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Photography Equipment & Software Thread

rundll

By rundll
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Rev

Rev

Posted
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Rev, why would you buy a close up lens like that, as opposed to say an extension tube? I have no practical experience of either.

It's a bit swings and roundabouts, but the Raynox is capable of amazing pictures*, it's totally portable, it's not linked to a specific camera (including a fair few compacts), you can use it on wide-ish angle lenses. And it can be had for £30 if you're lucky. The downside is lots of expensive lenses are too big for it and it is difficult to focus - even with live view. As far as photographic toys go though, it's pretty damn good.

* http://www.flickr.com/groups/raynoxdcr250/pool/with/4256665430/

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Mercury

Mercury

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Possed Liamness posts to counteract the negs, which were totally unjustified I don't think there is anything wrong with linking to gear for sale in an equipment thread.

I don't think there is anything wrong with linking to a trade from here. I've bought a couple of items that I probably wouldn't have spotted if they hadn't been mentioned in this thread.

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spatular

spatular

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I'm getting a bit fed up with hulking around the big bodies and lenses for time-lapse stuff.

Is there a good compact that has a built in intervalometer? Resolution not that important, RAW and if it can bracket exposure for HDR would be a bonus.

loads of canons can be hacked to provide this functionality:

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

sorry if this has already been said as it's a late reply :)

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Alan Stock

Alan Stock

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I am about to get a new lens, this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-Lumix-20mm-Pancake-Lens/dp/B002PIIQGU

(not paying that price thank god!)

Anyway, a few of my friends has it and it is amazing for portraits. I notice that the focal length is 1.7 - does this mean it's a macro lens? Will I be able to use it to take pics of insects and shizzle? Or does a macro lens have a smaller mm angle (this is 20mm)?

Cheers

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Rev

Rev

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I am about to get a new lens, this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-Lumix-20mm-Pancake-Lens/dp/B002PIIQGU

(not paying that price thank god!)

Anyway, a few of my friends has it and it is amazing for portraits. I notice that the focal length is 1.7 - does this mean it's a macro lens? Will I be able to use it to take pics of insects and shizzle? Or does a macro lens have a smaller mm angle (this is 20mm)?

Cheers

The f1.7 is how much light it lets in (and what makes it take nice portraits), basically. You should buy and read this, there isn't a better explanation of such things in the known universe. It will improve your life (a little bit):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Photographs-Camera/dp/0817439390/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303251827&sr=1-1-catcorr

That said, the lens will focus within 20cm which is pretty good - but if you've got the 14-45mm then you can use the adaptor I linked up the page to get some ace insect pictures.

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Alan Stock

Alan Stock

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The f1.7 is how much light it lets in (and what makes it take nice portraits), basically. You should buy and read this, there isn't a better explanation of such things in the known universe. It will improve your life (a little bit):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Photographs-Camera/dp/0817439390/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303251827&sr=1-1-catcorr

That said, the lens will focus within 20cm which is pretty good - but if you've got the 14-45mm then you can use the adaptor I linked up the page to get some ace insect pictures.

Understood, thanks for the info. I do have the 14-45mm, is the adaptor thing just a strap-on macro lens then?

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Rev

Rev

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Understood, thanks for the info. I do have the 14-45mm, is the adaptor thing just a strap-on macro lens then?

Yeah, it's nothing more complicated than a magnifying glass that clips on the front of your lens:

http://www.mu-43.com/f38/raynox-dcr-250-macro-lens-739/

The 14-45mm is big enough for it to clip onto, the 20mm is a bit too small - that's the only reason why it isn't suitable, no technical reason. Once it's clipped on you can hold it a lot closer, as well as it magnifying. Is good.

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Mercury

Mercury

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Oh dear - more toys.

:)

Can anyone recommend a decent wireless remote trigger for a 7D other than the extortonate official one ? I want to be able to trigger my camera to AF and then take from about 15 metres - inside the house with it set at the bottom of the garden.

Not sure how much the official Canon one is but I had this Hahnel one for my Panasonic. The Canon version is £60: wex link

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sonicwave

sonicwave

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:quote:

Chart 1

...

...Well worth reading the entire article even if you don't ever want to do it this way, simply because it's great background reading to understand pretty much everything you'll ever need to know about how exposure works.

