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 Jvelmar
       
Location: Taunton, MA, USA
Gender: Male
Hi!
 |  |  | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 580 on 3/12/2009 2:14 AM >
|  | | | That's awesome metawaffle! I just put it on my old Powershot and the options make it all I could want in a point & shoot camera. Thanks!
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funkyelectrician
Location: MB
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 581 on 3/12/2009 3:25 AM >
| | | | What's your guys opinion on liveview? I'm looking at getting a dslr and this is one option I cant decide if I want to spring for. Wasn't really looking at spending that much money.
Anyone familiar with the pentax dSLRs? Im looking into them because I've got a bunch of glass I could use
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metawaffle
 
King of Puns
Location: Brisbane!
Gender: Male
Purveyor of Fine Lampshades
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 582 on 3/12/2009 3:56 AM >
| | | | Posted by funkyelectrician
What's your guys opinion on liveview? I'm looking at getting a dslr and this is one option I cant decide if I want to spring for. Wasn't really looking at spending that much money.
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Personally, I find it almost entirely pointless. It's very rare that live view comes in handy for me. If it's there, and you find a use for it, great, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a camera that had it.
http://www.longexposure.net |
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That Old Janx Spirit
Location: Rochester NY
Gender: Male
Bigger than The Beatles, and bigger than breast implants.
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 583 on 3/14/2009 3:37 AM >
| | | | I agree with Waffle. Live view I think is over rated. I have always found it easier to line up shots using the view finder. Easier to keep the camera steady too with your arms tucked to your sides.
Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
"Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of." |
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TurboZutek
King Dick
Location: Scotland
Gender: Male
Giant octo-penised rapephant
| |  | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 584 on 3/15/2009 12:42 PM >
| | | | I'd completely disagree.
It's VERY handy for making focus adjustments in ultra low light (you know, the kind we deal with a lot?) - you fire up the live view, zoom in with the live-view zoom and then get it sharp with the manual focus. Use a torch for assistance if required.
The viewfinder on most cropped frame dSLRs is just too small for that kinda procedure and the auto-focus on most dSLRs can't accurately cope with near dark either.
Certainly before I had a camera with live-view I could have taken it or left it without a care... Now I've actually used it? I'd never go back. Total dark manual focusing with a tiny (and discrete) LED light in less than 30 seconds with little to no error?
Sign me up.
Chris...
We all had ostriches. My dad had an ostrich farm! I remember one day someone came in and said the high altitude bombing of Kosovo had been a limited success, so we all went out and celebrated… by killing an ostrich and boiling it in kiwi fruit. |
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That Old Janx Spirit
Location: Rochester NY
Gender: Male
Bigger than The Beatles, and bigger than breast implants.
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 585 on 3/15/2009 11:53 PM >
| | | | Enter AF assist lights. Flash strobe, on board LED or IR all work well for me in the bowels of an abandonment. I have been trying to get away from even looking at the view screen at all. At least untill I am finished shooting, especially when your in a situation where there is action. Time spent looking at your screen is a missed shot. That and the brightness of the damn thing just means my eyes have to get used to the dark again.
Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
"Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of." |
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TurboZutek
King Dick
Location: Scotland
Gender: Male
Giant octo-penised rapephant
| | | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 586 on 3/16/2009 8:56 AM >
| | | | Posted by That Old Janx Spirit
Enter AF assist lights. Flash strobe, on board LED or IR all work well for me in the bowels of an abandonment.
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Yeah, great!! Except;
The assist light won't work for SHIT at anything over a couple of metres and if your going to use your on-board strobe, why not just CALL the cops and ask them to come and detain you? Then of course, for a few minutes after the constant strobing you can kiss your night vision goodbye; have fun at the bottom of the stairs there.
IR is indeed very nice - if you want to spend a few hundred more on a big flash (which you won't use) which incorporates it... And even then it sorta Peters out over distance.
Lot of places I visit by night have windows / cracks / open doors; any kind of flash is a no-no to such a degree that I'll occasionally tape it closed to prevent any accidents - even an assist light can get you busted when your up on a roof taking night shots (for instance). Mine is disabled, permanently.
I'd agree on action shots, it's not much use - but how many action shots are you getting in the pitch black of an abandoned building? I've only (so far) used live view as an aid to focusing - I wouldn't use it to compose a shot or monitor live action.
LiveView fixes all of the above and maintains discretion.
YMMV, of course.
Chris...
We all had ostriches. My dad had an ostrich farm! I remember one day someone came in and said the high altitude bombing of Kosovo had been a limited success, so we all went out and celebrated… by killing an ostrich and boiling it in kiwi fruit. |
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metawaffle
King of Puns
Location: Brisbane!
