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NeoGAF Camera Equipment Thread | MK II
- Thread starter MRORANGE
- Start date
JadedWriter
Member
You should probably get a 35 at some point then. Isn't that 50 a 75 on your camera?
6dmk2 is a joke by comparison. I'd even get an XT2 over it. Granted yes I have one...but still.
Astral/H3X
Member
Shouldn't go any wider than 16mm, at the widest. 30ish would be best, but really, you can get "better" photos with the 50, as long as you frame them somewhat like traditional portraits. You don't need their feet!
I'm angry at all of you, GAF. This thread is what got me back into photography and the past weeks I've been doing nothing but researching stuff, taking lots of pictures and learning to edit the RAWs. That's not why I'm angry though. It's because whenever I see a friend posting a new picture on Facebook or on Instagram, I'm noticing how badly exposed they are or how bad the composition is. All those fancy looking vacation pics everyone is posting? Completely ruined. Does this happen to everyone who gets into photography?
This is mostly sarcasm of course,
but I do notice how some of those photography 'experts' on Facebook are not really as talented as they claim to be. Of course I do appreciate the pictures from real pros a lot more.
but I do notice how some of those photography 'experts' on Facebook are not really as talented as they claim to be. Of course I do appreciate the pictures from real pros a lot more.
panama chief
Member
Halp. I have a D5600 coming in with some lenses but all I really want to do is shoot scenery and small things like the wings of bees. I think that's macro? Any good lenses for that?
Yeah. Mainly I notice the trend of radically over-sharpening images or overuse of local contrast. Softness is ok. Remember when lens companies actually sold "soft" portrait lenses? I'll shut up now.
In terms of addiction, I just bought a tripod so I guess I'm in binge mode. Reading a book about night photography and oh dear, this looks like a fun hole to toss money into.
In terms of addiction, I just bought a tripod so I guess I'm in binge mode. Reading a book about night photography and oh dear, this looks like a fun hole to toss money into.
getting exposure on social media and getting into magazines and stuff is all about marketing. i used to subscribe to outdoor photographer and some of their photos were amazing and some... were not.
A dedicated macro lens will allow you to take a picture of something like an insect or other small object at greater than life size magnification. Nikon sells a bunch of DX macro lenses but I'll let a Nikon person recommend something specific. If you go with a longer lens you'll also want to make sure you have a tripod (which you want for landscapes as well).
Lasthope106
Member
I have had plenty of discussions with the girlfriend and some friends who are, into photography, heavy instagram users. The conclusions that I've come to is that a lot of times it doesn't matter if a picture is technically shit, most people simply don't care. A photo could be blurred to hell and back due to bad autofocus or incorrect shutter speed,
It could be over or underexposed. Most people attach meaning to their pictures due to their own context. It is why people hire photographers, and why a lot of times when the pictures are bad, people still use words like "that's a great picture of us."
I compare it to the example that everyone has computers now, but not everyone knows Computer Science. The modern era of cameras everywhere has lowered the barrier, but not everyone has the talent or the fundamental knowledge. Furthermore, a pro will always be a pro. A regular person can get a great photo once in a while, but not understand or notice what makes it a great picture. A pro can guarantee you that he/she will deliver you great shots consistently.
So to answer your question, yes I also notice a lot of bad pictures since I picked up the hobby. But at the same time I also don't really care. What I care about is improving my skills to take shots that match the vision I have in my head. It might be a shit style that most people don't like, but as long as I'm happy that's what matters.
nhlducks35
Member
Yup lol, I see a picture like this get posted every so often on my instagram/facebook
"Beautiful"
"Gorgeous shot"
"I love the lighting"
I die a little inside every time
"Beautiful"
"Gorgeous shot"
"I love the lighting"
I die a little inside every time
Miniature Kaiju
Member
Yeah, that would be macro. Macro... is kind of a big topic. There are several ways to go about it, from cheap ones like reversing rings on manual lenses and extension tubes, to expensive ones like dedicated macro lenses. Each method has its pros and cons, from practicality of the setup, quality of the images, working distance, magnification factors to price.
Some of the craziest macro work I've done was using absolutely jury-rigged setups of reversed lens on top of long lenses that allowed me to get up to 10:1 magnification.
JadedWriter
Member
There are two DX macro lens. The 40mm 2.8 and the 85mm 3.5. The best thing this person can do is get some of the FX ones since there are more options there.
