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Having focus problems! I'm using a Nikon D5200. My old lens was a Tamron 70-300 f/4-5.6 Di LD. I upgraded to a Tamron SP 70-300 f/4-5.6 Di VC USD because I shoot handheld and not having VC was tough on some shots unless I had really good light, plus the old lens gave me some serious problems with green or purple fringing CA on overcast or cloudy days. So I took the new VC lens for a spin today and, as any dummy would do, also adjusted a bunch of my settings beforehand, so I ended up playing around with a few different settings. Specifically, I toyed with the auto-focus mode and auto-focus area, as well as the usual ISO and aperture settings. I shoot in aperture priority because I'm trying to obtain a larger depth of field and because I know the sweet spot on both these lenses tends to be in the f/9 to f/11 range but it also lets me adjust for weather (and thus lighting) changes. So here's some examples. Both of the following images were shot in RAW and converted to Adobe DNG and then to JPG. No other post-processing or cropping, so they're big. Shot 1 f/9, 1/800 (auto) shutter, ISO 250, 75mm, I believe I was set to both Auto-Servo AF and Auto-Area AF on this shot. Matrix metering. Shot 2 f/9, 1/1250 (auto) shutter, ISO 250, 95mm, this time would be Continuous-Servo AF and Dynamic Area (9 point) AF. Matrix metering. This shot was from further away than the first. I feel like the second image is better than the first but both still suffer from bad overall focus. In both I feel like I can see where the auto focus was centered and it goes quickly out of focus from that point outward. My guess is that Auto-Servo AF wasn't accounting for a moving plane and C-S AF fixed that, but at the same time I feel like I probably should have had 3D Tracking for AF-Area Mode, or at least switched to more AF points. I don't remember having this severe a focus problem with my old Tamron, but I used that lens for nearly 2 years so I had a better feel for it. Really, I know that's probably the ultimate answer, that more time is needed to play around with settings until I find a happy medium, but I'm trying to speed that process up a bit with some feedback.
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Feb 15, 2016 01:04
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If you find there's a consistent level of mis focus, you might have to send lens and body away to be calibrated together, as there's no AF fine tune on the 5200. Either that or live with the amount it's out by.
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Feb 15, 2016 01:15
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SMERSH Mouth posted:Yes, this is the way to go. Old professional gear is going be more valuable to you (in terms of usability) in the future than newer basic consumer stuff. 5D is still capable of making very nice still photos. Along these lines, I'm a total novice that picked up a barely used 7D from a friend, and was feeling overwhelmed by it. I was considering selling it to buy a T5i, because I thought it might be user friendly, but part of me would rather stick it out with the better camera. There's a local mom and pop camera store that gives lessons, and I'm thinking about going that route.
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Feb 20, 2016 16:26
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I'm not a Canon guy so I don't know the differences off the bat with regards to the two cameras, so I'm relying on SnapSort which is a spec-by-spec comparison which isn't always the best way to compare. But I know with regards to the Nikon lines, I'm continually surprised that some of the functions that I had in my 10 year old D50 don't make it to the D3x00 or D5x000 series that are currently out. I shoot the D7200 which is Nikon's equivalent of the 7D Mk 2, and I don't think I'd like to go down even though the D5x00 series has one of those touch flip screens that some people love (and the T5i seems to have), but I want as many buttons and dials under my fingers as I can get ideally. Overwhelming? Sure, but just because features are there doesn't mean you need to use them. There's so many menu options that there's probably a similar thing on Canons where you can compile your most used ones into their own submenu. 90% of the stuff in the menus are "set once and ignore" kind of things, and by default none of them are generally bad. If you're serious about learning properly, my gut feeling is stick with the better camera* and learn the fundamentals. The course you're talking about will probably start with explaining exposure which is the key to getting good images. Learn what shutter, aperture, and ISO do and how they work with each other to expose the image. It's the same basics across all cameras but you'll find the higher end cameras make dealing with these things easier than the lower ones by giving you the controls at your fingers. The three modes you'll want to spend 99% of your time in are Av, Tv, and M. The first two are semi automated (Av you use when you care mostly about how much depth of field there is, Tv you use when you care how fast the photo is taken) while M gives you full control. You have a light meter telling you whether you're exposed correctly based on what the camera thinks is right, and you can push this in either direction based on circumstances (the camera thinks the world is grey, so a shot in the snow or at night is going to be different). If you can correctly expose an image to your taste on your camera, you're on your way. * as said, this is based on presumptions that the 7D is still 'better' than the T5i which I can only assume based on what I've seen.
