Any Camera Enthusiasts on here?

oohhsnapp · #1 09-30-2009

Any Camera Enthusiasts on here?

Just wondering if there are anyone thats shoots on here!!! Post up!!!

20D user right here!

vtec92civic · #2 09-30-2009

i'm learning to shoot thanks to muzzy and ranney for giving me the nudge to get a camera. Couldn't help that i got a great deal on a Nikon D60

woot woot

muzzy996 · #3 09-30-2009

I'm more of a snapshot shooter. Shotgun or machine gun style if you will. In no way an ar-teest (artist).

I do however know my way around an SLR and prefer them over point and shoots. I have an eye for exposure but not so much for composure or artistic shots.

vtec92civic · #4 09-30-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by muzzy996

I'm more of a snapshot shooter. Shotgun or machine gun style if you will. In no way an ar-teest (artist).

I do however know my way around an SLR and prefer them over point and shoots. I have an eye for exposure but not so much for composure or artistic shots.

hahaha muzzy with i could say that i had a eye for exposure but hopefully in the time to come i will be able to take good shots or better shots that is.

oohhsnapp · #5 09-30-2009

well i think i got really interested in photography when i learned to shoot in full manual mode. I couldnt beleive how nice the pics were turning out!!! Its nice when you learn how nice your pictures can be when you learn to adjust aperture and shutter speed.

If you are having a hard time you can practice long exposures like 15 seconds, put it on a tripod and take pics of fireworks or you can do light drawings. If you like macro shots change up your aperture and get those shots with blurred backgrounds. what kind of models and lenses you guys got?

vtec92civic · #6 10-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by oohhsnapp

well i think i got really interested in photography when i learned to shoot in full manual mode. I couldnt beleive how nice the pics were turning out!!! Its nice when you learn how nice your pictures can be when you learn to adjust aperture and shutter speed.

If you are having a hard time you can practice long exposures like 15 seconds, put it on a tripod and take pics of fireworks or you can do light drawings. If you like macro shots change up your aperture and get those shots with blurred backgrounds. what kind of models and lenses you guys got?

Since i just got my camera not even 2 months ago i just have the lense that came with my camera but hopefully in the future i can pic up another lense or 2.

I need to learn how to read the current surroundings in which im going to take a picture of so i can adjust the aperture and shutter speed.

I am sometimes to afraid to do that at work as time is usually a little limited and i would hate to get home to find that all the pictures i took of a nice vehicle are either blurred, fuzzy, or just not crisp.

muzzy996 · #7 10-01-2009

I currently have a D5000 with an 18-200 VR and a 35mm F1.8 prime as well as a D50 with an 18-55 VR. I've also been borrowing an 80-200 AF-S F2.8 lens from a friend of mine for the past year or so (he has little need for it, LOL) that I use for my son's sports. Eventually when I return it I'll probably replace it with a 70-300 VR.

My hope is to upgrade to a D300s or D400 (when it comes out) sometime next year. We shall see.

I'm lazy and don't shoot in manual (M) mode very often. Metering on my cameras is accurate enough in aperture priority (A) mode that I don't feel the need to for most casual situations (candid snapshots).

Some situations of course require manual mode, such as trying to control both aperture and shutter speed in order to get controlled depth of field (DOF) and motion blur at the same time (like shooting a waterfall, fountain or stream).

Some feel that the priority modes are a crutch but really there's no reason why the same exposure cannot be made using A or S than it would in M.

My suggestion to dSLR beginners is to start shooting in program mode (P) first with Auto ISO turned off. This gives the camera full control over aperture and shutter speed but no control over ISO. Doing this will allow you to get a feel for what the camera is doing by watching it's metering and what it is choosing for aperture and shutter speed at a given ISO setting. Reviewing your test shots in this mode in various lighting conditions will quickly give you an eye for what ISO sensitivities to use as a base in any given situation. Some dSLRs will allow some user control over aperture/shutter combination while in this mode by simply turning a dial (my D5000 does this).

Next I'd move to A mode to control depth of field (background blur in layman's terms) and S mode to control shutter speeds. Certain situations dictate which mode I'll shoot in primarily but in general I'll take test shots in aperture priority mode at a site and set my ISO to a point where I'm getting good shutter speeds in the poorer lit areas without complete blowouts of highlights in bright areas.

It really takes practice but the results are worth it as in general your keeper count on a properly used dSLR is much better than on a point and shoot.

DN Photography · #8 10-01-2009

formor Canon user here. starting to get the shutter bug again though. how about we post up our best pics? ill start. i have a bunch but these are my favorite 3.

muzzy996 · #9 10-01-2009

That's one of the things I like about my D5000 is it's graceful handling of high ISO noise.

There are limits but still it never fails to impress me. While not exactly stop action I was able to pull this shot off at Seaworld this past July using a shutter speed of 1/80 and at an ISO of 3200.

Had I done it with my D50 even at an ISO of 1600 it'd still be grainier than this.

It's just a snapshot and I wanted to kill the kid in front of me that kept moving his head around (bottom left obviously in this frame).

I'll refrain from posting "bests" though. I don't shoot the kind of stuff you folks do.

DN Photography · #10 10-01-2009

wow that shot is @ 3200 iso? amazing. little to no noise. any PP? noise reduction?

whoops i meant favorite photos. i dont consider my self good

ninobrn99 · #11 10-01-2009

I havent done it in a while, but i just got a 30D with a kit lens (blah) that i'm borrowing from a friend. Trying to get back in the game

here are a few I took with my rebel xt a while back:

when i had my Trans AM

the local carnival

muzzy996 · #12 10-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by DN Photography

wow that shot is @ 3200 iso? amazing. little to no noise. any PP? noise reduction?

whoops i meant favorite photos. i dont consider my self good

In camera NR and for that particular shot I don't think I did much or any PP. I'll have to check the raw file to see if I did. If I recall there wasn't much to salvage on that shot with that darned kid's head pretty much ruining it (that and a miscalculation on my part on where the whale's exit point from the water was going to be . . ) so I don't think I did any significant PP on it.

Yah the new crop of Nikon sensors are pretty good for low noise at high ISO, particularly at that price point. If I could have any setup I'd probably go 5d mark ii with an L lens but economically . . .well . .lol

I kind of got stalled on my progress of post processing my vacation photos but some of them are here:

http://imua.smugmug.com/photos/swfpo...AlbumKey=p7mt3

All of the shots were done on my D5000 and mostly all of them with the 18-200 VR which IMO is a great walk-around lens.

vtec92civic · #13 10-02-2009

hehe. Nice pics. The rest is all french to me LoL

muzzy996 · #14 10-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by oohhsnapp

That 18-200 nikon lens sounds great, if only canon had something like that. thats a great range for walk around! what is the aperture on that lens?

It's f3.5 - 5.6. Not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed but it works well for me.

I'm not a pixel peeper most times and the D5000 has plenty of resolution to keep me happy with the 18-200, especially when shooting in RAW format. I think the added quality of the D5000 over my older D50 opened my eyes to RAW and has really helped me. I still shoot JPEG when I know I'll be blasting away some sports shots and not really worrying about post processing later though.

muzzy996 · #15 10-02-2009

Never considered going to TIFF, kind of overkill for my purposes IMO. Since I keep my RAW files I figure I can always fall back onto them if needed.

I'm using Capture NX2 since I'm shooting Nikon. Works really well and I'm able to make camera setting adjustments with it at will, very nice especially for Picture Controls.

I skip RAW+JPEG, and either shoot only RAW or only JPEG. I figure I can always convert to JPEG later so what's the point in filling up my card with both.