The Photography/Camera thread

[Phuncz]

This pretty much sums up my thoughts:

Photography without off-camera lighting or light modifiers is like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Every single time I try to make product photos I hate myself for not having good lighting outside of summer. Although I'm still not sure what a good easily stowable and deployable solution is.

 

[Soul_Est]

Every single time I try to make product photos I hate myself for not having good lighting outside of summer. Although I'm still not sure what a good easily stowable and deployable solution is.

A flash and a white umbrella. That is what one of my friends uses.

 

[stree]

one way to get good all round light and a seamless white background for smaller items is available to most people at no cost.
Just place object in a white bathtub.

 

[confusis]

So, my 60D arrived, so I've been learning to use it by trial and error a bit.





Lens for all of these was a Sigma 18-50mm 1:2.8-4.5 thingy

 

[Phuncz]

Nice pictures, this looks promising for the next review ! Be sure to look into RAW processing to achieve the maximum out of your photos. If I didn't use it, my pictures would feature a lot of creased light grey backdrops instead of white. I'm sure many here can help you with any questions you might have getting the full potential out of the camera.

 

[stree]

Is there a way to send pics direct from my PC?

 

[3lfk1ng]

Hello Stree,
No, you will need to use a photohosting service. I would recommend uploading and then linking photos from an Imgur account.

 

[stree]

Ah. OK, thanks

Photobucket do it?

 

[Soul_Est]

Ah. OK, thanks

Photobucket do it?

Yes, but the images are 'lost' after awhile. Don't have that issue with Flickr or imgur.

 

[stree]

ok thanks.

 

[confusis]

Getting better, learning GIMP but moving to Lightroom/PS soon

 

[Soul_Est]

Getting better, learning GIMP but moving to Lightroom/PS soon

Have you considered using RAWTherapee (or LightZone) and GIMP + G'MIC as well?

 

[Ceros_X]

If you are trying to take product photos and you aren't using a cheap DIY light box, you are wrong..

http://m.wikihow.com/Create-an-Inexpensive-Photography-Lightbox

i.e. I took this pic with my phone and no post editing:

 

[Josh | NFC]

If you are trying to take product photos and you aren't using a cheap DIY light box, you are wrong..

Yup. High CRI lighting and modifiers. You can use anything for a camera if you got those down.

BTW I have a G43. I like it but the grip is taking a while to get used to..

 

[jeshikat]

Getting better, learning GIMP but moving to Lightroom/PS soon

They all look soft, were they taken with the camera on a tripod? And you may try using a narrower aperture, like f/8.

 

[confusis]

Not sure why they are soft - camera was indeed on a tripod. Maybe I was using the wrong lens! (50mm 1:1.8). The shadows should look soft, as the surface itself is soft Will have a fiddle with aperture and the like at some point soon.

Will build a lightbox in the coming days, I have a million things to do first!

 

[jeshikat]

Ok, it was the images weren't loading in full-quality right away so the image compression was making it look bad.

But yeah, looks like you were shooting pretty wide open so most of the heatsink is out of focus.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

Smaller aperture = more in focus, but if you get over f/8 you start to lose sharpness. I know Panasonic and Olympus camera's have focus stacking features built in, but I would guess some programs also allow it. Doing this would be great for close up shots of products.

 

[Arboreal]

Hardware Question...
Seeing in Buy/sell thread that Josh | NFC is using Sony a6300 for filming and also claims to be Fuji fan, I thought I'd ask about cameras.
I'm investigating moving up in the mirrorless world and not sure where to go. Historically I've been with Nikon, and still enjoy using my D7000, and added a Sony NEX 5 last year when I got a deal I couldn't refuse from a friend.
I like the NEX 5 well enough, but it annoys me not having an eye level EVF, and the menus are not intuitive to me as a long term photographer. The (affordable) lenses aren't that great - the 20mm is fairly soft (even though I knew it wasn't going to be the greatest) but nice and compact. Nikon manual lenses have been fun on it, and I'd carry on with those on any camera that I choose.
I was thinking of changing to a NEX 6 to see if the EVF makes a difference, or maybe save up for an a6000 if the argument is good for it.

I have owned Fuji film cameras in the past, and do like their way of working, and wondered if I should consider jumping ship to the X system, as can pick up an X-E1 or X-E2 used from another friend.

This would be JPG and RAW still stuff with possible casual video on rare occasions.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Josh | NFC]

My response was like two pages long with no end in sight, but I remembered I have alot of work to do so I want to TL;DR my response and save the long one for another day.

Having owned an X-E1 and NEX3, 5, and 7 I would choose between the X-E1/2 or the NEX-7.

The X-E1 has wonderful menus and controls, but it is a VERY slow camera in more ways than one. It is slow to operate, and slow to respond. I absolutely hated that camera and the really bad EVF until I checked my lightroom statistics at the end of the year and found that all my best images by an overwhelming majority were with it, and none of them were shot RAW. So I guess I really loved that camera afterall for how much I used it over the A99 and NEX cameras I had at the time.

The NEX 7 was the first and last of its breed. It is one of my favorite cameras of all time for its mix of power, image quality, speed, controls, and overall ergonomics. Still, I would have to do processing to get the look I wanted.

The NEX3/5 were soulless machines that I didn't like for one reason or another, but great on paper.

I would own an X-E1 or X-E2 today given the choice between all those cameras for still photography. I mean, the best thing I can say for them is my primary stills camera is a X-A1 I bought used for 125 bucks...it doesn't even have the X-Trans sensor. It doesn't have a EVF, it doesn't have alot of things. But it has the look I want, triggers flash, and you can mount the insanely amazing Fuji glass to it. (I'm just using the 27mm).

The video quality definitely sucks, but content is much more important anyways. I shot most of this series on a X-T1 and some of the previous series on a X-E1...I was a huge noob then but you can see some of what the video looks like. I still am a noob, but I've learned since then for sure.

Things about me:

1. I would have never considered a camera without an EVF (now I don't care as long as the back screen is really good)
2. I wanted ONE camera for stills and audio (Now I think the best choice is one for stills (a Fuji of sorts) and one for video (Panny G7).

Peace.