Photography Equipment & Software Thread

[Rev]

Yup, I do. The default seems utterly stupid now, especially when you are using lenses with a full-time manual capability as you can just use it as a short-cut then finalise it yourself, safe in the knowledge it won't get fiddled with on a second shot.

Plus it makes explaining how to use your expensive camera slightly more complicated to people who want to have a go with it. Thus making you seem a better photographer.

These things are important.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Why have you got a CPL on all the time? You'll be losing a good couple of stops or so of light depending on conditions and you'll end up with weird looking metal/water. They're useful to have for a myriad reasons, obviously, but you're just making life difficult for your lens using it all the time.

I'm not using it all the time, but I did this time to see how the pictures would come out and if I could get warmer colours and a different/warmer atmosphere.

[PopeSmokesDope]

A cpl only tends to work when the sunlight is at 45deg angle from the lens...

[Rev]

I'm not using it all the time, but I did this time to see how the pictures would come out and if I could get warmer colours and a different/warmer atmosphere.

It won't have any effect at all for that indoors in most situations, especially if you're not spinning it constantly. You probably want a warming filter by the sound of it, although I'd tend to add that effect in post to be honest. Arguably wrong, but I'm lazy.

[Cheeko]

Just re-tried but it makes no difference. This is how it comes out and is representative of most photos I try:

Nothing exciting to see even if it has worked as it's just a shot of my stairs, but you get the idea

It's like the pre-flash to trigger the sensor on the lights and the actual window after that where the camera says "now I'm ready to actually take the picture..." are totally out, so it's missing the actual flash.

Could springing for a cheap(ish) radio triggers sort it? I think I'd better put the retailer I bought it off on notice that it isn't compatible with my 60D because if that doesn't work then the lighting set is going back.

I feel your pain! I have one of the cheap yongnuo flashes and a wireless trigger and recently purchased a 600D which also has the flash trigger that your 60D has. I thought great, I won't have to bother with the wireless trigger(one more thing to buy batteries for) but I've had a really frustrating experience with it and ended up just using my wireless trigger again.

I had the same issue where the flash isn't synch'd with the shutter and it's totally missing the light and I never actually worked out what was causing it, I did get some shots where it worked but it drove me insane as when I then went for a proper image it stopped again. There was even a point where I could see the remote flash working and then discovered that it had turned itself off ages ago and it was just the onboard flash catching the remote in a strange way that fooled me

On the plus side I can confirm the wireless triggers will work though, I have the RF 602 set.

Whilst I'm posting about this in the equipment thread. If anyone else is thinking of trying out some cheaper eastern flash goods I can say it's a bit of a lottery really, mine do work every time with the wireless trigger but after about 8 flashes you have to turn the flash off for at least 5minutes before it'll work again. Does the job though and I paid about £70 total for the flash and triggers. If you need a flash you can rely on though you'll need to save up for the proper ones. The wireless triggers have been flawless so far though.

[Spatial]

Thanks for confirming that it's not just me - being a newb at this, I did wonder if I was missing something.

I was messing around a bit more with it yesterday and it does seem that the 60D's wireless system is a bit crap in this regard. I found that if I put my hand over the pop up flash to mute it then the lighting came out right. Remove my hand when firing and it gave the usual light grenade effect of using your standard pop-up flash.

That was even with the flash dialed right down to 1/128 of its power so it's almost like the camera just refuses to dial it down and fires full blast anyway, over powering the lights. It makes no sense for that to happen, but that's what seems to be going on.

I put in an order yesterday for a wireless trigger and receivers and they've already been sent. You've given me hope this will sort it.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

It won't have any effect at all for that indoors in most situations, especially if you're not spinning it constantly. You probably want a warming filter by the sound of it, although I'd tend to add that effect in post to be honest. Arguably wrong, but I'm lazy.

And I was too lazy to screw it on and off all the time

[Alexlotl]

To be fair, B&H don't come out of that story too well either.

That's the main problem with third-party lenses, though - they mostly reverse-engineer the mount, and the actual camera makers don't give a damn if they break compatibility when they make minor tweaks. A lot of Sigma stuff is also incompatible with the newer Sony SLT cameras, unless you get it updated. Tamron/Tokina stuff doesn't seem so prone to incompatibility, although some Tamron lenses used to mysteriously drain batteries on Nikon DSLRs.

