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i took this same exact picture last time i was in DC...

10/7/2010 8:12:09 PM

B&H iPhone app launched today, my team built the app so feel free to express your or with our work.

10/11/2010 4:12:08 PM

i did finally pick up an 18-200mm nikon lens for $300 (which is well worth it for the convenience, IMO)...anyway, it appears about as new as can be expected (it's the second version with the zoom lock and gold VR logo), but it "whispers" and has more resistance (not overly so, but the zooming isn't consistent in its resistance) when it's close to being fully extended...is that normal or is it damaged somehow?

i ask because i've never had a lens do that...then again, this one is all metal and of a higher quality than the 18-105mm (which it has now replaced since i gave my old lens to my dad)...i will be the first to admit that i'm overly protective of my gear and like to keep it in perfect shape...this might be normal, but i wanted to make sure it wasn't an indication of something bad

10/12/2010 5:42:59 PM

It's dark, but I had to deal with what I was given as I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes while trying to get this shot.

10/12/2010 9:47:08 PM

quag, I wouldn't worry about the variable resistance in the zooming in your lens. I'd suspect that the cheaper build quality would account to the odd resistance; I've noticed it on a 28-135 I used to have (same strong resistance in the longer range too), which was absent on 3 other copies that my friends had. As long as it's not grinding or feels abnormally restrictive, it's ok. $300 does seem like a pretty good price for an 18-200 and hope the image quality is good. Would like to see some test shots.

10/12/2010 11:46:17 PM

Any thoughts on the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 vs the Canon 24-70mm? Trying to decide if I should buy the Sigma now or save for the Canon...I am impatient when it comes to wants.

10/14/2010 7:19:22 PM

My sister-in-law is getting married Saturday in Greensboro and I'd like to get some decent shots, which means I'm considering renting lenses. At the moment I have the basic Nikon 18-55 and 55-200, plus a 35 1.8. My wife said I'm the "official unofficial photographer" There will be two family members there who are professional photographers, so that is covered

Any idea where I could rent a 70-200 2.8 and perhaps something wide (recommendations? 24-70 2.8? 10-24?), in Greensboro? Any idea of pricing?


Thanks...

[Edited on October 14, 2010 at 11:07 PM. Reason : ]

10/14/2010 11:06:00 PM

You'd be surprised at how much of the wedding you'll shoot with the 35mm. I recently shot a wedding and 90%+ of my shots were taken with the Canon 35 1.4. That would be my first choice. After that, a 50mm or 85mm. That's it.

10/15/2010 7:33:58 AM

^^ reading photography forums in general and nikon forums in particular, the general consensus seems to be that sigma/quantaray are very meh...tamron seems to put out some decent stuff for the money, but the most affordable quality comes from nikkor lenses

i realize you're talking about canon...i assume the same holds true, though...unless anyone with more experience and knowledge chimes in, i'd suggest tamron if you want something cheaper than canon lenses that still has decent build and optical quality

10/15/2010 7:34:43 AM

a 24-70 2.8 is nice to have for shooting weddings. Fast enough for low light, pretty damn sharp throughout, and gives you the zoom range to do a variety of shots without switching lenses. But yeah, if you have a 35, play around with it, it's like a 50 on a crop body and grabbing a fast 50 or 85 would be a great portrait lenses.

A 70-200 2.8 would be great, but in most situations, it's probably a bit too much for just going around and taking quick snap shots. I had this on my 2nd body on my shoulder most of the time, but yet I only used it maybe 10% of the time. I mainly used my main body with the 24-70 and had a 3rd body ready by my gear with the 50 1.4, but again, I barely used that unless it's planned shots or need the low light. I usually setup flashes so I rarely needed a 50, but the narrow DOF is nice for close shots.

I think I used more in the 50-100 range for 90% of the shots with some wide angle shots for group shots or interesting close perspective shots.


If I shot more weddings, I would also shoot only prime lenses (35, 50, 85, 135) in my kit, but I would also have an assistant as a camera mule and/or to hold flashes.

