Photography v4

first post!

And! I got hired to photograph a 100th birthday event on january the 9th. What can I say... this is so awesome.

I got some crazy-ass filters today. Blue & Gold Polarizer. This thing is fucking nuts. While a circular polarizer cuts reflected light (typically to increase contrast) this thing adjusts the color of reflected light. So if you don't like the colors you are getting in the scene, this will let you adjust the color in parts of it without making much change to the rest of it.

The other filter I got was a 3-stop reverse GND filter. It's like a regular GND filter but the darkest area is in the middle, with a clear half and the other half only half-dark. It's most useful for sunset shots where there is a huge difference in brightness but you don't want to end up turning the rest of the sky black.

I'm hoping to try these out this weekend.

Also, I reeeeeeeeally wish Nikon had a competitor for the Canon 5D MkII. I'm too invested in Nikon lenses at this point to change brands. The closest comparison Nikon has is probably the D700, but for landscape work I'd much rather have the higher resolution than the extra light sensitivity. And the D3x is too expensive, even though it would be ideal.

I'm not feeling the 4x5 thing currently... I can always go with it later, and right now I like the comfort zone I get being familiar with DSLRs already.

eugh, i was planning on going into uni today and using the darkroom to print my parents some photos for christmas, but i just remembered that on a saturday they have a 'lone working policy' whereby you can't use the darkroom if you're on your own, and i'm guessing that nobody is going to be using it on the last saturday morning of term before christmas. Looks like my parents are getting shitty digital prints this year...

Guys, I need some help / advice.

I'm leaving today to Finland and next week to Lapland.
Main problem there - it's around -30°C right about now.
Is there anything I can do to "preserve" my camera while shooting outside?
It's a D1X by Nikon, metal body, so it should in theory be weather sealed, right?
But how do cams react to extreme cold?

What can I expect from the cam? As in, what problems may come, battery power drained pretty quickly aside?

Also, I might be getting some aurora shots, fuck yea

will the battery even work at all at that temperature? maybe you could wrap the camera up in something. i don't really know.

i'm going to frame these for my parents christmas present, i think they'll look pretty good framed as a set on their dining room wall, atm there's a fuck off huge picture of a flower that i took ages ago that looks shit, so they're a replacement for that. i'll post some pics when i've framed them up.

Even though the sensor is ancient technology at this point, the camera is professional Nikon material. Nikon claims its cameras are good down to 20 F or so, but they've been proven to work fine far below that (there was a D300 review online where the guy took it to Antarctica and even left it sitting in the snow for a bit. It worked fine).

As far as the battery goes, ideally you want two batteries. Wear a coat that has one of those inside pockets that is against your chest. Keep the 2nd battery there, and if the first one runs out, just swap them. When the first one warms up it will be usable again. I recommend having two batteries anyway. If you only have one battery, keep it in that pocket and pop it in only when you need it.

I've taken my D50 on winter hiking trips and had the battery last the whole day.

One thing you should watch out for is that after you bring the camera inside, it may get condensation on the inside. I've read that you should put your camera inside a giant Ziplock bag right away after coming inside. That limits the amount of moisture it can pull out of the air as it warms up. I never did this, but it might be a good idea.

These are taken with my new Panasonic Lumix LX3.

10.1 MP
24 mm Wide / 60 mm Tele
F2.0 - F2.8

well 2 batteries for me was a must since I started out.
So that wont be an issue, already figured I should keep one warm and pop in the second when I wanna take pics.

and ziplock bag.. do you mean those plastic see through baggies that you put vegetables in to keep them fresh in the fridge?

and yea, I've been wondering how to deal with the condensation issue.. after all, it's going to be close to 50°C difference in temperatures.. as in, outside -30, inside +20°C ..
should I separate cam + lens for the "warming up" procedure?

I finally got something printed. Pretty sure I have posted this shot before in the other thread. Let me say, Mpix is awesome for digital prints. I ordered a 12x18" print of this on heavy matteboard with the best ink coating... The whole thing including shipping was around $20. It came today in the mail, very well wrapped and protected. The other thing I like is that they will print TIFF files, so no jpeg artifacts.

The thing I didn't do is frame it, because that would have tacked on an extra $60 or so. I know a local place I get it framed at if I want to.

I'm gonna get some more stuff printed.

Yeah... they have large versions of those that store a gallon, should be big enough for a camera with lens. The purpose of that is that it is air-tight, so the only moisture the camera can collect through condensation while warming up is whatever is in the air trapped in the bag (not much).

