Author Topic: Bought any photography stuff today?  (Read 170381 times)

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #650 on: 17 March, 2016, 11:04:21 pm »
It arrived. Almost identical in handling to the D610, just a crop sensor. I like it.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #651 on: 18 March, 2016, 10:55:06 am »
A Sony DSC HX60 compact. Nothing in the scale of you enthusos' kit, but hopefully a step up from the iPhone 6S! Got fed up with AF and poor low-light performance meaning that my attempts at photographing the Aurorae and noctilucent clouds from the aeroplane were always frustratingly poor. Hopefully, for a very small investment of around £170, I will be able to manually tell the thing what to do and get something a bit better than a blurred smudge on a black background!

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #652 on: 22 March, 2016, 06:50:34 pm »
Another 2 studio strobes - also Elinchrom Dlite4. That should keep me happy for a while.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #653 on: 22 March, 2016, 07:46:03 pm »
A Sony DSC HX60 compact. Nothing in the scale of you enthusos' kit, but hopefully a step up from the iPhone 6S! Got fed up with AF and poor low-light performance meaning that my attempts at photographing the Aurorae and noctilucent clouds from the aeroplane were always frustratingly poor. Hopefully, for a very small investment of around £170, I will be able to manually tell the thing what to do and get something a bit better than a blurred smudge on a black background!

It sounds like an impressive camera for £170.  It was overpriced when it came out, at almost £300, because it didn't have RAW image mode (despite having the "Pro" external Flash shoe and therefore making you expect RAW).

£170 today gets you something that was science-fiction not so long ago and will eclipse a phone-camera (if pointed well) and won't be any better than an iPhone 6S (if pointed badly).

I've heard good things about the iPhone 6S camera but then again it won't be as good as your Sony and it costs more than an enthusiast-level DSLR.

I'd rather have a cheaper phone and your new camera.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #654 on: 04 April, 2016, 12:47:06 pm »
A Meike MK320 flash. It is small and lightweight, well suited to Micro 4/3. And rather cheap - £40 with an Ebay offer. Now to learn how to use it.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #655 on: 24 April, 2016, 09:36:19 am »
After many months' looking, I have finally found a +1.0 dioptre eyepiece for the other F3 body.  Most of the ones on fleaBay are for the F3HP prism, which is completely different.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #656 on: 24 April, 2016, 10:59:56 pm »
A Fed 4 with Industar 61 (50mm f2.8) for my 14 years old retro style Queen. Next to dig out the enlarger and a box of paper.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #657 on: 24 April, 2016, 11:31:09 pm »
An LED light thingie. Will be fun using it later this week
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #658 on: 25 April, 2016, 01:44:43 pm »
I'm going to try and have no need to post in this thread for 2 years. I have enough stuff, and now it's time to concentrate of learning to use it properly.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #659 on: 26 April, 2016, 11:29:51 am »
A Fed 4 with Industar 61 (50mm f2.8) for my 14 years old retro style Queen. Next to dig out the enlarger and a box of paper.
An ugly beast, but can be very good.  I had a Zorki 4K and a Kiev 4.
Getting there...

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #660 on: 26 April, 2016, 01:17:18 pm »
I still have a Zorky Forky. I think there's a film from 1985 in it.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

BrianI

  • Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Lepidopterist Man!
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #661 on: 26 April, 2016, 03:59:07 pm »
Well, didn't buy it today, but it got delivered today.

A Joby (pronounced Joeby!) Gorilla Pod SLR-Zoom with ball head & spare q/r plate.  Looks ideal as a small handy tripod for when I'm out for a bike ride  my bridge camera!   :thumbsup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iBsM0F2vGg

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #662 on: 26 April, 2016, 05:36:55 pm »
Well, didn't buy it today, but it got delivered today.

A Joby (pronounced Joeby!) Gorilla Pod SLR-Zoom with ball head & spare q/r plate.  Looks ideal as a small handy tripod for when I'm out for a bike ride  my bridge camera!   :thumbsup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iBsM0F2vGg

I have one.  A bit heavy/bulky for me to take on a bike ride but I wrap one around my shoulder-bag when I'm out for a walk. Surprisingly sturdy.

