puce

I am pretty upset as well about the stealth upgrade to Photonet. Have been a member since 2011 - now I see all of my galleries have been nuked & my images are just in a random pile.

I do not have any issues with the need to upgrade the website - I understand that security holes & other things need to be fixed. [I myself have written code since the late 1970s so I totally get that.] Here is what I absolutely do not get: the arrogance of those who have chosen to inflict the changes on us. No warning. No email announcement. NADA. You could have given us some time to make screen shots of galleries etc. so we might have at least been able to salvage something from this website. And there is still no response to complaints either - so why even put it on the banner of the website. The silence has been deafening, to put it mildly. I am not sure I understand the sentiment of the thanks for 'following us to the new website'. I did not know I had a choice. Am seriously thinking of deleting my Pro account & finally creating my own photographic website.

The lack of mindfulness by those who I call 'techbros' seems to be the new normal at the moment. I just deleted my Twitter account [which I have had since 2015], 1 week after Musk's disastrous takeover. It has been 3 weeks & it is slowly imploding. Then DuoLingo decided to 'upgrade' & nuke the learning profiles of all of its users - I lost what I had accumulated since 2016. I just deleted my account from there also. And now it looks like Photonet has caught the same disease... the contempt for the users of the website is really palpable.

 

<p>I have shot with a film SLR and now use a DSLR. Not sure there is a as big a difference as touted. I have exhibited my photos with film and digital images side by side and people have not been able to tell which was which. Perhaps this just indicates my incompetence as a photographer...</p>

<p>My Canon lenses that I used to use with a Canon film SLR do work with my Canon DSLR, but as Mukul said, they were all EF mounts. The Canon DSLR has a red dot on its body which acts a guide for fitting the older EF lenses, and a white marker for the new generation electronic lenses.<br>

Perhaps you can take your Mother's lenses with you when you try out the Canon DSLRs in the store - that way you can test if they work, and if they do whether or not you are happy with the results. Then you might have an idea what other lenses you might want to get in future.</p>

<p>What are your interested in photographing? What type of camera do you have?</p>

<p>I agree with Nigel: shoot in RAW mode. That way if you don't like the result in black and white you at least have the option to still use the color images. Nothing worse than coming back from a trip and a location that you might not return to and have shots you are not happy with!</p>

<p>One other thing to think about is the shooting mode. I am lucky enough to live in a place where nature comes to us in our backyard - we have woods on our property and a large landscaped garden. So I leave my camera prepared for any opportunity: I leave my zoom lens (80-300mm) on it, set it in autofocus mode and also choose a fairly high ISO setting (typically > 1000) - as typically the creatures come out in the evening or early morning. I also leave it in an automatic shooting mode where the f stop and shutter speed are determined automatically. I usually shoot in complete manual mode and often do not use autofocus when I am shooting other things. However, having said that with these settings set as a default my camera is ready to go when wildlife appears - I just need to turn on the 'on' switch and take off lens cap. </p>

<p>Seeing the world with one's unique point of view, in my opinion, defines style. The best way to see it is to go and shoot at a location with a group of people. Everyone will shoot the same material in a different way - and perhaps even see details differently. It is interesting to then compare everyone's work, and it may often be that the work can be easily identified by their unique way of doing things. I belong to a photography club where there is an annual juried show. You can walk along the aisles on judging day and identify individual photographer works even though there are no names linked with them. And that is a good thing, because the work has an interesting and special quality to it.</p>

<p>I have shot with a Canon Rebel type (film and then digital) camera for about 20 years before I upgraded to a 7D. In my opinion, I would save my money and get a Rebel and then you can acquire lenses as you go (beyond the kit lens you will get). What lenses etc. you get will be determined by the interests in photography you develop. If you are clever, then when you decide to upgrade your camera body, your lenses will be transferable and you will save lots of $$$. I was also able to sell the Rebel body (which was in great condition) to someone who was looking to upgrade from a point and shoot. The 7D is a great camera, but probably has a lot of features that require a bit of training with. </p>

<p>Not sure why a DLSR with attachments should be expensive. There are many options for everyone's budgets and needs. The problem is defining one's "need". If that "need" includes having the coolest, newest, most-talked about camera with all of the trimmings, then I would imagine that could become expensive. If the "need" is driven by an interest in experimenting in photography and letting one's shooting interests determine equipment purchases, then there is no need to spend lots of money. Over the years I have keep the same (D)SLR and have bought lenses as defined by my shooting interests at the time (including refurbished lenses). I have gradually acquired things like tripods etc over time too.<br>

If you are not sure if you need a DSLR, then I would guess that the answer to that question is no. </p>