Might be an interesting field to watch in the future for Nikon users. With Sigma buying licences to make lenses for m43 and Sony NEX, Nikon have taken the unusual step (for a Japanese company) of suing them for ripping off their VR technology, including requesting payment for past infringements. Presumably they don't want to see what they feel is their technology being used to bolster the hot new competition, rather than the relatively stable CaNikon duopoly.

If relations between the two firms head south, what's to say the D400 or D800 will be compatible with Sigma lenses at all?

[Talvalin]

Regarding CF cards, I need to buy some bigger sized cards. At present, I've got two - one 8GB and one 2GB (lol) - and I'm looking to buy a couple of 16GB cards, except I have no idea about transfer speeds. Is there a minimum speed card I should be aiming for or do I just get the cheapest one available?

[Dandy_Sephy]

Personally I swear by Sandisk cards. I had a Ultra II and Extreme III when I had a CF camera. The problem with CF is that it's so much more expensive than SD. Those CF's I had were 4gb and pretty cheap at the time. on play there is a £20 difference between an Ultra II 16GB SD and a Ultra II 16gb CF (almost enough to buy an extra SD )

[McMond]

Does anyone here use a rear-button / back-button focus technique? I'm just trying it out after reading about it on another forum, and I find it quite suits.

Here's the skinny from a Nikon perspective:

1. Set AF to AF-C.

2. Set AE-L/AF-L button to AF-ON

3. (Optional) Set AE Lock on (so AE is locked when the shutter is half-pressed)

Now the camera won't AF on a half-press of the shutter, only while the AE-L/AF-L button is being held. As AF-C is set, this means you can refocus whenever you want just by hitting the button, or continuously focus by holding the button, even if the shutter is half-pressed to activate VR/lock exposure. If you go with AE Lock, you can grab exposure with a half-press of the button, then do your focus/recomposition separately.

Apologies if I'm teaching grannies to suck eggs. I don't know why, but this makes me feel like I've got more control of AF than I used to. I shall continue experimenting!

I'm going to give this a go, think the AE-L/AF-L button is the only one I've not played around with on my Nikon yet. Starting reading up on it at one point, but was either being lazy or am stoopid. This gives me a better understanding of its purpose though, need to do some reading on AE as when pressing the button I only ever take into consideration the focus element and just deal with the exposure it gives me as long as my focus is correct.

[Fletch]

Regarding CF cards, I need to buy some bigger sized cards. At present, I've got two - one 8GB and one 2GB (lol) - and I'm looking to buy a couple of 16GB cards, except I have no idea about transfer speeds. Is there a minimum speed card I should be aiming for or do I just get the cheapest one available?

Personally I'd rather have a number of 2 or 4 gig cards rather than 1 big 16 gigger for example as I'm loathe to put all my eggs (pics) in one basket (memory card).

[Rev]

Personally I'd rather have a number of 2 or 4 gig cards rather than 1 big 16 gigger for example as I'm loathe to put all my eggs (pics) in one basket (memory card).

I do exactly that. A 4GB card takes 140ish pictures, which I think is about the right number to risk losing. 70 means changing cards too often, 280 is a lot of pictures. If I was doing lots of bursts that number might disappear quickly, but for (basically) landscapey stuff it's a ridiculous amount.

4GB is definitely the sweet spot as far as I'm concerned. I think I've got 8 or 9 now that go out with me each time which I've managed to fill in a day. Really ought to get some more!

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I use an 8GB SD card which will store ~1200 pictures when I shoot JPG or ~300 pictures when shooting RAW. Usually this is more than enough, although I always carry a couple of old 2GB cards with me in case of emergency. I also tend to delete pictures while shooting if I can see on the screen that they're bad which allows a lot more pictures being taken AND saves a lot of time when I have to sort them when I'm at home.

[Cheeko]

I have no idea about transfer speeds. Is there a minimum speed card I should be aiming for or do I just get the cheapest one available?

Anything Class 6 or above and you'll be fine, I think class 10 is the newest.

[rev-happy performance]

I've never "lost" images on a card, so I'll happily fill the 16GB and 8GB cards that I have. Whatever floats your boat, really...

Re:DP1 SD1, yeah, there's no way it's going to be a succes (and Sigma must know that as well).

