RaymondC

Great to see. Canon doesn't have a full frame mirrorless yet right. 2018 now, I am quite over new equipment but they are great to see and down the road I can pick up second hand. I dunno what the future entails what would happen to dSLR and would that still be the focus or would it only be with the more the professional model cameras. Anyway as a buyer, there are so many second hand gear out there from other brands for much cheaper, for my needs a 12MP camera does it and it is also nice to try a different brand also. I also don't need a FF when I need something lighter, but then again I dunno what would happen to the dSLRs in the future and it this would be only for the more professional model cameras.

It is one of those things I don't really have an answer for that is just what people do. Maybe things also have changed over time for me. Now I am doing less shooting, enjoying more the moment and slide photography while I am there. There will be other times I am out and don't do photography or I am out and I do photograph like the camera club topics we get assigned. Not just things but techniques or themes like "then and now" or "architexture" or "[city name] by night". In the past I have been the type that goes away and it's every day shooting. Carrying a tripod 12hrs a day, althou a traveler tripod, 3 lenses, filters etc. It's funny because when I look at my shots. While I have carried all my gear out in the afternoon I haven't used it much cos the light is just flat and average. Yes, I have shot more at the sunset time but often the shots are very similar to each other. It might be a different building or shot in a different district. Or it's a peak lookout from city A then from city B. In some ways yup. But for me maybe don't carry a truckload of gear outside and don't spend hours and do that every day that you isolate from the group - been there done that. Morning works well for more rural places but often I find the people I know prefer urban. Shooting cityscapes sunrises the buildings are still dark so that leaves sunset which is dinner time. I have in the past thought about and maybe scrutinize it more and think what I really want to shoot and does it need to be every landmark and every day. Maybe just head out occasionally alone and only occasionally carry that tripod. At times even when I did spend time doing all those sessions, when I got back it was just another building with a dark blue sky.

You hit it on the nail and bet me to it. What is it for your guys, is photography an extension of something else you are interested in or is photography the main driver? If one was into people some do portrait and event and documentary photography. The also may be into wildlife and or flowers. They could be interested in the outdoors like beach or coast or national parks, they could be into cooking or simply consuming food and drinks so may get into food photography or landscape photography. One could also be into football, hockey, rugby, karate or some other sports. Or they could be interested in travel to very different countries like Myanmar and Kathmandu or even just very developed city travelling like New York and Sydney or hotel architecture. How much would it affect you if suddenly you did nothing that is of interest to you but you just did photography. So if you are into food, you suddenly didn't eat out you just came home and cooked and ate at home. If you were into pubs or vineyards you just didn't go. No concerts, no sport venues, no wildlife places, no travel. If you particularly like socialising then suddenly put that to a stop. So stay at home and do photography within walking distance or a short drive to your township and with the people you don't personally know and to see what is just around you like the odd bird that just happen to be buzzing around your house or your local township.

Any one if you who have avoided a meal ie came back home to cook or took some museli bars out because that could had been a roll of film and processing? I have! Or avoided a trip away as that could had been a camera and or lens that last 8 years and not just 2 weeks away? Or even if you are away you avoid the holiday or food etc cos you're standing there waiting for the sunset with your tripod and when you're done it's 9pm. So often on a trip you split up with others. It'll be takeaways for tonight lol and yes again.

The question can be a can of worms. Non photography people might say the same even if you don't earn a living with photography. For me I'm with a local camera club so we have topics assigned with groups we belong to. Or we just do as we please with the local scenery be it street or gardens etc. I guess maybe I have not done much with my own time. Its just at home or the local town and whatever events that's on.

I admit it that I have gotten camera equipment, and pretty much just stayed home and headed to the local wharf or the local garden or the local CBD; and done this for a good few years. Yep, not driven to another town, not jumped onto a plane. I hear you, in the USA you guys would think about Hawaii, Yosemite, or just that family vacation in LA. I have not updated equipment that often however because the technology is so good now and often now one can get second hand stuff of the current model stuff. How have you balanced photog with other stuff you do in your life? Is photography something that compliments something else you are doing or have you like me who have gotten camera equipment and just stayed home and pretty much driven less than 20 miles away, had a wander with your camera and then drove back home. Cheers....

I did a 10yr upgrade from a D70 to the D600. I simply just use it the same way as I did. Focus and recompose, single shot mode etc etc ... When you see it on the computer you get a better file and more lattitude to edit and over time slowly thru the years I have slowly slowly embraced handholding more, but I do shoot a lot on a tripod since I mainly do scenery. With the D600 I was using a 2009 computer, a intermediate one, they the Intel i7 but I couldn't afford that so all I had was the Intel Q8200 Core 2 Quad, 4GB RAM and then upgraded to 8GB but one stick failed (China eBay) so 6GB just for the last 1 year however. I had 2 or 3 years with the D600 with just 4GB. It's not fast but it worked. I couldn't do panorama cos it ran out of memory. I guess to me it was like buying a newer car and dropping kids to schools or driving to the supermarket. My personal regret was maybe I shoulda waited 1yr more and got the D600 second hand. All my lenses for some time now are all used.

