The *Official Photography Thread*

Yea and what your final frame rate is..be it 21,24,30 fps

 

yea depends on the total length you want to time lapse. Like some street traffic for a few minutes, 3 per sec would be good i think. The magic lantern lets you setup intervalometer on the cam so no need for remote.

 

Runner up submission in the challenge thread.


_MG_7396.jpg by Unvail Photography, on Flickr

 

what tripods do you guys use?
I wanna start taking dark photos to play with the night cityscape//some things that glow in the dark...


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If you like ball heads these have gotten lots of great review. I've almost pulled the trigger on the road trip a few times. I will one of these days I think.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/indepth/mefoto/news/introducing-mefoto-travel-tripod-kits

 

They typical answer is do it right once, just like with our trucks ha, so people will suggest a nice heavy duty one that will cost you a pretty penny instead of getting three cheap ones and realized you should have spent more.

That said, a budget tripod is better than no tripod.


What camera/lenses do you have (or want to have)? One main thing to consider is how much load capacity you need. Don't forget to figure in a ballhead to put on top of your tripod. A lot of tripods don't come with one.

 

i only use manfrottos. cant complain. get a nice ball head and your good to go.







on another note......you guys are gonna hate me. I picked up a DJI Phantom 2 with the gimble head for the gopro. this thing is so dope. pictures/videos coming soon.

 

..I haven't used magic lantern either..looks pretty cool though.



Here's another leftover shot from this weeks B&W challenge:

 

Had a little shoot this evening. The skin in front of the fire is an Impala in case you are wondering.

 

I have a Gitzo with a Really Right Stuff BH55. I like the setup. Good and solid and I can use the setup with a large lens with a Wimberly SideKick in a pinch (gimbal mount).

 

Can't go wrong with Gitzo or RRS gear from what I've seen/read (but not experienced) ha

 

Ya... nobody makes that for Nikon.
I can get a software "upgrade" that supposedly maximizes my battery life on the 3x00/5x00.
It does do that, but unfortunately, it also eliminates compatibility with aftermarket batteries AND BATTERY GRIPS!

Given this, I would expect the new 3300/5300 to not have aftermarket battery compatibility out of the box.

I've got two EL-14 packs and have had no trouble shooting a hundred or so shots per session... but I have a total of about 600 shots on the camera and have run the packs dead twice, plus I've swapped in fresh a few times... so I'm not getting near the life claimed.
Though I have heard that the Nikon packs need to be cycled a couple of times before you get max life out of them, so I'm going to go ahead and start letting them run dead before changing (I always have a spare and an AC charger in my backpack anyways).

I did have the unpleasant surprise of dead batteries in my SB800 Friday evening. I had spares with me, I'm assuming that the power button was depressed in the pack?
The SB400 batteries (went in at the same time, no uses on either flash) were fine.

 

yea one of the big things i want to install it..haha just haven't..

yea i have been using a cheap tripod and its ok. I really want a nice ball head now though and a pano head.

 

No its not. For that it works fine. And i have gotten good results without one too..but man they help..mostly for the landscape type shots or interiors. id enjoy it a lot.

 

I've got the Slik 700DX with the 3-way pan/tilt head.

The 700DX is a nice, heavy, stable platform on a modest budget ($100 for just the legs, the heads are $80 for the 3-way type, or $65 for the Pro-800 ball head.)
I bought a ball head for my monopod.

More expensive as components, of course... $140 for the complete tripod with the 3-way head.

This head (and the Pro-800 ball head) use a unique quick release. It is a "puck" type thing that attaches to the camera rather than the typical tapered square.
It is also large enough to comfortably grab and spin off and on without tools for moving between the camera and a long/heavy lens.

With the legs up and the post extended, I can get the camera high enough to take a nearly vertical shot of the moon and still get my 6'3" high eyeballs under the camera without stooping over.

The center post is reversible for getting the camera close to the ground.... the legs are 3-position, folded, open, and open wide.
With the legs retracted and open wide, and the center post inverted, I'm pretty sure this tripod could put a 35mm prime on the ground.


It's heavy (as any good tripod will be), so if you do any shoots where you're hoofing it, the supplied case that can only be carried by hand will have you in pain.
Spend the $45 on the 700DX bag that can hang on your shoulder.

 

A couple I took from the challenge.


B-W-1-2 by jeremy1usc, on Flickr



B-W-1-3 by jeremy1usc, on Flickr


B-W-1-5 by jeremy1usc, on Flickr


B-W-1-7 by jeremy1usc, on Flickr


B-W-1-12 by jeremy1usc, on Flickr


B-W-1-9 by jeremy1usc, on Flickr

 

Bingo.

Not from a weight capacity issue, but focal length.
My cheapie Sunpak pistol grip head was perfect for my kit lens, and it worked fine for the 200mm.

500mm? Not so much. It was impossible to properly compose the image because of the super short moment arm.

It was a ball head, but that's all I'm going to say good about it.

My biggest issue with ball heads is the limited vertical movement (or if I want to flip the camera on it's side).
I'm just old-school with my preference for 3-way heads.

 

$20-$40 tripods is all that I've used for the last 35 years until a month ago

 

The closer you are to your subject, the more it matters. What you're mitigating by establishing the nodal point is parallax (hold a pen in front of your face. Then view the pen with your left eye only. Without moving the pen, switch to your right eye only-do you see how the pen seems to move in relation to the background?).

Modern software deals with that to a point. But to get it absolutely right, it's important to use a pano rail.

 

Manfrotto ball heads have slots that are perfect for putting a camera in portrait orientations.