Haven't played much with either the Nikkor or the newly acquired Lumix/Leica 45 mm 1:1 Macro.
Getting in the last riding mcycle weeks of the season here.

•••

This looks interesting.


very interesting////

Lytro's New Professional-Grade, Light Field Camera Is a Serious Stunner

LIGHT FIELD CAMERAS
4/22/14 8:00am

try the interactive mode - this may have serious implications for Macro.

http://gizmodo.com/lytros-new-professio ... 1565752018

I need to ask a question about the spotting scope and the camera. I did the rounds of camera shops while we were in Johannesburg last week to look for the adapter to attach it to the camera. They have them but they screw onto the scope. My scope doesn't have a screw fitting, just a lip or a flange? (not sure if that's the right word) that holds the eye piece. The chaps in the shops all said that that was the problem and that I wouldn't find a thing to connect it to my camera in South Africa. Any ideas?

You could try googling your spotting scope model and 'camera mount'.

I did that. It's an obscure make, there isn't a brand-specific mount for it. I thought that someone would know about a generic mount that wasn't a "screw-on" type.

I have some kit for sale, if anyone's interested (UK only).

Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF - £150

Nikon AF-S 24-85mm f3.5-4.5G ED - £110

The 85mm is a beaut, and the 24-85mm is much better than it has any right to be for a relatively cheap lens. I'm happy to post examples taken with these lenses, and/or photos of the lenses themselves.

For Mac users...GraphicConverter has a serious update.

I use it to run random slideshows of my travel photos...not for much else tho ii has some use for organizing.

The last release tho should shift that. It's 64 bit and handles images very quickly.
http://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/

The biggest deal for me is the change in the slide shows.

It lets me trash photos from within the slideshow.

With some 24,000 travel photos there are lots to clean up and I get numb after a while doing it so I quit after doing sometimes even part of a folder ( since GF got snap happy with the other MFT it's now doubled ).

Now I can let the slide show run as I work and dump the out of focus files as I go. It also allows renaming within the slide show and label colour as well ....the faint tool bar does not detract from the images.



The transitions and tiling feature I enjoy....good application gotten better now and very very fast for dealing with images.
I run multiple screens sometimes two plus the Retina and like to have the images slowly shifting on the idle screen.
I keep inventory and calendar on that screen and it comes in front of the slide show when I click on them.

Brings back memories, interesting juxtipositions hopping from Australia to Iceland say and now lets me dump the bad ones on the go. It's shareware but I will buy this - I've used it since the early days of Macintosh.

Another key feature is support for 4k and 5k monitors and that will open another world of managment and enjoyment.

I knew it was coming......been advising clients of the wave of 4k and 5k quality screens come and now it's here.

Detail beyond belief but damn the camera and operator limitations are glaring.

When the shot is top notch and full size it will take your breath away.

This wave of high resolution content and screens is impacting all over the visual media universe - from my clients shooting in 5 and 6k to scale down to 4k ( ) to streaming providers trying to cope with the demands of that much information being accessible even to storage for 4k anything. ( 20 TB the norm )

A quality 27" IPS 4k screen from Dell ( looking at it right now ) is $750 and works lovely at all resolutions up to 3480x2160 and beats the shit out your video card doing so.

If you are are buying gear of any sort, cameras to computers to TVs to IPS providers....tred cautiously just now.

My predictions are you will not be able to buy a high def TV as currently understood ( 1080p ) within 18 months or less.

Your 12 and 16 MP camera's will display 1:1 on these screens - one of our high end photographers came in with a 150 mb panorama shot from Iceland and we heard him all over the house *()_U_O)U)(UPIP{II{ @@@* holy shit was the least of the blue air.

Traded in his 12 core MacPro on the spot for a 5k iMac.

This will drive a whole other level of technology over the next 2 years and once you see what your photos are like on a 4k or 5k screen there is no going back.

Thinking about a new TV, new laptop, new video card, new computer monitor, new video camera, still camera...go very very cautiously just now.

A Lumix GH4 can shoot 4k at feature film quality ( and my clients are ) and it runs $2500
A Go Pro can shoot 4k creating a revolution in sports filming.

The impact list goes on and on including your ISP and the support for 4k in your software.
How big the files you upload to your photostorage site....

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto...mind the road ahead...

The reviews I've read indicate that there is no visible difference between HD and 4K below 55 inches. I went with the HD, and kept the other $2000 in my pocket.

THey were wrong but you were correct to not spend 4k as an early adopter especially as there is almost no content as yet as yet
It will depend on you seating distance as well. Most people sit too far away. For that matter most sit too far away from their computer screen as well.



When you say 2k - do you mean 1080p or actual 2k?? ( which is what most digital theatres ( not home theatres ) display in.

Here is a list of 2k and one 4k trailers but they are highly compressed so really do not show 4k content properly.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... lOBegKt-6N

If 2k that's likely a reasonable compromise at this point until content accelerates and expect 4k screens way way down over the next 12 months.

I found this an interesting time line.

4K Calculator – Do You Benefit?

by Chris Heinonen on March 4, 2013 in Commentary
As 4K displays are now coming out, a common debate between people online has been about the benefits of 4K compared to HD in a normal viewing environment. Many people will say that 4K looks amazingly sharp and it’s impossible not to see the difference, but many others will say that in a regular living room, with a regular sized screen, you really won’t see much of a difference.

Update July 3rd, 2013: Read more about HiDPI and 4K Display use cases and benefits. My new article compares smartphones, tablets, laptops, monitors, TVs, and projectors to see where high-resolution provides the most visible benefit.

