Decide what to buy

Being a Nikon user through and through I was thoroughly excited to get to play with a Canon camera, especially one with such high reviews. It has an average score of 9.3 and a staggering 9.7 for both features and build quality.

Colin, whose review was voted most helpful by Reevoo users, had this to say on the Canon Powershot G10:

Positive: The G10 is extremely versatile for a compact and has many features found on more expensive, larger DSLR’s. As a hill walker, I was attracted to the reported image quality, raw recording and the size/weight compared to a DSLR and have been delighted by the results.

Negative: Pricey for a compact, but you do get what you pay for. The multitude of features and recording options may be daunting to the novice, however, to buy this camera and only use it in “point and shoot” mode would be a crime.

I think Colin’s last point is extremely important. This camera is expensive for its type but is worth every penny, but only if you are prepared to make the most of it. With deep menu systems and a multitude of different settings it has a lot to offer. The navigation is extremely well laid out and intuitive so don’t shy away if you are a novice. Just think about buying it if you want to really progress your photography skills.

Images are sharp at low ISO ratings which means that in good lighting situations you can get photo quality comparable to higher end DSLR cameras such as the Nikon D300. However, when you start to work in low light the quality quickly degrades. This is not something uncommon in compact cameras and is to be expected but I was hoping for more from this little battle tank.

The screen is really bright, clear and easy to use but I was a little disappointed to find that when shooting in RAW format (the best possible quality and a rarity in compact cameras) I was not able to zoom in afterwards at full quality. This is annoying, especially when you are taking photos in tricky situations and want to make sure you’ve got the focus and shutter speed right.

There are many reviews of the G10, especially on its Reevoo.com product page, so I wanted to focus my attention particularly on one ingenious aspect, the panoramic mode.

The Canon Powershot G10 has a panoramic setting that makes taking impressive wide angle photos a doddle. Switch to the panoramic mode and take your first photo. After having done that the camera will display it on its big 3″ screen as well as a live feed of what you’re pointing your camera at. This allows you to move your camera and line up the next shot in the scene where your previous shot finished. You can take as many shots as you want and then use the provided Canon software to stitch them together. Providing you’ve taken your photos well, which is made even easier by an auto exposure compensation as the light changes across your panorama, the stitching software works a treat and produces fantastic results.

Not being one to stick to the rules I thought I’d be clever and do a vertical panoramic. For a first attempt I was quite impressed with how easy it was to do. The only complaint I have is that too much of the screen was taken up by the overlaid previous image so I felt I was taking 10 photos where I could have taken 5. I think with more experimentation I could probably have found a way around that problem.

The Canon G10 looks like it means business, feels like it means business and for the most part acts like it means business. It’s well weighted, sturdily designed, has a great menu system and well positioned button lay out. Its optical zoom function is deceptively good and at 14.7 megapixels a digital crop zoom is definitely not out of the question on any shots taken below ISO 400. After ISO 400 noise is bad but the camera has a much welcomed flash hotshoe built in meaning you can get really professional photos even in low light if you are happy to buy an accompanying flash such as the Canon 430 EX II.

Overall if you are looking for an innovative and sturdy compact with much of the power of a Digital SLR but none of the backpack space then the Canon G10 is worth considering. Just make sure if you’re willing to spend the money that you are going to make the most of it and delve deep into its menu system and plethora of settings.

If you want to look at reviews for Nikon’s answer to the Canon G10, go to Reevoo and look at the Nikon P6000.

Reviews, product information and price comparison on the Canon Powershot G10 can be read Here

Yesterday we looked at choosing your location when taking photos of people, today we’re going to look at how to work with the people themselves to get the best out of your camera.

The Subject:

This is the hard part - Trying to get your subject to relax, look natural and, if they’re a tiny tearaway, getting them to put down the Tonka truck, stop splashing in the paddling pool or pretending they’re the neighbourhood’s local Jedi.

Children:
As I mentioned earlier, taking the photo in surroundings that match your subject is very important. If your grandchild is playing on the swings photograph him playing there. If they’re camera shy make a game of it and try to distract them. For example don’t tell them you are trying to take a photo of them, tell them you are trying to take a photo of the person that can swing the highest on the swings. That way you’re guaranteed a memorable action shot.