Gender: Male
Purveyor of Fine Lampshades
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 587 on 3/16/2009 9:21 AM >
| | | | What would be really nice would be an automatic hyperfocal distance mode. Please, camera, you know my aperture and focal length, and you know the focus distance at any given time. Gimme gimme!
http://www.longexposure.net |
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TurboZutek
King Dick
Location: Scotland
Gender: Male
Giant octo-penised rapephant
| | | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 588 on 3/16/2009 9:25 AM >
| | | | Posted by metawaffle
What would be really nice would be an automatic hyperfocal distance mode. Please, camera, you know my aperture and focal length, and you know the focus distance at any given time. Gimme gimme!
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That would be very cool. That and ultrasonic focusing (like Polaroids used to have) which uses something like sonar to work out the focal distance.
Chris...
We all had ostriches. My dad had an ostrich farm! I remember one day someone came in and said the high altitude bombing of Kosovo had been a limited success, so we all went out and celebrated… by killing an ostrich and boiling it in kiwi fruit. |
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Stewie
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Gender: Male
kill your idols
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 589 on 3/16/2009 9:48 AM >
| | | | Indeed. Focusing in the dark is still a royal pain in the ass for me. It's enough that I just avoid exploring at night unless I'm willing to leave the camera at home or not use it at all. Obviously there are workarounds but I really can't be bothered or don't feel safe waving my flashlight around like an idiot to try and pick out a focal point. Usually isn't enough light for the camera to pick up anyway.
This is further aggravated by the fact that the Canon Rebel XT kit lens does not have an infinity marker.
[last edit 3/16/2009 9:49 AM by Stewie - edited 2 times]
> The hierarchy of power dictates that the person with the most power does the least amount of work and retains the highest benefit. |
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That Old Janx Spirit
Location: Rochester NY
Gender: Male
Bigger than The Beatles, and bigger than breast implants.
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 590 on 3/18/2009 2:54 AM >
| | | | You have very valid points Turbo, of course you should use discretion when taking pics while trespassing at night as far as flash and other ridiculously bright lights are concerned lol. Though my cam strobe has never bothered my night vision as much as the constant light of the view screen. If the strobe doesnt do what you want it to do for you in Auto focus I just switch over to manual to fine tune it. As far as rooftop shots, who needs artificial light. Just use the ambient, I mean if its fairly clear or if your in or near some city lights.
Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
"Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of." |
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Air
Location: Canada
| | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 591 on 3/20/2009 8:25 PM >
| | | | Posted by Stewie
Indeed. Focusing in the dark is still a royal pain in the ass for me. It's enough that I just avoid exploring at night unless I'm willing to leave the camera at home or not use it at all. Obviously there are workarounds but I really can't be bothered or don't feel safe waving my flashlight around like an idiot to try and pick out a focal point. Usually isn't enough light for the camera to pick up anyway.
This is further aggravated by the fact that the Canon Rebel XT kit lens does not have an infinity marker.
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try using a few (2-3) small cheapo LED lights at different distances till you get everything in focus. Its cheap and not all that visible as waving a flashlight around to prevent getting noticed. The XT's viewfinder also blows.
"The extraordinary beauty of things that fail." - Heinrich von Kleist |
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insainly sound
Location: Bay Area, CA
Gender: Female
How'd we get here, and how are we getting out of here?!
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 592 on 3/22/2009 4:04 PM >
| | | | Posted by turbozutek
Certainly before I had a camera with live-view I could have taken it or left it without a care... Now I've actually used it? I'd never go back. Total dark manual focusing with a tiny (and discrete) LED light in less than 30 seconds with little to no error?
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Valid point about live view, but in ultra low light where discretion is a must I've found a laser pointer works amazing! Small, discrete, and unless your looking for it you'd never see it. The AF picks it out as a clear focus point, in focus pictures with out bright lights, every time!
| This is further aggravated by the fact that the Canon Rebel XT kit lens does not have an infinity marker. |
Neither does my craptastic Nikon 18-55, but my extremely costly and complicated solution was to make my own markings on the lens with a silver sharpie...
Check out my photo blog! |
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jratter
Location: Huntington Beach
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 593 on 3/22/2009 6:37 PM >
| | | | Posted by funkyelectrician
What's your guys opinion on liveview? I'm looking at getting a dslr and this is one option I cant decide if I want to spring for. Wasn't really looking at spending that much money.