December 1, 2014: Revised text as 4K/UHD TVs are now available everywhere

Most people who have seen 4K to this point see it at stores that have dedicated displays for it, and not at home. Many times these are setup to only allow you to be so far away from the screen, which makes 4K look great, as it really does look amazing from 3′ away. They also use special content to show off 4K, as the only 4K sources right now are Netflix and custom sources from Sony and Samsung. Since Netflix is unreliable for a showroom floor and most companies don’t want to use a media player from a different company, you see custom demo loops that are nothing like what you will see at home.

Now that you can get a 40″ 4K TV from Samsung for only $600 or a 50″ from Vizio for $1,000, UltraHD TVs are mainstream. Since most manufacturers are making their top-of-the-line sets 4K, those who want all the best features have no choice but to go with 4K at this point. Plasma no longer exists, and OLED is still expensive and only from LG, so you are almost certainly purchasing an LCD. If you’re looking for a TV that isn’t top-of-the-line, will you see a difference with 4K in your house, or should you invest your money on different features or just spend less?

Screen type (OLED for instance ) and backlighting will be a critical aspect over those 12 months.

It's early yet, but not too early to need to be aware of what's coming and surprisingly what is already here.

Here is a visual to help.


Apple has chosen the term Retina for screens where ....for the normal viewing distance, individual pixels are not visible.

So clearly, smart phone, iPad, laptop, 24-27" monitor, 32+ TV screens all will vary with pixel density per inch.

4 and 5k will let home theatre viewers to see film like smoothness even up to 120" screens.

8k is a far out standard that will allow perfect clarity even on places like stadium screens and electronic screen billboards.

With so many content providers shooting in 4, 5 and 6.5k now...things like nature documentaries can appear as if you literally are there with zero sense of the medium you are seeing it on....effectively an open window.

This kind of resolution/information density allows different editing as well as there is so much information that a shot can be zoomed digitally post shooting.

Many of us know how frustrating it is when the photo that looks so sharp on a small screen gets all pixelated and ugly on say your home TV to show travel photos.

Matching the content creation information with the potential output across the board means the video, photo will look superb on all levels of viewing.

If you say watch a 1080p movie on a 4k device, it will still look superb as the pixels are so tiny. So even without 4k content now - you are future proofing and that does not come at a steep price. That's what this thread is purposed around.

Tread cautiously when buying both camera's ( video and still - tho both are combined big time these days ) and chosing what you are going to view content on.

If a 4k screen costs the same as a 2k ...why not future proof.

and it's now - not later....

Smartphones with 4K video recording <<<< :boggled:- just how many of ...
http://www.phonearena.com › News
Oct 19, 2014 - If you're looking for a smartphone that can record 4K video, [COLOR="Red"]you have plenty of options to choose from[/COLOR]. Of course, most of them are pretty ...

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Smartphones-with-4K-video-recording---just-how-many-of-them-are-there_id61911

even my pro clients are unaware of the scale of change and how quickly it is unfolding.
Talk about it, understand the basics and the principles before you jump to new gear.

I think I'm going to put this 4k portion in the General Tech or General DIscussion....the response on another site was very robust.

My "long lens" is broken. It won't focus and when I try to force it, it makes a grinding noise. I think there's something wrong with the gears inside it. Is it fixable?

Agrippina wrote:My "long lens" is broken. It won't focus and when I try to force it, it makes a grinding noise. I think there's something wrong with the gears inside it. Is it fixable?

It might be, but probably cheaper and simpler to buy a new one. Do you have an authorised dealer nearby that can take a look at it?

Made of Stars wrote:

Agrippina wrote:My "long lens" is broken. It won't focus and when I try to force it, it makes a grinding noise. I think there's something wrong with the gears inside it. Is it fixable?

It might be, but probably cheaper and simpler to buy a new one. Do you have an authorised dealer nearby that can take a look at it?

There's a camera repair shop in the city nearest to us. I'll take it to them to look at, but I think you're probably right. It was expensive though. So I can't just replace it, don't have any cash to throw around at the moment.

Don't push it - thread may be just off the track.
What lens is it. ??

Just bought a Lumix G6 (S/H). Dinky. At just over 600 grams (14-42 lens) it's easier to cart around than my 1kg plus DSLR.

Enjoy
Which 14-42 did you get? the Powered unit?

It came with the manual lens. On reflection, the powered unit would put more load on the battery, which is not very large at 1200mAh. I might look around for higher capacity versions. I've seen some at 1500/1700mAh and even 2700mAh. But the latter seems a bit dodgy.
First thing I did was to upgrade the firmware which corrected a menu anomaly.

Generally - first stop is the 20 mm prime, then the 100-300 if birding, the 45-175 is spectacular lens but pricey as it's X-series.
Just a treat to use.

I've had good luck with used lenses and some superb savings.

There are also adapters for the full frame lenses - snagged a 180 Nikkor prime that still sells at $800 for $260. and a $40 adapter.

Still on a learning curve just getting some low light experience




Not bad fully automatic on a tripod with a 14 mm

Crisp details - there was no light in the room and dim light outside.



There was another car headlight that was catching the snow.

The camera does it all including post processing that takes a few seconds.

Through a window - the car lights are gone...low ambient light - fully auto including AF ....full out on the 175

.

Guess I know what to use for the night shots now...tho I wish I had the 20 mm with me

I have no idea if it's sufficient for the Northern lights but based on the ambient level I'd give it a "maybe".

http://phys.org/news/2015-02-captured-u ... tml#ajTabs

implications are astounding.

No need for color correction: Perfect colors, captured with one ultra-thin lens
Feb 19, 2015

I discovered a free program to use for mapping pics that have gps coordinates. I can't believe I've gone without all this time. It shows me where I've been in the deep woods, now I can plot my way around them much easier.
Called View NX2 from Nikon.
It works with my Sony pics too. Are there other free programs like this?