Camera Gear v8 "Buy A Pentax ME" (Don't buy UV filters, do hail satan)

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Camera Gear v8 "Buy A Pentax ME" (Don't buy UV filters, do hail satan)

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spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Menorah on Fire posted:

So aside from being 2/3 to 2 stops faster, what benefit does it offer over the kit? I mean, the kit has IS and the same focal range, so figuring out if you like 24 or 35 or whichever lengths more seems like an irrelevant issue -- both cover the same lengths.

I'll admit f/3.5-5.6 might suck for trying to start out as ~*Mr. Super-Bokeh*~, but is that really worth the difference of buying another lens? The kit lens inevitably gets sold by everyone with one -- seems like buying the Tamron 17-50 to replace it is just prolonging the inevitable and saying "f/2.8 is worth $200 more than f/3.5".

I personally feel that f5.6 is almost unusable for a walk around lens unless your photography is exclusively outdoors shots of slow-moving subjects.

I'd also think $200 is worth it to go from f3.5 to f2.8 and definitely worth it from f5.6

# ¿ Jun 20, 2012 13:13

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 19:20

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

That's 'silent' is it?

# ¿ Jun 22, 2012 17:16

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

I am going to say 'no' and 'yes' for the exact reasons that these two already posted.

Walking around, you will find that the 30mm can take everything the 50mm can and more.

However, if you take a lot of portraits, the 50mm is worth keeping. For the price, it is worth keeping as a very light lens to carry about when weight is an issue.

As for focussing: you have to really push the 30mm to the limits to get it complaining about focus.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2012 10:05

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

I've got one of those cheapy knock-off battery-grips. The controls seem okay, but it's made of that horrible plastic that feels like it will shatter if you squeeze it too hard.

Is there any type of tape or self-adhesive covering that will give a rubbery/leathery effect?

I'm tempted to use duck tape, except it's too shiny and the edges will weep glue.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2012 21:11

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

powderific posted:

I'd look for some actual grip tape--gaffer's tape, at least the stuff I have, isn't super grippy. I've only used it on handguns but I'm sure it'd work well for a camera too.

Isn't grip tape the stuff they put on skateboards and feels like sandpaper?

# ¿ Jul 5, 2012 22:37

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

powderific posted:

edit: something like this: http://www.kofflersales.com/p/bath-shower-anti-slip-tape.asp

I'll look at bath slip tape/matting as it must be waterproof, therefore sweatproof.

I'm getting on a bit anyway, I probably need some for my bath anyway.

evil_bunnY posted:

Or grip tape. Or deck tape (and wear gloves every time you pick it up).

That's deck.

I'll defer to your skateboarding expertise, but when I google for 'grip tape' in the UK, it only shows the sandpapery stuff. What's grip tape used for?

FasterThanLight posted:

I just had a ton of gear stolen from my car,

That sucks. Is the insurance going to cover it?

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 11:25

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

evil_bunnY posted:

That's a brilliant idea TBH

By grip tape I meant the stuff they put on hockey sticks. It works on handguns but might not on cameras, where you can't tape all the way around the grip.

I did think about the tennis racket stuff, but the ends aren't taped down are they?

Look, you can even get the safety strips in black, to match my unimaginative camera manufacturer:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-BLACK-Self-Adhesive-Non-Slip-Safety-Strips-20mm-x-500mm-Grip-Tape-/330753324744

I bet this stuff would work well on tiny P&S and similar - where better friction would make holding it better.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 13:58

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

FasterThanLight posted:

Hopefully, adjuster is supposed to get back to me today. I guess now that I'm no longer "invested" in the Leica system, I can actually move to some system that I can afford, and I don't have to worry about my lenses going to waste!

Half-full glass: you get to buy a bunch of new toys without emptying your pockets or feeling guilty.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 15:16

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

ExecuDork posted:

It seems like a long shot, but does such a thing exist as a way to charge a camera battery (that normally plugs into a wall outlet) through a USB port? I can find plenty of options for going the other way.