I respect what they've done, but choosing between it and something like a Nikon D3x - I would be done very quickly with my decision!

Frankly, I don't believe it would be a big succes even it was priced at 1000 dollars.

[Alexlotl]

Anyone else stumbled across the Sigma DP1 news ?

I haven't laughed so hard in ages. $9,700 for a camera that at best is the equivalent of a 50D or Nikon equivalent. At best. And that you can only use with "average" Sigma lenses ?

What the hell were they thinking ?

It's the SD1 - the DP1 is their fixed-lens wideangle compact.

I agree that the price is crazy and way too high, and the even the Sigma Faithful are baffled about it. With Sony rumoured to be releasing a 24mp APS-C camera for $1000 (the A77), they're dead in the water.

That said, as an ex-DP2 owner, I must come to the defence of the Foveon Sensor - a 3 x 15Mp Foveon is not 'at best' equal to a 15Mp Bayer. With no AA filtering and no demosaic, you get much more detail for a given number of megapixels, to the point where you can actually export your images at 2 x resolution and still have it look as good as Bayer. Tremendous highlight control too, and slide-film-esque colour and pop.

Here's a full-size pic (cropped square) from the DP2's 3x4.7mp sensor. Try telling me that's equivalent to 4.7mp Bayer.

I'm using one of my own pics out of vanity there, but Carl Rytterfalk's a better photographer, so have a 100% crop from the SD15 (3 x 4.9Mp):

Crop - 120-300 OS by rytterfalk, on Flickr

I honestly think comparing 1 x nnMP Bayer sensors to 3 x nnMP Foveon sensors is comparing apples to oranges. The SD1's output will be at least the equivalent of a 24Mp Bayer Sensor by any metric other than sheer file size.

BUT...

It's not without problems. Images can have a colour cast, which is getting less pronounced with each iteration of the sensors, and can almost always be fixed in post, but is undeniably an issue. Sometimes you feel like you're reinventing the colours from scratch when you're doing post production - the end result is almost always great looking, but it's hard to get consistent colours shot-to-shot. The RAW files are MASSIVE, meaning they take ages to write to card, and most RAW software either doesn't support them or isn't optimised to handle them. Sensor heat is a problem (I remember warming my hands on my metal-bodied Sigma DP2 when getting snap-happy in freezing cold Milford Sound), as is battery usage.

All these problems could have been overcome if Foveon had got the same level of development focus as Bayer has had. But as the market's been driven by megapixel numbers, there's been no room for a different way of doing things. Remember Apple trying to tell everyone that it was irrelevant to compare PowerPC Ghz speeds to Intel ones? At that point in the development of PCs, it just didn't float, regardless of whether it was true - CPU speed was the main marketing tool. Now, it wouldn't be an issue - all new computers are fast enough for the majority of users, and we do our gaming on consoles for the most part. The end of the story was that Apple switched to Intel, but ten years down the line, Apple could probably switch back to PowerPC without anyone really noticing. CPU speed is just a commodity.

I'd not be surprised to see layered sensors in all mainstream DSLRs in ten years time. But I'd also not be surprised to see Sigma out of the camera body business in three years time. With no vertical integration or economies of scale, they can't get good gear cheaply - hence rubbish LCDs on all their cameras (only 430k on the SD1?), and the absurd cost of that sensor (they don't have their own sensor fabs). Vertically integrated Sony, however, already have factories rolling out LCDs and Sensors non-stop, and can get a 24Mp APS-C to the market at $1000. Add to that Sigma's seemingly worsening reputation for poor QC on lenses and the Nikon lawsuit, and something's got to give.

Interesting tangent: Sony and Fuji have also patented some layered sensor designs.

So, in conclusion: layered sensor technology is fantastic, it really works, but it needs refining, and the purchase of Foveon by Sigma was probably not a good thing for its development or future.

As for my DP2, it was such a pain in the arse to post-process the images (largely down to Sigma's shitty software) that it was putting me off all photography, so I sold it. To a professional photographer who mostly works in Large/Medium Format, interestingly.

EDIT: Christ. Apologies for essay.

