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How would you advise people who want to buy their first camera? I usually ask them leading questions like what do they want to photograph in particular, why do they think they need a camera (as phones have gotten pretty powerful nowadays), stuff like that. My usual advice is either a) getting an entry-level DSLR/mirrorless, or b) buying used for older-gen mid-range models and up, but again as entry-level bodies are getting more expensive as phones take over lower price ranges, I'm not sure if I should keep recommending those. Personally, what I did was borrow a friend's old Canon body and got my own cheap Tamron lens, used it for a year, then bought a Fujifilm X-T1, returned the body and sold the Tamron lens, but not everyone has a friend they could borrow gear from.
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Mar 29, 2022 02:27
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I'd honestly let anyone I trusted just borrow my back up. It's a 60D so it's probably worth more as scrap at this point. But my spiel is no bridge cameras, phones have sort of eliminated point and shoots at this point. DSLRs are dead, go mirror less if you can. Basically Sony, Nikon, and Canon have the largest investments. Which brand entirely depends on UI preference. It's always been a popular opinion here to buy based on ergonomics but, as a multilingual camera user, I haven't found much of a difference between brands. Nikon has the better menu interface, I think. But I'm biased towards Canon since that is what I personally run.
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Mar 29, 2022 02:41
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Lily Catts posted:How would you advise people who want to buy their first camera? I usually ask them leading questions like what do they want to photograph in particular, why do they think they need a camera (as phones have gotten pretty powerful nowadays), stuff like that. Purpose and budget. Most of the modern day cellphones have such good cameras that there's almost no reason to get a camera for functional photography, like taking photos of kids or your lunch. However if they know what they want to shoot that requires a real digital camera, then that's what they should look at. Renting a camera first also helps too.
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Mar 29, 2022 06:33
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Yeah it does seem like entry-level DSLRs are not worth it... except at that price point they offer a viewfinder while mirrorless models won't. I also tell them lens selection matters and if they or their family has old lenses they might want to use/adapt those (I believe the Pentax K-mount lets you mount a lot of vintage glass, so I bring that up too). Phone cameras allow raw shooting nowadays too, right? That used to be a big advantage for dedicated cameras.
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Mar 29, 2022 08:30
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Lily Catts posted:Phone cameras allow raw shooting nowadays too, right? That used to be a big advantage for dedicated cameras. Yeah but personally, if I was going to shoot RAW and edit later, I'd pick up a proper camera for that. Unless they intend to do everything on their mobile device and also the photo is mainly meant for mobile/web consumption.
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Mar 29, 2022 09:08
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Lily Catts posted:Yeah it does seem like entry-level DSLRs are not worth it... except at that price point they offer a viewfinder while mirrorless models won't. DSLRs aren’t going to have great (or many) autofocus points at that level. I think my 60D had 9 points, while both mirrorless cameras I have had were >2/3 of the sensor coverage easily. It’s a big difference, even on the mirrorless cameras without separate viewfinders.
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Mar 30, 2022 05:56
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Lily Catts posted:Yeah it does seem like entry-level DSLRs are not worth it... except at that price point they offer a viewfinder while mirrorless models won't. I also tell them lens selection matters and if they or their family has old lenses they might want to use/adapt those (I believe the Pentax K-mount lets you mount a lot of vintage glass, so I bring that up too). Yeah more flagship smartphones are allowing raw. At this point the only advantage dedicated cameras have over current gen smartphones are lens variety, low light, and higher shutter speed possibilities for capturing faster motion. And even lens selection is hardly an issue now that flagship phones are packing three lenses. melon cat fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Mar 30, 2022 |
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Mar 30, 2022 21:21
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melon cat posted:Yeah more flagship smartphones are allowing raw. At this point the only advantage dedicated cameras have over current gen smartphones are lens variety, low light, and higher shutter speed possibilities for capturing faster motion. And even lens selection is hardly an issue now that flagship phones are packing three lenses. The biggest advantage will always be sensor size. There's a lot software can accomplish, from noise reduction to providing some out of focus areas, but tiny sensors are inherently limited.
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Mar 30, 2022 22:03
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the death of point n shoots has been exaggerated slightly Fuji, Canon, Panasonic and Ricoh still are making serviceable p&s / fixed lens options that said i wish panasonic or olympus would release a bells and whistles telephoto m43 sensored compact. partner with google for some computational junk. There have been very tiny offerings from panasonic in the past - just make something collapsible and cheerful.
