The Photography Thread

[Youngplayer9]

Originally Posted by mikekelley

Keep the kit lens and get either a telephoto (like a 70-200) or an ultrawide like a 10-22.

The kit lens' sharpness and color reproduction is more than adequate, the only time it's a bit bothersome is when you need to shoot indoors without a flash or are shooting fast moving subjects.

If that's the case I'd get a Canon 17-55 2.8 or Tamron 17-50 2.8, but in my opinion that's a bad purchase given that you already have the kit lens which covers that length.

And thanks everyone for the comments re: the snowboarding. I wish I was more cool and less nerd, though.

are all those shot at northstar?

[mikekelley]

Originally Posted by cardsharkk04

Well lately its been screwing up. I'll take a picture and a screen will pop up that says communication error with the lens and the lens contact. Really annoying, I don't know how to fix it, so I figured its time for a new one.

try a q-tip with rubbing alcohol on the contacts, just enough to dampen the swab should do the trick. obv make sure the camera is off

[OTL]

I'm trying to decide on a new camera. I really want a touchscreen model so its between these 3:

Canon SD3500
Samsung TL240
Sony DSC TX7

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[mephisto]

Originally Posted by mephisto

Since the 5D Mark II and the D700 seem to be a year or two old, do you think an update for either Nikon or Canon is likely? I would hate investing in such an expensive camera only to see a newer version come out weeks/months later.

Here are some pics from two well known food blogs that I'd like some feedback on:

Eatinglv:









Kevin eats:
















What kind of camera's/lenses were used in these photos if you had to guess? I really enjoy some of these photos, however, I purposefully added a few pics that I thought were not a success due to either blurriness or the fact that the restaurant was too dark. The second to last and the final photo were taken in a restaurant that Kevin believes was too dark. Would there be a way for my photos to turn out differently if I had the right equipment (that wouldn't take too much space)?

I appreciate any comments.

I didn't get too many comments in OOT so I'm re-posting it here.

[TheRealIABoomer]

I think one of the things that makes food photography difficult is the fact that the places are dark, and you don't really have room to setup some kind of soft lighting without a lot of bulky equipment. The flash up close ends up altering the natural color of the food and changing the visual aesthetic.

I think for subtle shooting at the table, you'd probably want to go with a fast prime lens, since they'll have wider apertures to allow more light in. I'd also consider a small table-top tripod that you could use to keep the camera stable and allow a longer shutter speed to let more light in without causing blur.

[2trips]

Mike, I really dig those action shots you got there. Definitely a unique perspective!

I'm a cinematographer, photography is a passionate hobby of mine. I didn't really get into it until recently. Which may seem strange given my profession but I came up doing camera operating and the such, just never took up photography as a hobby. That is until I dated a girl who owned a Nikon D40...and one night I started playing with it and my eyes were open haha.

Here are some quick samples of some shots of mine, I'm going to upload higher rez ones to my website within the next couple days

These are from a while ago, I don't remember many of the details but they are mostly from that D40 with the stock 18-124mm lens, me just playing around and experimenting mostly.

[2trips]

Also, I recently got a Droid Eris ...hadn't upgraded my phone in a couple years and am amazed at how good the cameras are on these things nowadays...5 freakin mp's now, here are some shots from it (edited via PS mobile)

[springsteen87]

So did you get the third free spin bonus?

[MarkD]

I'm a hobbyist photographer. To be more precise I enjoy taking photographs on vacations and when I am going somewhere. It's possible I will get more into taking photographs just to take them, but currently I lack creativity and require inspiration to take photos.

All of that aside, my question is - can someone explain the advantages of a prime lens for someone like me? Aside from being able to take better photo's inside because of the increased speed, what else does it grant me and is it worth it.

I have a Nikon D40 and am seriously considering purchasing the AF-S 35mm F1.8 lens for about $260CAD.

edit: Currently I have the Kit 18-55mm lens, that I got sand in when we were at the Coral Pink Sand Dune State Park and I recently ebayed a 55-200mm zoom.

[springsteen87]

If you're going to get a prime lens, and have no specific need for 35mm over 50mm, i would get This One instead. It's cheaper, and is very good for the price.

The 1.8f lens will allow you to toy with Depth of Field much easier/better than your kit lens. Your kit lens is not capable of opening nearly as wide as the 1.8, when a lens is open wider, the effect is that anything outside of your focus area becomes "blurred" like in the below picture (hopefully hotlink worked)

[MarkD]

I have no specific need for a 35mm over a 50mm, other than I primarily do a lot of landscape photography, although I would use this new lens to play with photos like the one you posted. (I understand depth of field, which is one of the reasons why I want a prime).

I've looked at that 50mm lens previously and I have discarded it because it won't autofocus with a D40 camera. Manual focus just seems... silly to me.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/5018daf.htm

[MarkD]

The first 50mm lens I have found that will auto focus with a D40 is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-50mm-1-4...3087527&sr=1-1

Which is a lot more money than the 35mm auto-focus capable lens. Honestly, this is the main reason why I am considering the 35mm instead of the 50mm. Do you guys think this reasoning is a mistake?

edit: I should note that amazon.com will not ship anything except books to Canada so the best price I can find for the above lens is about $550CAD.

[suzzer99]

Just got my first real tripod. Pretty stoked. This was the most compact and lightest I could find, and it almost comes up to head height. I figure I won't mind shelling out the extra money when I'm lugging it up a mountain.



Specs and Review: http://porterscamera.wordpress.com/2...fiber-tripods/

[chisness]

Went to the zoo yesterday for some practice shots but it started raining pretty quickly. Thoughts on this original/edit?





A few other things that came up:

-With the histogram should I be trying to get it as close to the right as possible without hitting the right side or just making sure it doesn't hit the right side (blowing out the whites I think) then editing later?

-Is it fine to walk around in auto mode, especially as a newb?

-Is using AUTO ISO a bad idea?

-Is using a laptop as the only backup fine? Ie moving photos from CF card onto laptop and removing from CF card. I will have a 32 GB card and 2 16 GB cards so that should be about 6400 photos. Maybe keep ones that are likely good on CF card and backup and ones that are meh just backup and delete from card.

-For action I should be using shutter priority, continuous mode, and AF sensor mode where you can choose the sensor?

-For still I should be using the "S" mode and auto AF sensor?

-Best situations to use aperture priority vs. shutter priority?

-Any suggestions for post processing? I have no idea what I'm doing and just went into Lightroom and fooled around with random things till I thought it looked a bit better. Any specific Lightroom features to either use a lot or not usually mess with?

[Koshur]