So we chatted with Francois who delivers our photography lessons so you can find out a bit more about how we can help.
Chris
We’re here at the Copper Kettle, a few doors down from Campkins Cameras on King’s Parade. I’m here with Francois, and we’re talking photography lessons. Hi Francois, tell us a bit about the photography lessons and what Campkins Cameras offer.
Francois
The lessons we run are in the format of a 1-hour, one-to-one lesson. So rather than a classroom format, we do them one-to-one. That way we can customize the session to that individual’s needs. So whatever you want to talk about, photography-wise, in the space of an hour we can cover it. If you want to talk about photography basics, aperture, shutter speed, ISO. Or if you wanted to talk about landscape photography or portrait photography we can do that for you as well. And the one-hour session costs £50.
Chris
And you call them playdates?
Francois
Yes, I call them play dates because I like to keep it fun and relaxed. We learn a lot more when we’re enjoying what we’re doing and we’re not intimidated. So I prefer to call them play dates and structure them accordingly.
Chris
So it’s a very focused one-hour session, which means you’re not spending lots of money on a half-day or several-hour course, which is giving you stuff that you may not be ready to learn yet. So this is a lot more tailored to them.
Francois
That’s right. Typically the people who are going to be in your lesson and doing a lesson with you will be, first-time photographers or someone who’s coming back to photography. And also somebody who’s moved on to a totally new brand new – a different set of kit. Often it happens that, if you’re used to one brand of camera, and you switched to another one, the menu layout and all of the buttons are different. And in some cases each manufacturer calls the same thing by a different name.
So very often it’s just a case of sitting down with somebody and going through each of these functions – what does this button do and how do I change that often comes into it.
Chris
Yes, because when you’re investing in a first-time kit or a new piece of kit, there’s that eagerness just to get on with it. But you want to make sure you get the absolute essentials to get the most out of it is as quickly as possible.
Francois
Exactly. You don’t want to be overwhelmed with a whole bunch of technical information as well, necessarily.
Chris
I bought a Canon M50 Mark II from Campkins recently – it’s designed for vlogging. I’m doing a lot more of that these days. And I had already shot some video on it and there was one situation where I was in-frame doing a piece to camera and it was all blurred. And so I’m wondering what caused that.
Francois
If you look on the back of the camera, low down on the right-hand side there’s that round button – it’s called the D-Pad – the left side of that is labeled AF and MF. And so when you push that, it’ll switch between automatic focus mode and manual focus mode when you’re in video mode.
And it might just be that a stray thumb brushed against the button and inadvertently turned it from automatic focus to manual focus. More often than not, when you’re talking to the camera, you’re going to want the camera to focus automatically just to keep you sharp in the frame as opposed to leaving it in manual where the camera does, nothing. It just says. “You selected manual, so then you work it.”
Chris
Yeah, absolutely. I think in my haste I brushed that button ever so slightly. So I’ll make sure I’m all set up with auto focus.
Francois
And as a vlogging camera the M50 is great. It’s small and compact. It has the microphone socket so you can add your microphone to it. And I see you’ve got a little Saramonic mic here as well. And it’s good to have a microphone on the camera because it’s one thing to have good video, but it really helps if you’ve got good audio. So all in all it’s a good investment and very good way to get started in videography.
Chris
Definitely. I’ve got myself a Joby tripod as well, which is I think very helpful in having that positioning in any kind of situation. All in all it’s actually a really good price and I’m really happy with it. I’ll be sure to pop back into the shop if I’ve got any other questions or grab one of the play dates to get a little lesson in.
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If you’re interested in chatting with Francois about our photography lessons then pop into the shop or get in touch via our website. We look forward to helping you take the first or next storm in your photography journey.