Yep - very nice stuff actually - and both quick to read and easy to understand. And now those previously arbitrarily spaced f-numbers make sense too :P

I haven't really done much photography with film (except the standard point-and-shoot stuff when I was a kid/teenager), so, apparently being originally written with film-cameras in mind, the article also makes you appreciate how much work actually went into being a photographer only 10-15 years ago. Being able to change ISO sensitivity on the fly without throwing out half a film, ability to check images for the correct exposure / sharpness / whatever immediately, being able to take 100s of photos without worrying about the cost - all stuff that I'm completely taking for granted now... And even now I'm often finding photography hard enough, so I'm kinda amazed that people were able to take even half-decent photos without the digital help. Film-photographers, kudos to you all! :)

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gerald.d

gerald.d

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I keep looking wistfully Fujifilm X100-wards... anyone else?

I've picked one up. Haven't had a chance to use it properly yet though - have only had a "play", but from what I've played with so far, I like it. I bought it mainly so that I've got a camera I can travel with - it simply isn't feasible to lug around the big DSLR's and lenses all the time. I have no doubt that the vast majority of my pictures will continue to be taken with the DSLR's (although I should add that the majority of my time devoted to photography will now by spent with my large format camera).

My main doubts are : Perhaps I wouldn't get on with a 35mm prime, and Canon might jump on the 'high-end retro' bandwagon too...

To me it's the perfect "walk around" focal length. Shorter would be too wide, longer too narrow.

Canon entering this market is a non-issue for me. Remember - this has a fixed focal length, non-interchangeable lens. The entire rationale of the camera is based on that. If you're worried about Canon bringing out a similar product, don't be. If it's something that takes their lenses, it will be filling a different need to the X100, and if Canon bring out something with a fixed focal length non-interchangeable lens, so what? You haven't lost anything going Fuji, and you won't gain anything going Canon. :)

For its price point, feature set, intended use, and performance, nothing comes close to touching it. You simply have to ask yourself whether its the sort of camera you want to be walking around with.

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rundll

rundll

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Interested to hear how you get on with it G.

I too have camera weight issues. My 7D and lenses isn't as heavy as all your stuff I'm sure, but it certainly adds up over a day of walking. I'm going on a jaunt abroad soon and will no doubt be lugging the 7d & 17-40 around a lot. I much prefer the idea of a smaller camera for a day to day carry around, and the DSLR for goal oriented shoots.

My Canon comparison wasn't worded very well. I meant to say that if the other big guns see the success of the X100, they'll hopefully bring in competing models. All the better to choose from. Even if that happened, it wouldn't be for a year or two anyway, so plenty of time to enjoy an x100. I just hope Fuji take firmware improvements seriously.

I have access to some large format cameras, very pretty wooden models. Though it seems quite intimidating to get started with.

I haven't even touched the TLRs I have yet, other than to look through the gorgeous screens every now and then. The pile of medium format film I have will probably be

stuck in the freezer for a while longer...

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gerald.d

gerald.d

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Interested to hear how you get on with it G.

I too have camera weight issues. My 7D and lenses isn't as heavy as all your stuff I'm sure, but it certainly adds up over a day of walking. I'm going on a jaunt abroad soon and will no doubt be lugging the 7d & 17-40 around a lot. I much prefer the idea of a smaller camera for a day to day carry around, and the DSLR for goal oriented shoots.

For me, this is one of the main attractions of the X100. Now I've got it, I simply wouldn't consider taking one of the DSLR's and lens(es) unless I actually had one of those goal oriented shoots you mention. Without the choice of the X100, I'd take a DSLR and then have to umm and ahh about which lens, or lenses, to take with it, and before I know it, I've got too much stuff to lug around. So I'd probably not bother taking anything.

I love that the X100 provides me with a simple choice, and I'm now forced to make the most of that simple choice, rather than worry about the complexity of many different choices and end up not taking anything. I know it sounds mad, but it's happened before.

My Canon comparison wasn't worded very well. I meant to say that if the other big guns see the success of the X100, they'll hopefully bring in competing models. All the better to choose from. Even if that happened, it wouldn't be for a year or two anyway, so plenty of time to enjoy an x100. I just hope Fuji take firmware improvements seriously.

Gotcha. I'd be amazed if Canon brought out a similar camera though. They'd convince themselves that their great USP is the huge range of lenses, and bring out something that could take advantage of them. And I'd never buy it for precisely the above reasons.

I have access to some large format cameras, very pretty wooden models. Though it seems quite intimidating to get started with.

