Be Excellent To Each Other

What's your budget?

There are hundreds of decent compacts out there these days Miki. One thing that separates a lot of them is battery, make sure you get one with a Lithium-ion pack, they run so much longer and are much more convenient than using AA batteries.

Loads here to read about:

http://www.techradar.com/news/photograp ... ?artc_pg=6

Big fan of the Panasonic Lumiz TZ Range. I think the TZ20 is the latest.

Exactly, so-much-choice
my budget is around 200-250 euros I guess
The finepix does eat batterys like they're made of chocolate but I do like that you can buy AA batteries in every souvenir shop so youre never stuck without them
thanks for the link! off to read now.

My mum has that one, I don't think it has much improvements picture quality wise over the TZ10, what it does have is more zoom and a really cool touch screen - you touch the screen to pick focus and then take the shot using the shutter button or the on screen one - the latter isn't much cop or faster if I'm honest, however the touch screen focusing is really very useful as you use the LCD as the viewfinder it's actually more intuitive and easier to take the shots. Honestly though, at above iso 200 it really freaking sucks.

canon powershot s95 is the one you want http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/ ... 95_review/ the S90 was always the most recommended compact and the S95 has now dropped to be £5 less and within your budget as well.

thanks decca!
I'm making a list

Check it twice!

Kenko extension tubes and a ring light received for Christmas! Ring light is a little weak, but it was cheap and I kind of wanted a starting-point before deciding whether I wanted to go for a proper ring flash (awaits Zardoz joke). Results are encouraging so far, but hell - if straight-up macro photography was fiddly to start with, adding extension tubes takes it to a whole new level.
This is the edge of a CD at proper 1:1 with all 3 extension tubes connected and the ring light on high.
Squee!

Hmph. Well, the ring light has buggered up the built-in flash on my camera. From searching the net, it appears to be a common problem with Canon cameras. Apparently using the hot shoe can cause a little trigger switch inside it to get stuck. This then tells the camera that there's something on the hot shoe when there actually isn't, causing the built-in flash to fail to pop up.
As a result I've had to do a bit of surgery to the hot shoe mount, involving several small screwdrivers and a paperclip, but with a bit of luck I'll be able to jury-rig a replacement for the broken switch (which has apparently disappeared inside the camera somewhere.)
Bleh.

Went to town yesterday and spooged some Christmas sponds on a 35mm lens. Love it already, I think it will be the one that sits on my camera most of the time.

My 50mm prime barely leaves my camera. The only other lens I'd buy is a 35mm prime

Do you have the AF or AF-S 50mm? I have the AF and without factoring in focal length the 35mm beats it hand down in every way - as it should really it's newer tech and x2 the price. £38 now in my X100 kitty.

The canon £90 jobby.

Ohh Canon. I have no cue about Canon at all - The nikon 50mm is FX which puts it at about 80mm, the 35mm is our nifty fifty.

Why mr postman, what is this? A card from my grandmother how spiffy. *opens* oh there seems to be some sort of additional paper in here, oh look it's a cheque and a note saying "happy hanukkah! buy something for yourself"

GF3 on offer till the 31st for £300? mine

Could have bought a lens but in all honestly I'm at the point where I like my DSLR kit as it is. Did debate getting the 85mm but one lens over the practicality of having a much smaller system to use for street and as a carry round makes no sense. Went for the Gf3 over anything else after a day of research because I like the features (fine tune focusing system + nikon adaptor will be awesome) and the check would not cover the NEX 5n, the NEX c3's problem for me would be that it's not a 5n with the touch screen focusing and I would end up resenting that fact. Girl is happy because she has the lumix tz10 now.

looking to buy a camera (still) is ther any good deals in the sales?

I have spent hours looking at cameras over the last few days. NEX and panasonic go to jessops till the 31st (£10+ and £40+ cheaper than amazon). The offers are on current gen and I would not expect to see them reduced any more in the sales.

Amazon have the nikon D5100 and the canon 600d on sale at £600. Sony has supply problems still so prices are marked up.

Well, that was nerve-wracking, but the hot-shoe surgery seems to have worked! All it took was a small bit of paperclip to replace the missing trigger switch, plus the stress of having to partially dismantle the hot-shoe mount to get it in there.
Of course, it's all a fucking sneaky ploy by Canon to get you to abandon the built-in flash and go and buy a proper one...
Hmm, well it is my birthday in six weeks, I suppose.

Just checking my order and it seems Jessops now have a £50 cashback on the 600D making it £550 with kit lens.

Good morning all,

I've had a Nikon D3100 bought for me as a Chrimbo present after expressing the vaguest interest in getting into photography.

Can anyone recommend a good book or website etc to give me some beginners tips on how to use the thing?

This is the one I got recommended:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-E ... 0817463003

Really straightforward description of the basics and some good ideas to get you started.

Seconded. That's the book for understanding what changes you make on the camera do to the photos you take.

Thanks, ordered!

Awesome. Mine is only taken off to put my macro on. My kit and 55-200 barely get out of my bag these days. One thing I think about the size of the 35 means it feels less intrusive when taking pictures of folk. The light weight to them is very nice too.

