Any Photographers with DSLR's Around ?

[JazzyO]

Ah, now I feel better!

A couple more.


Onno

[JazzyO]

Still more in the bag.


Onno

[Sailor g]

Originally Posted by JazzyO

Very nice!

Perhaps I'm a pathetic compliment seeker, but seriously, no comment at all on my shots? I'm just an amateur too you know.

Onno

Your pictures are beautiful. In fact, they inspired me to go to Africa for my next vacation. I would love to see those sights firsthand.

[carstenb]

All my africa shots are on film and I haven't scanned them in yet. If you're going, go to Botswanna (okawanga delta). This is more expensive than Kenya/South AFrica and other places but there are a damn sight fewer tourists and a hell of a lot more animals.

I just gotta get around to scanning those africa shot in - Jazzy yours are great (literally - I'm really impressed), I think I have a few that can rival them I spent a month in the Delta and rolled off near to 1500 pics. I was using two cameras, back then I shot with a Nikon F5 and I had a Nikon F801 as reserve. I kept both ready so I wouldn't have to waste time changing lenses etc.

I only went digital last year. I guess I have something like 1000 rolls of negatives

[JazzyO]

Thanks for the compliments.

Fact is that you get better everytime you go. I saw an increase in quality in this safari's batch compared to last year's. Better equipment does help. Although the principal driver for quality shots is good camera technique, you cannot get around the fact that high resolution sensors make a huge difference. If you have a sharp shot, good shot but you would have liked to use 600mm instead of 300mm, these days you can just recut it.

For instance, the buffalo with the oxpecker on its nose was shot as a full frame portrait, I recompositioned the shot in Adobe Lightroom.

I noticed that although I MUCH prefer the workings of my 1D MkIII, I chose my recently acquired 7D body several times as a) the smaller sensor has a higher magnification (1.6x vs 1.3x) and b) almost double the resolution. This is where Nikon's D800 is so fantastic, you can crop the 36MP to 18 and have a 1.5x boost to your telephoto lens.

I must also confess that this is chose the 3 year old 7D over the new 6D two months ago. Focal length is everything and with a 1.6x sensor, 1.4x converter and 2.8 120-300mm you can cover everything except for the really small birds, unless you are lucky.

I really wish Canon would build a 1D with crop capability. Because although the 7D is a nice amateur camera, I really miss the 1D solidity and ergonomics when I use it.

I will never go back to film - but I do have to say there is one thing that is hard to do with digital, and that is to keep track of your shots. I have many Gb of backup space but this week I was trying to find shots from 2004 and I can only find the JPG's I created, not the original CR2's. Backing up is a real issue! Porting is also an issue - who can still read any floppy discs of 20 years ago? What happens to your pics in 20 years time? At least film can lie in a box for 100 years and still be restored.

So back-up, people!! And keep the RAW files as well as the JPG's.

And the advantage is that I now have my shots as a screensaver via Apple TV on my 54" HD TV. What a joy.


Onno

[carstenb]

Jazzy

I agree completel with your concerns regarding digital media.

I bought a separate hard-drive and have put my (digital) pics on it. I assume (maybe mistakenly ) that a hard drive will be able to be read for many years to come.

But I still have problems keeping it all organized

[Chark]

Backing up to several hard drives and keeping them in different places is a good idea if the pictures or data are important to you. Drives DO fail, and ,as all things that are remotely connected to boats, WILL..

[solecollector]

Great thread! I've been shooting (groans or cheers) Canon since day one of converting to all digital. I started with the 1Ds and shot 75k frames and now wield two bodies: 1Dx and 6D (that remote app sold me - so nice... build is not the same as a 1D for sure.....).

I am getting an underwater housing soon.... need to shoot something besides people.

If anyone cares - I shoot a 24-70 but have been gravitating to the 24-105 just because I've been doing more photojournism and the ISO is so good that I don't miss the stops - nor am I going razor thin. And talking about razor thing - my "art" lens is an 85 1.2. I think anyone here who has shot that lens can just say one word... ridiculous. And finally a 70-200 II. Of course lenses are the name of the game on a boat and probably going to have to get a bigger lens or a multiplier (or both ).

Can anyone give me their tips on shooting from a moving object (albeit a slow moving object...) with a longer lens?

Some random shots.

[harmonysimone]

Love this thread and all the eye candy! I have a Nikon D3000S with the standard lens (18-200mm). Truth be told, I wish I bought something cheaper because I had to get over some major anxiety about taking it with me (fear of it getting wet, getting stolen, etc). Once I got over the anxiety, I fell in love with my camera. I'm still learning all the bells and whistles that come on a DSLR, having worked with a manual (film) for so many years. It's great to control the white balance and ISO so easily. Here are some things I struggle with:

- On a moving boat, it's hard for me to keep the horizon straight (I'm amazed I have such a hard time with this).
- Night photography on the boat is impossible because it moves too much (need to keep a relatively high shutter speed). I'm just beginning to do some night photography from shore.
- I would love to get an underwater case to start doing some aquatic photography - and to protect my camera in general.
- We generally don't have enough juice for me to edit all of my photos...and we rarely have good enough internet to upload photos, so I have to do it in bursts.

