The Photography Thread

[spagmasterswift]

88mm is a good portrait length, separating the subject from the background, like this.

These are the types of pictures I want to focus on (no pun intended) when I start!

That's about normal for kit lenses. My walk around lens is my 24-105, but on a 400D the crop factor (smaller sensor) would make the wide end (24mm) 38mm, you gain at the other end though as the long end would be equivalent to 168mm. (the 18-55 works out to be around 28-90 which was a fairly standard focal length with film cameras).

Interesting to hear about this smaller sensor changing the focus length, so getting these portrait shots with the blured backgrounds should be achieveable with the 18-55mm? My girlfriend is gonna be very fed up with me next weekend >_< Can't wait! Cheers again...

Oops - thats not right - so I need a 200mm lens for that...

[Ginger Tosser]

so getting these portrait shots with the blured backgrounds should be achieveable with the 18-55mm?

Should be fine. You just need to probably extend to 55mm and get as close to the subject as possible.

[spagmasterswift]

Should be fine. You just need to probably extend to 55mm and get as close to the subject as possible.

Excellent - will be sure to post up my first attempts for you guys to give me some feedback!

[Ginger Tosser]

No problems.

Please feel free to ask all the questions you want, no matter how stupid they sound! We all have to start somewhere.

What he said ^^^

Chances are whatever you ask one of us will be able to help out.

[icarus0]

Aaaargh - I was all set on getting the Nikon D80 but after seeing the Canon 400D deal above I'm now wondering whether I should go for that instead and buying a decent lens with the 300 quid or so I save.

Decisions, decisions...

[JohnMcL7]

small focal length? What normal lenses do you guys use? Anybody point me in the direction of a goods site that shows the differences between different lense sizes - or is literally the length/area that will be in focus? Sorry to sound like a massive camera nub - but thats exactly what I am!! LOL!1

I quite like this graphic showing focal lengths:

http://www.fourthirdsphoto.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=20781&highlight=focal+length+comparison

Scroll down a bit to find the people on the walkway, the focal lengths need to be doubled to get the effective focal length so it's starting at 7mm = 14mm (for 35mm EFL)

You might find this next link helpful for calculating depth of field (if you've not seen it before):

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

The shallower the depth of field the more the background out of focus area will be 'blurred' which is generally desirable for portrait shooting.

My main lens is the Zuiko Digital 7-14mm (14-28mm effective), it's an extremely high quality lens and I love the extreme angle it offers, I didn't think I'd end up using it as much as I do. My normal lens is a 12-60mm (24-120mm), decent sharp lens which gives a good range and has very fast focussing. For telephoto I use a 50-200mm (100-400mm) which does the job well especially as it's easy to extend with the a 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverter without taking up more space. The other one is a 50mm f2 macro, this is a fairly good jack of all trades lens which is extremely sharp, reasonably fast and has macro capability.

I don't really stray much outside those lenses and I'm much more careful with lens purchases now as there's a few I've bought that just aren't getting any use such as the 30m F1.4 or 50-500mm.

John

[PeteJ]

Just thought I'd post that my new toy has arrived


The Canon G9

My thoughts so far are actually a little bit mixed. While I was initially worried that the size would be too large, it can fit into my trouser pockets fairly easily without a camera bag though only just with. Weight is not a problem either.

A little bit disappointing is the opital view finder, which is pretty much useless. So tiny it is hard to see through at all, and you can also see the lens through it which is not ideal! Still, the bright 3" screen on the back more than makes up for that.

Feature wise it is packed for a compact, which is what drew me to it in the first place. You get full manual control, with AV, TV and M modes as per Canon SLRs, as well as manual exposure, flash, ISO and focual point tweaks. It also has a hotshoe for a speedlite flash - I haven't tried it with my 580ex yet but I imagine it would look rather silly! The lens can also open up to 2.8 at its widest, though zoomed in it drops to f/4.

The G9 packs in 12mp and the quality shows - in ISO 1600 the noise is really quite poor though at ISO 60 the quality is excellent (you could mistake the results as from an SLR).