The 35mm I have is DX so it's still 35mm. Would only be a 50mm equivalent if it was a 35mm FX lens on a DX body.

Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM for Christmas. Hurrah!

Now to find some faces to get close to.

Okay cameras ... I wandered around Jessops earlier today, but didn't dare ask the staff any questions, nosiree!

anyway, I am going on holiday to New Zealand for 3 weeks (yay!) and want to take some nice photos, my little snappy snap camera isn't very good at anything approaching not perfect light, and so I wondred about getting another "better" camera, however, I don't really want to carry too much around, as you can imagine luggage space is likely to be at a premium. So I saw the standard SLR stuff, and I am working on the basis that the more I spend on these the better camera I get (let's ignore the photographer is the key point for this discourse, please) but there also seems to be a range which cross over the SLR in prices, which seem to be a cross between SLR and point and press (is this the "bridge" camera range?) for example things like the Canon Power Shot. what is the difference here?
Then there is the Compact System Cameras like this Panasonic Lumix. What is the difference here?

Also (and this is really showing up my lack of knowledge) The Canon above has a built in 35x optical zoom, now this sounds like a good thing to me, but what is the pay off against a comparable zoom lens for a "normal" SLR? Also, what would be a comparable lens for a normal SLR?

Exactly what is your budget? I've found that there is a huge difference with what you can get with just a hundred pounds difference. I've done a metric shit ton of research over the last few days. Best value for money right now are the Panasonic M 4/3 systems and the Sony NEX ones. Jessops have deals on both.

Viewfinder + touchscreen. Panasonic G3, G2 if you want to save some pennies.
Touch screen. Expensive, Sony NEX 5n, feature filled, Panasonic GF3, value for money Panasonic GF2.
Non-touch screen or viewfinder but arguably the best dslr sensor with staggering iso relatively cheaply. Sony NEX C3

Well, my budget is up £600 - according to the wife anyway, I was thinking more 3-400, but that isn't really what I am asking about; I am asking about the trade-offs and differences between a £400 (for example) Panasonic G2 and a £400 canon power shot, there does appear to be some physical differences, I am assuming the power shot has fewer features to make it easier to use and stuff like that, but in terms of photo quality, is there any significant difference?

Also, anyone used/heard of these guys as they seem to have some real bargains on there.
http://www.sale-point.com/product_info. ... ca991c8ad2

The powershot S100 was the best compact out there, until the fujifilm X100 (£400) came out. But both cameras have a compact sized (tiny) sensor (bridge cameras also have the small sensor). Basically the larger the sensor the better the pictures (and that's where the money goes, not features, compacts/bridge cameras often have more features than the larger cameras) , main difference is that you don't get the depth of field (background out of focus) of a DSLT or M 4/3 sensor. However, the fujifilm X100 has a neat trick in that it has a special "background out of focus" option.

brilliant, that's what I wanted to know! Thank you.

The larger sensor of the "mirror less interchangeable lens" cameras like the micro four-thirds is also a lot better in low-light conditions, when all else is equal. I'm still delighted with my two-year-old Panasonic GF1.

It moved! something happened ! It's nearing my house! "03/01/12 00:18 SHEFFIELD SERVICE CENTRE" its with yodel! wait Yodel? Fuck

Ok, it's here and I've only had time to change the options on it (as always panasonic defaults are garbage). Without testing picture quality the initial impressions are that I like the size and the features it has. You can set it up so you touch the focus area and it instantly takes a picture which will be awesome for street, for oh shit moments when you just need to turn on and take a picture the iA button looks useful, I like being able to set max auto iso, but the quick menu lets you bind certain useful functions to it so no searching and scrolling for options. Weight wise it feels lighter than the panasonic Tz10/whatever the new one is, I have the zoom kit lens which looks to have bugger all DOF (the panasonic 20mm 1.7 is the m4/3 nifty 50*) and is quite bulky but if you had a prime on it then it would certainly fit in a jacket pocket.

* I'm not planning on buying any lenses untill I find out which camera I use more, 2012 is going to be an interesting year for nikon pro/semi-pro body users as well as M 4/3 with the fujifilm interchangeable system, no point in buying lenses if this system is as revolutionary as the X100 was - looks like it's this system that is taking the place of the second gen X100 in the upgrade cycle.


edit: also, fucking jessops printer was running out of ink when they printed the invoice out and the warehouse monkey couldn't be arsed to print a new one, it's 50/50 if the cashback people will accept the scan, hopefully they see "jessops" and have mercy.

Just did a test of the Panasonic lumix GF3 with one thing in mind. "If this is a camera designed for and marketed towards people like my dad then how would he really cope?" My dad isn't very good at technology, he would like a better camera than his compact but he is scared of New Things, he does not want a dslr as they are too big but has the disposable income of a retired person. He rather proudly told me last week that he had worked out how to resize pictures in paint. Quite.

Taking photos was easy, the iA mode is spiffy but I used A and as wide open as I could (for some reason panasonic has some options calling it A and some calling it F. /sigh) as the light was shit.