Shit pictures don't matter if there's a hot chick in them and such. You have no idea how often I come across and instagram account see crap pictures, but since it's a ton of selfies and such and slice of life crap there's a couple of thousand followers. And yeah improving your skills is the most important part.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
If you're low on cash, the cheapest solution would be to mount one of your lenses backwards. Google for cheap backwards macro lens to find out how.
Bad photos happen.. to all of us. Even the pros, sometimes I don't like the editing decisions but thats subjective obviously. I don't bother too much with friends photos they post, because well.. most of them don't care about exposure or even understand it.
JadedWriter
Member
I actually finally got to Jared Polin's video on editing his XT2 pictures...the way he's just blowing out the highlights looks garish to me since I tend to tone them down personally. I'm just watching it with a "dude wtf are you doing" look on my face. Honestly making that camera look bad in my opinion. I actually adapted my editing to that camera, which I now also bring into my other cameras.
For the OP, here are examples of a Nikon 50mm mounted on a Nikon 55-200:
Ball point pen by Kevin, on Flickr
Honda Accord key by Kevin, on FlickrI am not thrilled with the quality but it only cost a few bucks to "make" a macro lens, although this level is macro is a bit too much IMO.
Yeah bad photos can happen a lot and I don't really think this badly of it. You just start to notice and think, I could have done maybe better. But that's a good way to try to improve yourself, looking at what others do and learning from it. I don't think these friends are any less for it.
Does anyone have some good (preferable more technical) resources for learning about exposure and compostion and editing the pictures afterwards?
Does anyone have some good (preferable more technical) resources for learning about exposure and compostion and editing the pictures afterwards?
That's cool, yeah that dude loves to crush contrast, it was just a link I had seen recently, but there are plenty of lightroom+fuji flows in the youtubes I am sure. Plus sometimes even if you don't like how they are applying stuff you can get ideas from some people, but is all good.
You're getting much better with it, all it takes is some time
Youtube can be a good starting place to find all sorts of stuff like that. There is also the understanding exposure book which is always highly recommended by everyone.
JadedWriter
Member
No kidding. It's probably night and day now compared to when I first got it because that camera white balances really weird. Now I just adjust it in post and mess around with the tint a bit. This was something that I was starting to experiment prior to getting the XT2, but after getting to grips with it on the XT2 it's something I do more for stylistic reasons. You can really effect how blues and greens and such get read out onto the picture and it's actually pretty cool in my opinion. Combine that with contrast, clarity, vibrance and saturation tweaks and it becomes a damn good way to enhance the image.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, I really don't like his editing style. He seems enamored with contrast and having blown out highlights and crushed blacks. Makes me wonder why he doesn't just shoot black & white.
Oh well, to each their own.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
A YouTube photography personality. I think the only reason any of us even remotely care about his editing style is because his videos get a lot of views. Doesn't really matter, though, of course.
Audible Phonetics
Member
Wow I am late to the party, never knew about this thread.
hello my fellow photogs
hello my fellow photogs
JadedWriter
Member
I think when I first started I was trying to emulate his style with super contrast and eventually just started growing out of it because people can't be that friggin' yellow. I'm tweaking a lot more though, which is actually fun. I will admit to going a bit overkill on tinting, though it's really really situational if I'm trying to bring about a certain mood or something. I'm liking my current editing way more than my super contrast style, which I don't think has been a thing for over a year now. I kind of consider Fro's videos good, yet at the same time highly detrimental to new photographers. It gets to a point where you kind of have to do you, but at the same time take feedback on if what you're doing is actually working. I also think he just edited in his normal style without realizing that his normal style really doesn't work for XT2 files.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Wow, steal of a deal going on at B&H on the X-T1 with with 18-55mm and 35mm Lenses Kit for only $1,199. That's only $100 more than the cost of those two lenses together at MSRP.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...6072139710127&utm_id=593eaeb7a5ec6c718b741374
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...6072139710127&utm_id=593eaeb7a5ec6c718b741374
JadedWriter
Member
That is an excellent deal. Granted I'm not in love with the 18-55, but that's still an excellent deal.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
For a kit zoom lens, I thought it was pretty damn impressive. Only used it for a few days, though.
Oh, didn't realize it was a regular thing! Nevermind, then!