Generally speaking with all Nikon dSLRs do you guys use the non cross type AF points much? Is it specifically for certain subjects with horizontal contrast or do you some of you use it even thou it might not be the most accurate but it is still an OK accepted photo? I pretty much just use the middle AF point and recompose, I don't do action or wildlife so I always had that freedom but seldom people which I found out lately.

Does the cross type work faster or do they work more accurate as well? If the non cross type work less accurate, why would anyone use them? Things like sports or quick portraits shooting would be quite useful.

I was just doing some portraits. I used the AF sensor more on the right side - I was shooting vertical composition so in vertical they are the AF more towards the top. Are those less accurate? AF-S single point. The eye wasn't that in focus with much of the shots. Cheers.

Placing it here since it just snapshots of friends and family and not really portraiture. Do you guys do any skin retouching with this? Or is it juts a light edit in Lightroom and whip it out or to the lab for a print? Cheers.

Yep, to me the hard part is what is suitable esp when you are with other people in a busy area like a city which is where most people generally travel to. It does seem to me I can use the Nikon with its builtin wireless mode or the flash cord but at most I could manage is a 8 or 12 inch diffuser. Or maybe just a white card or styrofoam wrap tided on the flash with a hair band. Then they want a group shot of 3 or 4 people there is only so much what you can do. I am also likely to size down to a mirrorless in the near future ....

Haha .. yes the big lights take up space. The cheapish at least aka first timer strobist equipment light stands are pretty compact they fold down enough to put inside a suitcase. Measured mine, the stand and brolly are both 26 inches.

One could put everything inside a suitcase and wheel it around the CBD right ;-) Even some tourists so that occasionally while out shopping.

Yep I know that. Pharmacies can do them with a point and shoot camera :) I and others at the camera club got them because the light modifiers give soft very portrait quality light and with grids and stuff we can shape the light. To make better use of our cameras. We get nagged by others to take their photographs. Obviously people relate to photography with wedding photography and portrait photography. Even if I had all the equipment including 600W heads I just won't use them outside or indoor much, indoors maybe occasionally doing my own hobby stuff with products, since most people won't have the patience. With a tripod one can still get a travel tripod and still take the same images outside. I guess with that regard, we are using our cameras more to their abilities. But yes, still those out there that take a night shot handheld of landscapes. I can understand night portraits but yup ...

I have a Ricoh GR. APS-C sensor. Others like the Canon G7/9(x) without the price tag of the Sony RX100. To me when I am outside and I am not taking all the other accessories then why carry a larger camera. I don't take action or wildlife etc ... or things like low light events.

Thought I pop this on the casual section since it's more about casual use rather than specifically about lighting. I've done this hobby for 15yrs, OK, I mostly do scenery type, I know just 2 or 3 maybe 4 others who have a strobist light stand a brolly and or a small 60x60 softbox. I doubt they use them awfully much. How often do you guys use them and how often is it for unplanned shooting? I don't have people who say, hey let's go to the gardens and shoot some portraits, with friend's parties they just go there and cook together or share a meal together or at the beach, enjoy a BBQ etc .. so it's not like any need to have you set up your light stands at the corner of the room for some portraits or likewise over there when we are at the botanical garden or that beach. Prob the more repetitive I use them for is just for other people's passport photographs - yeah ... lol. :)

Hi all On travel etc .. I can take my smaller tripod and can still awesome capture fireworks, night shots etc ... We get nagged by people to take their photographs. Hasn't worked out in the past, what do you guys suggest? ILC with 2 or so lenses, maybe a speedlight in a pinch but what modifier and would that even help at all? I thought about a 12" or 30cm FStoppers Flash Disc on the speedlight rigged up with a flash cord or wireless held by the left hand. Travelling away from home, out most of the day, after dinner, so sunset and after that - dark blue skies twilight, 1 or 4 people half body etc ... at the sightseeing area, lookout points, waterfront etc etc .. So no light stands, no bounce. What would you do in this instance or would you just leave the flash at home and use available light? Many thanks.

