What Digital Camera do you have . . . Share your baby with me please !!!

on my D90 I an only change the focal point if set to manual focus

on my D90 I have to have manual focus selected

sorry for double post - it's 6am here...

TattooedMac said:

......

Got away a bit there, but the ? Is how do I, or what mode is used to be able to use the Multi Selector on my Nikon to pick what Focus Point i want ?? Silly i know, but when I'm shooting, and it focuses i still hold the the focus, and then try and change the focus point to one of the other 50 points on the sensor, but it just doesn't move, unless i release the Shutter button and re-focus ?!?!?!? Im lost lol

Click to expand...

On the focus, Canon has a button on the camera that lets me quicky choose the center focusing square or have it use all 19, or any of them. If the subject is in the center of the image, or your wanting to focus on something specific, like someones closest eye for a portrait. You put it on center and tag the eye when you focus. Now also there are several Focusing Modes, One Shot, Servo and AI Servo. For none moving targets you should use One Shot. For sports or wildlife, Servo mode is the best as the camera will try to keep constantly focusing on the target while it moves. AI mode will try to guess what you want. I never use this one. I hope this answers the question you was asking. Like I said, Canon and Nikon use different names sometimes for functions, but they should be close and serve the same purpose.

Also as a personal tip, you will want to get out of using separate focusing button as that is mostly just for Macro work and for normal photography it will end up slowing you down and having you miss shots.

Cheers,
Joe

RavingMac said:

I read something about that recently . . . now if I can just remember where.

BTW I'm starting to seriously consider upgrading myself. But, I am wondering if I ought to go ahead and pop the coin for a D610. Way more than I originally intended, but I have gotten fascinated with Night Photography and it is very tempting right now.

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Think, Think man !!!!
Go on, make the move. The D610 looks like a gem of a camera mate. I am going to do some some night photography, more in the line of Light Painting, and have invested in a Pixel Stick but sadly missed the Kickstarter ~ The Pixel Stick project. Im moving in 2 weeks, and i have a huge 10 x 2.3mtr White Wall that I'm going to use. Im planning on making up some Logo's and then try and sell off images to local companies to start with. Im looking forward to it

nickyr said:

on my D90 I an only change the focal point if set to manual focus

Click to expand...

But in Manual Focus, doesn't that take away the Focus points altogether and thats what I'm wanting to manipulate ??

Exodist said:

On the focus, Canon has a button on the camera that lets me quicky choose the center focusing square or have it use all 19, or any of them. If the subject is in the center of the image, or your wanting to focus on something specific, like someones closest eye for a portrait. You put it on center and tag the eye when you focus. Now also there are several Focusing Modes, One Shot, Servo and AI Servo. For none moving targets you should use One Shot. For sports or wildlife, Servo mode is the best as the camera will try to keep constantly focusing on the target while it moves. AI mode will try to guess what you want. I never use this one. I hope this answers the question you was asking. Like I said, Canon and Nikon use different names sometimes for functions, but they should be close and serve the same purpose.

Also as a personal tip, you will want to get out of using separate focusing button as that is mostly just for Macro work and for normal photography it will end up slowing you down and having you miss shots.

Cheers,
Joe

Click to expand...

Thanks Joe, I suppose I'll play around between the focus modes, as I'm flicking through the David Busch iBook.
Found it.

• AF-C Continuous -servo AF
• AF-S Single-servo AF
• AF-A Automatic AF
• M Manual Focus

Then under this it explains with Single-point, 9-point, 21-point or 51-point Dynamic Area AF what to be in to use the Multi Selector to choose your focus point. . . .
I read right over it the first time. Love having Spotlight in iBooks

Oh and just to clarify Joe, i only use the shutter button as my focus button

Thanks all

apologies for my earlier post(s) - it was too early (I was up for a trip to London)

Just got back and checked my D90: with AF on, and set to single point, dynamic area or 3D tracking, I can move the focus point. I can't if the focus area is set to Auto.

