The *Official Photography Thread*

Few of my custom G17 that I took on the fly.

 

Not my truck mud splatter looks like forest

 

Karekare beach New Zealand

This is a black sand beach. If you look at the full size image you can see the sparkles in the sand. The entire beach was glittering in the sunlight!

 

DSC08860-2 by Joshua Shipps, on Flickr

DSC08658 by Joshua Shipps, on Flickr

 

I have the D800 and love it. Been a outstanding upgrade and yes the D810 had the quiet feature along with the D800 also. If you're looking for low light the the D750 will outshine the D810 in that aspect. I shoot a lot of low light and night photo's and haven't had an issue with the D800. All my glass is 2.8 though. The faster glass is what you will need to be looking for when you're shooting low light. Between the two it's going to be a matter of how much detail you need in the photo for print size as to the sensor. I've never had a issue with the colors with mine. If you want outstanding low light then you'll want to look into the flagship line. D3, D4 and you probably don't want to spend the money on the D5. Both the D750 and the 800 series are weather sealed.

As far as the glass I ended up going to the 70-200 2.8VR v1 because side by side the v1 seemed to focus faster than the VR2. I've spoken with quite a few people who feel the same. I bought my 24-70 2.8 before the new version came out and don't feel that you need VR on that lens anyway. So in that aspect you could buy the v1 lenses for a lot less than the new ones. With Nikon you will also be able to use some of the older manual focus lenses and buy bigger glass cheaper than you will with Canon.

 

Also @justinmbowen has a D810 and maybe able to give you some further info as to its abilities over mine.

 

I got my camera safely out of the house. I did lose my tripod though.

Any recommendations?

 

I have a Slik pro 150 with a Velbon 41Q head I use for my spotting scope and shooting. Considering I'm using it to support a 17lb rifle it's rather stable.

I've used the Manfrotos in aluminum and carbon fiber primarily with spotting scopes they are very stable and easily adjustable.

https://www.manfrotto.us/

I've been looking at the Mefoto, I'm a sucker for CNCd anodized parts and these tripods are sexy.

http://www.mefoto.com/

Didn't get to use it much but was checking out a Benro at the range.

http://www.benrousa.com/products/photo/

 

Currently use one of the Manfrotto 055xprob with a 496rc2 head. Really like it and probably the best one out of the multiple I've owned. Cons: it's a 3 section so it's not a very good travel tripod, kinda heavy at 5 lbs.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Mefoto tripods and they can get really compact.

I was ready to buy a Benro before my Manfrotto but couldn't find one close enough to look at before buying so it got sidelined because of that. Still looks like a very viable option though.

When I bought mine I didn't have a need for the compactness so I went with a full size and needed one that the camera would sit at eye level without the center tube extended. Also wanted one where the legs extended out to get close to the ground.

Just have to keep an eye on payload levels with the compact tripods and the heavier full frame camera's.

 

Induro

 

Manfrotto with a video head

 

I really like my D810. I use a ton of camera systems on photo sets, so I see a lot of cameras ranging from Canons/Nikons to Phase Backs that are 100mp and cost more than my car. So....yes, I like my D810 and it works well for my needs. If you are looking for print size, the 36mp is more than enough. I find myself cropping a lot more than I used to because I don't lose any detail when cropping.

Low light is great, but not perfect. If you are looking for low-light abilities, I would look at the Sony models. Sony seems to be leading the way right now with low light, at least in the price range you're talking about.

Some D810 photo examples of mine.



This was after sunset and I thought the camera handled speed and low light pretty spectacularly.

 

Walked around Zion today.

 

Who is going to photograph the solar eclipse and how are you going to do it? It's going to be 97-98% here right in my backyard. I'm thinking of doing a time lapse composite with a cityscape backdrop using my new Fuji X gear.

 

97-98%, even 99% vs totality is like the difference between a kiss from Mom and your first honeymoon.

do not aim a telephoto lens at the sun without a solar filter or you won't have a camera, even at 98%. a wide angle is OK, but shooting into the sun will look awful, same as it always does.

me, I'm going to camp for the whole weekend in eastern oregon right near the centerline of totalitity, and I probably won't even mess with cameras, I'll just enjoy the experience. I *might* setup a equatorial tracking telescope with a solar filter, and do a time lapse, removing the filter during the 2 minutes of totality but getting that exposure right will be really tough, and I don't want to be distracted by equipment fiddling and miss the whole damn thing.

 

D750 here. I got the D750 due to its low light performance and shutter speed for my boys sports. The D810 is a better landscape body.

From my son's lacrosse season. #27

 

@Cuffs, I am really sorry to hear about your home.

As for the tripod suggestion, I personally have a MeFoto RoadTrip and like it! It is small enough to carry on dayhikes and fits onto the side my Thule backpack without issue.

Here are a few from my recent Big Bend trip...

Big Bend is so green right now!



The gap in the mesa in the background is Santa Elena canyon. The left side (Sierra Ponce) is in Mexico.



Sunset from the Window, Chisos Basin.



And an OK place to see the night sky.





View from near the start of Black Gap road (traveling North to South):



Just after climbing up the step on Black Gap road, which is the "feature" it is most known for. It is not a difficult obstacle in any way, however.



Driving down from the Christmas Mountains (actually owned by the Texas State University System)



The Chisos mountains from the top of what I *thought* was the high point of the Christmas mountains, but it turns out it is about 30-40 feet shorter than the peak to the NW just a bit.

 

Thanks all for the tripod input.

Went with a Benro since I could put hands on it and test it out. (And I could get it locally at a small shop instead of a big box store)