Photog BS Arena

Time to keep the photography BS separate from the other BS!

Good spot to discuss equipment, ideas, techniques or ask for advice on pictures.

I'll organize good links on this first post so they are easy to find as the thread gets larger. If you have a link, post it on here and tag me and I'll update it into the first post.


Photography/Camera Learning and Information

I used this to familiarize myself with the basics of photography when I was awaiting delivery of my first big boy camera.

Digital Photography School
Ken Rockwell - How to Take Better Pictures ... F.A.R.T!
techradar - Full Frame DSLR vs Crop
tomsguide - DSLR vs Mirrorless
the dslr photographer - 25 most common DSLR questions
bhphotovideo - Mirrorless camera buyers guide
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html - DoF calculator


General Photography

Digital Photography Review (DPReview)
Photography Life


Macro Photography

Macrophotography by LordV aka Brian Valentine.
Photographing dew drop refractions by Brian Valentine.
Extreme Macro page - just about anything you would need to know.
Jaw-dropping high magnification macro bug photography, and gear images



Astrophotography

Lonely Speck Astophotography Tutorials, Tools, etc
http://starcircleacademy.com/
http://www.astropix.com/index.html


Landscape Photography

https://luminous-landscape.com/



Blogs

Preston Kanak
Strobist - Using your flash


2016 Entry Level DSLRs

techradar
cnet
bhphotovideo


Best Entry Level Mirrorless Cameras

thewirecutter
tomsguide
PCMag

 

Taken with a iphone 6 and a life proof filter. Setting the bar high!! Lets see them!!

 

My good friends blog

http://prestonkanak.com/blog/

Lots of info, go read, learn, get more better at piktures

 

My good friend Nasim runs a photography website at https://photographylife.com/

It started out as food blog for him and his wife but has grown a lot over the years and now has a lot of how-tos, tips, and gear reviews.

 

.

 

A few from my travels

Castle Geyser, Yellowstone


Death Valley Racetrack


Red Eye Tree Frogs, Costa Rica


The Maroon Bells


Antelope Canyon

 

sub'd

that maroon bells photo is awesome!! I'm assuming night time long exposure

 

sub a dub dub

 

Thanks! It was a 2 minute exposure since the sun had not yet come up, which is why the stars are also visible. During peak season you have to get there early to get a parking spot and to beat the crowd. I got there around 5am that day and already there were 10 people lined up before me.

 

yep, that place gets slammed!! your photo is awesome, mine is ok. Ive shot there at around midnight and very very early in the morning like you stated.



some star photography up near the town of crystal on lead king basin

 

saw this eagle out of the corner of my eye, quickly turned, and snapped this one last weekend

 

Here's the review which I read on that lens: http://www.lonelyspeck.com/rokinon-14mm-f2-8-review/

FYI that the second version of that lens is coming out real soon: https://www.dpreview.com/products/samyang/lenses/samyang_mf_14_2p4

I have a 20-35mm f/2.8 which I need to outgrow/find my limitations with before picking up this lens... though, I'm tempted by one I found used. Unfortunately, both my kids go into braces really soon and the deposit was made today. Oh, the gear I could have bought with that money... I may not be picking up anything but essentials for awhile.

 

That review makes me want to just put that lens on the credit card right now. patience, ryan, patience...

 

Well, there is a significant distortion issue. I enjoy Ken Rockwell's reviews: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/samyang/14mm-f28.htm

 

It seems like a lot of the distortion is towards the edge of the frame, do you think with it being a wide angle, i could afford to just crop a bit to get around that?

 

Well, this is what Ken had to say (FWIW): Heaven help you if you use this on anything other than full-frame, in which case the bloated center will result in even stronger barrel distortion in DX. [DX is Nikon-speak for crop sensor.]

I suspect the distortion is not as noticeable when used for astrophotography, which would be the main reason I'd buy it. If you're going to do architectural, or anything else where straight lines are important, definitely skip this lens.

I can't speak to post-processing corrections to distortion... maybe it'd be possible to correct the middle portion if the edges/corners were cropped out? I have no idea, as I've never played with Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. Hell, I just discovered you can import Canon lens correction data into DPP v4 and apply it... though, I have those settings already uploaded into the camera, so maybe it's already applied by the camera? Just something else to add to the list to look up and learn.

 

I'd almost exclusively be using this lens for astrophotography. The idea that I wouldn't be able to take architectural pics is kinda a drag, but i'm not really expecting a super badass multi-purpose lens at this pricepoint.
It just sounds like a good option if I want to get a little more into night sky shots without spending upwards of a grand. I'll read around more, forsure

 

https://www.dpreview.com/challenges/

I was checking out some of the challenges... and there's some impressive photography being submitted. I threw a couple in, and while checking out the competition, found myself thinking I got my ass kicked.

 

Doesn't surprise me this one won the "My Best Photo of the Week":



I couldn't get past a blatant discrepancy, and wonder how you'd "fix" it as part of post. I don't doubt there's a way to do it, I'm just not versed.

 

You might look at Tamron, Tokina, or Sigma. Slightly more expensive but still in a similar price point to what you already posted, typically much better quality. In fact: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tokina/ Alternatively you can look for older Nikon lenses - you wouldn't be losing autofocus since what you're looking at doesn't have it anyway. Unfortunately the [current] camera brand wides at that price point are generally slower (3.5-4 range, same as your kits).