The macro mode can run at 1cm away from the subject, which is neat but I've found it struggling with the focus. This shot isn't the closest it can go but it seemed more confortable. Again the light wasn't ideal and it was a quick shot.


The menus are completely different to the SLR range, which has come as a bit of a shock when I'm faced with a whole new structure and the features have changed names also. It doesn't help that canon only supply a manual on CD!
When changing any settings on the camera you get a really nice subtle animation on the screen. The whole design is excellent, feeling very solid and well built and all manual controls are easily reachable.

I went in wanting a backup for my SLR, but also something I can have on me at all times rather than carrying around my whole camera kit. For that reason I think it will serve its purpose.

Once I figure out how to use the thing properly, I will post some shots!

[winky]

Excellent - will be sure to post up my first attempts for you guys to give me some feedback!

increasing the separation between subject and background will help a lot too.

Pete, nice toy! good idea to have a 2nd camera (or in Marty's case a 9th and a 10th ) I also cant always be bothered lugging my bag around with me. Looking forward to seeing more of your snaps.

Just an orchid from me (one of many :P ), from the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Great place to vist for a few hours even without wanting to take pictures.

[Magnakai]

Nicely done. I've aimed for that second shot a couple of times, but you've pulled it off way better Great detail on the snap dragon too!

Pete, I was using a G5 before I got my 400D and I really liked it. Once you get used to the inevitable compromises, I'm sure you'll get a lot out of it. You're going to have to spend more time composing each shot. If you're happy with autofocus then it's a capable little beast. I'm surprised that the maximum aperture has decreased though, as it was 2.0 on the G5. Not a huge difference really, and the increased high ISO performance really makes up for it in a big way. 400 was very dodgy and 800 was totally useless. Nice lens though. A few of my fav images from it: 1234

[Alastair]

Both very nice winky, Pete, the G9 looks promising from an image p.o.v so good luck getting to grips with it and learning all the new menus etc.

4 more from my urbex (cheesey phrase) the other day.









I've noticed recently that I barely ever crop any more, makes editing and post processing a lot easier!

[spagmasterswift]

That Lamp pic is doing all sorts of wrong things to my head - the confusing sense of scale is lush! I like it.

[funkydan]

I love lamp (too)

The last one (with all the numbers counting down) is cool - I like how you can see 7 down to 1 - good stuff Al

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winky - I love both those shots

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Pete - nice macro shot on the apple

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I haven't done much myself recently, except for the occasional live band shoot, but I will be in the States in 2 weeks and can't wait to take loads of shots! We're going to San Francisco, Yosemite, Central California (deserts and such), Vegas, Grand Canyon and finally L.A. - and I can't wait to share my photos with you guys!

Keep up the good work chaps

[Ish]

Winky - your second one is fantastic!. Superb composition.

Alastair - same goes for your lamp. The texture in that is just awesome. Do you just hop over the fence into these abandoned places? (serious question!)

[MonkeySteve]

Great shots Winky, the composition and colour in the second is fantastic.

Really like your shots too Alastair - the third is my favourite by far.

Haven't taken many recently, but here's a couple from the last few days

[Alastair]

That Lamp pic is doing all sorts of wrong things to my head - the confusing sense of scale is lush! I like it.

Thanks, it appears like some sort of mega crane lamp but is only actually pretty normal size. Depth of field for you!

Pic snipped out.
I love lamp (too)

The last one (with all the numbers counting down) is cool - I like how you can see 7 down to 1 - good stuff Al

I don't get the pic ref Thanks though and enjoy the trip, looking forward to the shots too.

Alastair - same goes for your lamp. The texture in that is just awesome. Do you just hop over the fence into these abandoned places? (serious question!)

Thanks, I like the textures too. Yes and no, this particular place has an open gate where someone has 'removed' the padlock (not me).

Really like your shots too Alastair - the third is my favourite by far.

Thank you, both of yours are ace too

this thread when the comments come in. Now go comment on your fav over on Flickr, K Thx