I haven't even touched the TLRs I have yet, other than to look through the gorgeous screens every now and then. The pile of medium format film I have will probably be

stuck in the freezer for a while longer...

It's very intimidating. The good news is that I've found a place locally that can do drum scanning, so when I've got the hang of the camera, and when I manage to actually take an image correctly and not fuck it up, and when I finally manage to get a decent shot where it all comes together, I can get it scanned at a crazy high resolution and my 2 gigapixel single-shot dream image will become a reality :D

(it's no doubt a few months off though!)

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Alan Stock

Alan Stock

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A couple of post-production questions for you knowledgeable bunch:

I'm pretty new to working with RAW files, I use PhotoShop Elements. I am wondering what happens if you save your changes to a RAW file - does this overwrite the whole thing or just "remember" the last thing you did to the "original"? For example, if I do a crop or light adjustment in the Elements RAW editor and use the save file option to overwrite the same RAW, will the rest of the photo outside the crop be lost forever?

Also I think I have a bad workflow but don't know how to improve it. The help in Elements isn't very good. I edit in the RAW editor, then use "Open Image" which puts it into the normal Elements window. Then I save it as a high quality JPEG after making any other tweaks I want. I always want JPEGs as well as RAWs so I can upload to Facebook and Flickr. I also save multiple JPEGs of different edits of the same photo so I can easily flick through them and choose the one I like best. I have noticed that an XMP file is created whenever I start saving RAWs, so I guess I need to hold onto those? Any suggestions for how I can improve that workflow? It's a bit fiddly. Thanks.

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gerald.d

gerald.d

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A couple of post-production questions for you knowledgeable bunch:

I'm pretty new to working with RAW files, I use PhotoShop Elements. I am wondering what happens if you save your changes to a RAW file - does this overwrite the whole thing or just "remember" the last thing you did to the "original"? For example, if I do a crop or light adjustment in the Elements RAW editor and use the save file option to overwrite the same RAW, will the rest of the photo outside the crop be lost forever?

Also I think I have a bad workflow but don't know how to improve it. The help in Elements isn't very good. I edit in the RAW editor, then use "Open Image" which puts it into the normal Elements window. Then I save it as a high quality JPEG after making any other tweaks I want. I always want JPEGs as well as RAWs so I can upload to Facebook and Flickr. I also save multiple JPEGs of different edits of the same photo so I can easily flick through them and choose the one I like best. I have noticed that an XMP file is created whenever I start saving RAWs, so I guess I need to hold onto those? Any suggestions for how I can improve that workflow? It's a bit fiddly. Thanks.

I think I'm right in saying that you don't - indeed, cannot - edit the RAW file at all. It never gets changed.

Any changes you make are stored as a separate file - the .xmp - that is used to process the RAW file when you want to view it.

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Rev

Rev

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My Canon comparison wasn't worded very well. I meant to say that if the other big guns see the success of the X100, they'll hopefully bring in competing models. All the better to choose from. Even if that happened, it wouldn't be for a year or two anyway, so plenty of time to enjoy an x100. I just hope Fuji take firmware improvements seriously.

Well, Sony, Olympus and Panasonic (and Leica, sort of) have all got their before Fuji so it's not particularly new. It's nice to have a viewfinder, but the main benefits of it are things that have been doing well for a while. I agree with Gerald though that I can't see Canon launching a fixed-lens one, nor can I see them risking launching a new fitting at the moment.

If I was them I'd bring out something like the NEX and a range of EF primes similarly sized and priced to the 50mm f1.8, but slightly easier to focus. They'd appeal for video use for 550D owners as well as portability then. I think that is a bit of an ambitious plan though.

Any suggestions for how I can improve that workflow? It's a bit fiddly. Thanks.

This will be a slightly annoying suggestion...But...Get Lightroom 3. It's very much worth the money and it'll make your life much, much easier - Photoshop is for editing images, going through and sorting out a weekend's 500 photographs is a nightmare - with Lightroom it's a pleasure. Plus you can upload to Facebook and Flickr directly.

If that isn't an option and you're sticking with just Photoshop, shoot in RAW+JPG. Often the latter will be fine if you get in-camera settings done to your liking and whilst they might not be perfect you've got something immediate that saves opening every single file you want to put on Facebook. But you've still got the RAW file if you need it. It's only a few shots lost per memory card, really.

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