Nikon D80 with 18/135mm kit lens.
70/300mm AF , VR
SB-600 flash.
UV filters on both lens.

post

Nikon D3
Nikon D300s
approx 21 lbs of nikkor glass .......... ;D

MacGandalf said:

Nikon D3
Nikon D300s
approx 21 lbs of nikkor glass .......... ;D

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I feel you on the lens.. I am headed that way on Canon glass.

Working to really lighten my load though, but when you do a little of everything. Its hard..

Is this a sign of things to come for us Aperture users ?? Im hoping so . . . . .

Apple Picks Up Numerous '.Camera' and '.Photography' Domain Names

TattooedMac said:

Is this a sign of things to come for us Aperture users ?? Im hoping so . . . . .

Apple Picks Up Numerous '.Camera' and '.Photography' Domain Names

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I really hope so..

Doesn't matter if someone likes LR or Aperture or one over the other. Competition promotes software improvements and better pricing for everyone.

Well I just went and bought myself the Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II and after reading the reviews, seems like its the fastest Super Wide Angle AF Lens out there.
People are saying that the images are crisp on the edges, and even surpasses the 10-24mm Nikon lens. With 109º of Angle, its only 4% less than the 10-24mm and if you put images side by side, you really can't tell the difference.
Its in the mail tomorrow, so I'm hoping to get some fun, abstracty, portrait type images, and some good Landscape, and Architecture.
Thanks to all for the guidance, and people can't speak highly enough of this lens, apart from early on, the AF had some trouble, but i think ill be using MF quite a bit anyways . . Woop Woop



Now can someone point me in the right direction of reputable and cheapest place for Filters, and what would should i get, ND or Polarising ??

Cheers

Sweet lens.. For Nikon I think that is the best UWA lens you can get for cropped sensor cameras. The 2.8 aperture is really sought out for night photographers. Although admittedly I end up stopping my lens down to f/4 at night for slight better clarity anyway. As far as MF -vs- AF I wouldn't worry about. Not sure why those lens even have a AF. About 1 meter from the lens you can set them to infinity and alway be in focus.

I have had many debates with so called pro photographers claiming you dont need a lens that wide, claiming you can just make panoramas or just crop the image.. Not sure how they can be just so full of themselves. Nothing beats a great UWA for getting it all in. Plus water or HDR panos can be a huge headache. And you can't pano your camera into a room wall to get more room into your photos.. LOL.. I am positive you will enjoy that lens a lot.

What other lens did you say you had. I am sadly still waiting on my camera to arrive, hopefully sooner then next week. It should already been here. But shipping stuff sea cargo is one of those things where you never know when it should arrive, you just have a reasonable guess.

I got the Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 DC Macro HSM OS Contemporary Lens a few weeks ago. So loving this lens. If you looking for another, this is a good one to pair up with your Tokina.

Night photography is where the Tokina really shines.

Taking pics of the stars without visible trails (due to Earth's rotation) requires keeping exposure times relatively short, that is where having ability to open up to f2.8 is useful.

Cool, always nice to know where the photographers are at. Great thread by the way!

I have a D700, D7100, and D3100.
Lenses include 20mm 2.8D, 50mm 1.8D, 85mm 1.8D, 35mm dx 1.8G, 18-55 v2 kit lens, 55-300 dx 3.5-5.6G, Tokina dx 11-16mm 2.8, Tokina dx 12-24mm 4.
Flash - sb700 and 3x vidpro k120 continuous lights.

I shoot video and photo at events.

Honestly, the D3100 works well enough on its own. I am very happy with it as a camera. The image quality is high enough for any job. The images that come out of it are good enough for any regular person to appreciate. The reason I don't have one for each lens hanging from my body at every event LOL is because of a couple of reasons: it's DX, and it isn't user friendly.

Most people are content with DX, but there are some faults that people do not realize. A smaller sensor means less light, less light means more susceptibility to noise in dark environments, and on top of that it cannot get as shallow of a depth of field(less cream in shots). An aperture of 1.8 on DX is the same as 2.8 on FX. Do some research about sensor size, it's fascinating what the differences are.

