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The Official Camera Equipment Megathread
- Thread starter demon
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NathanMcMahon
Banned
I'm getting out of the film game so I have a few nice vintage gear setups I'll be looking to off-load. If anyone is interested PM me. Canon P Rangefinder with lens and Nikon FM2n with three lenses and a Minolta SRT101 with a lens.
reggieandTFE
Member
Update the firmware. It goes away and also adds 5-Axis IS for legacy lenses in movie mode.
thanx, will update
The problem is with current sensor technology is that it wants the light to hit it at a perpendicular angle. When you eliminate the mirror box and slap a pancake lens design on there the light hits the edge of the sensor at a bad angle. Leica solves this by adding micro lenses to the sensor to straighten it out, but this is obviously expensive.
In my mind a curved sensor would be ideal for an ultra compact camera system but I am not sure that is even feasible or practical.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
*wonders what kind of filters one needs to get the most out of a camera and a lens*
(Polarizers, ND, and UV... hmm... I'm having fun with overexposed photos due to excessively bright outdoors that makes large aperture shots for portraits useless outdoors. Blinking shutter speed at ISO 100 = it can't go any faster (1/4000))
(I also need to get rid of glare in one way or another from certain water surfaces and glass)
(Polarizers, ND, and UV... hmm... I'm having fun with overexposed photos due to excessively bright outdoors that makes large aperture shots for portraits useless outdoors. Blinking shutter speed at ISO 100 = it can't go any faster (1/4000))
(I also need to get rid of glare in one way or another from certain water surfaces and glass)
345triangle
Member
Bömb;51200706 said:
to an extent yeah, though i think the issue here was more that the X-E1 shipped in an unfinished state, and both the body and 35mm lens needed to be fixed. which is, well, at least they fixed it i guess.
been shooting it over the weekend and man this thing is fun works exactly the way i want it to. AF isn't great, but better than the X100 and the manual focus is actually usable, which makes a nice change. just wish it had NEX-style peaking or the X100s' rangefinder-style split image thing.
UV filters are useless on a dslr (aside from lens protection) a polarizer will cut down on water and glass reflections and give you about a half to a full stop of darkening. For wide open portraits you will probably need a 4 stop nuetral density filter.
Does anyone have the Fujifilm X20? I'm looking for a new compact camera and this one caught my eye. It seems like a good travel camera and it looks great aesthetically. I mostly want to use it for travelling, going to events, parties, and gatherings. Or something I can easily carry with me most of the time.
I've got the X10 and I love it, it's a real joy to use, and I'm keen to get the X20 for it's quicker startup and AF as these days I'm mostly taking photos of my fast-moving 16 month old kid. Just waiting for the Australian stock to come in and then I'll have it.
Some camera shutters can exhibit "rolling shutter" with very fast moving objects. At higher speeds the shutter does not open and close instantly, the front curtain opens then the rear closes right behind it exposing a thin strip at a time. At 1/4000 something has to be moving very fast for this to happen. It's more of a problem if the camera has to roll the shutter at lower speeds like 1/250th. How can you determine at what speed the camera rolls the shutter? Simple, it is the max flash sync speed. Notice on cheaper cameras the flash sync speed is lower. This is because the shutter moves slower so it has to expose in strips for higher speed exposures. Basically the shutter must be fully open for the flash to expose the frame evenly.
As far as the sensor no, higher speed is no problem. In super long exposures you can get issues with noise (from sensor heat) but the sensor works at the speed of light
Pisuke1983
Member
I own a Canon EOS 600D. I want to buy a 70-300mm lens. There are 2 affordable for me.
Canon EF 70-300 mm 4.0-5.6 IS USM for 393
and
Tamron SP 70-300 mm 4-5.6 Di VC USD for 329
What is the better choice?
Canon EF 70-300 mm 4.0-5.6 IS USM for 393
and
Tamron SP 70-300 mm 4-5.6 Di VC USD for 329
What is the better choice?
StopMakingSense
Member
! Google is now offering all of the Nik plugins for $149
Fabulous deal. Color Efex / Silver Efex / HDR Efex are uhmazing.
http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/index.php?view=intro/main.shtml
Fabulous deal. Color Efex / Silver Efex / HDR Efex are uhmazing.
http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/index.php?view=intro/main.shtml
Pagusas
Elden Member
I've been curious about these, do they offer much more then a lightroom/photoshop comobo?
StopMakingSense
Member
Well, they are filters for Photoshop / Lightroom. Silver Efex, for example, has no peer when it comes to B/W conversion. Pretty much all of my photos will have gone through a Nik filter before they are done.
Viveza is also included, which uses Nik's U-Point tech to allow really incredible and quick selective adjustments to photos.
Pagusas
Elden Member
Thank you, trying them out!
Pentax K-30 Weatherproof, 100% Pentaprism viewfinder, Dual dials with 2 Weathersealed Lens, plus extras for $850 at Costco. Not too bad in case anyone is in the market for one...
