Re: Photography Thread
 

I tried messing with it but the jpeg artifacts were too much

Re: Photography Thread
 

Well i guess I'm gonna bite the bullet and buy a shoe mount flash for my camera. Gonna grab a refurb Canon 430EX ii. Sigh

Re: Photography Thread
 

Ok just got my tax return and it's pretty much been spent. :D

Canon 50mm f/1.4
Canon 70-200mm f/4 USM L
Canon 430EX ii flash
3 UV filters
Defuser for flash
Lens hood for 18-135mm.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Well there you go...now you have everything you need until you become completely discontented again. :D
I fell into the trap of 'normal' lenses in fast versions, but with the crop factor, they were not as great a buy as
I was hoping for. I bought the cheap 50 1.8 from Nikkor and learned the lesson with the DX lens, got the 35mm 1.8,
so it was a tie, win-loss. Congrats on the new gear. That lion won't know what hit him.

Re: Photography Thread
 

OK Sharkie, here is what I see. It appears to be a late evening shot owing to the light on the deer's face,
so you were already somewhat under the gun for light at what I imagine is full zoom for the FZ28. Because
of the performance of those cameras in low light at full zoom, that is actually a fine shot. You can't be blamed
for the dead vegetation in late winter, and to get the deer in that kind of contrast required the grass to
get a little hot in exposure. The ONLY thing about that shot that I would do differently is MAYBE pan right
a hair to give the deer a little lookspace. But this is not TV, so in point of fact, it is also quite well-framed.
What you are experiencing is what anyone with a DSLR-bodied P&S is going through. You are chasing
what Panasonic cannot give you, and that is perfectly crisp low light photos.

I scoured the review pages in a hunt for the perfect performer in any light. It was only after looking
at a chart of sensor sizes did I understand the full range of what they had been hiding from me for
so long. The literature and tech-speak had me convinced they could actually do it. But the sensor is
about the size of a half a hit of acid. About the size of a pencil eraser. You are lucky, the FZ28 was
born before they tried to cram 14 Megapixels onto that tiny square.

What you can do with that photo is bump the contrast a little, bump the saturation a little, and put
a timy bit of blur on it to merge some of the fine noise grain. PM me, or better yet, see a few pages
back where Justin tried to offer me some software that fell off the back of a truck. Download said software
and PM me for any instructions on how to use it to accomplish those functions.

Re: Photography Thread
 

OK Sharkie-baby, I did what I said I would do and here is the difference.

i UPPED THE CONTRAST, I hit caps lock, lol, I upped the saturation, I hit it with a tiny bit of blur,
I also used the Stamp tool to pick up a portion of that busy, viney background and used it to
cover up a portion of the background where there were leaves and debris hung up in the dense
scrub that was bothering me. I also cropped it to suit my own taste.

I think what I would say to remember that no camera is capable of consistently putting out pics that
need NO post-processing. EVERY photo could stand a little dab'll do ya. There is no shame in post-
processing, UNLESS you are in a contest that does not allow it. You shoot a bird on your porch rail
where you do not have to extend to the very end of your zoom range, in a time of day where the light
is strong enough to help you, and you will not see the one issue I had with the photo as being 'perfect',
and that was a little noise.

Hell, come to think of it, I could fix the grass, too....and did. In the second photo

Re: Photography Thread
 

I loved the 50 I had when I had a nikon.

Re: Photography Thread
 

I was not clear when I wrote that, but I was not gonna correct it unless someone commented.
When I bought a lens for the infamous FX camera, lol, I bought the 1.8 50mm Nikkor.
NOW of course, there is no real use for it, :( except at an effective 75mm equivalent.
But I DID ponder what would happen if the KKK did take my baby away, and I picked
up a DX lens in 35mm, wich effectively got me to 50 again (52mm, anyway). NEITHER
of them end up being a waste, since a 70mm equivalent lens in 1.8 is still VERY useful.
But I hate the whole concept of crop factor. Sad that both companies went SO FAR
down that road before finally going full frame. Diabolical, in fact. :fl

Re: Photography Thread
 

I had a 50mm F1.2 Nikkor that was an awesome piece of glass back in the day when I was shooting F3's. That and the 105mm 1.8 were my two favorite lenses for candid Portraits.

I wish I had kept some of the old "big glass" teles that I had...hindsight is 20/20 :bhd

Re: Photography Thread
 

Yeh. This 50mm f1.4 is gonna rock. It gets here today.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Re: Photography Thread
 

Man that Blue Angels camoflauge gets more convincing everyday.

