For my exterior shots of homes, my hubby rigged up a pole device with a high quality painter's pole, from which I can shoot tethered or use the camera's timer. I shoot tethered to a laptop when he's with me, but use the timer when I'm alone--too cumbersome with the laptop.
It's great to have these elevated shots (10-15 feet above street level), as it puts the eye at about mid-point of a two storey home. It helps control any perspective distortion, lets the viewer see more of the landscaping and setting while overcoming some street level obstacles.
I don't want to put my Canon 50D with lens up on the pole, for obvious reasons! So, I have been using a Canon Powershot SX100 IS. While it does a decent job of vacation photos . . .
there is something "off" about the color when shooting exteriors.
compared to the same house with my 50D
The browns look green-ish and I can't quite seem to get it right.
So . . . I've been looking for a better camera to use in this situation. I saw someone else's photos on Flickr (sorry, can't remember who) that uses the Lumix LX3 on a pole and thought the quality looked awesome. I've also noticed that Canon is coming out with the Powershot S90 which also has an f2.0 wide angle lens like the Lumix.
From the specs that I can find online, the Lumix has autobracketing. I love that idea, as it would open up the possibility of doing HDR in the future. But . . . it only has a 2sec and 10sec timer (from what I've read). That doesn't give me a lot of time to get the thing up and in position after I press the shutter.
The S90 has the custom timer feature that I currently use on my SX100. I set it to delay for 30 sec (probably a little on the long side, but good insurance) and it takes 3 shots in a row. I slightly change the angle of the pole/camera in between the shots, and I usually come out with a winner. But . . . it doesn't appear to offer autobracketing.
Anyone have any experience with either of these cameras (well, the S90 is new, but you never know . . .)? Anyone else shooting from a pole? What do you use and what are your results like?
Thanks!
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