Canon Pro Camera Strap

Recently I bought a used Canon Rebel T2i that came with the standard Canon neck strap. On our current cameras Donna and I use the Canon Pro Strap. Since the kind UPS lady dropped off a new strap today I figured I'd do a little post about the strap and why we like them. Note: On all of the images in this post and my other posts you can click on them to see a larger version.

My new to me Canon Rebel T2i complete with battery grip and standard strap.

Some of you may be wondering why I'd buy a a T2i when Donna and I already have one. I do so for a few reasons:

1. It's lighter than my 7D and that's important to me when Donna and I do our waterfall hikes.
2. It gives me a chance to learn more about the T2i so I can better explain things to her when she has a question about the camera
3. The battery grip was included
4. I got a great deal on it
5. It uses SDHC cards and that makes it much easier to import photos into our iPad than it does importing from a CF card

Here's my biggest complaint about the standard strap -- it gets in the way! It's not so bad when you have the strap around your neck but when you're trying to shoot from a tripod it's a pain to keep moving it especially if you switch back and forth between portrait and landscape mode like I do. Another reason for getting rid of it is when shooting long exposures and there's some wind around it's possible the strap will get blown around and bump into the tripod which could cause your images to come out blurry. Bet you never thought of that now have you?

Packaging for the strap. You can save the hassle of searching for it by clicking the link at the bottom of the post. If you end up buying one I'll earn a small commission and eventually I'll be able to afford another pro strap :).

See this nifty buckles? These allow you to remove the large center section of the strap! This makes life so much easier. Now when you're shooting from a tripod just remove the center section of the strap and put it in your bag. You can let the little bits of strap that remain on the camera to flop around. They actually do a good job of staying out of your way. As an added bonus it makes it easier to store the camera when you don't have the extra center section of the strap to worry about. Just don't forget to bring it along when you head out for a photo shoot if you're going to do much walking around with the camera.

A comparison of the two straps.

The T2i with the new strap installed.

We love our Canon Pro Straps and if you've ever gotten frustrated using the standard strap I'd highly recommend you give the pro strap a try.

Picture of the Week (POTW) #7

Picture of the week for the period 25 Jul - 31 Jul 2010. Donna took this one while photographing a Ruby-throated hummingbird at our window feeder. This is the same hummingbird pictured in the Bad Hair Day post. In this one as you can see the hummingbird is looking into the house while our cat, Tiger is looking out at the hummingbird. She shot this with her Rebel T2i and EF-S 55-250 lens at 55mm. Exposure was 1/90th at f/4, ISO 125 (the camera must have been set for auto ISO to get that kind of ISO number).

Looking in and Looking out
Click to view larger version

This is two weeks in a row for Donna. Looks like I need to step up my game a bit.

Bad Hair Day

So have you ever wondered what it's like to be a Ruby-throated humming bird and get caught out in a rain shower without your umbrella? Well the photo below should give you some idea. :)

Bad Hair Day

Donna took this one through the window in the dining area of the kitchen. She used her Rebel T2i, EF-S 55-250 zoomed to 250mm, 1/80th at f/5.6, ISO 800. 

Rule of Thirds with the Canon Rebel T2i

Recently I've noticed a trend where photographers have been talking about getting it right in the camera to minimize the amount of post processing that is done. One way of getting it right in camera is, if you follow it, is to use the rule of thirds when composing your shot. If you're not familiar with the rule of thirds here's a very brief overview of it.


For any picture if you were to place a tic-tack-toe grid over it where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect are the best spots to position the main subject of the picture. There's more to it than that but that should give you a basic understanding which is all that's needed.


This morning I was experimenting with the Rebel T2i and wanted to see if any of its 9 individual focus points aligned the a rule of thirds grid. I mounted the camera on my tripod and then one-by-one shot the same picture using each of the 9 focus points. Afterwards I loaded the images into Photoshop and added a rule of thirds grid over them.

Simulated Rebel T2i Focusing Screen

I have some mad Photoshop skills don't I? I created that simulated focusing screen from scratch! In each of the photos below, numbered 01 through 09 the number below the photo corresponds with the focusing point shown above. For all shots I focused on the hole in the front door of the birdhouse. Also you can click on each image to view a larger version which makes it easier to see the grid.

01

This 1st picture was taken using the center point. As you can see everything is nicely centered between the two vertical lines of the grid. The center point is probably the most used focusing point when folks don't use all 9. I know I used it a ton when shooting sports and still use it quite a but when trying to shoot birds in flight. The center focusing point is also the only cross-type sensor on the camera which means it works better than the remaining 8 due to its extra sensitivity.

