The Official Head-Case Photography Thread.

[blessingx]

It just debuted yesterday at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival, but I couldn't find any plans beyond that. Could get picked up during, but if it's like his great Up Series it will be on TV in Britain and in limited run in US theaters (and then DVD & PBS airing).

A little info here: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/07/31/michael-apted-talks-bending-the-light/

Edited August 5, 2014 by blessingx

[The Expanding Man]

I've been playing around with the Pentax Q system.

 

One of it's interesting features is the 5x crop factor.  I've added a Pentax Q - K adapter, and picked up a cheap K mount 55-300 zoom lens.

 

The result is a telephoto lens with an equivalent focus length of something like 1500 mm.

 

I'm still learning to use the set up, but this is a moon shot with no cropping or enlarging whatsoever:

 

 

You could pick up this kit for less than $600.

Edited August 6, 2014 by The Expanding Man

[jpelg]

^Pretty cool. How are you liking the handling of the Q? Which model do you have?

[The Expanding Man]

^Pretty cool. How are you liking the handling of the Q? Which model do you have?

I have the Q7 and the original Q bodies.  I've picked up the Q 01, 02, 06 and 03 lenses.

 

It's a fun system, but not for every one.

 

The 01 and 06 lenses are good, the 02 is a bit meh, the 03 is somewhat toy like.  The bodies are good - you have pretty much the same functionality as a K series DSLR body.

 

It's a poor low light performer, but it's appeal to me is an interchangeable lens system that lets you fit a body, a nifty fifty and two zooms into one pocket of your cargo pants.  For small form factor, it replaced my Canon s95.  I prefer the Q.

[jpelg]

Done!   I decided to just do it

 

Any thoughts?

[shellylh]

So far I am pretty happy with it.  The AF is super fast in good light.  The snap focus works well in low light.  I love the size of them camera.  

[jpelg]

Adorama has the GR camera along with the Ricoh bounce flash unit, and the matching Ricoh optical viewfinder for only $100 more - worth it?

[nikongod]

So far I am pretty happy with it.  The AF is super fast in good light.  The snap focus works well in low light.  I love the size of them camera.  

 

Have you updated to firmware 4.0? It lets you pick between "super fast AF" and "more accurate AF" Superfast AF is pretty sweet in low light. 

 

Adorama has the GR camera along with the Ricoh bounce flash unit, and the matching Ricoh optical viewfinder for only $100 more - worth it?

 

If you can live with *just* a 28mm FOV... 

 

I'm 50/50 on flash with this camera. On the one hand, there are such cool things you can do with flash. On the other hand, the flash is relatively HUGE so bringing it out is a pretty deliberate thing. 

The optical viewfinder is pretty nice for insanely bright light, or clandestine photography, but not strictly necessary. 

[shellylh]

No, I have 2.03.  Thanks for letting me know, I will do that!  (Edit:  Done)

 

I would probably just stick with the camera.  The flash and optical viewfinder are going to make it bulkier.   

Edited August 11, 2014 by shellylh

[Jon L]

EOSE2125ir by drjlo1, on Flickr

[Jon L]

Amazon has $300 off deal on Fuji body+2 lens packages, e.g. Fuji X-A1 with 16-50 and 50-230 mm lens for mere $499 w free shipping.  Very nice pricing for a camera reportedly every bit as good as more expensive X-M1.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&docId=1002981371&linkCode=ur2&plgroup=2&tag=bensbargaicenter&linkId=IGNGPV4N2HPB35WC

[crappyjones123]

 

Nikon F5 with Kodak Max 400.

[crappyjones123]

[nikongod]

After my fun the other week with a Gopro 2, I got a Gopro 3+

 

Waterfalls by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr

[shellylh]

Here is one of the pictures I took with the Ricoh GR on my trip last week to Busan, Korea.  It was taken handheld on a rocky boat and it was pretty dark. 
 
Gwangan Bridge

The first is B&W jpg straight from the camera. The second pictures is RAW converted to jpg with minimal adjustments (since I don't know how to do much in LR still). I can't decide which one I like best (probably the B&W).  Comments and criticisms are always appreciated. 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2014 by shellylh

[Jon L]

Nice pictures, but more importantly, I hope you ate plenty of the fresh seafood and sashimi that is served right in that area! 