10/15/2010 10:18:54 AM

So it sounds like a 24-70 2.8 would probably be my best bet. Now I just need to see if I can find one to rent in Greensboro by tomorrow afternoon for a reasonable price.

Anyone know if Wolf or Ritz or anyone like that rents lenses?

[Edited on October 15, 2010 at 10:49 AM. Reason : ]

10/15/2010 10:48:40 AM

I think there's one pro camera shop in Greensboro, but I forgot the name of it. Only used it once for school, but not sure if they do rentals. You probably would have more luck with pro shops out in High point if they do rentals, but again, I'm not knowledgeable about either places. SE Raleigh camera shop is the only place I know that does rentals around here and they are pretty cheap.

I don't believe Wolf or Ritz do rentals and if they did, they just have shitty lenses.

10/15/2010 11:18:45 AM

Just checked out their website -- $25 to rent the 24-70 2.8.

Looks like I'll be making use of my 35 1.8 for most of the shots tomorrow...


Yes, I'm a cheap bastard.

10/15/2010 1:31:44 PM

$25 for how long?

10/15/2010 1:41:59 PM

surely it's for 24 hours (at least)

i guess it could be a morning pick up and evening drop off, though i'd be surprised

$25 doesn't seem too bad

10/15/2010 1:43:12 PM

"Day" rental.

Either way I wouldn't be able to make it there today or tomorrow...I'm on a pretty tight schedule. Oh well, perhaps another time...

10/15/2010 2:15:02 PM

anyone used the tokina 11-16mm? i can get one in mint condition for about $250 and i think it would complement my 18-200mm and 50mm f/1.4 beautifully to make for a collection that is perfect for the casual photographer

10/15/2010 2:30:02 PM

Anybody else looking to purchase the D7000? Its street day is Sunday, but several BBs, including the one in Raleigh, are already selling them. One guy from Raleigh has already picked up his. And with the Rewards Zone coupon for 12% off, he got the $1499 kit for $1312 with tax. God I wish this wasn't so tempting. My D40 really showed its age this weekend when I tried to do some HS football sports photography, and the D80 doesn't do much better.

10/15/2010 3:23:53 PM

i assume nikon mount? i don't know the prices on nikon but for canon that is an insanely great price

10/15/2010 3:38:51 PM

^ yes, nikon mount...he's a friend of a friend who doesn't need or care about money

in other news, let me reiterate how retarded nikon's camera naming scheme is

10/15/2010 3:46:01 PM

Quag, you better buy that lens for $250.

10/15/2010 4:03:07 PM

Yeah, it is a hell of a lens at full retail price. At that price, I'll slap you if you don't buy it.

10/15/2010 5:37:30 PM

$25 for a day rental seems like a good price, considering a lot of their stuff is in that price range. They are cheaper that most online rental places and they are local. Their weekend prices is very cheap and they seem to have some new stuff since I last looked at them. Seems like they finally got some real supertele's in the mix.

10/15/2010 8:22:08 PM

Here's a few from Alaska








[Edited on October 16, 2010 at 10:57 AM. Reason : .]

10/16/2010 10:47:25 AM

were you using the max aperture for the goats? they look a bit soft for some reason

10/16/2010 12:46:16 PM

Those were all shot at 2.8. It was a rental lens so I never really had a chance to use it prior to the trip.

10/16/2010 5:13:48 PM

with a rental lens that you are unfamiliar with i recommend shooting the same shot with multiple apertures and multiple shutter speeds

it's even useful on lenses you are very familiar with at times

i didn't check the exif (if it's there) to see if that lens is generally soft at 2.8 but i'm guessing the reviews show it is

10/16/2010 5:36:36 PM

Those are some nice shots. Looks like you had a nice weather, were you in Denali? Possibly wrangle?

10/16/2010 5:50:28 PM

^^Yeah, I was doing that with my landscape images, but I shot those sheep early in the morning while it was still freezing and I was just trying to get a couple decent shots and get back in my tent until the sun came out. It was also still pretty dark so I was a bit limited as far as aperture goes.