<p>What does your current camera NOT do for you that you need? What is the need for the upgrade? Why the switch from Nikon to Canon (a really expensive way to upgrade)?<br>

I ask these questions because I used the same film camera for 15 years and then changed to its digital equivalent [so I could continue using the same lenses and also accrue other lenses, tripod etc that I needed as time went on]. After 5 years with my digital SLR I upgraded because I was not getting the performance out of my camera I needed. So I upgraded to a Canon 7D [the 5D was simply too pricey for what I needed] and am delighted with it. It will serve its purpose I think for many more years for what I need to do.<br>

I think you need to write yourself a list of: (1) what you need in a camera and associated equipment to take the photographs you want; (2) what you do NOT need or want. Then look at equivalent cameras out there that might fit the bill. Will the 5D still be on that list? You might be surprised...</p>

<p>I am not sure why you would need to use autofocus here. If you use manual focus while you shoot you can decide on what to feature in the shot i.e. the belly or anything else (e.g. eyes) to be the focal point of the shot.<br>

Why not consider shooting tethered with camera to laptop? That way you can preview the shots on the computer screen and perhaps your subject herself can also provide you with on-the-spot feedback.</p>

<p>Just like Bebu I started shooting in manual mode (with a film camera many years ago) and had to learn how to shoot with automatic modes with modern SLRs.<br>

I really enjoy dabbling in manual and will do that for indoor studio work and outdoor subjects that will not have sudden changes e.g. buildings. Manual focus on indoor studio work is also what I prefer to use. However, at home when the camera is not being used I make sure that it is always set to an automatic mode. I will also preset the ISO too to a (guessed) optimal level and set autofocus with a single point in the display. In this way when I see some of the abundant wildlife that we have around our home, I can grab the camera and just shoot, making sure my focusing point is on the critter before I take the shot.<br>

It is also interesting to compare shots taken with manual relative to the different automatic modes. This is really terrific for learning about how your camera performs and seeing what its limitations are.</p>

<p>Hello Richard,<br>

Chas is right on the money. I recently did a book with Blurb's Booksmart software and downloaded their ICC color profile to use to modify my images in Photoshop. [i had previously calibrated my monitor.] I had about 3 copies printed and was very satisfied with the result. The problem that I see for you is that you say you have already completed your book. Sounds like you will have to convert each image and re-import the corrected images into the book template. It will be a bit of work but I think that it will be well worth it in the end. Try converting some selected images and softprofiling them and compare to unconverted and converted image to look for differences - that should show the problem. <br>

With regard to on-line templates, the Booksmart software allows you to either use theirs or create your own. I did a bit of both, so there is a lot of flexibility for the user.<br>

Good luck with that book, Aina.</p>

<p>Rob, Thanks for the correction/update on the EOS Utility and compatibility with 5D. It is really terrific software to use, so I would definitely recommend downloading and trying it.</p>

 

<p>I have a 7D and shoot tethered with the Canon EOS Utility and then do a first pass edit in Canon's Digital Photo Professional software. However, it appears that the 5D cannot use the EOS Utility. From what you describe, it looks like currently your Mac is seeing the camera's card and it treating it as just another hard disk? Is that right? If that is the case then it might be worth checking if the Canon Image Capture Utility is compatible with the 5D. If it isn't that might explain the problem. I have not tried to talk directly to Lightroom and Bridge with my camera (although I do use them), so I cannot really offer any you any further thoughts.<br>

Can you successfully print an image directly from the camera if you plug it into a printer?</p>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<p>These are really striking images - the color images were the most surprising as the tonal continuity was really amazing. Thank you for providing the link to this very special artist.</p>

<p>I have printed this image ( ) as an 8X10 and to me it looked acceptable. A number of people have commented favorably on the print so far. I will try and see how it does in a juried show, and that will be an interesting test... I agree with Matt, surprisingly good images can be taken with the iPhone [mine is a 3GS], and it does best for shots that require a short focal length. I shoot with a Canon 7D so I was very sceptical initially about shooting with the iPhone.</p>

<p>What type of camera do you shoot with? Shooting directly to the computer with the camera manufacturer's software might be another alternative. I have a Canon 7D and use their utilities which will allow me to control camera parameters in the computer and download directly to the computer (EOS utility) and then examine the image (Digital Photo Professional). What is nice about that is that when shooting in RAW the manufacturer's software can make adjustments to improve the image which are optimized to the camera in a way that Photoshop might not be able to do. I do have Adobe CS5 and work in that also, but I prefer to use the camera manufacturer's software to adjust the image first if necessary. Often, this will be the only adjustment that I need to make to the image.</p>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<div></div>