02

This 2nd picture was taken after moving the focus point to #2. As you can see it does a pretty good job of aligning with the intersection used by the rule of thirds. I plan to use this focusing point from now own whenever I want to compose a picture where the main subject is in the upper right hand corner.

03

This 3rd picture was taken after moving the focus point to #3. As you can see it's outside of the grid lines so I really can't think of a time when I would use it off the top of my head.

04

This 4th picture was taken after moving the focus point to #4. Just like with #2 is does a darn good job of lining up with the rule of thirds grid. So far points #2 and #4 are on the "to use" list.

05

This 5th picture was taken after moving the focus point to #5. While doesn't line up with one of the vertical lines it does remain on the lower horizontal line so it's one I would use in a pinch. #2 and #4 remain my preferred choices for subjects on the right side of the frame.

06

This 6th picture was taken after moving the focus point to #6. Like #2 and #4 before it I'll use this one for subjects appearing in the lower left hand portion of the frame. We're up to three preferred focusing points #2, #4, #6.

07

This 7th picture was taken after moving the focus point to #7. It has the same issues as #3 only on the opposite side of the frame.

08

This 8th picture was taken after moving the focus point to #8. Like #2, #4, and #6 it does a very good job aligning with the horizontal and vertical intersection of the grid. It's one I'll use for sure.

09

This 9th picture was taken after moving the focus point to #9. Like #5 it falls along the horizontal line so it's one that I'd use if for some reason I didn't use #2 or #8.


Am I trying to say that I'll only use 5 of the 9 focusing points on the Rebel T2i from now on? Nope, not at all. What I'm suggesting is when you want to follow the rule of thirds (and we all know rules were meant to be broken) I'll use focusing points #2, #4, #6 and #8 as the composition I'm going for warrants. I would encourage you to repeat this same sort of test with subjects you like to shoot. 

Oh and for the curious all shots were taken with Donna' Rebel T2i and EF-S 55-250 lens set at 55mm. Lens and camera were mounted on the Induro CT314 Tripod. Aperture was set to f/8 and shutter speed varied, ISO 100.

Picture of the Week (POTW) #6

Picture of the Week for the period 18-24 July 2010. Donna took this one Saturday afternoon not too long after I took the John the Heron shot. She took this using her Rebel T2i and EF-S 55-250 zoom lens. Exposure was 1/90 at f/4.5, ISO 400 and lens zoomed to 74mm. I really thought I had a great hummingbird shot we would have selected but in the end I agreed that this one would be better so that we have something other than birds. I 'spose I should have called it Bird Picture of the Week. 


This week we had a pretty easy time picking the POTW because, for some strange reason, we didn't take a single shot prior to Saturday so we ended up going through a much smaller set of photos than we normally do.

Juvenile Eastern Bluebird

This juvenile Eastern Bluebird is part of the family that is using the birdhouse in our backyard. There's a 4th member of the family but it's pretty rare that you see all 4 of them together. This shot was taken with Donna's Rebel T2i and my Canon EF 400 lens. Exposure was 1/1000th at f/5.6, ISO 1600. I'm not sure why the ISO was cranked up so high unless I had the camera set for auto ISO which is most likely the case. I have been experimenting with different ISO settings and metering modes to see what produces the best results for me.

Picture of the Week (POTW) #5

Picture of the week for the period 11 Jul - 17 Jul 2010. Saturday morning Donna and I were headed to Cypress Gardens (every 3rd Saturday is free admission for us). On the way we spotted a turtle crossing the road. After we passed it I turned around and went back to make sure it made it across the street safely. Not sure why I do that but I've done it at least 4 or 5 times in the past couple of years. Anyways this is a Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) and he was a big one and strong! At one point he was trying to go back into the street and I was trying to prevent him by blocking his path with a piece of PVC pipe I found nearby. With his low center a gravity it was quite a challenge to convince him that he really didn't want to go back across the street. I finally got him headed in the right direction and once he was marching off through the grass I took this shot.


This was taken using Donna's Rebel T2i and our recently purchased EF-S 55-250 zoom lens. Exposure was 1/250th at f/5.6, ISO 400 and the lens was zoomed out to 179mm. I shot this while laying on the ground to try and get as as close to an eye-level perspective as I could.

Splish Splash I was Taking a Bath

This female House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) was taking a bath in the bird bath last weekend. It was quite an event to watch. She'd flop around in the water for a little while, fly off and then come back and do it all over again. She looked like she was having a fun time doing it. These photos were taken with Donna's Rebel T2i and my EF 400 lens. Exposure for both photos was 1/500th at f/5.6 and ISO 200. Camera was mounted on my Induro CT314 Tripod.

