Parties — be it the social event where people get together in celebration or a group of people embarking on a mutual quest of outdoors adventure — are great opportunities to capture keepsake moments, with the one exception: the official chronicler (or in our times, the photographer) is almost always left out. Of course, if you’re smart about it and armed with the right camera, that doesn’t always have to be the case. Here’re how you can shoot your yourself, your party and everything in between with a modular freestyle camera.
How to get your freestyle on with the Casio EX-FR100.
Parties — be it the social event where people get together in celebration or a group of people embarking on a mutual quest of outdoors adventure — are great opportunities to capture keepsake moments, with the one exception: the official chronicler (or in our times, the photographer) is almost always left out. Of course, if you’re smart about it and armed with the right camera, that doesn’t always have to be the case. Here’re how you can shoot your yourself, your party and everything in between with a modular freestyle camera.
I-FIE, YOU-FIE, WE-FIE
Smartphone cameras have come a long way, but it is perhaps most notable for popularizing the photography style known as the selfie. Personal portraits aren’t anything new, but whenever you see the telltale signs of an outstretched hand, the awkward angle and framing, you know you’re looking at a mobile selfie. Now, we have nothing against smartphones. They’re handy to have around, and we shoot selfies all the time.
However, they won’t do justice if you’re trying to get that all-inclusive party shot, or ‘wefie’. Shooting group photos with your smartphone while trying to frame yourself in the picture is no easy task, since everyone else can look natural, but you’re stuck awkwardly in the center, trying not to continuously look like a deer in headlights while you have your hands outstretched fiddling with a touchscreen. Normally, you’ll end up with everyone squeezing uncomfortably together, with yourself blocking almost any background scenery because of the narrow field of view of smartphone cameras.
One way to get a better wefie is to invest in a good selfie stick. One that preferably has remote trigger controls. An even better method is to also invest in a modular camera designed for such tasks, such as the Casio EX-FR100. It’s small, lightweight, with a detachable lens and body for greater control.
THE ULTIMATE POV
When you look through your camera viewfinder or LCD, you are seeing what your camera sees. What if you can make your camera see what you see instead? It may be a semantic distiction, but there is a difference between framing and posing for a photo and shooting a natural point-of-view (POV). This is the reason that action cameras have become so popular these days. POV videos allow us to experience death defying stunts or see what professional athletes see in the heat of the action.
Our own adventures might not be so much of an adrenaline rush of course; it could be a family camping trip or a trail walk through the woods. For this purpose, you don’t really need an action camera, most of which are fitted with fish-eye lenses that warp perspective to highlight action.
The Casio EX-FR100 shoots still photos instead so you can show your friends the kind of sights from your perspective. Of course, it also takes Full HD video with built-in image stabilization so it can double up as an action cam when needed. You can also take advantage of its quick release system that allows you to easily adjust and repurpose the lens in case you want a quick selfie without disruption to your activity. Everything is captured in an ultra-wide angle 16mm (35mm equivalent) F2.8 lens designed for minimal distortion.
BY HOOK OR BY CROOK
Ok, maybe you’re not really the adventurous kind. Maybe you just want a cozy sit down dinner with friends. More importantly, you want to enjoy said dinner without needing to constantly whip out a camera for some food photography or mood shots. You may be the designated photographer, but why do you have to be left out of the festivities because you’re too busy thinking about angles or moments.
What if you had a camera that could very well attach to just about any surface in the room with free play on shooting angles? Not only that, you don’t have to worry about positioning or shooting because you can remotely monitor a live feed or conveniently just set the camera to shoot both stills and videos automatically, then retrieve the camera at the end of the night? Well, actually you can.
The Casio EX-FR100 features clips and accessories that can secure the camera to a table or the ceiling if you so wish. Its modular design also allows you to fashion impromptu attachments from hooks or crevices, somewhat like the MacGyver of photography. After that, you simply enable the camera’s automatic Intelligent Interval shooting mode and let it do its thing. But, since you always have the remote module with you, you can also snap a manual shot even when Interval mode is in effect. All without leaving your spot in the party.
