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blue squares posted:1. An LED light capable of providing many different colors, so I can do stuff like put a blue glow into the scene for fun creative effect. Needs to be placed off-camera, but being able to attach it could be a bonus I bought this several years ago and it's been pretty solid for me: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VCXPWVB The only downside is how much it can output, you ain't gonna be lighting a studio with it. But adding some ambient light in a dim room for long exposures? It's great. It has a standard 1/4 tripod mount hole so it's easy to attach to anything. I'm sure there's a zillion different options out there if you hunt around.
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Aug 28, 2023 16:51
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xzzy posted:I bought this several years ago and it's been pretty solid for me: Thanks!
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Aug 28, 2023 17:01
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Anyone have experience with stabilizers for video recording? I’ve got some students that want to start making films, so I want to get them a decent stabilizer that won’t break the bank. What’s the best budget bang for your buck kind of deal?
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Aug 29, 2023 19:17
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What are they filming with? Assuming a camera with no built-in stabilization, putting anything on the camera and creating more contact points with your body and moving slowly and deliberately is going to do a lot. You can do this pretty well with just a camera strap around your neck and both hands holding the camera out to tighten the strap. You can add a tripod with two of the legs angled back against your hips for more stability. From there, they can look up YouTubes about how to do the "ninja walk" where you bend your knees and roll your feet to make the motion smoother. Any of the brackets or grips they make with universal tripod screws can be good too (link below). Basically anything that adds weight and contact points will go a long way to get rid of hand shake. I still shoot body only when I am traveling and don't have a full rig setup and can get 90% there. Stay away from any type of gimbal, powered or not. They will teach them bad habits and create terrible footage that looks worse than handheld with shake. https://www.amazon.com/Stabilizer-S...ps%2C195&sr=8-4 I would advise them to stick to static shots first though, as it will be much easier to compose and shoot a scene without camera movements added in. Adding in restrictions like that can help jump start creativity a ton and with something as complicated as filmmaking, keeping the process as simple as possible will go a long way. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Aug 29, 2023 |
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Aug 29, 2023 19:27
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blue squares posted:
A product photographer at my work came in with these neat little light bars that seem to fit your description. I can't remember what they're called; they were about a foot long and you could change the temperature/colour with a touchstrip - they were also magnetic so you could mount them together or to stuff like for example a guitar stand to backlight a guitar. I think they also had tripod mount threading on them, which means you could SmallRig them onto a camera. I think it was exactly this thing: https://www.amazon.ca/Magnetic-Handheld-3200K-5600K-Full-Color-Photography/dp/B09P2QM985?th=1
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Aug 29, 2023 22:49
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Bottom Liner posted:What are they filming with? Assuming a camera with no built-in stabilization, putting anything on the camera and creating more contact points with your body and moving slowly and deliberately is going to do a lot. You can do this pretty well with just a camera strap around your neck and both hands holding the camera out to tighten the strap. You can add a tripod with two of the legs angled back against your hips for more stability. From there, they can look up YouTubes about how to do the "ninja walk" where you bend your knees and roll your feet to make the motion smoother. Any of the brackets or grips they make with universal tripod screws can be good too (link below). Basically anything that adds weight and contact points will go a long way to get rid of hand shake. I still shoot body only when I am traveling and don't have a full rig setup and can get 90% there. Stay away from any type of gimbal, powered or not. They will teach them bad habits and create terrible footage that looks worse than handheld with shake. They'd mostly be filming with a Canon RP. We've got a bunch of lenses of various types, I honestly don't know poo poo about film so I guess we'll just mess around and see what works best. I've got a 24-105mm F/4 that's got image stabilization, I'd figure that would be versatile enough for most anything they'd want to do. Thanks for the advice, though! I actually already have a grip almost identical to the linked one. I'll point them toward the ninja walk tutorials and have them practice if they want to jump into moving stuff.
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Aug 30, 2023 00:56
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Oh yeah, with that camera/lens/grip and a camera strap they should be able to get really smooth movement.
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Aug 30, 2023 01:02
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Looking for advice on variable ND filters and LED lights for still photography. I am hoping to use the filters for some movement blur experiments and would appreciate recomendations at the low cost end. The LED light should be light and small and illuminate outdoors at close range. I've seen neewer has some good prices for both, any other suggestions?
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Sep 2, 2023 11:05
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I’ve never cleaned my own sensor. Which cleaning kits do y’all use?
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Sep 5, 2023 05:21
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I've had such lovely luck with point and shoot film cameras. I'm wondering how I should guarantee success with my next purchase. I was thinking of maybe getting a Kodak Ektar H35 Half Frame Film Camera. Any other recommendations?
