This Is Pictures.

[flyboyx]

Thank you. I haven't done much reading, but this forum reminded me I've been interested in something modern and decent for a long time.

Remember when these SLRs first came out at $20,000? We all said, Holy Crap!! I almost bought a used Nikon film body at a good shop here, then rumors of digital everything made me wait - smart! We've made do with Sony point n shoots and I hate them! I want to decide on the focus and actually make pictures.

Then they went down to 10k, then 5....we said, Crap, that's a lotta money! Then $2000, and we said, y'know... that isn't sooo bad, really. So now they're fairly reasonable it seems.

So - General use, family trips, outdoors things (so zoom ability), architectural / building photog, car repair progress shots, portrait / dog zoom range, some macro up-close ability. Not so interested in wide angle / fish eye stuff. Accurate color rendition, depth, focus, textures, subtle light levels. Not into gadgets or doodads or "features." If I could start at $1000 to $1500, that might work.

If you hire an architectural photographer, it's thousands of dollars, and he shows up on Tuesday as scheduled even though the sky is crap and you're stuck with it. Often the shots are something I could do.

My wife's father was an artist, and carried around a cool old medium format forever - climbing mountains in Glacier Park, landscapes, art photography.. He showed slides with those huge slides! The strap broke and it rolled down a mountain in Glacier once - camera was fine, but we had to send the light meter back to the factory to repair.

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I used this type of 50s camera (from my Dad, who had a new Pentax...where did that go?) for many years, just for fun. But it wasn't fun, it was tedious. Had a Ziess lens though.

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about half the shooting i do are landscapes. i need the ultra wide angle lens. i recently started doing real estate photography on the side. that lens is an absolute necessity. if you don't intend that use, perhaps forego the 10-18 and buy a 100mm true macro instead. i will get one at some point but i won't be carrying it around with me every day.

those are nice toys. i love that rolei. i have perhaps 25 vintage cameras of that are sort of displayed around the house. i bought my wife an unmetered f3.5 rolleiflex after she watched the vivian meyer documentary. i prefer to shoot 6x6 folders like the certo 6 and zeiss ikonta 534. unfortunately, to get a decent exposure on black and white, we both need to carry around one of these.



i love that meter. it has a 1 degree spot meter so i can use the zone system.

[LateFan]

Thank you. I haven't done much reading, but this forum reminded me I've been interested in something modern and decent for a long time.

Remember when these SLRs first came out at $20,000? We all said, Holy Crap!! I almost bought a used Nikon film body at a good shop here, then rumors of digital everything made me wait - smart! We've made do with Sony point n shoots and I hate them! I want to decide on the focus and actually make pictures.

Then they went down to 10k, then 5....we said, Crap, that's a lotta money! Then $2000, and we said, y'know... that isn't sooo bad, really. So now they're fairly reasonable it seems.

So - General use, family trips, outdoors things (so zoom ability), architectural / building photog, car repair progress shots, portrait / dog zoom range, some macro up-close ability. Not so interested in wide angle / fish eye stuff. Accurate color rendition, depth, focus, textures, subtle light levels. Not into gadgets or doodads or "features." If I could start at $1000 to $1500, that might work.

If you hire an architectural photographer, it's thousands of dollars, and he shows up on Tuesday as scheduled even though the sky is crap and you're stuck with it. Often the shots are something I could do.

My wife's father was an artist, and carried around a cool old medium format forever - climbing mountains in Glacier Park, landscapes, art photography.. He showed slides with those huge slides! The strap broke and it rolled down a mountain in Glacier once - camera was fine, but we had to send the light meter back to the factory to repair.



I used this type of 50s camera (from my Dad, who had a new Pentax...where did that go?) for many years, just for fun. But it wasn't fun, it was tedious. Had a Ziess lens though.

[flyboyx]

oh, by the way....don't ever buy one of those stupid "kits" where you get the camera body and some cheap ass lens. those lenses are shit. buy the camera and lenses separately so you can get exactly what you want.

[flyboyx]

really need more parameters to give you a good answer. how much do you want to spend?

there are already a good number of threads devoted to this subject. i can tell you from reading them that everyone here will give you different advice, but for a little over a grand, i would buy a canon sl1, the sigma 18-250 f3.5-6.3 dc macro os hsm, and canon ifs 10-18 f4.5-5.6 is stm.

i did a LOT of research before i bought. it is the smallest, lightest, most compact slr package on the market at any price.

size, weight, quality and features (in this order) were my most important factors in deciding which system to choose. i really didn't care that much about price. those two lenses are very good quality and very importantly, they are both image stabilized. they aren't professional "L" series lenses, but they don't have the price and more importantly, they don't have the weight either. the camera has a lot of features but there are a few items i would like to have that are missing due to the compromise of size and weight. the flip out camera screen in particular could be useful but i would have to step up to a rebel t6 which is larger.

the difference between canon an nikon is probably like the difference between chevy and ford. nikon generally has better ccd sensors in the camera(they are made by sony). nikon generally is a little more rugged, but generally they are heavier because they have more metal than plastic. quality difference is probably negligible. they will vary in features though. you might want to do some research to decide what features are important to you. the one item that tipped me toward canon was the 10-18mm lens that i have. it is factory canon, very compact and light weight. if you were to read the reviews, they generally say it produces better quality photos than any other lens in the focal range including professional lenses that cost 5x as much.

i have lots of camera equipment. newer and older medium format, large format, professional slr equipment......this is the system i use 90% of the time. it is small and light enough that i always carry it with me when i go out on trips. i have a small holster bag that fits the camera bayoneted to either lens. it attaches to my body with a belt loop. i also have a second lens case with a belt loop. that way i can cary the camera with one or both lenses depending on how compact and mobile i want to be.

i'm in Ft. Meyers today typing this from my hotel room. here is a shot of my schiznit lying on the bed in front of me...

[LateFan]

Somebody post! I don't want to be the last one. What happened to our ID st1g?



Question for you photo doods -
What would be a good entry level DSLR for general use, auto photog, architectural photog?

Nikon still good? Used? Ballpark price level of a decent camera?
Thanks for your input.

[LateFan]

I think it might be synchronized rhythmic gymnastic diving.

[rcsoundn1]

[QUOTE=george graves;4680247]Wait, I thought no two snowflakes are the same?!?!?! ;)

Look closley, different shoes

[BlackbirdM3]

Nice shot. I just (last week) picked up a new lens, the Nikon 200-500 F5.6 that would be perfect for shooting air tankers and helicopters. I was using it for the pics I posted above. Its a bitchin lens.

Will

[mrsleeve]

This ones for Will. First Small fire of the year close to the house for us. It was close to some houses (big fancy houses at that) so they bum rushed it hard, 2 Hellies, and water bomber, and a lot of retardant dropped late monday, a Hot Shot crew, 2 type II's a couple of dozers and support crew for a sub 150ac total fire. Was taken about a mile a way as they were just finishing mopping up, so there is a bit of a crop and bit of automated enhancement to get some of smoke haze pulled out.

Drop fixed by mrsleeve, on Flickr

[george graves]

Wait, I thought no two snowflakes are the same?!?!?! ;)

[bradmer]

^ Badass content you captured there.

[BlackbirdM3]

A few shots from the Monterey Historics this past weekend.



M1 vs IMSA Celica.















Will

[LateFan]

Dan Gurney, Targa Florio 1964

[milos87popovic]

[Deltron Dirty30]