oikoik
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Posts posted by oikoik
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holy carp
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no one said photography was cheap
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General rules: the wider the zoom range (and 18-270mm is laughably wide) the cr*ppier the lens.
I'd also avoid anything but Nikon, Canon, and maybe some Sigma lens.
Renting is a good idea.
18-270 is laughably wide but even Thom has said it actually is not as bad as traditionally you'd presume with anything with a very wide focal zoom range.
thats why i did not dismiss it out of hand.
i would sometimes rate Tokina [better build too] and Tamron much higher than some of the Sigma's i've used.
you have a D5000 ... hmm no internal focus motor... this does not have an internal focus motor on the lens - manual focus only for you.
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its ok as a do-all-walkabout.
if you go for that, as 270 is still a bit short, shove a AF teleconvertor on it?
otherwise, the nikkor 200-400/4 af-s VR would be the one to get.
basically something longer than 300, and the sharpest possible.
a prime would be good but its hard changing bodies when a bird is zipping over your head at 100ft, 300mph.
[i was ok as i had my long D2X strapped to one shoulder, and my wide D700 to the other - no lens swapping - hard getting through doors though and several women looked at me oddly when i walked past from behind..]
in general, short of the A380 poppin gover my head, i ws ok with 80mm side of it, just the 200 side needed 200 more mm.
mine was 2.8 as well, so i didnt have to worry about the sweet spot setting a slower shutter speed, or more noise if a higher shutter speed. a slower lens would get you to consider the trade offs in speed, noise and depth of field, and overall quality of picture.
thing is, i'm not a wildlife photographer and i believe the gear a wildlife photographer specialiser has might be more geared to this kind of shoot.
rather than buying a lens, look at renting instead - i was looking at this option with another photographer for sharing a return trip to the airshow [helps if you both shoot the same brand lol]
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actually, i was technically inaccurate - as its nt the fps that slows but the buffer writing and card writing - if you keep your finger on the shutter you get less shots, and the camera takes longer to process the pictures [bit like waiting for noise reduction]
you might find this useful:
Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the D700 on page 336 he says:"NEF shooters beware! Only Capture NX2 can apply the proper linearization curves automatically to get essentially the same effect as what the camera does for JPEGs and TIFFs. If you use another raw converter, though, consider not using Active D-Lighting. The reason for that is simple: you're going to end up with images that are underexposed, and you may have to manually apply corrections to the shadow area, mid-tones and highlights simultaneously. Because of the decrease in exposure, noise presence tends to be increased when you do this (especially if you do it aggressively and don't use a post processing noise reduction after conversion). Personally, I'd say you're better off - even Capture NX 2 users - to simply make sure that your exposure doesn't have channel blowout rather than using Active D-Lighting."
so, the general concensus is that if you feel you are fine without ADL, fine, dont bother with it
i didnt go to farnborough again because of work, and didnt go today becaause the vulcan isn't flying
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was in farnborough recently on trade days
biggest tip is to get a bloody long lens. for anything flying thats smaller than bloody big airliner - ie. jet fighters - they are small and very far away.
200mm, which i was toting, is too short.
same tips as above, fast shutters, on props vary it a bit to see prop motion.
i used a D2X and D700.
d700 and 20mm was fine for indoor stuff though.
active d lighting is ok if: you use nothing but matrix metering [doesnt work otherwise], and you shoot jpeg only, or you shoot jpeg as well as raw, but use nikon's own editing program with raw to get the active d settings in.
if you only shoot raw it wont make a spec of difference other than actually slow your continuous shooting mode.
i might go again as work got in the way of actually enjoying it...
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um.. ordered one of these..
anything to watch for? just stock, not real interested in accuracy yet... just want some gbb fun
and is unco still best place for mags?
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possibly of not much info, but i have a sten mk5.
its the smokeys version, using the tm ak-47 gearbox.
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always best to sort as much as you can 'in camera'.
dont rely on post to fix it
you dont have to 'learn' wb, just recognise what kind of light situation youre getting into, and adjust accordingly, or get your card out to adjust for it.
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probably isnt, but the mall shot reminds me of nishiki in kyoto...
steam is always cool
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anlges and close ups are good, as these are, but not so many togetehr as it overwhelmes the eyes and they glaze over.
just use them sparingly, otherwise theyre good!
did a bit of work with a commercial car tog a while ago.. lets just say the so-called boring shots sell...
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*git!* lucky you!
lol, i hadnt thought of that
i think its a tad more difficult to arrange that over london these days though, theyre very sensitive...
i'd actually love to do hong kong, maybe inbetween the skyscrapers.. yum
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i like the richness of your city pics.
i had a great op to do a city flyby a couple of years ago, but had to back out because of the cost [hiring a helo]
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*jealous*
i *edited*
[might be better if i hadnt mentioned it lol]
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I take it you didnt have your camera in your hands at that point? Shame.. I think :/
lol, i did have my very large camera in my hands. i thought if she noticed me it would look really bad.
Q. Re: recent news article on the BT-Yahoo website, has anyone ever been approached or stopped by the rozzers whilst photographing buildings or landmarks etc? Thoughts about it all?yes.
was a while ago, but got stopped, questioned and had a background check.
was informed that i would be on their database.
whilst being checked a red police vehicle slowly circled us.
i asked for some paperwork, they said i could, but it would take ages and that we'd have to go to the station.
i didnt have the time to do that so left it.
the other time was outside a train station and they were rather more interested in my middle-eastern-looking colleague, so i just sort of kept quiet and backed off.
