Photography Thread

[Tang]

So Khoi said pretty much exactly what I was going to say so there's that!

Here's a nice reflection:

 

[Philligan]

Tom: I dig your editing. A lot are underexposed, but I think it works for them. You can still see what's going on, but they've got some more character.

The only thing I really noticed that I didn't jive with is the vignetting, like Khoi said. It's pretty heavy on a few of them, especially the ones where you can see the defined circle. I usually don't do more than the smallest amount in my edits, I find it gets overwhelming really quickly.

edit: The cow nose shot is awesome, though. I really dig the boat one, too, but it's definitely underexposed - it's tough to see what's going in the shadows. Did you pull the exposure down to show the details in the sky? If so, try leaving the exposure and instead pull the highlights and raise the shadows, should even things out nicely.

On another note, how do you like the Samyang fisheye on your Canon? After the Sigma 18-35, I think a fisheye is next on my list and I was looking at the Samyang/Rokinon.

No pictures for a little while, sadly. My hard drive corrupted on me last night. I lost a couple small batches of pictures (like the deer), which sucks, but it's not the end of the world if I can't recover them. I'm still a little worried, but I think the only issue is the SSD, so it should be an easy fix. I really can't complain - the 128GB SSD in there was getting too small with the photo processing I was doing, so it's a good reason to upgrade. And this happened right in between finals and wedding season, so I lucked out there.

 

[Tang]

Tom: I dig your editing. A lot are underexposed, but I think it works for them. You can still see what's going on, but they've got some more character.

The only thing I really noticed that I didn't jive with is the vignetting, like Khoi said. It's pretty heavy on a few of them, especially the ones where you can see the defined circle. I usually don't do more than the smallest amount in my edits, I find it gets overwhelming really quickly.

edit: The cow nose shot is awesome, though. I really dig the boat one, too, but it's definitely underexposed - it's tough to see what's going in the shadows. Did you pull the exposure down to show the details in the sky? If so, try leaving the exposure and instead pull the highlights and raise the shadows, should even things out nicely.

On another note, how do you like the Samyang fisheye on your Canon? After the Sigma 18-35, I think a fisheye is next on my list and I was looking at the Samyang/Rokinon.

No pictures for a little while, sadly. My hard drive corrupted on me last night. I lost a couple small batches of pictures (like the deer), which sucks, but it's not the end of the world if I can't recover them. I'm still a little worried, but I think the only issue is the SSD, so it should be an easy fix. I really can't complain - the 128GB SSD in there was getting too small with the photo processing I was doing, so it's a good reason to upgrade. And this happened right in between finals and wedding season, so I lucked out there.

I know that feel.. so well. If I can't recover my external HDD that's about 10,000 RAWs.. Working on a more robust backup solution now.

Honestly, I think this is the best picture I've ever taken. God, I love photography so much.

IMGP4323-3 by nrrfed, on Flickr

 

[Winspear]

Thanks a lot for the comments guys! You're probably right about the vignette - I felt I was perhaps overdoing it haha. I haven't used the Fisheye a great deal - just a few 'novelty' shots where I feel it's appropriate - but I really like it.

Tang, that pic is fantastic!

 

[Rook]

It turns out Fuji kit is waaaaaaaay cheaper in the US and even more so in Canada, I'm gunna get a friend of mine to send me an XT-1 and 10-24, it's probably gunna cost me only £200 more than just buying the XT-1 on its own here.

Then I'll have the X-Pro with the 10-24 in the bag (because AF doesn't matter at 15-18mm equivalent, keep it at f8) and the XT-1 and 56 1.2 (85mm 135) on my shoulder with the 23 1.4 (35mm 135) in the bag which I'll switch between using on the XT-1 for the fast accurate focus.

And ALL for less than my 6D and 50mm.

such pro. wowe.

I'll probably then pick up the 50-140 2.8 when in comes out, assuming it isn't horrendously expensive, and honestly that's me done. He says.

Rook: I like those. Especially Family Time. Love that composition!

How do you feel about my street shots above?

Thanks bro

I like them, I think the people at that stand is a good crop and I like the use of colour in all of them!

 

[Khoi]

Tried out some product photography today.. I don't think it turned out too bad!

here's the ghetto rig:

 

[Tang]

Like that high key look, Khoi! Nice job.

Here's one from the car shop by my house.

 

[Philligan]

I haven't used the Fisheye a great deal - just a few 'novelty' shots where I feel it's appropriate - but I really like it.

Awesome, thanks man. Does it talk to your camera okay? I heard from a couple people that it has trouble metering with Canons. I know it's manual focus/aperture, but does it function well on the body?

