| Author | Message | ||
     Mikej |
Wedding is this Saturday. I've got the borrowed P80 at home as the backup plan and will bring along the point-n-shoot as backup along with some spare batteries. I don't really want to buy a spare battery for the borrowed camera if I don't have to. I'll check out that Canon as well. I wouldn't mind having a bookbag camera even if I do get a full DSLR eventually. We took the P80 to Seattle with us last Summer and it did fine for the most part. I'm going to stop at BestBuy on the way home to see what they have that I can play with, and to procrastinate getting home to shovel and blow snow tonight. If I don't get something by Saturday then I should be okay anyway. I'm told several other guests will be bringing cameras as well so as long as I bring my tripod and a styrofoam cup I'll get by. Off to google the Canon G11, then heading home. 40 mile commute and over a foot of fresh snow and impatient rush hour drivers, gonna be a fun drive. Edit: I should add, the Bride and Groom are over 60 & over 70, and they're a lively couple to boot. Going to be an interesting day. (Message edited by mikej on February 09, 2010) | ||
| Court |
The G11 will not work at all for a wedding. It's great for landscapes and things that have lots of light and stand still but it's weak spot is anything that's moving. I just walked the East Village and missed at least 10 short skirts and boots. Damnit!  | ||
| Danger_dave |
Vasoline the lens before you go. | ||
| Damnut |
I think I saw the D90 at Best Buy the other day. | ||
| Court |
>>>>I don't care how much yo have you always want more With the new D3s soon coming out of Nikon's corner shooting at something like ISO 102,400. Can't wait to hear Mike's take on shooting night surf photos ! | ||
| Court |
Pardon the living hell right out of me . . . . I'm watching all the outcry over the Lindsey Vonn photos . . . . check'em out and you tell me what the heck's wrong with them. Looks like top shelf photo work . . . | ||
| Mikej |
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d3s.htm How close is that to night vision? I've played around with fast b/w film years ago but nothing like that. BestBuy had the D90 on display and also the comparable Canon (I didn't get the model number, chatterbox salesguy was chattering too much). I'll have to go back when I have more time. They also has the P90. Chatterbox referred to it as a high end point and shoot camera, no where close the the same league as the D90 but nice as a p&s camera. I keep looking at this one as a one camera Jack of all trades type, sort of like a dual sport motorcycle, not a great street bike (like a higher end DSLR) and not a great dirt bike (like a smaller sized pocket camera) but overall filling a lot of general needs. And that zoom range keeps me thinking about it, versus needing at least three lenses to cover the same range. Image quality probably isn't as sharp as a better lens, but for 90% of my current needs it could work. But then if I want to grow then maybe I should save for a better option. Somebody please talk me out of the P90. To make me happy, or satisfied perhaps, with the D90 I'd probably want to get one to three additional lenses putting it easily over the $2000 price point. The lens it has with it in the store is close but probably not wide angle enough, not long enough as an only lens, not fast enough (marginally close enough that I could live with it with manual focus and a tripod handy). If I can scrape up $1200 I could live with the D90, but without extra lenses that dang P90 would haunt me so hopefully the image quality and camera functions would end the haunting (kind of like buying a WalMart Schwinn for $125 versus a $5000 Pinarello where the ride quality of the Pino would hopefully make me not even think about the budget bike, if that analogy makes any sense). I think I've thumbtyped myself into a corner of confusion. Sorry about that. I'll go look for some pics. | ||
| Court |
Read THIS before you buy that point and shoot . . . Well kept secret that the D90 will do LOTS of what the $5,000 camera will. One thing I have learned, and Danger Dave said it in a round about way above, is that once you get to a certain level (somewhere in the $1,000 range in DSLR's) that from there on the equipment ONLY makes a difference in the right hands . . . trust me, Dave Gess (with film), Danger Dave,Cohen, Mike R or Ebear can take about anything and produce stunning results. They bought equipment to COME UP TO their talents . . . they didn't bring their talent up to the equipment. I know . . .I suck on my own with a wide range of equipment. some times there is no substitute for playing Joe Cocker REALLY loud on all the speaker while you work . . . . | ||
| Danger_dave |
I'm from the monkeys and typewriters school. Press the button enough times and some will come out. Trick is remembering what worked. | ||
| Court |
>>>>Trick is remembering what worked. And that . . . . in all seriousity . . . is a HUGE part of it. I stood in front of this wall today and shot every setting I could get my camera to. This weekend when I have time . . . I'll sit and compare the various images. There are times you can shoot 50 good images and 1 GREAT one. You kooks seem to know it . . . I'm just trying to figure it all out. Seems the trick is to learn to think like light does . . .  | ||