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Sep 12, 2023 00:21
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huhu posted:I've had such lovely luck with point and shoot film cameras. I'm wondering how I should guarantee success with my next purchase. I was thinking of maybe getting a Kodak Ektar H35 Half Frame Film Camera. Any other recommendations? Skip the Kodak Ektar H35 and get something in the Pen EE series if you want half frame. It'll cost you the same or less for a much better camera.
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Sep 12, 2023 00:55
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My go-to cheap point and shoot has been the Canon SureShot https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/film153.html I’ve been buying them for my wife as she breaks them, she’s on #2 going strong. first one was dropped and kept shooting until it fell apart some more. I found a third one for $10 in an auction that i’m keeping around. I find the image quality better than the mju series. just as sharp in the centre, and sharper in the corners.
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Sep 12, 2023 02:03
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So I'm looking for a portable tripod for video shooting. What I want is to be able to smoothly pan. I've been told by one guy that I should be prepared to spend $1000 AUD on a Miller. He says manfrotto is worth skipping over. Any advice or is this guy 100% wrong?
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Sep 14, 2023 22:37
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the_lion posted:So I'm looking for a portable tripod for video shooting. What I want is to be able to smoothly pan. https://www.amazon.com/SmallRig-Fre...d0-5ec63b24bcb5 This is a super solid one that performs at least 2-3x its price point.
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Sep 14, 2023 22:58
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the_lion posted:I've been told by one guy that I should be prepared to spend $1000 AUD on a Miller. I don't think you necessarily need to buy a Miller although they are good heads. I would go with Bottom Liner's suggestion. quote:He says manfrotto is worth skipping over. Absolutely right about this one though, Manfrotto is terrible and not what they used to be 20 years ago.
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Sep 15, 2023 00:16
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The thing that I feel like really makes the difference in a fluid head is whether you can ease in/out of the move smoothly. Most of the cheaper heads I've used, even if they're well reviewed, can do a continuous motion OK but starting and stopping aren't great. A Miller DS20 on their solo CF legs was my first good fluid head setup and I still use it for b-cam. Other than the drag settings being simple knobs vs numbers with stops I still really like it. It's super light for it's capacity and I still find it very useable if I've got it on something that my main head doesn't work with. They've been around for a while so I'd think you could find a used one for quite a bit less than $1000.
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Sep 15, 2023 02:21
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To add to powerific's post, another big thing is bounce back. Cheaper heads will bounce back a little bit when you stop a pan or a tilt but a good head won't go back a tiny bit when you stop the move. I started off with a Bogen-Manfrotto 503 head and it was decent for the time though there was significant bounce back when you stopped a pan. When I went to film school, I was using the Sachtler Video 18 S2 on cycle films and the OConnor 2575D on my thesis, and I gotta tell you, nothing really compares once you've used an OConnor head (but who can afford 20k  ).Closest thing I got out of film school was a used Cartoni Delta and honestly, it performs just as well as the Sachtler Video 18 S2 but with the added benefit of a continuous counterbalance system. Once you've worked with a head that has continuous counterbalance, you don't want to go back to stepped counterbalance. VoodooXT fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 03:55
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Thanks guys for the info and the recommendation. Well, Smallrig it is for me!
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Sep 15, 2023 10:15
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Brrrmph posted:I’ve never cleaned my own sensor. Which cleaning kits do y’all use? Rubbing alcohol and q-tips. Not the most elegant solution.
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Sep 16, 2023 08:45
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Sensors can get wet without being ruined??
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Sep 16, 2023 14:59
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Kind of. In googling how to clean my camera sensor, I learned that there is a thin layer of glass over the actual sensor itself. So when you clean the sensor, you’re really cleaning the glass.
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Sep 16, 2023 15:48
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Ok so it's maybe a little off the exact Gear topic, but I'm looking to find a new web host for storing my photos / running my domain & email. I currently use NixiHost, who I've been really happy with, but as my storage needs have increased, my plan has become more and more inadequate, and they don't offer any ability to upgrade storage without losing my grandfathered-in pricing. Any suggestions for a good web hosting solution for photographers that isn't something like SquareSpace? edit: for context, my primary need for space is as an event photographer to store and send images for clients. I don't need anything to build me a front end, I just need domain hosting, email and a big ol' chunk of storage that I can send people links to. Lights fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Sep 16, 2023 |
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Sep 16, 2023 15:48
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Brrrmph posted:Kind of. In googling how to clean my camera sensor, I learned that there is a thin layer of glass over the actual sensor itself. So when you clean the sensor, you’re really cleaning the glass. Then are you truly cleaning the sensor? Makes u think
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Sep 16, 2023 16:08
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Lights posted:Ok so it's maybe a little off the exact Gear topic, but I'm looking to find a new web host for storing my photos / running my domain & email. I currently use NixiHost, who I've been really happy with, but as my storage needs have increased, my plan has become more and more inadequate, and they don't offer any ability to upgrade storage without losing my grandfathered-in pricing. Any suggestions for a good web hosting solution for photographers that isn't something like SquareSpace? I use SmugMug and Dropbox depending on what I'm sharing with people and use separate services for domain and email. I dunno what you're paying now, but smugmug + some other service for emails is pretty affordable.
