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Topic: What's In Your Camera? (Read 54929 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #125
Looks like you're having a hot dog of a time (not to mention the Jalama Burgers), Kent and Cindy!   Safe travels home!
Greg & Victoria
2017 Mid-Bath  “Nocona” towing a manual 2015 Forester
Previously a 1985 TK
SKP #61264

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #126
A favorite time to photograph the desert ... clearing storm, Anza Borrego State Park    © Bill Benson
2005 MB

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #127
Very nice tones and composition, Bill.

As much as I loved film and time spent in the darkroom, digital beats Plus-X.

I never thought I'd say that...

Harold
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #128
Bill,
I love how you can feel the ouch on the sharp stuff.  Great picture.
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #129
I rented a long lens the other day (Nikkor 200-500) to see if I should buy it.  I shouldn't as it turns out.  I loved the lens but a 70-300 fills more pressing needs.  If I did more birding or lived out west it would be a fun and I might have purchased it instead of the 70-300.  Note, that lens on a D500 is like using a 300-750mm lens.  The shots below I used a tripod but I have dogs playing that were hand held.  It is an amazing lens for the money.
D500/200-500 f5.6 @440mm, f11, 1/1250 sec, ISO 800  This pic is almost a 100%crop. 



@ 500mm, f8, 1/800 sec, ISO 250  (generally better settings than the pic above)  again almost 100% cropjohndacrema@yahoo.com
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #130
John,

Nikon glass is very nice but pricey. My Tamron 150-600 was $1060.00 new and is an amazingly well built lens. Tammy’s version two of the same lens is likewise priced and has improved in several areas.

My next lens will be the Tamron SP 90mm macro. Fantastic lens that will be a perfect match for the D800e. It will replace the 40mm macro cropped sensor lens I have for my D5200.

Nothing better than a new piece of gear for the camera kit. Well maybe a good cup of coffee and a new lens.

Kent
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #131
Kent. The Tamron and Sigma long zooms are part of the reason I hesitate on the Nikkor.
 If I ship my old (and broken) 120-300 f2.8 from the film era to Sigma, they will give me a customer loyalty discount on top of any sale price. A very nice gesture.  The copy I have has been out of production for 15 to 20 years (it was old when I got it used).
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #132
John,

It’s duffucult to put the brakes on when it comes to upgrading.

When I originally purchased my D5200, the “Big Gun” Nikon cameras intimidated me quite a bit. I hadn’t had a DSLR before only smaller fixed lens digital cameras and it had been years since I shot 35mm.

After owning the 5200 for a while, the step up was a natural progression toward controlling my shots and getting all that I can out of the format.

Having had the Tammy 150-600 for a while I’d love to get the newer version. If there was a decent reward program to step up, I’d be glad to do it. I’ve even thought of trading in my 5200 gear and my current 150-600 to get the new Tammy model and the 90mm macro. Unfortunately, digital camera gear mimick’s the computer industry in that new models come out quickly and resale is very low.

So with that, I just keep what I’ve got in the kit and “aim” for incremental upgrades. Oh, where’s that Super Lotto when you really want it?

Shooting for the stars.

Kent

2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #133
I call this photograph "Music on Grass"  Volcan Mountain, California © Bill Benson
2005 MB

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #134
You guys are going long and I am going small.

Here is a Catalina Blue-banded Goby.  It is about 1 inch long and is ULTRA skittish.  After each flash of the strobe, the little rascal disappears and I wait another few minutes until it is secure enough to re-appear.  Then I hold my breath and s-l-o-w-l-y recompose and shoot again.  This is another reason that I often dive alone and forego the minimal safety benefit of another diver for the advantage of not having anyone disrupt the photo ops.  30 foot depth.  Nikon D80 in a housing with a single strobe.

Next lens in the kit will be a Tokina 11-20mm F2.8 to pull in sharks, seals, and dolphins that don't want to get quite close enough, and push out the ones who get really close.  I'm just waiting for someone to make a gear for the zoom so I can put it in the housing.  No money spent for lenses that don't go in the housing...
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #135
...