Editing was a different story. Firstly I tried to use the programs supplied with the camera. The "PHOTOfunSTUDIO" (indeed) just imports and acts as a viewer. Dad would be fine. SILKYPIX, the raw editor opens up to a confusing black mess with no instructions or guide mode at all. My dad would have shut it down and not bothered to use raw ever again. Plus point, you can change the colour profiles and the film ones are quite nice, downside is that current adobie camera raw can't read them and I couldn't find the fucking convert to jpg option ( I looked but was so pissed off at this point I gave up without much of a fight). When you shoot in raw+jpg the 6 special colour modes can only capture them in jpg, but a really twisted raw file is created, the program only shows the raw. If my dad had got far enough in to view the files he would just delete them, however, when you delete from SILKYPIX both raw and jpg files are deleted. I cannot describe how much Hatred I have for this program.

Needed to update LR and camera raw to get the raw files in a proper editing program. The raw files look horrendous (not a LR problem, they look god awful in Panasonic's devil program), and only have the adobie profile. A lot of my quick fix presets won't work. To make the test fair I used the same settings but had to fix the exposer on the raw versions after because the LR auto tone is borked, which left the skies blown. I left them like that because that's all my dad would do.

Full set of tests on an average subject on a dull day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/learnin_cu ... 716023825/

Kodak to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Some people said.

They were told yesterday to get shares above $1 or be de-listed. I'm going to miss you Tri-X 400

WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS
\

Not Kodak! They're legends!

Hopefully they'll sell their film arm to a smaller firm who'll carry on their fine name of film manufacturing and development.

four more test shots in good light showing the difference between A and iA mode http://www.flickr.com/photos/learnin_cu ... otostream/

The fact that there is one of each is deceiving, I did 5 shots with each, 4 of the 5 Aperture mode ones had totally blown highlights.

Advance word has it that the Nikon D4 is super-awesomeness. Game changing super awesomeness!

http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2012/01/ ... ng-the-d4/

http://nikonrumors.com/

I would say 'WANT' and I do very much WANT, but at $6,000 it's available only in fantasy head-land.

Cut to Decca selling a kidney.

By the time I'm ready to buy another camera body some of that tech from the D4 will have trickled down to the cheaper models.

The 85mm 1.8f sounds very nice.

Wasn't sure why I should be impressed until I saw the videos..
What makes it so magic?



FTFY!

Looks very nice indeed! I really, really like my 85mm f/1.8d but I can see the flaws with its weight and its tendancy for chromatic aberation. Also, though the bokeh is pretty nice, the bokeh highlights are sharp sided hexagonal type stuff.

Now if this new one is up to the spec of the old as far as perfect sharpness and distortion goes, but adds on superior bokeh with rounded aperture blades, I may just have to sell the old lens and get a new one!

Yup, looking forward to the D4 nicities being in a camera I'll be buying in 2015 or whenever. I'm quite intrigued by the D800 though, no idea what it involves yet, but it'll push the D700 prices down a little, hopefully!



"But Vic, how does it work?"

"I don't know Bob... but it does!"



FTFY![/quote]



Kalmar, not seen the videos yet, looking forward to it though!

Pfffft. I can't afford the lenses to do it justice, no I'm waiting on the D800 specs, just looking, no really, I am at one with the realisation that I just won't be able to get any more out of it without better glass (my hasn't she grown), I mostly shoot outdoors with it so don't need iso 4 billion, I don't shoot birds or sport and the D300 is fine for pets and children, but again, the glass I have is holding focusing speed back and I have no problems with the metering system, WB is bollocks without a grey card but lightroom can fix that. Edit: and I give not one flying fuck about video. Part of me likes the D300 that bit more for not having it. If I wanted to upgrade I would have gone for the D7000 ages ago (same price) My main concern is portability and inconspicuousness for street stuff.

I'm actually waiting for the new fujifilm X-pro1 - leaked details: http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/5/268404 ... tails-leak and the damn thing is full frame and looking to come in at under, (forgive the strange euro/us thing, they gave a price but some documents give the same numbers in euro and some in $ so I did a rough conversion) euro £820 /US £650 with the two other primes at euro £660/ US £400 (for the pair possibly being sold as a set). I have £120 saved up already.

I know I just got the GF3 and I'm cool with it being a second camera or if my dad ends up buying it from me, he wants to take up photography but the size of my gear worries him, so when we go out he can use that one (another reason why I went Panasonic over NEX, parents have always used panasonic so know the menus and whatnot) and hopefully he will be converted.

DSLRs are dying; 3rd generation cameras will rule the world. Interesting perspective.

Man, that text is BIG.

I find it hard to really disagree with any of that.

The main reason I am happy to stick with DSLRs is this - Nikon and Canon are really fucking good at making glass. They've been doing it for a hell of a long time and really know what they're doing. I don't know whether Sony, Panasonic etc can do that.

If Canon or Nikon launched a micro 4/3 with a range of lenses to match (which I expect they will at some point), I'll strongly consider making the jump.

I doubt Sony make their own lenses*. Don't they have a partnership with Carl Zeiss?

* I'm sorry, I can't say 'glass'. I'm not cool enough.