All the (camera) gear, no idea!
Duffer
Posts: 379
I recently invested in a decent camera (for the Mrs' birthday, really) and have been having a bit of a play this morning - coming up with things like this:
Taken with our 2-day-old Nikon D5000 with standard lens. I have no experince whatsoever, and simply put it into "auto" mode.
What equipment do all you budding photographers use, and what sort of results do you get?
Taken with our 2-day-old Nikon D5000 with standard lens. I have no experince whatsoever, and simply put it into "auto" mode.
What equipment do all you budding photographers use, and what sort of results do you get?
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I have just got a Fuji S1500 - still early days and am experimenting with the settings.
People photo things for different reasons. I do a lot of general stuff, but like simply capturing stuff that looks nice. I don't like to use too much photoshop, I like it to be as the eye sees for most stuff.
I don't like photobeardies, the sort that criticize every shot saying it should be like this, that and the other. The person makes the photo - a good camera may make it easier to get what you want.0 -
I took this yesterday:
Saw a fat pigeon on a neighbours bird table. So I hung out of the bedroom window, zoomed in to 12x and just took a snap. This is where the better camera helped - the zoom, and image stabilisation.0 -
They need to refill that feeder.0
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If it comes back again I woon't be aiming the camera at him...
Pigeon pie.0 -
Don't do it! :shock:0
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I've got some shots on my Flickr page - link is in my sig.
I'm using a sony Alpha 500 DSLR, with a selection of lenses.
I'm buzzing, because last week I managed to sell my first photograph, and then a day later, a shop wanted to use another one of my shots to put in their window!
I've only had the SLR a month! (although I have admittedly been accompanying my sister on photography trips for years and learnt a lot from her)0 -
Oh and this is my favourite bike photo, taken ages ago on my old Fuji in Coed y Brenin.
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you can do wonders with compacts.check out some of mine:
all taken with a 12megapixel casio exilim with sports option for faster shutter speed and a option which focuses on a moving object0 -
I've got a D5000. Try the book "Nikon D5000: from snapshots to great shots" by Jeff Revell, does a great job of explaining what all the functions do, and why you would want to use them.
I usually take a Canon Ixus with me for biking though.0 -
modern compacts are great. I was really happy with my old Fuji Finepix for years, but I just wanted to get a bit more creative, and in that sense, the compact was a bit restrictive.
The great thing about taking pics with an slr is there's no shutter lag, so the picture is taken the instant you press the button - with the old Fuji there was a very slight delay, so you had to estimate when it was going to go off!
I'll probably still be taking the fuji with me on the bike mostly, because I don't want to smash a grand's worth of camera gear if (when) I crash :shock:0 -
Good idea, a friend of mine has a similar book for his Nikon.GHill wrote:I've got a D5000. Try the book "Nikon D5000: from snapshots to great shots" by Jeff Revell, does a great job of explaining what all the functions do, and why you would want to use them.
I usually take a Canon Ixus with me for biking though.
But, the basics are pretty simples.
Stick you camera in aperture mode to control the aperture, whilst the camera automatically sets the shutter speed to get the right exposure.
Stick you camera in shutter priority to control the shutter speed, whilst the camera Automatically sets the right aperture to get the right exposure.
The larger the aperture (lower number) the more light the camera lets in, meaning the shutter speed can be faster BUT, the depth of field decreses.
The depth of field is how much of the area in front and behind of where you've focused in in focus, Anything outside the depth of field will get progressively blurrier.
So, for example, in a traditional landscape shot, where you want everything to be in focus from the near foreground, to the distant mountans, lakes, trees whatever, you would use as small an aperture (higher number) as possible.
For portraits, where you only want your subject to be in focus, and the background blurred away, you would use as large an aperture (small number) as possible.0 -
These are some of mine:
I have a DSLR and I use the sport setting, muck about with the brightness alot and different speeds of flash. I think getting the angle is important, for example don't be afraid to get dirty etc0 -
+ the entire amount of poatatoes that tesco, asda and sainsburys sold in the past 10 years/supersonic wrote:
I don't like photobeardies, the sort that criticize every shot saying it should be like this, that and the other.
they are massive bunch of a$$ holes. i took a shot and thought it was good and then everyone starts to critize, i'm all up for constructive criticism but most were just saying random rubbish that didn't even have anything to do with the shot0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:modern compacts are great. I was really happy with my old Fuji Finepix for years, but I just wanted to get a bit more creative, and in that sense, the compact was a bit restrictive.
