The *Official Photography Thread*

Nice! I know Luminar is about to release something call Luminar AI? Sounds like a gimmick to me with letting AI analyze your photo and having it do its edit for you. Sky replacement sounds pretty cool though but not sure how often I'd use that feature. I've got to go out and shoot more RAW files since all I've been doing is shoot in JPEG in the recent months.

 

I think the Luminar AI is the release with the reflections replacement feature also. I wouldn't be surprised if the AI feature does a good edit but I personally would want to have control of it. Might be cool though. I'm sure you can edit the photo after the AI does it to add your own personal preferences.

 

You may be correct about doing our own edit after the AI do its thing and I wouldn't see why not, ya know? Was just looking last night and saw it's not released yet but would be cool if they had a trial to try out before purchase.

 

After a quick search I think there will be a trial of 7 days per a forum on Skylums website.

 

I go through phases where I’m into photography and not. I had a camera I really liked but sold it since I was going to grad school. Now that I’m done, it’s time to start thinking about a new camera again.

I was spoiled and had a great little camera and little lens (Leica M10 and apo 50). Can’t justify spending that much at the moment, but I really liked the small size. So now I’m trying to figure out the next best option. Smallish body and a small 50 prime. I had a Fuji xpro one a while back but really want full frame.

Sony a7IV and the voightlander fe apo 50?

Panasonic lumix s1r and some rangerfinder 50 (voigtlander? Leica? Zeiss?)

the trick will be finding a lens that has the same character of the Leica I had before.

I suppose I could rent these and give them a try?

anybody have experience with these?

A few of my random pics (I also go through phases of hating my own shit, so picking even these was hard)

 

So I got the iPhone 12 pro. This camera is insane the night mode is awesome. This picture was taken in auto mode at about 3 second shutter speed in the 1x zoom. Handheld 3s shutter at night with no blur is just mind blowing. Not saying it’s going to replace my Fuji xt20 but considering I always have this phone with me it’s tough to beat.

 

BorrowLenses.com have a number of different sets of gear you can rent. Maybe have a look through their gear lists and give a few setups a twirl?

I like the idea of a small mirrorless and chose a Canon M6 MII. It's not a Leica but produces great results. Also, the "look" a picture has is effected by how the camera is set up. You might get closer to the look you desire by using camera profiles.

 

I can’t say I am looking for the Leica “look”. What I liked was that camera was small, really small and simple. Less buttons and dials. But I didn’t like the pretty lame screen and lack of stabilization.

The lens however... that lens was amazing. Super super small, the sharpest lens I’ve ever used, and more importantly, the bokeh, was really beautiful. Organic. I never cared about some indefinable “Leica look”. It was the glass that wowed me. No amount of Lightroom etc can recreate the lens characteristics. Having tack sharp in-focus and a really smooth bokeh.... in a camera and lens that could fit in a coat pocket, that was what I loved.

I miss that. But would prefer a little more modern camera, in body stabilization would be nice, and a better screen evf. Plus that stupid lens just keeps going up in price. I bought used and sold for more than I paid. It’s even more now. Plus I just spent a fair bit of money on my suspension...

So for now, I’m pondering lesser options to hold me over, till I crack and buy the lens again. I likely will never buy the Leica camera again. Too much money for for too little features for me to buy just for the simple mechanical rangefinder-ness.

But their lenses are what they are hyped to be.

 

There are better value lenses.

 

Of course. There a good lens for every price point. And there’s a lot of great lenses out there. Mostly a lot of great large lenses. Somehow the cameras have gotten smaller while lenses have gotten bigger. And plenty of sharp lenses. But sharpness isn’t everything. And huge lenses are annoying. What Leica is able to pull off for the size, sharpness and bokeh is unmatched. So is their price


Having shot canon and Nikon and Fuji... I have a sense of the market. And know there’s good value. But as my wife knows... I’m not much of a bargain hunter. Great for the price, and great are two different things. Someday I will likely own that lens again. And it will never make me a dollar, so it will just be a sunk cost. But that’s just me. Along the way I will try to find similar small high quality primes and maybe like them and maybe not.

 

I am all about the Sigma Art line when it comes to lens for my Canon Currently have their 24mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.4 and loving the quality it produces even at wide open shots.

 

Got a new toy last Friday. I'm really enjoying it so far

 

@JoeTacoma02 Here's a Luminar4 edit

On my end the website is making this look fuzzy. Not a real representation of the photo but oh well

 

What color profile are you using?

Whoops. Almost forgot to ask if you are resizing the image in your editing app? Also possible that some websites resize images to help with size. This resizing is what most often kills the quality.

 

adobeRGB. I want to switch it to standard. I resized that Tacoma pic smaller but I normally do not resize my images. The first image I inserted of my truck was terribly fuzzy so I tried resizing in Luminar while exporting which actually helped a little but not much. I think it's Tacomaworld's compression but I'm not on any other forums so I don't really have anything to compare it to.

 

Nice! I don't do any crazy editing with my pics so hope either Luminar or On1 Photo Raw will work. Heading to do a walk around shoot downtown Portland today so hope to get some shots and trial the softwares. And yes, your picture looks a bit on the softer side for sure. Great composition and tone though!

 

If you're anywhere near Missouri, you might see the Northern Lights...

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/missouri-may-be-able-to-see-northern-lights-overnight/

 

Here in Oregon too last night but it was so damn cloudy and foggy

 

Got out for some fresh air in the woods with a local agency model.

Canon 5D mk3
Canon 70-200 2.4L
Natural sunlight
No retouch