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Mar 30, 2022 22:42
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wolfs posted:the death of point n shoots has been exaggerated slightly My Fuji X-3 is used almost exclusively with it's pancake 27mm lens, it's effectively a point and shoot 
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Mar 31, 2022 01:34
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I'm sure point-and-shoots still have a market, but they're becoming more niche due to phones having encroached the casual shooting userbase. (That said, the Ricoh GR series seems great and hip)
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Mar 31, 2022 02:23
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Lily Catts posted:I'm sure point-and-shoots still have a market, but they're becoming more niche due to phones having encroached the casual shooting userbase. (That said, the Ricoh GR series seems great and hip) Canon G7 X Mark III has caught my eye. I love the idea of having SLR capabilities in a p&s form factor. I'm strong debating selling my DSLR and buying a lower end mirrorless + one of those types of p&s not-quite-SLR cameras for easy packing
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Mar 31, 2022 02:48
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melon cat posted:At this point the only advantage dedicated cameras have You didn't mention the (imo) 2 most important ones: Autofocus speed Photos per second Additionally dedicated cameras gets: Creative control (e.g bulb mode, combining multiple exposures, etc) Tethering Compatibility with dedicated lighting, flash, other studio equipment But it all boils down to the needs of the individual. If you just want vacation snapshots there is zero reason to use a dedicated camera. However if you want to do more specialized photography like sports, birding, astrophotography you cannot and likely will not ever be able to do that with a phone.
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Mar 31, 2022 12:12
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Ineptitude posted:However if you want to do more specialized photography like sports, birding, astrophotography you cannot and likely will not ever be able to do that with a phone. Astrophotography is certainly on Google's radar https://petapixel.com/2021/11/04/google-pixel-6-pro-astrophotography-review-stellar-results/
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Mar 31, 2022 12:41
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um excuse me posted:Astrophotography is certainly on Google's radar One side of astro, starfield landscapes. Not deep sky. I am impressed by some of the recent close ups/'macro' I see coming from phones recently though.
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Mar 31, 2022 20:09
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drat, how do I make my pixel phone take shots just as good as my mirrorless? I could be saving a fortune on lenses.
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Mar 31, 2022 20:16
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The Anime Liker posted:drat, how do I make my pixel phone take shots just as good as my mirrorless? I could be saving a fortune on lenses. Depends, do you look at your photos on a phone screen or print them out at poster size?
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Mar 31, 2022 20:28
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xzzy posted:Depends, do you look at your photos on a phone screen or print them out at poster size? I do hi-res product photos people quickly scroll past on phone screens, lol
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Mar 31, 2022 21:45
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torgeaux posted:The biggest advantage will always be sensor size. There's a lot software can accomplish, from noise reduction to providing some out of focus areas, but tiny sensors are inherently limited. Yep. I think the math is that APS-C is something like 9x bigger than the current iPhone sensors? And that’s “just” APS-C, so to full frame 35mm equivalent and then to Fuji’s medium res/other medium res it’s even greater. Glass is another point, even the mid-range of “slightly slow” glass for mirrorless/DSLR has to be better than what’s packed into a phone size. Apple and others are doing a ton to update computational photography, and the iPhone/smart phone is a real shift in photography, but there are some things the dedicated tools still do better.
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Apr 1, 2022 01:27
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Yeah the computational stuff is where it’s at. I know it’s been tried before, but a proper body with sensor and a mount to use an iPhone as the brains would be a glorious thing.
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Apr 1, 2022 01:42
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I assume that's gonna happen someday, all the big camera companies have decades of research into their sensor readout but they are small potatoes compared to the amount of manpower that google and apple have flung into their cameras. Eventually they're gonna be forced to toss android into a body, trying to license apple tech is a dead end. Unless they can keep up the dynamic range race, it won't matter when they have 30 EV or whatever.
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Apr 1, 2022 01:53
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xzzy posted:I assume that's gonna happen someday, all the big camera companies have decades of research into their sensor readout but they are small potatoes compared to the amount of manpower that google and apple have flung into their cameras. Eventually they're gonna be forced to toss android into a body, trying to license apple tech is a dead end. Google can't commit to a single drat thing in the world and Apple only wants to do things that they can control and make poo poo tons of money on, which would mean buying an existing photography-focused outfit that also produces lenses. Photographers crave stability due to size of investment and the tech giants cannot offer that imo. Amateur+ and above photography is safe from the tech giants for now because it's a niche, but an extremely finnicky and profitable niche.
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Apr 1, 2022 02:53
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The last big tech company that tried to enter the space was Samsung I think, and the NX system lasted for what, 5 years? Was Sony good in the camera business at the start, or did they only improve after acquiring Minolta?
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Apr 1, 2022 05:57
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Lily Catts posted:The last big tech company that tried to enter the space was Samsung I think, and the NX system lasted for what, 5 years? Sony point and shoot was always top shelf. My first digital camera was a 3ish megapixel cybershot that was absolutely incredible for the time (maybe 1999-2000). And they were absolute titans in video cameras, like 60% of the camcorder market, from cheap home use to professional, from the VHS era to all those late 90s early 00s things like minidisc and memory stick, etc. And they're still one of the major players for digital filmmaking (maybe 10-15% now). The Minolta buyout was a big leap for the interchangeable lens production. They didn't really have anything to compete with Canon or Fuji before that. The Anime Liker fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Apr 1, 2022 |
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Apr 1, 2022 07:55
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Hi there, this seems like a timely conversation for me regarding first camera purchase. My girlfriend and I have been considering upgrading our phones (Samsung Note 8 and S9), but after talking about it, both of us really only want to be able to take better photos since we don't do anything intensive with our phones. I figured that getting a camera we could share would be good solution and cost less. She used to be somewhat into photography and had a Canon 400D probably 15 years ago, so we'd like to get something with interchangeable lenses. Our main uses would be macro, wildlife and general holiday photos, but we don't want something too big and are willing to forego a viewfinder (is this a bad decision?). We do a lot of hiking/camping and generally try to travel pretty light. After about a week of research the two models I've mainly been looking at are the Sony ZV-E10 and the Fujifilm A-X7. These seem like they would fit our use case, so I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on these or could recommend something else? Any help greatly appreciated, thanks!