Adults:
Adults are easier because they don’t have so much of a desire to run rampant but they’re also harder because they are likely to be more conscious of being photographed.
I find it is definitely best to know your subject beforehand so that you can help them relax by talking to them about their interests. If it’s a relative this should be easy.
Start with a simple setup, place a chair perpendicular to your camera and then have your subject sit in the chair and turn their head, not their body, towards the camera. Clear and simple instructions like this will help your subject feel confident and not concerned about what they should be doing.

Take a few photos like this and explain the procedure is mainly to help you set up and check the lighting. At this stage you should tell them it doesn’t matter how they pose and you will end up with a good starting photo. Use your LCD screen and show them. The good start will help them relax.

From here on it’s up to you and your subject. Posing someone and at the same time helping them look natural is extremely hard. The best results will come naturally from a relaxed subject and a relaxed you! Whatever you do, don’t ’sneak’ shots. Your subject will likely be horrified you took a photo when they weren’t ready. As the shoot develops you’ll find the subject more relaxed and willing to mess around in front of the camera anyway, resulting in a more genuine end product.

Group Photos:
There are simple rules when taking group photos, and my suggestion, unless it’s a serious affair, is to break most of them.
Have the shortest people stand behind the tallest and then get them to try and be seen by jostling for a front spot.

Encourage people to go back to their school class portrait days and you’re guaranteed a great shot that you could look at all day, hunting for the rude gestures and tongue waggling in the crowd!

Make people jump! Jumping is great for a group photo, not least because you can use your digital camera to show the crowd who jumped last and encourage some competition for the next shot.

Tomorrow part 3 of  ‘Taking Photographs Guide: The Portrait’ will focus on setting up your camera.

Portraits are always important, whether they’re serious, professional records or just that close up holiday snap, they always serve to capture a memory. Sometimes the moment itself is enough to make the portrait powerful but those moments can equally be missed if you’re not fully prepared. This week’s guide is designed to help you make the most of those moments, be they impromptu or posed.

The first part of the portrait tutorial will focus on what to keep in mind when choosing a location.

Choosing your location

It may be that you’re out and about, or that you’re somewhere where you can carefully pick your scene. Either way you can still maintain a lot of control when taking a photo with just a bit of awareness.

The Eyes:

Throughout this guide my discussion will be relating to illuminating the eyes as much as possible. The eyes are the first part of the face that someone is drawn to when viewing a portrait and for that reason they are the most important aspect of a portrait photo.

When focusing, it is sensible to focus on the nearest eye to you. Having sharp focus on the eye allows the viewer to connect with the image immediately and then explore the finer details afterwards.

Lighting:

Outdoor:

The sun will feature if you’re outside and can be extremely harsh as a directional light, however, it can also serve as a great ‘fill’ light as it reflects. Look for large white walls that you could use to capture some of that light as it bounces back onto your subject. A great tip, and something currently very popular with photographers, is to use the sun as a backlight, behind your subject, and then reflect that same light onto the front of them. You can do this using the white wall I mentioned or by using a conventional reflector. Alternatively you can have some fun by making your own reflector. The fun and interesting results of photography are always unlocked by messing around and getting thoroughly involved in your work so why not get a large board, something like a dinner tray, and cover it in silver foil. Take it outside and see how you can bounce sunlight back onto your subject. Be careful in full daylight as it can be extremely bright!

The result of such a photo is that your subject has a brilliant bright rim light from the sun as well as a more diffuse, but natural, light on the face, with a lot of light bouncing around in the eyes to illuminate and reveal the iris.

• The below photo is taken at 3pm on a summer day with a reflector bouncing the sun, which is behind the subject, back onto her face.

Indoor:

If you’re inside try and work near a window. Not only do they reflect brilliantly in people’s eyes, which offers more of an interesting ’story’ behind the photo, they can also be used with curtains to great effect.

The intention when working near a window is to be able to see its reflection in your subject’s eyes so have them facing the window, or just to the side of it. If you have the window behind your subject you will get 1 of 2 things:

- A ‘blown’ background - This is where the sky goes pure white as it overexposes because your foreground is dark.
- A dark subject - This is because your camera is trying to get the best general exposure and is trying to account for the bright sky.

