My guide to car-photography - The equipment

Since my profile here is centered around car-photography, and since I keep finding posts of other CTzens asking for advice, I decided to make this post.
Actually, I’ll make two posts.
This one about what camera-equipment I use, and a second one about (what I see as) some rules/“tricks” for good results.
But first of all I have to apologize for the photos of the camera-gear, since those were taken with an (old) smartphone, and it shows.

So, post number one:
After working with a Panasonic Lumix (a small digital camera made for outdoor photography, especially around/under water) I got from my parents for a while I drained my pocket-money account and, after some research and one failure (pre-owned camera, completely broken) I bought what I see as the the best camera I could get.

The Camera

I bought a Canon EOS 700D (sold as the Canon EOS Rebel T5i in Canada and the USA, and as the Canon EOS Kiss X7i in Japan) with a “starter kit” (more on that later), and printed out a few pages on how to get the best out of a DSLR-camera (Digital Single Lens Reflex).
The camera was, in this form, introduced in April 2013, and currently retails (in Germany) for 660€ (as the mentioned kit, but now with a different lens, see below for that).
It is part of Canon’s entry-level series, which comes with both perks and drawbacks.
A clear advantage is the small size of the camera-body that makes it easy to handle (and put away, the body alone fits in an average jacket’s pocket), and also brings a low weight (which is good if you run around a car meet for hours with the camera in hand).
It also comes with screen that can be “unfolded” from the camera (see the image) and turned 180 degrees in all directions.
That means you no longer have to lie down to capture an image from a low point of view.
Also, the main controls are located on the right side of the camera, rather than on the left (where the “advanced” and the “professional”-series cameras have it), making them a lot easier to use when shooting with one hand (and yes, that advantage only applies for right-handed people, I know).
Drawbacks include a slightly lower resolution than the “higher class” cameras, offering 18 megapixels compared to the “professional” 7D’s 20,2, restricted adjustability for whiteness and ISO-value.
On a different level, I’ve actually been made fun of for having the entry-level camera.
The silver bits on the left and right edge are attachment-points for the neck-sling that comes with the camera.
I personally don’t use it, since I feel that it’s more getting in the way (or dirty) than helping.

As for settings:
I have taken to keeping the camera in manual mode (see the “M” on the main settings-wheel on the photo above), since it allows me to work without the camera second-guessing me.
The Canon even helps you with that (as long as you use automatic focus, that is), giving you an indicator of whether the image is over-exposed, under-exposed or just right.
This is especially helpful if you use the screen to see the frame, since the image on the screen can differ from the actual photo depending on sunlight and if it’s night or day.
I also prefer to keep the ISO on 100 or 200, the low setting needs a bit more light but makes a nicely clear image.

The Lens

The “starting kit” included, among other things, an 18-55mm zoom-lens.
That lens isn’t very efficient with light (needing comparatively long exposure-times), and I didn’t really need that zoom-area either.
So, as soon as my bank-account had kinda-sorta recovered, I bought a 24mm lens.
The camera has a so-called APS-C-sensor, which leads to the images always having a zoom-factor of 1.6.
So photos taken with the 24mm lens look like they’ve been taken with a 38.4mm lens.
Sensors with a lighter zoom-factor are one of the differences to the “higher class” cameras.
The lens falls into the category of the “pancake-lenses”, as it doesn’t “stick out” from the camera-body all that much, meaning that, technically, the camera still fits in a jacket-pocket.
It also has a zoom high enough to not suffer from curved horizons known from most wide-angle lenses, while not needing me to stand so far away from the car that people walk into the image all the time.
One drawback of the lens is the rather small opening at the front, with dust and sand and any other kind of dirt being all too happy to settle on the plastic.
Also, for those who work with automatic focus, it should be noted that the auto-focus on this lens sometimes fails to actually get a sharp image.
Canon currently lists that lens at 189€, but marks it as being sold out in their online shop.