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oddly enough, the first pic i didnt recognise as trafalgar square, even though ive shot there, in the dark many times.
the ferris wheel is the london eye and the capitol building is st pauls cathedral.
speaking of shooting in trafalgar square at night, i always remember taking a break inbetween shots, and standing near a light that didnt work, so i had a bit of shadow.
all of a sudden a slightly ###### but hot girl came round the corner, giggled, hoisted her skirt up, pulled her knickers aside and peed. like a camel. and peed and peed.
when she did eventually finish she giggled some more, straightened herself out and ran off.
i thought it was a good idea idea to stay perfectly still and not say anything...
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cool. personally i'm not really into macro, unless its female-oriented gynecological... lol just kidding
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i did have the sigma 50/2.8 for the pentax. iirc, the working distance for 50mm is a little too close though and might introduce issues of shadow.
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nikon is always usually better.
in terms of sharpness, flare handling, contrast and colour rendition and often build.
macro - nikon/sigma/tamron have el cheapo zooms that can be macros too.
if you want a portrait lens *and* want auto focus, you'll be looking at anything with a motor in it - nikons' [sWM] AFS or equivalent from 3rd party manufacturers.
and for portraits 50 and preferably longer to avoid distortion.
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the 50/1.8 is always highly recommended
it is a screw-type AF lens, so make sure your camera has a motor inside [little AF motor screw on the AF lens mount]
cheaper nikon bodies like D40/D40x/D60 and others do not have these, and so while they are still compatible, they are manual focus only.
if you want AF on those bodies, you need either AFS lenses or the equivalent from other manufactureres [sigma has the HSM for example]
[by comparison, all canons bodies have no motors and rely entirely on the lens having them built in. the tilt/shift lens for canon is the only one thats fully manual with no motor at all]
same for the 85/1.4 and 1.8, the 1.4 is very expensive but moist-inducing, the 1.8 is alot more affordable.
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hehe, aha, then yes, a 50, especially a 1.4 that renders creamy softness, used to its advantage, would make a hell of a difference to an 18-200.
the only way a 18-200 might work as happily, is if you continually shot people at 200mm...
or in a studio, in which case the playing field is levelled considerably.
used at 1.4, the 50 would look nicer than a 50 at say, 4 or 4.5 which is what the 18-200 might be at that length.
in low light that would make a shedload of difference.
if you shoot more than 1 person though, because of the shallow depth of field, try and make all their eyeballs equi distant from the focal plane of your camera.
[ie. dont stagger them]
whereas the 1.4 is, or was, 350 or so, the 50/1.8 can be had for as little 50 [i had both, sold the 50/1.8 for that much] which is just as good, just that the smooth bits are not as creamy looking.
but hell, its cheap.
i dont know how the afs version performs though.
agreed on prices, thats why i also look at tamron and tokina...
sigma is my last choice tbh.
but if you want the 50mm equiv, i think only sigma gives you that choice with the 30/1.4 hsm[afs equiv].
it was maybe 300 but might be cheaper now.
i ran around in japan with a d2x/30/1.4 combo nearly all the time.
[but for a wedding party in ebisu/symphony, i used a 18-50 most of the time]
that let me get close, the 30/1.4 got me 50 equiv for semi-decent portrait/low light type shots.
with the 50, on a dx sensor, you always have to step back that much more to frame what you want...
ta, no, only spent maybe 3-4 weeks there.
would like to go back and spend longer...
so, sorry to throw in a variable, but yeah, the 30/1.4 came to be used more than the 50/1.4...
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nice pics earlier WhutJP - was that part of the great seto bridge in the background?
reminded me of what a great photo opportunity japan is
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well, for landscape youre not going to be using your 1.4/50mm at 1.4 are you?
cant recall what the sweet spot is, but most lenses are around f8-f11 mark.
for landscape work you would be going wide, without getting distorted.
i notice distortion at 20mm, on mine [at closer distances obviously].
at wide angles, the kind of thing that would sort that issue is a tit/shift lens, but theyre fiddly and expensive and manual.
28mm is a pretty good focal length.
otoh, have you got a cropped sensor or a full frame camera?
with a cropped one, you have to compensate for what is going to be recorded on your chip, so if you want a 28mm field of view, you need a 18mm to compensate for the 1.5 crop.
for a 20mm fov, you need a 13mm, and so on.
if you are shooting full frame, then the focal length you get is what you get.
i use 50mm for low light gig stuff and people [and my 85 is for portraits, either that or my 80-200/2.8]
not for landscapes, so if that is your specialty, the 50 will collect dust.
i havent used the 18-200, but im not a fan of 'jack of all trades master of none' type lenses.
my walk about is either a 20-40/2.8 or a 35-70/2.8
although i run with a few, i'm not a fan of sigma. they rate high on the lemon-ator.
tamron and tokina, i rate better, and branded obviously best.
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oops a DP situation!
kekeke
*dribble*
Anyone still around from the old days?
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by oikoik
pop pop pop!
added:
kwong wah st! i remember spending hours and hours around there! (around 20 years ago i think)
Probably been a bit messy these past few months..?