The photography thread

[brick tamland]

@Testos111 - what lens would you recommend with the Nikon D5500?

The prices are pretty good for that camera.

Do you already have the 5500? There's a new camera in Nikon's 5000 series, the 5600, which seems to be around the same price from what I can see.

As for lenses, there are a lot of options for Nikon, including third-party lenses from Sigma and Tamron, amongst others.

I've been using a 50mm lens after upgrading from the kit lens with the Canon 1300d. Man, I can't tell you how great this lens is. Captures the lighting, good for portraits and street photography. It saved me from getting a film camera.

I can't speak about Canon but I can vouch for the nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens. It's one of the best 'budget' portrait lenses around. I've taken some nice images with it. The sharpness, light sensitivity, and background blur are up there.

As an aside, this is apparently the current king of portrait lenses, the Sigma 85mm f1.4. I will accept donations lol.

[attachment=36211]

The one thing I haven't had time to get into yet is post-processing. I hope one of the experienced guys can drop a datasheet on post-processing if possible?

 

[rudebwoy]

^I use Canon right now but there lens are expensive and I agree about their marketing.

Nikon growing up was the camera to have, so I would be interested in changing or at least trying it out. I used one before and I didn't really like the functionality of the thing.

Like someone stated, you can still get great shots with standard equipment. I am more than happy with my pics and get a lot of compliments and people asking me questions.

I still need to get the 50mm f1.8 and see what the fuss is about.

 

[TheUsual]

Kaotic, any particular reason why you're leaning towards A7r vs A7 or A7II? The big thing the r offers of course is resolution (42MP vs 24MP), and by and large most people don't need that. Keep in mind that 6MP printed on 8.5x11" is about the limit of what people can discern with with eye. So unless you're in the habit of printing things at poster size or cropping away 90% of the shot, 24 is more than enough.

A few friends of mine have those models, I played with the A6300 and 2 A7's and they were easy to use, apps were decent as well.

It's true yeah they're full frame cameras for huge images, it just seemed like a solid camera overall and for awhile I was stuck on buying one so I watched a bunch of youtube videos and read a bunch of reviews which seemed pretty positive.

You could possibly look into the new Fujifilm XT-2 with the 18-55mm kit lens, it runs for $1899 on Amazon and is getting really good reviews. Usually kit lenses tend to be kind of sucky but I guess Fuji's lenses tend to perform really well.

 

[brick tamland]

^ The Fuji XT2 is getting very good reviews. Anyone with some spare cash should take a look at it. But it's not exactly cheap. I met someone who has it. It definitely looks the part, with all those those dials. The native lenses are excellent. Images are great, and there's a ton of features that have convinced even some pros to switch from good ol' Canon and Nikon. Only downsides apparently are less than stellar battery life, but there's an after-market battery grip which boosts some functions like the frames per second recording speed. If I was upgrading from Nikon I'd really be torn.

 

[TheUsual]

^ The Fuji XT2 is getting very good reviews. Anyone with some spare cash should take a look at it. But it's not exactly cheap. I met someone who has it. It definitely looks the part, with all those those dials. The native lenses are excellent. Images are great, and there's a ton of features that have convinced even some pros to switch from good ol' Canon and Nikon. Only downsides apparently are less than stellar battery life, but there's an after-market battery grip which boosts some functions like the frames per second recording speed. If I was upgrading from Nikon I'd really be torn.

I've been considering the Fuji for my travels later on this year, but I will wait and see what the new Canon 6d2 and the new Sony mirrorless have in terms of features and performance.

For the guys who were asking about the 50mm lenses if you use the Canon the 50mm 1.8 STM is a super nice, cheap, compact lens that if you can get it used for $50-$75 is a super deal if you're just starting out. I had it a couple of years ago before it was broken and miss using it.

 

[Jack Of All Trades]

is it worth it to buy a new camera just for the autofocus motor? I have a Nikon D3100 and it doesn't have the internal motor system like the other better cameras. I'm debating selling a few lenses or buying a better camera body. I'm currently on the fence with buying a 24-70mm which f2.8 which can do a lot or work. I also like the D5x00 and D3x00 series for their form factor and light weight, but not having a internal motor restricts me to only the most newest and expensive lenses from Nikon and other manufacturers.

 

[TheUsual]

is it worth it to buy a new camera just for the autofocus motor? I have a Nikon D3100 and it doesn't have the internal motor system like the other better cameras. I'm debating selling a few lenses or buying a better camera body. I'm currently on the fence with buying a 24-70mm which f2.8 which can do a lot or work. I also like the D5x00 and D3x00 series for their form factor and light weight, but not having a internal motor restricts me to only the most newest and expensive lenses from Nikon and other manufacturers.

That's interesting, I never knew that Nikon did that with some of their camera bodies. Since I shoot Canon all of the focus motors are on the camera lenses themselves, so I don't have to worry about that. Anyways the D3100 is an old enough body that you would be justified in upgrading anyways. What's your budget and how much do you expect to get off the lenses you intend to sell? You could look for a used D610 or even a D750 if you have the money those would probably go well with the 24-70 you're thinking about buying.

 

[Jack Of All Trades]

well the 24-70mm would cost about 800-1200$ depending on the quality and maybe more depending on manufacturers. I was looking at getting a d7000 or d7100 and using the old lenses with it because they have autofocus. I like the d3x00 series just because they're the lightest of all the DSLRs I have a prime 50mm 1.8 and a 70-210mm 4-5.6 that need the internal motor in the body to focus.

