photography thread

[skipshady]

Before the BigSoccer BigWipeout, I remember there was some interest here in cameras and lenses and such, so I figured I'd start another thread.

Anyway, my Canon S40 just came in today. Totally stoked. Got a great deal on it too.
It's going to take me a while to get used to all the buttons. I know I'm going to be spending the whole weekend running around with my camera.


My next big purchase should be a new lens for my manual Nikon. Any suggestions?

[otterulz]

Nah, but since you seem to know a lot about cameras maybe you can help me out. What do you prefer? A digital camera or just a good ol fashioned 35mm? I need to get a camera for my trip to Barcelona and I was wondering which I should purchase. Plus those disposable ones come out like ************. So any suggestions, brand names, camera models, I'd appreciate. Thanks.

[metrocorazon]

Originally posted by otterulz
Nah, but since you seem to know a lot about cameras maybe you can help me out. What do you prefer? A digital camera or just a good ol fashioned 35mm? I need to get a camera for my trip to Barcelona and I was wondering which I should purchase. Plus those disposable ones come out like ************. So any suggestions, brand names, camera models, I'd appreciate. Thanks.
Digital is best if you dont care about the artsy fartsy crap. You can share with family over the net. Only draw back is that if you want a quality print you have to spend good money on a nice printer. Or take it to Kinkos.

Film cameras give you more choices but you have to spend lots of money on lenses and filters, not to mention developing cost. And if you wanna put them on the web or share by email you have to scan each print.

You have to see what your use is going to be. If its just for shooting pictures of you around town or simple souveneir pictures, I suggest the digital. If you are planning to show off your photography skills(or gaining some) and do some funky stuff. Then go with the Film.

[skipshady]

Originally posted by otterulz
Nah, but since you seem to know a lot about cameras maybe you can help me out. What do you prefer? A digital camera or just a good ol fashioned 35mm? I need to get a camera for my trip to Barcelona and I was wondering which I should purchase. Plus those disposable ones come out like ************. So any suggestions, brand names, camera models, I'd appreciate. Thanks. All things being equal, I prefer a good manual 35mm over digital. I get more control and film still gives you better pictures.

You can get a good fully manual Canon or Nikon for $200. And manuals will last you longer than more expensive ones with bunch of buttons you will never use. Or you can just get yourself a compact point-and-shoot for real cheap nowadays, depending on the features you want, like zoom and red eye reduction.

But you might be like me and think getting film developed is a bee-atch, which is the reason I went digital.

It depends on what you want to do with the picture. If you just want to email them or put them up on a website, you can get a decent digital between $100-200. They won't look good printed though. To make prints, you want to get 2 megapixels or higher resolution.

Either way, cnet.com (http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-1429209.html?tag=dir) is a good place to start. Also, I don't know how long your trip is, but make sure you have a big enough memory card to last you the whole trip.

[JeffGMc]

If I was going to Barcelona, I would take my film camera, I've got the lenses, the equipment and the control I want and need for quality shots that I will want to keep forever.

But that's me.

You might want to take a few quick shots here and there with a small camera that's not going to weigh you down, that's a point and shoot. You might want to take a few quality shots for your own purposes, but mostly look at them on your computer and need to know right then that you got your shot, as you don't have time to go back ever, that's digital. You might want the ultimate in quality, that's a $$$ Nikon or Canon, so tell us what you want to do with your camera and we'll have a better time helping you out.
if you go digital, skip is right on, get as much memory as you can afford, then get a little bit more, nothing worse than a day to go and having no memory left on your card, as you don't want to lose the top of your trip.

[JeffGMc]

Originally posted by skipshady
My next big purchase should be a new lens for my manual Nikon. Any suggestions?
What have you already got? I assume a 50mm, but what else? And what do you want to take? I just got a 100-300 and it is bad-ass. I'm going to use it like a mother at the next game I get to, I can't wait. I think I'll be getting into wide angle sometime in the future as well.

[phats_away]

must have lenses

15-25mm (wide angle)
50 mm
100-300 zoon
a 24-85 zoom also works

[skipshady]

Originally posted by JeffGMc

What have you already got? I assume a 50mm, but what else? And what do you want to take? I just got a 100-300 and it is bad-ass. I'm going to use it like a mother at the next game I get to, I can't wait. I think I'll be getting into wide angle sometime in the future as well. Yep, a 50 mm. It's my student camera, absolutely no frills.
I'll be taking mostly scenery shots, so probably wide angle, though a nice zoom lens would be nice too.

[JeffGMc]

Originally posted by skipshady
Yep, a 50 mm. It's my student camera, absolutely no frills.
I'll be taking mostly scenery shots, so probably wide angle, though a nice zoom lens would be nice too.
You'll spend a lot on a good wide angle that will try and eliminate distortion, but it will be worth it. My second lens was a zoom from 28 to 105, fun, but only f4.0-5.6, so not as good for low light, but I use it a lot kicking around the City.

But if you're doing vistas of scenery, no question, wide angle.

Let me know how your new Canon works this weekend.

[thepremierleague]

Originally posted by skipshady
Before the BigSoccer BigWipeout, I remember there was some interest here in cameras and lenses and such, so I figured I'd start another thread.

Anyway, my Canon S40 just came in today. Totally stoked. Got a great deal on it too.
It's going to take me a while to get used to all the buttons. I know I'm going to be spending the whole weekend running around with my camera.


My next big purchase should be a new lens for my manual Nikon. Any suggestions?


A Japanese starting a thread about cameras.

What a surprise. ;) :D

[skipshady]

Originally posted by thepremierleague
A Japanese starting a thread about cameras.

