The caparisoned elephant happened to come in to Bharat Hotel when we were at the coffee shop. Ernakulathappan Temple is right across the road. The elephant was carrying the deity during annual festival processions.
I bought a Canon Speedlite 430EX II from Flipkart because the built-in flash on my Canon EOS 550D DSLR produces harsh shadows.
I am a beginner as far as flash photography goes. So I chose the 430EX II above the Canon 600 RX-RT which costs twice as much. One thing that the 430 EX II does not do is control slave flash units.
Flipkart delivered the flash the next day after I ordered it. I went through the operator manual. But it gives only basic information. So I had to search the internet for practical guidance.
The feature that separates 430EX II from third party flashes is that it can do high-speed sync. With High-Speed Sync, you can shoot at high shutter speeds. This will allow you to dim the ambient light and light the subject selectively with the flash. For more information on High-Speed Sync, please see what Syl Arena has to say.
The flash is shipped without batteries. I had to separately buy Ni-MH rechargeable AA batteries. Alkaline AA batteries can also be used.
Even though it is not compact, I am happy with my Canon 430EX II.
I bought a Canon PowerShot S110 camera from Flipkart in February 2014. I find the S110 handy to carry when weight/volume considerations are important. It’s ideal for fun and family trips.
It is the smallest and lightest camera with professional features. It has a 12 megapixel CMOS sensor. The lens has 5x zoom with a focal range of 24-120 mm and fast maximum aperture of f/2.0 The display has a 3.0 inch LCD touch screen. ISO speed can be set from 80 to 12800.
The S110 has a full range of manual shooting modes and RAW support. GPS can be used only with a paired smartphone. Also present are a built-in neural density filter and optical image stabiliser. There is a SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot. HD video recording is possible.
Large size photos have an image size of 4000×3000 pixels. Slowest shutter speed is 15 seconds and the fastest is 1/2000 sec.
Wi-fi connectivity is built-in. But I found the set-up procedure tedious and have not used the feature so far.
Battery performance could be better since just 200 photos can be shot with a fully charged battery.
Canon S110 is designed for serious photographers who want a compact camera with creative capabilities.