Mazdaspeeder

One gripe I have with the G2 right away is the lens hood situation. On my 24-105 if I put the hood on backwards in stow away mode I can still turn the zoom ring and even though the focus ring is tight I can still reach it. On the Tamron, because things are backwards, I can easily operate the focus ring which is closer to me, but the zoom ring COMPLETELY disappears under the hood so you can't adjust the zoom of the lens with the hood on in that reverse position. I don't know how big of an issue this is for most, I never heard it mentioned in any review I watched, but it was something I noticed right away because I tend to always take the hood with me. This may be an issue of me not knowing when to use the hood, so if maybe if I knew I wouldn't even take it with me half of the time

I will ask, what filters are worth owning? My 24-105 came with a UV filter, Im not sure exactly what it does since it seems fairly clear. I've owned polarizers before but mostly for removing reflections from when I took pictures of cars which are now boring to shoot. Should I also get a UV filter for the Tamron? I want to put something on the front just to weather seal it completely, but want to make sure what I get is worthwhile. 77mm threads on the G2 as well as my 24-105 so I can just swap the filter I have back and forth for now

Also probably going to get a backpack to carry all this **** again, I had the Canon 200eg before and will probably get that again since I liked the size and comfort and layout of it. I do like the across the shoulder bags too but I was going to try a Black Rapid strap or something similar, so I don't want a bag hanging off me on one side and a camera on the other especially for walking around cities I don't want to bump all my gear into everyone and everything.

Lastly, the G2 has the Arca swiss tripod adapter built into it, but I can't seem to find any Arca Swiss tripods for an affordable amount of money. I have an old Sunpak 7575 tripod and am not sure if I can order an Arca Swiss head for it and do it that way or if i should just get an adapter plate for the tripod I have (all my gear including tripod bases was stolen out of my miata like 8 years ago, so all I have left is a good tripod but no attachments. Can order an adapter plate for $10 or get a whole new tripod, or try to rig an Arca Swiss head to it, not sure

Mazdaspeeder

Braineack, one more you can check out. Edited with sharpness turned up, but like I said I can email you a few RAW files if you're interested. This was handheld also, I've never had luck hand holding at night so this VC is really making me happy

https://flic.kr/p/21kaCbX

Mazdaspeeder

Here's another fully zoomed in of my fiancee from graduation yesterday. Still a fumbling mess with the settings not having my shutter speed set properly in TV mode and burring some shots is frustrating. I was an idiot shooting her walking across the stage at 1/60 so I think that's also my fault that almost all of the shots came out unusable. And the best portrait I took of her I accidentally took at 1/15 with a flash so its also got some motion blur. I am not good at quickly adjusting settings for what I'm shooting. Really bummed I ruined the one good shot of her I had (not posted). I should have learned taking shots of the plane at 1/200 where I got blur and eventually went to 1/640 and got it still. Need more practice, need to get into the city and just take shots of random strangers walking around

https://flic.kr/p/D7ibNp
https://flic.kr/p/ECmCa3

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

your shutter goes to 1/8000 right? the big boy cameras with serious shutters are loud. even my D800 is louder than my D610 (1/4000 max vs. 1/8000). That's why the electronic front curtain thing is a thing now.

yeah the lens hood on the 70-200 is serious.

DONT USE UV filters. that's a film thing and certain to destroy IQ on your images -- they kill sharpness and introduce ghosting and flare. If they shatter (which they will) it can damage the coating on your front lens element. PLUS they are functional pointless because digital sensors are affected by UV light like film was/is. I've shot my G1 in the most torrential rain without even a cover/bag -- it's fine.

Good Rule of Thumb: If the filter didn't cost at least $80-100 -- don't use it.

