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.

Combat Pretzel posted:

Lytro's releasing a "professional" version of their lightfield camera, for some 1500 bucks. Too bad details are scare about the resolution of the images ("custom-designed 40-megaray light field sensor").

http://fstoppers.com/lytro-finally-introduces-a-camera-that-creative-professionals-will-want

It's all very clever, but I am struggling to find a use for it.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2014 15:03

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 11:49

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

I am seriously thinking about selling all my DSLRs and lenses and committing to m4/3.

Much as my Canon kit gives me a semi when I use it, I can't avoid the fact that it hasn't been used for maybe a year. My teeny-tiny Panasonic is just so light and convenient and frankly, the dynamic range seems better.

I should just bite the bullet, shouldn't I? If I need anything for serious work, then I could always buy a Panasonic GH? or an Olympus.

# ¿ May 8, 2014 16:39

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

DJExile posted:

I honestly have not missed my DSLR setup at all since getting an OM-D EM-5. Having a 20mm f/1.7 and 45mm f/1.8 that are so small as to be pocketable (on their own, not mounted) is incredible. The 45mm f/1.8 and 75mm f/1.8 focus every bit as fast as my high end DSLR glass did.

It slogs a little bit with C-AF/Servo AF, depending on the subject, and the batteries don't last as long (which isn't shocking, they're obviously smaller than what you'd use for a big pro body DSLR), but if those are my two biggest complaints, I figure I'm coming out well ahead.

Currently I can carry my body with grip, 6 lenses (OK two of them are body cap lenses, but still...), and any accessories I want, in a bag the size of a shoebox. I really can't argue with that at all. To be able to take everything short of a telephoto (like a 70-300mm) along on a trip without even a second thought is fantastic.

Do you still get the same 'feel' of using a DSLR? To get the camera to do what you want to do, rather than trust the (usually excellent) auto-features? How is the responsiveness when you press the shutter release?

# ¿ May 9, 2014 09:33

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

DJExile posted:

God drat that was a lot of words.

God drat that was a lot of words.

You could have just said 'DJExile says it's cool' and that would have been enough as I respect your judgement.

But seriously, that's great, thanks. I may have to start putting stuff on ebay. Seems pointless to have it just sitting on a shelf, no matter how much I used to like it.

# ¿ May 9, 2014 22:40

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

Jessops staff are morons, working for a company that doesn't understand the failing business model that they are trying to follow.

Sigma 18-50 f2.8

Comparing the previous gen of each (when I last looked), it was near as dammit the equal to the Tamron for IQ.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2014 14:33

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

Kids visiting, so decided that a DSLR would be best for catching them in action.

Brought the 40D out of storage, dusted it off and started firing away.

First issue - trying to explain to a 4 year old that you can't swipe through the photos on the LCD and you have to use a scroll wheel.

Second issue - spending a solid 5 minutes trying to work out why I couldn't reset the +4 EV exposure compensation and having to google how to do it.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2014 14:14

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

ijyt posted:

That is pretty awesome and a surprisingly reasonable price. Definitely wish-listed.

You must be American and paying $180/1TB $220/2TB

As opposed to us Brits, paying �230/1TB �430/2TB ($375 /$700)

That's even worse than Adobe pricing.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2014 23:04

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

ijyt posted:

Lol no? It's £113/500GB - £138/1TB - £180/2TB.

Looks like amazon screwed used up the exchange rates.

Mind you, for the price of this thing, I'm probably just going to buy enough SD cards to last the duration of any trip.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2014 23:53

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

ZippySLC posted:

Was there a kit zoom for Pentax's film cameras?

Yes. How old do you want to go back?

# ¿ Sep 15, 2014 17:18

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

nielsm posted:

Most photo stores here have those self-service printing stations with memory card readers etc., the main disadvantage being that they usually can't handle raw files.
I'm sure the staff at the place could also help with getting memory card contents moved to a DVD, in addition to getting prints of it.

And otherwise get a Canon Selphy for making 10x15 cm prints straight from camera.

If he's not using a computer for PP, then he's not going to be using RAW, so your idea is pretty good.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2014 17:19

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

Just bought a new body and got all excited when the Amazon guy delivered.

Only then did I realise that I had forgotten to order a memory card for it.

Joy of joy to find a 16GB Class 10 SD card, lying unused on a shelf. I still find it somewhat amazing how cheap/large these are - I still have some 4Mb cards lying around that cost a pretty penny when I bought them.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 13:42

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

I've just scored an ex-display Sony RX-100 for a paltry �95

Not sure if I should keep it or flip it?

If I ebay it, should get maybe double that? Or use it to replace my Canon S90 which is great, but shows the limitation of the sensor.

