Photography/cameras and associated gear thread.

[angelo]

Macros

LX7


Sony RX100

This is the close up on the z14

[Simon_Gardner]

Other people no doubt work in different ways but the number one camera accessory IMHO is a tripod. Here are a couple of small ones.

[I'm With Stupid]

I really want this:



Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95

Insanely fast lens and not particularly expensive. You can get it for under £600.

[Macdoc]

This lens lust is deadly....had to chain myself to the car today to prevent going into a camera store on boxing day.


http://www.ephotozine.com/article/panas ... view-20221
$450 lens for $199 that would be a nice fill in .....but realllllly

anyways playing with the Lx7 tonight

- Aus gf likes snow -





not too bad - can even see sharp shadows some 20' below on the snow and bark texture decent.

[angelo]

This lens lust is deadly....had to chain myself to the car today to prevent going into a camera store on boxing day.


http://www.ephotozine.com/article/panas ... view-20221
$450 lens for $199 that would be a nice fill in .....but realllllly

anyways playing with the Lx7 tonight

- Aus gf likes snow -





not too bad - can even see sharp shadows some 20' below on the snow and bark texture decent.

How you resisted is amazing. I would spend a sleepless night had I not bought it.

[BKSo]

I am so poor that I am still using an 8.5 years old Sony V1 compact DC.









p.s. can anyone identify these butterflies. All are taken at Luxemburg.

[The_Piper]

I am so poor that I am still using an 8.5 years old Sony V1 compact DC.









p.s. can anyone identify these butterflies. All are taken at Luxemburg.

Good stuff.
Post them at the wildlife thread in my signature, and they will probably all be identified down to genus or species level.

[The_Piper]

My camera died so I'm looking for a replacement.
I'll spend $150-200, new or used. Whichever gets me the most bang for the buck. I'm looking for something pocket-sized with a rechargeable battery, 15x or more zoom, and preferably high speed/fps video.
There was a Fuji with all of that when I bought my sony Hn7x, but I forgot the model #. I think it had 300 in the model #, with a 500 stepped up model.
Any ideas for all of that?

[The_Piper]

The story of my camera's death:
The Sony was dropped, and then it had a black spot showing up on the pics and screen. There had always been dust on the inside lens glass, probably killing the quality of my pics, but it wasn't putting spots on them before the drop.
I opened it and found dust on the ccd, I think it was. A flat piece of glass at the bottom of it all. But when I put it all back together, the lens doesn't open, and I can't get it to all line up. Then a spring got sprung. I'll never know what that black spot was now!

[Macdoc]

Lumix is a line not a specific camera.
All will do HiDef video - not sure what you mean by high speed video.

The Lumix Lx7 will do digital macro for bugs focusing to within 1 cm but has limited long zoom 3.8x

If size is not an issue then there are loads of DLSRs around and "super zooms" but they are bulky and you get into the interchangeable lens money pit with the DLSRs and the four thirds which are smaller, lighter and sometimes cost less ( my Dx1 for instance ) but your entry level with a couple of lens is $5-600

Really depends on your budget.
Quality is all dependent on the glass and to a degree the sensor size. Sorting out which trade offs you want is tricky.
I like the Lumix for the glass quality and the stabilization and reliability.

Getting the right one for you is a chore and many end up with 2 camera's.

The LX7 covers a lot for $249 , size, lens quality, manual/auto crossover, AF speed and low light capability.

Superzooms? I've used one like the FZ150 and gotten superb pictures even at long ranges.





review here

http://www.2cameraguys.com/best-superzo ... s-2012.htm

But like many I found it tiresome to carry whereas I can get same or better performance from the much smaller Gx1 that in compact mode I can slip in my shirt pocket. With the zoom lens in my other shirt pocket.

It's small

but can be transformed



this is a good article that describes the four thirds addiction

http://www.pattayadays.com/2012/10/the- ... addiction/

If you have $600-800 to spend then a Gx1 is highly recommended and wait for lens deals to come around. What it starts with is pretty decent and add a $200 pancake lens Panasonic Lumix G 14mm f/2.5
This is just flat out joy to use. Point and shoot with incredible speed - and lovely wide angles.



I only got a much longer lens for birding and there is no rush to add that. The Gx1 has a very current sensor which is one reason I snagged it. There are other very good slightly older four thirds for some significant savings.

Good info on the micro four thirds here

http://www.mu-43.com

[The_Piper]

This is high speed/fps video Macdoc.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80nZObq-btE[/youtube]

[Macdoc]

I don't know enough about video to comment.

