The Photography Thread

[Alastair]

It's been a long time and many pages since I contributed anything to this thread. Think I fell out of love with it for a while.

Whilst I've been taking loads of photos as usual I've not actually uploaded all that much to Flickr in the time I've been away. I'll put a post together shortly to show what I've been up to though.

[Alastair]

Hopefully some of you will have already seen these on Flickr

Self portrait:


Roundabout:


Portrait:


Quite recently I've decided to try and get into Automotive work so am currently putting a portfolio together for that, here's some of them so far:








If you want to see any comments or descriptions etc you'll find them all (and a couple more) on the front page of my Flickr.

[Ginger Tosser]

Lovely shots Al.

Took a nice image of people at the Tory conference in Brum today....



My mate informs me the blond lady is Danni Wells, no idea who the other one is though.

[EvilBoris]

Lovely shots Al.

Took a nice image of people at the Tory conference in Brum today....



My mate informs me the blond lady is Danni Wells, no idea who the other one is though.

They look like conjoined boob twins

[Ish]

Like the second Alfa and that final Cobra shot Alistair. And the roundabout is a great idea.

GT - what the hell went wrong? Why the t-shirts?

[Ginger Tosser]

GT - what the hell went wrong? Why the t-shirts?

I don't know apparantly some pathetic law about no norks out in public.

[Ish]

Jesus christ whats this country coming to...

[Garf]

Agreed - nice car shots Alastair - very nicely done.

GT - are those two young ladies MP's, seeing as how they are at the conference ?

[Anpanman]

Superb shots Alistair, like the roundabout - sharp enough to cut your eyes! The lighting on the last two car shots is exquisite, well done.

[Gareth C]

Great work as usual by all concerned. Particularly like the last Cobra shot Alastair.

Gear update!!!

Well after much soul searching (and the fact that I keep nicking friends' Canon & Nikon gear for paid work) I have sold all my Leica gear. The M8 is gone, the f1.4 Summilux and even my beloved f1 Noctilux. On the plus side I have made money on all the sales (and swaps) and am a couple of grand up after plumping for a Canon 5D, 85/1.2L and 24-70/2.8L. Already contemplating another prime and a zoom but can't decide whether I want a wide zoom (12-24 ish) or at the other end (70-200). Time will tell!

Looking forward to getting my head around all the new toys!

[funkydan]

Love that roundabout shot Al! Nice to have you back mate

Have fun with the new toys Gareth - I'm after a Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 ED AF-S - they're not cheap (£995 was the cheapest I could find) but very lovely!

[Gareth C]

Love that roundabout shot Al! Nice to have you back mate

Have fun with the new toys Gareth - I'm after a Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 ED AF-S - they're not cheap (?995 was the cheapest I could find) but very lovely!

I bought all of my gear second hand/refurb and its all in 'like new' condition but with good discounts, well worth a bit of research.

[SmokeMeAKipper]

I've noticed the Nikon D60 can be picked up for the £350 mark - that's a good £100 cheaper than the Canon EOS 450D and I always thought these two were thought of as the two best entry-level DSLR cameras. My question is why is the D60 cheaper? Is there a new model coming out? I was seriously considering buying one of the two and obviously that price makes a massive difference in my thinking.

[Magnakai]

Lovely shots Al. Good luck with auto photography. That's a niche I've literally never even considered, but on reflection it must be quite a big thing. I particularly like that portrait and the shot of the silver car by the windmill. I think the light seems the most appropriate in that one.

Gareth - !! !!!! !!!!!! Those lenses.... gone! Forever! Welcome to the 21st century. Great choice of kit. The 24-70 is absolutely superb and the 85 1.2 is one of the best lenses Canon make, even if it does have a weird focusing mechanism. The other two obvious choices are the 16-35 and the 70-200 2.8 zooms. They're both excellent. Personally, I'd lean towards the 70-200 IS. I often hear people say that it's their most used portrait lens. The 50 1.2 is also an excellent lens, and if you're shooting in low light a lot it's definitely worth demoing, as is the 35 1.4.

Dan - that is a really nice lens. The 17-55 might also be up your street, as you've got a DX camera (the D200, right?)

SmokeMeAKipper - A couple of reasons - the Canon 450D has a higher quality sensor, is better built and (key for me) has much better low-light performance. It also has Live View, a better viewfinder and better AF and light metering. It's a very, very good little camera, and comparable to the 40D. The D60 is good, but it's more of a genuine entry-level SLR, comparable to the Canon 1000D. That's not knocking it at all, it's a great camera, but it's occupying a slightly lower peg in the marketplace.

Anyway, that's my take on it. They're both great. Go try them out.

Edit: Not to push you, but if you're flying anywhere, then this might be a good deal: http://hotukdeals.com/item/247220/ca...-55-is-kit-40/ Save £70 from the airport and then get £50 cashback, making it about £360.

[funkydan]

I bought all of my gear second hand/refurb and its all in 'like new' condition but with good discounts, well worth a bit of research.

Ah, good plan, I hadn't really thought of going down the second-hand route - I'll have a look.

[QUOTE=Magnakai;1426749Dan - that is a really nice lens. The 17-55 might also be up your street, as you've got a DX camera (the D200, right?)[/QUOTE]

It is nice isn't it! I had a look at the 17-55 too but just preferred the 24-70 (for the slightly larger zoom). And yes, I have the D200

EDIT: Actually, I may in fact look into the 17-55, it is over £200 cheaper and still a quality lens. Had a look at Ken Rockwell's reviews of them both and the distortion problem with the 24-70 worries me - you get it on the 17-55 too, but he does say that the 24-70 has the worst distortion levels on any Nikon lens he's ever encountered (at 24mm).

I'm gonna get the 17-55