Thanks for the heads up, been waiting for a deal on these for a while
CrudeDiatribe
Member
Just wanted to re-iterate how great Silver Efex Pro is. If you already owned one of their current-version products, check your email.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
For the people that want that vintage look, grain and open shadows. Nik Color Effex Pro gives you the ability to do this really quickly with their modern film effects. Its how I achieve the look with no fuss.
GamePnoy74
Member
Is Google planning to go a la carte on the Nik Software? I've been curious about just getting Silver Efex only, if the price is right.
Also, look around for 15% off coupons out there.
Also, look around for 15% off coupons out there.
StopMakingSense
Member
Well shit! I didn't notice the email I got this morning! Fuck yeah! This almost makes up for Reader.
Okay, loving Silver Efex so far (especially the structure adjustment, going to have to be careful I don't go crazy with that), but I'm feeling it with Colour Efex. Is there some killer feature with it that I'm missing? because at the moment I think I'd prefer to stick with Lightroom 4's adjustments for my colour shots.
Quick edit: this could just be my lack of imagination with colour shots though so feel free to insult if I am just totally missing the point
Quick edit: this could just be my lack of imagination with colour shots though so feel free to insult if I am just totally missing the point
StopMakingSense
Member
Color Efex takes quite a bit of experimentation for you to get what you want out of it. My go to filters are Tonal Contrast, Pro Contrast, Glamour Glow, Cross Processing, Sunshine, and Film Effects - Modern. I can't get the sort of color toning I get from it anywhere else. Also a lot of the filters work best, IMO, when used for subtle color manipulation. You really need to play around with the sliders A LOT to understand what you want out of it.
One thing that might not be apparent on a lot of filters is that they have many multiple versions of the filter in a type dropdown that can be hard to miss.
Thanks, will have a mooch and a proper play about later. I'm finding myself revisiting allot of my old raw files that I processed as black and white and re-editing them in Silver Efex, this may take a while...
StopMakingSense
Member
Yeah, also, all of the filters have opacity controls, as well as can be masked using Nik's Control Points, so you can do very localized and subtle applications of the filters. Play around with Viveza, too, to get a sense of what you can do with control points.
Pixel Pete
Member
no time for new plugins, I only just figured out how to crush blacks in LR without needing PS levels, it's keeping me busy enough
zephervack
Member
Cant believe you guys are just talking about color efex and not mentioning Viveza, that plug in is amazing, most pros use it and it can change pictures in ridicolous ways without having to spend hours doing selection brushes in photoshop.
StopMakingSense
Member
I actually never used Viveza, as I do all those adjustments within Nik's Capture NX2 (Nikon's RAW converter) which is where the U-Point tech originated. It is indeed an amazing tool. I have been in a weird limbo as I very recently switched to a Lightroom workflow, from NX2, so now having Viveza is a great boon.
Cool, will have a try of that next. Too many toys to play with!
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
I use the modern film filter with vignetting often. With the film filter I manipulate the shadow levels a bit and choose the film type based on the image type. Each one has different tone curve signatures and color response. For instance Ektachrome has a strong contrast curve and neutral color which is great for a gritty look. Where Sensia has a nice softness about it which I tend to use for foliage photos.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Wait, so if you're working with a JPG in LR and make a change with one of the Nik plugins it's a destructive change that LR can't back out?
Yeah, you can set it to make a copy but the changes are permanent.
StopMakingSense
Member
I just always make a copy.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
I don't like the destructive part either, but I certainly don't find I can achieve anything like Silver Efex Pro in Aperture.
Pagusas
Elden Member
isnt that the point of virtual copies in lightroom? To give a place for destructive editing while still keeping your original image and not creating additional files?
Like what? The only thing aperture is missing is adding noise (film grain). Lightrooms grain is better IMHO.
It can't edit a RAW file. A tiff or jpeg must be created for these plugins to work.
Pagusas
Elden Member
well hmm, I'm going to have to rethink my work flow method if I want to integrate that then.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
it'll open the RAW file but Lightroom will automatically create a duplicate TIFF file and work from that. Its a pain when you find you don't want to edit the file which will then keep that unedited duplicate TIFF you have to manually delete yourself.
Are you sure? It will not edit my .NEF or .CR2 files.
it says right there edit original is not applicable with raw or digital negative files.
zephervack
Member
Yep, this is my number 1 complaint with Viveza, you pretty much have to finish editing your RAW and THEN create a jpg/TIFF copy to work on Viveza, it gets really annoying with file sizes, specially if you start saving multi layered TIFFS.
Still worth it though, amazing tool.
Still worth it though, amazing tool.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Yeah, I knew these filters were supposed to be the last step in your workflow after you make all of your RAW changes in LR itself, but didn't know about the virtual copy step.
StopMakingSense
Member
Are you sure? It will not edit my .NEF or .CR2 files.
it says right there edit original is not applicable with raw or digital negative files.
What he said is exactly what that dialog describes?
What? Lightroom makes a copy then the plugin edits that (permanently) it does not allow for non-destructive editing on RAW files or on TIFFs.
What he is saying is you can delete the unedited TIFF copies if you choose not to apply any filters, which is duh....
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
I think were saying the same thing but I'm letting the poster know that you yourself don't have to create said TIFF or JPEG file since Lightroom will do this for you automatically.
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