I'm not sold on polarizers either. If you really need to cut down reflections, sure, but beyond that, if it's not a good one, that's two extra layers of cheap glass and (4) air to glass pockets you've added. Reflectiosn and specular highlights are what your eye is used to seeing, when they get removed from some shots, they look dull and flat and something not right about them.

if you shoot outside in high alts, or in cold/hot early mornings -- a good skylight filter could help with haze.

arca swiss is pretty much the standard for any tripod head so that's actually really cool. I had to buy one dedicated for my 70-200.

Mazdaspeeder

Good tips thanks. I only had a UV on my 24-105 not the 70-200 so I won't bother getting one. The one I have is a Tiffen UV Protector, not sure what it cost though. I did notice some serious flaring yesterday trying to shoot into the sun, wasn't sure if it was just the 24-105 lens being less than stellar.

Here are two shots with the 70-200. The outdoor shot is at 200mm, perfect focus, 1/160 shutter i think, came out great
https://flic.kr/p/HP6k2r
Here is the ruined shot, I guess it doesn't look bad in a small format though but zoomed in you can definitely tell the shutter speed was way too slow at 1/15
https://flic.kr/p/HP6jgt
Next up I need to decide on a bag, not sure if I want a backpack or a shoulder style. Altura makes two nice backpacks i like for under $50 each, and Canon has the 200eg but I had that before. Also gonna go get my old tripod from my parents house tonight and see if its worth playing with or if I should just try and get something higher end. Just need practice, practice, practice really.

I think my biggest problem is worrying about trying to slow down shutter speed at all times so I can have as low of an ISO and the crispest image possible, but that ruined shot would have still been awesome at higher ISO with corrections. I can do buildings and stuff handheld at slower speeds but I need to just say **** it and really just try to get the shots still to start.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I used to go everywhere with a backpack and carry everything but got tired of it fast, and started carrying a smaller shoulder bag that only carried a body and two lens or a flash and was MUCH easier to access. if I use a bag at all...

with a backpack, you must remove it, put it on the ground, unzip and access, then put back. with a shoulder carry, you can slide the bag in front of you and access anywhere. some backpacks have a side access that at least lets you get access to the camera, so you can stash it away and grab when needed.

ive now gone with a bag bag when I go to a shoot, because I need to carry too much crap and just want to put it in a corner and only go to it when I need to swap out a lens.


what's annoying about tripods is that under $100 they are either really cheap sunpro brand, or all the same travel style tripod. you have to move up past the $150 mark to get something good. The $80 range on amazon for a china copy isn't bad.

Mazdaspeeder

I saw a really nice smaller Carbon Manfroto or whatever it is at the shop near me, but they are horrible at actually helping people or even saying hi when you come in, I walked around for 10 minutes and nobody said a word to me so I just left. They had a smaller Carbon Fiber one but no price on it, and I got the impression that the tripods and heads are sold separately.

Right now I have a Sunpak 7575 from years ago but no adapter plates for it since they were all in my bag when it was stolen and the tripod was home. If the head unscrews like all of them do, I can just get an Arca-Swiss head on amazon and thread that on for now, it's not the most sturdy thing out there but I took shots with it before and they were OK. If the head does not unscrew I will either have to get a new adapter plate or a whole new tripod.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ipod_with.html
head:
Should also probably go with a shoulder bag, as long as I can fit my gripped 5D with the 70-200 installed on it inside, and have room for 1 or 2 more lenses and maybe a hotshot flash, I'd be ok. Backpacks will get hot walking around in the summer, and I'm always afraid that someone might open it up when I'm wearing it and I won't notice. A shoulder bag could stay in my line of sight and give me easier access to the camera for sure.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

carbon fiber is good for light, but not for sturdy. I think that was the first tripod I ever bought too.

I have this now: https://www.vanguardworld.us/photo_v...-263ab100.html

I like the brand and they have a lot of lower price points.


your current head will fail hard with a heavy body/lens combo.

Mazdaspeeder

Pretty good shot of my Dad at 200mm f/2.8. The lens during daytime is really really sharp, I think once things get dimmer is when my camera's focusing system starts to lag behind

https://flic.kr/p/22Lu5TM

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

not bad; work on your framing. lots of dead space above him -- looks like you focused on his eyes with the middle point, then snapped the pic.

