ScottinPollock

Would anybody like to guess what the subject is?

I got the Cokin filters for both grad/neutral density and IR. Similar glass filters were prohibitively expensive for the lens I wanted to use them on most 77mm FD.

I found nothing gimmicky or fragile about them other than the fact that the filters themselves can be scratched very easily.

Reducing the shadows did brighten the photo up quite a bit. Any brighter and I would be concerned about too harsh sunlight.

http://www.slrlounge...sh-photography/

Hey, I'm a new owner of a lightly used (4000 pic count) D5200.

 

Has anyone done any new version firmware installs, specifically with D5200 or DX bodies?

 

Did it noticeably help? 

 

Was it difficult to do?

 

Are there any considerable risks involved in doing this type of upgrade?

 

Does the firmware allow original backups in case things go wrong?

 

What is your opinion on doing this (good idea or bad idea)?

 

Thanks for any knowledge you can share.

The 18-55 has a repro ratio of .31x, the 55-200 is only .23x.

What that means is, if you were to focus on a penny, that penny would be able to be focused on at a shorter distance, with it being about 1.5x larger in the frame with the 18-55 than the 55-200. The 55-200 will not focus that close, only allowing for a smaller portion of the frame to be filled by the penny.

Well, bumping this once again...Tripod is now at the top of my list

There is a lot of stuff out there, and I haven't looked recently... but here is a conclusion I came to many years ago which has remained good advice for quite a long time...

Unless you are looking to spend the better part of a grand or more, or need the high-tech superlight stuff for backpacking etc., go with sturdy Manfrotto aluminum legs, and a Benro ball head. You will probably come in around $300-400, and would need to spend twice that for something noticeably better.

That is why cheap cameras are written off instead of repaired.

Nikon's wireless (and most other) software is half baked at best. Not sure if it works with the WU-1a, but check out qDslrDashboard and let us know.

OK, yeah... I did see that one. However, they now list the price at US$34.95. That's still a steal if it's as well made as you say. In fact, all of their stuff looked good to me. I'm even thinking about ordering a set of their off camera radio slave triggers. The set I currently use is much more expensive... although it's far from the best, and adding a second slave costs almost as much as a whole set from Neewer.

 

--Ron

Mine was 26 'cause I got if off the 'bay. Don't know about their triggers. I am thrilled with my Yongnuo RF603N II's; about $30 bucks/pair (including shutter release cable) from B&H. In fact, I am very happy with all my Yongnuo stuff.

In response to my own question, I ended up snagging one which arrived yesterday. Since the "technology" (i.e physics) of these smaller hand held ones is pretty much all the same, I opted for one of the cheapest I could find to get my feet wet; a Neewer branded one off of eBay (I have purchased a number of Neewer branded accessories and have so far been impressed with the price/quality ratio). 26 bucks and change, total.

I am dumbfounded by the quality of this. There is not a plastic part on it. Handle is anodized, machined, billet aluminum, with a foam wrap. Weights appear to by highly polished stainless steel, screw knobs are all aluminum with a knurled surface. Body is anodized, extruded aluminum, assembled with recessed allen head screws. Wow! did I say 26 bucks?!

First outing with it gave me smoother hand held pans (with VR turned off no less) than I have ever managed to do before, even with VR on. I can definitely see though, that if you want to walk with it (or even use it in the wind), some skills will need to be acquired. Hopefully, after acquiring those skills, I'll post some footage.

The single biggest missing feature for me is the omission of the "Show in Finder" command in iPhoto and Aperture. The photos are stuck in the Photos library package, and if you want to work on a raw file you have to export it out.

But there is a work around... copy your photos to your own folder hierarchy on disk (I actually prefer to do it this way). Open Photos prefs, and uncheck "Copy items to Photos Library". Then when you import photos in to Photos, it will leave them where they are, and simply create the previews for the Library. And "Show in Finder" has returned.

In this setup I find Photos to be a very fast and powerful cataloger (which includes smart albums), and a competent editor for cheap and dirty fixes/crops/sizing.

When I want to get serious, I 'll render in Capture NX, and do my post in Affinity Photo (which is amazing).

Remember Photos is a 1.0 release and will get better in time.

Adobe free for 3 years and counting!

Most larger TVs don't have sufficient pixel density for up close work, unless you plan to go 4K. Even then, a 50" inch set would still require a working distance of several feet to represent the same relative pixel density of a 27", 2560x1440 desktop monitor.

The most important thing here is calibration, and most TV's (and many computer monitors) are poorly calibrated out of the box. Consider investing in something like a Spyder Express to calibrate the displays you will do your post on. It is the only way to get accurate and consistent results. And of course, you will have a color profile to pass along to any other hardware you might add to the mix (such as a printer).