Mine didn't come with a Ball-head so I may buy a cheap one from Ebay because it's too much faff to get them in a sturdy AND level position by flexing the legs.  Best to get it sturdy and let the Ball-head do the levelling part.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #663 on: 26 April, 2016, 08:55:19 pm »
A Fed 4 with Industar 61 (50mm f2.8) for my 14 years old retro style Queen. Next to dig out the enlarger and a box of paper.
An ugly beast, but can be very good.  I had a Zorki 4K and a Kiev 4.

My first rangefinder was a Zorki 4k with a Jupiter 8. A deceitful gateway drug to a Zeiss Ikon and a, now sold, Leica MP..

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #664 on: 29 April, 2016, 08:37:25 pm »
A Peak Design Shell. Basically a waterproof cover for my camera. Perfect for the summer weather...

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #665 on: 06 May, 2016, 02:04:44 pm »
A Samyang 14mm F2.8 lens for my Sony A7Rii.  Oops. It is clearly not a "serious" lens, and I bought it for drama, not accuracy.  For reasonably wide accurate images I have a Zeiss Batis 25mm/F2.  It is bloody brilliant, no drama, just works, and shooting wide open straight into the sun results in, well, a picture of the sun...  The Samyang is hardly more than a quarter of the price of the Zeiss.  I see a Batis 85/1.8 in my future.... (I also see selling the BMW motorrad pretty quickly to finance all of this!)
Wombat

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #666 on: 16 May, 2016, 10:01:55 pm »
A veyr cheap Nikkor 300mm lens arrived.  It has some fungus in it (I knew that) but is otherwise in stunning condition.  I'll kill the fungus by leaving it in the sun and get it cleaned.  Hopefully it hasn't etched the coating too much - it only seems to be on one element.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
  • Ain't no hooves on my bike.
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #667 on: 21 May, 2016, 12:44:28 pm »
Trying out a 3rd party battery from http://www.exprodirect.com/batteries/. A few pennies under £13 vs around £50 for a genuine one. We'll see how it goes.
Pen Pusher

Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #668 on: 24 May, 2016, 10:29:40 pm »
Trying out a 3rd party battery from http://www.exprodirect.com/batteries/. A few pennies under £13 vs around £50 for a genuine one. We'll see how it goes.

Mine have been great, especially the white versions.
OnOne Pickenflick - Tour De Fer 20 - Pinnacle Arkose cx - Charge Cooker maxi2 fatty - GT Zaskar Carbon Expert

Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #669 on: 25 May, 2016, 07:50:13 am »
A Samyang 14mm F2.8 lens for my Sony A7Rii.  Oops.

I'd be interested to hear how you find it - I've been wondering about getting one of these for shooting the night sky, having used a Samyang 85/1.8 to good effect.  It's built like a tank and it stays in focus, unlike the Canon lenses I have.

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #670 on: 26 May, 2016, 12:06:34 pm »
Trying out a 3rd party battery from http://www.exprodirect.com/batteries/. A few pennies under £13 vs around £50 for a genuine one. We'll see how it goes.

Mine have been great, especially the white versions.

Thanks for the tip.  I just received one for my Canon S120.  Next Day delivered £10.  Charging now, will cycle it a few times and see how it stacks up to the exorbitant original and the £15 (but lower power) Duracell OEM battery.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #671 on: 26 May, 2016, 12:44:41 pm »
Trying out a 3rd party battery from http://www.exprodirect.com/batteries/. A few pennies under £13 vs around £50 for a genuine one. We'll see how it goes.

Mine have been great, especially the white versions.

Thanks for the tip.  I just received one for my Canon S120.  Next Day delivered £10.  Charging now, will cycle it a few times and see how it stacks up to the exorbitant original and the £15 (but lower power) Duracell OEM battery.