I've got a Panasonic GF5 with a good prime that is pocketable and top-quality, so is it redundant?

# ¿ Jan 2, 2015 19:33

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

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

Heading on vacation to Ireland in a few months and looking to go light with my 5D III. That means I'll likely be leaving my favorite (but bulky) landscape equipment behind like my Big Stopper, timer release, tripod, etc. I probably won't take a Speedlite either. This isn't a photography trip first and foremost, so as much as it pains me to miss the opportunity to make the most of it from a photo standpoint, I'd rather go lighter.

Any suggestions on what to take from this selection?

EF 17-40mm f/4L

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II

EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II

TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II

I'm thinking the tilt-shift stays home even though it's my favorite landscape lens. I love the versatility of the 70-200, but it's probably too long and too heavy. That leaves the 17-40 and the 24-70. Between the two the 24-70 is the safe bet, but I'm even considering snagging a prime (24, 28, 35, or maybe even the pancake 40) instead. Any suggestions from more accomplished travelers?

24-70 and a 50mm prime for taking photos in low light, as well as giving you a very lightweight option if you leave the zoom in your hotel room.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2015 23:54

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

nm posted:

This why I like film. The odds of unintended internet s go way down.
This would be at a school, so intentional internet dongs are a likelihood too.

You'd think that disposable 35mm cameras on the tables at a wedding would be dong-free, too.

You'd be surprised.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2015 16:47

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

Ineptitude posted:

Canon currently has a cashback campaign where if you buy the EOS 5D III and EF-S 60mm macro lens you get aprox $100 back. Not really sure why they are pairing a full frame camera with a crop lens...

Panasonic still owes me �100 cashback for a body I bought in loving december.

And this is after Amazon gave me �100 out of their own pocket, because Panasonic's website only credited me with �100, instead of the �200 advertised.

gently caress panasonic, bunch of cheats.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2015 23:26

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

Finally got hold of someone who confirmd that it will be paid today.

After 5pm.

Which puts it in a new tax year. What an odd coincidence.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2015 15:53

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

Dren posted:

It's not crazy to think that shots from a particular JPEG engine could be recognized. Probably not 100% though.

When the Canon 5D was The poo poo, I had a good hit rate of spotting images taken by it.

As in, if my thought was 'I bet that portrait was taken on a 5D', I was right 95% of the time

Sure, I appreciate that the odds were stacked in my favour, given that the 5D was used by the majority of people who like to/are paid to take portraits, but I almost never got it wrong. Something about the skin quality in direct light

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 09:18

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

alkanphel posted:

Someone who owned one told me it was like driving a 50 year old Toyota missing the front wheels and the only good thing was that it had the engine of a modern Ferrari. And then he sold it off shortly too. From what I've read online, if you give the sensor 100 marks, you can give the rest of the camera 0 marks.

I'd say no one uses it for people because most portrait shooters use longer focal lengths which the DP2 can't do. Most people using the Fuji X100 type of cameras tend to use it for all-purpose shooting which includes people. The DP2 is the furthest thing away from an all-purpose camera.

That's pretty much what I gathered from the reviews I read at the time.

It had some real issues with the interface, and some horrible processing times (RAWs took 15 seconds per image to write!)

Plus some hilariously high prices (the SD1 was $9,000 at launch)

Which was a shame.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2015 15:00

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

Startyde posted:

In 25 years of PCMCIA/CF card use, I've never bent or run into a piece of gear with best pins. How do you even do it? There's guide rails for the cards.

I've bent the pins on a lovely CF USB card reader, but I don't think that's a fair complaint as the same reader scraped the gold off my SD card contacts.

I am sure there is a moral there somewhere

# ¿ Nov 19, 2015 14:02

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

A lot of bodies these days have a portrait mode/scene that artificially blurs the background to simulate shallow DOF

# ¿ Dec 3, 2015 16:31

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

Aphex- posted:

Travel photography help here.

I'm going to Nepal in October, hiking the Annapurna Circuit. I want to make sure I have everything photography related I need well in advance so it's once less thing to worry about closer to departure. I'll be hiking the circuit for just over 3 weeks probably. I don't want to take too much gear as I will be carrying all of it with me on the trip in my hiking backpack. So far this is what I'll be bringing:

Canon 6D
24-105 F4 L
Circular Polarizer
MeFoto Road Trip tripod
2 x 32gb SD cards (will probably get one or two more, I'll be in the Himalayas after all)
Peak Design Capture Clip
1 spare battery (I'll be staying in teahouses every night with electricity)
Charger
Lens pen, blower and cloth for cleaning
Remote shutter release

I'll mostly be shooting landscapes. Mountains and such. Maybe some street photography too. Does anyone have any suggestions on other things to bring? I always get that feeling like I'm missing something.