I know a USB outlet is going to put out a small fraction of even the trickle charge that a battery charger normally draws, but something that would let me keep my batteries topped up using this thing (or something like it) on a week-long canoe trip I'm planning would be very handy.

For a week's travel, I'd just buy a handful of third-party batteries.

Three spare batteries should cover a week of shooting (depending on your throughput) and take up about as much space as a charger. Probably cheaper than a fancy-pants charger, too.

Alternatively, buy a battery grip that takes AA batteries and use a USB AA-battery charger. In theory it will work - in practise you'd probably spend more time fartign around and trying to get a full set of charged batteries than you will shooting.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2012 11:16

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Martytoof posted:

Leicas are pretty well engineered cameras. They're basically the Rolex of cameras.

Are they worth a thousand dollars a pop? Maybe or maybe not. I don't doubt that the brand has much to do with the price, but you really are getting a sturdy piece of metal and aluminum.

I was really skeptical of the Leica thing at first too. It really wasn't until I held the body and played with its (albeit very minimalist) functions that I really said "you know what, I can totally see it". It felt great in my hands, the weight was perfect.

In the end though it's just a box you put film into and lens on the other end. My $30 FED-2 won't really expose the film any better, given the same sort of lens on both bodies, but it won't feel near as nice in my hands. Is that worth an extra $970? Today it isn't. Tomorrow it might be.

I think it is important to differentiate between film and digital Leicas: the film ones were genuinely the top quality option at the time, combining suberb optics with strong and reliable bodies.

Digital Leicas? Hmm. Marketing.

EDIT:

signalnoise posted:

So what about the digital Leicas?

To be fair: the optics are still good and the recent one seems to have a good reputation, but the stuff before definitely is branding-first.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2012 22:23

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

A cigarette?

No serious photographer would ever smoke anything other than a cigar:

# ¿ Jul 20, 2012 15:03

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Paragon8 posted:

I believe the s90 can shoot in raw.

But yeah, the x100 is one of the sexiest cameras out there.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2012 22:18

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Clayton Bigsby posted:

If you are just going to look through them why not shoot RAW+S and save some space?

I don't think all bodies can shoot RAW+S: my S90 and 400D only have RAW+L, my 40D has RAW+all

It also has the SRAW option, but I am in 2 minds about that: it seems a bit silly to accept the inconvenience of RAW but not get as much info as possible out of it.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2012 12:36

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Clayton Bigsby posted:

Ah, did not know there were bodies without RAW+S. Learn something new every day.

As for sRAW, yeah, not sure. If the files were much smaller I could see the purpose, but I gather that the mid-size sRAW file is not much smaller than the real thing.

And until you mentioned it, I did not know that there were any bodies that did, so the learning is mutual.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2012 19:24

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

That 70s Shirt posted:

At only two pounds and an f8 max aperture it sounds like a mirror lens, which generally should be avoided for normal photography (terrible contrast, bokeh is donut-shaped, etc). Surveillance and astrophotography folks love 'em, though.

Is there a picture with it to confirm?

Aren't mirror lenses fixed aperture?

EDIT:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/500mm-f-8-P...=item1c236c5f9e

I bet it is something like this.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2012 18:21

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Kiri koli posted:

Anyone have an opinion on the Sigma 17-50 f2.8? I want a faster lens to replace my kit lens, I like this focal range, and I was going to buy the Tamron, but all the reviews say that the Sigma has better autofocus and is a ton quieter. I do think that the noise from the Tamron will bother me, but is it worth another couple hundred? fwiw, I haven't been able to find any craigslist or other local good used deals on either lens (except for Amazon Warehouse deals, which are decent but not great) and I do feel ripped off buying the Tamron without a good deal because they seem to be common as dirt.

A very good lens and the reviews that I could find all say that the Tamron and it are almost identical in optical performance.