The layout on the D3100 doesn't allow a shooter to work quickly at all. There are barely any buttons, and the ones that are there are awkward to fiddle with. The D7100 and D700 have everything layer out for you to mess with, the D700 does a much better job though. To get to Kscale and other things like that you have to use menus. Aperture, shutter, and iso are accessible though. Most people shoot on some form of auto though, so it isn't a problem for them.

If you have time to shoot, and don't have to worry about people constantly moving that could possibly mess up your shot, then I say get any DSLR and you'll be happy with the results once you truly learn how to manipulate everything.

The D700 is still one of the greatest cameras around in my opinion. The image quality is incredible, it handles noise like a champ, and the color look great. I shoot at night events all the time, and I almost always have my ISO cranked up above 1600. Shots come out perfectly, with barely any noise, even at 6400. Like I said, it's unbelievable. The only thing I have against the D700 is that sometimes I like to have a cleaner shot, I am a pixel peeper. The thing is though, that barely anyone is, I can bet that the majority of people that look at the shots that I think should be just a little cleaner say that it's unbelievably clean. Nothing ever satisfies me. 12MP is more than enough though, all you really need to produce a quality photo are 8MP.

I have no real cons to list about the D700, its fast, really fast, with the grip it's the fastest DSLR that isn't a D3 or D4. I never miss a shot when I'm rolling through continuous mode. All the settings can easily be changed on the D700 and it makes for changing the look of your shot really really easy and quick.

The D7100 is awesome! I took a couple shots with it when I first pulled it out of the box and didn't believe what I was seeing, so I put it back in the box and reopened it the next day to take some shots. I thought I was crazy, the quality from that DX camera is ridiculous. It's absolutely crystal clear, and those shots were taken with the 20mm which isn't the sharpest lens around. But I was in shock. I freaking love the D7100, the only problem I have is that it's not as easy to change settings as the D700, the D600 has the same layout as the D7100. Honestly, I find fault in everything, I acknowledge the fact that I am insane, the layout of the D7100 adds maybe 1/8s extra time to change a setting. No difference, but like I said I am too particular for my own health.

The D7100 does an awesome job with noise, I was really surprised. I shot a video at an event where the only lights in the hall were the wash lights up against the walls and two moving head lights by the stage. WOW, there was barely any noise on my TV when I reviewed the footage. I'm going to pick up an extra D7100 for second video instead of the D3100, because the screen on the D3100 makes it hard to focus when shooting videos, my 2nd videographer has trouble focusing on some shots, heck I even have had trouble focusing when shooting video on it. ( the D3100 screen res. is pretty crappy)

My final opinion,
Go FX, you will enjoy it more. If you don't want a dinosaur of a camera(D700), get a D600, if you have money to blow get a D800.
If you do go DX then make sure you get the D7000/D7100, the difference is really negligible, some minor things were fixed, and the screen is just a little better.

Get a battery grip, it helps, a lot. If you go DX make sure to get the 35mm DX lens, it's such a fantastic lens, for only $200. If you want to shoot wide for DX go with the 11-16mm it has such low amounts of distortion compared to other lenses of its kind.

No matter what you choose, invest in Sigma lenses, they're going to take the market, just wait and see.

Try to stay with primes, they're much faster, lighter, and image quality is always better, except for the 24-70mm 2.8. That thing just kicks butt.

If you have any other questions, or want more info I would love to help you, chatting about photo stuff is always fun, just PM me.

Thanks for the thread!

Exodist said:

Sweet lens.. For Nikon I think that is the best UWA lens you can get for cropped sensor cameras.
As far as MF -vs- AF I wouldn't worry about. Not sure why those lens even have a AF. About 1 meter from the lens you can set them to infinity and alway be in focus.

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Yea everything I read was that the Tokina had it head over heal over the Nikon. I think ill have a lot of fine with it, especially when i get into so Light Painting, with my 'in the post' PixelStick, Going to be Sooo much fun, and even making the Pixel Art to in Pixelmator

Exodist said:

I have had many debates with so called pro photographers claiming you dont need a lens that wide, claiming you can just make panoramas or just crop the image.. Not sure how they can be just so full of themselves. Nothing beats a great UWA for getting it all in. Plus water or HDR panos can be a huge headache. And you can't pano your camera into a room wall to get more room into your photos.. LOL.. I am positive you will enjoy that lens a lot.

