The *Official Photography Thread*

Loving my new Canon EOS M5

 

I bought my 5d MKII off craigslist. I did my due-diligence and called Canon to see if the camera had ever been sent in for repair and I also brought along my laptop to check the shutter count. Paired with common sense and my gut feeling I got a great deal on a like new camera. Less than 5k shutter count and not a scratch on the body.

Just like with buying a used car from a stranger. Common sense, trusting your gut, and walking into the deal armed with a little knowledge about what you're buying goes a long way.

 

I own 2 K-3 bodies, although they are not the newer II. My main deciding factor was the weather resistance. I'm kind of old school and Pentax has always been a camera that can handle rough conditions with the reputation starting in the jungles of Nam. I shoot RAW, doesn't everybody?

Pentax has been around a long time and some of the older K mount lenses are the best, but not all are weather proof. There are some decent weather proof lenses too though, and I own a number of them. Keep in mind once you get into lenses and suffer from LBA, lens buying addiction, your kind of stuck on that brand. But I wanted something for wildlife and nature that I can use in all conditions.

While they might advertise like this


I would not dunk it in water on purpose. Like I mentioned they have been in combat situations for years and the weather resistance also includes sand in the sandbox



But for my use it is more like -20F behind a dogsled team



For long reach on wildlife your still pretty much stuck with DSLR bodies as far as I know if you want fast large glass. Pentax is not known for their focusing and at times can be frustrating. But with patience and practice can be done. Spray and pray, burst mode, can help a lot too LOL.





For all around general use cameras, or taking the average picture under normal conditions there are other options to be sure. But at 2 in the morning at almost 30 below zero with a wolf pack circling me getting pissed because I am standing between them and a fresh kill I'll take a Pentax.



Couldn't get the damn wolves to hold still to take a picture of them as they worked through the trees and holding a flashlight in one hand and the camera in the other hand trying to focus was a challenge, especially given the temps. One of these days will build a run and gun rig with flashlight attached. For me Pentax was the best choice. For honeymoon pics, general landscape and street use, maybe not so much.

 

Those are some good pictures! yea I ran across the pentax ones mainly because I was looking for a weather resistant body and lens set up.

 

I've bought and sold used gear on FM as well. Definitely a great resource, though people tend to overvalue the gear they are selling there sometimes.

X2. I've toyed with the thought of getting the A7S II or A7R II and coupling it with an EF adapter so I can put my Canon lenses in front of that amazing sensor for landscapes. Problem is it defeats the size advantage of the mirrorless system

 

The Sony A7S II is a phenomenal camera. Basically a Nikon D5 for cheap.

But Sony glass is huge and slow to make up for the physics of their full frame sensor, short flange distance and tiny image circle. Their IBIS reduces IQ thanks to their poor design and small image circle and there's very little fast glass for it (1.4 / 1.2) and if there is any its larger than DSLR equivalents.

I wanted to love what Sony is doing. But they're for pro-sumers who don't do their research imo haha. They need to go back to the drawing board and do it right from the beginning, starting with fixing their lens mount circumference and flange distance and build from there.

 

The one I shot used the EF and I had a 16-35mm L on it.

Was sweet. Bit big due to the lens but shit. L glass is some of the best.

 

I would agree their glass is meh.

But with an adapter and canon glass. Problem solved. The body is stellar and with canon glass, can't go wrong.

But again....not cheap haha think the adapter is almost 800 alone.

 

the Sony lens mounts are based on Minolta Maxxum technology, which was the very first autofocus SLR, so yeah, they are stuck with a bunch of legacy decisions made in the 1980s.

 

I tried the A7R with Canon glass and a Metabones IV adaptor. I never got to use Sony glass but the Canon glass is huge and awkward plus AF is super slow... (I'm sure the version II bodies are a lot faster?) I guess for a dedicated landscape rig it would be ok, on a tripod and using MF with focus peeking.

Not my cup of tea though. I tried it and now I know what I was missing or better yet, what I wasn't missing...

 

that lens on an EOS focuses faster than you could say zip. like 0.1 second or something from extreme to extreme. better, on an EOS, you half press the shutter button to prefocus, then you can manually tweak the focus and finish the press to take the picture... all the 'Ultrasonic' (aka USM) lenses do this. its especially nice with something like my EF85 f/1.8 when you're doing narrow DoF portrait work. AF gets you close but might focus on the nose or mouth, so you fine tune to nail the eyes, usually its just a smidge.

 

Yup, can do the same fine tune manual focus on the Fuji, except with focus peaking so almost impossible to miss ha.

Makes shooting manual at 1.2 a breeze.

 

Back button focus is probably more accurate. At least, I feel it is.

 

I should probably start posting here instead of cluttering the camping thread.

I got into photography first by shooting motorsports, so I eventually bought a 7D. I got into landscape stuff later, so it isn't the camera I would have bought if I did it again. But, I will probably enter the FF world and either buy a 6Dii or 5Diii (MAYBE an A7iii with a Metabones) later this year (waiting to see specs on 6DII).

Here's some stuff I took at Big Bend NP this past weekend. Not super happy with most of them but oh well.

 

whoa

 

Nikon shooter here.....
Shot this 4 minute long exposure using a Nikon D750 with a set of LEE filters.

 

Very nice!

 

Parting with my 7D2 if anyone is interested. Thinking $900 with a couple batteries... thought I'd throw it out here first before I put it up on another site