My fuji batteries don't take as many shots as the white batteries, the white are lasting much longer. I can't be bothered to do a shot count because the 100-400 on continuous focus mode is eating through my batteries, but the white are in the body longer than the originals :thumbsup:
OnOne Pickenflick - Tour De Fer 20 - Pinnacle Arkose cx - Charge Cooker maxi2 fatty - GT Zaskar Carbon Expert

Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
  • Ain't no hooves on my bike.
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #672 on: 26 May, 2016, 01:04:18 pm »
That's reassuring.

I've just received a nice long USB cable to make tethering more convenient. It was about 2 and a half quid on eBay :smug:. It's probably not pro quality but if it breaks I'll just buy another.
Pen Pusher

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #673 on: 26 May, 2016, 04:21:39 pm »
Trying out a 3rd party battery from http://www.exprodirect.com/batteries/. A few pennies under £13 vs around £50 for a genuine one. We'll see how it goes.

Mine have been great, especially the white versions.

Thanks for the tip.  I just received one for my Canon S120.  Next Day delivered £10.  Charging now, will cycle it a few times and see how it stacks up to the exorbitant original and the £15 (but lower power) Duracell OEM battery.

My fuji batteries don't take as many shots as the white batteries, the white are lasting much longer. I can't be bothered to do a shot count because the 100-400 on continuous focus mode is eating through my batteries, but the white are in the body longer than the originals :thumbsup:

It works to the point where I'm bored of taking photos and videos of my desk so it's enough for a day's shooting.

Edit. 2nd day and it's still going.  It's clearly not a "fake" like so many bargain batteries.  I'm inclined to believe the 1000mAh rating.
It's been good for several hundred photos and some videos so far.  Charge status bar has just gone from 4 bars (full) to 2 bars.


Edit. Just about reached the limit now.  >1,000 RAW images, a few jpegs, some short videos and some reviewing on LCD.
I don't think the original Canon battery is this good.

Think I'll get a couple for the DSLR.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Bought any photography stuff today?
« Reply #674 on: 03 June, 2016, 05:20:05 pm »
A Nikon D610 and (separately) an AF-S 24-85mm 3.5-4.5 lens.  The D610 was someone's unwanted gift; UK model, unregistered with Nikon and never used, for only 60% of the Amazon price  :o.  The lens was also cheap at £180 - it's the non-VR version that was only made for a few years but is optically identical to the current one, which is spot on except for distortion (corrected in-camera anyway).  It's a bulky plastic thing that's fairly unpleasant to handle and I only really got it for holidays where I don't want to take a bag of lenses and SO might want to use an AF lens.

The D610 looks as if it is going to do its job as a "digital back" very well.  The finder image is a bit small compared to the F3 (I have the original DE-2 prism, not the F3HP one which is probably more like the D610) but the focus confirmation dot always agrees with my eye, thank goodness*, and the in-built dioptric correction is just right turned to the maximum (+1.0D, apparently, which is more or less +2.0D including the rest of the prism optics; my glasses are +1.75D).  Programme in the manual AIS lenses for focal length and maximum aperture, and away you go in M or A mode; it works just the same as a film SLR except that you don't have to wind it.  The mirror is very well damped compared to the F3/FM2 and there isn't much more vibration than with a Leica M3.  On the other hand, DSLRs are, as Ken Rockwell says, big plastic turds to look at and to handle.  I won't be getting rid of the film bodies for b/w, which are far nicer to use.

One question: I can't get Auto ISO to do quite what I want; I have tried increasing the minimum shutter speed slider control to the maximum but it will still sometimes set 1/30 with a 50mm lens indoors when there is still plenty of extra ISO speed available.  Unless there is no other way to get the shot, I try and stick to the reciprocal of TWICE the focal length when hand-holding (OK, I could do 1/8th with an M3, but that was a different beast).  Am I missing a trick?


*it's interesting to see just how hard it is to get the green dot to come up with the AIS 50/1.4 or 300/4.5 and their very shallow DOF at full aperture - wiith the AIS 24/2.8 it is happy with infinity for anything more than about 15 metres away because it just can't tell the difference.  Same as your eyes, really.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.