Click to expand...

?? WT ?? I can't understand their reasoning for this. I would rather have a UWA than having to stitch images together or try and do a Pano.
IMHO, I think Panorama shots are over rated, and a gimmick. Yea they are cool to knock one out on a iPhone, but as a 'Photo' I just don't like looking at them, and to think no thought went into the shot apart from, moving the camera to the left or right to get what you want in the frame. I have 3 Pano's all up on my iPhone, iPad Mini and I'm sure ill be much happier with a 109º of pure, beautiful glass haha

Exodist said:

What other lens did you say you had. I am sadly still waiting on my camera to arrive, hopefully sooner then next week. It should already been here. But shipping stuff sea cargo is one of those things where you never know when it should arrive, you just have a reasonable guess.

Click to expand...

I bought the Kit 18-105mm separate but really wanted it, for the range it had, so yea the Nikon 18-105mm, Nikon 50mm 1.8D Prime, Sigma 70-300mm 1.4-5.6 APO DG and then the 2x Tele-Convertor and to soon be Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II

RavingMac said:

Night photography is where the Tokina really shines.

Taking pics of the stars without visible trails (due to Earth's rotation) requires keeping exposure times relatively short, that is where having ability to open up to f2.8 is useful.

Click to expand...

This is what I am truly looking forward too. I only said to my Fiancé last night, I'm going to have to travel out of town a few K's to get no ambient light, and just night sky. I know enough farmers to go and set up my rig, and leave it for a few hours while it takes either 1 Loooong exposure or the 300 images and then stack them in StarStaX (Thanks to Exodist)

Dr.Photo said:

The D7100 is awesome! I took a couple shots with it when I first pulled it out of the box and didn't believe what I was seeing, so I put it back in the box and reopened it the next day to take some shots. I thought I was crazy, the quality from that DX camera is ridiculous. It's absolutely crystal clear, and those shots were taken with the 20mm which isn't the sharpest lens around. But I was in shock. I freaking love the D7100, the only problem I have is that it's not as easy to change settings as the D700, the D600 has the same layout as the D7100. Honestly, I find fault in everything, I acknowledge the fact that I am insane, the layout of the D7100 adds maybe 1/8s extra time to change a setting. No difference, but like I said I am too particular for my own health.

The D7100 does an awesome job with noise, I was really surprised. I shot a video at an event where the only lights in the hall were the wash lights up against the walls and two moving head lights by the stage. WOW, there was barely any noise on my TV when I reviewed the footage. I'm going to pick up an extra D7100 for second video instead of the D3100, because the screen on the D3100 makes it hard to focus when shooting videos, my 2nd videographer has trouble focusing on some shots, heck I even have had trouble focusing when shooting video on it. ( the D3100 screen res. is pretty crappy)

Click to expand...

Yea i love mine to bits. Through the opinions of friends on here, i first forked out for a Nikon D7000 and had that for a couple of months, but me being me, i wanted something a little newer and the more I read about the Nikon D7000, people also talked about the Nikon D7100.
So i got sneaky, and sold the Nikon D7000 and my 50-200mm for more than i paid for them, and then went and got the Nikon D7100 for under $800 and with change to spare from the sale of the older one. I haven't looked back, and it takes amazing images in low light indoors, but then again, i got a great deal on the SB-700 for around $200 and that makes the whole.

Dr.Photo said:

My final opinion,
Go FX, you will enjoy it more. If you don't want a dinosaur of a camera(D700), get a D600, if you have money to blow get a D800.
If you do go DX then make sure you get the D7000/D7100, the difference is really negligible, some minor things were fixed, and the screen is just a little better.

Click to expand...

I have no need to go FX, or not for another . . . . . . . . Quite a few years anyway.

