Mirrorless, St Nicholas, Dual pixel and the 7D

Again I see that ages have gone by and I've written nothing. Sorry about that.
Here then, is a "round-up" of items from the last month or three.......................

The Fuji XE2, XT1 and XE1.

I wont bore you with which or when, nor why I own(ed), any of these cameras, but I WILL easily sum up my personal perspective on all of them at once.
Nice build, outstanding lenses, brilliant noise control at high sensitivity, great colour, nice feel, small, handy, versatile, characterful. That's these Fuji cameras.
Why then, have I bought 2 more Canon EOS 70D's?
Unfortunately, there is one reason and only one reason for me. The best way I can explain it, is by an example:

I'm amongst a crowd...... In an opening between seas of folks, I see Mr and Mrs Super Famous/interesting/infamous walking through. I have 10 seconds to get focussed, set exposure and shoot one or maybe two frames. Fuji, "erm... ok, don't hassle me man.......  Ooops! missed"
......... Canon: "click"
That's why.

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What has St Nicholas night in Alcester, got to do with Plato?

Nothing really, but whilst shooting St Nicholas Night, (more later), I saw this accidental projection on the church wall. It just reminded me of this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

I sent it to "Nick" who I knew would "get it" when he saw it.

Anyway, St Nicholas Night 2014  

 http://www.alcester.roundtable.co.uk/events/2558/alcester-round-table-st-nicks-night-6th-december/  Actually, I think this link is a year out of date..........

Here are a few pics:

So, there it is.

Canon 70D. Why I like this camera.

I owned 2x Canon EOS 7D's until a few weeks ago, and sold both in favour of 70D's, even though the 7D was currently  £100 cheaper. The 7D has reached the end of it's production, which is why it's cheap, btw.  (December 2014).

The 70D is a lighter, less durable body than the 7 series, lacks some weather sealing and has a slightly less complex focussing system than the 7.  It's classed as an "enthusiasts" camera, which means that if I'm working on a job I'm not enthusiastic about, I have to get a different camera. Fortunately, I'm always enthusiastic.

Anyway, first off, I actually bought a Fuji XT1. It's a fantastic camera, but you know how that story ends, (sadly). So, I bought one 70D and tried it out. I have to say that it's turning out to be my favourite Canon yet. The results are more "rounded", the handling easier, (for me, anyway). I cant really explain it without going all techno-boring, so I'll just leave the fact that I just like it, to be my reason for liking it. (Logical huh?).

Shortly after this, I bought another 70D, and the two sit playing cards together when there's no work on.

Ah, yes......... I do still own a Fuji XE2, which is great. Hesitant, but great.

I'm writing this on Friday 19th December, following a spiffing night with old friends. I actually feel like falling asleep........ In fact, I.......zzz....zzzzz....zzzzzzzz........

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..... And now for something almost completely different.....

 Click       Abstract video to my own music  

What is an event photographer?

I hope you've checked this out on my new site. It's been posted on the blog page, so please do have a look!
Thanks!

New site

Please have a look at my NEW SITE . It contains the FREE images, plus lots of other items. New pages/subpages/sections will appear over the next few weeks too. After that, it will be maintained and updated, (God willing), on a regular basis.

DOF

So what is depth of field?
Sounds grand, doesn't it. Depth-Of Field or DOF.
Actually it's very simple in it's basic form. This is what it means:
The distance in acceptable focus, from the closest, to the farthest point.


So why does it change? Can I control it? 

OK, at a given distance and at a given aperture, DOF will (without the confusion of focal length for now), be a given value.
That is to say, that there  exist a mathematical formula for depth of field.
I'm not going to even approach it.

Whilst it is vital to understand the basic principles of DOF, it isn't necessary to delve into the science of optics and obtain a certificate!
I shall discuss DOF as though we only had one lens to hand. One lens of a fixed focal length, (known these days as a "prime" lens).
Consider the two images above. The first shows a shallow depth of field of about 9 inches.
The second shows a somewhat deeper depth of field of about 4 feet. The lens in this case, is a 60mm prime on a 1.6x APSC sensor, (Canon). The reason that the two look so different, (apart from my poor framing....Sorry), is that one is shot at an aperture of f2.8, and the other at f8. Now, f2.8 is a fairly wide aperture, that is to say, it's a fairly large hole in the lens.  F8, on the other hand, is moderately small. Which one is which?
The answer is, that the larger aperture, (in this case f2.8), produces the LEAST DOF.
As the aperture, (or hole in the lens), gets smaller, so the DOF, or area showing acceptable focus gets DEEPER.

Got to go now............. More soon.