General Chat / The Offical Photography Thread

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 is where it is at.

http://webspace.utex...d996/freelance/

Click on the concert link. All those where hand held at ISO800 on a D50. Also, flashes are terrible things generally.

The 50/1.8 is a great lens, though I generally prefer to use the old AIS one I have here, especially when I do not need a fast AF.
Nice to see you were able to take shots at a concert and that you were able to get onto the stage. Focusing at f/1.8 can be really hard and you did a great job on that, especially considering the slow AF speed of the D50 and the 50mm lens.

Be careful with the spotlight growing out of peoples' heads. That usually looks horrible.
Some shots also have some problems with the really hard light that you have at concerts. A very common problem which can hardly be solved from the photographers' point.
Also try to get inbetween fans and band to show the interaction between them..

The b&w conversions could have a higher contrast in my opinion. Not sure how you made them. I usually like to use the Channel Mixer of PS for that in combination with an s-curved gradient.



Also flash lights can be great. The advanced CLS options of the D300 are great and allow for some great wireless use of flashes. I am currently thinking of getting a third flashlight in order to have more freedome for tabletops and portraits.

Magnus

Just some fooling around with my D300 at a concert last Sunday. Terrible light and no way to get any close to the stage ...


Nikon D300 - AF-D 80-200 + Kenko 1.4 Converter - 160mm - f/4.5 - 1/200s - ISO1600
Colours are a lot better once you open it in a programm supporting colour management and embedded ICC profiles.

Dear mother that's crisp!

I like a grip for the auto second battery and the portrait shutter release. And because I'm greedy. I need to do more testing on my battery life, though, because I went though 75% on only two or three hundred shots, although a lot of that probably had to do with the fact that I was playing with life view, reviewing photos on the LCD, and toggling menu options for a while. Maybe if it really does go through 1000 shots per battery life, I'll hold off. In either case, another month would be the earliest I'd look into purchasing accessories.

I probably feel the same way about your use of a lens converter as you do about my desire for a grip, though, so it's all kosher.

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Regular flash is generally a waste. Trust me when I say a speedlight is essential for good indoor photography. I basically turned my friend's bedroom into an indoor studio with remote flash control.

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Magnus, I have to wonder... you already had a D50 and D70... why'd you get a D300? lol Should have just gone for the D3!

I kid, of course. I just think it's hilarious that you have three Nikon D-series. That's a lot. And I was under the impression that at least one of them (beside the D300) was purchased over the past year.

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In general, though, I am giddier than a schoolgirl over my purchase. The D300 really is an amazing camera that excels in just about every possible way. I'm very glad I ended up going with that one over the D200 (the extra $500 more than pays for itself when you compare the improvements).

The LCD uses a lot of battery and live view aswell. I hardly had time to review my images at the concert and just had a quick look at the RGB diagramm. The manual also states 1000 shots per battery and usually Nikon is saying 1000 when they mean a lot more ...
However, I will probably get a second EN-EL3e and be fine for a couple of months with that.

The battery grip can make handling a tad easier in some situations, but I prefer to spent my money on good lenses.


Apart from that I am feeling the same about using lens converters as you do, but I just had the 80-200/2.8 at the concert. I needed ~300mm at some point and as the Kenko 1.4 performs a lot better than cropping the part you need out of a 200mm picture I was fine with using it in that case. As you said, the picture is pretty crisp, even with the converter.
Getting a 300mm/2.8 is something I plan to do once I am winning the jackpot in the lottery.


About the Nikon D70. It is a friends' camera which I am hardly using. We are sharing out equipments, which makes all this a lot cheaper. The D70 supports the Nikon Creative Lighting System, which the D50 doesn't and this was the only reason for me to use it.
I got the D50 about 1.5 years ago and spent some money on a flashlight and lenses inbetween.
Working for my university and getting good money for it makes photography on that level possible.

The D3 is still a dream of mine, but if we can believe into the rumors there will be more great cameras coming this year. Hopefully a ~2000€ fullframe camera, though I would not get it because of the expensive lenses.
I have my eyes on a used AF-S VR 70-200/2.8 G, which should be a lot sheaper once the new version AF-S VRII 70-200 D is out, which should be released before the olympics, believing the rumors.