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Feb 20, 2016 17:03
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The main differences that you'd probably run into on the 7D vs. a T5i are autofocus options. There are plenty of other bells on the 7D to play with if you want them, but the basics are the same, aside from more complex focus more and extra focus points. In the end, you'll appreciate things like zone focus and back-button focus. The learning curve on those aren't very high compared to the universal basics (I.e. exposure).
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Feb 20, 2016 19:37
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Having a back wheel and a top screen are pretty good reasons to keep the 7d too. gently caress that exp comp button nonsense
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Feb 20, 2016 19:42
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Infinite Karma posted:back-button focus The T5i has that too. As a former owner of a T5i I'd say stay with the 7D. The xtra wheel & buttons are super useful and it's great to get used to them early on. The T5i offers a titly screen and touch controls which is really nice but I don't think it's worth losing the other control options for.
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Feb 20, 2016 19:54
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timrenzi574 posted:Having a back wheel and a top screen are pretty good reasons to keep the 7d too. gently caress that exp comp button nonsense Is this strictly due to an implementation I won't be aware of, or do you dislike EC in general? I'm curious as to why.
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Feb 20, 2016 21:04
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EL BROMANCE posted:Is this strictly due to an implementation I won't be aware of, or do you dislike EC in general? I'm curious as to why. Rebels only have a top dial. So you have to hold a button and spin it to use EC. XxD and up bodies have a back dial which you can use directly for EC without having to hold a stupid button first Edit: likewise in M , top dial is SS , back dial is aperture (you can swap) - on a rebel you have to hold the button to change the aperture.
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Feb 20, 2016 22:08
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Ah gotcha. My D7200 has two dials on the right hand side, but I think EC is always a combo of button+dial also. My age old D50 was the same, so it's not something I've had to worry or think about, but I can imagine anything like that is a pain if you're used to something easier. Not sure what the pro Nikon method is, I've not got access to one.
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Feb 20, 2016 22:58
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This is great, you all have inspired me to push myself a little bit, and my gut instinct to buy the better camera was a sound one.
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Feb 21, 2016 00:33
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EL BROMANCE posted:Ah gotcha. My D7200 has two dials on the right hand side, but I think EC is always a combo of button+dial also. My age old D50 was the same, so it's not something I've had to worry or think about, but I can imagine anything like that is a pain if you're used to something easier. Not sure what the pro Nikon method is, I've not got access to one. If you turn on 'easy exposure compensation' you can set it with the sub dial directly (even on yours). Default is to require the button though. bunch of savages over there at Nikon Edit: it's like how canon leaves direct af point select turned off by default for god knows what reason , even on cameras with a joystick. Cause I want to hit a button first. timrenzi574 fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Feb 21, 2016 |
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Feb 21, 2016 00:47
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Ah I do remember seeing that menu option but didn't realise it pushed it to a dial. Might not work with my setup because I use Easy ISO (primarily to put the ISO in my viewfinder, but having it on the opposite dial when in A Priority or S Priority is neat). I want a camera with more dials than I have fingers. I don't think I could go back to a single one anyway.
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Feb 21, 2016 02:56
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Cholmondeley posted:This is great, you all have inspired me to push myself a little bit, and my gut instinct to buy the better camera was a sound one. You would have been very disappointed by the user friendliness of the T5i over the 7D. Less options isn't all that friendly given that you can juse ignore the more complicated options on the 7D till you understand them. Both cameras do an equal amount of automating if set to auto. The flip out touch screen is pretty nice, but if you find you enjoy photography, and think the flip out screen would help, you can just buy the T5i as a second camera.