Rebel T2i Quick Tip -- Displaying Blinkies

I've been shooting with Donna's Rebel T2i a lot lately and one of the things I noticed is regardless of the shot I never noticed any blinkies when reviewing images on the rear display. This seemed odd to me so I started doing some experimenting by deliberately increaing exposure compensation to cause the highlights to be blownout but even when the image was almost completely white nothing blinked. The image blow shows the view of the screen. Observe how exposure compensation is set to +1 stop yet there's no blinkies.

I searched through all the menus, the manual, and did some Google searches and never could find a setting for the camera to show me blinkies. I finally gave up and called Canon Support and within a matter of minutes I figured out what was going on. Seems the T2i doesn't show blinkies when viewing images in full screen mode which really sucks, IMO since even my old Rebel XT would show me blinkies when reviewing images.

If you want to see blinkies you have to use one of the different view modes as shown below. While it's nice to see the histogram and additional information I really don't like that the image is so small but at least I can see the blinkies now. If you look closely you can see the reflection of my Canon PowerShot D10 in the image.

I guess I really shouldn't complain too much about this because Donna primarly shoots with the T2i and I shoot with a 7D and it does show me blinkies when reviewing the images.

So there you have it. If you were like me and having a hard time figuring out how to check for blinkies on a T2i now you know.

A Pair of House Finches

In addition to the Eastern Bluebirds that are nesting in our backyard this pair of House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) are regular visitors to our backyard as well. The female, shown below, was shot using Donna's Rebel T2i (I've been shooting it a lot lately) and my EF 400 f/5.6L lens. Exposure was 1/180th at f/5.6, ISO 400. She really enjoys splashing around in the bird bath and feeding on sunflower seeds.

Below is the male House Finch. I really like his red coloring. This guy can eat sunflower seeds faster than anything I've ever seen. He's also very vocal so I always know when he's around. For some reason though he likes to try and drink out of the hummingbird feeder. He'll fly over to it and try to stick his beak into one of the tubes but he can't get anything out. This picture taken with my 7D and EF 400 lens. Exposure was 1/250th @ f/5.6, ISO 400.

Picture of the Week (POTW) #4

Picture of the week for the period 4 Jul - 10 Jul 2010. This is what you get when you pile your brother, your wife, your daughter, her boyfriend, your brother, his wife and his son into a Honda Pilot and you're on your way to Norfolk Virginia to watch a movie early Sunday morning.


This was taken using Donna's Canon Rebel T2i and Quantaray 18-200 lens. Focal length was 18mm, 1/60th of a second at f/4.5, ISO 100. The camera was sitting on the dash of the Pilot and the shutter was triggered using the build in timer.


Pictured from left to right you have -
Front Row - me and my brother Lew
Middle Row - Lew's wife Dodie, our daughter Steffanie, and my wife Donna
Third Row - Steffanie's boyfriend Justin and barely visible is Lew and Dodie's son Stefan.

Picture of the Week (POTW) #3

Picture of the week for the period 27 Jun - 3 Jul 2010. I shot this Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) using Donna's Rebel T2i and Canon EF 400 f/5.6L lens. I'm not sure why it using the wires for our satellite dish as a perch but it landed on it numerous times that afternoon.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Exposure was at f/5.6 for 1/500th second, ISO 1250.

Picking an image this week was once again a hard task. I deliberately excluded several shots of the nesting Eastern Bluebirds in a attempt to post something other than a bird but as you can see we failed at that task. After narrowing it down to two photos we started looking at them at 100% magnification and this one ended up being selected because it was much sharper than the other photo. Since we're going to put these into a book at the end of the first year we figured we'd better go with the sharper of the two pictures.

Picture of the Week (POTW) #1

Recently I wrote about my idea for a picture of the week Blog Post. Now that Donna and I are through with our Project 365 we've started our POTW project. Below is our first choice and I have to say it was tougher than I had expected selecting one image from a week's worth of images. This was taken at the Dungannon Heritage Preserve in Hollywood, SC, by Donna. It was taken using her Canon Rebel T2i which was mounted on a tripod. The lens was the Canon EF 70-200 f/4L with 1.4x extender. Focal lengh was 280mm, 1/350th of a second @ f/6.7, ISO 400.

Black Vulture

Black Vulture
Originally uploaded by zackojones

Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus). Donna took this photo as we were about to get onto I-95 North. We had spent the day Geocaching in and around the Savannah, GA area and were heading home. We had seen some Black Vultures on the side of the road earlier but there was too much traffic for us to try and stop and get a shot. Fortunately traffic was light and she was able to get the shot using her Rebel T2i and Canon 70-200 f/4L lens.