Anyone familiar with the pentax dSLRs? Im looking into them because I've got a bunch of glass I could use
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I'm in the same boat; nice pentax film cam with several lenses. I've been looking at the K20D, and this is one of their boastful features. From what I have read though, activating this feature heats up the chip (less so in the CMOS of k20d) and can cause noise or reduced sensitivity. I don't know if this is permanent or temp. damage, but should probably be avoided either way for good shots. I still like the features for the price.
Unless someone convince me that I should bust out for Nikon line and go with like a D90???
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TurboZutek
King Dick
Location: Scotland
Gender: Male
Giant octo-penised rapephant
| | | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 594 on 3/22/2009 10:18 PM >
| | | | Posted by insainly sound
Valid point about live view, but in ultra low light where discretion is a must I've found a laser pointer works amazing! Small, discrete, and unless your looking for it you'd never see it. The AF picks it out as a clear focus point, in focus pictures with out bright lights, every time!
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Yeah, I've read that a lot... And tried it a few times... And NEVER ONCE had it work properly!  [although I've used a laser 'by eye' manually a couple of times fine with the Nikon]
My laser must just suck!
Might be an experiment for my new Canon and a better laser.
Chris...
We all had ostriches. My dad had an ostrich farm! I remember one day someone came in and said the high altitude bombing of Kosovo had been a limited success, so we all went out and celebrated… by killing an ostrich and boiling it in kiwi fruit. |
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Torque
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 595 on 3/26/2009 12:07 PM >
| | | | Just thought I'd say I picked up the Sony A350. I was torn between this and the Canon xsi, but the sony's ease of use and live view features won out because I want my wife to be comfortable using it too. Was going to get the A300, but the 350 was on sale for only $70 more, so it seemed worth it.
Plus, I picked up a minolta AF 50mmf1.7 lens from ebay for C$200 shipped which I'm VERY happy with for portraits, as well as low light (ideal lens for my upcoming baby in June). The kit lens is pretty good too for general use.
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xxsonicblue
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Gender: Female
I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite forum on the Citadel.
| |  |  | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 596 on 4/19/2009 4:13 AM >
| | | | Posted by jratter
I'm in the same boat; nice pentax film cam with several lenses. I've been looking at the K20D, and this is one of their boastful features. From what I have read though, activating this feature heats up the chip (less so in the CMOS of k20d) and can cause noise or reduced sensitivity. I don't know if this is permanent or temp. damage, but should probably be avoided either way for good shots. I still like the features for the price.
Unless someone convince me that I should bust out for Nikon line and go with like a D90???
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Nikons are amazing. Go with the Nikon. D90/D5000 (essentially the same damn camera, imo) is a really good starting camera, and you can take quite decent photos with it. Nikkor lenses have the best glass, and Nikons have the best color. I've been shooting Nikon for YEARS, and my D300 is my baby and never fails me.
NIKON FOR LIFE, SON.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonicxblue |
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willskith
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 597 on 4/21/2009 1:43 AM >
| | | | I want to buy a Canon 5D, but I dont know whether I should get the original or the MKII. I probably dont need the higher resolution, live view, and movie mode of the MKII, but I am curious as to how much better the sensor is, and about the noise reduction, among other things. Is it worth the extra $1400? I'm leaning towards the original unless someone can come up with a great reason to go with the MKII. Any input?
grit your teeth in the face of fear. self repression is the true sign of a coward, toss your inhibitions to the wind. |
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Shakes
Location: Mpls, MN
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 598 on 4/26/2009 11:12 PM >
| | | | Posted by xxsonicblue
Nikons are amazing. Go with the Nikon. D90/D5000 (essentially the same damn camera, imo) is a really good starting camera, and you can take quite decent photos with it. Nikkor lenses have the best glass, and Nikons have the best color. I've been shooting Nikon for YEARS, and my D300 is my baby and never fails me.
NIKON FOR LIFE, SON.
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I just scored a Nikon D200, and I need to get me some lenses. Nikon 14-24mm 2.8? Nikkor 18-70?
or rather...What two lenses would you pick to carry with you?
www.tccrawlersyndicate.com |
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metawaffle
King of Puns
Location: Brisbane!
Gender: Male
Purveyor of Fine Lampshades
| | | Re: The Official "What camera to buy?" Thread
<Reply # 599 on 4/26/2009 11:20 PM >
| | | | Posted by Shakes
I just scored a Nikon D200, and I need to get me some lenses. Nikon 14-24mm 2.8? Nikkor 18-70?
or rather...What two lenses would you pick to carry with you?
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Those two lenses are somewhat different in price point 
If I had to pick one single lens, it'd be the 17-55/2.8. Just such a nice lens, though it's quite heavy, and it's in the same price ballpark as that 14-24/2.8. Since I picked it up, it's lived on my camera most of the time.
http://www.longexposure.net |
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