|
I keep my tripod in my car. Seems like the only time I use it is when I'm driving home from somewhere and see a decent sunset I want to capture. Other than that I just bump the ISO and deal with a bit more noise than lug the stupid thing around.
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 02:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 20:01 |
|
|
Yeah I shoot at fairly often with manual focus lenses and there's no way I could go without a tripod especially when stopped down or at night. It's definitely one of those things though that isn't necessary for most people though. If you're just starting out and don't even know what subject matter you want to focus on ( ) I don't think I'd bother getting one until you start noticing regular situations where you actually need one.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 02:50
|
|
|
The Tamron 70-300 showed up today (what's up $3.99 next-day shipping from Amazon) and even though I haven't had much of a chance to use it I'm already thrilled with it; the reach is incredible, the build quality is way better than my kit lens/50mm 1.8, and the test photos I took were super sharp. Autofocus is quick and quiet and from what I can tell IS works really well. I've got a 3 day weekend, so..hello garden trips! Now that I've got a full range of focal lengths covered, I've got the itch for a flash; the 600ex-rt is absolutely overkill for me at the moment; can anyone talk about the 430ex-ii? While I love me some nature photography, I was going through a lot of indoor shots from the holidays and I noticed a good portion were either underexposed or looked like crap with the stock flash on. GobiasIndustries fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Feb 15, 2013 |
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 03:15
|
|
|
GobiasIndustries posted:The Tamron 70-300 showed up today (what's up $3.99 next-day shipping from Amazon) and even though I haven't had much of a chance to use it I'm already thrilled with it; the reach is incredible, the build quality is way better than my kit lens/50mm 1.8, and the test photos I took were super sharp. Autofocus is quick and quiet and from what I can tell IS works really well. I've got a 3 day weekend, so..hello garden trips! It's a bit ghetto but if your ceiling are light-coloured you can bounce your popup flash off the ceiling with a makeup mirror and things will magically look good.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 04:15
|
|
|
I've had descent results using a business card to bounce a flash upward, apart from the fact that it blinds me every time even if I'm looking through the viewfinder.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 04:17
|
|
|
The 430exii is nice but it cannot communicate e-ttl info to other flashes, it can only be a slave. Just something to keep in mind if you every think you want to have multiple flashes. The buttons on it are a little small for my liking; I much prefer the bigger buttons on the Yongnuo 560 I have. As far as being your only flash, it's worth it over any pop up flash. Bouncing it off the ceiling or wall will make your shots look a hundred times better than a direct shot from a pop up.
dont hate the playa fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Feb 15, 2013 |
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 05:53
|
|
|
GobiasIndustries posted:Now that I've got a full range of focal lengths covered #blackmarketkidney
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 08:58
|
|
|
rcman50166 posted:What are you guys doing that you never use tripods? I use mine when I go past 200mm, when I do macro, Eegah posted:I've had descent results using a business card to bounce a flash upward, apart from the fact that it blinds me every time even if I'm looking through the viewfinder.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 17:52
|
|
|
Has anyone ever been to one of Bryan Peterson's seminars? I went once, and he mentions - over, and over, and over - this flash that he recommends for beginners because it has around 90% of the functionality of the good ones, but at something like $50. Fully manual. It could've been him just recommending it because he's paid to, but I got the feeling he was being honest. I can't remember what it is, but if someone's seen him and knows it, it might be a nice addition to the OP. I remember it being some no-name brand I'd never heard of. Edit: after some googling, I think it was the LumoPro LP160, but it looks like they've discontinued it; there's one for sale on ebay, starting at $80. So nevermind, I guess.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 18:03
|
|
|
jackpot posted:Has anyone ever been to one of Bryan Peterson's seminars? I went once, and he mentions - over, and over, and over - this flash that he recommends for beginners because it has around 90% of the functionality of the good ones, but at something like $50. Fully manual. It could've been him just recommending it because he's paid to, but I got the feeling he was being honest. I can't remember what it is, but if someone's seen him and knows it, it might be a nice addition to the OP. I remember it being some no-name brand I'd never heard of. Get a yongnuo, it sounds like what you want. I have the 560ii and its a really nice all manual flash for the money.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 19:31
|
|
|
Mr. Despair posted:Get a yongnuo, it sounds like what you want. I have the 560ii and its a really nice all manual flash for the money.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2013 20:07
|
|
|
I want to take some photographs at night. What are some good places to do that, generally?
