Photography: what do you own?
 

I am still just starting out, and with the holidays coming soon I am looking to grow my equipment.

Most of the photography I do is automotive related or landscape. I am still very much a noob.

For all the photographers out there, can I get a list of your equipment?

Body:
Lenses:
Tripod:
Filters:?
Flashes/Strobes:?
storage/travel bag:?
other accessories:?
Post Processing:?

Mine is:
Body: Canon XSi
Lenses: kit lens from a Canon film SLR
Tripod: None :(
Post Processing: Photoshop CS5

Looking to get a circular polarizer, 50mm, tripod, remote, wireless slave flash

Some of what I have done so far:
Attachment 186359
Attachment 186360

Body: Nikon D50 (OLD SCHOOL!) Buying a D7000 soon.
Lenses: Nikkor 50mm 1.8D, 18-55 non VR, and VR, some cheap shit telephoto 55-300
Tripod: Nikon tri, and Manfrotto monopod
Filters:? various assortment
Flashes/Strobes:? none/built in
storage/travel bag:? back pack
other accessories:? remote, paper and color films for flash
Post Processing:? PS7 (OLD SCHOOL AGAIN!)

For what it's worth, the 18-55 VR is probably the best all around lens for a Nikon that you can have. Hard to believe it's a kit lens on most cameras. Mine came with the non VR, which is also very good.

I've gotten my worth out of this poor D50. Being such an early DSLR, it's high ISO quality is absolute shit. And by high, I mean 400, 800 and 1600... the only other values other than it's lowest of 200, which in itself is a bit grainy at times. I've been wanting to upgrade for a long time, and now that I can afford to, and will be on the road a lot, I want a new camera. So the D7000 is what I have had my eye on since it came out. Such value at $1100 for a Nikon factory refurb body. I have never had anything less than perfection out of Nikon refurb items. Saves some serious money, and looks and operates exactly like new, just without factory boxes most of the time. Who wants to pay $100-$200 more for a camera for the yellow box? Not I.

you got a set of ND grads? your sky is great but the foreground...

equipment though... if you can shoot the whole image with what you have, then you dont need more equipment.

what's your training?

Grads are a lot of fun to play with. Can get so many interesting shots you couldn't have otherwise. Though a lot of time the foreground isn't interesting enough to be visible anyway...

Post processing could have taken care of the foreground a little, but I think it's fine how it is. A case of uninteresting subject anyway in the dark area.

No filters. Sadly i had to google ND grads cause i didnt know what you were talking about.


IK the foreground is lacking. That was a last minute "hey lets go down to the beach and take pics". No tripod obviously. I wasnt sure how to make something out of the foreground. The only post processing I did was turn the Vibrancy up a bit to make the background a little more vivid.

As for the other pic it was a shot my gf and I took at her stepbrothers wedding in the middle of a winery in NAPA. Crazy high ISO cause we were drunk and couldnt hold the camera steady for a long enough exposure. :bowrofl:

No training. Astroboy has helped me a tiny bit, but I need more.

allow ken rockwell to better explain:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/grads.htm

I'd spend some money on composition courses and perhaps some books on photog as art and lighting and exposure and shit.

Honestly that's where I made the most improvements. It's like the whole "what should I get for my car to improve lap times?" "driving instruction."

rockwell's site lists some books:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/books.htm

I'd start with perhaps "Understanding Exposure" and something on Composition or Art or how to design a photograph. I've noticed that after reading a few articles and books on composition that I really don't know that much about it. The whole artistic theory behind photography is pretty important to understanding what makes a photo great versus just a photo of something.

And once you start getting into it and understanding it, you find you'll be watching TV and understanding how the shots were framed and why. It's irritating but pretty fun.

Body:d5000
Lenses:Nikkor (f1.8 50, 18-55vr, 55-200vr), hoping to go to some real glass after new years
Tripod:In pieces
Filters:Almost never take off my cpf
Flashes/Strobes:I will be flashin soon
storage/travel bag:cheap nikon bag
other accessories:I have this app for my phone that caresses my ego
Post Processing:PS

Here's some recent junk I took:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6...44fbd7c2_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6...4e7158cb_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6...52151d31_b.jpg

I was waiting for you to chime in. We will have to get together after new yrs to take some shots.

y8s... great link! reading now

Yes

I can swing by before new yrs to work on your car, but no photo fun. My gf stole the SLR when she left for Cali today. She wont be back till new yrs. Work this week, off next. PM me.

Body: Nikon D300, Nikon F3
Lenses: oh man...
Nikon: 10.5/2.8 fisheye, 18-55 crappy kit lens, 28/2.8D, 50/1.2AI, 50/1.4 pre-AI, 50/1.8D, 55/2.8 micro, 70-300, 28-80.
Vivitar: 19/3.8, 28/1.9, 85/1.4, 135/2.8 macro, 90/2.5 macro with matched 1:1 adapter
umm... that's it off the top of my head.