What a surprise.Why don't you leave me alone and go talk about your uncle some more? ;)

[thepremierleague]

Ok. :)

Has anyone seen those digital camera key rings? They are smaller than a box of matches. You can also get digital camera watches.

Not serious cameras, but great spy gadgets. ;)

[otterulz]

Yeah, it's just for memories and crap. I'm not looking for professional prints or nothing, just something to remember my trip by, which is pretty much all I take pics for anyway.

I have the Hewlett Packard camera that has 2.1 mgapixels or whatever but that's the chunkiest digital camera ever and is mad annoying to carry around. The one thing I do like about the digital cams is that you have the LCD screen and you can see the pics you've already taken. But yeah, the prints come out like shiznit.

I was thinking of something small like one of them fancy Elf cameras or whatever the hell they're called. Something simple and effective and cheap is all I need. Thanks for the feedback so far though.

[spejic]

If you are going in order to take pictures, I would get a SLR film camera. If you are going, and want to take pictures while there, you will certainly want something small and light. You want something that goes in your pocket without it being a problem.

For a film camera, look at the Olympus Stylus Epic. For digital cameras, make sure you look at the size even before the price and the picture quality (although both are important). A camera that is left in the hotel room isn't going to take pictures.

See www.dpreview.com for good information about cameras, although the forums are mostly for serious photographers.

[spejic]

About disposable cameras:

I have used a bunch before I bought my SLR. The Fuji ones (I used 4 or 5 of them) have been terrible - washed out and cool colors, poor focus and very bad barrel distortion. The regular Kodak ones are pretty good and the Kodak HQ ones are even better. They are best at taking images about 3 meters in front of you. Distance focus isn't that great, and they just don't work for landscapes. The HQ flash seems to go off all the time, but it is wimpy and makes a nice fill on sunny days. It also has distortion, but not as bad as the Fuji ones.

The biggest problem with disposable cameras is that you don't know how good a camera you get until you have already gotten rid of it. There seems to be some unevenness in the production of the lenses.

[JeffGMc]

Originally posted by otterulz
I was thinking of something small like one of them fancy Elf cameras or whatever the hell they're called. Something simple and effective and cheap is all I need. Thanks for the feedback so far though.
Seen the Minolta Dimage X? Not exactly cheap, but tiny as hell. For cheapness, it's hard to beat the 2.2 mp Kodak EasyShare DX3500. Of course, the docking station is extra.

If you have an open mind, get a film camera. I have a decent point and shoot that I'll throw in my bag. It's taken a lot of beatings, but if I just want snapshots, it'll work fine. Cost: $30. If I need more film, I just buy it, instead of worying about which images to delete. Since it's mostly plastic inside, and no electronics, it's lighter than every digital. Since it was $30, I don't care what happens to it, nor if it should get stolen.

[skipshady]

Update on my Canon S40. Absolutely love the thing.
I'm amazed at the details on close ups - the manual focus took a little getting used to but once I got it going, it was fine. I'm still not used to looking at the LCD to take photos - maybe I'll just use the traditional viewfinder.

Still haven't had time to really run around and taking pictures around the city though. Maybe next weekend.

[zpjohnstone]

When I was at college, I took about 16 hours of film class and put out a chap book of photography and poetry for my senior project. I also ran the photography lab, and sometimes I wonder what kind of degenerative condition I am going to come down with later in life from all the photo chemicals I played with.

Anyway, I'm mostly suprised that we've gone this far and some photo-snob hasn't appeared and started talking about their Leica.

Also, I think it's also important to point out that anyone considering photo classes at school should remember that the three words that may make it easiest to get women naked is "I'm a photographer." Especially if you have an impressive portfolio (Double entendre fully intended).

Anyway, if you're interested in Photography, you should get a real, non-digital camera, no question- you have finite control over aperture and such, and you have negatives, which allow you to print, which is actually where a lot of the real techinique in photography is. If you're not printing you're own pictures you're really, really missing out.

If you just want to take pictures, I say go digital.

[spejic]

> the three words that may make it easiest to get
> women naked is "I'm a photographer."

I tried this, but she left when I pulled out my Kodak HQ disposable camera. "But darling, this is a HQ!"

[Bonnie Lass]

(Leicas aren't bad, they're misunderstood)

Nikon8008 here.

One day, hopefully before next soccer season, I'll be sporting a Nikon F5. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)

I also wouldn't mind a Hassie for studio-esque work.

I, personally, prefer the negatives to the digitals. While most of my stuff over the past few years have been journalistic/sports, I think it'll be years before I settle in and use a digi all the time.

There's just something comforting about having a negative in a sleeve somewhere. And not just a jpg sitting on your desktop or burned onto a CD.

The price of continuing to use a film based camera is awful. You have the film, the developing, and the prints themselves. Especially with the amount of pics I normally shoot in one game.

But on the flipside, I can always bulk load my own film, get the negatives developed at a local camera place for about $1-$2 a roll, and then scan them in using a film scanner. The ones I want to have as prints, I can pick and choose how I like with a lightboard.

I've had access to a nice Cannon 1D this past season and love the fact I can shoot 2 gig worth of pictures and have them all on a CD/on my computer in no time. But for the shots I've taken that were especially good, I'm left feeling hollow inside because there is no negative for them. (I'm a sucker for blowing up good pics and hanging them on my wall)

==

But at any rate, I think the normal vacation pictures family/person would be better off with a point and shoot digi. Just because it elminates the cost of processing and it saves a lot of time. Though you can't blow up the shots of a cheaper camera, you can make the typical 4x6" prints on your computer using a decent ink jet printer.