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 03:04
|
|
|
beergod posted:I want to take some photographs at night. What are some good places to do that, generally? The sky. The woods.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 03:42
|
|
|
A major freeway interchange.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 03:50
|
|
|
With spring coming along nicely and a set of extension tubes on the way my desire to get a flash for macro stuff has reignited. Will I regret getting a Yongnuo YN-468 II and building a DIY flash diffuser for my D5100? I have zero experience with flashes and a limited amount of money in the bank. My plant documentation project would greatly benefit from some better pictures.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 05:34
|
|
|
Atticus_1354 posted:With spring coming along nicely and a set of extension tubes on the way my desire to get a flash for macro stuff has reignited. Will I regret getting a Yongnuo YN-468 II and building a DIY flash diffuser for my D5100? I have zero experience with flashes and a limited amount of money in the bank. My plant documentation project would greatly benefit from some better pictures. I got a YN-560ii, it's the single best investment I've made for macro by a wide margin.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 06:33
|
|
|
Mr. Despair posted:I got a YN-560ii, it's the single best investment I've made for macro by a wide margin. Have you done any sort of diffuser setup on it? I may try building something like this over spring break. Maybe without the bracket and everything, but at least with the tupperware diffuser.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 20:18
|
|
|
I normally just pop out the little reflector card it has built in. Since I leave it on the hot shoe the flash isn't pointing right at the subject, and the bounce is generally good enough to light it without putting down any really harsh shadows. If I was using direct flash (and someday I should get a flash bracket so I can do that) I would use a diffuser though.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 20:46
|
|
|
Mr. Despair posted:I normally just pop out the little reflector card it has built in. Since I leave it on the hot shoe the flash isn't pointing right at the subject, and the bounce is generally good enough to light it without putting down any really harsh shadows. Cool. I will do some experimenting and see what happens.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 21:02
|
|
|
Atticus_1354 posted:Cool. I will do some experimenting and see what happens. This is the correct and/or only way to learn how to use your flash.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 21:05
|
|
|
Mr. Despair posted:I normally just pop out the little reflector card it has built in. Since I leave it on the hot shoe the flash isn't pointing right at the subject, and the bounce is generally good enough to light it without putting down any really harsh shadows. The reflector card is for when you want highlights in someone/some creatures eyes but don’t want to meaningfully illuminate them. Reflection won’t help by itself. You need to make the apparent size of the light source larger, e.g. by bouncing the light off a white wall or umbrella or firing it through an umbrella, soft box, or large Tupperware container. Getting the soft box or equivalent as close to the subject as you can is also important, and this makes its angular size, as perceived by the subject, larger, softening the light.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2013 21:17
|
|
|
My battery died at perfect sunset sunlight. Lesson learned, world. Lesson learned. I was shooting a dog beach with my kit 50-200 Nikon lens and I noticed that a lot of the photographs are out of focus. I was shooting aperture priority at f5 and trying to take a lot of action shots. Is this more of a function of the aperture priority mode (i.e., I should have been shooting in manual at a faster shutter speed) or the lens being sort of slow and unable to focus quickly? Should I be shooting in "area focus mode" or "single subject focus mode"? beergod fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Feb 17, 2013 |
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2013 02:45
|
|
|
beergod posted:I was shooting a dog beach with my kit 50-200 Nikon lens and I noticed that a lot of the photographs are out of focus. I was shooting aperture priority at f5 and trying to take a lot of action shots. Is this more of a function of the aperture priority mode (i.e., I should have been shooting in manual at a faster shutter speed) or the lens being sort of slow and unable to focus quickly? Should I be shooting in "area focus mode" or "single subject focus mode"?
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2013 05:03
|
|
|
What is baseline shutter speed for photographing moderate-speed activity, like dogs rough housing?
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2013 05:05
|
|
|
beergod posted:What is baseline shutter speed for photographing moderate-speed activity, like dogs rough housing?
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2013 05:16
|
|
|
beergod posted:What is baseline shutter speed for photographing moderate-speed activity, like dogs rough housing? When I'm at the dog park I generally set Auto ISO to 1/1000, assuming there's enough light to keep ISO from getting too high.  When it starts getting dusky I'll ratchet down to 1/500 and often enough get decent results, but it can be pretty hit or miss.  (Just dandy)  (Good at this size, but click through and it's a bit blurry)  (eeeeeehhhhhh....) Tayter Swift fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Feb 17, 2013 |
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2013 05:44
|
|
|
Do you shoot in shutter priority mode?