Re: Photography Thread
 

I think I have come around to you guys' way of thinking on this Adorama deal.
They are a lot slower than B&H, but I have gotten a little too much sauce from B&H this month to feel
good about giving them any more money for used gear. I will re-evaluate the sitcho later on in the year.
For now I am too pissed to mess with em.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Brad check out keh.com they're a great place for used gear as well

Re: Photography Thread
 

"Santa" came and brought me this a few minutes ago...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8378/8...10e83ffe_c.jpg
New lens by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

I am done buying gear, mon frere'. Dass fo sho. I just had to bit(h and get it out.

I got off my lazy a55 and went out to shoot a couple of girls as a favor for my old friend from TV days.

[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8370/8...d1442f7e71.jpg
Brass Knuckles by MemphisBrad, on Flickr]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8229/8...fc784686b3.jpg
Karen W. by MemphisBrad, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8...8392d21938.jpg
Ashlee K. Thomas by MemphisBrad, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

Very Nice Brad.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Picture of my cat with her toy with the 50mm

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8097/8...57ba636c_b.jpg
IMG_1561 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

Re: Photography Thread
 

That's the 4th Tactical fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson you got there Hugh! If I had stayed on at that
assignment back in my F-4E days, I would have seen the very first F-15s come in. But I got out at 4 years.
I will recognize that arrow logo til I pass on in from this world. Very Nice and THANK YOU!

Re: Photography Thread
 

My head was hurting for some reason this morning. Wild Turkey power.

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps8941b777.jpg

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a...pse65bd503.jpg

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps08ee09f0.jpg

Re: Photography Thread
 

What ISO were you at Brad? It's not available in your exif data.

Re: Photography Thread
 

I am jealous of that lens, Justin, it would be nice to use that in a place like I shot this weekend.
I chased my tail with the aperture til i just had everything all screwed up, so I just shot a LOT to cover
all my mistakes. And I made many dozens of mistakes. It did force me to learn something though, and
I forced myself to read about Auto Focus sensor zone switching with the D-pad. It always sounded like a
pain in the butt to me, so I just skipped over it and figured I'd work around not knowing how to do it, or at least
practice it one day sitting around, haha. So I got the focus zone in the middle, which was EASY,
but wrong over a lot of the stuff I shot. Lots of perfectly focused BELTS and BOOBS and soft faces and eyes.
had I realized how easy it is to do in practice, i would have made much better use out of that practice trip last night.

Re: Photography Thread
 

I ranged between 800 and 1600 all night. TOO HOT, I needed to work harder with the aperture
I had to give. 1600 was not ideal. I might have capped it at 1200 about midway through the
evening. I need to look at the originals, where I know I can read the EXIF on the camera itself.
I can look at the items I posted here, too, specifically, to see where the ISO was.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Why not pick up a 50mm f/1.8 brad? You can get the older AF-D model for a lil over $100 new. Or even a 35mm f/1.8

Re: Photography Thread
 

What the hell you think I was shooting with, lol....:D But I didn't play around long enough to see JUST
what I needed to do to balance maybe a 1200 ISO with some other changes to find a sweet spot with
the aperture. I think I wanted to be a coupla stops short of wide open for clarity. But most times I must
have failed, because it looks like I stayed in 1600 all night. I am not sure why I couldn't get off that.
Surely auto ISO did not feel like it was that dark in the place. I must have been whacking that iris a
little more than I thought. I should have matrix metered and seen what the computer might have done.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Well after posting the pic in the critique section on POTN, I think I have my shot how I want it. Next time I'll try to frame it this way.


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8366/8...11a83267_b.jpg
Crystal Final by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

Always leave talk-space, TV or not. That's the 'proper framing'.
LOL, what do I know?

Re: Photography Thread
 

:sl

Re: Photography Thread
 

You know, talk space...you frame so that the direction they are 'talking' has the most room, not with their nose in
a frame edge. Doesn't everybody know obscure TV terms? ;) I like the implied horizontals on the bottom in the sand.

[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8094/8...50d1a1a9d4.jpg
Craquelure by MemphisBrad, on Flickr]

REDRUM.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Here she be! :dr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8392/8...30f09baa_b.jpg
Untitled by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

that's a big lens.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Sad thing it really isn't lol. The f/2.8 model is much bigger and heavier.

Re: Photography Thread
 

F2.8 is a sweet lens. I had the Nikkor, but I have heard good things about the Cannon lens. The front element is pretty large though!

