Photography Thread

[Philligan]

Consider getting a prime, too - especially if you get into astrophotography. Check out the Bower/Samyang/Rokinon primes like the 10mm 2.8 or 14mm 2.8.

Philosopher: I'll do my best to remember when I'm on the computer next.

I'd like to start shooting B&W and developing it myself now that I have some spare time. At the least, I want to start scanning my own negatives, because all the local prints suck, but I can get colour film developed no problem.

At work we have a generic $80 Canon scanner that does 4800 dpi. Will that be enough? If not, a friend of mine was showing me how he scans negatives with his macro lens, and it seemed to work well. I don't have a macro (and don't think I want to buy the Fuji 60mm macro), but Fuji announced extension tubes, so I could do my scans that way if it would work better than a scanner.

 

[Tang]

made sure my colors were good on these

rainy by nrrfed, on Flickr

IMGP3292 by nrrfed, on Flickr

ode to dragonforce by nrrfed, on Flickr

trails by nrrfed, on Flickr

riverside castles by nrrfed, on Flickr

 

[JeffFromMtl]

Considering how much I've liked the new Sigma lenses I've owned and tried, I know exactly what my next purchase is going to be:

Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Sigma SA 401-110 B&H Photo

I've been lusting after the Canon 24mm 1.4 for documentary-style photography (as well as my admittedly strange approach to portrait and fashion photography) for quite some time now, and now that Sigma's releasing one for about half the price, I'm sold. Book it.

 

[Whammy]

I haven't been around these parts lately I have a lot of pages to flick back through.

Been very busy with my kid so no time for casual shooting. I miss this part of the forum. Other photography forums suck

Just some quick short words to get back into things...

On the snow note.
I love taking photos in the snow
What annoys me here during winter is that we only get 6 hours of sunlight.

Loving the colors on that first photo Tang. I love those cold blue cinematic tones.

Jeff, love the lighting in those photos. Care to share?

 

[Joe Harvatt]

Don't seem to have much time for photography at the moment, I'm pining to get out with my camera. Here's a shot of my American Standard Precision Bass.

For anyone interested, I recently joined Hark as bass player. First set of gigs is a European tour supporting Prong in April.

 

[spn_phoenix_92]

Got a Nikon D3200 a couple days ago, this is the result of me messing around with the Macro lens.

 

[Joe Harvatt]

Here's some shots taken on either a Nikon FG or F301 with 50 1.8 AI-s

 

[JeffFromMtl]

Jeff, love the lighting in those photos. Care to share?

Thanks, man. The first two were actually natural light. The pool had huge windows not only behind the girls, but also to their left.

The second one was two huge softboxes, just positioned to offset shadows as much as possible - one to my left and one to my right.

And the third was one of the softboxes, positioned up above and directly in front of the girls. My camera was actually held right against the stand for that one.

I don't really do the whole lighting thing much, but I promised individual shots of the girls to the agency for their portfolios, so I had to give them some more "fashion" type stuff, so the lighting was necessary.

Even though it's not exactly my thing, I do think I got some shots I'm sure the agency will be happy with, along these lines (also used both softboxes for these):

I think my exports were a little too hi-res for flickr's liking because it's been really roughing them up in the last couple of posts, but whatever.

 

[Tang]

we got new fridges at work and you know me.. I used to think my 35mm wasn't fast enough @ f/2.4 wide-open but my mind is changing. It's a perfect mix of size/portability/weight and DOF, imo.

new fridge day by nrrfed, on Flickr

and a coworker just picked up a Instax..

instax by nrrfed, on Flickr

something weird is going on with the rightmost light-pole in this shot, but I still like the shot.

IMGP3829-4 by nrrfed, on Flickr

 

[soliloquy]

placed an order for 10-20mm f3.5 sigma lens. i hope my next long weekend i get, i can drive up north to do some star trail and star photography

 

[Azyiu]

I just upgraded to the Canon 16-35mm L f/2.8 II, and I guess it is time to salute my trusted 17-40mm L f/4 that, served me very well over the past 6 years; and traveled around the world with me during that time, thank you!

 

[Philligan]

I acquired Photoshop CS6 today.

I know I did a terrible, terrible job of this, but I just tried doing my first stitch. I've been wanting PS for a few things lately, so I'm glad I got it. After dinner when the light's a bit nicer, Dawn and I are gonna head outside and I'm gonna try and do a proper stitch.

This was shot with the 35mm. I'll probably the one outside with this and give the FD 50 1.8 a go, too.

First Stitch by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[JeffFromMtl]

I just upgraded to the Canon 16-35mm L f/2.8 II, and I guess it is time to salute my trusted 17-40mm L f/4 that, served me very well over the past 6 years; and traveled around the world with me during that time, thank you!

I've been using a 17-40mm as a 1A lens along with my 50mm for the past year. I love it, and it's great quality for a lens you can pick up for only $500 second-hand.