••

Have question about a middle lens choice for my four thirds Gx1

The short and long of it - love this little lens - just a joy to use.


Panasonic Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH

and for birding the only one I can afford.


Panasonic Lumix G Vario 100-300mm F/4.0-5.6 OIS Lens

Happy with both for value for

so those are in the bag to stay.

••••

Now this is very tempting tho it blows my budget to shreds - but users just adore it.
To get the low light capability - many say this the one lens on all the time.
Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH. Micro Four Thirds Lens (HX025) for LUMIX® G Series



but this was such good value at $200 I'm wondering is the extra worth it ( yeah I know different purposes ) and I find I've got this lens on a lot and likely will even more now I have the Lx7 in my pocket as well.

Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 Lumix G Vario MEGA OIS


any other middle lenses I should consider - sub $500 - I really think that 25 mm is overkill at this stage in the learning curve especially given I just bought the Lx7 to cover some middle ground

[The_Piper]

Fujifilm FinePix F500EXR is the model I was looking at last year. Now it's cheap!
The only thing I lose from the broken Sony is 1080p video, the Fuji's is only 720p.
But it has the high speed video and 15x zoom.
There's a Nikon COOLPIX S9100 that's similar.

These are wide angle cameras, which is kind of a bummer that the regular view looks so distant.
Are all of the high zoom digital cameras like that?

[I'm With Stupid]

Now this is very tempting tho it blows my budget to shreds - but users just adore it.
To get the low light capability - many say this the one lens on all the time.
Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH. Micro Four Thirds Lens (HX025) for LUMIX® G Series

That does seem like a pretty impressive lens for the price. And from what I've read, a 50mm prime lens (25mm for micro 4/3rds) is the most versatile lens you're likely to have in your bag. In fact, I'd consider buying that lens myself, but I really do like the look of the Voigtlander (admittedly nearly twice the price) and I find my 20mm is good enough atm. But I was just taking some pictures in a dark bedroom (one slightly shit overhead light) and found that f1.7 wasn't fast enough to take a sharp hand held shot without the flash. If I was buying tomorrow and I had to choose between the 20mm pancake and that 25mm lens you just posted, I think I'd go for the 25mm.

It's also worth mentioning that a lens adaptor can open up some pretty cheap second hand options, although you might sacrifice some portability.

[Macdoc]

I want the 14 mm pancake for portability and point and shoot tho the LX7 now covers some of that ground - stuffed it in my coat pocket today and almost forgot it was there - so small and light.
The flash is also very good on the Gx1 ( love that I can tilt it with my finger ) and photos come out sharp when I use it thos not so wild about the blue cast to them.

•••
Piper

These are wide angle cameras, which is kind of a bummer that the regular view looks so distant.
Are all of the high zoom digital cameras like that?

There are always trade offs when you get a single lens camera - you're not gonna do bugs for instance.
I'd tend to look to a 1 or 2 year old micro four thirds - they are around so down the road you have the option for different lenses.
This for interest

For sale an Olympus E-PM1 micro four thirds DSLR camera with lens. These types of cameras are small an portable (like a point and shoot) but have interchangable lenses (like a traditional DSLR).

In great used condition. Fully functional. Bought 6 months ago and hardly used.
Included in box:
PEN E-PM1 body - Black
Camera Body Cap
M. Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 zoom lens - Black
Both Lens Caps
Flash
Case for Flash
USB/Video Multi cable
Lithium-Ion battery
Lithium-Ion battery charger
Shoulder strap
Olympus software CD-ROM
Instruction Manual
Please contact me if you have any questions

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sel ... Z423984996
$300 asking and a nice starting point.



Also even on the expensive lenses the high zooms tend to only be crisp about 2/3 out so grain of salt. BTW the zoom on four thirds has an equivalency you have to be careful with when comparing to say a Superzoom.

a 150 mm four thirds is the same as a 300 in the DLSR category.

[The_Piper]

Thanks for the reply Macdoc. I don't know what 4/3 means, but the option of zoom and macro lenses like that might be good.
Unfortunately that's out of my range at the moment. I'm looking around $100-$150 now.

I use mine on hikes/excursions where I expect to photograph scenery and wildlife, but rarely know the conditions until they arise.
Do those 4/3 have auto modes, where I can snap a photo of a squirrel against a bright sky, and then a fly in shade 6 seconds later?
I'm not eager to learn the finer points of photography, it's the subjects of the photos that most interest me.

