Photography Equipment & Software Thread

[gerald.d]

you need a really really even light accross the whole scene or parts will be in utter darkness and other parts perfectly bright.

Interesting.

Kind of implies reciprocity failure for the digital sensor, no?

[PopeSmokesDope]

No idea! Think of it like shooting at night, a really big bright light (compared to the rest of the scene) will throw it off.. I'll post some pics up tonight of fooked up shots to show you what I mean..

Although I am using it primarily with a 10-20, so the fov is obviously greater,

[MrPogo]

Got one of these cheapo ring flash adaptors:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390284115838&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Not properly tested it yet, but it basically does the job. And think it seems ridiculously cheap at £20.99 including postage? Well, at today's exchange rate they paid about £13 postage on it, Ebay would have taken nearly £4 in fees and Paypal another 85p. That leaves less than £4 to cover their purchase price and provide a profit margin

[Sapa]

MrPogo, let us know how it works out. I've been considering getting one for my Canon for Macro use.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Oooh, good chances that my EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM (yeah, I like typing that out) will come in today. Do you mind if I use this thread to either hype myself up for its arrival or air my disappointment if it doesn't show up? I don't know where else to put it.

[Dingleberry]

Hype away!

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Are you at home today waiting for it ? Or will your postie be "leaving it with a neighbour" ?

I'm at work, so is my wife but she will be home relatively early. And our neighbours are OK too, so it doesn't really matter.

Too bad the tracking info isn't realtime and pretty useless (gets updated once a day or so), so I don't have a clue whether or not they're going to attempt delivery today.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Yeah, that's pretty bad. Although I must say that I'm usually pretty lucky when it comes to deliveries, the hit:miss ratio is really quite excellent especially if you consider the volume of packages that come to my door.

The only thing that's really rubbish now is that due to the worthless tracking system of the German parcel supplier, I just can't make any reasonable guesstimate when the thing will arrive.

[PopeSmokesDope]

There's nothing worse if you are at home than waiting in for a package. I always end up running upstairs for a mid-morning poo and them come down stairs to find a little red parcelforce slip advising me that I wasn't in.

Bucket + bin bag = win.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Hmm, my wife is now at home and no parcel ... don't think it's going to turn up today

Crushing disappointment it is.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

AND it seems unlikely it's going to come in today as according to the tracking the package hasn't moved, and reports on various German sites suggest the transporter is a bit rubbish and deliveries with them can easily take a week

This better be in tomorrow before I go away for the long weekend, otherwise there's hell to pay*

*Excellent opportunities to flex my 50mm and 70-300mm

[Dingleberry]

I have this. It's ... acceptable.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/77274/show.html

[Mercury]

It'll be with you once he's finished shagging exotic asian chicks and beating dodgy european gangsters to death with his shirt.

Does anyone have any recommendations for carrying a 7D with 24-105 attached ? I could do with something that isn't a full camera bag (I have those) but would cover the camera and the lens when I'm out with the dogs. My wife has said I should take her compact but ... well its impossible to explain to a non-camera geek why I like my SLR. A bit like an old fashioned camera case I'm guessing ? No where seems to do them.

The smaller Crumpler ones work well for this. I'll look up the name later (they all have bizarre names).

[PopeSmokesDope]

Any tripod recomendations??

My Slik AMT 340DX has neared the end of its life (one of the legs has fallen off and is held in place with gaffer tape and I lost one of the feet in a swamp at the weekend)

Around the £100 mark.

[Nicky]

blunket you could go mental, fit an all weather cover to your camera - like if you were out in the field, then attach it to a sling strap like a sun sniper / black rapid strap.

When out and about on location now, i have my cameras permanantly attached to my Black Rapid harness. it's amazing. im looking at getting an all weather /dust cover for this setup

[PopeSmokesDope]

I'd always recommend this :

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-manfrotto-190xprob-tripod/p1017664

Great build quality and an excellent compromise on weight.

I was just looking at that! Can you hang a bag from the centre collum for added weight?