• The above shot was taken using just a conservatory skylight for illumination.

Again, feel free to try and reflect some of the light back at the other side of your subject. The dynamic use of light will create more interesting shadows and highlights, which reveals form and makes for a more interesting and intriguing photo.

When it’s next winter, or if you’re planning a chilly holiday, look for snow. Snow is a perfect natural reflector and provides really brilliant, clean light to a subject.

• The below photo was taken with a flash pointed directly at the snow.

Overall lighting:

Experiment with your light source. Get yourself a patient subject. It doesn’t even have to be a person. Take a series of photos with the model at different angles to your light source and see what direction best reveals the subject’s eyes and their features. In general a light source that is directly on the camera’s own plane, such as a built-in flash, will give the least interesting results. Shadows give form to features and make things much more interesting.

Tomorrow part 2 of  ‘Taking Photographs Guide: The Portrait’ will focus on how to work with your subject.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to go through a selection of photography use cases, starting with the band photograph.

Everyone likes taking photos of bands, it captures a real moment of energy, but it’s a notoriously tricky place to get a good shot. Hopefully the following will help you work out the kind of camera you want to get the results you’re after.

The Band Photograph

The angle
Angles are important in band photos. There’s often more than one person on stage and you will want to do 2 things.

1. Capture the whole band

You’ll need a wide angle lens for this, something like 18mm. Most compact cameras go this wide and most dSLRs come with a wide angle kit lens so there’s not too much to worry about here.

2. Focus on the main performer

It’s easy to forget about the band as a whole so I always start with the wide shots and then start my close up work. I usually use a 105mm lens. It gives the freedom to do mid range shots but is fine for closeups so long as the stage isn’t too far away. You’ll obviously need a telephoto lens for this.

The rules of shooting will be reasonably similar in wide and close angle work in a gig situation so let’s go through the process:

Setting up
There are 3 important variables when taking band photos. They don’t always apply when you arrive at the gig but they always need to be considered at the preparatory stage.

1. The constant

As you work you’ll need a constant. That is to say, a setting that never changes. Some compacts and virtually all SLRs allow you to change all of your settings. The constant at a gig is shutter speed.
Set your shutter speed to 1/60th of a second. You’ll need it to be this fast for telephoto work as anything slower will amplify the shaking of your hand. A 60th is also good for capturing motion in the band members at wide angles but fast enough to get a crisp shot of a singer at their microphone.
With this constant in mind we work in the other settings, with the end goal being a correctly exposed image.

2. Light

As I said earlier, light is something you need to plan for. It is always a good idea to research the venue beforehand, look at their image gallery to see what kind of light is likely to be available. Then expect them to have forgotten to hire a lighting technician or that they decided to go for a dark, moody set the one night you choose to take photos!
At best expect the light to be changeable.

If you want to be safe, and also to get some great results, pack a flash. If you’re using a compact you’ll have one built in. If you’re using an SLR you can get a hotshoe-mountable flash. I highly recommend one with a pivotable head. You will want to bounce the light.
For non flash work you will now need to determine a balance between your ISO sensitivity and your aperture.

3. ISO and Aperture

As discussed in my Digital Camera Video ISO determines the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor to light and aperture determines how much light is let in through the lens. The trade off is graininess at high ISOs and a shallow depth of field at wide apertures.
Having a wide aperture is going to be fine for the close up shots as you don’t need anything in the background. With this in mind set your aperture as wide as possible. My 105mm goes to f2.8 so that’s what I use.

Now that we have 2 settings we need to determine the 3rd, ISO.
This is easy now. Just look at the scene through your viewfinder and adjust the ISO until you are correctly exposed.

You’re now ready to start taking photos. I hope the band are still playing!

Taking the Photo

How you take the photos is up to you. My advice is to get close. Get closer than anyone else. Don’t be afraid to intrude. These people are performers, they want to have their photos taken and people want to see those photos!
What you will need to do as you work is watch the light. If it’s changeable you’ll need to be prepared to adjust accordingly. If it’s static look for the interesting shot. If it’s too dark to get a decent picture use it to your advantage. Look for what’s called ‘rim lighting’ and set your camera to expose for that. The result will definitely be interesting. It will reveal form and features through shadow and I guarantee you you’ll be the only person with a sharp photo that night.

