrown in. If you don't register, you don't get the coupon and so you'll have to pay Rs 1000 + taxes which works out to around Rs 1100. Inspecting of lens costs 1000 bucks + parts if you don't have a bill or it doesn't fall under warranty.

They told me it'll take 6 days to work on since there's a 'rush', however I requested them to hurry it up since I needed the camera for a shoot on the weekend. (Incidentally, when I had called them up on Saturday, the person there told me it'd take 2 days so I wasn't too stressed). I dropped the camera off on Tuesday (27th April)

Got a call from them on Wednesday. The person who was working on my camera found no problem with the lens and wanted to know if I had shots that showed 'out of focus' or something. (Keep some test shots ready next time!)

Anyways, I got a call the next day in the morning (30th April) that my camera was ready. So I did get my camera back in 2 days. The dust is gone, but I still need to take test shots with the 50mm. Maybe some time this week.

In the meanwhile, enjoy this photo at the end of this text heavy post. This is a test shot taken post the cleaning of the sensor and trying out the lens. Came out better than I expected... this one is a 1280x800 wallpaper of the MG Astray Red Frame.

The jewel in the sea

The Bandra-Worli sea link really shines when it becomes night, and it has definitely added a strong visual element to what used to be a regular ol'bay around the Worli to Bandra area. Anyways, Enjoy the panorama!

Click on the pic for larger view.

In other news, the Canon has picked up some dust on its sensor(its visible when I stop down the lens) and the sensor cleaning doesn't seem to be doing anything to it, which means that I have to take it to the service centre. Lets see how that works out...

Lights off, Lights on

While I have been to Shivaji Park a few times, I've seldom been to the 'beach' that's right opposite it. These days at night, visitors are greeted with the great sight of the Bandra-Worli sea link. Missed the sunset but managed to catch the last rays of light, followed by the lights of the Bandra-Worli sea link being switched on.

The MSI X-Slim X340

Its been a while since the last post... as usual... the photos are all stuck in post-production. Before I go any further, this isn't my (new) laptop, its my brother's who has done a review for fnatic.com (click here for the review, my photos are on pg 2, pg 1 is the official MSI photo)

Check the rest of the photos on Flickr.

What's focal length and aperture got to do with Depth of Field?

This photo shoot started off with the intention of showing the relationship between focal length of the lens and the aperture on the depth of field. The subject of this shoot, leader-class Optimus Prime was patient enough to stay around in more or less the same pose through the shoot without tipping over even once. These shots involved moving Prime away from the camera rather than moving the camera away from prime, so there will be some discrepancy over the backdrop of the photos through the 3 different focal lengths.

The focus was on his head, with arms extend back and forth to show how the depth of field keeps increasing as the aperture keeps increasing in number (or decreasing in size)

First in the series, is Prime at 18mm on the 18-55mm lens:

*Note how the vignette in the first pic at f3.5 disappears at f5.6

Focal length = 18mm (28mm in 35mm) at f3.5

Focal length = 18mm (28mm in 35mm) at f5.6

Focal length = 18mm (28mm in 35mm) at f8

Focal length = 18mm (28mm in 35mm) at f22

Prime at 28mm on the 18-55mm lens

Focal length = 28mm (40mm in 35mm) at f4

Focal length = 28mm (40mm in 35mm) at f5.6

Focal length = 28mm (40mm in 35mm) at f8

Focal length = 28mm (40mm in 35mm) at f11

Focal length = 28mm (40mm in 35mm) at f22

Prime at 55 mm on the 18-55mm lens

Focal length = 55mm (88mm in 35mm) at f5.6

Focal length = 55mm (88mm in 35mm) at f8

Focal length = 55mm (88mm in 35mm) at f22

Focal length = 55mm (88mm in 35mm) at f32

Focal length = 55mm (88mm in 35mm) at f38

If you've seen all these photos, you've probably also noticed how much larger Prime's first appears as compared to his head in the wide angle shots as compared to the telephoto shots. This is because at wide angles, objects closer to the lens will appear larger than objects even a short distance away from the lens. In this case, his fist and his head.

And in other news, thanks to this shoot, I've found something (a fibre) is probably stuck to my lens. Time to clean it out I guess...

How much zoom is 12x ?

As the first post on the photography sessions I'm taking for the Response dept at TOI, this one is on focal lengths. The best way to illustrate this is with the 12x zoom Sony DSC H2. Check out the series of photographs to understand how 'zoom' gets distant objects 'closer'...

Photos are all shot on a tripod out through my window (it was too hot to visit the terrace for this) and saved in irfanview to reduce file size (dimensions are same as original). click on the photos to see full size. Check out more information on the photos on their flickr page linked here.