[Sapa]

I've got the Manfrotto 190XPROB linked to earlier. It's a good solid tripod, legs kick right out too so its pretty useful for Macro stuff (this might be the case on all tripods for all I know, I've only ever had this one).

Yeah, it has a hook on it, as far as I can remember anyway.

[Mercury]

It was the Crumpler Cupcake I was thinking of: My link

You can find them a lot cheaper on Amazon, Warehouse Express etc.

I have been looking at Tripods too and that Manfrotto one was on my list. Please can someone explain the different heads though as I don't really understand the difference.

[Mercury]

Many thanks - sounds like the ball-head is probably the one for me.

[minkee]

Just an idle fancy query here: most my photography is of my friends when we meet up etc. Sometimes that's in the daylight, etc, but often it's indoors, at night, etc. This usually means I have to stick the iso way way up, and basically don't get much choice with my aperture and shutter speeds and so on, due to the lack of light.

Can I get a lens that would be better for those situations? Is that what people are on about when they talk about 'fast glass' or something? Is it crazy expensive? I'd love to be able to do some really nice portraits without having to rely on good natural light.

I have a d40 and no budget to speak of, but would like to know just incase I can splash out sometime

edit: also, I forgot to mention, I tend to phase out when I start hearing lots of f-this stops and x-mms that. I try and work it out but my brain glazes over. Break out the laymans terms!

[Dingleberry]

What have you got already?

F stops = aperture : lower number = faster

[Mercury]

Nikon do a F1.8 50mm cheap like the Canon one don't they ? If so that would be an ideal cheap low light choice

The D40 doesn't have the AF motor so you'd need to get the AF-S version.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I find it pretty hard to take sharp pics in the dark with the 50mm f/1.8 though, they're moved very easily due to the longish focal length and lack of IS.

[minkee]

So am I right in thinking, then, that some lenses just have a bigger hole in the front? = aperture, = f stop?

And would that make this the lens you're talking about?

edit: I think I was with you all up until Nap's post, then the glazing started

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Oh sorry. What I meant is that f/1.8 is indeed a large hole which lets a lot of light through so you can make decent shots in dim lighting.

However, 50mm is a rather long focal length, ie it magnifies the scene quite a lot so any movement your hands make are exaggerated resulting in easier moved pictures. A lot of lenses have 'image stabilisation' (IS) to prevent this, but this Canon 50mm does not.

Also, a drawback of the 50mm is that your viewport is pretty small, so it's less suitable for taking pictures in crowded or small locations as you need a lot of room to get your subject in view. If you're taking pictures of your mates in a bar, a wideangle (something around or below 24mm on a crop body) would probably be more convenient.

[minkee]

Aha, that all makes a lot of sense, thank you :3

[Dingleberry]

This is a good choice: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-sigma-30mm-f1-4-ex-dc-hsm-lens-nikon-fit/p1007714

[Alexlotl]

The Nikon 35mm AF-S is probably what you're after. Small, sharp, cheap and autofocuses on a screwless body.

Are you using a kit lens at the moment? You can always test the usability of a given focal length by just setting the zoom ring to 35mm and then leaving it there, and walking around seeing how useful that is.

I have the 50mm F/1.8D, which is wonderful and solid, but manual focus, and the focal length is a bit long for anything other than head/shoulders portrait in a social setting.

BTW, as much as I don't want to encourage you to spend money, the newer Nikon cameras are sooooooooooooo much better at high ISO stuff than the D40 (I'm still on a D40 too). Fast glass is a better solution than a new body, but fast glass *and* a new body would give you the most creative possibilities.

[iwan_canobi]

I think the 35mm would be the best bet for you, good focal length and lets plenty of light in! Obviously if your taking pictures in the dark then no matter how wide the aperture is or how much image stabilisation you have you're still going to struggle.

I find it pretty hard to take sharp pics in the dark with the 50mm f/1.8 though, they're moved very easily due to the longish focal length and lack of IS.

If you're shooting people then IS doesnt really help much anyway, as your subject tends to move as well as your hands!

[minkee]

Wonderful help, everyone.

And you can tempt all you like, Cloney, my bank balance makes me immune