Next lens in the kit will be a Tokina 11-20mm F2.8 to pull in sharks, seals, and dolphins that don't want to get quite close enough, and push out the ones who get really close.  I'm just waiting for someone to make a gear for the zoom so I can put it in the housing.  No money spent for lenses that don't go in the housing...
I have a Tokina 11-16.  The older version of the same lens.  I got it back when I was shooting with a D70. Below, it was on a D300 and it even worked on a D600 at 16mm if you took the lens hood off.   It is a wonderful lens
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #136
Crow outside my window.  

D700 with 90-210mm   2.1 lens.
personal fine art photo stuff
TF Mack | Flickr
It's all good .......
2014 Twin King

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #137
John,
Nice shot of the CBX.  That bike was a classic the moment it came out.  The idea of synchronizing 6 carbs was the reason I never thought about owning one (along with my extra income being completely exhausted on children's sports, braces, etc).  The black and white treatment is nice.  Did you find the lens to be sharp at F2.8?

I just discovered a use for fiber-optic cables.  I often use two strobes, one cabled and one slave.  Sometimes the slave doesn't see the primary flash and doesn't fire.  To solve this, I rigged a coiled fiber-optic cable between the two and attached it to the diffusers.  It picks up the flash at one end and delivers it to the sensor on the other strobe at the other end.  Viola!  Both strobes fire all of the time and the cable coils and uncoils to stay out of my way.  The cable seems fairly robust, but we'll see how it likes being loaded in and out of small boats and making bumpy transits to dive spots.
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #138
John,
Nice shot of the CBX.  That bike was a classic the moment it came out.  The idea of synchronizing 6 carbs was the reason I never thought about owning one (along with my extra income being completely exhausted on children's sports, braces, etc).  The black and white treatment is nice.  Did you find the lens to be sharp at F2.8?

I just discovered a use for fiber-optic cables.  I often use two strobes, one cabled and one slave.  Sometimes the slave doesn't see the primary flash and doesn't fire.  To solve this, I rigged a coiled fiber-optic cable between the two and attached it to the diffusers.  It picks up the flash at one end and delivers it to the sensor on the other strobe at the other end.  Viola!  Both strobes fire all of the time and the cable coils and uncoils to stay out of my way.  The cable seems fairly robust, but we'll see how it likes being loaded in and out of small boats and making bumpy transits to dive spots.

I did the B&W as a tribute - though no where near as good - to Bill Benson's recent photos in this thread.  The original post on my smugmug site was in color.  I went back to the negative (RAW file) and pulled it up in the post processing programs I use now looking for the focus point.  I must have been using a camera setting that did not record the focus point but as I remember the photo I was trying to make everything in the photo revolve around the stud that held the closest exhaust flange in place.  From a photographic point of view I'm not sure the idea really worked.   To change to B&W I went back to the NEF file, boosted sharpness for everything red or yellow reducing everything blue or green.  Adjusted brightness to what I liked and then converted to B&W (I used NX2 to complete the actions).  I did not add grain - though sometimes I will do that in B&W transfers to make picture look more like pushed film. 
The original NEF was taken on a D300.  I went to a Cars and Coffee event near me and used mostly the 11-16.  I mention this because I thing the lens is very sharp and the new edition is supposed to be better according to everything I have read.  Here is a link to the pictures I took that day.  You can down load the full size jpg files to see how the lens does at different f stops.
You'll Need a Newer Browser to See This Page
I am very challenged by this lens.  Wide sounds like fun until you try to do it.  I have had less success with landscapes than I would have hoped.  I use the lens for confined areas, you know the easy stuff.  Here is a more embarrassing link to landscapes with the lens but may help you with the evaluation of the performance in the lens corners. You'll Need a Newer Browser to See This Page  Note these pictures were taken on with a D600, a full frame camera so there is a lot of shading in the corners that you would not see with your cameras.  Still the D600 has more pixels in a confined spot so that is a better way to judge the lens as compared to a older picture from a D300.
Edit: I forgot to comment on the fiber cables.  Great idea.  No electricity to be bothered by water.  Should work great under water and above.
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #139
Here is one that is a bit "off the wall"...Del Mar Fair 2017    © Bill Benson
2005 MB