Dr.Photo said:

Get a battery grip, it helps, a lot. If you go DX make sure to get the 35mm DX lens, it's such a fantastic lens, for only $200. If you want to shoot wide for DX go with the 11-16mm it has such low amounts of distortion compared to other lenses of its kind.

Click to expand...

Battery grip is on the B'day list, and i lot of loving and hinting. She knows what to buy me now lol But if you read above, i have just bought the Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II.

Dr.Photo said:

No matter what you choose, invest in Sigma lenses, they're going to take the market, just wait and see.

Click to expand...

Would be interested on your opinion on this, and why ?? I have 1 Sigma, my 70-300mm Macro and as much as the glass is clear, and it takes great images, at 200-300mm Macro or @70mm, it feels cheap, and the Manual Focus, is clunky, literally. When i zoom in/out when it gets to either end, it has that 'clunk' sound to it, as well as being a little sticky . . . Photo wise 5*****, build wise 2** Nothing to write home about IMHO

Dr.Photo said:

If you have any other questions, or want more info I would love to help you, chatting about photo stuff is always fun, just PM me.

Click to expand...

Wont be any PM's as this is a forum, and anything that is said, someone, somewhere will learn from it, and even if it seems like a silly question, (which i have asked already here, confusing to me, simple to others), so please keep it in the thread for others :cough: :cough: me to learn from Thanks for understanding.

Dr.Photo said:

Thanks for the thread!

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My pleasure, and i really do get pleasure from this thread ;D ;D

TattooedMac said:

. . . I only said to my Fiancé last night . . . . . ..

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Congratulations!

I must have missed that big news. Too far to travel, unfortunately, so I expect pics from the wedding.

TattooedMac said:

Would be interested on your opinion on this, and why ?? I have 1 Sigma, my 70-300mm Macro and as much as the glass is clear, and it takes great images, at 200-300mm Macro or @70mm, it feels cheap, and the Manual Focus, is clunky, literally. When i zoom in/out when it gets to either end, it has that 'clunk' sound to it, as well as being a little sticky . . . Photo wise 5*****, build wise 2** Nothing to write home about IMHO

Click to expand...

The new line of ART lenses that they are coming out with are phenomenal. Sigma said screw Nikon, screw Canon, we're going after Zeiss. Check out the 35mm, 85mm, 24-105mm, and the 50mm, which is on its way.

The 24-105 goes toe to to with Canon's and really knocks it on its ****.
http://fstoppers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/edges.jpg

Everything Sigma is bringing to the table is cheaper than its counterparts, and the image quality is the same, if not better, in most cases.

Since you use DX check out their 18-35mm lens, I am definitely going to pick one up for myself, very soon.

Dr.Photo said:

.......

Most people are content with DX, but there are some faults that people do not realize. A smaller sensor means less light, less light means more susceptibility to noise in dark environments, and on top of that it cannot get as shallow of a depth of field(less cream in shots). An aperture of 1.8 on DX is the same as 2.8 on FX. Do some research about sensor size, it's fascinating what the differences are...

Click to expand...

Glad to see another camera guy here.

Would like to clarify on the DoF. This is were many get confused or just dont fully know how to properly explain the difference from the DoF from Full Frame to APS-C.

Ok I will start with saying the DoF does not change from changing camera what so ever. If the camera is 10ft from the subject with f/1.8 aperture at 85mm, you will always get the same amount of blur no matter what.

That said, when you go from Full Frame to Crop with that 85mm. You find you will want to back further away to say 14 or 15ft from the subject to get the images cropped the same since the smaller sensor takes a smaller portion of the image coming in from the lens. So the effect of backing away from the target is what is changing the amount of blur, not the camera or the lens but just the distance of the camera from the subject.

I can't say it gives the same exact effect as a 2.8 on full frame, I feel its little better at least on my Canon's. But its close to that or just slightly better.



As far as Full Frame being better then APS-C, yea bigger sensors dont cook the image as bad, esp when pushing high ISO's. I like my Canon G12, but its micro 4/3rd sensor is just horrid with anything other then bright light. Its good for Facebook and its the camera I learned on, but I wouldn't shoot anything I wanted to blow up to 8x10.