About the Nikon CLS. Here is what you can do with a D70 + SB800. Still unfinished as the left eye needs more light and I want to have a watered pane of glass between camera and motive.

Nikon D70 - 50/1.8 - f/10 - 1/100s - ISO200

Very nicely done! You are most certainly a pro at this!

Anyway, I had more fun with my D300 on Sunday:
http://usc.facebook....7...&id=3417992
http://usc.facebook....7...&id=3417992
http://usc.facebook....7...&id=3417992

Definitely only starting to dive into the very beginning of what this thing can do. I'd like to start getting semi-serious about my photography and develop my technical skills. For the time being, though, being at the right place at the right time will do (check out the end of the last album for that reference). And I'm going to assume that people aren't going to be so immature as to start making inappropriate comments about my friends, who also feature in the second and third album.

Beautiful shots, Cork. Your captions could sound less PBS-documentary-like, though.

As the sun sets, it casts a shimmering yellow veil across the sky, illuminating the violet waters draped across the sea.

I'm debating whether or not I want a new camera for my birthday, any suggestions? My current one is a shitty Olympus digital that eats batteries like no other.

^ That's why they're balanced by comments about my friend's man-boobs.

In terms of camera suggestion...
- What do you want to do with your camera? (what kinds of photos, where would you use it, etc...)
- How much are you willing to spend?
- How important is portability vs size?

Great shots MG. However for the last one are you going to have the face in the center? Feels like it could use a little trim off the right to center it.

Cork great shots too, love the second to last one, great vibrancy too.

Here are some shots i took a few weeks ago on a trip to the Eden Project, Cornwall. (sorry 56Kers)

Ooooooo, nice!

BTW, Cork, you certainly love photography don't you? Everyday I sign onto facebook its 'Albert Lam has added a new album! X trip to somewhere!'

Cork, I'm looking for a camera that I can use to take decent pictures of friends, family, and nature (I go hiking/camping quite a bit), pretty much anything for no more than $500. Size does matter but I'm not looking for anything tiny. I am willing to sacrifice a little size for quality.

Look up either Nikon D40, Nikon D40x, or Nikon D50. All three can be had easily with a lens for under $500. I personally would recommend the D50 which has the best Color Vibrancy/ISO of any Nikon camera short of the D300 and D3.

You being serious there?

D2X, D2H, D200, D80, D60 should all be better at noise than the 3 years old D50. Still need to figure how good the D40(x) is.
Seeing the prices though a used D70(s) + Nikon 18-70 + second battery and memory would cost about 500. (If you decide to get a DSLR contact me about lenses. Especially if you plan to use a cheap one as there are a lot of terrible lenses out there, like the Sigma 18-200 OS.)

However, for taking outdoor shots of friends and nature you hardly need high ISO. Means noise is not that important.

What is most important to find out for you is how much you can affort to carry. Hiking can get a little annoying with at least 1kg of camera equipment on your back.
I think you would do fine with a bridge camera aswell. Just make sure you get a wide angle one, a solid lens, not too much noise and not too many Pixels.
The camera RCTFAN is using would do fine for you aswell I think. It is quite handy and one can do a lot with it. (Should be the Nikon P50 or something like that.)




Albert, I am not a pro yet. But I am considering becoming one. Will probably make my bachelor in physics and then see what I can do with photography.

I like what you are doing with the camera there. Shows some nice atmosphere.
Just make sure your shutter is fast enough in order to keep the pictures from getting blury. ISO800 is no problem for the D300 without a lot of noise



RCTFAN, some of your shots are really interesting. Nice to see the camera makes all this possible. Try to get a little closer and take shots of parts of the flowers. That usually works fine and makes the pictures even more interesting.
The structures you have found are really nice. Looks like you are having a good eye for this kind of photography.



Hope to be able to show some shots from a zoo trip I will do this saturday with some other Nikon users. Hopefully the weather will be fine.

Thanks MG, I'll take note next time I'm out and about with the camera.

The camera is the P5100 which is the 12mp version and the most expensive however I think you can get it for about £180 now. I got the P5100 because of the alloy body and slightly better menu settings (i.e more to play about with).