Don't assume that you'll have access to a working electricity supply every night. Depending on how quickly you burn through batteries, you might want to consider another spare one.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2016 15:52

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

dorkanoid posted:

Speaking of laptops and Lightroom; currently I do all my photo library management/editing on my desktop (about 1TB of images), but is there some workflow/tooling for doing field editing in Lightroom on a laptop, then syncing those changes to the main library when you get home (possibly removing that partial library from the laptop)?

I'm looking at basically writing a script to manipulate the SQLite files the library consists of directly, but that's a lot of work...

Are the laptop images new and to be merged into the main library when you are home?

You can set the laptop LR to bake the changes into the sidecar files, then you can import them into your main library and it will keep the changes

http://photographyconcentrate.com/lightroom-tip-turn-automatically-write-changes-xmp/

# ¿ Aug 13, 2016 17:51

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

Imagine losing that or accidentally formatting it.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 12:04

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

Helen Highwater posted:

It would be hard to accidentally format it, you'd have what, a month or so, to watch the progress bar crawl across the screen.

Last week I successfully proved that you can indeed bork a hard drive with a magnet.

My smugness at being able to fully restore from backup was somewhat negated by the 16hr formatting time to the 500GB HDD

Fortunately, even if you cancel the Full Format while it is in progress, you can still do a Quick Format.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 16:23

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

Bloody Hedgehog posted:

Is that even going to work? If she stumbled at tap science, aperture and shutter speed might as well be asking her to plan a mission to mars.

That's my gut feeling, too.

I'd get her a decent P&S instead (an older model will be fine&cheaper). Maybe some free software to allow basic editing/filters as well.

EDIT: some P&S's have filters that will fake things like narrow DOF, etc

# ¿ Oct 27, 2016 09:48

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

When I travel somewhere interesting, I average about 200 photos / day.

No way could I go back to those rolls of 36 exposures. I'd be looking at 50+rolls of film for a week's holiday.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2016 01:51

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

MrBlandAverage posted:

I prefer Kirk Photo because they don't give money to anti-gay-rights causes.

loving hell, have I now got to vet my photo equipment suppliers before buying anything?

It used to be that all you had to worry about was whether the stuff worked and what their return policy was; now I have be aware that I could be supporting disgusting bigotry

I am not sure I like being an Informed Consumer.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2017 23:29

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

I want to shoot video of a desktop from about 30-50cm vertically above

Any cheap and cheerful solutions?

# ¿ Apr 26, 2017 23:03

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

DJExile posted:

To be honest your own phone will probably suffice just fine

Sorry, meant solutions for mounting a camera/phone, not the device itself.

Tripods with extendable arms seem pricey and I can't find a cheap aliexpress option.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2017 23:41

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

Thanks for the suggestions:

tater_salad posted:

A cheap Amazon tripod should get you that high. Like a 60inch amazon basics tripod is $24, that should get you your 30-60cm above a table/desk.

I did try this with my cheapy tripod and the problem is that the angle between the desktop and the camera is too great (can't get it all in focus at the same time and the composition has too much depth to it)

8th-snype posted:

You could get a light stand with a boom arm if you are gonna do something lightweight. The cheaper ones are a pain to use though so bear that in mind. Personally I'd get one of these http://a.co/frvwHzk and mount it to a beefy tripod or ladder. I have a pair of them and they are pretty sturdy.

nielsm posted:

Yeah light stand or microphone stand with boom arm.

I've previously jury-rigged a webcam to a mic boom with some duct tape to record some pen-and-paper interaction design sessions, and it worked fine.

Given that I already have a tripod, I was hoping to find something like an extension pole to come off the tripod head at right angles, but I can't see a simple option. Maybe jury rig something from piping and a few bolts?

underage at the vape shop posted:

Look up casey neistats studio tour, skip to the part where he talks about his overhead rig. Its literally 5 planks held by clamps with a tripod head bolted on. It sounds cheap and bad but it works super good. Might be a bit much for your needs though.

Funnily enough, that was my inspiration. While wood would be easy to make, it does make a bulky affair that can't be easily stored
Maybe I could make a box out of MDF with hinged joints and mount some LEDs inside it....

# ¿ Apr 27, 2017 17:41

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

Helen Highwater posted:

My advice would be that you probably won't see any benefit from the full-frame option except that it means you get to spend more money on lenses. For the kind of photography you describe, there's going to be practically no difference between the image quality of a decent APS-C camera and a full-frame body.