When you’re taking wide angle shots you might want to try increasing your ISO and your aperture. That way you will get the drummer, who is always tucked away at the back, in more focus. If you ever plan to sell your images to the band make sure you get lots of the drummer! Drummers always get missed out and they’ll be very pleased to see you’ve snapped him or her.

If you’re using a flash you can bring your ISO down. Point the flash at the ceiling but pick where you stand. Lots of venues have strange black ceilings or piping for their air conditioning. All of these things will cause you to either lose light or get a colour cast in your photo. The latter isn’t much of a problem as you can correct it at a later date or just work in black and white but make sure you’re not wasting those precious flash batteries by firing it into a ceiling cavity!

There’s nothing left now but to get out there and start snapping! Look for interesting angles, try and be different, be aware of your surroundings and your settings. Get to know your camera and the nuances between the way the settings interact and you’ll have a very satisfying evening.

Recommended Cameras for Band Photography

Compacts

Canon Powershot G10
Nikon Coolpix P6000

With vibration reduction to help stabilise the shot, a full set of manual functions and high ISO ranges the Nikon P6000 and Canon Powershot G10 are the compact gig cameras of choice. They’re both robust enough to put up with anything and have proper viewfinders. Using the viewfinder helps stabilise the camera further as it’s close to your body and rested on your face instead of at arms length. Both cameras also come with hotshoes totally freeing you to experiment with an extra flash. Both have bright lenses at f2.8 and f2.7 at their widest and have good telephoto zooms at 140mm and 112mm respectively.

dSLRs

Pentax K200D

The K200D is an excellent starting dSLR. It has vibration reduction built in to the camera body itself which means that you don’t have to pay a fortune for expensive VR lenses. Pentax have a vast range of lenses, almost all of which will work on this feature packed entry level dSLR.

Nikon D90

Built on a legacy of prosumer camera ranges that made headlines years ago with the D70, the D90 builds on and expands with a sturdy body and VR lens ranging from 18 to 105mm, perfect for band photography.
Over half of the photos on this article were taken with my old D70. It’s still going strong!

Next week… The Portrait

At Reevoo we’re about more than just reviews. We’re about the whole process of buying and enjoying something cool and new. With that in mind the three resident Category Managers, Jo, Sam and Jon have taken some time to lay out some helpful tips across three different product categories.

Reevoo Washing Machine Buyers Guide

Jo’s Washing Machine guide should help get you out of a spin and into the right shopping cycle with her top 5 tips designed to help you decide which washing machine is the right purchase for you.

For a full guide of the 5 tips, just click play below or check the video out as you shop on the Reevoo washing machine category page itself.

The Tips:

- Plumbing
- Dimensions, Loading and Appearance
- Capacity
- Usage
- Additional Features

The Video:

In the busy and sometimes confusing market of MP3 players Sam’s Top 5 purchasing Tips should be music to your ears:

The Tips:

- How Will I Use It?
- How Much Storage Do I Need?
- Do I Want To Watch Video?
- Watch Out For Battery Life
- Is An iPod the Best Option?

The Video:

For a full, step by step walkthrough of the above tips check out the video below or on the MP3 Player category page on Reevoo.com

Jon’s camera guide walks you through the features and settings that come into play when taking a photograph. The guide should help you decide what type of camera you want to snap up!

The Tips:

- The Sensor
- ISO Settings
- Megapixels
- Aperture
- Shutter Speed
- Exposure

The Video:

As with the other guides Jon’s can be seen on the Digital Camera Category page whilst looking through the compact and SLR camera reviews on Reevoo. If you don’t want to go anywhere just hit play below!

After our best mobile phones of 2008 post last week, we’ve moved onto digital cameras.

Whether you’re after a nice compact or a DSLR packed full of features, we’ve got the highest rated and the most popular in both categories on Decide What to Buy.

All ratings are by consumers who have all bought the products. They voted the £182, 13 megapixel Sony CyberShot DSC-W300 as the top compact digital camera of 2008.