Question about printing for anyone who knows anything:

I have a new Epson photo printer, with CcMmYK inks. I want to print monochrome images, but there's invariably a strong colour cast, not the kind of thing that disappears depending on the light source. It varies from a deep purple to very, very bright pink (almost as if the printer is using magenta instead of black).

I've tried letting Photoshop manage colour, letting the print driver do it, turned on the grayscale setting in the print driver, tried turning it off completely, tried printing in Grayscale, RGB and CMYK but there's always (quite a lot of) colour there.

I managed one perfect, neutral b/w print, but the settings reverted after I printed it and I can't remember how it was set up!

Also, bonus photo for this post:

My understanding is that if you are doing serious b&w printing, you want a printer made specifically for that as opposed to color printing. But I could be wrong about this.

Can you control at all the color that it shifts towards? If nothing else, a slight sepia tone would not look bad.

Some nice fog you got there. :-)

oh yeah, haven't had much to post, am working through a 36 roll of Provia 400X. Should be a nice collection of summer stuff when I'm done with it.

Fuck digital.

Here's something stupid... I need to get some new stuff.

I'll see if I can get anything new over the weekend. I'm doubtful because it is supposed to rain.

Xander, get some hand warmers. You put them in your pockets with your spare battery as to keep it worm. Without it it just won't last too much. I've used my XSi in tempertures of -15 no problems and the battery actually lasted for the whole day of snowboarding.

btw, here's a link to a facebook album in which I've uploaded some samples of recent stuff I've done. I also got a chance to use the 70-200 2.8 IS L for a shoot. What an incredible lens!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=180194&id=500174851

Jono, your best options are the Canon rebel's XSi or T1i (has video), or the Nikon D40x, D60 or D80 if you can push your budget a little bit. If you don't want a DSLR then go with the Canon SX10 or SX1.. those should be very nice camera's judging by the S5iS which was really awesome IMO.

Anyway... happy xmas for everybody!!

Nah, don't get the D40x or D60. They have lens compatibility issues, including the 50mm 1.8 that everyone should have. For low end Nikon, go with D50, D70, or D80 instead.

By the way, if you're starting out fresh, I think Sony is not a bad choice at all. You don't have as much range in 3rd party lenses, but the Sony lenses are Zeiss-made, and it's the only way you'll get a full-frame sensor for under $2k if you eventually decide to upgrade that route. Also, the camera bodies themselves all have vibration reduction so you don't need to worry about the lenses having it. I've seen some really good stuff from their cameras. I'm not actually recommending them over Nikon or Canon, just saying that you wouldn't be wrong to consider them.

Didn't get around to shooting much, it's been mainly about snowboarding and xmas for now, and I gotta say the slopes here are fuckin insaaaane.
But it sucks weather wise..
It almost never gets light here, at least you never directly see the sun, only a glimpse of a sunset/sunrise perhaps 10 minutes total and the rest is just .. twilight bordering on complete darkness.
And it's -27°C. Which doesnt permit me long exposure shots, as I dont have a remote / trigger / whatever thingie and my fingers get frozen.

So anyway, here are the first 2, cross-processed holga style:

I like 'em, especially the first one. Very interesting lighting.

I really like the second one!

So i've started getting into photography. I've been playing with my mates Nikon D40, taking mostly landscape shots similar to Tech's (although nowhere near as good). Starting to get the hang of it, and looking to get my own camera sometime in the near future. I've been looking at the Nikon D60, although I don't know very much about them. Any hints/advice/recommendations would be much appreciated.

this sounds really odd... your printer shouldn't do that. i don't think tech's right about needing a dedicated b+w printer, any printer should be able to print b+w without slapping a huge colour cast on it.
anyway, for christmas my parents said they'd contribute £250 towards camera gear, i'm thinking of getting a medium format camera, probably a bronica SLR, although the shop i usually get stuff from does have a very nice voigtlnader TLR atm...

The lighting is actually me going insane with my flash..
It was so fuckin dark that even a 30sec exposure at f3.5 iso800 didn't do much. So I took the flash and started flashing every corner for the duration of the exposure

I uploaded the batch from the last couple of days..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xellrich/
It's preliminary so far I think, i'll be almost certainly doing touch up work on these as soon as I get back from Lapland.
Or .. as soon as I pass my exams

As Tech said above, it's better to stay away from the D40 and D60 because of autofocus issues with lenses that you want to avoid. Personally, I'd try and get hold of a D80 (they don't make it any more due to the upgrade D90, but you can get it refurbished or on ebay in new or excellent condition) as it is much much more than a starter/low end DSLR and has the same sensor as the semi-pro D300. You could also go for the D50 or D70 as Tech suggested, but I can't advise you on those as I don't know anything about them.

yeah,i loved my D80, i would reccomend t if you can get one for the right price.