 

[Tang]

And since you guys are my best friends on ss.org, here's a little diddy I wrote in honor of my Pentax K30 which is dead the rest of the song is a mix between Electric Wizard and Meshuggah but my iPhone doesn't do well with distortion.

Pentax Love Song by nrrfed on SoundCloud - Hear the world



Getting an estimate from Pentax on repair costs currently.

 

[Joe Harvatt]

Here's a small scan of a photo from a roll I got developed today. The camera is a Nikon F301 with 50mm f1.8 Ai-s lens on to cheap Agfa 200 24 film.

Picked up an old Sigma 28mm f2.8 for Nikon mount for £10 from a bargain bin at a local photography shop in Cardiff. Can't wait to get my next roll developed.

 

[Wretched]

Some pics from Killswitch Engage's show in Sydney a couple weeks ago:

 

[kaffefilter]

johanbackstrom.net

 

[Philligan]

Those are awesome, Ben.

Nothing crazy today because my computer's still down, but I took this last night and edited it on my phone in Photogene. Canada/US border.

Sunset at the Bluewater Bridge by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[Rook]

Here's more of my shit!

Somewhere Else by NickNickNickHowlett, on Flickr

Smoke Break by NickNickNickHowlett, on Flickr

Two and a Half Windows by NickNickNickHowlett, on Flickr

Sadly this guy's face is slightly OOF, ah well, I like the rest of it haha, that's my fault for skimping on ISO and trying to do street photography at f/1.4. That said, it's still ISO 1600, I'm surprised my X-Pro even got close to focusing in that light!

Between Two Phoneboxes by NickNickNickHowlett, on Flickr


My XT-1's ordered, they said next day delivery but the postal service tracking won't even work, meaning it probably won't arrive tomorrow, despite it being the 'next day'...

 

[Tang]

That shit is not shitty! I like the girl on the subway the best.

This is the closest I'll ever get to HDR.

 

[Philligan]

I really dig the phone booth one, Nick. I think it's my favourite of yours.

Since I'm sans computer at the moment, here's one I took while I was grilling dinner. This was the stock iPhone 5 camera, edited in Photogene.

 

[capoeiraesp]

Rook, lovin' the pastelish red and greens in that last shot with the phone-booths.

Some shots I found on my cards that I'd forgotten about.

and a shot with my LensBaby transferred via 6D's wifi into vsco.

 

[Tang]

Leica T (Typ 701) First Impressions Review: Digital Photography Review

So how about this new Leica and it's slow as shit $1,700 zoom? It's a pretty camera and the touch screen looks great, but I can't help but think Leica missed the boat on the EVF front.

For that much dough, I'd expect at least a constant f/4 zoom. I know they're trying to keep the size down, but still!

 

[Rook]

My X-T1 arrived today!

Now I've fiddled with one before but I played with it for all office seconds and had to put it down because I couldn't afford it. I bought it on the consistency of the Fuji system across the range and the spec sheet when compared to mine. I also love that it has an ISO dial and switches for drive and metering, you basically never use the menus which is fantastic.

I've heard anecdotally that the focus is OMG SO MUCH BETTER and that it handles high ISO's a little better compared to the X-Pro1, then there's DAT VIEWFINDER - basically this cameras gotten a lot of hype among Fuji fans so being my usual skeptical self I tried to manage my expectations on those fronts.

Having been shooting it this morning, here's a first impression from someone whose actually spent money on this.
- The viewfinder is actually amazing, and if like me you use sensible JPEG settings (they affect the viewfinder even if you shoot full RAW) you can easily forget it's electronic. It refreshes really fast and there's no real lag to speak of, the actual image itself you're looking at just makes you want to shoot. Add onto that you can see your exposure AND with a couple of small tweaks applied at the point of shooting is both increasing my hit rate and inspiring me to see potential in shots I otherwise wouldn't, so I'm shooting more and keeping more. This is the same obviously in the X Pro, but having now bought a 'serious' camera with an EVF, I'm completely comfortable with that. The size is something else, and feels fantastic.