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Feb 21, 2016 19:49
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The flip out touch screen is awesome for composing a shot where it's not easy to look through the viewfinder (e.g. holding the camera over the heads of a crowd or when the camera is at floor level). The touch screen isn't otherwise massively more convenient than using the wheel and back buttons to set options.
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Feb 22, 2016 14:32
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The flip out screen is realy nice, but hardly a must have unless really low angle is your thing. Also, at those odd angles, the touch controls become more.useful because reaching the buttons is awkward. But for just walking around, I never use the touch screen. Depending on how much the 7D could be sold for, it would be worth it if it was for the T5i _and_ a tripod, an interesting lens, a copy of Lightroom, etc. But you kind of have to know what you want before knowing if it was worth downgrading the body.
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Feb 22, 2016 21:20
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Actually, I got the 7D with a couple of lenses, a 50mm, and a kit lens, as well as a battery grip with extra batteries. I'm just going to hang on to it, and add accessories as I need them.
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Feb 23, 2016 01:33
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I'm going on a backpacking trip this summer and want to upgrade my camera from the old and crufty point in shoot I used (and was disappointed with) last year. Primary use of the camera will be taking pictures during hikes and group shots at events with my church's youth group. A friend recommended I look at mirrorless because of size and weight but I've read they can have pretty serious battery life constraints, which will be a concern for the backpacking trip as it will be something like 8 days without access to power outlets. I don't mind additional weight and bulk (to a degree) if the alternative is potentially lugging a dead camera over the mountain. Recommendations?
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Mar 3, 2016 18:46
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I think your friend was right. Mirrorless cameras don't make it as far on a single battery, but extra 3rd party batteries are dumb cheap (as low as like 13 bucks for two and a charger, although they seem to have gone up a little since I saw that). You could pack literally like 8 extra batteries and still potentially be saving volume and weight over a dslr. If I were you I'd probably look at a Fuji X100S or T first, or maybe consider a weather-sealed Olympus if you think you need that.
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Mar 3, 2016 19:03
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I think first you need to decide what kind of shots you're hoping to get. Candids of you and your buds goofing around in the wild? Stunning mountain vistas? Wildlife? Because your goals do have an influence on what the best option will be.
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Mar 4, 2016 05:19
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Also consider the total cost of whichever system you eventually commit to. I know that Sony's mirrorless lenses are significantly more expensive than similar equivalents from Canikon.
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Mar 4, 2016 06:14
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Popelmon posted:The T5i offers a titly screen and touch controls which is really nice but I don't think it's worth losing the other control options for. I've found that the touch photo function can be very useful to totally minimize camera shake, since it takes an extremely light tap on the back of the camera to fire. You don't really get to do this in most daytime shooting though, as you have to use the viewfinder because the screen is virtually invisible under direct sunlight. Though you do sacrifice being able to see the image as it's going to come out of the camera before you shoot, in such bright sun I've found that just setting the T5i to Sports mode lets you run around in the daylight photographing whatever and it all comes out sharp as long as you get it focused. These were taken at a recent renaissance festival with the camera set to Sports mode and no preparation for the shots, just manually focusing in Florida sunlight:        Not exactly brilliant artistic work, but good enough for impromptu shooting without being able to prepare anything or pose anyone. In the case of the joust, add "fighting to shoot between a crowd". I will admit that my decision to buy a T5i was predominately due to being really used to it, as I was already doing photography and video at work with a company-owned T5i and I decided to stick with what I knew. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 08:16 on Mar 4, 2016 |
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Mar 4, 2016 08:14
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For what it's worth, I never had a problem seeing the back screen on my 70D in midday Madrid sunlight. Also, if the amount of camera shake from pressing the shutter button is an issue, then you're probably on a tripod already and so you can use the $20 wired remote or the free cellphone app to take the shot without touching the camera at all.