I have one. Well built, good balance, quality seems good to me.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2012 16:39

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

DJExile posted:

gently caress gently caress gently caress gently caress gently caress

In my excitement to pack my bags for a 2 week Scotland/Belfast/Dublin trip, I'm at the airport and have realized I forgot a battery charger I have 2 full batteries in a grip and I'm not sure if I can make those last for the whole time. Is my best course of action to look up a store in the UK (the first leg of the trip is a week in the Scottish Highlands) and have it shipped to our hotel?

What camera do you have?

# ¿ Aug 20, 2012 21:34

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

DJExile posted:

Olympus E-5. I have 2 of the BLM-1 batteries.

E: I have a good P&S and a lot of film with my OM-1 so if worse comes to worst, it's not a total loss.

When you get to Heathrow, go to Dixons (they are airside in all the terminals).

See if they sell this:

http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/kodak-essential-universal-battery-charger-13828471-pdt.html

http://www.dixonstravel.com/stores/heathrow.aspx

Failing that, let me know and I'll try to help you out.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2012 21:39

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

DJExile posted:

We're flying into Edinburgh

They have one in Edinburgh too:

Dixons Travel
Unit R164
Edinburgh Airport
Airside
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH12 9DP

That said: if you can find a suitable one on Amazon.co.uk, you can spring for next day shipping and get it to your hotel.

pm me if you have problems with your US credit card

EDIT: you know what, I bet you can find a charger if you wander around the City.

http://www.jessops.com/storefinder

spog fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Aug 20, 2012

# ¿ Aug 20, 2012 21:45

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Paragon8 posted:

I think the Dixons might be in the departures part of the airport rather than the arrivals. I believe that's where it is in Heathrow.

You may be right.

I think this might do the job. Available with 1-2 days shipping:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battery-Charger-Olympus-PS-BLM-1-BLM1/dp/B002DK9XV2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345495264&sr=8-2

I've been in these exact shoes.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2012 21:50

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

DJExile posted:

And here we are finally in Dornoch. I'm going to do some asking around about local places but the Amazon route may be ultimately cheaper.

If nothing else, I'll burn up the batteries and take a shitload of shots with the OM-1

It looks an interesting place.

Amazon will definitely be cheaper - plus you'll spend less time trying to explain modern technology like DSLRs (and electricity) to the locals.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2012 15:53

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

evil_bunnY posted:

Finally a use for my camera's second card slot! With an adapter I could put that in and dump small jpegs to pick up from my phone.

That's clever!

# ¿ Feb 11, 2013 21:43

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

evil_bunnY posted:

DPR tested the Sigma 35/1.4 and it's stomping on the first party options. If the new 30/1.4 is just as good it should be a decent option for folks with APS-C cameras.

quote:

At Photokina 2012, Sigma announced a reorganization of its lens lineup into three categories - 'Contemporary' covering lightweight, flexible zooms, 'Sports' for larger telephoto lenses, and 'Art' for a wide range of optics aimed at serious photographers, including ultra-wideangles, macros and fast primes.

'Art' and 'Contemporary' lenses? Really guys?

# ¿ Feb 19, 2013 20:41

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

DJExile posted:

RE: battery chargers: Anything to avoid with buying a couple of those cheap $5-10 ones from Amazon? My OM-D charger miiiiiight be back in the Caribbean and I really don't feel like contacting the place and paying what will probably be $50+ to ship it home.

I understood that all the clever stuff is built in the battery, so it down't matter too much if you have a cheapy charger.

I've also read that crappy power supplies generate crappy power - which may be a Bad Thing, but I'd guess that it probably doesn't have a significant negative effect on your battery.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2013 20:45

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

FF is pretty much a marketing tool to allow the camera manufacturers to sell a very expensive 'pro' camera that is clearly distinguished from 'amateur' bodies. They are artificially more expensive.

The only intrinsic benefit of FF is the shallower DOF.

The other benefits such as greater resolution/less noise are only true when compared to CF sensors of the same generation. Give it a couple of generations and I'd rather have a newer CF, than the older FF.