Tripod: Huge Manfroto that stands 7' tall, and a tiny plastic one I use for toy pix.
Filters: I sometimes use a circular polarizer. I shoot mostly naked though. I keep a clear filter on my Vivitar 90mm just cause it's rare and hard to replace.
Flashes/Strobes: Nope.
storage/travel bag: ThinkTank expanding holster for daily duty (holds my camera with lens and 1 extra in the bottom) and a huge old 80s film SLR bag for long trips.
Post Processing: Photoshop CS3 and Gimp


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6...90ac9ff6_b.jpg
D300, 28/2.8, f/8, ISO200, tripod, remote trigger. Shot this a few days ago. This is the eclipsed moon a few minutes before sunrise.


http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6103/6...21e6d49f_b.jpg
F3, Vivitar 28/1.9, Fuji Reala 100, no post processing. The abandoned AT&SF railyard in Albuquerque.


http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6039/6...10dc5c61_b.jpg
F3, Nikon 50/1.2, Kodak 800, no post processing. About an hour after my daughter was born.


http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3070/2...a912e741_b.jpg
D300, Nikon 28/2.8, 3 exposure HDR, cloudy white balance, Photomatix for tone mapping and Photoshop to bring back the contrast and make EVE float. This was shot on my backyard wall.

I've always been interested in photography...bought/read books, messed around with non slr digital cameras, but never took the plunge to buy a "good" camera.

What would you all recommend for a camera and lenses that are good enough to grow with? If you did it over again would you buy what you have, or would you have spent "a little more" on something better, and why???

Affordable, D90. A bit older now, but still one of the best bang for your buck cameras. For a little more, I still think the D7000 is the best camera out right now for under several grand. Stick with a standard 18-55 VR kit lens starting out, and use it until you feel you have "mastered" it and want to play with other lenses.

D90 body, $829. Add another $100-$200 for a decent starter lens. That is what I would do if starting out. The D90 is about the same cost as my D50 was when it came out about 5-6 years ago, and is 10x the camera, technically.

http://www.adorama.com/INKD90.html

I wish I was able to do things like this...

http://trphoto.smugmug.com/FineArtPh...unset021-L.jpg

Travis Rhoads took it at the last event at Road Atlanta, (he's selling prints if interested)

If I had the extra cash, I would buy something - but it all goes to the car right now (after the family)
The only camera I have is an old Minolta 7000i 35mm

Body: Nikon D3100
Lenses: 18-55mm VRII, 35mm f1/8, 10-24mm, 55-300mm
Tripod: Sunpak 7500 Platinum Plus
Filters: UV on all my lenses, CPL
Flashes/Strobes: SB-400, SB-700
storage/travel bag:I have a small bag, and a Pro Runner 200 AW Backpack
Post Processing: Photoshop CS5, Lightroom 3.4

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...6-2/daryel.jpg

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...wg_scca003.jpg

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...2/DSC_0104.JPG

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...2/peekaboo.jpg

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...1377_edits.jpg

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2/d/7128-2/yawn.jpg

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...2/catz0042.jpg

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2..._1339_edit.jpg

EVO3D
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...45427079_n.jpg
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6477843_n.jpg

Body: Canon 60D
Lenses: 18-135mm IS, 75-300mm
Tripod: a simple 58in, with a few swivels, it's no Manfrotto
Filters:UV
Flashes/Strobes: standard
storage/travel bag: Canon Rebel bag
other accessories: couple of 8GB SD type 6 cards
Post Processing: I don't consider it my picture after something like this, just my humble opinion.


I don't call myself a photographer really, I just like to mess around with it all. I've learned quite a few things from my buddy Darryl, he owns and runs killboy.com . Also if I want any baller pictures I just give him a shout :)

I thought that for a while but with film photography the photographs are processed in a darkroom where you tweak the coloring, blow them up, crop them, and so on. Post processing is just a digital darkroom, or at least that's how I feel about post processing now.

dont spend $800 on a camera until you KNOW you have reached the limitations of what you have. If you can adjust shutter speed, aperture, white balance, and color then you can go a VERY long way with any camera. If you find yourself making awesome photographic compositions at sporting events but missing that critical moment by a quarter of a second becuase your camera can't take 9 frames a second, THEN consider an upgrade.

Here's what I do on a Nikon D5000 with 18-55 kit lens and just a cheap UV filter:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c...2/DSC_2535.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n...2/DSC_2541.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U...6/DSC_2663.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X...2/DSC_2969.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...2/DSC_2985.JPG

Here's some more recent ones. The sun spent a lot of time peeking through those clouds and spraying out like Jesus came down. Everyone wanted pictures in front of it. Pain in my ass with that backlighting. Fill flash is key. Kinda wish I had a diffuser though.

Not a super photo, but to give you the idea:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1324318785

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1324318531

Fill flash:

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...2/DSC_0052.JPG

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...2/DSC_0050.JPG

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...2/DSC_0055.JPG