Mazdaspeeder

Exactly right. Like I said, the composition and creative aspect is not my thing, I need to work on it. I just try to center whatever I want to focus on but then don't re-compose.

slug_dub

I'm a fan of the phone for photography and still use it a lot for the street photography. Can't stand generic filters but do edit them with Snapseed.

A few of the phone pieces that were in my Flickr that I looked at for the first time in forever...

https://flic.kr/p/axQw44
https://flic.kr/p/awmvMS
https://flic.kr/p/awaEsz
https://flic.kr/p/axahSf
My phone stuff has been collated over the years on tumblr: DEMON WHO RANTS

I see the previous comments about metadata and will make sure I post with the metadatas form now on

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I used to do the same but have gotten much better at framing.

https://flic.kr/p/rQfBsphttps://flic.kr/p/rQfBsp by https://www.flickr.com/photos/80607199@N08/, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/rcM9Srhttps://flic.kr/p/rcM9Sr by https://www.flickr.com/photos/80607199@N08/, on Flickr

My D610's focus areas is pretty small, and even with the focus point pushed to the edge, I was still framing those shots very similarly and was was forced to crop later -- so that was one thing I've worked on -- I was always chopping off feet otherwise.

Mazdaspeeder

Nice, I'll have to keep experimenting with the cats at home trying to get more creative. Those cell phone shots are composed very well too. Here's some of a friend's kitten from last night

https://flic.kr/p/22MuBZj
https://flic.kr/p/21KwKNy
https://flic.kr/p/DbGyCr
Still have dead space LOL bad habits are hard to break.

Mazdaspeeder

Duplicate post :(

edit: might as well throw this in here. Tried to work on my framing a bit here. I guess I was trying to leave space where the bird was looking but theres some big branches there that may or may not be a distraction. Only 200mm on FF so not really great for birds (even huge ones). I am happy with the focus and DOF and other things in this shot though

https://flic.kr/p/HTHJgB

Mazdaspeeder

Let's try this

Less Saturation
https://flic.kr/p/HTHJgB
More Saturation
https://flic.kr/p/EH1ahL
https://flic.kr/p/Dc36Hp

Full_Tilt_Boogie

iTrader: (1)

^Those are nice
I like seeing bird photos with a bit of the surroundings. So many are super sterile close ups on a sky background.

If that top one had a bit more contrast in the background around the birds head, it would have been really excellent. Positioning yourself slightly lower probably would have done it. Hindsight is a bitch.

I havent been taking many photos recently. Although I did snap this one of my girlfriends cat the other day on the back porch


He doesnt like me very much. Which is sad because Id love to give him some pets :[

Mazdaspeeder

https://flic.kr/p/HYgMN8
Tried some stars last night. Not the best shot when zoomed in but zoomed out to a smaller format it looks nice. Not sure if I was out of focus or getting some trails or shake but they didn't come out exactly as I wanted. Was shooting mirror up, timer countdown for shutter, VC off. I read about the 500 rule, so that gave me about 20 seconds at 24mm but some shots came out good, others did not. This second shot was at 25 seconds compared to 10 for the first shot and I think it came out sharper. Hard to focus for **** because I can't see any of the stars in live view, I just focused to infinity and was backing off little by little taking test shots.

https://flic.kr/p/22Spqyy

Mazdaspeeder

First good shot of the year, unfortunately my Canon Photo Professional 4 software can't add peripheral illumination for my third party Tamron lens but I'm happy with this

https://flic.kr/p/2334LBj

Mazdaspeeder

So I wasn't quite getting the focus I wanted so I played with some settings in my camera. It doesn't have micro adjust for tele and wide but just one per lens, so I set it to -10 and that seemed to get things a bit better

https://flic.kr/p/JiqnCH
https://flic.kr/p/F7ncTs