On another note, here's some of that oooooold, expired Polaroid 669 I got a while back. I shot these in NYC in October, just never got around to sharing.

 

[Rook]

I acquired Photoshop CS6 today.

I know I did a terrible, terrible job of this, but I just tried doing my first stitch. I've been wanting PS for a few things lately, so I'm glad I got it. After dinner when the light's a bit nicer, Dawn and I are gonna head outside and I'm gonna try and do a proper stitch.

This was shot with the 35mm. I'll probably the one outside with this and give the FD 50 1.8 a go, too.

Gotta love that large format look.

Go as long and fast as you can for the most prevalent results, I think. Worked amazingly with my 6D and 85 1.4.

Also, I have two options:
Sell my Hassy 50 and 250 and buy the Hassy 60, so I have 60, 80 and 150

OR

Sell my Hassy 50, 80 and 250 and buy the Hassy 100 3.5, so I have the 100 and 150, a 50 and 75mm equivalent. Then later I'll probably chop my 150 in toward the 180.

I'm basically only using the set up for the kinda thing I used to use my 6d and 50 1.2 for, and the 50's just not right, the 250's too big long and heavy so I never use it, the 150's gorgeous but too tight for every day stuff and the 80's great and compact but if it were just a teeny bit tighter it'd be perfect.

I own the standard, vanilla Hasselblad setup. The 60, 100, 120 Makro and 180 are what one would consider the 'next level' stuff, and costs more, but if you know what you want it's worth it, they aren't dabblers' lenses.

I briefly debated going for a focal plane body and selling my 500CM so I could get the 110 f2 and 50 2.8 or 150 2.8 but the bodies are less reliable, the lenses are bigger and everything's more expensive. Won't get enough use, definitely off the cards.

 

[Philligan]

I don't own a Hasselblad, nor have I used one, so I can't really make a suggestion.

Right now the longest Fuji lens I have is the 35. I'd like to pick up the 56 next, but who knows when that'll be. I tried some panos, but there's too much snow, and PS has been having trouble figuring out what to put there. I need to find a more detailed background, and I need to start with less photos. I tried I think five altogether, with about 15-40 shots per pano. I'm not sure if it was my computer (it's a Macbook Pro, but the motherboard is dying and I have to plug my internal HDD externally through the USB port), but it just wouldn't finish stitching a couple of the groups. I tried the smaller ones and it worked better, but it ran into trouble with the background because it was so plain I think. Ah well, you live and you learn. Next time I'll stick with the 35 and try something tighter, and keep it down to a few shots until I get better at it.

On a more positive note, I used the Jupiter 11 today, and it's actually pretty useful. I was getting ridiculously bad flaring the first time I tried it, but it wasn't that bad when I took it outside. As long as the light is decent and you can keep your shutter speed fast enough, it's not bad at all. It seems useably sharp, and it's got a really nice kinda smoothness to the photos. These are both shot with it.

The one of the birds is nothing special, and not very sharp, but I saw them flying and quickly manually focused and got this, and I think it's pretty cool. The weird orange glow is from the sun as it was going down.

DSCF0166 by philbabbey, on Flickr

I really wish I could have taken this somewhere with a nicer background. I love the glow it has, and I can't believe how well it's handling the backlighting. This one's pretty much straight out of camera.

DSCF0169 by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[Philligan]

This is just one speed light and a dark room. I did the healing in Photoshop, and it was amazing.

Dawn by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[Philligan]

I caved and ordered the battery grip for the X-T1 today. It's $249 in Canada, and we got it on the website at work so I was able to get it for $150 on staff pricing. I keep wondering if I'll use it much, but I remember that every time I'm doing portraits or "serious" photos, I find myself wishing I had the grip for the extra heft.

I ordered Fender Modern Player Mustang from work because it went on clearance and I got it for $220 on staff. Currently trying to decide between keeping it, or returning it and ordering a Rokinon 12mm f2. I know I'd like the Rokinon eventually for starscapes, but do you guys think a 12mm would be useful when we do our honeymoon in New York? I've already got the 18, but I'm not sure if I'd want something super wide or not. I can't afford the Fuji 14 2.8 or 10-24, sadly, or I'd do one of those in a heartbeat.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Finally got a second to break out the camera in between my race this past Saturday and studying for my two exams tomorrow.

 

[MrYakob]

Does anyone here have any experience with the original x100? I've been dying for some variation of an x100 for ages but I just don't have the cash to dish out for the S or T. From what I understand that final firmware update to the original made some big improvements and I can pick one up for about $500 used. Is it worth trying out as a stop gap until I can justify splurging on the T?

 

[Philligan]

As long as you know what you'll be getting, I can't see it hurting. People liked it for what it was, and everyone says the firmware makes a huge difference. You can always resell it down the road for little or no loss since you're buying used.