The Photography Thread

[PeteJ]

What's a good compact to get these days? Thinking about picking one up so I can carry it around at all times.

[MartyG]

Depends how much you want to spend and how much flexability you need. The Canon A460 is super and cheap ( I have the A420 and get some super shots with it ). You can't really go far wrong with any of the big brand names.

[fuse]

Whoah, cheers for all of the help guys!

As a first time DSLR type I must admit I am very much swayed by new models rather than refurbs/second hands, but that cheap D50 has got me scratching my chin. Canon was definitely something I considered, but with the other people in my house there's already a 350D and a 400D, which although I like, would like to try something a bit different. Think the top option for me is still that 40X with the 18-55 and 55-200...

I was aware of the D40's lens fussiness but must admit, thought I'd found something online earlier in my browsing that'd told me otherwise about the F1.8 50mm, but on re-finding it, seems I got a bit excited on the mention of metering and yeah, it won't AF. Crap. Whilst I'm not adversed to manual focus (hell, half of the fun of this whole business is I want to learn/practice more), I'm a bit concerned about the reduced practicality of the cheapo lens. Not sure how I feel about sticking an extra 1 on front of the price tag for a similar lens. Bah.

[MartyG]

There's nothing wrong with the 50mm f1.8, so don't be put off by the price - 50mm ( also known as the standard lens and what you'd have gotten with pretty much any SLR up to the point zooms became the vogue ) is a very simple lens to manufacture and so cheap - you'll get some very nice shots with it.

These are all shot with my 50mm.

And don't be put off refurbs, they've been sent back to the factory and sorted as needed, there's no difference other than the price - plus you then have more to spend on lenses, and it's the glass that makes the biggest difference. Oh, and that link isn't about the lens on Amazon - the one linked earlier is the AF ( which I have ) which will meter fine, it just won't auto focus on the D40.

[Magnakai]

Just a quick reminder to back up your photos, guys. My Macbook's croaked. I stupidly hadn't backed up anything since November-ish, so I've lost some of the best shots I've ever taken, and some incredibly sendimental ones I can literally never take again. On the plus side, I now have a lot less backlog to process!

So yeah! Don't let it happen to you!

[MartyG]

Bad luck - I back up my stuff fairly regularly, and all my best stuff goes onto flickr, so I wouldn't lose anything I really like, only off shots I revisit now and then.

Has anyone else seen these? Memory cards with built in wifi - I'm not really sure how you're suppose to set them up to work on your network, but they look cool

[PeteJ]

Yeah we looked at them to do wedding photography, stick a laptop in the corner of a room and just snap away until the HDD fills up. Unfortunately that company doesn't do a CF version (or they didn't when we checked) and the Canon version is stupidly expensive.

[funkydan]

Some from last night - the band is David Devant and his Spirit Wife:











More here

[Ginger Tosser]

Very odd looking band, decent shots though.

Found these on my HDD, not too sure....

Joseph Chamberlain fountain.

Birmingham Central Library (which I like, probably cos Prince Chas hates it!)

[winky]

was the litter in the shot deliberate?

if not you should have try to get it out of shot. The amount of litter in the UK is sickening, this puts me off the picture a bit. My eye was automatically drawn to that Lucazade bottle

[Ginger Tosser]

It was deliberate. Sadly people seem to use these steps as an extension to the McSh*t to the left of th image. Bins are present, just people are lazy. I do tell people to pick stuff up when if I see them drop it.

[IanE]

Really not a fan of that building, it's just a decrepit walk-through on my way to Cineworld - but it's Birmingham, which brings back memories.

[Ginger Tosser]

They've improved the walkthrough now. Strange decision to tart it up though, it's meant to be demolished in a few years.

[Magnakai]

I've been really enjoying Thinking Picture's work lately.

This shot, this shot and this shot just blew me away. How do you capture stuff like this? It's beyond me.

[PeteJ]

Nice link, don't know how he is doing so much with the colour!

this is a good link too - everything in the shot is a type of food, which he has put out in such a way to make the perspective work. I think there is some 'cheating' going on since it all wasn't taken at the same time (since it took so long, and food has a habbit of going off), but all the same...