DSLR + Android smartphone + USB OTG = WIN

The camera on your smartphone has one huge advantage compared to most dedicated cameras. It's always connected to the Internet. For every shot you take, you can instantly share it.

For every other camera, how would the user get their pictures on the Web?

Typically, you need to get the photos from the camera onto an Internet-connected PC.

Usually, I import my photos to my desktop PC. It isn't a terribly tedious process. But imagine if I'm away from home and have just taken a shot with my camera that's so great that I feel the need to share it right away.

Enter USB On-The-Go.

Hit the break to read on.

Just bought a Nikon D5100

My Nikon D60 has served me quite well over the last two years. Alas, it was time for it to retire. With my kids entering the toddler years, I need a camera that can keep up with their constant motion. The D60 shot admirably, but I longed for something with better low-light and high-ISO performance.

Enter stage left, the Nikon D5100. (Google it for specs and reviews)

The camera performs brilliantly. Even at high-ISO settings, there's no noticeable image noise. For that reason, I'm able to set the auto-ISO's minimum shutter speed more aggressively, not fearing how high the cam will increase the ISO in low-light situations.

The result: Clear photos of a moving subject without the use of my flash. I love it!

More camera gear: Nikkor 35mm f/1.8

I told myself I was not going to get more camera gear. But gosh darn it, I couldn't resist.

I got myself the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lens.

Reason? It's relatively inexpensive; and I wanted to shoot without flash with indoor-lighting. The use my SB-400 speedlight to bounce the flash was great. But there are times when I just don't want flash. I figured my babies would appreciate being shot without flash as well.

While it's certainly significantly better in low-light conditions compared to my 18-55mm, it's still a thousand times better when used with flash.

The sharpness with the 35mm is remarkable. I also appreciate that it's much more compact than the 18-55mm. This is definitely a lens that I should have bought a long time ago. Unless I want to shoot at a wider angle, the 18-55mm lens is going to be on the back-burner gathering dust.

Here's a test shot with the 35mm (resized 25%).

Here's the same shot with my 18-55mm set at the same focal length.

Photography is an expensive hobby!

I'm scared. I've just spent a bunch of money on photography equipment. I'm not an enthusiast and I don't ever want to be. I just want nice pictures =)

There are people who spend tens of thousands of dollars on camera equipment. I'm not one of them. Again, I just want nice pictures.

Like most people, I started off with compact digital cameras. I probably went through about 4 of them over several years, each of them having a higher megapixel count than the previous one. But as the megapixels increased, I didn't noticed much quality increase. That's when I decided to take the jump to Digital SLR cameras.

I'm no photographer and I don't pretend to be. I just want a camera body that's no-nonsense and easy to use. So I went with the Nikon D60. The kit version came with an 18-55mm lens which is just perfect for an amateur like myself. (HK$4200)

Finally, I'm able to get shots that have excellent color clarity and are not ruined by noise. But my camera is like the Dark Side of the Force or the One Ring of Sauron. It keeps leaving me wanting more!

I quickly outgrew the 18-55mm lens and want something with more zoom. I found the built-in flash to be completely useless because it always produces pictures that are over-exposed.

So, I recently picked up some stuff:

The AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED

Relatively inexpensive, just HK$1750. It's compact and lightweight (which is critical for me). Comes with a hood (which I honestly had no idea what it was for at the time!) Photos look good with no visible distortions. Even when zoomed all the way in, I'm still able to get sharp pics thanks to the built-in Vibration Reduction. Because it's so lightweight and exterior is made of plastic, it feels cheap in hand. But it costs a fraction of the price of higher-end stuff.

Nikon SB-400

Small and compact (seriously, this is critical for me!). Cost HK$950. The flash unit swivels up so you can bounce the flash. Unfortunately it doesn't swivel laterally.

I was trying out the flash at home and it's amazing. Photos using bounce flash just looks more natural and alive. But then I realized, I can't always depend on having a white ceiling. So I need a bounce card. I know I can make one out of paper, but it's ghetto.

So, I went ahead and bought one of these for HK$20.

Now, with all this new stuff, I'm going to need to get a new bag. Seriously, somebody needs to stop me before I spend all my savings just for the sake of nice pictures.

I need Gollum to chew off that Ring.

I need my wife to say the following lines to me:

Her: I don't believe what I'm hearing! Obi-Wan was right... you've changed! You have turned to the dark side!

Me: I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me!

Her: You're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I cannot follow!

Me: Because of Obi-Wan?

Her: Because of what you've done... what you plan to do! Stop! Stop now... come back... I love you!

Then, I'll Force Choke her before Obi-wan Kenobi sets me straight with a swift lightsaber swing to my left arm and both legs as I leap over him to get to more camera gear...