Camera and photography thread

[mabubba]

Off topic, but where did the pizza come from. It looks better than most I've seen around here.

Back on topic, both my current cameras are older 6 megapixel ones. As I said the Canon elf pocket camera, my wife's 7 mp Panasonic pocket camera, and my 6 mp Panasonic super zoom (12x optical) seem to take photos that stand up well to close scrutiny, and even if I had the spare cash, I'd be hesitant to replace them with one of the current 10 - 14 mp cameras because of storage space. I have 360 gb of hard drives that are nearly full because of photos now. If you take a lot of photos, where do you store them? I'm thinking of a terabyte external drive just for this purpose... and then I need a second terabyte drive to back up the first one in case it fails!

I'm still in the UK...so the pizza is from here.

I have an external 1TB HD that I use. I am looking for an online solution to back that up now. It would be nice to have a RAID system too.

[STEVE G]

Do any of you camera buffs have any thoughts on these new 4/5's cameras that have recently emerged?
I would like something better than the compact I have now but I don't want to walk around with an large DSLR looking like a member of the paparrazi.
I was looking in a shop at the Sony NEX-5 the other day and it looks very nice, is it any good?

[hhfarang]

Check reviews on http://www.dpreview.com to see if they have reviewed it yet. They are one of the best digital camera sites on the web. If you look at all the reviews on all the good review sites, Canon generally comes out on top. Sony, Nikon, Olympus, and Panasonic are all good too, but Canon consistently beats the rest of the pack with professional reviewers.

Other good camera review sites:

http://www.steves-digicams.com
http://www.dcresource.com
http://www.imaging-resource.com
http://www.megapixel.net

[Farang]

Hey thanks! I need to get a photo editor and set up some routines for sorting the pictures from this camera. What are you using and what did you do to the photo? It looks much better.

I use Fastone, a shareware program easily downloaded from: http://www.faststone.org . It is free, simple and so intuitive even I can use it. There are a plethora of these programs so you’ll find the one you’ll like.
I sharpened the picture a bit, made some changes in brightness, gamma, contrast and colour saturation, all of which took about 5 minutes. Freestone is nowhere near as sophisticated as Photoshop, so even I manage. Once you DL the Faststone and star playing with it, you’ll be a master in 18.27 minutes flat.

Do any of you camera buffs have any thoughts on these new 4/5's cameras that have recently emerged?
I would like something better than the compact I have now but I don't want to walk around with an large DSLR looking like a member of the paparrazi.
I was looking in a shop at the Sony NEX-5 the other day and it looks very nice, is it any good?

If I were right now buying a point and shoot (PAS) camera, I would buy a Casio ZR10 if I could not get hold of any of the old crop of these cult cameras: Casio Exilim EX-Z750 (pixel density 19 MP/ cm2), Casio EX-Z850 (PD: 21 MP/cm2) Casio Exilim EX-Z1080 (PD: 25 MP/cm2) because of their picture densities and the fact that they allow all and every manual control. A Fujifilm FinePix F30 Zoom (PD: 14 MP/cm2) is also another cult camera that can not but raise in price the harder they are to find.

And no, I am no expert, just an opinionated know-nothing-who-does-not-even-realize-he-knows-nothing.

A bit more about Faststone:

[crazy88]

I was hoping santa would bring me a Nikon D90 with some lenses or a Canon D7 but the jewellers and my mate giving me his Fuji finepix S 5800 in return for an old sofa interfered.

For a compact I have been using a Canon ixus titanium which IMHO was top of it's field at the time purchased. Thought I would give the Fuji a test out and was impressed with the performance. Great macro capability and better than the Canon on colour. Menu a bit of bitch to navigate and the digital viewfinder ( I hate screens) makes it hard to determine focus as it is a bit grainy. Other than that it is a great low end fixed lens camera. I will post some images when someone tells me how to do it as when I click the image button it just puts text in the box.

