The Photography Thread

[paul04]

Black and white.

 

[the_mikey]

Light pollution in Leeds...

 

[Globalti]

I took this shot of the river Congo from my hotel window with a Galaxy S4. In the distance you can see the first of the Stanley Rapids, which stretch from Kinshasa for 350 kms to the Atlantic. There are a few more photos from the DRC on my post in Members' Travelogues.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Be nice to learn what kit people are using to take their photos. The ones I posted were shot on a Pentax X5 bridge camera, it does everything I want but it's being joined by a Nikon D3200 DSLR tomorrow as the Pentax uses AA batteries and it consumes them at an incredible rate. A 32Gb SD card will give around 30 mins filming in movie mode but the batteries are only good for half that.

Apparently a known issue with them.

 

[delb0y]

Most of mine are taking on a Panasonic Lumix G3, Smokin Joe. I've also got a borrowed Nikon D5100 which I recently bought a 35mm prime lens for. It takes lovely shots and I must use it more - but it's just slightly too big and chunky to take out on ad-hoc trips that might result in a photo (which are when most of my photos are taken) rather than dedicated photo trips (which are very rare). Hence the G3 gets used the most. I've also just bought a Fuji X-Pro and 18mm on the 'Bay. I've been looking for something that is kind of in-between the G3 and the D5100 - with the good features (or rather the features I like) of both. I've yet to use it much so can't say whether it's going to become a contender or not.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I'm getting this -

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/camera...i-telephoto-zoom-lens-22103762-pdt.html#cat-0

But I'm seriously thinking of spending a bit more to get the extra lens -

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/camera...-200-mm-telephoto-zoom-lens-21324868-pdt.html

 

[Crackle]

My kit is an ageing, in digital terms, Pentax *istD 6.2Mp camera, dating from 2007 and in that time I've taken only 2800 shots and hardly used it until recently. I know it's limitations, so low light photography, forget it, anything above 400iso is grainier than a grainy thing on grainy day. it's also quite noisy in the luminance channel on landscapes, so good light and a correct exposure is essential. I'd like to upgrade it but I can't really justify it. maybe a 2nd hand K7 or K5 after Xmas. I've got a few reasonable lenses and one very good 100mm Macro which cost over 200 2nd hand and came from Australia, still cheap in quality lens terms. I might add a 50mm prime soon and would like a good wide angle but should really upgrade the camera first. If i had one piece of advice @Smokin Joe it would be to buy the body and one good lens with it and not buy the kit zooms. Do your research first. Or buy it with the kit lens and then flog it on ebay.

Software wise the best thing I've got recently was Adobe Lightroom, way better than ACDsee and compliments my now ageing copy of CS2. I also use HUgin which is a free panorama software. If you're sensing an ageing theme you may be right I'd upgrade it all but it's a damn expensive hobby.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Thanks Cackle, I will stick to the basic kit in that case.

 

[Crackle]

Thanks Cackle, I will stick to the basic kit in that case.

That 18-55 vr lens gets good reviews but the 80-200, not so much, so I'd save my pennies for a better 80-200

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18-55mm-vr.htm

 

[delb0y]

It's very easy to get caught up in the world of thinking you 'need' the latest kit. A few hours on various internet forums will have you believing that any kit more than a year or two old just isn't good enough. Maybe if you're at the cutting edge of professional photography...but as a hobby, well, buy stuff if you want it and can afford it, but always ask if you really need it. My kit isn't as old as Crackle's, but the G3 and D5100 are both 2011 vintage, and I think the x-pro is 2012. All are way better than me (man, trust me you get crucified for saying that on guitar sites!)... what I mean by that is that when I had a Fuji Bridge camera last year I kept hitting its limitations. That hasn't happened to me on any of these cameras yet and probably never will. There are a few nice lenses out there I hanker after, though :-) and I do hope to get a copy of Lightroom one of these days. I also fancy a really small camera that is truly pocketable. I think if I had one of those... see there I go!

 

[Smokin Joe]

Went into Currys and decided on a Cannon EOS 1200D instead. Bought it on the basis that should I decide to get a longer lens they seem to be cheaper going by what I've seen.

Whatever it's like it will be capable of far better pictures than I can take, so I'm happy with it.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Be nice to learn what kit people are using to take their photos...

I had Olympus kit with a couple of zooms and primes but it got a bit of a faff for my limited ability so I flogged it all and bought a Fuji X20, it has its limitations but for an all in one camera it works well for me, and it's a got an optical view finder too, which is nice!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Went into Currys and decided on a Cannon EOS 1200D instead. Bought it on the basis that should I decide to get a longer lens they seem to be cheaper going by what I've seen.

Whatever it's like it will be capable of far better pictures than I can take, so I'm happy with it.

The kit lenses on the Canon will be fine for learning on and getting used to the slr for a while. I took plenty of decent pictures on mine when I bought the EOS 350D many moons ago. Take your time and learn to use the camera. Yell if you need help, I know canons inside out having only ever used them.

 

[paul04]

Be nice to learn what kit people are using to take their photos.

I have a Nikon D3200, with a 18-55 mm lens, 70-300mm lens and a 50mm f 1.8 lens
Nikon coolpix s3100 point and shoot
Canon A2500 point and shoot

 

[Cyclist33]

ive a sony dslt, the a58, with the standard lens and also an 85mm f2.8 and a 50mm f1.8 lens. also got a sigma 70-210 and a minolta 35-70 from yesteryear that work on this cam.

but, the one i mostly use is my little nex 5n for which i have a multitude of lenses ancient and modern. very satisfying and capable of great pictures.

would both be useless without me behind the controls, though ;-)