Any Photographers with DSLR's Around ?

[Ocean Girl]

He he, just like a sailor, gets a taste of the sea life and is no good for anything else

[FlyingCloud1937]

Now that digital makes it so easy,

does; THE EYE MATTER??

Does any one with a DLSR, know what Zone Focus Is?

If you only had one FRAME, what, how?

Would you bring that graphic to my eye>

Lloyd

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Jedi, since I'm a huge fan of your pics I determined to buy that lens, after I drooled over the beautiful pics it can take, I looked at the price..gulp and gulp...we need a bottom job more

Ocean Girl, I believe you said that you have a standard zoom now? There is much that you can do with that lens, but you need some accesories like a tripod and flash. I would buy that first, before putting more $$$ into another lens.

What I have found useful is to give yourself a task, like take a good picture of a flower. Get down to the level of the flower or even lower, to find the right composure. Get there early to catch dew drops etc. It's a new world and the standard zoom is good for it.

Next would be a landscape photo. Get a good tripod, not the toy kind. Manfrotto carbon is very good and not too expensive. Carbon makes it light so you won't hate it. A nice big ball-head is good enough. Find an interresting landscape, find the magic hours for the light, setup the tripod, spend time there, trying all kinds of compositions, apertures, is the camera level, how low can this tripod go (t'll allow you to get all the way down to the ground), how to use a 2s self timer so you don't touch the camera when it takes the picture, remote control?, mirror lockup? Landscapes are so cool to do because it takes you out with a very different look at the places you go. The standard zoom is good for this!

Street photography. Some places in the 1st world you now get arrested for it (you must be a terrorist when you have a camera and other such nonsense) but in cruisers places in the world this is very cool and rewards with pictures of scenes that most people in the 1st world will never see nor understand. Again, the standard zoom is good for this.

When you get to buy another lens, make sure it is a good one. Buy 2nd hand if the budget requires that instead of a cheaper lens new. Think of it as an investment, which it is, because good lenses keep their value and are easy to sell. Using the standard zoom more will tell you if you need to go to wide angle or to tele. Or macro (task: make picture of bug).

The pictures you see on my site are from both me and my wife and cover the whole range. The equipment we have was bought over many years and the first lenses we got are still like new and favorites. When you are ever considering buying something new, save more first so you can buy tickets to NYC and visit B&H and Adorama stores. Make it a holiday with those two as main attractions

To get an idea of what I mean, here is a flower picture; ain't nature amazing!?

[Prairie Chicken]

How many of you are using polarizer filters for your on-the-water shots, and what are your thoughts on using it? I used to use it a lot in aviation but discontinued it's use as if it isn't at the right angle to the sun you get a dark portion of your image and the image is lost. Action images often don't give you time to check the orientation.

Nice shot Jedi.

[seacap]

When I go to buy a lens I check out the focal length I want at both of these sites below. Sometimes Canon or Nikon will have the best lens, sometimes Sigma or one of the others will. Tokina has some excellent wide angles.
I just switched to Nikon after using Canon for 40 years an needed all new lenses. I wanted the Nikon 14-24mm lens. It was tested out to be excellent, one of Nikons best. Then I saw the Tokina 16-28mm. Tested out to be 95% as good as the Nikon. I probably couldn't see the difference (and I know what I'm looking at). Then you compare the price, 3000 for the Nikon and 1000 for the Tokina. It was a no brainer. But these 2 sites helped a lot.

Another example: Ziess has a wonderful 15mm lens I lusted after for architectural work. Sharp as a tack with very little optical problems like distortion and CA. But there is a New Korean firm making some great and cheap lenses. They are manual focus, but that is not a problem with extreme wide angle lenses. When I checked out Samyangs 14mm lens, it was rated sharper than the Ziess. It does have some distortion problems etc. But all of these trivial problems can be corrected on a computer, except for sharpness. So you must have the sharpness to begin with. So I purchased the Samyang for 400 vs 3500 for the Ziess. And the build quality was excellent also (an important consideration). I Do have some Nikon glass, but only because they earned my dollars.

Attached is a photo from a recent shoot here in the Virgin Islands. Un corking a keg of rum at the Cruzan distillery. Was shot with Tokina 16-28mm

http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Ratings
Welcome to Photozone!

[Prairie Chicken]

Yes, the eye matters! If nothing else is sharp in an image the eye(s) must be! Enough said.

Ocean Girl, I second what Jedi is saying above. A good tripod with a ball 'n socket mount is essential (although I will admit it is less so when you live on an always-moving boat). When I first started taking pictures I had a mentor who insisted on tripod use. For years I never took a shot that wasn't on a tripod. Now I'm thankful for that advice. It teaches you to look thru the view finder in a whole different way--always composing, always checking the background, always checking depth of field. I still do those things although I don't use the tripod nearly as much now--but always when I get serious!

Using a flash is an entirely different style of photography. Learning to use it well & fully takes a great deal of time & dedication. While I love the results I find I don't have the patience or technical interest in a flash. I've come to terms with that & restrict my serious photography to natural light. You may want to save the flash for a long ways down the road unless of course that is your passion.