[Macdoc]

Four thirds is a new ( 2008 ) segment of camera introduced by Panasonic and Olympus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system

It gives you the size of the point and shoot with the flexibility of the interchangeable lenses and has been a fast growing segment.

Yes they can be used in auto-mode which I usually do with the exception of focus and the AF on them is far above that of the point and shoot.

The LX7 is the a cross over new at $249 but it's not four thirds - it does give you macro, scenery and modest zoom. No single camera can cover all aspects. I'm not interested in the finer points either but I also got tired of missing shots due to slow focus and iffy automatic functions.

I got this with my point and shoot TZ25 and it's not like the TZ25 was any slouch either
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/camera ... 361/review


but for every one decent one I'd get this



which was the best of a bunch and the damn birds were 10' away and if I had not got a decent video of this perhaps once in a lifetime encounter

I would have been left with marginal shots.

Look at how well the video did ( click to play )



You can see the auto-focus hunt on the video and on the still shots - it was just iffy.

So that led me to the four thirds as it gave me both really super auto functions and wicked fast AF plus a choice of lenses.

My use is a bit different as I'm shooting from a motorcycle and need the camera to fit in my shirt pocket. So can use the wide angle on it but then have the zoom in my other pocket.

This is with the birding lens on the Gx1 ( micro four thirds ) at 50 meters



and this with the wide angle pancake lens in low light



and the pancake in decent light


and the zoom at 3m in so so light


I don't think you can get a compact point and shoot to do the range you want.

You will lose somewhere and it's usually the closer shots in poor light where the autofocus does not perform or in foliage where it gets confused.

if you can sneak into a four thirds camera system used. Then you have the manual and auto features and can then expand the lens choice later. If you hunt I bet you can get into a four thirds at $200.

This is a terrific deal and it's new with the lens - half price

$249.99 After $285 OFF & Free Shipping
Olympus E-PL2 with 14-42mm Lens Compact System Camera Bundle

http://www.costco.com/Olympus-E-PL2-wit ... 11392.html

[Macdoc]

Forgot something. When you are considering a zoom. The capture CCD is important as you can "zoom" digitally after the fact when you have good glass and lots of capture size. This for instance was shot with the fixed lens across a meadow



and turned out to be a bumble bee tracking a purple martin - we had quite the discussion about that behaviour.
No way I could have zoomed, focused and caught that. But the wide field did it all in a moment - then I just zoomed in and captured the event.



and here is another instance where I was shooting with the wide angle for the osprey ( this is full size so you can download and zoom yourself )



and caught one very surprised pigeon putting on the brakes wondering where the big raptor materialized from



so it's not all about the lens for getting detail and being able to capture a large amount of detail quicker with the wide angle and then crop and zoom later is a factor as well.

Now I did not even see that pidgeon when I was shooting - I was tracking the osprey literally from the hip as he popped up out of the tree and only discovered

a) I actually caught him in the frame.
b) this hilarious little by play with the pidgeon which made everyone laugh on the bird forum.

The top one with the bumblebee was a bit of a stir trying to figure out what the bee was up to ....drafting or avoiding a predator.....I think drafting as it was a very stiff wind the martin was flying into.

The big sensor on the four thirds helped here
original shot

bit light on detail

but able to zoom and crop and see a hungry youngster


and I'm sure someone better at post processing could do even more with it

[angelo]

My camera died so I'm looking for a replacement.
I'll spend $150-200, new or used. Whichever gets me the most bang for the buck. I'm looking for something pocket-sized with a rechargeable battery, 15x or more zoom, and preferably high speed/fps video.
There was a Fuji with all of that when I bought my sony Hn7x, but I forgot the model #. I think it had 300 in the model #, with a 500 stepped up model.
Any ideas for all of that?

I think you may be able to get this. It has a 15x zoom though.

[The_Piper]

My camera died so I'm looking for a replacement.
I'll spend $150-200, new or used. Whichever gets me the most bang for the buck. I'm looking for something pocket-sized with a rechargeable battery, 15x or more zoom, and preferably high speed/fps video.
There was a Fuji with all of that when I bought my sony Hn7x, but I forgot the model #. I think it had 300 in the model #, with a 500 stepped up model.
Any ideas for all of that?

I think you may be able to get this. It has a 15x zoom though.

I think that's one that I'm looking at, 500exr, I posted that I found the model #.
I missed one last night that ended at $73.
I'm torn between that, or a Nikon 9100, getting bogged down in the details.

I'm sure there are plenty of other models that meet my criteria, and even better, but researching 100 cameras won't be fun. I have to take that into account.