 

[TheUsual]

well the 24-70mm would cost about 800-1200$ depending on the quality and maybe more depending on manufacturers. I was looking at getting a d7000 or d7100 and using the old lenses with it because they have autofocus. I like the d3x00 series just because they're the lightest of all the DSLRs I have a prime 50mm 1.8 and a 70-210mm 4-5.6 that need the internal motor in the body to focus.

That sounds like a good plan, you might want to keep your eye on the new Sigma Art series 24-70mm. It will most likely be over $1000 but by how much no one knows yet, it's slated to come out in the next couple of months.

 

[StarcraftGG]

Hello All, I hope to be contributing more to this thread soon. I just started dipping my toes into photography recently. I feel like I know very little but I wanted to share my experiences so far. Before spending any money, I borrowed from a friend an older model Sony mirrorless NEX5N with the kit lense and played around with it for a few weeks while reading up on the basics including the manual, which was key for navigating through the camera with some competency despite not fully understanding everything. I met a person once with a very nice camera that never took it off intelligent auto mode - please don't be like them.

I ordered from the Expert Photography website their ebook for something like 10 dollars and got dizzy trying to digest the information. Thinking that their video course would be better, I shelled out the $85 or so on it after using the coupon code foundit. I figured I had nothing to lose since it had a 100% money back guarantee. I went through the course and it was very informative, but in my opinion, was not worth the money so I requested a refund. I did get some value out of it however so you may want to give it a shot. It could be due to my newbieness but I didn't like the explanation of some of the topics and while browsing in Barnes and Noble, I found a book I liked for $20 and picked it up and I'll be working with that for the near future.

In the few weeks I had the Nex5n, I played with everything and every combo I could and because I'm a slow learner, I still feel I have a lot to learn and haven't come close to my potential yet as a photographer. The most surprising thing I learned was that I didn't like the camera despite its small form factor even though I am a minimalist. It just felt wrong in my hand and I didn't enjoy using it, nor did I like the protective case that was on it. I didn't want to take off the case either because I am clumsy and prone to break things. I started reading up on other cameras but it wasn't until I went to Best Buy and physically put my hands around the cameras and held them for a while did I decide on a Nikon D5600. There weren't many models available to sample from but this one felt right for the price point I was aiming at. The Canon EOS Rebel T6 felt cheap and plasticky, and the small sized SL1 I thought I would love but I disliked that one even more. Before you buy a new camera, I highly suggest you get your hands on it - go to Best Buy or your local camera store (B&H in New York City is amazing). Or, rent it from a site like borrowlenses.com first. It would really suck being stuck with a camera that you don't like for whatever reason (feel, weight, interface, etc.).

In doing price comparisons, I found that surprisingly, the cheapest site for the camera was from one I found through ebay called Photos 4 Less based out of Brooklyn. They don't seem to be a scam, even though they were significantly cheaper than Amazon, Adorama, and B&H. They have a 100% rating on ebay. I'll report if I have any problems with after it arrives tomorrow (body only) along with my 35mm F1.8 prime lens.

I look forward to focusing on my interests in the following order: portraits of girls, street photography, and cityscapes.

Happy shooting everyone!

 

[Jack Of All Trades]

I won't be able to play around with a camera or lenses for a while since I'm busy working but I intend to use the camera for traveling for a bit. I've pretty much Decided on a zoom lens and the 24-70mm which is good all around. I've dropped the fisheye lens idea as I 'll take like 2 pictures and be done with it.

 

[Repo]

Saw this vid trending on youtube:

 

[Jack Of All Trades]

Don't forget you need AF-S on Nikon lenses to autofocus, I bought some pretty good older used lenses but they won't autofocus. I'm looking at older lenses and it seems you can just buy 2nd hand lenses and cameras and still get great shots off for a fraction of buying new.

 

[rudebwoy]

Any of you guys use the Sony A series cameras?

 

[CaptainChardonnay]

Sourcecode I'm pretty sure uses the A2000. He uses a Sony for sure

 

[rudebwoy]

^Yeah, he was the one who turned me onto Sony.

I need something that is good in low light.

 

[CaptainChardonnay]

I use a Canon 5d m3. Really good in low light but its expensive and bulky. The new sonys are looking really good though.

 

[Araveug]

I use a Canon 5d m3. Really good in low light but its expensive and bulky. The new sonys are looking really good though.

cptn you got the mark III?! nice work - what did you pay? that is the only body i use now.

 

[CaptainChardonnay]

Yeah bro! I piked one up with around 50k shutter actuations for 1200 USD roughly and a canon 24-70 m2 for around 950 USD, exchange rate from where I am might have moved a little since then. If I ever want to upgrade I'm sure I can sell both the body and lens for a profit. The lens I got a ridiculous deal on because I bought it off some guy on craigslist across the country and had him ship it to me from his small town.

I've only done one shoot with it with my ex. We went around a park and near the end I took some photos that I was actually proud of for my skill level. I've actually told a few other girls that I want to shoot them and they seem cool with it, just gotta stop being lazy and actually go out to do it.

I've watched probably over 10 5 hour long video courses on photography stuff. Joey L taught me a lot about using artificial lighting which I want to try out. I gotta get in touch with my university photography department and see if I can borrow some of their gear.

 

[Sourcecode]

Sourcecode I'm pretty sure uses the A2000. He uses a Sony for sure

I don't have an A2000

I have the Sony A6000.
I currently use the Sony 50mm f/1.8 Lens.