^We were in Chugach. We were there for 4 days and it didnt rain a bit. My friend that lives up there said it was the nicest weather they had had all year.

10/16/2010 6:08:16 PM

Yeah you dont see a whole lot of bright sunny weather in that neck of the woods. Fairbanks actually sees a lot of sun but anywhere down south can be iffy. A beautiful part of the country though. How big was your lens on the goat shots 300mm?

10/16/2010 10:42:34 PM

It was a 2.8 70-200 that I had rented. I also had a 1.4tc for it but didnt need it for those shots. Unfortunately, that was about all the wildlife we saw. There were 3 black bears but we were about 500 yards away so they are nothing but little specs in the pics I took.

10/17/2010 7:54:30 AM

Messed around with some photo class that I am not in:

10/18/2010 2:38:04 AM

just sold my 400 2.8, clears up some cash for me. I'm thinking of building up the r6 as a camera bike for video projects and having an exoskeleton shell for camera rigging. Talking with a buddy to help me do some metal work, bending and welding. Designing probably a straight forward setup, but thinking of ways for the camera mount to be on a free floating mount point with a small gyroscope on a heavy duty spring shock system to make the video as smooth as possible, yet be able to tilt naturally.

Still have to figure out how I'm going to accomplish the free floating idea without it becoming a tilting nightmare. Looking at doing a U shape as a track system with the camera plate using roller blade bearings, then use some sort of plastic or rubber points to increase friction. Then have the whole system mounted another platform that acts as the shock absorber with heavy springs, like a trampoline. Thinking the gyro would be mounted under the camera on the track system for best effectiveness.

I'll try to design the mount points to be modular so I can move the system around on the exoskeleton. I've seen some systems like this, but there's not a lot of people who do these kinds of mounting on a sports bikes, mostly chase cars. Pursuit systems have a cool setup that I'll probably mimic for the frame work, but I don't need such a heavy duty camera mount since I don't need to support 100lbs camera's.

Just a thought.

10/18/2010 11:14:18 AM

Has anyone ever shot anything like SEMA? I'm going and thinking about actually taking the dslr this year instead of the P&S that I usually take. The problem is that I can't decide whether to rent an UWA or if something like the Canon 17-55 f/2.8 would be sufficient. Having never shot a crowded show like that, I'm not sure on lens choice. I'm thinking the 17-55 will be slightly too narrow. Any advice (thinking about the Tokina 11-16 btw).

10/18/2010 11:55:48 AM

A 17-55 on a crop body would work pretty good I'd think. I haven't been to a SEMA show, but been to a few other car shows on the east coast similar to it. As a general purpose lens, you could get away with most shots with that one lens, I would probably bring a wide angle lens for the big crowd shots and a short telephoto for portraits. For me, that would be a 17-40 and a 24-105 on a full frame chip. However, probably 80% of the time I was taking portraits of the car babes. I think one car show, I took zero car photos. lol

10/18/2010 12:50:11 PM

haha, so I got a call today bout the gryo from the manufacturer and they recommended me two KS-8 for my system, which is 4k a piece. Then I ask my Zeiss buddy about the new LWZ.2 15.5-45 f/2.6 cinema lens only to realize it after the fact that it's a 30k lens. lol

I think I need to scale back my project a bit. lol

Although, I've seen some interesting stuff in the DIY gyro sector of using old hard drives in series as cheap gyro's. Doing the math, I would need 4 drives in each direction to effectively stabilize the 5D and a compact lens. And after talking with an engineer about my plan, I still would need to isolate the whole camera mount either with a gimbals, bungees or heavy shock system.

10/18/2010 3:23:15 PM

message_topic.aspx?topic=603649

not a horrible price

10/20/2010 10:18:08 AM

Not a particularly good photo, but my buddy's 8 month olf German Shepherd is absolutely beautiful.


My dog is a retard.

10/20/2010 10:23:28 AM

you dog looks like it needs a beer and some cheetos...