Eventually, we are going to reach a point where CF sensors give all the performance you need and FF will become have no technical advantage (other than DOF) and it will be purely a marketing decision to manufacture them.

We've already hit the megapixel upperlimit of desirability (no-one is going to demand a 500MP sensor) and it won't be too long before ISO gets to a similar point where whtehr your body has ISO102,400 or ISO204,800 isn't a major plus point.

# ¿ May 8, 2013 09:15

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Saint Fu posted:

He did qualify it by saying

I think the argument was that eventually that extra stop of noise will not be that great of a benefit when ISO 200,000+ is acceptable. I do agree with you, though that when comparing FF to CF of the current generation sensor, FF will always be better. It might not be worth the premium they're charging though.

That's exactly it. FF has an IQ equal to CF 2-3 generations newer - but not more than that.

Take an extreme example:

1992 1.2MP

It still has a shallower DOF than a 600D - but as for image resolution/noise performance, I know which one I would have.

As CF improves to the point of being good enough for 'everyone' - FF only offers the DOF as a benefit.

# ¿ May 8, 2013 10:02

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

8th-samurai posted:

What book? No true artist reads anything but the finest animes while taking long exposures.

True artists would have read lots of books beforehand, so they could visualise the story without having to open the book.

# ¿ May 16, 2013 10:42

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

8th-samurai posted:

Every time I try this the only thing people end up seeing is hosed up nudes.

All my scenes include hosed up nudes already.

Otherwise, what's the point of taking the photo?

# ¿ May 16, 2013 18:24

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

I don't think I have heard of branded cards failing with any kind of regularity - even when amplified through the megaphone of the internet.

So, I guess you just were unlucky.

# ¿ May 19, 2013 17:33

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Paul MaudDib posted:

Haven't used it, but: it's a crop lens, so you can't use it on full frame/film. It's basically a scaled down full-frame 50mm lens, and has pretty similar performance characteristics (sharp center/soft corners wide open, etc). 50mm is too long for a lot of uses, as you've noticed, 30-35mm is an equivalent "normal" lens on crop sensor. I think it's not worth the extra cost if your system has a good 35mm (Nikon 35/1.8 DX, Pentax 35/2.4, Sony 35/1.8 OSS (AF performance is currently a little slow), etc) but Canon has a big hole in their lineup since the 35/2 is ancient and almost as expensive as the Sigma. Two questions you have to ask yourself: do I need/want a prime? If you don't want the speed or the fixed focal length, you're most of the way to a Tamron 17-50 which is going to perform just as well in most situations. And then, do I need really good wide open performance corner to corner? If so, you may want to save and skip right to the 35/1.4, as it's a lot better corrected for real wide-open shooting. It also costs twice as much, so that's not necessarily an automatic "yes".

In addition to this advice I'd add one pro and one con:

1) it is bloody heavy
2) it can focus in almost pitch-black darkness.

# ¿ May 27, 2013 17:50

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

QPZIL posted:

On full frame, how big of a gain is 40mm over 50mm? I already have the 50 1.8 II, but the 40mm is so darned cheap.

10mm

# ¿ May 28, 2013 18:15

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

evil_bunnY posted:

Think about what you want to shoot before you commit to a system.

Not applicable for Leica.

# ¿ May 30, 2013 08:24

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Ineptitude posted:

Anyways, on Wednesday I am going to Hong Kong for a few days, before heading on to mainland China. Again i am hopeful that i will find cheap camera equipment, because if it is not cheap there it cant be cheap anywhere, right?
Am i setting myself up for another disappointment here?
I have looked a bit around on the Internet and found prices for some of the things i am interested in buying, and it is a little bit cheaper than Norway, but not the difference i was expecting/hoping. For example the Canon EOS 6D costs 13000 HKD, in Norway it costs 18300 HKD.
Is it possible to barter on these kinds of products in HK? In Norway there is absolutely no bartering on anything, ever. Prices are fixed and consumer rights are very strong (electronic stores give you a 45 day cash back no question asked policy for example). In some cultures bartering is common, even expected, which is very foreign to us.
Is there any point in going to HK expecting to be able to barter down that 13000 HKD price down to say 11000? I looked at rolandlim.wordpress.com for prices and recommended camera shops in HK. I don't see bartering mentioned much at all in any of the blogs/web-pages i have read about shopping in HK. Perhaps this is simply just a thing of the past, before information was widely available on the internet, and tourist traps more common.