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Mar 4, 2016 12:06
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Has anyone made the transition from 5D MK3 to an equivalent Sony and been really happy? Everyone's buzzing about the A7 RII or whatever the nifty Sony is and I wanna give one a rental for a weekend, but I'm not sure if it's worth saving up for the deposit. Anyone wanna speak to this??
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Mar 8, 2016 22:07
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Yeah probably in the mirrorless thread. Plenty of us in there have ditched modern Canon and Nikon DSLR bodies for mirrorless setups.
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Mar 8, 2016 22:19
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dorkasaurus_rex posted:Has anyone made the transition from 5D MK3 to an equivalent Sony and been really happy? Everyone's buzzing about the A7 RII or whatever the nifty Sony is and I wanna give one a rental for a weekend, but I'm not sure if it's worth saving up for the deposit. Not quite the same magnitude, but I went from a T3i to an A6000, and I've been overall pretty happy with it. The kit lens has a lot of distortion and I prefer the Canon color profile, but I assume the A7 lenses would be a step up. I love the size, and the digital viewfinder isn't nearly as hard to get used to as I thought it would be. Battery life is predictably bad in comparison. Lenses aren't cheap, but then again about anything can be adapted, and one of those Metabones would even allow your Canon lenses to have AF. I say rent one and see.
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Mar 8, 2016 22:20
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dorkasaurus_rex posted:Has anyone made the transition from 5D MK3 to an equivalent Sony and been really happy? Everyone's buzzing about the A7 RII or whatever the nifty Sony is and I wanna give one a rental for a weekend, but I'm not sure if it's worth saving up for the deposit. There are a few wedding photographers who have made the move and written about it on sites like stevehuffphoto.com. Going Canon to Sony means you should pick up the metabones EF adapter; your existing glass is probably mostly salvageable unless you're unlucky - but you need an A7RII to autofocus fast with it, as it supports PDAF. I'm not really willing to pay for an A7RII for fast autofocus with my existing lens collection.
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Mar 9, 2016 03:51
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I want to buy a camera for my honeymoon trip to Europe this summer. I've read the first few pages of this thread. I have found a Nikon 5200 on Amazon that was made for sell in other countries than the US so it doesn't come with a warranty but it has 2 lenses, a cheap tripod, 2 16g memory cards, 2 batteries, and a carry bag for about $600. Is this a safe purchase? Am I missing the obvious part of the "if it seems too good to be true it probably is" thing?
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Apr 2, 2016 14:44
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Unforgiven posted:I want to buy a camera for my honeymoon trip to Europe this summer. I've read the first few pages of this thread. I have found a Nikon 5200 on Amazon that was made for sell in other countries than the US so it doesn't come with a warranty but it has 2 lenses, a cheap tripod, 2 16g memory cards, 2 batteries, and a carry bag for about $600. Is this a safe purchase? Am I missing the obvious part of the "if it seems too good to be true it probably is" thing? Give a link. Some of the "two lenses" kits are the kit lens and a "2x" lens, which is not a lens, but an attachment to the lens. Some of these kits also have the discontinued lenses, which are not necessarily bad, but may not be that good a choice.
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Apr 2, 2016 15:23
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torgeaux posted:Give a link. Some of the "two lenses" kits are the kit lens and a "2x" lens, which is not a lens, but an attachment to the lens. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019J1FXFW/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1RUOWZ2794IXS This is the kit I was thinking of buying. I suppose worst case I'd be OK buying a better "walking around" lens if this is a viable camera/pack.
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Apr 3, 2016 00:08
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Most of that stuff that isn't the actual camera body and 18-55 lens is tacked-on crap that will do a great job of filling up your junk drawers and is great for throwing away. I mean it wouldn't hurt to have a janky little tripod and a low capacity memory card coming to you right along with the camera, but everything else in that bundle is hot garbage and definitely isn't worth the $80 or so that you'd pay on top of the camera+lens by itself from other Amazon listings. My suggestion would be to check this out instead: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LUZMUOI/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?qid=1459639217&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=nikon+d5200 It's a refurbished 5200 with two real lenses, for about the same price. Then you can get a cheapo tripod and memory card separately for really cheap if you just look around on Amazon.
