Post pic of your 3rd Gen Taco w/ a scenic background...

Lonesome crowded west

 

Catboats, they have always fascinated me. I have owned a few small sailboats, the biggest was my Erickson sloop that I kept in the Santa Cruz harbor.


My sloop, I sold it to help fund a second story on our house



A Marshall 18' Sanderling, not mine just a boat I have always lusted after....Never even seen one in person



Congratulations on yours

 

Beautiful! Alabama Hills?

 

Traded the high desert of the Northwest for the low desert of the Southwest



Enjoying this new-to-me 10-18 MM lens. It reminds me of the iPhone fisheye but if it was actually good. Still trying to find the right angles for the truck

 

Get out there in September, around 8:30 ~ 8:45 and set that 10-18 on a tripod facing the SW for about 15 seconds.
I got a Tokina 11-16 that takes real nice images. You're right about the 'best angle' but if you're like me - shoot about 100 images and 1-2 will stand out.

 

In the photo industry they say only one in every 75-125 shots is considered “framable”, on average.

 

That’s an interesting statistic I’ve never heard before.

I’ve been researching and considering purchasing a “real” digital camera for this year’s trips instead of relying on my old iPhone. I have no experience with photography though.

 

Ever see pictures of people with their eyes closed and their mouth in a non-complimentary pose? That is sooooo many photos that are taken.

A few years back I asked someone who can get good photos a recommendation for a camera. He said the Sony A6xxx series is the "portable" version many professionals he knows will keep and take more casually framed pictures AFTER they put the 100 lbs of rig away from the main part of the day.

 

Can confirm, even as only a hobbyist over the years. I have blown through 5 rolls of film on a quick trip before, and walked away with only a few images that I really loved and felt were the standouts.

Been meaning to buy a digital camera again to get back into photography- some day.

 

Interesting, thanks for the info! I’ll check it out.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/photography.59/

 

Awesome! I’ll get to reading through that thread tonight. I appreciate it.

 

I can confirm the Sony A6XXX series is a great, pocketable camera. Maybe not the best one to learn on as Sony’s menu system is kinda wacky. I’ve been shooting on Sony mirrorless since around 2010 and still don’t quite understand it.

With that said, they can be found cheap, are compact, and can produce very high quality images. They are what I recommend to my non-photographer friends looking to get into photography.

 

Before you spend a bunch of money do a LOT of research.
Then 'rent' one for a week. My goto-source is lensrentals.com..... you can rent a camera body and a lens or 2 or three.

Best bang for the buck in my opinion is Nikon. About 25% less than Canon and they produce excellent images.
Don't think twice about buying an older used one - there are deals out there.
Nikon D7200 and D7500 are swell camera's for reasonable prices. Just make sure the 'shutter-count' is reasonable.

For glass ( lenses ) it makes a huge difference for quality lenses - the lower the FStop the better:
ie: F2.8 is gonna shoot better and cleaner than F4 and F4 is gonna shoot cleaner and better than F5.6.
The lower FStop allows you to shoot at a faster shutter speed and the glass they use in these lenses if just simply better.

For wildlife you want a minimum of a 100-400 lens, anything less will leave you wanting.
For standard images a 'Prime Lens' of 35mm is fine and for everything in between something like a 28-70mm will work great.

A Prime lens is one that is designed to shoot at the given range. You can't 'zoom' it. A 35 prime is 35 a 50 prime is 50 while
something like a 100-400 can be used to 'zoom' from 100 to 400 - and generally produces acceptable but lesser quality than
a prime lens, which is good for portraits and headshots etc.

I could go on and on - find some forums ( Nikon / Canon / Sony ) and read up on peoples postings and images and learn all you can.

It's a GREAT hobby that gives you reason to get out-and-about. I've been doing it for decades.

 

Wow that’s a lot of excellent info, thank you!! I will take all of that into account. Much appreciated

 

Lots of great info, and I also use and love lens rentals.com, but I feel obligated to point out that optically speaking F2.8 (and F22 for that matter) is rarely "cleaner" or "better" than F4 when pixel peeping and looking at the same lens.

In other words, if I have a 35mm F1.8 lens, the optical sweet spot is typically somewhere in the F5.6 range. This is speaking purely about the quality of the results the glass will produce when looking at corner sharpness, vignetting, etc.....F1.8 would obviously allow for more light, better subject isolation, and faster shutter speeds but the highest and lowest F-Stops of any given lens are typically inferior from a technical aspect.

 

Subbed

 

You are corrrrrrrrrrrrrrect sir - Tunnel vision on my part in regards to using a faster shutter speed at the lower value.