It does what it does well but I find it hard to AF indoors and having big hands can cause problems even though the grip is sufficient and ergonomic its quite a lot smaller then it looks.

However I must stress that as fun as this camera is, I'm still going to get a DSLR in the near future.

Though the differences are barely noticeable to the average eye but technically the D50 is one of Nikon's best sensors despite being three years old.

Where did you get those graphs from?

First of we need to know what was tested. RAW or jpeg files? How did they do the test ...


To be honest, they results are wrong.
This is quite easy to find out as the D3 dynamic range is the same for FF as it is for DX. It has to be the same as the camera is just cropping out the middle of the sensor for DX. Resolution is going down because of that, but the sensor is the same. Means dynamic range has to be the same aswell.

Also the dynamic range has to be higher for 14bit. I saw some test shots on that matter (and will test it with the D300 myself) but you get at least 1EV more with 14bit than you do with 12bit. Just have a look at the shadows.


Apart from that dynamic range and noise are far from being linear. As you have been talking of noise in your first post I think we should discuss this matter.

The sensor of the D50 is really good, no questions on that. You can get really good images out of the camera, but the professional cameras always had the better sensors than the D50. Especially the D2H, which was constructed for high ISO sports images.
The D80 is using a CMOS sensor just like the D3 and D300. All other cameras are using CCD sensors. CMOS is known for better dynamic range as it can handle situations with a lot of light better. The signal of the light intensity that is coming out of the camera is not linear to what is coming in for CMOS sensors, while it is linear for CCD sensors, which helps a lot on the dynamic range.

Do not believe into everything you find on the net ...

http://home.comcast....namic_Range.htm

I don't know how to explain the difference in the FX vs. DX discrepancy though I assume it is only a matter of something the camera does while performing the crop that I am not aware of but there definitely is a sense of loose of dynamic range while using the DX crop feature having used the D3 personally, though it still out performs the D300 in my opinion.

14-bit only produces a larger dynamic range at severally underexposed images and I assume this man exposed his images correctly for this test resulting in no noticeable difference between the two. Also due to how drastically it slows down the camera and the larger file size I would never use 14-bit anyways.

I'm just saying as far as Nikon DSLRs go, and having tested all of them thanks to the generous loaner program UTexas Photojournalism Department has, the only ones worth owning in my opinion are the D50 and the D300 and since the D300 is way out of the range of most people I strongly suggested the D50 due to several important features that are lacking on the D40 and D40X. (main one being lack of onboard af motor) I know exactly where my D50 stands in regards to the Nikon family, but as far as size, cost, and ease of use it really can not be beat.

Having the D300 I know the dynamic range of the 14-bit image is a lot higher than for the 12-bit version.
Actually you need to find out where the camera starts to over- or underexpose things and I know for sure that my 14 bit images looked the same as the 12 bit one, just with less underexposure in the shadow parts. (The image also included overexposure.)

The DX mode of the D3 is a digital crop. At least that is what Nikon was answering regarding that question. Means the dynamic range cannot decrease!
I really wonder what he did there, but as he does not really describe his testing methode well I do not believe into in anyways.

14-bit sort of slows down the camera, but in some situations you need all the dynamic range you can get. I am at 12-bit at the moment, but might change to 14-bit depending on the situation. Larger file size is no argument at all as you need to get the best image quality out of the camera you can get.



About the D50:
It is a good camera, BUT:
- the the quality of manufacturing is worth than on the D70 and higher
- it does not support the Nikon CLS
- the body is really small in size (to small for the 70-200 2.8 or other teles to handle it well)
- the top display has no light
- it is worth than the D70 at IR shots
- ...

You really need to find out what you want and need. There are other cameras that are better for other situations. A used D70 is really cheap aswell and can be a lot better in some situations. The difference in dynamic range is not noteable usually (compared to the D50).



Have been at a local zoo this saturday with 10 other Nikon photographers. Was a lot of fun and I hope to show some pictures soon.

I bought a disposible camera once.

Nikon D300 - 200mm - f/2.8 - ISO 640 - 1/4000s

VIEW AT 800PX!