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Apr 3, 2016 00:28
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The accessories are all going to be garbage tier looking at it. The 18-55mm lens sounds like it's the version 1 of that model and it's fine, but not quite as good as the v2. quote:52mm 2X Professional Telephoto Lens - High Definition 52mm Wide Angle Lens No idea what the hell that'd supposed to be. Is 52mm the filter thread size rather than the focal distance? 2x means nothing out of context. It's gonna be poo poo regardless.
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Apr 3, 2016 00:29
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How do the 18-55mm lenses compare to just a 35mm lens? And if I buy the refurb camera, should I buy a spare 35mm lens? I am honestly having a bit of a hard time understanding the lenses stuff, but I'm working on it. My wife doesn't want a refurb, I think this one is similar/exactly the same as the one from Amazon from Nikon USA. http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/dslr-cameras/13461/d5200.html Unforgiven fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Apr 3, 2016 |
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Apr 3, 2016 00:45
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The 35mm is fine. It's cheap and cheerful and gives you a stop or two extra speed for low light, but I personally prefer the 50mm 1.8 on crop as it makes a nice little short portrait lens. It all depends on where on the focal length you find you take your photos.
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Apr 3, 2016 00:49
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Unforgiven posted:How do the 18-55mm lenses compare to just a 35mm lens? And if I buy the refurb camera, should I buy a spare 35mm lens? That kit is terrible. Refurb is a good way to go, and the kit lens plus a 35mm f/1.8 is a great starting setup.
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Apr 3, 2016 01:08
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http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/dslr-cameras/13461/d5200.html Not sure my edit was seen, the wife doesn't want to do a refurbished camera. What about that set up from Nikon USA? Do I need a dedicated 35mm or would the 18-55mm serve the same purpose? P.S. thanks for the information, I really appreciate the help.
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Apr 3, 2016 01:28
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Refurbished nikon has a 90 day warranty. grey-market "international" versions have no warranty at all. Nikon won't even fix it if you give them money.
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Apr 3, 2016 02:09
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The 18-55 will give you a decent range of zoom and will be more convenient since you won't need to swap lenses in most situations. It's perfect for outdoor stuff. The downside is it's a "slow" lens. The largest aperture is rather small (f3.5) meaning it's not great for low light. The 35 is a single focal length (no zoom) so it's less versatile in that respect but it's largest aperture is f1.8 giving you way more flexibility at night and indoors without a flash, also that super nice ~bokeh~ everyone loves. Single focal length lenses are typically sharper too, because there are less compromises in the optics compared to zoom lenses. For what it's worth, I sold my kit 18-55 lens and don't miss it. The 35 f1.8 is great if you learn to zoom with your feet. That 2x telephoto thing and wide angle "lens" is just a lens filter that screws onto the end of your actual lens and acts like a magnifying glass/wide angle adapter. They're certainly junk. Edit: and yeah the kit you linked is grey market and has zero warranty. Refurbed is a way, way better choice and has been inspected by Nikon themselves. BANME.sh fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Apr 3, 2016 |
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Apr 3, 2016 02:43
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My wife and I settled on a D5300 18-55mm lens and 55-300mm lens kit from B&H Photo. Unfortunately, every single supplier (including Nikon who makes the damned camera!) I have tried to purchase the camera from is all sold out. B&H claims an "estimated" time of 2-3 days to restock, then an additional 2 days for shipping. My question is, am I still going to be waiting on my camera next month? I am hesitant to make a purchase with the caveat "will be shipped when in stock." I tried to call the customer service department to verify a ship date, but no one could give me anymore information. Anyone have any words of advice?
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Apr 5, 2016 21:18
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It's a product that's past its production date though. It's like complaining Apple don't have current stock of an iPhone 5S to purchase. The D5500 is the current model which should be easier to get ahold of.
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Apr 5, 2016 23:34
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