Dr.Photo said:

The new line of ART lenses that they are coming out with are phenomenal. Sigma said screw Nikon, screw Canon, we're going after Zeiss. Check out the 35mm, 85mm, 24-105mm, and the 50mm, which is on its way.

The 24-105 goes toe to to with Canon's and really knocks it on its ****.
http://fstoppers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/edges.jpg

Everything Sigma is bringing to the table is cheaper than its counterparts, and the image quality is the same, if not better, in most cases.

Since you use DX check out their 18-35mm lens, I am definitely going to pick one up for myself, very soon.

Click to expand...

I fully agree..

Even though I am considering Tamrons 70-300 (model a605), I am holding out to see if Sigma offers something tasty this summer.

TattooedMac said:

.
?? WT ?? I can't understand their reasoning for this. I would rather have a UWA than having to stitch images together or try and do a Pano.
IMHO, I think Panorama shots are over rated, and a gimmick. ...

Click to expand...

Yea you can't replace a good UWA. Pano's do offer a way of getting a very large image. When people think pano, they assume a group of images going from left to right or vice versa. But in actuality you can have rows and tiers of images, for example 5 images wide and 3 images deep. Which would be 15 total images. Stitch them up and you have a super high resolution image that looks tack sharp even at 4 x 8 ft..

I bought the Kit 18-105mm separate but really wanted it, for the range it had, so yea the Nikon 18-105mm, Nikon 50mm 1.8D Prime, Sigma 70-300mm 1.4-5.6 APO DG and then the 2x Tele-Convertor and to soon be Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II

Click to expand...

Starting to get you a little collection going. I am trying to trim mine down for both myself and my wife.
Mine: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0 Contemporary, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM and Canon EF 75-300 f/4-5.6 mrk III. The 75-300 has no image stabilizer. So its the one to get replaced next. Just a very old lens.
Wifes: Canon EF 28-135 IS USM Lens, Canon 50mm f/1.8 USM. (Replacing the 28-135 with the Sigma 18-250mm DC Macro (new model) Lens soon as it arrives). Should be a great pair for her T3i.

This is what I am truly looking forward too. I only said to my Fiancé last night, I'm going to have to travel out of town a few K's to get no ambient light, and just night sky. I know enough farmers to go and set up my rig, and leave it for a few hours while it takes either 1 Loooong exposure or the 300 images and then stack them in StarStaX (Thanks to Exodist)

Click to expand...

Which reminds me, unless its cold. You will want to bring something to warm your lens up. When its warm outside, the lens tend to cool down at night get fog on them.. Seems to always happen at 2am at least for me. Two things can help, 1 a hair dryer. But not useful in the field. 2 is the hand warmer gell packs. These are the ones you break up and the gel gets hot keeping your hands warm. You can set one of these on your lens after your setup and will help keep the condensation down.

Battery grip is on the B'day list, and i lot of loving and hinting. She knows what to buy me now lol But if you read above, i have just bought the Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II.

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Very essential for time-lapse. But I will not use this thing walking around. I have one and using it right now outside on my wives T3i taking time-lapse of a rose opening up. But dear god the added weight kills my neck.. I rather just carry an extra batter in my pocket.. LOL Which reminds me, I am picking up a shoulder strap very very soon.

Would be interested on your opinion on this, and why ?? I have 1 Sigma, my 70-300mm Macro and as much as the glass is clear, and it takes great images, at 200-300mm Macro or @70mm, it feels cheap, and the Manual Focus, is clunky, literally. When i zoom in/out when it gets to either end, it has that 'clunk' sound to it, as well as being a little sticky . . . Photo wise 5*****, build wise 2** Nothing to write home about IMHO

Click to expand...

The Sigma 70-300 isn't a bad lens, its just an older model lens. Although Sigma is still making many of the older model lens, they are focusing on one by one upgrading the lens in both image and build quality to meet their new world vision lens series, Art, Sports and Contemporary. Expect the price of the new 70-300 when it hits the market to be between 700 and 900 USD. Few months later the prices will drop to reasonable as they always do.



Cheers,
Joe