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Apr 7, 2022 04:05
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I've used the viewfinder perhaps twice since I bought my mirrorless, if it broke I probably wouldn't know
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Apr 7, 2022 05:18
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I highly recommend the ZV-E10 and this guy can break down a ton of stuff for you why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY81CZM5SAE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjhCOJ8Pquc
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Apr 7, 2022 05:27
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Hadlock posted:I've used the viewfinder perhaps twice since I bought my mirrorless, if it broke I probably wouldn't know At this point I'm so set in my ways that not using the viewfinder just feels weird. Like how do I keep the body stable without proper support?
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Apr 10, 2022 11:32
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Last time someone handed me a camera to use without a viewfinder I kept on reflexively hitting myself in the face with it
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Apr 10, 2022 12:03
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I use the rear screen for odd angles only. I feel too detached from the image just looking at a screen on the back. I picked up a fuji x10 for a small quality camera to have on me at all times and it's lack of view finder made me end up selling it, just took the fun out of taking pictures for me.
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Apr 10, 2022 12:34
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I too prefer a screen on the back, especially if it can be tilted, as I really like to shoot from waist level.
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Apr 10, 2022 14:56
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Tilty screens are great, flippy screens are great too. I wish there was both on mine. I only use the viewfinder when handheld, it feels way more natural. Soon as there's a tripod though.. it's back screen all the way.
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Apr 10, 2022 15:23
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Nothing wrong with not wanting a viewfinder but my problem with relying on LCD screens is that so many LCD screens on current gen cameras are dimly lit, which can be a problem when shooting in bright sunlight. Viewfinders are handy for that sort of situation. Not sure what nit the 400D LCD but if you shoot in sunny weather a lot you will want to have the option of a viewfinder. Side rant: most mirrorless cameras have poorly designed viewfinders with eye cups that are so shallow my nose or cheek keeps hitting the LCD everytime I press up to use it. Nowadays viewfinders feel like an afterthought. Old school DSLR's still have the best viewfinders IMHO that is a hill I'm prepared to die on melon cat fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Apr 11, 2022 |
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Apr 11, 2022 21:49
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Anyone familiar with single event insurance policies? I tried getting quotes for a car show I am shooting. It's a large scale show (2000+ people) which is messing up every estimator I'm coming across. Revenue is only expected to be $500ish. Quotes are ending up in the $200 range which is a nonstarter. Insurance is such a scam, I'd settle for names of reputable single event insurers familiar with working with photographers.
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Apr 12, 2022 13:30
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What are you insuring? Your gear? Liability?
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Apr 12, 2022 17:30
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jarlywarly posted:What are you insuring? Your gear? Liability? I was hoping for gear, liability, contract disputes. I really only care about the last one though. The situation is fast moving, still attempting to align expectations so we can get poo poo on paper, but I am dealing with an organization, not an individual so I'm looking for that protection.
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Apr 12, 2022 17:33
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So I want to pick up a hobby to meet people, and I recall being really into photography back in the day. So I'm thinking of giving it another shot. I was wondering if it's easy to make friends in a photography class or club?
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May 8, 2022 21:30
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Yea sure. They'll especially love you if you offer to model. When I ran a club that was always the sticking point with people. Everyone wants to do portraiture but no one wants to be on the other side of the lens. Strangely I have the opposite problem now. Everyone wants their photo taken but no one wants to pay 
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May 8, 2022 23:27
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Has anyone used one of the later Nikon autofocus SLRs, besides an F5/6, for long exposure night photos on a tripod? My precious FE2 took a swim, and it was my go-to for night pictures because I could throw it on a light tripod and use the self-timer mirror prefire function to eliminate any mirror slap vibrations. (I found out about mirror slap vibrations from trying to do the same thing with a Minolta XD, which always starts an exposure immediately after the mirror hits the top of the box. Long exposures made with it always had a slight blur) Now all I have left for 35mm film cameras is a Nikon N80. It has no mirror prefire function, never mind lock-up. But it’s much newer and mostly driven by electric motors, so maybe there’s a chance that the mirror vibrations are sufficiently dampened. The F5 & F6 have MLU and much more overbuilt construction, so it’s pointless to ask about experiences with them, but F100s, N75s and probably N90s are all similar enough.
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May 13, 2022 17:00
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So I'm planning on taking a photography class this summer. I think that this one would be a great start. That said I see this class is also on there and am very interested in it because I travel a lot. I'm just worried that if I go to both it may mess things up as maybe the latter class is "too advanced" for me or that it would be weird to attend two photography classes at once.
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May 20, 2022 22:20
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