| Rkc00 |
Court, Playing around with this in aperture and photomatix HDR  Mike Long Island, NY (Message edited by rkc00 on February 09, 2010) (Message edited by RKC00 on February 10, 2010) | ||
| Two_buells |
I started with a Canon D60 about 9 years ago, now I have a Canon 40D, I like DSLR's The Bubba shot was with a 17-40mm f4L and the other two with a 70-200mm f4L lens    | ||
| Mikej |
This one was taken after the Circus Parade in Milwaukee. I've pulled about 30 out of about 600 or so that I took with the P80 Nikon. off to read the Read This link, then off to sleep.... ps: the Canon T2i also has peaked (piqued?) my interest, in spite of the fact that Mr. Chatterbox at the store had never heard of it before I asked about it (or was playing dumb trying to sell remaining T1i inventory). g'night  (Message edited by mikej on February 10, 2010) | ||
| Mikej |
Looking closer at some of the P80 pics I've taken and there is a bit of slightly out of focus stuff, or maybe I just need an eye exam (probably both). I've got two of Ernie Borgnine, one zoomed out with some movement blurr, and one really badly misfocused one where I was zooming in and trying to get a pic before the wagon he was on went around a corner. The camera accepted my button push before it fully finished the autofocusing. I know that a lot of times I will be trying to zoom in or out to capture some action shot. I also know that shooting thru the viewfinder with a 35mm film SLR is different than using digital and watching the rear display to decide when and what to capture something. Do any of you use the viewfinder, or do you just use the rear display on your DSLR? | ||
| Dbird29 |
Old people can't use the rear display because of bad eyes. Don't ask how I know | ||
| Rkc00 |
I only use the viewfinder and never use the display. Nikon office and Repair center here on LI  Mike Long Island, NY | ||
| Reepicheep |
I won't pay more for more resolution. I will pay more for more light sensitivity, and for better lenses. I can get any camera with a "spot metering" and focus lock to work well... the smaller the better. I can always find something that is the right distance away and close to 18% grey and lock in both focus and exposure. I always do better then the camera. So my dream camera would be a pocket sized point and shoot, with full control over how the flash is turned on or turned off, and that has by default an F2.8 35 to 110 or so zoom, and optionally has a 23mm wide angle fixed zoom large apeture lens, a 35mm F1.2 fixed zoom lens, and maybe optionally a 300mm zoom (that I will never buy, but would be happy to know it is available), and that will shoot silently at 3200 ASA or better. It doesn't need to be SLR, though I do miss the rotating display of my coolpix 950. For $300 or less (just base lens). Sign me up! It would be the modern Leica for the "less is more" crowd, but affordable for normal consumers. | ||
| Jonny5 |
MikeJ - If I were in your shoes, I think I would pick up the D90 (or Canon equivalent) with the cheap kit lens that it comes with. For everyday shooting, I don't think you will be disappointed. For the wedding, you could always rent one or two hi-end lenses until you can afford to invest in some. I think the point and shoot route would be a mistake if this is something you really want to get into. The quickness and image quality of a DSLR simply can't be matched by a point and shoot. The size of even a low end (not full frame) DSLR's image sensor is huge compared to a point and shoot. Just the other day I was looking through some Disney photos that I took with my 40D and the cheap kit lens that came with my 20D (didn't want the weight of my "fast" glass) compared to some shots from my wife's $500 point and shoot and in my eyes, there was no comparison - especially in low light. You will find that when shooting a wedding you need to be able to control things that a point and shoot just won't allow you to. Get the D90 - actually, no - get the Canon T2i or T1i (what can I say, I'm a Canon guy)  -J5 | ||
| Mikej |
The blue on that Nikon building makes it look a little 3-D. | ||
| Jonny5 |
<<Do any of you use the viewfinder, or do you just use the rear display on your DSLR?>> Viewfinder - Always. -J5 (Message edited by Jonny5 on February 10, 2010) | ||
| Davegess |
Old people can't use the rear display because of bad eyes Yeah, If I want to use that I have to shoot with my glasses on and set the adjustabe diopter so I can see through the viewfinder. Then the next time I pick up the camera without my glases I can't see anything. A couple of things that don't get talked about much what with all the discussion of resolution and quality of the lens are the speed of th eauto focus and the lage between pushign the button and actually capturing the picture. Make three the third is how long before the camera has processed what you just took and you can take a second picture. The two are related. You want the fastest auto focus you can afford; a faster lens seems to make this faster. And you want the lag as short as possible. Digital cameras, particularly the high end ones, have gotten pretty good with