My 2c. If it is just with family and friends and you want a better camera yet easy to use and portable. Like the normal people who ask others hey, what camera should I get ... I would go for a premium compact like the Sony RX100 or the cheaper Canon G7 or G9, afaik they just don't have as much features as the Sony like 4k video. If you want interchangeable cameras, many people might prefer going with mirrorless. YMMV. Also depends on what images you want. Wildlife, sports? Scenery or portraits? Or just better quality family friends photographs? I guess many people compromise, they are with others etc ... When I do scenery by myself my fav item is the tripod. When I do the odd portrait which I am getting into now, I still need something very fast to set up. If you are walking down the sightseeing road of NYC or Sydney with others and even if you have a picnic, most people don't have the patience for you to set up light stands etc ... So maybe something like a flash with a flash cord or wireless and fitted with a small diffuser. Or if you are really into macro. As the others may enjoy the garden, you might spend some time by yourself with a macro lens or some macro filters or extension tubes but again this is getting more specialised. Yeah ... are you gonna be with others or would you be alone or with others that are super patient or are they also into the same interests are you are .... When I am with others I just carry 2 lenses. When I do a sunrise I go out alone and get back in time for breakfast with them.

I heard organisations threw away minilab and enlarger machines out the bin or those big metal container bins we call them skip over here. I know people who get a entry dSLR with the kit lens. They run out of space so they record as small JPEGs and have some yrs of photographs on the camera. I know another who's computer broke but had all her children's photographs on the hard drive that wasn't backed up. The hard drive is extracted from the machine but they haven't retrieved the files yet. People who wants a copy of a photograph instead of emailing them a copy, they were happy to just download it off Facebook. This was back to 2001 or something, a friend from university was tidying up said he wanted to throw away all his film negatives and just keep the JPEGs that he scanned. Even keen photographers like us. Would our computers and laptops just be sold at a garage sale .... Hard drive formatted or likely the machine is dated and simply just thrown out. Well it's not like many of us here have generations and generations of old photographs that we got access to from our great grandparents. Maybe it is no more than just another hobby at the end of the day .... some people fish or play games or do up their cars or they cook or they knit or they meet up for drinks and food.

I have been a member of a local camera club for over 10yrs. I''m just a hobbyist take some shots locally and when I travel that's about it, or actually it's part time while we are with other people. Over the years the club has generally only had people who are members or who are looking to become members. Interclub competitions, we have a judge and he/she critiques the images, we have a end of year exhibition with everybody involve. We have invited guests to talk, could be own members about what they do - sports, macro, landscapes, post processing etc. We might get someone outside to talk about color management, or someone who runs photo tours, someone who is a Nikon ambassador and does a bit stuff with National Geographic or a police officer that does forensic photography, or food or pet photography etc etc. We still have the odd practical evening - someone sets up a tent with various items like like flowers, a violin, some $2 fake pearls etc. Yeah .. pretty much no one else attends, only club members or those looking to become a member. Over time I also found that less and less people attend including members who have been with the club for 10+ years. BUT, we had something different which was studio photography or on location shooting with strobes with a workshop to follow - including actual models and make-up artists. We had members from other camera clubs and even those who don't belong to a camera club and even photographers who does event or wedding photography for a living. It was a full house. Cheers.

I thought of the question from what most non photographers the Joe Jane public perceives. Photography hobbyists turn up to a social event or a friend's wedding with their SLR and they instantly think of portrait photography - weddings, children and family at home or at the botanical gardens, a portrait of the grandparents before they pass away, social group event photography like a Christmas or New Year function and yes; for the most of them color photography. People want color these days right.... It's not because of frugal. By in large many hobbyist don't get involved with light stands and light modifiers. Your typical hobbyist turn up at a family or friend's social event or someone's wedding as a invited guest, they are not the official photographer. To normal people they expect, you have a fancy camera they expect professional photographs. I found that most people don't have the patience. They expect you to know everything and get the job done in couple of seconds and they can get back to do their own thing - spending time with others.

Yep I have a low cost light stand and a brolly from China eBay. I also just ordered the reflector. That all aside. I was wondering that many people won't even do that for various reasons. Many people will simply just have a camera body 2 or 3 lenses and 1 speedlight for their entire life. Maybe wireless mode which they support now triggered by the pop up flash as you say.

Yes, I was trying to get a view that many people just have a few lenses and 1 speedlight for their entire photography life. So I was thinking if it was possible to pull it off. Say the person spent 1yr or 10yr with just that - which many people do. I just ordered the reflector. Since I got into this hobby all I had since 2004 was a single speedlight. So without even the reflector, just the single speedlight would it be plausible.

Maybe just try it out. It's only gonna be that 1 or 2 frames out of your 1 roll. I have shot slide film not Velvia, but Kodak Ektachrome with Hitech 4 stop ND and I got a strong magenta cast. The same as happened to a 2004 dSLR. However my 2013 dSLR does not happen. I think it has got something to do with the sensor. Yeah to me I still shoot film occasionally - so I cannot read what others say because they have only used it with a modern dSLR. Edit - I tested this without doing long exposure ie reciprocity wasn't an issue. Image here: https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6145/5939140700_93df507b11_o_d.jpg