[shellylh]

Unfortunately, I don't eat fish/seafood.

[shellylh]

Tapatalk double post

Edited September 1, 2014 by shellylh

[jpelg]

Nice pics shelly. Like the b&w. Also like the 28mm perspective in that shot.

[n_maher]

Nice pic Shelly.  I like the B&W better mostly because the noise in the darker parts is less intrusive (for me) in B&W vs. the color version.

[shellylh]

Yeah, I have found that one can get some decent B&W photos at night with high ISO. 

[crappyjones123]

I have a strange request of sorts for a camera to be used in a very particular set of conditions. Through my medical school, I am trying to follow along some pediatric patients (think oncology, PICU, general pediatrics etc) and their families and experiencing a day with them. The point of the project is to give young children some cameras (Fujifilm very kindly donated 20 single use film cameras to our club) and try to see the world from their perspective. I believe that even in the face of adversity, children have an uncanny ability to be optimistic where adults might perhaps give up hope. To my surprise, the person in charge of making all this happen at the hospital has said it would be ok for the kids to take pictures in the hospital itself! This was the original intent of the project but after being quoted HIPAA violations at 14 different institutions, I gave up the idea and suggested just giving the film cameras to kids to take home so they could take pictures of whatever they found interesting. We still plan on doing this. However, the kids being allowed to take pictures on hospital grounds comes with the stipulation that the camera they use be digital so that if anyone who doesn't sign a consent form accidentally gets photographed, the image can be deleted on the spot to keep everyone happy. As such, I wonder what camera would best serve this purpose. I personally own a D800 and a Nikon F5 neither of which are light enough to be handled with dexterity by someone admitted to a pediatric wing (I would guess). So is there a camera that fits the following requirements...

 

1. Light/small enough for a child to hold/operate without any issues.
2. Good enough image quality (the hospital wants to have some of these images printed reasonably large for a big event in March - maybe something like 11x17? I don't know what size for sure but I'll find out next Friday).
3. Ability to shoot in relatively poor lighting conditions. Hospitals are either lit with tube lights or have them turned off for the comfort of patients. Want to make sure that the camera has reasonably decent white balance (if shooting JPEG).
4. A wide lens or some measure of image stabilization. I myself don't have the most stable hands. I certainly wouldn't assume that anyone else does. So just in case...
5. Fast AF. Given my limited interaction with kids operating cameras, they don't seem to want to depress the shutter button half way for the focus to lock and then click to take the picture.
6. The camera is almost exclusively to be used inside the hospital so please disregard use outside. Better light will just be icing on top.
7. This is probably silly to mention but a neck strap, however flimsy, is kind of a must. We can't afford the camera accidentally being dropped. Most cameras probably come with one but just wanted to mention it in case they didn't. Although I don't know how much they cost on their own so if it is an inexpensive item, feel free to ignore this requirement.

 

The club's budget is ~$500 - I doubt #2 would be satisfied for anything less than that amount but please correct me if I am wrong. The budget can be stretched another $50 in a case where there is overwhelming support. From everything I have read so far, the Ricoh GR 'seems' to fit the bill especially with the snap AF mode (although I have only read about it - don't know how well it works in practice or how well it would work in this particular case). One of the variants of the RX100 family comes to mind as well but I have only ever used NEX bodies and don't know how well the RX100 would do in the conditions mentioned above. An x100 perhaps or would the AF be too slow?

[Salt Peanuts]

Unless you want the camera to be broken on the first day from it being dropped, I'd avoid RX100 family - handling is pretty atrocious, IMO. I know you mentioned neck strap use being a must, but I'd expect the worst (e.g. slipping out if hand while trying to set it down). Also, most 'compact' cameras come with wrist straps but not neck straps.

[crappyjones123]

Haj, I googled neck straps and they are inexpensive enough to where I can just buy one myself. Or use the one from my D800 if it fits. I am using a Gordy's wrist strap with it now. But thanks for the handling info on the RX100. I'll take it away from consideration. 

[blessingx]

It doesn't fit all your criteria, but for some reason I immediately though of the Canon N. Probably the shooters age and strap emphasis. Maybe not best for internal shots though. Could pick up three with your budget.

Edited September 5, 2014 by blessingx