What editing software do you all use? I've been using Picasa and like it quite a lot (especially since it's free). Anyone else on Flickr? If so, I'd love to follow your stream - I'm at Flickr: Take to the sea's Photostream and also upload photos to our blog, though not as many (Take to the sea).

How about using your camera for videography? I'm just starting to dabble with this...but it's a little advanced for me.

Happy shooting!

[settingsun]

On a moving boat I try to keep my shutter speed at a minimum of 1/250 (swinging at anchor), and a little higher like 1/400 when we're underway.

Recently coming into Banderas Bay in Pacific Mexico we were treated to a fabulous humpback whale breaching display. I managed to get the images, but the shutter speed was too slow (1/400). For those rocket ships bursting out of the water I should have had the shutter speed up at 1/1000 or more. You can see what I got here (about 1/3 to 1/2 way down the page):

Chamela to La Cruz - Humpback whales welcome us to Banderas Bay

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by settingsun

On a moving boat I try to keep my shutter speed at a minimum of 1/250 (swinging at anchor), and a little higher like 1/400 when we're underway.

Recently coming into Banderas Bay in Pacific Mexico we were treated to a fabulous humpback whale breaching display. I managed to get the images, but the shutter speed was too slow (1/400). For those rocket ships bursting out of the water I should have had the shutter speed up at 1/1000 or more. You can see what I got here (about 1/3 to 1/2 way down the page):

Chamela to La Cruz - Humpback whales welcome us to Banderas Bay

Great whale pictures and that is quite a travel site with your many modes of travel, boat and various RVs. Nick (S/V Jedi) has joined the ranks of RV travel when Panama gets too hot and humid.

[settingsun]

Deckofficer - I'm so glad you enjoyed my whale pics and our site! Thank you!!

RVing is a phenomenal way to travel -- we were full-time for 3 years before we started cruising, and we'll probably RV 6 months a year in the summers for the rest of our lives regardless of what we do the other six months (i.e., cruising or return to stick-and-bricks for winters). It's that much fun!!

I don't think I know Nick or s/v Jedi, but it's great they are having a chance to go exploring by RV in the summertime. I hope they love it as much as we do!!

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by solecollector

Great thread! I've been shooting (groans or cheers) Canon since day one of converting to all digital. I started with the 1Ds and shot 75k frames and now wield two bodies: 1Dx and 6D (that remote app sold me - so nice... build is not the same as a 1D for sure.....).

I am getting an underwater housing soon.... need to shoot something besides people.

If anyone cares - I shoot a 24-70 but have been gravitating to the 24-105 just because I've been doing more photojournism and the ISO is so good that I don't miss the stops - nor am I going razor thin. And talking about razor thing - my "art" lens is an 85 1.2. I think anyone here who has shot that lens can just say one word... ridiculous. And finally a 70-200 II. Of course lenses are the name of the game on a boat and probably going to have to get a bigger lens or a multiplier (or both ).

Can anyone give me their tips on shooting from a moving object (albeit a slow moving object...) with a longer lens?

Some random shots.

I must have missed something... Remote app?! Why don't I have that?

Is your 70-200 II a f/2.8? If so, then get the 1.4x III (mk3) extender for f/4 performance. We have a full frame and a crop sensor camera body to make that a possible 1.6x extra reach on the crop sensor. We really need a 7D II body.

On your full frame this might still end up a bit on the short side, but you have plenty pixels to crop and the 2.0x extender costs another stop and noticeable degradation... when you compare at pixel level. We use both extenders but the 2.0 often on tripod.

Then there is the old 100-400L. It's a favorite plus it is compatible with extenders. Last but not least, we have a 70-300L which is nice and compact and in good light very good results.

I would start with that extender

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by settingsun

Deckofficer - I'm so glad you enjoyed my whale pics and our site! Thank you!!

RVing is a phenomenal way to travel -- we were full-time for 3 years before we started cruising, and we'll probably RV 6 months a year in the summers for the rest of our lives regardless of what we do the other six months (i.e., cruising or return to stick-and-bricks for winters). It's that much fun!!

I don't think I know Nick or s/v Jedi, but it's great they are having a chance to go exploring by RV in the summertime. I hope they love it as much as we do!!

We do Texas this Summer!

[SVAndante9]

Just posted an EWA underwater housing in the classified section. Here's a link to the craigslist ad:
EWA DSLR Underwater housing

We're professional videographers and used this housing with our Canon 5 & 7D a few times. It's in great condition.