Simon Antony Photography » canon

Panoramic picture of the P&O Ventura at Guernsey 2010

Simon Steed — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:06:25 +0000

This is a panoramic shot I made in photoshop – it’s actually a combination of four separate images blended in to produce the one single shot (Click to view full size)

The P&O Cruise ship MV Ventura anchored just off the coast of Guernsey in the Channel Islands

We use the same techniques to blend multiple pictures of clients into one photograph, very popular although does take time to get the blend right so you cannot see any joins, well worth the effort though.

Simon

New 24-70mm F2.8 L Series Lens in the bag

Simon Steed — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:50:49 +0000

I’ve been looking for a few weeks now for a fast aperture low light professional lens and finally settled upon the venerable L Series lens from canon in the guise of a 24-70mm F2.8 L Series and I am very happy that I did.

I will add some pictures below – i’ve noticed it is at it’s sharpest at F4.0 but slightly soft at F2.8 – not a big problem for me. The Bokeh is gorgeous as you can see from the closeups. This will now be my main lens on the camera with my other body holding the 70-200 F4.0 L series until I can upgrade this to a F2.8.

Manual Exposure for Canon EOS 5D Mark II Video

Simon Steed — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:14:54 +0000

Canon UK Press Release

Canon Enables Manual Exposure in Video on EOS 5D Mark II

United Kingdom / Republic of Ireland , 27th May 2009: Canon announced today it will release a firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark II allowing users to manually control exposure when shooting video. The new firmware will be available for download from 2 June 2009 on Canon Europe’s support web site.

Following the launch of the EOS 5D Mark II in September 2008, Canon’s Research and Development team has listened closely to customer feedback to develop additions to the camera’s movie recording functionality.

Allowing EOS 5D Mark II owners to achieve even more stunning video results with the camera, the firmware update will include the following manual controls when shooting video:
Full aperture selection
ISO speed: Auto, 100 – 6400 and H1
Shutter speed: 1/30th – 1/4000th second

The EOS 5D Mark II integrates full HD movie capability into a high-end 21.1 Megapixel camera; opening a multitude of new possibilities for photo-journalists and news photographers. Since its launch the camera has proved its appeal to professionals working in diverse fields, from studio and wedding to nature and travel. Now, following customer feedback, Canon has improved functionality for professional video users, further unleashing the potential of the EOS 5D Mark II for cinematographers and photographers alike.

Canon EOS EF lens for sale – 20-35mm and 35-70mm

Simon Steed — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:43:43 +0000

For all your photo nuts out there, I have the pleasure of trying to sell you the following excellent lens.

Only reason for sale is I no longer use them so i’d rather sell on so they get used.

EF 35-70 f3.5-4.5 macro – originally cost me £119

EF 20-35 wide angle f3.5-4.5 with hood – originally cost me £450

Both are in excellent condition with only light markings on the body/hood, glass is nice and clean.

I’m open to offers on both of them and would consider swap/px for other canon equipment – I am looking for a 1.4x extender if that helps

Pics below

Our lighting gear

Simon Steed — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:24:34 +0000

We’ve recently upgraded our lighting kit and spent a considerable amount of money on them, thought it would be nice to share what we use with our clients and fellow photographers.

After looking around for a couple of months for suitable equipment, we eventually settled on the Lencarta brand. There were a number of reasons for this which i’ll explain below:

They are very cost effective compared to Elinchron and Bowens – effectively more bang for your buck
They accept Bowens S Type fittings so there is no problem with accessories
We like the company – they answered all our querries quickly and efficiently and they seem to have a good reputation in the UK
The units are made of ABS and not metal – this means they are very tough, much more so that metal in our opinion. Think about it, car bumpers are made of ABS so they flex and move back into shape when hit – Metal doesnt! Think what happens when you drop your metal lights onto the floor – they dent and the shock goes through to the components, not so much with ABS as it absorbs the shock better giving you a fighting chance of finishing the shoot!

There are a few reasons why, another one which was a big one in our eyes was the fact they are a UK manufacturer and offer an 18 month warranty – that is important should anything go wrong. Here are a couple of pics of the kit.

I do have one problem which has just surfaced, the bag I purchased separately to hold the lights has ripped already so i’ll be in touch to get that sorted out

All in all we are happy with our lot!

Enjoy

Welcome!!!!!!

Simon Steed — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:01:52 +0000

Hi All,

We would like to formally welcome you all to our new blog. We have a few intentions for this so thought we would share them with you:

Keep you updated on what is happening in the work of Simon Antony Photography
Post sample images of recent works
Allow you to interact and get ideas and share techniques to allow you to become better photographers

That is for starters, but we shall see how things go. If there is anything in particular you would like to hear about or ideas on packages we could market, please post away.

Regards

Simon and Sharon