The Battery

If you run around some event all day, turning the camera on and off a lot and/or use the auto-focus, the battery-life shrinks down drastically.
I pretty soon picked up a second battery, and since Canon wants 59€ for a spare battery, I chose one from “iiquu” for 29€ (don’t know if that was the regular price).
It fits perfectly, and lasts just as long as the Canon-one.

The Filter

This little box holds the small circular piece of glass you see in the title-image, and with that a great “little helper”.
A polarization-filter (or polfilter for short) consists of two pieces of glass (preferably, cheap ones use plastic) with a special coating.
Turning one of the two (one is fixed, one can be turned) “filters” the light reaching the sensor, which leads to a few things:
-Reflections on the paint disappear (depending on the angle to the car from partly to entirely).
-Windows/windscreens become translucent/turn blind depending on how the filter is adjusted.
-Blue sky appears “stronger” in color without any computer-help.
Also, if something goes wrong, it’s better to swap out a 35€ filter than a few-hundred-bucks lens.
Filters come in two versions.
Either screw-on filters like this one, which you put onto the front of the lens like a bottle-cap, or slide-in filters that go into a special insert in between the camera and the lens.
The screw-on version is far more common, and said to be “safer” since, if the filter isn’t damaged and applied properly, you won’t get white lines on the photos from light passing by the filter.
A drawback is that, if a filter is screwed on, the lens-cap can’t be applied as well.
The one pictured above was developed with the help of a German wilderness-photographer, and is (apparently) water-repelling (like a lotus-leaf) and can even withstand light scratches.

The Handle/Tripod

Since carrying the camera around by the integrated grip gets quite uncomfortable quite fast (especially with a larger lens on it) and I didn’t want to use the sling that comes with the camera I soon wanted a different grip.
There are battery-grips you can screw onto the camera, which sometimes hold extra batteries and a second set of the main controls for vertical images.
But not only are those quite costly, but they also make the camera-kit a good bit heavier and a lot bulkier.
I found small tripods like this to be a great alternative.
I got this from my grandfather, who originally used it for an (now) old camera.
Fully extended (about 60cm tall) I wouldn’t trust it to hold my camera, but it does a great job as a vertical handle.
I can hold the camera up by it, fold it when walking around to carry the camera like a suitcase, use it as a small tripod (just above ankle-height), or to hold the camera at arms length to photograph interiors or cars without touching/entering them.
If longer exposure is needed, it can be extended a bit and used as a “support beam” between the camera and your chest.
And if I don’t need it for once I unscrew it and stick it into the back-pocket of my pants.
I think it’s a great little gadget, even if it adds a bit of weight (it’s casing is made of cast iron, after all).

There are three things I omitted so far:
-The memory card:
If your main “target” are cars that stand still your choice of a memory-card isn’t all that important.
I personally use SanDisk, but that’s mostly force of habit.
You shouldn’t pick too large cards, so the loss is not as big if one gets lost/damaged.
Besides, more capacity means higher prices, and a 16GB card can keep over 1000 (jpeg-)images in high resolution.
I usually pack two to three cards in a small rubber-lined casing that protects them from dust, sand and water, and also keeps them from getting lost too fast.
The card’s “speed” isn’t too important either, since, if shooting parked cars, it doesn’t make a difference if the camera takes 0.5 or 1.5 seconds to save a photo.
Card-speed is more important if you shoot moving cars (motorsport) or film rather than take photos.
-Cleaning:
I bought a “lens-pen” for a few bucks, an especially soft brush to clean dust and sand off the lens and a permanently moist pad for grease/fingerprints.
-Transport:
I tend to over-prepare (and pack more than I need), so my equipment fills a camera-backpack.
These open all the way, and rather than having a few big compartments it has less compartments that are separated by soft (and usually removable) walls to create compartments for lenses, batteries, the camera-body and whatever else you pack.
Also, they’re a lot more comfortable to carry than handbag-ish bags with only one strap.
Unfortunately, a decent one can easily cost you 100 bucks, more than just some random backpack.

#blogpost