The camera/photography thread

(just posted this somewhere else and thought it might be fun here too)
As a lot of you know, i'm pretty dorky when it comes to cameras and lenses... I also happen to know quite a few of you are too

I thought it might be nice to have a gear-based thread where we can all talk about what we are shooting on, what we want to be shooting on, and other fun, random photography based stuff. I'll get the ball rolling...

I happen to be a cannon guy... currently shooting on a 5d MkIII and 60D. My current lenses include canon's 24-105 f4 L, 100mm f2.8 macro L, 16-35 f4 IS L, 60mm f2.8 macro, tokina 11-16 f2.8, and sigma 35 f1.4 art. I also have a few led lights, camranger, rode videomic, zoom h2n, and a 4ft x 4ft lightbox.

I'll try to get around to posting a photo of my kit, but in the meantime, here are some photos from recent outings:












and, of course, the obligatory kid photo...



Alright, you guys are up...

 

Canon 5D
Canon 50D
Canon Rebel XT
Canon 260SX

Lenses I'd have to look but basic Canon 50mm, 35-75mm and 75-300mm

 

That's a lot of Canon gear! Pentax myself kx but looking at the k3 for hopefully before summer. As for lenses Pentax 28-200 F 3.8/5.6 an fa 50 1.4 portrait lens the kit 18-55 and a 80-320 4.5. Nothing too fancy. I will share some pics that aren't in various threads when not on tapatalk.

 

Just bought an olympus omd em5 with a 12-40 2.8 lens.Used to take a lot of photos pre digital age with a Canon D90 and a Nikon FM2.
looking forward to getting back into it!

 

Nice idea for a thread and some great pics there Jon!
Only been trying to take photography more seriously for a year or so. Started with a Nikon D3200 and the standard 18-55mm kit lens, then added a 50mm f1.8 lens which is a great little lens for the money! and recently added a Tamron 90mm f2.8 SP Di VC USD Macro lens and a budget Amaran Halo macro ring flash, just trying some macro stuff recently and there are a few of my first pics here
Just picked up a used Gitzo Explorer G2220 tripod to help with the macro stuff, still waiting for it to arrive though!

 

Vivitar 110 and drum scanner for everything.

 

Not a camera guy but I do very much enjoy looking at photos. I hope to see some great shots here with what we got all ready.

My first digital camera I got back in 2008-09. It was an Olympus and it was waterproof, without an enclosure.
I got it the weekend my friends and I were going to the lake house. Very first thing I did when we got there was toss it in the lake. I just bobbed in the water until we went swimming and I started using it. I abused the crud out of that thing, left it out in the rain and freezing temps, banged it around, dropped it a few times too. Still snapped great pictures every time.
I finally gave it away a few years ago.

 

For me, everything started when I got digital Fujifilm superzoom in 2006. I didn't know anything about f-stops, lens or exposure, so I just enjoyed "full auto" mode on the camera.

Come to Saint-Petersburg in June to see something like this:



It worked really well for about a year, and then I decided to upgrade to Nikon D200 because a friend of mine had such camera and made jaw-dropping shots with it. Back then, I thought that my photos will immediately improve once I got a new camera.
Well, as you could guess, that wasn't the case, but I still enjoyed that camera a lot. Harsh weather sealing was handy when I needed to shot in cold or rainy conditions. This shot was made in —27 C˚


Also, I liked the big improvements in high ISO compared to point 'n' shoot Fujifilm. Below is a shot that was made handheld under ISO800. Result was usable for printing it in A4 size.


Later I started the journey of buying and selling lens. Macro, telephoto, zooms, fixes, old M42 lenses etc. I loved the look and feel of this Zeiss but haven't made even a single decent shot with it, so sold it rather quickly.


But since then I falled in love with fast fixes and became a DOF junkie

Later I got myself a heavy Gitzo tripod and discovered a whole new world of long exposures




At some point, I found an old Nikon film camera at my father's house. So I paired it with 50/1.4 and tried shooting on film. Instantly became addicted to the "magic" that somehow creates a nice picture even in boring conditions:



But then came a moment when I first saw a Leica. That was the moment when I decided that it's time to part with Nikon, so I sold all my gear and dived into rangefinders. Since I couldn't afford original Leica lenses or cameras, I opted for much cheaper Voigtlander Bessa R3 with 40/1.4 fix. The journey continued. Tried few several different types of film and loved the fact that the camera is small and light compared to Nikon.