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Sep 16, 2023 16:42
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wolfs posted:Sensors can get wet without being ruined?? During manufacturing, electronic chips (including sensors) are exposed to tons of water to wash away the various chemicals that are used during the manufacturing process. As long as the water is deionized it will do zero harm. Water is an issue if it's not pure, if it lingers around to the point where is corrodes poo poo, or if it dislodges other materials (oil) that then end up in unwanted places (on the sensor).
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Sep 17, 2023 03:05
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Dumb question: Is focus speed a function of the lens itself or the body? At the airshow the other week I had a chance to shoot a bit with my pro friend's Z9 with the new 180-600 f/5.6-6.3 VR. I have a Sigma super telephoto that's about the same, but good lord this man's camera. It only took like a half turn to fully throw the focus and it keyed in and sharpened up faster than I've ever seen. I'm now thinking (not very seriously) about financing a lens, not the super telephoto probably the 24-70 f/2.8 S, but I'm curious if the quick focus is actually his camera body doing the work. It's a lot of money to drop on a lens, so I want to know if that is a feature that will improve. My primes don't even focus that fast. When I shoot portraits/group shots at events in AF-S with the flash, they tend to go right out of focus and then back in, it doesn't take long but it's awkward. Maybe I should be switching to manual for those kind of shots, get some practice in. As an aside, the rapid shutter on the Z9 is also insane. It just sounds, and feels, way better. It's quieter but it still has some weight to it, if that makes sense? Do camera companies tune the feel of their DSLR/mirrorless shutters?
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Sep 17, 2023 03:21
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Mister Speaker posted:Dumb question: Is focus speed a function of the lens itself or the body? At the airshow the other week I had a chance to shoot a bit with my pro friend's Z9 with the new 180-600 f/5.6-6.3 VR. I have a Sigma super telephoto that's about the same, but good lord this man's camera. It only took like a half turn to fully throw the focus and it keyed in and sharpened up faster than I've ever seen. I'm now thinking (not very seriously) about financing a lens, not the super telephoto probably the 24-70 f/2.8 S, but I'm curious if the quick focus is actually his camera body doing the work. It's a lot of money to drop on a lens, so I want to know if that is a feature that will improve. I think it's both. You need an algorithm that is fast (this uses sensor data, so it's in the body), but you then also need a lens with a fast motor. The Sony 55/1.8 was lightning fast on my A7R3 while an adapted Canon 180/3.5 macro is as slow as a snail.
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Sep 17, 2023 03:33
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theHUNGERian posted:I think it's both. You need an algorithm that is fast (this uses sensor data, so it's in the body), but you then also need a lens with a fast motor. The Sony 55/1.8 was lightning fast on my A7R3 while an adapted Canon 180/3.5 macro is as slow as a snail. I think you're right. The C autofocus on my Z6 is plenty quick in some contexts, but I switch to pinpoint S for group shots because it really likes to focus on the background when coupled with AF-Area. This is probably just more of an argument for actually calibrating my camera's User Modes so I don't have to change four things every time I want to shoot portraits or people dancing or light trails around the DJ. Thanks!
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Sep 17, 2023 03:38
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Mister Speaker posted:As an aside, the rapid shutter on the Z9 is also insane. It just sounds, and feels, way better. It's quieter but it still has some weight to it, if that makes sense? Do camera companies tune the feel of their DSLR/mirrorless shutters? The Z9 doesn't actually have a shutter other than the sensor cover thing, so yes they tuned it in the sense that it's totally simulated? For AF yes it's a combination of the lens and the camera. FWIW I wouldn't expect a lens to focus fast just cause it's a prime, they're a mixed bag as much as anything and plenty of nice primes in the normal to mid telephoto ranges are a little pokey.
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Sep 17, 2023 05:20
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powderific posted:The Z9 doesn't actually have a shutter other than the sensor cover thing, so yes they tuned it in the sense that it's totally simulated? Nikon's Z line-up never fails to confuse and scare me.
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Sep 17, 2023 08:39
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RillAkBea posted:Nikon's Z line-up never fails to confuse and scare me. The Z8 and Z9 went to an electronic only shutter. It's excellent for most uses, since there's nothing mechanical moving and thus no wear. Also for bird/wildlife shooters it's nice to have a completely silent camera. You can set it up to have a fake shutter sound if it helps, though I chose to set mine up to just flash a red frame when you're firing the shutter. It's nice to have _something_ that indicates things are actually happening.