The great thing about taking pics with an slr is there's no shutter lag, so the picture is taken the instant you press the button - with the old Fuji there was a very slight delay, so you had to estimate when it was going to go off!
I'll probably still be taking the fuji with me on the bike mostly, because I don't want to smash a grand's worth of camera gear if (when) I crash :shock:
I bought one of these just before Christmas (I think it may have been on your recommendation) and it's perfect for what I use it for. All of the pictures on my TT thread were taken using that camera, so it can cope very well with moving shots (some of those bikes are doing over a ton). The only weakness I've found so far is the zoom, which isn't great.
Obviously, the professional shots I've seen on the big DSLRs are much crisper, but if I drop mine, or land on it when I fall off, it'll cost me about £100 to replace instead of £1,000.
I'd feel "over camera'd" if I had an expensive one lol0 -
Really? Which finepix did you go for? my old one had a crazy zoom. It's main weaknedd was that it wouldn't go to a wide enough angle for getting gruo shots and so on, wihtout standing in the next county
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The FinePix S1500 is just 110 quid now:
http://www.buyacamera.co.uk/xsearch.asp ... S1500&pt=f
Silly money for what you get, and I'd say a much better option than most compacts at this price.
Only slight critiscism I can give it is some barrel distortion with the wide angle and some scenes flummox the auto mode.0 -
depends what kind of photography your into, i use my mums olympus slr camera with the external flash gun, you can pretty much do everything on them from super slow shutter shots for like a waterfall which adds the mist effect or get them on sports settings adjusting the iso and apperture etc accordingly, check out some of my photos on pinkbike from fort william couple of years back.
Most of my pics are done by a mate with a canon eos and all the kit to go with and another mate that has an old kodak film camera
But just go out and play and take pics of anything and everything0 -
Fully manual on the old S5700 was useless, the exposure meter would just kind of take a stab in the dark at what was going on!0
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This.Jimbob_no5 wrote:But just go out and play and take pics of anything and everything
I got a Nikon D80, had it for a while now.
It's awesome for what I use it for
Took some pretty good (IMO) pictures too www.flickr.com/army_chaz
I've never read a photography book, or had coaching by a 'pro'. Just had a play with the settings, and saw what did what. Took a while, but I think I have a better grasp of what does what now, than I would have after reading a book...
Now, go and play! Boo-yah mofo
Sick to the power of rad
Fix it 'till it's broke0 -
Yep, I'll drink to the just go out and do it philosophy, Find nice things, take pics.0
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Jimbob, love the chef's trousers! Wicked
Getting a good hang of the basics, aperture and shutter speed, is all there is to "using a camera" though.
By sticking it on sports mode, you're just letting it adjust all those things itself, and they occasionally get it wrong. Once you understand how the two interact, you can make the camera do exactly wht you want every time.
(of course, there's artistic techniques for photography, but I reckon that's pretty much open for anyone to experiment with)0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:Really? Which finepix did you go for? my old one had a crazy zoom. It's main weaknedd was that it wouldn't go to a wide enough angle for getting gruo shots and so on, wihtout standing in the next county
FinepixJ320 -
Oh, and get a stand for some shots lol.0
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AH! I see. Great cameras, but the one I had (and still have) was one of those crazy superzooms. Pain to carry though, too damned big to fit in a pocket.0
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My fuji does 12x lol. Is still pretty compact mind. Quite impressed with it even handheld in good light.
Gonna be doing some sky shots tonight to see if I can picture this comet.0 -
comet? ooh, do go on....0
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gota love my chefs pants got them on oddly enough 0
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i would love a slr but i'd rather spend the money on my bike but i recokn i will have one within a year maybe. the great thing about delamere(where i ride) is that it's about 10mins from the station to the skills area, you put you bag down and so it's no problem having a big camera, tripods, several lenses, lighting etc. so that means there is a photographer down there everytime0
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The touble with SLRs is they're addictive, and lenses generally cost big bucks.
I've only had mine about a month, but I've already accumulated, in addition to the camera itself with a kit lens......
A Minolta "beercan" zoom lens
A Super Takumar 55mm prime lens + adapter
A Sigma 10-20mm lens
A "proper" tripod in addition to my old gorillapod
A programmable remote trigger (intervalometer)
several expensive filters, circular polariser, ND filters etc
A collection of more bonkers filters like starlights and so on
Cleaning equipment
New camera bag.
I thought MTBing was expensive, but bugger me sideways, cameras are like crack!
Just as well I've started selling photographs, I need something to patch over the damage I've done to my current account :shock:0