Got a used Minolta Dimage film scanner from Ebay and scanned all films at home.


The price of kept raising and at some point in time there was only one lab in town that could develop film with a right process, so I realized it's time to part with the film. But I loved the size of rangefinders, so I sold only the camera and got myself a digital Olympus EM5. With a proper adapter, this thing can use almost any lens, so I could continue shooting with 40/1.4.



Since m43 lenses aren't much bigger compared to rangefinders, I grabbed few more, including 25/1.4, 12/2.5 and 12-50 kit which I use exclusively to shoot my knives and handles. Love that camera. When we are travelling anywhere, I usually take only 12/2.5 as it's such a tiny lens, that it make a camera looks just a tad bigger than some point and shoot cameras.



Yet when I browsed my Flickr photos I had to admit that since 2013 99% of all photos are knives/wood/handles/etc

 

Some great shots Anton and a nice write up as well

 

Anton and Jon
Beautiful work. Used to be a Pentax guy but really have not been a camera guy for a couple decades.

I guess it shows. Motorola Electrify M

 

Interesting progression Anton. Makes me consider buying a camera and trying to take some pictures.

 

I miss film. But for me I think no going back. With digital it's so much easier to shoot 500 pics and sort through for the good ones rather than hoping you got a few good ones with film.

 

Some say this is part of their film appeal for scenic and still shooting, waiting for the right shot and not snapping off 20 to get the one you want. Just a way to look at it.

 

Oh I can see that, and it's part of what I miss. But since having a kid, so little of my photography is that type. I used to take long exposures of churches. Timing my shot over days just to get the moon in the right place. I'm not in that world any more! LOL!

 

Lovely photos Anton and if you have any tips for using the em5 I would be keen to hear them

 

Thanks! I don't think I could tell you anything new regarding handling of EM5, just some basic observations…

Image quality. In camera JPEG is good enough for most cases. I do have a setting to shot JPEG+RAW almost always, but more often than not I use JPEGs and use RAW only when I really want to make some postprocessing.
Battery life. If you happen to use AF lens and live view, be ready that they would drain battery rather quickly, especially if you turn on focus tracking. I got two spare noname batteries from Ebay for around 20$ — and if I plan to shoot more for more than an hour, then I carry one of those as a backup.
IS. It really works well most of the times and you could snap sharp images even with 1/10 exposure. But you'd need to turn if OFF for long exposure shots with a tripod.
A fast (class 10) SD card improves performance a little bit, but not a dramatic change compared to slower cards.
I guess that's about everything that comes to mind. When you get used to EM5 controls, you'll be a happy owner. Also, there seems to be a decent selection of autofocus lens from both Olympus and Panasonic. And lots of old manual lens can be installed with a help of adapter ring, so there's a lot to explore.

 

New tripod arrived today, well new to me, it's got some age to it but very solid. It's a Gitzo Explorer G2220 with G1277M Magnesium Head. Bought it as it seems a good beginners macro tripod due the solid construction and the fact that the centre column can be angled.
The legs can also be locked in any position and can go virtually flat to the ground to get really close to objects on the floor.

A few pics of it, you can also see the budget led flash ring as well, working well so far!

 

My gear is pretty simple; A Canon 7D, a 50mm prime and a 28 - 135 zoom.

I've been thinking about a mirrorless like the Fujifilm X-T1.....Not sure what people's thoughts are on those.

I'm also curious what type of setup you experienced photographers use for food photography. I tend to use the tele lens, even though the prime is obviously much faster. And, virtually all my photography (of food anyway) is at night. I have some strobes with umbrellas, and a remote trigger, but it's somewhat of a hassle to whip the gear out just to snap a photo or two of dinner. Would love to hear what you pros and enthusiasts do.

 

i am on full frame, but i used almost the same on my crop body... 35mm 1.4 (sigma art) is my go to food lens...

Here is a photo from a decent lighting situation at a restaurant (around f4 probably)





And here are some photos from a near pitch black restaurant with the lens wide-open (not idea though)





i also really like my 16-35 f4 with IS for this kind of thing. Macro is nice when you have a more studio like setup, but this is what i use when i have minimal lighting control or i just want to take quick photos without thinking about it too much.

 

Nice pics Jon!! I love the little Nikon 50mm f1.8 have, great for shots like this, but was thinking of going for the 35mm version so I don't have to be leaning back to take some shots. Might pick up a used one and see how it goes.