As for whether to stick with Canon or jump to Sony/Nikon, the 80D has a very similar control layout to your 40D so there'll be a very minor period of reorientation when you upgrade. I usually shoot with a 70D and, whenever I am given a Nikon to use, I have to hunt all over for even basic stuff like shutter speed and aperture controls. It's a minor point and, obviously it's not going to always be a problem if you move but it might be a factor. As far as review scores go, I doubt very much whether there's a significant difference in actual use between any of those platforms for comparable models. Especially if you are editing your photos and aren't just posting SOOC jpegs to Facebook. Any minor differences are going to get lost in Lightroom sliders.

Your absolute best option for that kind of photography would be a medium format system but that will probably be out of budget if you're looking at a digital option and I'd guess you don't want to gently caress around with film.

What she says.

# ¿ May 30, 2017 19:59

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

Looten Plunder posted:

Oh, and follow up question. When it came to repairing my 15-85. The shop sent it away for inspection and I accepted their quote to get the following work done

That work was completed but the lens was still not working and this was the reason

The re-quote was too expensive so I asked for lens back. Does that mean they are going to dismantle the lens all over again and undo the work they have already done or am I going to score a free USM motor?

"Dear Sir, please fix my lens as I have already paid you to do. I am not paying more because you failed to diagnose the issue correctly"

# ¿ Jul 25, 2017 14:38

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

Anybody know anything about gimbals/stabilisers?

For use with a GoPro type camera

Thinking about a Feiyu, but don't know enough about them, or GoPros (I have a SJCam SJ4000, which is a great knock-off, but the ports are in the wrong place for a G4s)

# ¿ Aug 10, 2017 17:35

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

DJExile posted:

yep

I don't understand...

...but I instinctively like it.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2017 22:46

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

As I think I mentioned elsewhere: it seems flash memory costs the same per GB, regardless of format

I am mulling over whether I should be wearing a string of small USB thumbdrives on a necklace around my neck, or gluing microSD cards to my fingernails.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2017 20:51

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

nielsm posted:

Years ago I saw a thing that was an SD card in one end and a USB plug in the other. Can you still get those?

Only thing I can see similar to that are these:

I'll just carry a pair of SD card adaptors and copy from one card to another as backup.

Ineptitude posted:

Im using a portable drive with a keypad on it, for encryption (and peace of mind). Might not be the best price/storage option but knowing no one can access my stuff if it gets stolen or lost is nice.

I got mine through work luckily, they are fairly expensive.

Those things always slightly worry me in that there is another layer of hardware to fail that can gently caress things up. At least with a standard portable HDD and Trucrypt, if the casing fails, I can still remount the physical disk and extract from it. (though, let's be honest and admit that the drive is more likely to fail that casing electronics).

# ¿ Nov 15, 2017 10:28

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

xzzy posted:

Compare the 7d2 to the 80d. The differences are subtle but each body has strengths and weaknesses compared to the other, giving opportunity to pick what's more important.

If you did pick the 80d, it'll free up cash for lenses which are going to be more important.

I'll bet that any limitations she things she has with the body are actually something that better lenses and.or a tripod will solve.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2017 06:25

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

His Divine Shadow posted:

Has anyone tried the Kodak cameras? There's one for 150 bucks that look interesting, I am after a compact camera to steup from a cell phone, max budget is 150. Maybe there are other suggestions? To be honest the zoom range on this is not something I care that much about, I am more concerned with a wider field of view than zooming in.

Standard answer here has always to buy whatever Canon fitted your budget. Has that changed?

# ¿ Mar 2, 2018 10:05

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

Tourist 1: 'Look, the lights are coming out'
Tourist 2: 'Amazing. Such an emotional vision'
Theophan: <rummages inside front of pants>
Tourists 1&2: <shuffles away>

# ¿ Mar 6, 2018 16:42

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 11:49

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

ExecuDork posted:

I dunno if any of them have any information or current discussion that interests you. What are you thinking about? I have a GoPro, a generic dashcam, and a pile of raw video from my phone and my DSLR on my computer that I want to do something with, but my current excuse is lack of motivation.

I'd be interested in a thread that would help me learn how to do stuff with footage like that.

I;ve got adobe premiere, but don't really know how to use it apart from mashing icons randomly

EDIT: Motivation. Maybe this is completely different from anything anybody else here cares about, but a couple of years ago I made a 2-second-a-day video for a November; 30 days makes a nice round minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLN77cEN24
It was just random daily life stuff, but it forced me to practice basic stuff like cutting the 2 seconds I wanted out of each day's clips. April is coming, and also has 30 days.
[/quote]

fun concept.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2018 20:44

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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