There are great reviews on this camera with comments like:

“the picture quality is amazing”

“Brilliant little touches to the camera, like the musical slide show playback and the photo doctoring within the view back, love this camera!!”

It also gets great scores for categories like image and build quality:

And the compact that everyone’s looking at in the run-up to Christmas? It’s the 10 megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5. It came out a few months ago but people still love the fact that it’s packed full of features. It’s currently around £125.

When it came to SLRs, the highest rated was the £478 Canon EOS 450D. With the same image quality score as the CyberShot DSC-W300, this camera really impressed its owners. One reviewer said it was “outstanding”.

The most popular SLR is the Olympus E-420. It’s a nice upgrade from last year’s E-410 and has face detection, shadow adjustment technology, 3.5fps continuous shooting rate for up to 9 Raw images and a one-touch white balance function. It’s around £350.

Here are the rest of the favourites:


TOP COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS

TOP FIVE MOST POPULAR COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS IN LAST 30 DAYS:

1. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5

2. Nikon Coolpix S710

3. CASIO Z200

4. Olympus FE-350

5. Canon IXUS 980 IS


TOP FIVE HIGHEST RATED COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS OF 2008:

1. Sony CyberShot DSC-W300

2. Canon Digital IXUS 90IS

3. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5

4. Fujifilm Finepix Z20

5. Fujifilm Finepix F100

TOP SLR CAMERAS of 2008

TOP FIVE MOST POPULAR SLRs IN LAST 30 DAYS:

1. Olympus E-420

2. Canon EOS 50D

3. Nikon D300

4. Sony Alpha A700

5. Canon EOS 1000D


TOP FIVE HIGHEST RATED SLRs OF 2008:

1. Canon EOS 450D

2. Sony Alpha A350

3. Nikon D90

4. Sony Alpha A300

5. Nikon D60

Mums can be tricky customers when it comes to Christmas presents. It’s very easy to find them gifts that they’ll need but will they be something they actually want?

We’ve come up with a few suggestions to help you out on your quest to find Christmas presents for Mums:

For Mums who like to look their best - These Babyliss 2099U straighters (£28) have great reviews and they’re pretty cheap too. One reviewer even claims “i have tried expensive straightners..such as ghds and since trying the babyliss, i will never go back to any others”.

For DIY mums - Let’s face it, some Dads are useless at DIY so in some households, it will be Mum who does all the handy work. Make it a little more fun with this Rolson 25 Piece Pink Tool Kit (£20).

For Mums who love to cook - they can create hundreds of different types of breads and cakes in this Morphy Richards 48245 (£50) bread maker. It’ll save them loads of time as it mixes and does all the kneading too - that leaves more time for extra cakes in my book!

For Mums who love to take photos - Get this Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3 (£87) compact digital camera. It’s not too expensive, has great reviews and owners say it’s especially easy to use. So even if your Mum isn’t a tech whizz, she shouldn’t have many problems with this.

For Mums who need a break - All that housework can be such a bore. Treat your Mum to this Domotec Roomba 560 Robot Vacuum Cleaner. It’s a little pricy at £199 but it will single handedly tackle all the rooms in your house, switch from carpets to hard floor mode and even take itself back to its charger to be charged up before getting back on the case again!

For Mums who love pink - If your Mum is still girly at heart, there are loads of pink gifts from pink laptops and MP3 players to pink mobile phones and cushions. Find them all here: www.reevoo.com/pink

For Mums on the go - Get them a mobile so that you can always keep in contact. With all the free minutes deals around at the moment, you could even talk for free. This Nokia 2630 phone is not only stylish but it’s also user-friendly (prices vary according to contract). One reviewer says, “Everything is easy to use and the design is very nice and compact”.

For Mums who like to be organised - Why not invest in this family calendar (£8)? There are five columns which can be used for different members of the family so she’ll never have to miss a football or music class again.

For healthy Mums - All Mums want to make sure their families eat healthily. With this Philips HR 1861 juicer (£63), she can make tasty juices and ensure everyone gets their daily intake of fruit and veg. This juicer has great reviews too. One reads, “Best juicer around for the money. Powerful motor and large feeding tube. Looks great on your worktop…Highly recommended.”