JadedWriter
Member
A kit lens is still a kit lens. It's not exactly trash, but I'm a bit too used to good glass these days. You don't go from a Nikon 2.8 24-70 on a D810 and then onto that and not notice something lacking, and it's in the glass mostly because I really like the 35 F2.
Astral/H3X
Member
I haven't seen his photos (I'm gonna hope mine don't look like his lol), but I usually try to get my whitest area to be just knocking on the door to overexposed, and my darkest area to be just above under exposed, if it isn't a portrait. The way I see it I've got this huge range of values, why not use them?
What I personally kinda sorta hate are the photos where black is like, brown grey, and it's like half the photo. It's like the photo only had one stop of dynamic range to work with!
What I personally kinda sorta hate are the photos where black is like, brown grey, and it's like half the photo. It's like the photo only had one stop of dynamic range to work with!
at the end of the day, you do you.. whatever style you go for if its what you intend then go for it.
Astral/H3X
Member
Now, let's say I don't have an hour to skim through videos...
Astral/H3X
Member
None of those really looked bad until I got to the portraits, where it looks like people have very shiny foreheads.
Elfotografoalocado
Banned
The b&w ones look fine if a bit overexposed, the b&w portraits look good, the color ones don't. Too much highlights and weird skintones.
JadedWriter
Member
Yeah the highlights are killing me the most. Other stuff I can get beyond, but 85% of someones face being overblown highlights on a portrait isn't exactly a good look. I guess this is just me being more experienced and editing differently is just coming into effect here.
Miniature Kaiju
Member
One problem I have with the super-contrasty B&W look is that it can make the pictures extremely hard to read, if the subject is against a busier background and isn't the only thing in focus.
Elfotografoalocado
Banned
That's what local editing tools are for. That, or just make better compositions. If everything distracts from the meaning of the photo then it's not a good one.
TFGB
Member
My other half's new lens for the GH5 has just arrived:
Hopefully have a bash with it over the weekend.
I'm considering chopping in my D800E for the D850 too. I find the price a bit hard to swallow, so I'll probably do it when I'm half pissed and not realise till the next day when I look through my emails lol. :/
Hopefully have a bash with it over the weekend.
I'm considering chopping in my D800E for the D850 too. I find the price a bit hard to swallow, so I'll probably do it when I'm half pissed and not realise till the next day when I look through my emails lol. :/
Yup, closer to 75mm. I actually have a 30mm I may bring with me.
The thing I'm thinking that the 12mm will help me with is it'll make the photo look more... dynamic?
I took these last year with the 50mm:
I feel like it's missing that excitement with non-traditional portraits like this. What do you guys think?
JadedWriter
Member
I wouldn't exactly bring in a wide angle just because "dynamic" reasons. Ultra wides are really something you have to know how to use, not to mention be like 2 inches away from the person. Shot might wind up being too cluttered. Nice set with the 50mm.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Unless the convention grounds look awesome, and they usually don't, I tend to not like wide angle cosplay shots. I prefer zooming in and shooting at a large aperture to obscure as much of the shitty background as possible in order to make the focus about the cosplayer themselves and their costume, so I like ones shot at 100mm and above.
Miniature Kaiju
Member
It's actually a nice set. Things you might want to consider:
- Head room. You're being a bit to conservative with head room. You can go tighter.
- Shooting from something other than eye level. Either get some elevation, or go down closer to the ground.
- If you want more environmental shots, the environment needs some excitement to it and the model needs to interact with it somehow.
- Feet are overrated. Unless your models are doing something cool that involves their feet positioning, get closer and crop them out. Remember not to crop them at joints (like right at the knees), though, that always looks weird.
My other half's new lens for the GH5 has just arrived:
Hopefully have a bash with it over the weekend.
:/
Some reviews complain about the stiffness of the zoom ring. Your take?
Astral/H3X
Member
There's nothing wrong with taking "dynamic" shots, but as mentioned they really need to be interacting with the environment in some way.
You're also *really* straining to use the 50mm there. Use the 12mm, and you'll still have the environments, but your subjects will be much larger in the frame and actually take over as the subject.
Also fuck feet.
JadedWriter
Member
Find some sort of 1.8 85.
Jzero
Member
Well yea but I'm looking for more specific recommendations. Canon's own lenses have a lot of low reviews so maybe a third party one would be better.