Frequently I felt like a new lens would get those WOW shots, but they are obtained by taking the time, using the tripod, learning to see TTL. When you do buy, buy quality glass and you'll never be sorry. The glass is more important than all of the camera's bells and whistles.

It's a life-long passion--enjoy it, and years from now, it will keep on giving.

[Ocean Girl]

Jedi, listen to you I will

Thanks all. I ordered my replacement lens that I broke (18-55), should be here Friday so I'll be up and running again. I like the tripod suggestion, I think it will come in handy even aboard the boat, will have to wait till I have a proper place to store all this. My hubby has a "man cave" cabinet, I think it's time for a cave of me own I think it is a great idea to just stick with the basics and work up from there.

There is so much material to work with just around the boat. We have a field full of bugs , 100yards away is the local airport that caters to small planes, military exercises, skydivers that come almost right over us for landing. And of coarse the boat and water. Yesterday a dolphin came into the marina to fish, he was big and driving the fish right out of the water. I was at sea level (instead of high on the deck of a boat) and he was about 20 feet away ugh! I needed my camera!!

Question,
what about a monopod?
I have a pop up flash, a separate attachment flash is that much better?

I have this:Amazon.com: Pentax K-30 Weather-Sealed 16 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm Lens (Black): PENTAX: Camera & Photo

Thanks for all the help and input.

[Hud3]

Protecting your expensive equipment in high-humidity environments is worth thinking about. When we lived in Nevis, I had a camera lens and a set of binoculars fog internally with what looked like mold. I started keeping the camera body and lenses in a Pelican case with dessicant.

When we moved back to Virginia, the camera lens cleared up on it's own. I had to have the binocs professionally disassembled and cleaned. Lucky they were Zeiss with a lifetime guarantee.

Maybe Jedi or seacap has found a good solution.

[Jcolman]

I own three high end DSLR's, 10 lenses and a bunch of lights. I make my living with this gear. I'll be dammed if I'm taking any of them near saltwater unless I'm being paid.

[Ocean Girl]

That's why I went a little cheap, wasn't sure if I'd drop the camera in the water ( I'm recovering from surgery so a little unsteady sometimes). As it happens it was my hubby who dropped the camera and broke the lens, but in his defense it fell out of the truck and it was in a cushion camera case. So, I also ordered a neoprene glove to add to the cushion, and act as a day cover so I don't have to lug all my gear for a trip on deck

I think a pelican case for its home aboard is a good idea.

My parents were both divers, my dad a professional underwater photographer, so salt water was a way of life.

[seacap]

Jcolman, so do I. But shooting things around the water is part of what I do. I am now going into semi-retirement and will be bringing most of my gear (no lighting except an on camera flash for fill) on the boat with me. All my gear is weathered sealed so that must help. And I will be using pelican cases w/ desiccant.

OceanGirl, monopods are great for steadying big telephotos while shooting a football game. That is the situation they work well for. For close up shots the tripod is the only route. But for most other situations just use a shudder speed equal to the focal length of the lens. This will work for most situations. Plus new lenses many times will have "image stabilization". This allows 2-3 stops slower shutter speeds to use. Then there are bean bags or a convenient tree to brace against.

An external flash gives you two advantages. First, it is usually further from the axis of the lens. This reduces or eliminates the dreaded "red eye". The second advantage is they are usually more powerful. But still only good for maybe 15-20 feet max (depending).
Always get a kick out of people shooting pictures from the stands of nighttime sporting events. You see all those flashes going off. I can guarantee you not one of those pictures will come out. The flashes will just not reach that far. I almost always use an on camera flash to fill in harsh shadows when out in the sun. The attached shot I used an flash for "fill". Done correctly you don't even know I use it, but it makes a difference.

[s/v Jedi]

Nice shots SeaCap, and very good post processing!

Hud, for keeping the mildew out of the glass, I was fortunate to be able to afford the professional class lenses (which is why they seem expensive) which are weather sealed (the "L" linefrom Canon). Still when water spray is possible, I put an UV filter on the lens to protect it extra.
I also have Pelican cases for everything.

I use a circular polarizer 90% of the time. Can't do without. A good heavy one in bronze from B+W is what I like best. I have one that is a bit cheaper (Hoya) and I notice difference so will not buy that one again. The UV filters I use are Hoya HD and I'm happy with those.

On flash: we use flash a lot. For macro, we use it 100% of the time and we have two specialized Canon flash units for that, the ringflash and the twin-lite. I must admit that I also have three 580 flash units and I use those too. Outdoors as fill flash for the 20-30' range and indoors for all kinds of things, even background colors with gel filters.

Here is a picture of a Humingbird MOTH using the Canon EF 100mm L IS USM Macro lens, which is one of the favorites we have:

[s/v Jedi]

This is done with my newest lens, the EF 70-300mm L IS USM mounted on my 5D Mk2... look how tack sharp that windmill is and the light on the cows is pretty nice too:

[Ocean Girl]

Yep, that's freakin awesome. Next Christmas, I know what I'll be asking for

[Jcolman]

I'll shoot in and around the water too....but I know what saltwater can do to camera gear so I'm always a bit wary.

Here are a few shots I did on a beach in Cancun





For lighting, I favor off camera lights.





But quite often, a little on-camera fill is all that is needed.