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wow great stuff Henry I like your photo. Camera's a really expensive right now yes. entry level is 1,200+ compared to what it was previously at like 600. Those new camera's really do kick ass! and yes when you need your camera to perform you don't want it crapping out on you when the time comes for a great pic and when it counts!!

As far as good gear goes. Name brand and money. When it comes to lenses don't go cheap. If you have any idea about printing large prints or posting very large images you need good glass. You may get aberration's or bleeding of individual RGB colors at the edge of objects in the photo. This increases with smaller apertures On average and I mean on average a lenses ideal aperture is somewhere between f8 and f11. Adjusting the aperture is not just about the amount of light coming in, although it is the primary function, it determine how wide your depth of focus is, depth of field. So clamping down to F22 or higher might add to the depth of what is in focus but in also increases the chromatic aberration. This not only applies to lens brands an price but also to individual lenses of the same model. I have seen really expensive lenses produce some really shitty photos. at high apertures. I have an old Nikkor 85mm f1.9 that is tack sharp. I use it for lightning. But that lens is not ideal for high depth of field shots. It is killer for bokeh shots like the one hnry just posted.

All the major manufactures make good glass. The also make shit glass. Like a good guitar, your are gonna pay for quality.

I hate autofocus. It often does not focus on what I want. The screens are so shit that the DOF does not show very well so toying with the aperture becomes an exercise in frustration. At night autofocus does not work, period. This is why I use the older Nikkor 85mm. It stops turning at infinity unlike an autofocus lens. Even on the D800E. I want more older lenses but they have to have modifications to work on the Nikon AI mount.

Despite all that probably the most important piece of equipment, other than the camera and lens, is a good STURDY tripod. This single item, though not cheap, is what improved my shots the most. I have a tendency to shoot in low light. I never try to handhold a shot below 1/125 of a second. shutter speed. It is a royal pain in the ass but once you get use to it you will be much more pleased with your sharpness. Also, in really low light conditions, lock your mirror up before taking the shot. Most cameras have this feature. The mirror slapping the top of the view finder causes vibration. Once the shot is framed and focused lock the mirror up then shoot. Many modern camera have a delay function temporarily locking the mirror before the shot. Of cource with a camera like hnrys there is no mirror as there is no view finder. No shutter curtain either. Still a tripod is the first and best accessory to have.

hnry and I are at extremes, He is using a modern camera that has been designed to take care of all these issues. Making spectular photos is easier. Me, I have several 4x5 film cameras here. Despite these camera and their design being centuries old there are things these cameras can do that the most moders cannot. That is perspective. It is why Heikki is having trouble with his smart phone shots, perspective. On the old cameras the lens can be tilted along 4 axis, left to right, top to bottom, tilt up/down, tilt left/right. Many of these cameras also have the same movements on the rear standard where the ground glass and film are. Check out Ansel Adams.

Trobador222 wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 9:19 pm Here is one of mine with bokeh.

What a shot, well on target, you crazy american

Here is one of mine with bokeh.

Heigen5 wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:04 pm Ok Henry, thanks for an informative presentation of the cameras! Something about the smartphone cameras, - why is it hard to take pics, so my eyes wouldn't be that tired looking? Or if one takes a pic from the bottom angle, you don't look that natural. I think my webcam can take a lot more "real" looking pics than my Samsung Galaxy can.

I've never used a Samsung, so I cant comment on how their cameras are. I have used iPhones for years and their cameras are decent for a phone camera. Some of what you are describing may be lens distortion. You can get apps that will make your phone mimic larger cameras. One thing you can use for portraits of people, is, if your phone has what is called a "portrait mode", it will put the subject in focus, leaving the area around the subject out of focus to varying degrees. There are also apps for that, like thishttps://photo.wondershare.com/photo-editor/best-apps-to-create-bokeh-effects-on-phone.html

That out of focus area in a picture is called bokeh. It's also an artistic quality that photographers look for in lenses. The shape and texture of that out of focus area can vary and in some lenses create a very pleasing pattern. Older and prime lenses like I talked about are good for this. You can also frame the focusing using the bokeh to get what is called a tilt shift effect. There are specific lenses for that, but you can do it with good post processing apps as well. It makes things look miniature.https://tiltshiftmaker.com/tilt-shift-photo-gallery.php

Ok Henry, thanks for an informative presentation of the cameras! Something about the smartphone cameras, - why is it hard to take pics, so my eyes wouldn't be that tired looking? Or if one takes a pic from the bottom angle, you don't look that natural. I think my webcam can take a lot more "real" looking pics than my Samsung Galaxy can.