Presents on a budget - Everyone likes music, get her a CD that she’ll love. At the moment, the Mamma Mia Movie Soundtrack is particularly popular and it’s a bargain at £7.

Right, hopefully that’s helped you out a little bit. If anyone else has any other ideas, just leave a comment.

www.reevoo.com/pink

If you’re a girl who needs everything to be pink; if you’re a guy who’s struggling to find a gift for his girlfriend or if you’re a man who just likes a bit of pink, it turns out you’re not alone.

Research by consumer review website, Reevoo.com, looked at how popular pink products were across its own website and those of its partners. Websites such as Dixons, The Carphone Warehouse and Currys were analysed to find out how pink products shaped up compared to their duller counterparts.

In the last 3 months, the pink JVC Everio GZ-MG330 camcorder has been one of the most popular models on the market and one of the most popular pink products.  One in twenty camcorder visits has been to look at this pink camcorder.

To continue the success of pink products, the pink Motorola ROKR U9 has been a great example to all pink mobile phones. Out of all 22,000 products, from TVs to MP3 players and washing machines, it was the 21st most popular product.

And it wasn’t just mobile phones bringing down the big guys, the Medion Celeron Processor Pink Laptop beat the mighty 17 inch MacBook Pro in the popularity stakes.

A Decide What to Buy favourite, Hetty, also did well to be the 16th most popular vacuum cleaner. There are over 375 vacuums so Hetty did pretty well.

You can see the top 10 pink products below, how popular they are in their categories and how popular they are compared to all the other 22,000 products.

Click on table above to enlarge.

To celebrate all this pinkness, Reevoo has created a page full of the pinkest products around. Fom pink MP3 players and pink laptops to pink irons and pink beanbags, they’re all there. You can find them at www.reevoo.com/pink.

It’s summer time! Well, it’s a little hotter than usual. Anyway, it’s definitely time for us to be reaching for our cameras and taking snaps of our holidays, family and friends. If your camera is about as useful as a chocolate teapot, chances are you’ll be looking around for a new one. We’ve taken all the stress out of the process by having a look at what consumers think about the cameras they’ve bought. After someone buys a camera through one of Reevoo’s partners, they get an email questionnaire to fill out about the product. They’re asked all about image quality, features, ease of use and so on.

We’ve taken these scores and comments and compiled a list of the top 10 compact digital cameras, as rated by consumers who have bought them.

So here are the results:
1.    Sony Cybershot DSC-W130
2.    Casio Exilim EX-Z1200
3.    Sony Cybershot DSC-T9
4.    Sony Cybershot DSC-T2
5.    Fujifilm Finepix F100
6.    Kodak Easyshare M1033
7.    Canon Digital IXUS 80IS
8.    Kodak Easyshare Z650
9.    Casio Exilim EX-S600
10.  Canon PowerShot A640

And here are the scores for all the categories:

Top of the bunch is the Sony Cybershot DSC-W130. It has great reviews and at £114, it seems to be the best all-rounder for the money. But if you want to pay a little extra, the Casio Exilim EX-Z1200 has top scores for both image and build quality and its 2.8 inch screen did prove very popular with owners.

The most expensive camera was the Kodak Easyshare Z650. Consumers loved that it looked like an SLR but they did say that the lens cap pops off all the time.

Every camera has good and bad points so have a look at the scores and then check out the reviews to see if you can find the best camera for you. You can find digital compact camera reviews, SLR reviews or simply just browse through all of the camera reviews over on Reevoo.

"Buying decent cables is addictive once you start you’ll want more, it
could be detrimental to your bank balance. The wife doesn’t get it and
wants me committed" Chord Crimson Subwoofer

"It worked well for nearly 5 weeks. It stopped working completely after 5 weeks" Hotpoint RLA84

"Gear system bad, Brakes worse. Seat hurts bum" Universal Boys 24" Dual Suspension Bike

"I think all toys with wheels should come fitted with a bell" Pink Nebulas Scooter

"It’s very much a lady’s camera (or thick-skinned man’s)" Fujifilm Finepix Z5