Any Photographers with DSLR's Around ?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by mparent

Thanks. Any thoughts about the mirrorless cameras from sony, nikon, or panasonic?

The Nikon and Panasonic are point & shoot's so stay away but the Sony is a serious camera. The problem is that all owners are waiting for lenses and flashes etc. to come out and many are tired of waiting and switching to nikon/canon dslr.

When you start with this you have to choose for a system. Canon has always had the most extensive system, especially the lens line up. But Nikon often had bodies that performed better at same cost level. The 5D3 changes that as it has the auto focus system fom the flagship 1D-X body at significant lower cost.

Anything that I say for Canon, there is a photog fom the dark side that counters with same for Nikon... except that unique EF 8-15mm f/4L USM fisheye -zoom- lens from Canon... Nikon has nothing like that. The rest of both brands has come together so close that it doesn't matter for quality anymore, leaving Canon with a bigger assortment of gear to work with but often at a bit higher price than Nikon. The 5D3 will cause some to switch to Canon, but that happened the other way before.

ciao!
Nick.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

This is one of those all time great threads on CF Nick. And what could be safer? No fear of losing posting history to a thread shut down.

I'm hiding in this thread

nice photo's... you're ready to step into the world of HDR I think because these pictures are asking or it. Check how to do automatic exposure bracketing with your camera and shoot these shots bracketed next time. Download a trial of Photomatix Pro to play and you'll find yourself stepping in a new world once again

ciao!
Nick.

[deckofficer]

Nick,

For the time being, I'm happy with the small format sensor because it gives a lot of telephoto to a smaller focal length lens. Remember, I started out using a 4X5 Linhof, so I was into larger formats.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Nick,

For the time being, I'm happy with the small format sensor because it gives a lot of telephoto to a smaller focal length lens. Remember, I started out using a 4X5 Linhof, so I was into larger formats.

Sure, but that does not stop you from shooting HDR .... I can do it with anything, iPhone, any P&S etc.

ciao!
Nick.

[deckofficer]

I'll bite, what is HDR? High dynamic range, where in my case multiple exposures culled together via software to increase dynamic range?

[s/v Jedi]

Here's two examples:


The sky in the last picture and everything in the first picture is typical for HDR. The range of light between underexposed black and overexposed white is much greater than for a normal capture.

How this is done is easy: the camera makes multiple exposures at different exposure settings. The two pics above are each 3 exposures. Besides the standard one, there is one with exposure compensation of -2 and one with +2 stops. That is one underexposed and one overexposed. But underexposed means the sky is still blue with much of the rest black. Overexposed shows detail where the normal capture shows black shadows. The computer takes all three and starts mixing them with results like above... or way different because you can play with it. You can keep it looking realistic or you can go wild like this:



If your camera can't do "exposure bracketing" then you just change the exposure compensation manually.

ciao!
Nick.

[deckofficer]

Now that you showed me what can be done with the automotive photography I do now days, you've got my interest. Do I need to combine RAW files instead of jpg?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Now that you showed me what can be done with the automotive photography I do now days, you've got my interest. Do I need to combine RAW files instead of jpg?

You can do it with jpg's. If you have RAW captures, you can do HDR with a single RAW. Just copy it so you have 3, then adjust exposure to +2 and -2 for two of them and create the three jpg's and feed to Photomatix Pro.

These extreme HDR pics have more than 3 exposures... often 7 or even 9:





There's more than cars that do good with HDR... for example, house interior shots do really good too:


ciao!
Nick.

[neilsailingrn]

Okay…I have a Nikon 50 DSLR and am always bitching about not getting the wide angle shots I want with my Sigma DG 28-300 lense. Are you folks recomending a 18-200 lense?

[neilsailingrn]

Sorry..lens…same as centre being center, and harbour being harbor, and….well you get it

[eastendsailor]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I'm picking up a Canon G12 soon. I don't want to drop the cash on the lenses for the DSLRs and I'm pretty sure the limiting feature for my photos will be the photographer, at least at this point in my life.

I've been using a G12 since Christmas and am very pleased with it. Lots of shooting options, very good in low light, good battery life. My third or fourth small digital camera and by far the best. A bit bulkier than other non DSLRs, but well worth the trade-off. The Leica digital rangefinder is way out of my price range.

Generally, I like to do photography the old-fashioned way, with film, chemicals, and paper prints! Have a Leica M4 for the discreet approach, a couple of motor-driven Nikon F3s with lenses from 24mm to a fast 180mm, as well as a Hasselblad 500 C/M, used for portraits mostly. Had a brief career as a pro in the pre-digital age, now do it for fun.

Thumbs up on the G12 ...

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by wannabe sailor

I've been using a G12 since Christmas and am very pleased with it. Lots of shooting options, very good in low light, good battery life. My third or fourth small digital camera and by far the best. A bit bulkier than other non DSLRs, but well worth the trade-off. The Leica digital rangefinder is way out of my price range.

Generally, I like to do photography the old-fashioned way, with film, chemicals, and paper prints! Have a Leica M4 for the discreet approach, a couple of motor-driven Nikon F3s with lenses from 24mm to a fast 180mm, as well as a Hasselblad 500 C/M, used for portraits mostly. Had a brief career as a pro in the pre-digital age, now do it for fun.

Thumbs up on the G12 ...

Now here is someone that can identify with my love of a Linhof 4X5, pre-digital by many years.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by neilsailingrn

Okay…I have a Nikon 50 DSLR and am always bitching about not getting the wide angle shots I want with my Sigma DG 28-300 lense. Are you folks recomending a 18-200 lense?

The D50 has an 1.5x crop sensor. What you need is the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 with Nikon mount. I use that lens on a Canon 1.6x crop sensor so you get it even a touch wider.

28-300 and 18-200 lenses lack a lot of quality. The following are the "must have" zoom ranges for your camera: 12-24mm(wide zoom), 17-55mm (standard zoom) and 70-200mm (tele zoom)

Lenses that try to do that full range or even more are of mediocre picture quality because it isn't technically possible to ake a big range like that and keep quality up.

ciao!
Nick.

[eastendsailor]

Oh, the Linhof is a beautiful instrument! The resolution of a 4x5 neg or chrome is amazing. Rodenstock or Schneider lens? Have done a little bit in that format, but never owned 4x5 or 8x10 view.

Agree that three shorter zooms are much better than the 18-200, etc.

[deckofficer]

Schneider 180mm standard lens. I really liked being able to tilt either or both the lens or film plane. You would be amazed at the depth of focus as long as the subject matter continued in distance from one film edge to the opposite film edge.