kari v

Rose, I hope you don't mind, I did two versions of your first picture. It's a bit difficult to edit a jpg this small and I don't know how the scene looked like really, so this is just an example that something can be done, but it isn't always easy or quick if you want good quality.

Levels, color balance and hue/saturation adjusted.

 

Second one shows that you can always go spooky with channel mixer and diffuse glow. ;)<div></div>

I can understand that you wanted the wrinkles and hair but high contrast and the face totally in the dark makes it a bit scary. I'm sure you'll be happy with these literally "once in a lifetime" shots for the years to come but selling something like this is a different story.

 

"I just downloaded Photoshop and so I imagine I may need to become familiar with that before I try to sell a photo."

 

Yes, editing is a part of photography. Even small adjustments can make a huge difference and learning what different tools actually do and when to use them takes some time. Don't rush.

"when you pay with credit card at their "transaction provider" they add $25 for handling the transaction."

 

Arax mentiones a handling fee at their site. It's not too bad, beats sending cash for sure.

 

"the lovely WL finder, a beautiful example of '50s industrial design which has only one problem--it doesn't work!"

 

:D

The blue effect (or wrong white balance effect) can be fun sometimes but the fact that you call it "unexpected" is a bit worrying. Take Andrew's advice about the settings and study the subject.

Removing a color cast that strong from a jpg can be horrible. You can always go b&w though.

 

btw: if you want to play with funky colors try shooting inside house lights on and curtains open so that you have mixed lighting. Of course you can add a fluorescent light to the mix... ;)

Have you tried Fuji Superia 800 or 800 pro? I have limited experience with fast color neg, but it seemed fine.

With Konica-Minolta Z10 I put everything to "low" and usually even turn of the noise reduction.

This get's the best possible picture to edit so I don't change them. WB is of course something I have to select.

 

For macro I focus manually. Also, when shooting in the dark, really dark, I preset distance and use flash (with compensation if I'm too close) or slowsync flash. No AF -> no problems.

Telefoto.fi sells 40D body for 1235e + 50e gift card + 70e rebate.

(I presume you're in Finland, Sami.)

"You do know that you will have to pay VAT and possibly custom duties on top which basically offsets any price advantage."

 

You save some but not much really. 70e rebate + guaranteed warranty + local customer service sounds good. Ordering a camera 10 000 miles away and have something go wrong doesn't sound that good.

I have read quite a bit about Kiev60 being not-so-hot at factory default quality

and I can easily believe that. What is interesting is that I can't find bad

comments about Arax60/MLU. It seems that they make good job adjusting these

beasts and they are not terribly expensive. A slr-like 6x6 and availability of a

30mm fisheye (under 200 euros new) with surprisingly good reviews sounds like a

nice deal. Zeiss Jena glass gets good reviews too.

 

This is for hobbyist / experimenting amateur photog use and I'm not going to

spend too much money. I considered Mamiya 6x7 but getting a reasonably priced

fisheye for that seems impossible and the camera is bulky for handholding (I

think I could manage it, but still). I see many people recommending 6x45 but I

really don't want that. Square seems interesting (you don't have to crop to

print, standard sizes are just... well... sizes) and with the fisheye perfect.

I guess I've pretty much made up my mind unless someone can point out that

Arax60/MLU has serious flaws or that there are options I haven't noticed.

It's quite interesting how people keep saying it's soft in the corners. If you want f1.4 glass, you'll use it often at 1.4-2 where the DoF is so thin that the corners really don't matter unless you're shooting a brick wall. I don't own the Sigma but I own and I've shot other f1.4-2 glasses and none of them have been really sharp at the corners wide open. Also, I have not seen a single actually bad real life picture out of the Sigma in the net. Have you?

Agfa Vista 400 @ 100, 4400F scan. autolevels and some sharpening for print.<div></div>

You have to tweak the colors, there are no perfect scanners, at least not in the $100 area.

 

Scanning quality isn't really that bad, you have to learn how to tweak and scan for best results.

 

I recommend that you turn Off every "picture enhancing" option there is, including unsharp mask. They will really mock up your pictures. Do everything in PS (or whatever you use).

Mike, your photo is too dark. I can imagine Walmart doesn't do perfect job every time but this time it's you.

There are 30 day trial versions of both. Try yourself.

Photo.net's software seems to hate me today... Interesting first line.

GIMP = free and powerful

Photoshop = seriously expensive for a non-pro

GIMPshop = free and menus are arranged to look like Photoshop

 

Paint Shop Pro is nice and affordable.

 

Photoshop Elements lacks curves which is very bad (at least for me) but there seems to be a free cure:

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/curves-photoshop-elements-4-5.html

When you're shooting scenery the camera on a tripod you'll be stopping down the lens to f8-f11 anyway for optimum sharpness and depth of field, so there f2.8 isn't significant, but whenever you're handholding, especially if the weather is not so good, I'm sure you find the speed very welcome.

 

I'm a little biased because I like handheld low-light shooting with f1.4 - f2.0 lenses and actually consider f2.8 rather slow, but still I'm yet to hear people complaining that they have too fast glass. ;)

 

Oh yes, 50mm @ f2.8 also gives you very nice portraits.

"I have now thrown the Pentax K10D in the mix. I like the weather resistance of it for sure, but lens selection may be an issue."

 

To cloud the water even more, I have to say I really like that body. ;)

Good size, inbuilt image stabilizer and weather sealing. The price isn't bad either.

Too bad Pentax's lens collection is lacking at the moment, but then again you can buy Sigma and Tamron glass for the K10D. Pentax makes some seriously good prime lenses, but they are of little use for you right now.