- Focus is a hell of a lot better. The X-Pro would hunt every single time it went to focus. Not in a bad way necessarily but it's process was 'this is too close, that's too far away, that's it' (or sometimes 'that's too close, that's too far, errr wut' and you have to try again...), the most obvious difference is with the PD auto focus it knows if it's ahead or behind so it just snaps straight to it a lot of the time, it feels very reassuring. This is probably the biggest benefit with me and was what I was counting on to make my leap from SLR's to mirrorless... I will add here, for manual focusing you can both get a split VIEW that puts a 100% crop of the centre of the frame to the right and the full, untouched composition on the left meaning you can focus and compose and the viewfinder will accommodate that. The other option is 'digital split prism' which puts a rangefinder style prism in the middle of the image and I looooooove it. Love it love it love it. Nice touch, looks great, works great, good fun. Great for legacy glass and Leica lenses (summicron 90mm f2 here I come).

- Ergonomically it's very surprising. I was worried a smaller camera would be harder to keep a firm grip on, particularly with the shutter flat on the top plate. The X Pro1 gives a decent chunk of body to get hold of but it's quite flat, so despite how grippy the pretend leather is it still feels droppable - not that I've dropped mine yet. In fact having the shutter button on the top plate changes how you grip the body and you find your middle two fingers hooking the grip quite comfortably. In terms of ergonomics I'm finding it easy to forget how small the body is, despite my large hands, and in fact my girlfriend took a picture of me shooting with it; if it were any smaller it'd look like a toy in my hands haha. 3 hours with it now and my hands are more relaxed than with the X-Pro and combined with the light weight, no pain or discomfort at all.

- In terms of build, I had my concerns. My X-Pro1 has a very solid feel, despite being unnervingly light, and Fujifilm keep insisting that even though the X-T1 outweighs it in spec and speed, the X-Pro1 is the flagship. This is driven home by the experience of buying the X Pro, you get the offer to join some silly club and the camera arrives in a very nice, heavy, moulded, foam padded box with a magnetic lid and a big 'X' engraved in it, the X-T however comes in a slightly more consumer-electronics box, it's full of white cardboard and plastic bags and those cardboard things your given in McDonald's when you buy more than one drink. I opened the box, having never discerningly examined the build of the X-T thinking 'have I just bought a cheap piece of plastic?'.
Well no, apparently I haven't. Despite Fujifilm giving up on their beautifully presented boxes, the second you pick the X-T up you notice how sharp the edges are and all that stuff that looks like plastic is in fact metal. You couldn't beat someone to death with it like you could the block aluminium X-Pro, but if you threw it at someone it'd hurt. The general build feels a hell of a lot nicer than any Canon I've ever held, except their pro film bodies pre-EOS, and the knobs and dials are all metal, and all click very rewardingly but without debilitating amounts of resistance. Every panel is metal, and that rubber-leatherish crap is very neatly applied, like my X Pro, and feels great. I'm pretty sure it's heavier than the X-Pro but I don't have it with me. It at least feels more like it's 'heavier than it looks' compared to the Pro's lighter than it looks. Te build is very rewarding and impressive, and with all the dials and controls makes the body actually feel pretty special to use, but like a well made set of chisels rather than a dainty pseudo-Swiss watch. I don't mind dropping this, I know it'll work when I pick it up and this thing's designed to bounce. NB I've seen people complain about the d-pad on the back but mine's totally acceptable. As I said before, I've only had to use it to set up so far, everything else can be done with a function button or dial.

- Image quality. I'd be lying if I said it was any different to the X Pro, if it is it's not really discernible, but it didn't need to improve. The quality of my images has already improved improved in that they're in focus and at the moment I'd intended rather than half a second later!

- Other highlights; the app's very cool, nice to have the wifi thing again. The burst speed is insane and the focus tracking actually works, you get a shit little flash which is nice - it's crap, so I won't use it, but they didn't have to include that, it's a nice gesture from Fuji, the dials are gorgeous and feel gorgeous, it's tiny, the video - while still not Canon DSLR level AT ALL - is a hell of a lot better than previous offerings and the record button kicks in straight away whatever you're doing - love that. Really this is a 7D that's faster, smaller, cheaper (than new), has nicer looking images IMO and is more solid feeling - and that's saying something - and anyone who's ever used a 7D will know that's a damn good thing hahaha.

This for me is everything I love about my X Pro, with the exception of the OVF, but tighter, faster, cleaner, smaller... I already feel like I can rely on this from day one, whereas I usually start of skeptical and get used to things. The X Pro is absolutely staying with me and will always be in the bag, with the OVF and a wide lens at F/8 focus doesn't matter and it's a lovely camera, and the consistency of image quality between the two (that's a compliment to the X Pro rather than a knock on the X-T) adds an element to it I wouldn't have predicted.

I'm very happy at this point.

 

[Tang]

I hate you Rook.

*cries his into his Pentax camera bag*

Guys, you have to see that viewfinder at least once in your life. It's so cool.