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Sep 17, 2023 09:57
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Hmm, I think I need to calibrate the screen on my new MacBook Air. I sat at the bar and edited some event photos last night and some of them look a bit overexposed on my home monitor (that I normally edit on). Lightroom question: Does the LR editing data save to the DNG file itself? Like, if I move these pictures back from my laptop to my desktop and open them up in LR there, will my exposure/white balance/noise reduction/cropping tweaks stay with them? There's got to be a way to do that.
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Sep 17, 2023 16:09
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AIU DNG include the required metadata to carry over lightroom settings but other formats need the optional XMP sidecar files enabled and copied at the same time. Or you can export part of the catalogue for transfer.
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Sep 17, 2023 16:56
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I got a flash and trigger because, well, I felt like I am taking photography seriously and its a core piece of gear. But after setting it up and trying it out, I absolutely hate it. Yes, part of this is due to not knowing how to use it, but also: - Its really heavy when mounted to my camera - Its hard to know what the result will be until after I take the photo - I do street, landscape, wildlife, architecture (mostly). I don't do events, portraits, etc I feel like it was stupid of me to buy a flash and that I should just return it. I have an LED light I can use thats easier to carry, offers full color spectrum, etc. Seems like I should just use that when I want more light or if I am doing a fun project
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Sep 19, 2023 18:00
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Pablo Bluth posted:AIU DNG include the required metadata to carry over lightroom settings but other formats need the optional XMP sidecar files enabled and copied at the same time. Or you can export part of the catalogue for transfer. Thanks for this, it definitely helped out. I also calibrated the monitor of my laptop with one of those Spyder tools, so I'm looking forward to trying it again. Is there a better thread (like a streaming thread or something) to ask about capture cards? I've been thinking about streaming next time I'm DJing a certain venue. I already have most of the gear but I'd rather not lug my ATEM Mini switcher out to gigs if it's not going to be worth taking multiple angles - just one camera, a HDMI-USBC capture card and my laptop would probably all fit in my regular photography bag with my camera and flash. I'm just wondering about the quality of some of these capture cards. I'm only shooting with a little Sony 4K action cam but still, there are some options on Amazon for like $40 and I wonder if it's going to look like potato.
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Sep 19, 2023 20:20
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eposvox on Youtube has done a lot of reviews of capture devices including a bunch of the generic China brands.
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Sep 19, 2023 22:25
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blue squares posted:I got a flash and trigger because, well, I felt like I am taking photography seriously and its a core piece of gear. But after setting it up and trying it out, I absolutely hate it. Yes, part of this is due to not knowing how to use it, but also: There are certain things that you can't really do without a flash or that a flash really makes much, much easier. But for wildlife and street photography, exploring the metering function on your camera is probably a lot more valuable and also free. Your instinct to return it is completely legitimate, but you might also look into specifically what you can do with it rather than just carrying it around for general use. For example, they are useful for when you've got plenty of light, but the light is coming from the wrong direction and it fucks up the metering on your camera. On the street, this might be a situation where you're trying to have a sunset in the background, but everything in the foreground is black because your camera is flipping out and doesn't know what the hell you're trying to do. A strong flash from the front could light up faces or whatever enough to get the picture you want rather than black silhouettes.
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Sep 20, 2023 00:39
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blue squares posted:I got a flash and trigger because, well, I felt like I am taking photography seriously and its a core piece of gear. But after setting it up and trying it out, I absolutely hate it. Yes, part of this is due to not knowing how to use it, but also: Sounds like you should use your flash more to understand when and where you'd want to use it to get the effect you want. They can be really useful in landscapes and street to fill in missing light where you need it, and also when they're done well they don't stand out like a sore thumb. Both these shots are direct fill flash balanced to match the exposure of the background  
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Sep 20, 2023 02:50
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when i was still learning photography i also went out and bought a flash, an alienbee, with a stand and a trigger and everything. i didn't enjoy that kind of flash work. it's really great to know how to light a scene using multiple strobes of course, but in my work that wasn't needed. an on-camera flash or one mounted to the hotshoe (or hotshoe cable so it's a bit off the camera axis) is my preferred way of using flash and it works for me and my style of shooting. to repeat what megabound said - use the flash in various different ways and see which one clicks. these days i'm only using on-camera flash   
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Sep 20, 2023 04:12
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If you want to mount a flash directly on camera, I recommend buying the lightest reasonable option. I bought a godox flash which uses 2xAA. It weighs 200g, but still can be used remotely with the godox system, rotating flash head, zoom, came with gels etc. Then just point the flash directly at subject, like above poster did!  
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Sep 20, 2023 10:14
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