Sony DSC H2 - 1x (focal length = 6mm, 35mm focal length = 36mm)

Sony DSC H2 - 3x (focal length = 18mm, 35mm focal length = 108mm)

Sony DSC H2 - 5x (focal length = 29mm, 35mm focal length = 174mm)

Sony DSC H2 - 10x (focal length = 60mm, 35mm focal length = 360mm)

Sony DSC H2 - 12x (Sony focal length = 72mm, 35mm focal length = 432mm)

Greeting you at Orchid Garden

The Orchid Garden within the Botanical Garden is a treat for flower lovers as well as those who love to shoot macros of flowers, and of course, just lovers. The place provides many picture perfect 'take your photo here' points and its easy to lose track of time as you flit from one flower to the next.

This panorama is the sight that greets you right after you enter the Orchid Garden. I hadn't carried my tripod, so once again, I cursed my laziness as i settled down to take this hand-held panorama is all its misaligned glory :-(

Lesson learnt: Its better to carry and not use it and curse its weight than to not carry it and wish you had it, both while shooting and when seeing the photos back on your computer :-(

Click here for the larger version.

Looking back at the entrance

The Botanical Garden in Singapore has a great collection of plants, flowering and non-flowering and is a great spot to take the kids to in the evening (as was evident from the large number of families and kids in the area!) Its also a great place for photography and we actually spotted two brides (in complete bridal gear) getting their pictures clicked (with their pro of course). A must visit place.

This pan is of the entrance of the Botanical Garden in Singapore. To the right is the restaurant and some souvenir shops.The originally planned pan was supposed to be wider, but there were some serious alignment issues on the left-hand side, since I shot this hand-held and so that part had to be cropped out of the final version.


 

  Click here for a larger version.

Looking around Kanheri Caves - The desolate landscape

As with most places Maharashtra before the monsoons, there are looming clouds along with dry and dead dead vegetation all around, so much unlike the landscape of the monsoons. Kanheri caves in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park is no exception to this.

Click here for a larger sized version.

Inside the Esplanade

As interesting as the Esplanade looks from the outside, its even more interesting on the inside. This is a panorama of one of the main entrances. I'm not sure if it was part of 'installation art' or a regular feature of the place, but that entire hall was resonating with the sound of water drops. Part of an exercise in Zen meditation I guess?

 Back when I took this set, there were way too many lines in this place and I was pretty certain that getting them to stitch together seamlessly would be a pain so I never ended up processing it when I got back. There's also the shake in one of the photos of this set that I didn't notice on the LCD which makes this photo far from a perfect panorama :-(

Click here for a larger sized photo.

Singapore skyline by night panorama - redux

Here's a new look at an old pan. The first time I tried it, the images didn't stitch together all that well, however, this time around, it was much better. So this week of panoramas kicks off with the previously seen (on ephotography.in) but now improved Singapore skyline by night panorama.

Larger size available here.

The view by night

 V Resort & Resto Lounge at the 'small Vagator cliff', Goa (also know as Ozrean) commands quite a view by day, but I have yet to see it. By night, I'm guessing unless its a night with a full moon, the lights of V shines brighter and more interesting than the dark beach and the sea beyond. So that makes 2 situations I'd like to visit this place in, a full moon, and of course, for a sunset. Anyways, here's a pan of the restaurant and lounge area.

Giovi's more realistic panorama is here. Check the larger size image here.

Spotlight on the Kinzu

Here's a photo from an old shoot (November 2009) for the review of the steelseries Kinzu optical mouse done by my brother, Elroy for fnatic.com (link).

The rest of the set is here.

Dusk by the beach

I've been itching to get some good photos of the rocks and the waves so being at Ozrean, Goa sounded like a good opportunity. We reached the beach too late to catch the actual sunset, but there was still enough light in the sky. I set up for a HDR shot of the waves. However, I also liked how the metered and the +2 exposure shots turned out so they are included in this series as well.

The Finger of God

Raising Angel

The two towers

The towering giant

The cascade in the clouds

This week is about clouds... here's a collection of interesting cloud shapes as seen out an aeroplane window, this one being the first.

Performance by Kaytee and Vanessa - India & France

Final performance of the night by Kaytee and Vanessa

Event: 1st Bachata Festival organised by Salsa India

Location: Zenzi Mills, Lower Parel

Belly dance performance by Kosar - Pune, Iran

Event: 1st Bachata Festival organised by Salsa India

Location: Zenzi Mills, Lower Parel

Tatjana and group - Hamburg, Germany

The total Bollywood style dance got the loudest response from the audience!

Event: 1st Bachata Festival organised by Salsa India

Location: Zenzi Mills, Lower Parel