It has the same sensor as the D200, not D300.

shit, how did i miss xander's photos? those are really good, love the colours in them.

Among the upgrades I'm looking at making by summer, one of them is the tripod. I have a pretty crappy Calumet brand tripod that cost be about $150. It was an upgrade over a far more crappy Quantary Tripod that cost me $30. The problems with the one I have now: bad leg locking mechanisms that aren't very secure, extremely heavy, no ballhead

In case you were wondering just how much you can spend on a tripod...
http://reallyrightstuff.com/rrs/Itemdesc.asp?ic=TVC-33&eq=&Tp=

I can't afford that, but man... holds 50 lbs of weight and only weighs 4 lbs itself! That is a nature photographer's dream!

I will probably be looking at a Gitzo or Benro around half that price. If anyone here knows shit about tripods, gimme some advice here.

my most recent shot from Christmas Eve...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloodworkred/4226615957/

where in russia do you live?

I'm afraid I had to move out of Russia like a year and a half ago. I keep visiting, but yea..
but I used to live in Saint Petersburg - the northern capital, as they call it

Germany now, with frequent visits to Finland cos of the lady

Oh alright. Well I've been to non of the three (i'd love to visit them all), though I'd be willing to bet Finland is the most beautiful over-all. None the less you take amazing photos!!

The D3000 is the replacement for the D40, and as mentioned before, it's not a bad camera, especially as a starter one, but you will be limited in terms of what lenses you can buy because it doesn't have autofocus or some shit. Tech can explain the exact reason better than I can. A friend of mine was thinking about it but then I recommended he find a D80 on ebay. It isn't being made any more, and as a result you can find it for pretty cheap (he got it for a similar price as he would have gotten a D3000). It's a much better camera than any of those starter DSLRS (like the D3000) and has the same sensor as the D200. He's really happy with it.

However, if you are aware of the limitations of the D3000 and think you can cope with them then it's a good place to start and go for it!

I don't know much about Sony SLRs, so I can't recommend, but I was under the impression that Sony has a much narrower range of lenses available (even including third party made lenses) than Nikon and Canon and as a result I personally wouldn't have gone for them.

Sooo someone bought me a Canon 5D Mark II!! Super exciting and very unexpected. I've only shot my cousin's wedding with it but haven't used it since because I didn't want to hitchhike around with 4k$ worth of (heavy) camera on me...)

Anyway...I'm looking to get a 50mm prime and was wondering if I should go for the el cheapo Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 vs the 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens. Gut instinct is telling me to go with the better quality glass although it is 250 bucks more, heh.

Also, any recommendations for a flash to go with the 5d? I really know nothing about them so any advice on what to look for would be appreciated.

A few shots from Wai-O-Tapu:

Champagne Pool:


Dude standing in the steam:


Boiling mud pit:

The autofocus is the main issue with the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, and D5000. Some Nikon lenses have built-in motors for handling autofocus and others rely on the camera doing the work. This includes the handy and affordable 50mm f/1.8. However, if you don't mind manually focusing, you should be fine. It'll still inform you if the shot is in focus or not, and the metering will still work normally. If you want freedom to use any AF lens, then you want the D80, D70, or D50 (for inexpensive options).

I'm jealous. If I weren't already invested in Nikon I'd be all over that camera.

Some pretty awesome stuff. The last one is really cool, and you have a good leading line in the first shot.

Stay away from the 50 1.8. It's probably one of the worst lenses ever made. It gets decent at around f/2.8, but that defeats the purpose of a fast prime.

there definitely was one.. not sure if it still exists, i'M having a hard time finding it in my groups for some weird reason..

my flickr is in my sig, so there ya go, you can add me if yuo want

i can;t find you on flickr molon...

bitchin'

Good to know. Any advice on a starter flash?

Also, flickr group link here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/fiveeightforums/

wtf..
it says that the group is not available for me .. WTF

Yeah, but it's practically free in terms of camera gear prices.

tbh i'd rather spend the extra now instead of having to pay to upgrade later. especially with a nice camera like a 5D mk2, it seems a waste not to use the best glass you can on it.

true dat...