You can absolutely bargain in HK - that is the way of life there. You certainly won't cause offence by asking what the 'best price' is.

However, there isn't a lot of leeway in prices as they are usually priced competitively. You get a better deal by buying multiple items and getting a combined best price and/or seeing what they can throw in for free (3rd party batteries are a good filler)

I personally would suggest a chain like Broadway - great customer service/guarantee and you won't get ripped off. The smaller shops might offer better deals but a) likely to be grey imports and b) unless you know then, you don't know how honest they are.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2013 23:42

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

InternetJunky posted:

Has anyone ever bought a refurbished CF card off ebay before? (i.e. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SanDisk-64GB...82742f0a&_uhb=1)

Two of these new would kill my budget for an up-coming trip but losing shots to junk cards would also kill my trip.

How the hell do you 'refurbish' a memory card, anyway?

# ¿ Jul 13, 2013 18:56

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

SoundMonkey posted:

Real solution: don't use alkaline batteries in your flash. They perform like poo poo and can also do stuff like that. NiMH 4 lyfe.

NiCad Krew reprezenting.

Excuse me; after that burst of excitement, I have to lie down for 13 hours.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2013 21:24

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

HPL posted:

I feel similarly about the 40D versus the 50D and 60D. When those came out, there was such a small incremental improvement over the 40D that I ended up going mirrorless instead of staying on the Canon crop sensor path. Since then, the 6D is the only Canon camera that has even come close to make me think of going back to DSLRs.

The only thing that seems to be an issue with my 40D is that the dynamic range seems to be smaller than current sensors.

Scenes with strong areas of light and dark (brown landscape against a clear sky) seem to suffer unless you play around with curves in post-processing.

Though, that might be my perception is spoilt my by mirrorless & P&S both having dynamic range boosters (or whatever they are called).

# ¿ Dec 23, 2013 11:04

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Shaocaholica posted:

Aw hell no.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2014 09:29

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Mr. Despair posted:

Adding some sort of lens level encryption would probably involve updating the lenses to have some sort of encryption (since otherwise sigma could flash their lenses to look like a nifty 50), and like canon's going to make new lenses.

Not to mention that Canon doesn;t exactly shine when it comes to encryption technology:

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/canon-camera-encryption-cracked/

quote:

Canon camera encryption cracked

A Russian programmer has found a terminal weakness in a Canon system to ensure the authenticity of photos taken by law enforcement, insurance companies, or other investigators.

http://alexbernstein.com/wiki/canon-camera-hacking/

quote:

In Dec 2003, by analyzing files I�ve extracted from my Digital Rebel, I�ve discovered the algorithm and the key used by Canon to encrypt their firmware updates. I�ve set up a wiki to document my findings and to serve as the central repository for CanonHacking.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 22:27

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Cute as heck posted:

Sigma 50 officially priced at $949 according to a B&H email my grandma got and forwarded to me along with a funny comic about president Barack Obama

I see that they are following Adobe's pricing policy of screwing the UK:

US Price: $949 (� 565)
UK Price: �849 ($1,425)

# ¿ Apr 11, 2014 11:27

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 19:20

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

grack posted:

Hey man, Canon M mount is up to THREE lenses now.

Given canon's history of releasing new lenses, I think this counts as a full-on, full-power, full-speed launch.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2014 14:38

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Camera Gear v8 "Buy A Pentax ME" (Don't buy UV filters, do hail satan)

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