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2013 09:22
|
|
|
beergod posted:Do you shoot in shutter priority mode? EXIF data shows that those are all in Aperture Priority mode.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2013 13:36
|
|
|
I almost never shoot shutter priority -- I just shoot wide open unless I have a good reason not to or I'm using the 35/1.8. The grass at my dog park is pretty drat ugly so the less attention I can draw to it the better  I just use Auto ISO to keep 1/1000s minimum, which is why you'll see all kind of weird ISO figures in the EXIF.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2013 17:08
|
|
|
Eegah posted:I almost never shoot shutter priority -- I just shoot wide open unless I have a good reason not to or I'm using the 35/1.8. The grass at my dog park is pretty drat ugly so the less attention I can draw to it the better What do you shoot when you use the 35 f1.8? I've read there's a sweet spot for all lenses that is usually a few stops down from wide open.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2013 23:41
|
|
|
beergod posted:What do you shoot when you use the 35 f1.8? I've read there's a sweet spot for all lenses that is usually a few stops down from wide open. Just crank it wide open and shoot dog portraits all day.  Maggie by atticus_1354, on Flickr I also like it for shooting plants which is most of what my camera gets pointed at.  Agave top by atticus_1354, on Flickr  cow tongue prickly pear by atticus_1354, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2013 00:41
|
|
|
Yeah I don't have a critical enough eye built up that I'm going to fret over absolute sharpness when I pixel peep, I just really don't like resorting to a flash and sometimes you just gotta shoot shoot shoot 
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2013 03:25
|
|
|
I have a strange issue with Photoshop and perhaps this is the place to post this since I'm getting it with my first DSLR, a Nikon D3200. If not, I'll post elsewhere. I took photos at a fire spinning jam and wanted to edit this one photo with Photoshop. Here's what a specific part of the photo looks like in Camera Raw with the .NEF version. It also looks like this through Irfanview with the .JPG version of the photo.  The unfortunate part is that when I open up the file inside Photoshop (whether it's the .JPG or from Camera Raw's .NEF) and it looks like this:  So, what the hell is going on here?
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2013 03:36
|
|
|
DaveKap posted:I have a strange issue with Photoshop and perhaps this is the place to post this since I'm getting it with my first DSLR, a Nikon D3200. If not, I'll post elsewhere. Look a bit further up in this thread for the dude who had trouble photographing an LED light - it's probably the same issue. I seem to recall he solved it by changing the camera profile that ACR was using or something like that. Unless that was in the general questions thread or the Nikon thread in which case holy god I'm useless.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2013 03:40
|
|
|
SoundMonkey posted:Look a bit further up in this thread for the dude who had trouble photographing an LED light - it's probably the same issue. I seem to recall he solved it by changing the camera profile that ACR was using or something like that. Eegah posted:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3184774&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=149#post412504487 DaveKap fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Feb 19, 2013 |
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2013 04:23
|
|
|
DaveKap posted:Went to both threads you're talking about and the latest pages have zero mention of "LED." On top of that, I don't know how to change my ACR camera profile. So, consider me still stuck. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3184774&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=149#post412504487
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2013 04:34
|
|
|
So, I am wondering what the 18-28mm range of lenses is like. I started out shooting on a 28mm 2.8 prime, and I loved the speed. I am borrowing a Pentax K200D. Then I just got a really cheap 35-80mm lens used off ebay. I like the range, but I am disappointed in the slowness of only being 4-5.6 on the aperture settings. I also am borrowing a 70-200mm lens. So, I am wondering if I am missing out on the low end of the range. I know it depends on what you are shooting. My 35-80mm lens seems like a great range, but I am disappointed in how slow it is. I don't really want to invest in a slow kit lens, just to be disappointed in it and just to try out the low end of the range. I was wondering what people's opinion of that range was, and if it's worth trying out.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2013 21:31
|
|
|
Ectohawk posted:So, I am wondering what the 18-28mm range of lenses is like. I started out shooting on a 28mm 2.8 prime, and I loved the speed. I am borrowing a Pentax K200D. Then I just got a really cheap 35-80mm lens used off ebay. I like the range, but I am disappointed in the slowness of only being 4-5.6 on the aperture settings. I also am borrowing a 70-200mm lens. The answer to this, like most questions, is the Tamron 17-50 2.8.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2013 01:11
|
|
|
SoundMonkey posted:The answer to this, like most questions, is the Tamron 17-50 2.8. Is the VR worth an extra $150? Is it a significant upgrade over a Nikon kit? I'm trying to decide if I want the Tamron or a Nikon 10-24.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2013 03:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 20:01 |
|
|
beergod posted:Is the VR worth an extra $150? Is it a significant upgrade over a Nikon kit? I'm trying to decide if I want the Tamron or a Nikon 10-24. I don't know, and yes, in that order. Also if you find the advice in this thread good, consider changing your vote 
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2013 03:51
|
|