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #140
Bill I love your work.
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #141
Thanks John... coming from a master I will take that as a compliment!
2005 MB

 
Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #142
Maybe you'd want to start a new thread on the line of 'What I got out of my camera and how'. Some of this is a quantum leap from the roadshots I can get out of my cell phone.  ;)   Great seeing the results and great reading how and by what they came about.
joel
(a pentax in the closet with the film slowly rotting away)
Joel & Terry Wiley
dog Zeke
2013  31 IB   Orwan   / 2011 CRV Tow'd LWEROVE

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #143
Maybe you'd want to start a new thread on the line of 'What I got out of my camera and how'. Some of this is a quantum leap from the roadshots I can get out of my cell phone.  ;)  Great seeing the results and great reading how and by what they came about.
joel
(a pentax in the closet with the film slowly rotting away)
Actually my every day camera is my cell phone.  We just kind of got off on a tangent.  I don't know that the tangent would support a real thread.  There are so many people that take great shots without a camera then say they are not a photographer... I would say they are.
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #144
One of my good friends and former photography instructor recently took a trip to Argentina and shot all of his pictures with a phone.  His phone pictures were spectacular.
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #145
John DeCrema, I found the discussions of camera, lenses, and processing a bit daunting but very educational and entertaining.
I think the topic deserves a thread of it's own,  sort of a Birds-of-a-feather thread.  :)
Joel & Terry Wiley
dog Zeke
2013  31 IB   Orwan   / 2011 CRV Tow'd LWEROVE

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #146
If I may --- being a photog since the 60s I have a few opinions about the field.    Almost from the first day I heard about what makes a 'real' photographers.   I remember the fight over putting the meter in the camera.   If the camera had a meter then you were just a hobby shooter.  I felt then as I feel today content is the only thing that matters.    The tools a person uses is important but a good tool will not make good content - only an artist will create art.

A vision of Death Valley.......
personal fine art photo stuff
TF Mack | Flickr
It's all good .......
2014 Twin King

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #147
John,
Your ideas for B+W conversions are stuff I want to play with more.
I really liked the cars and bikes on your smugmug page.  At our age, it is wonderful to see the cars and bikes that I lusted for when they were new and I was too poor to own any of them. 
The WA lenses are challenging to shoot.  I shoot two prime lenses, a Nikon 10.5mm fisheye and a Nikon 20mm.  I have limited my use of them to underwater big animals that are really close, and expansive desert landscapes.  The problem underwater is that if an animal is farther than about 2 - 3 feet away, it looks like a distant miniature! I have attached a selfy I shot with the 10.5 at arms length (28"?) with my daughter and me at Catalina Island, 30 feet down in the kelp forest at Isthmus Reef. It is right out of the camera, bubbles, back-scatter, and all.  At that close distance, the fish-eye effect is reduced by the subject being centered and kelp fronds are always moving around in the current and surge, so no one knows what kelp looks like anyway.
Your recommendations of the D500 were right on the money.  I'm just stunned by how good the focus and metering systems are!  I'm having fun playing with it and looking forward to getting it underwater.

Thanks again Kent for starting such an interesting thread!
Harold
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #148
Judie's Adventures of Dorrie Ann (sp?) is filled with colorful and well composed photos of food creations.

Judie, will you post something here?
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life

Re: What's In Your Camera?
Reply #149
Judie's Adventures of Dorrie Ann (sp?) is filled with colorful and well composed photos of food creations.

Judie, will you post something here?
Judie's blog has links to all her older posts, showing mouth-watering photos of her culinary creations. Rather than having her duplicate them there, I suggest interested readers visit her blog: Adventures of Dorrie Anne | Photographing the West

Chris
Formerly: 2002 30' IB