10/20/2010 10:31:44 AM

I just picked up an LED brick light from northern tools for $10, 4AA battery powered and has 72 LED bulbs; bright as fuck. Might get a few more and make an LED light panel with diffuser for video projects.

10/22/2010 5:51:59 PM

Link?

10/22/2010 6:21:24 PM

They don't have it listed on the website, it's in their bargain bins. It's seriously super bright, but the LED's that they use are the laser kind with the focused lenses so it acts more like a wide flashlight than a flood lamp, but putting a diffuser over it should work fine. The back is a flat surface and the build quality is actually not half bad for being $10 and from China, even has a cheapy hanging hook built in and some magnets.

I kinda want to get the ring lamp version that's listed on their website, maybe modify the housing to fit a lens through it. I mean it should be big enough to do it and relocate the battery supply off camera.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200395371_200395371

[Edited on October 22, 2010 at 6:32 PM. Reason : ]

10/22/2010 6:31:31 PM

A few pics from my London trip

10/26/2010 4:11:16 PM

need to clean your sensor. But I like the bridge and long exposure of the river + ferris wheel. Think you just need to burn some of the shadows in the bridge picture to bring back some contrast and detail in to the structure, maybe reduce the overall exposure by a 1/3 since the blue support beams are kind of on the bright end. Maybe boost the color/saturation a bit and I'd use it as your main/highlighted image from your series.

10/26/2010 4:19:56 PM

Yea I've been putting off the sensor cleaning for quite a while now, I have never tried any post processing.. thanks for the suggestions though

10/27/2010 2:36:21 PM

Any recommendations for a fast wide angle Canon lens thats in the sub $600 range? That puts the 17-55 2.8 out of reach but I'm considering the 15-85 3.5-5.6 and the Tamron 17-50 2.8. Thoughts?

Also looking to do some motorsports photography, would a 70-200 f4 (non-IS) suffice for autoX's where speeds dont get that high?

[Edited on October 27, 2010 at 2:52 PM. Reason : ]

10/27/2010 2:47:22 PM

I used the Tamron for a few years and always thought I was getting more than my moneys worth. Sharp and fast lens for the price tag. People complain about the noise of the focus motor, but it never bothered me too much.

10/27/2010 6:57:57 PM

I use that Tamron as my everyday lens and would definitely recommend it. It's a great, great lens for the price tag.

10/27/2010 7:12:20 PM

Quote :

"Any recommendations for a fast wide angle Canon lens thats in the sub $600 range? That puts the 17-55 2.8 out of reach but I'm considering the 15-85 3.5-5.6 and the Tamron 17-50 2.8. Thoughts?"

We seem to get this question in every page. Tamron wide angle, nuff said.

Quote :

"Also looking to do some motorsports photography, would a 70-200 f4 (non-IS) suffice for autoX's where speeds dont get that high?"

Depends, if you are close to the action, 70-200 would suffice just well, specially on a crop body. 200 might actually be a little too long in some areas. I remember I was able to get really close for more autoX's with the Carolina Club. I was well over 60ft away from the sidelines just to get far enough to shoot with a 200 on a crop body. The 70-200 f/4 is a fantastic small L lense, perfect size, low weight, compact body (compared to other tele's), and the cheapest L lense, not to mention its sharp as hell. Who wouldn't like, minus the the slow f/4.

You should look at sigma 70-200's as those are under rated for being fairly cheap and having the 2.8 lens for the same price as the canon's f/4. Their resale value on the used market is like a good 100-200 cheaper too, their optics is decent, but their build quality isn't as refined as Canon L's. Still, a great value.

Also, since you'd be shooting in daylight, I'd look at the super zooms that sigma makes like the bigma (aka 50-500), plus there's like 10 new ranges around there for similar prices around the 700ish mark. They maybe slow in the long end, but honesty, if you just pan you will be shooting at like f/8+ anyhow with a slow shutter speed.

10/27/2010 10:58:43 PM

set em up

10/28/2010 8:45:08 AM