Crazy 88

[Randy Cornhole]

I have mentioned this before but please check it out. It will be a sensation.

http://www.finepix-x100.com/

[buksida]

The new Nikon D7000 looks awesome but the over inflated price in Thailand may warrant a little trip to HK.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/N ... _d7000.asp

Image posting guide here: http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/vi ... 14&t=16714

[Homer]

One of the first questions I have regarding cameras in Thailand is the humidity.

Some claim on photo forms that their camera was damaged by humidity and the manufacturer denied the claim because the warranty explicitly excludes water damage. I've seen camera specs that list the 'operating humidity' for the camera to top out at 80, 85 or 90%. Humidity may be a threat, so I was relieved that my first choice for the recent camera purchase was rated to 90%.

Now, older and wiser I am back looking at a dSLR.
...
And what about the new hybrid cameras, the 'four thirds' ones I think they are called?

Some generalizations
Four thirds pros: lighter, smaller, usually cheaper
Four thirds cons: smaller sensor size, fewer choices of lenses for now, not offered by the top two manufacturers (Nikon, Canon), uncertain resale value.

DSLRs pros: many more lenses available, bigger sensor, some manufactures have been making highest quality cameras for decades.
DSLR cons: size, weight, cost.


Some people are happy with a zoom on their DSLR until they see a similar shot with a non-zoom. Good to know your preferences before buying any lenses. I expect if one asked to see the same shot taken through a zoom and non-zoom on a photo forum (my favorite is http://forums.steves-digicams.com/) someone would help you out.

For image quality, size matters:



Finally, how are you going to view your photos? The higher quality of a larger sensor is lost when the image is reduced to fit a computer screen.

[STEVE G]

One of the first questions I have regarding cameras in Thailand is the humidity.

Some claim on photo forms that their camera was damaged by humidity and the manufacturer denied the claim because the warranty explicitly excludes water damage. I've seen camera specs that list the 'operating humidity' for the camera to top out at 80, 85 or 90%. Humidity may be a threat, so I was relieved that my first choice for the recent camera purchase was rated to 90%.

On the subject of humidity, I happened to be in the centre of Luxembourg yesterday and I walked past a press photographer who was happily standing in the middle of some pretty heavy rain with about 10,000 odd pounds worth of unprotected Nikon cameras and lenses hanging off him.

[Homer]

On the subject of humidity, I happened to be in the centre of Luxembourg yesterday and I walked past a press photographer who was happily standing in the middle of some pretty heavy rain with about 10,000 odd pounds worth of unprotected Nikon cameras and lenses hanging off him.

Nikons are legendary for their ruggedness. On a 2009 photo cruise to Antarctica many Canon DSLRs failed during a drizzle while all the Nikon DSLRs kept shooting. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essay ... rked.shtml

Obviously it's water on the inside of the camera that matters. Air gets through seals that liquid water can't. When that air is humid and the temperature conditions create condensation, that's when 'water damage' caused by humidity happens. Taking a camera that's been in a cold air conditioned room for hours outside into the tropical humidity is more dangerous than taking it from a non-AC room into the rain.

FYI: It can rain with a relative humidity of less than 100%, and there can be 100% relative humidity without rain.

[crazy88]

frangipani.jpg (151.53 KiB) Viewed 933 times

Takenon the Canon Ixus titanium. This is as close as you can get with the macro and the lens is not very wide. Only 3x optical zoom but still a great little compact.

Taken on the Nikon D90 that someone let me have a play with. It is a joy to use.

All on the Fuji. The crystals were a bitch but really good practice to get to know the camera and think carefully about lighting. Must have taken 50 shots to get 3 that I liked and even then had to clonestamp out a bright spot on one of them.

Crazy 88

[Homer]

All on the Fuji.

Where did you shoot the last two attachments?

[crazy88]

THe last 2 were here in Chiang Mai

Crazy 88

[crazy88]

Had a little play with the Nikon D3000. Very impressed at that price. Pics taken on auto mode with the standard lens. Will have a proper play tomorrow as it seems to be a very good entry level DSLR.

Crazy 88

[buksida]

Looks impressive, what did the D3000 set you back? Did you get it with a lens?

Here's Tabitha the Tokae looking after her egg (taken with D70s).