I found this thread interesting on graduated filters:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...hread=33982921

I didn't know it was such a hassle.

I would like to get a ND filter to try taking pictures of waterfalls, but I don't know how dark I need to get. I'd like to get just one initially instead of a whole set.

I am looking at buying my first digital SLR Costco has this deal on a
Canon EOS REBEL XS Package. Keep in mind Canada

Thoughts?

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product....-CanonEOSRebel

Neither of the lenses are stabilized and the Rebel XS / 1000D probably has slightly worse IQ than comparable Nikons / Pentaxes (C N P).

I'd personally get a better camera with either in-body shake reduction (like this Pentax kit) or with a stabilized kit lens (like this Canon) as I'd probably not find much use from the unstabilized 75-300mm lens that comes with the Costco XS.

Thanks a bunch and Calgary to boot as I am in Edmonton

I found one retailer in Edmonton if that's any help:
http://www.mcba********.com/locations.php

Stabilization on a cheep zoom lens isn't that big of a deal. They are slow enough that there aren't going to be a lot of places you can hand hold them anyway. That is a bright sunlight camera.

quick time lapse that I shot of the DC area snow fall this weekend, about 15 hours and just over 2200 images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6Pusgkc0c

This is really cool. How did you make sure nobody steals your tripod/camera?

was setup inside my house, on tripod as close to window as possible to eliminate any glare, the few frames that had some reflection due to lights in the house being turned on were removed before I created the sequence

I would of preferred to setup the camera outside but the temperatures were pushing it for the camera to function correctly, and the low temps would eat up the battery (I still changed batteries during this, but the first was not close to dead)

EDIT - any ideas on how to be sure no one steals it with an outside setup? I have scenes I would like to shoot in time lapse but I cant leave any setup unattended in public...

Hide it? I wouldn't trust your equipment outside unattended

More pix, less words you fools!

Suggestions please on anything you care to comment on!

Don't put the horizon in the middle of a frame. Put it top third if you want to draw attention to the ground, and bottom third if you want to draw attention to the sky.

Bokeh on first one looks great but would have liked face a bit sharper.

Climbing picture just isn't very interesting. It looks like it was a relatively small face and you were close to it? Try getting closer and shooting up more from underneath or the side to give more dramatic perspective. The picture looks too flat.

Last pic of tree look at cropping out left side (preferably shoot the pic that way to begin with) to frame the left & bottom of pic w/ the tree

Good critique, Freakin.

I like the first shot, but do I see it right that the focus is in the hair and not on the eyes?

Yeah when I was editing it I noticed this. I was just shooting some candids so I didn't have time to really look through and be like "Dude can you keep sucking that heater til I get it right?"

I'm noticing that the Auto-Focus on my 1.8f 50mm (attached to a Nikon D50) is really poor. It's loud/semi-slow, and will often focus on things i'm clearly not intending it to. I started to just manual focus towards the end of the trip, any tips/ideas?

You should be able to control what the focal point is for the autofocus, there should be some different indicators through the lens that light flash when it focuses. I think the D50 has those, the D70S did and my D90 does. I highly recommend getting a 3rd party manual for your model camera and use that to learn all the ins and outs of the camera settings. I'm real happy with http://www.bythom.com/nikon.htm and have used his manual on both my Nikon cameras.

I liked hte lifeguard post, I just wish the sunset had more color to it. The composition is good. You could try to boost the yellow orange & red saturation or luminosity in that area to try to bring out more sunset.


For slow autofocus set it to single point instead of zone and that may improve it. Also use AF-S instead of AF-C (continuous) so once you get focus set you can hold it locked w/ shutter release instead of having it continually try to focus on point you pick. usually are shooting all over w/ single-point autofocus most people leave it set to very center point then focus & recompose, rather than move the autofocus point based on the scene you are shooting.

Will do, i know what you're talking about, and after some manipulation can usually get it focused on the right part...but i just wonder why it takes so long or if i'm just a total noob on how my focus mechanism works and i'm just making it difficult

TY, the AF-S vs AF-C is very helpful and something i've been wanting to do for a while but couldn't figure out how to do it. I'll read up on the manual kerowo posted and see if I can finally master the controls on my camera.

Thanks guys for the tips

if you have a desire to keep it in AF-C or AF-A, then you can use the AF-L button on the back of the camera, once the focus is correct, if you hold the AutoFocus Lock button it will keep it locked in that position as long as you hold it, now in default settings this will also lock your auto exposure, the camera can be set to just lock one of the other function as well

Where is everyone? been shooting over the holidays?

sorry, brag post (I've just been excited)

got a couple new toys a few days before Christmass in the mail the other day...

just found this thread and as being new to photographing wanted to post some pics of mine. feel welcome to comment on them.

I've bought a Panasonic Lumix LX3 5 months ago and am since learning about features and how to use it properly. It's just nice and handy, perfect for taking it with you on snowboard trips. What kind of programs would you recommend for postprocessing? Is photoshp the way to go?

I got inspired by this thread to do my own water drop experiment today, here is the best one imo from the series:


This one is from summer, I like the colors and the setting with the people in front, clouds etc. the guy in the air just makes this pic really spectacular, but that was a lucky catch



This guy is an actor and I really like his gesture, the bottom left is overexposed though.


Subway tunnel in London:


Played around with the exposure time at the little creek in our garden:



Mountainview, took this from my balcony and therefore had to cut the bottom as there are some houses.

The LX3 is a good choice imo. I like the pool photo and the subway photo.

There are some Japanese market sales data in... Not really full market share data, but mostly looks like Nikon and Sony has lost market share while Panasonic and Pentax have gained it.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...hread=34084229

Pool photo is cool, the clouds look good, cool how they appear to descend at about the trajectory the guy did.

The actor is a cool looking subject, and seems to do ok in B&W

The creek is kind of boring, I know you were just playing around with exposure and you got it alright, it's just the photo doesn't have a lot going on.

sick. bet those pair nice together

Few shots from a recent trip up highway 1 in California. Critiques or suggestions please on anything.