andylynn

I actually have a whole album from this time I had to waste an hour: Waiting in Terminal E, Monday Night

I don't know about you guys but I'm amazing at taking bad pictures.

(Nikon Z7, 70-300mm AF-P)

It’s using both together, I don’t know if it’s possible to separate them. And you’re right - using the sensor to focus, there’s less to go wrong. With DSLR focus you have an optical path, small parts that need to be precisely aligned etc. A D800 that’s been auto focused in live view is a bit sharper, not because contrast detect is special but because it bypasses that optical path and uses the sensor to focus.

There FTZ is great with motorized lenses. It doesn’t power screwdriver lenses. On my Z7 with the FTZ, the focus is more precise than my D800 can do, even after the D800 was professionally calibrated. The image quality with the 85/1.8G and the 70-300 AF-P is incredible. I’m shocked at how good the images with the 70-300 are.

I bet that generates some amazing results under the right circumstances, but $5700 for a monochrome DSLR that needs software tricks to use the files seems like a big, big commitment. Are the advantages over doing a bw conversion of regular raw files enough to be worth it? A regular D850 generates a heck of a lot of image data to work with, and so does a Z7. Adorama is selling refurb Z7s for $2050.

I don’t know those models specifically, so I’ll make some comments on things I see on spec sheets. Battery life: if it says 13 minutes, expect to actually get less than that. Radio range: a few hundred feet is a limitation. If you want aerial selfies or b-roll for YouTube or something it’s probably fine. If you’re looking at the Apple TV screensaver, or amazing landscape photos, and wanting to do that, you need more flight time and more distance. (And a good camera.) No GPS: if it has short radio range and no GPS, I’d it able to return to you if it goes out of range? (I don’t know the answer to that.)

Syma refers to itself as a toy company, but for under $100 something like a Syma X25 Pro could be serviceable. Don’t expect much from the camera, and the 12 minute flight time would be limiting, but it could be fun.

If you have DX glass that’s serving you well, you probably don’t need FX. The recent model APSC sensors are excellent, and a D7500 can easily give you enough image for use on a screen or any printer you’re likely to have at home. I switched to FX years ago, mostly for the larger viewfinder and so I could use older lenses for the same shots I would use them for on film. I still shoot a D800, which is still excellent and can be had for peanuts. But my other system is Fuji APSC, and the image quality is all I can realistically use. Hell, the most recent 13x19 prints I made were landscapes from a 16mp APSC camera - which has as much DR and resolution as a printer can handle - and one from my iPhone, which actually looks pretty good.

I thought that generation of Geforce came with DisplayPort. You can look this up but I don’t think it will be able to do 4k over hdmi or dvi. You might need a new video card.

A GT1030 should be able to power a 4K display over a DisplayPort cable. I don’t know the LG or Benq options but I’ve never been let down by a Dell U series of Asus PA.

I know the sky is original. I’m saying it’s been processed so much it looks like replacement.

It certainly is stark. I think the processing is a bit heavy, the contrast is really strong and it looks a bit like you used sky replacement to insert one that you shot on grainy bw film. The other thing I’d recommend is to use perspective correction to make the close grave markers vertical.

The AFS lens is more future-tolerant, but if this is just for shooting film, I don’t think there’s a heck of a lot of difference. I have plenty of frames from the D lens on my D800 and my F100. On 36mp digital you can find its weaknesses, but on 35mm film it looks really good.

Yup. The f/1.4D is your best bet.

This isn’t bad. You’re 90% there. I’d try a slight stop down, do AF fine tune and sharpen your raw files in post. With a new camera it always helps to take a variety of shots and experiment with sharpening settings to get a feel for how it will behave.

A Leica Q2 can output jpg and dng files. Sigma Quattros also have jpg (or at least the ones I’ve seen do) and raw.

If you don’t do post, just get a camera with really good jpg output, like a Pen-F or a Fuji and don’t worry about raw. With a Fuji you can save 8 jpg “recipes” in custom settings and load them quickly or save raw and use the camera to process a jpg.

The Leica is great, but it sounds like you don’t want to pay that much. The Fuji is also great, and less expensive. Or, since you have some M4/3 gear, look at the Olympus Pen F.

Ok. I mean, I’ve even had eBay “I don’t know how to test cameras” FAs that we’re fine. But, whatever. More FAs for me.

I’ve owned several FAs over the years, all working. I don’t know why everybody is so negative about this camera. Foam replacement is easy to do yourself.

I’ve had all of those. If I had to pick one it would be the FE2. It has a 1/4000 shutter and a proper needle meter readout.

Yeah, the XE1 predates PDAF on sensor for MILCs so the AF is pretty slow and hunts a lot. I used to have one. At the time, there weren’t any really good lenses for Sony E mount so I sold my NEX-5n and got an XE1 with the 18-55 and the 35/1.4. It was per show compared to my D800 (or even to earlier Nikons I’d had like a D90) but I loved those lenses and still use them.

Well aside from sending it for service I’m out of ideas.

Can you try turning off IS on the 50-230 and see if it works? Physical damage to a part of the IS system is a possible cause of that error and turning off IS is a possible workaround.