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Photography Equipment & Software Thread

rundll

By rundll
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TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

Posted
Posted

Anyway, I've had the chance to flex both the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM and the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM quite extensively over the past few days (Sun! Picturesque scenery!) and I must say I couldn't be happier with the combination.

The 17-55mm is a marvel*, the pictures come out stunningly sharp with great colours and contrast. Both close-ups with large apertures as 'hyperfocal'-style pics look great. In difficult lighting conditions (like indoors, at night, with just a few dimmed lightsources) it holds up remarkably well - the IS makes a world of difference even if it can't freeze motion. Compared to the EF 50mm f/1.8 it's much, much, MUCH easier to make good pictures, I could easily shoot macro-ish shots at 55mm without a tripod which I couldn't get with my EF 50mm f/1.8. For those with crop Canons, I can't recommend this lens enough. It's truly all kinds of wonderful and probably the best possible 'general purpose' crop lens until Canon decides to come up with an L variety in the same range.

The 70-300mm is excellent to carry around (compared to, for example, the backbreaking EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM) and these pictures are also wonderful although harder to obtain due to the smaller aperture and longer focal length - you really want a shitload of a light for this one and it's definitely more of 'special interest' thing. Still, zooming in on details on buildings is great and you can do some really wicked stuff with the distorted perspective.

I'm getting more into this game now, I've turned off all automatic stuff (I mainly used to work in AV mode, but went full manual this time) including autofocus and my successratio has shot up dramatically. While it's handy to have all these little helpers on board when you don't have the time, nothing beats full control.

I'll post up one or two pics later.

* Although I should maybe add that I don't have that much to compare it with.

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Alexlotl

Alexlotl

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Just listed my Sigma DP2 on TradeMe (NZ's Ebay). I love the results I can get with it, but I'm just too damn lazy for that camera. You just don't get anything for free - you need to shoot RAW to get the best results, but the RAW software's piss annoying, and the files require a lot of work before they're ready to roll, and white balance/colour matching tends to be a bit best-guess.

In conclusion: Sigma make great lenses. The Foveon technology is wonderful, but they don't seem to know what to do with it - I rather wish someone like Sony or Olympus had bought it five years ago, as I'm sure they'd have it singing by now.

Lining up an E-PL2 as a small-camera replacement, but before I let myself buy that I'm going to post a picture a day for an entire month to get through my backlogs.

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Swallow

Swallow

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I'm thinking of upgrading to a Sony A500 from my current A230. There seems to be a few deals about on it at the moment ad hopefully I'll be able to do it pretty cheaply. I've got to decide which of my bog standard Sony lenses to keep , either the 55-200 f4-5.6 or the 75-300 f4-5.6, or even whether to sell them both and get something nicer.

edit: does anyone have experience selling camera gear through Amazon marketplace? Thinking of sticking some stuff on there as it seems easier than ebay.

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Dapple

Dapple

Posted
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I'm thinking of upgrading to a Sony A500 from my current A230. There seems to be a few deals about on it at the moment ad hopefully I'll be able to do it pretty cheaply. I've got to decide which of my bog standard Sony lenses to keep , either the 55-200 f4-5.6 or the 75-300 f4-5.6, or even whether to sell them both and get something nicer.

edit: does anyone have experience selling camera gear through Amazon marketplace? Thinking of sticking some stuff on there as it seems easier than ebay.

Have you considered the Minolta 70-210mm f4 beercan? I had one and it was great, the only reason I sold it was that I just didn't get any use out of it. They were going for around £120 when I sold mine - obviously it's a bit of a gamble as they're old lenses.

Also, have you looked at the A580? There doesn't seem to be too much difference in price. I'm still holding out for the A77 (or whatever they call the A700 replacement). Looks like it'll be out later this year though the jury's still out on an EVF instead of an OVF and the talk is of something crazy like a 24MP APS-C sensor...

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Swallow

Swallow

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I've briefly looked at/lusted over the A580 but I was particularly looking at this offer on the A500 twin lens kit:

http://www.digitaldepot.co.uk/sony-alpha-a500-18-55mm-55-200mm-twin-lens-kit.html

It would mean the body upgrade from 230-500 would end up costing £100 at most which seems a no-brainer. With money being unfortunately tight there's no way I could afford the extra £2/300 the upgrade to the 580 would cost.

I've had a couple of half-hearted looks on ebay and in second-hand camera shops for one of those Minolta lenses as I've seen a few recommendations for it in this thread before. I'll start looking a bit more seriously for one.

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Alan Stock

Alan Stock

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Hi folks, I want to buy the Panasonic GF1 pancake lens, but don't know where to begin with cheap lens websites. Any recommendations, and are there any comparison sites for camera shop prices?

Might be worth updating the first post with shopping info!

Thanks

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Alexlotl

Alexlotl

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If anyone wants to suggest more links etc for the 1st post I'll add them.

Unless it's Ken Rockwell's site.

It'd be worth putting Thom Hogan's site there: Bythom.com

Probably the best resource for Nikon stuff, and also useful general information on tripods, technique, etc. Taking an increasing interest in m43 and compact stuff, too.

Agree on Rockwell. Even when the man's got a point, he tends to muddy it with sweeping opinions stated as fact, and obscure claims to have invented the world's first digital banana while working for Fyffes in the late 70s.

Oh yeah, and a link to Camera Price Buster might be good!

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Dapple

Dapple

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Does anyone have any suggestions as to how much I should offer my Sony A230 for sale for? I'm thinking of putting it up on here and if there's no interest I'll go over to AVforums. Any advice gratefully received.

Looks like they're going on ebay for around £180, sometimes up to £220.

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Swallow

Swallow

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Well I've gone ahead and ordered the A500. May end up keeping the A230 just as a spare body but I think it'll be better to trade it in for a new lens. I'd love a fixed-aperture zoom lens to replace the kit lens but I've not found a suitable one yet. May go with a wider prime to complement(?) my 50mm f/1.8 while I save up.

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Dapple

Dapple

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I've got the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 and the Sony 35mm f1.8 and they're both great, especially considering the prices (I also have the 50mm f1.4). For under £160 you can't go wrong with the 35mm - mine's been on my camera 90% of the time since I got it.

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gerald.d

gerald.d

Posted
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Just ordered the Manfrotto 190XPROB and 327RC2 Head :)

Those are the legs I've got.

I was really, really happy with them until I picked up someone's carbon fibre Really Right Stuff Versa 2 last week :(

I've also been reading up on the Novoflex Quadropods - anyone familiar with them?

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