[zxcvbnm]

Anyone got and tips where to get a decent, but not too pricey camera bag? I'm slowly outgrowing my old one, and truth be told it looks pretty shite. I normally carry with me: Micro 4/3 body with 14-45mm lens attached, 50-200mm lens, flashgun, remote triggers, 2xspare battery, a couple of SD cards and lens cleaning bits 'n' pieces.

[mercenarri]

Thought I'd try here first. I'm selling my 1 month old Nikon 24-70mm 2.8 if anyone's interested, looking £1000 + postage for it.

[Rev]

Anyone got and tips where to get a decent, but not too pricey camera bag? I'm slowly outgrowing my old one, and truth be told it looks pretty shite. I normally carry with me: Micro 4/3 body with 14-45mm lens attached, 50-200mm lens, flashgun, remote triggers, 2xspare battery, a couple of SD cards and lens cleaning bits 'n' pieces.

Amazon was cheapest when I looked, with Jacobs not far behind. I looked in the latter and then got it delivered (which proved to be a massive hassle and really not worth the effort...definitely should have bought from Jacobs.)

[Mercury]

Anyone got and tips where to get a decent, but not too pricey camera bag? I'm slowly outgrowing my old one, and truth be told it looks pretty shite. I normally carry with me: Micro 4/3 body with 14-45mm lens attached, 50-200mm lens, flashgun, remote triggers, 2xspare battery, a couple of SD cards and lens cleaning bits 'n' pieces.

Amazon always seem to be the cheapest but I usually end up buying from Warehouse Express - never had a problem with them. I swear by my Lowepro slingshot and you'd definitely get that lot in one of those.

[Alan Stock]

I've got a similar amount of kit to Zod but as I want to do some travelling, don't want to be advertising the fact I've got a pricey camera. At the moment I have a lowe pro shoulder bag which can't be mistaken for anything but a camera bag! Anyone know of decent camera bags that are deliberately designed to look inconspicuous? I guess the main features that would be good are waterproofing and shock absorbing potential.

[Mercury]

I've got a similar amount of kit to Zod but as I want to do some travelling, don't want to be advertising the fact I've got a pricey camera. At the moment I have a lowe pro shoulder bag which can't be mistaken for anything but a camera bag! Anyone know of decent camera bags that are deliberately designed to look inconspicuous? I guess the main features that would be good are waterproofing and shock absorbing potential.

I am not sure Crumpler stuff ever looks inconspicuous but they have a few half-photo backpacks that aren't obviously camera bags - something like the Easy Weasy.

[zxcvbnm]

I can't stand the look of the crumpler stuff. I do like the look of the national geographic bags, but not the price!! I love the old look canvas bags, and would go for one apart from the lack of weatherproofing they offer.

[Dingleberry]

I have a Lowepro all weather shoulder bag that I worry may be a thief magnet and also isn't big enough for my 50-500. I also use a black backpack made by Gem, whoever they may be, with velcro inserts inside that can take bodies, lenses and water bottles. It's bulky though. Ultimately all camera bags are a tradeoff between size, convenience and nickability.

[Nicky]

i dunno about bags. i just have a standard looking manbag which i hate lugging around, that ive got some protective foam paddings inside, stuff a jumper on the top and noone knows its a camera bag.

as for straps, i cant champion the Black Rapid shoulder straps enough. I love the ones i have, i've got a 2 camera harness version which is the most comfortable thing ever, and a singular BR strap that i can wear all day with a D3s + zoom and not feel fatigued from the weight.

[88h88]

Forgive me if this has been posted up but it's silly clever, one of those 'it's so obvious!' things. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/293194835/camera-lens-cap-holder

It's a lens cap holder you thread onto your neck strap.

The video is pretty funny too, he's very much not an actor... Wooden isn't the word.

[Alan Stock]

Ah nice one. For some reason my GF-1 lens covers don't have holes to put thread through so I'm constantly losing them in pockets, dropping them into mud and other disasters. This could be what I need!

Cheers for the bag advice as well folks.

[g wings]

Technique is important only insofar as you must master it in order to communicate what you see... In any case, people think far too much about techniques and not enough about seeing.

—Henri Cartier-Bresson

I stumbled across this quote today and it reminded me that my endless drive for 'better gear' and mastery of that gear won't necessarily give me better outcomes.

[PopeSmokesDope]

I've managed to lose the bloody lens hood for my sigma 10-20.. very iritating!