 

Yes, D40(x) is small. It has nice design though and it fits in your hands surprisingly well. Still, I like D80 / K10D size and weight more. Also a vertical grip is good to have and it extends your battery life, something you could be happy about in the wilderness.

I don't think the lack of lenses is a real problem, at least for quite some time, but now that you say you don't handle small well... yeah, skip the D40. Sturdier body and the grip can't hurt you on your trip(s).

 

"What, if any, is the difference in a f/3.5-5.6 kit lens and a f/2.8 or f/4 $400-$800 lens?"

 

Kit lens focuses slower, is plasticy, has sometimes noticeable distortions and changes maximum aperture when you zoom. It's a you-get-what-you-pay-for solution that takes decent pictures but isn't really that fun to use.

 

A f2.8 zoom would be great but I think the only affordable options come from Sigma and Tamron:

 

Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC SLD ELD Aspherical Macro

Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF)

 

These should be around $400 and good value for the money.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com

 

f5.6 is 2 stops slower than 2.8. With every stop your exposure time doubles (or halves). So, if you're shooting in diminishing light and your 2.8 lens gives you 1/125sec, which is still easily handholdable even at the 50mm end of the zoom, your f5.6 kit lens would give you 1/30sec - auch!

In good light one or two f-stops don't matter that much but when zooming far or when the light starts to vanish or when shooting a moving subject every little bit counts.

Of course you should avoid shooting at f2.8 when you don't have to as no lens is at its sharpest wide open, but the speed is there when you need it.

 

"I got some good info here to start out with one lens and add others later (after I learn how to use camera). Sounds like good advice."

 

Very good advice indeed.

I don't really upgrade. I'm a hobbyist who likes different tools (or toys) for whatever reason. Lately I've been a bit fed up with digital and shot mainly b&w film with a manual focus camera 50/1.4 attached. I'm also experimenting with digital infrared with an oldish p&s and in a month or so I'm going to get some MF gear. I'm really looking forward to shooting 6x6 slides, b&w and infrared in the winter.

So for me an upgrade = new experiences, fun and the occasional great shot.

"28-135mm f/3.5-5.6"

 

This is a cheapish consumer lens. I don't think even the most eager salesman trying to rid of them would recommend this to your work and with those body options.

5D + 24-105L + 50/1.4 + sturdy tripod would be great.

"The meter is not far behind - very accurate for a consumer grade camera."

 

It certainly seems to be. I shot a couple rolls of slides and they look great. I trashed 22 pics from the first roll (I was kinda expecting something like this) but only two from the second one when I concentrated more with partial metering. :)

"i quess, the lenses were not intended for this. how does this affect quality i wonder?"

 

Well... for one you get better corner to corner sharpness as the XTi crops them off. 5D on the other hand will give you some more dynamic range, some more detail and cleaner image at high ISOs but I don't think you'd notice the difference very easily in a normal sized print (let's say 8x10).

"do they simply use photoshop to add warm color?softness?"

 

Light is everything. You can make an image a bit warmer if you wish and saturate the colors more but you can't really create great real light afterwards.

Softness = Sharpen less. If you mean very blurred background and smooth faces in portaits, just shoot fast glass (like the 50/1.4) wide open or almost and finish in PS.

 

"the 2 images above look too cold, too day-to-day images and i cant help it."

 

I find the colors in the madrid44 image perfect. I can easily believe the scene looked just like that, which, I think, is the point.

It's interesting you find the dog picture somehow more artistic. It also is a "snapshotty" picture taken on an overcast day and it has even less colour.

 

All those pictures, including the one you liked more, can be taken with a used $40 film camera set. You definitely don't need a 5D.

For some reason I didn't notice you already did. ;)

"Usually from my movement or wind blowing (fuzzy image)"

 

A dslr won't cure this problem if you don't know how to handle the camera. You need fast shutter speed for moving targets. 1/125sec is minimum and for fast targets you should try to get even 1/500sec, this will stop most things well enough. A dslr will give the possibility to bump up ISO to 400 with very little image degradation (unlike your p&s) and even ISO 800 and 1600 are usable. Some people will say that these are too noisy, but do you prefer a sharp picture with some noise or noiseless blurry picture? I don't mind some noise, but some seem to be highly allergic to it. Keep in mind that the noise will look different when you print the pictures and in small sized images for the web it becomes non existent.

Study how shutter speed, f-stops, ISO and focal length affect your photos and shooting style, this is really important basic technical knowledge.

 

"or low light pics not being very sharply focused,"

 

Again, a dslr won't miraculously cure this, but it will help. Focusing is much faster and more accurate than with a p&s which are somewhat unreliable in good light and horrible in low light.

 

"and in the case of the northern lights, getting a solid black screen. "

 

Yes, shooting northern lights with a p&s with no proper manual controls is usually pointless. Here a dslr will help greatly, but only if you research the subject how to shoot NL. Just Google it, there's plenty of info, study and make notes to take with you.

 

"Many of my pics in full sun are washed out (if that is the correct term). Bright and containing no life or colors."

 

A dslr will give you more consistent and correct exposures, but as JC said, you need to learn how to use editing programs. A washed out picture (but no serious highlight clipping) can actually be a good thing! I shoot like this on purpose quite often. Read about "expose to the right" technique. You just need to adjust the picture in Photoshop (or whatever you may use) and the result will be good colors, greater detail and low noise.

When evaluating your shots on location don't trust the camera lcd! It won't be correct enough and depending on the light you may not even see it properly. Use the histogram. If you don't know how google it (it's simple).

 

Assuming you get the D40X you should post your lens question to the Nikon forum with your budget.