this but whenever I use my M2 Leica I am reminded of just how slow they are. If I use the Leica for a while it messes me up with my EOS as I push the button too late until I get used to it. If you are shooting sports or anything that is "capture the moment" you need to understand EXACTLY what you get when the button is pushed. The old SLR adage "if you see the moment in the viewfinder you missed it" hold true. I would say that the vast majority of top notch action shots are single shots not motor driven sequences. The photog uses the motor drive to speed up the ability to shoot the next moment not just shoot a sting fo 10 shots in a second and hope. Think about it, if you can shoot ten shots in a second and your exposure time is 1/1000 of a second you have missed 990 of the potential moments. So this just adds to the confusion. Pick the brand taht feels the best and buy a good body and better lenses. The body will be obsolete in a year anyway but you will tied to the brand because of the lens. Most of the brands don't change the "feel" of the camera as fast they change software. I wouldn't worry too much about the software; the manufactuers leapfrog each other on this stuff so even if your brand doesn't have a feature this month next month they will have a better feature. You will be caught having to upgrade you body regularly anyway s the things are obsolet in a coupel of years. Especially if you are doing a lot of pro work. | ||
| Mikej |
I have always been partial to Canon in the past. Guess I'll head back and annoy Chatterbox some. A boyfriend of someone at the local short order restaurant we frequent recently got a T1i, I may have to see if I can get her to get him to bring the camera in again so I can take some test shots with it around the inside of the restaurant. Nikon vs Canon? Probably some personal ergonomic preferences involved in addition to the technical comparisons. If I lived in NYC then the repair factor would kick in, but Milwaukee isn't exactly Metropolis. I'm going to check at some of the other local shops as well. I've received zero response to three bikes I put on the local Craigslist so this Saturday's wedding will get shot with the borrowed camera. Not enough time to put a higher end bicycle up for sale. The BestBuy weekly print flyer showed a Nikon D90 and one lens for $11**something, then for $16**something they include a second lens and a bag/backpack and maybe something else. I think the comparable Canon (might have been the T1i) was $12**something with one lens. I think the P90 is off the list for now. Now I just have to get some funds in order. Thanks for all the input, it has helped me to figure some things out. | ||
| Damnut |
Depending on the lens that's not a bad deal. I *think* I paid $888 for my D90 body alone. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Good point DG. The only time I've been frustrated by a time lag on the D90 is when it couldn't find the auto focus quick enough. But that was shooting motorsports. Canon V Nikon. Had both - don't care - price V features decides it for me. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Picked up the new 70-200 f2.8 VR II today. Will be testing it out this weekend at a few basketball games. Got it from Cameta Camera at there local store. The salesman that I deal with is Steve. If any of you decide to get new equipment ask for him. Mike Long Island,NY (Message edited by RKC00 on February 11, 2010) | ||
| Davegess |
couldn't find the auto focus quick enough Sometimes you have to turn that off and preset the focus at a set point. We had no choice back in the day. Either pick a focus point of get good at "follow focus" Which I never did master. I used to shot basketball with two cameras. One had a very wide angle lens pre focused at about 5 feet and stopped down as far as I could go. When a loose ball came right at you your just pointed the camera and hit the button. Don't even take time to look thorugh the finder. Every once in a while you got a neat shot. | ||
| Danger_dave |
I often hold the camera at half arms length and look through the finder. I'm a good shot from the hip. But then I've always been hip :-) The D90 doesn't shoot bad quality video either HDI - but it has no autofocus so is quite limited, but it's handy as backup or for an interview. Sometimes I use the LCD view inside on a tripod. outdoors only the viewfinder. The times it's stuggled with autofocus only number about 6 out of 20,000 captures on it so far - and they were of bikes traveling at very high speed. Outstanding rally. I like to manually focus glamour shots though. Only time I get real finicky is if it's for a dolly girl cover. They are fun gigs when they come up, stylists and picking models from a portfolio - hissy fits and tantys makes a change from all the greasemonkeys occasionally. :-) | ||
| Damnut |
What a great day. My Valentine Day gift, well this and a nice pair of house slippers. (I already had the D90)     | ||
| Court |
Very cool . . . hehehehe . . you married well! Will you be posting photos or a review of the slippers . . I am in the market for a new pair. | ||
| Damnut |
Yes I did Court, she's the best! Just for you Court...... Here's some pics of the slippers. lol They're pretty damn comfy   |