Re: Photography Thread
 

I rented the 2.8 a lil while back and it's not something I want to shoot on a regular basis without a monopod

Re: Photography Thread
 

No, it was definately a handfull. Back in the day I shot a lot of wildlife stuff, and since I was young, single and thought I had lots of money to blow, I bought some pretty fast lenses. At one point I had a 200/2.8, a 300/2.8, and an 800/4.0. Man, I wish I had the cash I spent on those babies these days!

Re: Photography Thread
 

Yeh this was only $475 shipped

Re: Photography Thread
 

There were times that I resembled this poor bloke...

http://oldchurchbbq.com/sharedpictures/Photog.jpg

No wonder my neck, back and knees kill me these days!

Re: Photography Thread
 

:r :r

Re: Photography Thread
 

OLS: #2021 shot 1 ( CD $5 ) :tu
EMO - # 2027 :tu

Really Nice work guys. .

Re: Photography Thread
 

Thank you very much.....


ARRGGGGJHHHHHhhhhh.
I ordered a bad Ultra wide angle lens from B&H and had to send it back.
Then I ordered one from Adorama and it was not the Nikon mount I though I'd ordered.
So I sent IT BACK today.
Now I have TWO returns for a thousand bucks in progress, and NO ULTRAWIDE LENS!

ARGHHhhhhh. Me want shooty UW.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Which ultra wide Brad? I had a Nikkor 24mm, and a Tamron 18.

Re: Photography Thread
 

This was a Sigma 10-20 F/4-5.6 With my DX sensor, I need my ultrawide to be ultrawide, lol.

The first one I ordered was REALLY wide, it was a Sigma 8-16mm. But it was squirrelly and would
not meter properly. Focused maybe one time in 10 attempts. Had a big ol' parking lot DING in the
aluminum lens hood, a nice dent and gouge. I sent it back as being not properly graded and being
a POS. Even with the ding, had it focused and metered properly, I was gonna keep it.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Tripod and remote/timer came in. Sunrise shots in the am if the weather holds

Re: Photography Thread
 

Re: Photography Thread
 

Nice one Ron!

Re: Photography Thread
 

I especially like shots of money, Shark. Old, metal money anyway. More please.
hehe


I bought a lens that came in today, too. It is one of the old dust-pumper Nikkor 70-210
4-5.6 that was trading at large online company A well below what another major online dealer
wanted for what I gauged likely to be an 'equal' product. For 60 bucks I think I found my sharpest
zoom lens. I could just be lucky on this one, or I could have been at a perfect aperture for an
otherwise messed up lens, It might be just the equally surprising great D100 body it is shooting on,
which was also dirt cheap. Either way, I have been dragging around D70s hoping to get anything
this sharp. Until now, I hadn't gotten these kinds of crisp and detailed photos, more soft and lacking
in contrast. But it tests pretty well on a D70 too, although a bit late in the day to be shooting such
a tube.

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a...psc62644c4.jpg

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps209af2ce.jpg

These are just lens tests, but this lens is pretty decent at the short end and is mostly forgiving at the long end.
If I take some real pictures with it, we'll see. It is pretty long and tight with that dang 1.5x crop factor. So at least
I am not stuck with 2 burned out D70s, they just needed something either sharper, or better tuned to they're own
quirks to get the proper results. If you've been following, I have been mortified by the test shots I have shot with
the two bodies. But when it really counted, as it did with the bar shots I posted earlier, I was able to salvage some
good shots from an otherwise difficult night of learning. But learn I did. But in the end, I am just glad that I got a lens
that was being too cheap for its own good and people must have not trusted. Its a fine lens. I mean, for far shi+, lol.
Although it shoots decent at 4.5-5 feet for uncomfortable closeups.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Very nice Brad!

Well, bed time. Waking up at 0530 to head out to get some sunrise beach shots.

Re: Photography Thread
 

Teaser pic from this morning


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8385/8...e155011f_b.jpg
IMG_1779 by emopunker2004, on Flickr

Re: Photography Thread
 

Ah, the beach. I miss the beach. Not all the time, but some times.

I strapped my iffiest lens on today and will try to figure out if I just can't SEE straight or it has serious issues
at all apertures. I mean to really work it out. Its another old bargain lens, the Nikkor 24-50mm 3.3-4.5. Not
expecting anything great out of it, we'll see how it works out. It took some fading light pics the other night
that I thought were passable.