People can take decent pictures on cheap cameras. But there are and always will be limitations. And depending on what you want to do, good camera equipment will always take better photos. You could take your phone and put it on a tripod and get a picture like that one I posted. Especially with modern phone cameras. But in the end, there is a depth that a good lens and camera provides that will never show up in the phone camera. It's kind of a subtle thing. It's like with music. There are most people who listen to music on their phones and have never heard it played through really high end systems. Yet the people making the music are usually like us, who still strive to make it sound good. We still like to do it, because we enjoy doing it.

Heigen5 wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:33 pm What would make a camera being good then? That you look good or look shit, because a camera might not follow the "the beauty is in the eyes of a 'watcher' at all.

Lenses mostly, on DLSRs and Mirrorless cameras. Then sensor size. The real expensive cameras have what is called full frame sensors. They are about the size of an old 35mm film plate. The ones I use have an APS-C sensor which is a bit smaller. A lens is rated by how much light can come through. When you see a lens, it has a number with the letter F. That refers to the widest possible opening the aperture in the lens opens to allow light through. The smaller the number, the wider the opening.

With that wider opening and using a short lens, you get much less distortion from the lens. You can also take pictures in less light. You can use a lower ISO, which means less digital noise in the picture. ISO has to do with light sensitivity. In the old days in film. the higher the ISO of the film, the grainier the final picture appeared. In some cases, that grain was considered artistic. Especially in Black and White photography. Kodak made a black and white film called Tri-x. It had an ISO of 400. The pictures came out with a fine grain and that was a desired quality and was Kodaks most popular film for years. It was also a lot easier to develop if you were a hobbiest who had your own dark room.

So that picture I posted was taken with a Nikkor 35mm F1.4 lens. To get that ghostly water effect, I had to have the camera on a tripod and use a slow shutter speed. I took the pictures on a cloudy day and it was in a dense forest on the side of the lower part of Mt Hood in Oregon. Mt Hood is a 13000 foot high stratovolcano. It was also blocking the sun where I was. So I had very low light conditions. That lens, even though not very expensive is a really fine lens and allowed me to get this specialty shot. If I had been working with a Zoom lens, which usually has a limited F-stop, it would have been more difficult. The 35mm lens on an APS-C sensor is the equivalent of a 50mm lens on a full frame camera. On a full frame camera, the 35mm lens shows about the same thing your eye sees.

What would make a camera being good then? That you look good or look shit, because a camera might not follow the "the beauty is in the eyes of a 'watcher' at all.

It's not the best time to buy a camera right now. They are in short supply. In retail outlets anyway. I also just ordered a 25mm manual lens for the new one. Those are easy to get right now and with a short lens, you can set them to F8, put the focus at the infinity point and have a great landscape lens. I dont mind manual focus either. I learned to take pictures years ago on a SLR film camera and there was no auto focus.

Plus with the "focus peaking" on this Sony camera, the camera is still helping you with focus, you just have to adjust the ring by hand. On a fixed prime lens for landscape, that's not much adjustment. And the construction of these lenses is usually glass and metal. No plastic.

Ashley wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:38 am great stuff! I'd like an upgrade to a new body as my DSLR cameras are pretty old. I'm also getting some errors with them, sometime when I have money I may make the jump.

Thats one reason I bought a new one now, the age of my DLSR. I've had it for 10 years. I'm going on this trip this week and the last thing I want to do is have the camera crap out when I really want it. Last time I used it, I would sometimes get this glitch on the screen, where there would be a static moment.

great stuff! I'd like an upgrade to a new body as my DSLR cameras are pretty old. I'm also getting some errors with them, sometime when I have money I may make the jump.

Neat!

That's a damn fine camera. I had one of its earlier versions. Gave it to me oldest son. I have enough camera gear

I've had a Nikon DLSR for years. Just bought a mirrorless. Got a Sony A6000. It's actually an older model but very capable. I got it with a double lens kit, a 16 to 55mm and a 50 to 210mm. My son has a bunch of vintage lenses and adaptors to fit the camera, so I am going to pick up a prime lens from him. I also just ordered a manual 25mm lens for it. My wife and I are going on a trip next Friday, to the PNW. We are going to the Olympic Peninsula in WA. We have a cabin for a week there, then we are going to Mount Rainier NP for a couple of days before we fly home. I got the new camera for the trip. Heres a photo on Flickr I did on that old Nikon. Been viewed 17000 times.