The Photography Thread

[Alastair]

I like the second one Ish, very nice. I've been trying mushys recently too and they were all crap

[PeteJ]

Very nice Ish, love them both.

[Richard.John]

I need some advice regarding tripods and monopods. Quite simple really in what's the best quality brand that is reasonably priced for a prole like me? Money is not really an issue and I can pay top yen, but should I?

My pro photographer student recommends Gitzo, but she is used to the best gear. (her plaything is a Canon 1Ds Mark II. lucky cow ) I have looked at some of their models but I assume that I will need to buy a (tripod) head as well which forces up the price.

So is it the case that you get what you pay for, or will a cheaper brand do?

[Alastair]

I have heard that you get what you pay for yes. Although I don't have first hand experience with the top makes I was having a little play with a Gitzo in a shop and it was very nice - think it was £125 for the tripod and head.
The other make I know of is Manfrotto and gets similarly good reviews.

What I do know is that a lightweight setup wont do you any favours as it wont be sturdy/stable enough in wind. Ball heads are supposed to be pretty good.

Monopods? I can't imagine there is much between them really, I'd look for sturdy, no flex and easy attachment to the camera. What would you be using it for? Surpporting a long lens?

[Richard.John]

Thanks for that Alastair. I will have to take a trip to Yodobashi Akiba and see what they have. Regarding a monopod, I suppose it's cheaper to just get a quality tripod as you can use it like a monopod as well if needed.

[Alastair]

Except they weigh 4-5 times as much and are much more fiddly to use, like i hinted at, it all depends what you planned to use it for.

[Alastair]

And the phone box is wonky in real life, it wasn't me shooting badly.

[charlesr]

I went down to the beach at the weekend.
Not that it's far... 10 mins away but I don't normally take a camera.
The last photo is someone with a kite plane, but it looked like a sombrero to me, the way they were holding it.

[charlesr]

Have you guys got an easy way of linking to flckr pics?

[Alastair]

[UR L=http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=285735794&size=l][IM G]http://static.flickr.com/94/285735794_ed536c3c05.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Without the spaces - if that helps at all.

[charlesr]

sorry, yeah, I know how to use forum tags, but wondered how generally decide what to put in them? In the case above, I just pasted in the "use this link to flickr" code and just changed the html to forum tags. Is that what you all do?

[Alastair]

I generally just use the tags by going advanced and putting the static jpeg url in , then I highlight the link and tag text then click and paste in the page url I want to link to. It's a bit of a hassle and doesn't work properly in firefox for me either but I get by.

I've not found anything easier.

[PeteJ]

Just use the direct link for the image (click on the medium sized photo for the sake of the forum), flickr will tell you not to but just ignore that.

Usually we also click to the large photo and link it as a URL as Alastair has done, so you can click for a larger version.

[charlesr]

I see. Thanks. So there's no really easy way. I've got to put a few seconds of effort in

Sod all that. What do you think of my photos?

[Ish]

A shot from lunch today



And another: