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The Official Head-Case Photography Thread.


Knuckledragger

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Expansys USA had the preorder for $1384.99 (35mm kit) but took it down. The UK site is still up and listed at £1,079.99 so the pricing is probably right.

edit: Also, if you're considering spending $3500, have you thought about the M8?

Edited by falkon
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Pentax K-5 is a heck of a lot bigger than the OM-1, no? So you don't really have another choice.

It's close, the K-5 is a little bit narrower, a bit taller, and with the lenses I want it's about the same depth.

edit: Also, if you're considering spending $3500, have you thought about the M8?

Hell no, I may be a retro-grouch but I still want autofocus on my digital cameras. I also don't get along well with rangefinder focusing.

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So I have purchased two Nikon bodies but no lenses. Nikon has so many acronyms I am going to have to learn to find out which lenses are worth picking up for FF camera usage. Any of the many Nikon guys/girls here have any recommendations?

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The 35mm F/2 and F/1.4 are full frame, the 35mm F/1.8 is not. The mighty 14-24mm F/2.8 is full frame, and one of the best wide angle 35mm SLR lenses, period. Both 85mms (F/1.8 and F/1.4) are full frame, but I remain unconvinced that they are superior to the Canon 85L. If you want to try your hand at manual focus there is a legion of great Nikon legacy glass, all of which is full frame.

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I think this has been asked before, however, S95 or S100?

I can have the S100 for 435 euros which is a better price than the best I've been able to find online. I like this camera for having the batteries compatible with other Ixus models. I have 3 or 4 batteries which I could use. It has a bit more resolution and higher lens zooming range than the S95. I don't care (as for now) about the HD video.

The S95 is again available at discount prices, like 230GBP (278 euros). Great savings for a very good camera.

Any of them would be to "upgrade" our current P&S, so in a small form factor we can have shoots on raw format, better quality, and manual operation, all things pretty desirable.

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Concerning Nikon glass there are very few downright bad ones. Just don't buy anything that has the DX designation and you should be okay. Also it's really hard to recommend anything if I don't know what you like to take pictures of. Sure, the (14-24, 24-70, 70-200) f/2.8 combo is a no brainer, but it will be expensive, large and heavy. Instead of 24-70 I could recommend looking for an earlier 28-70 that can be had for cheaper, for telezoom an 80-200 can be a worthy alternative to stabilized 70-200ies. Concerning fixed lenses I'd recommend avoiding the 35mm altogether because all of the versions are mediocre, most of the 50ies are very sharp, the 105mm f/2.5 is very good for portrait/landscape short tele-photography. The bright-ish wide end fixed lens segment is a bit weak for Nikon, I'd recommend using a zoom instead for convenience. The 20mm f/3.5 is a notable exception but it is priced accordingly.

Happy hunting!

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Well, neither of them are bad so to speak. The 35/2 is pretty meh, and the new AF-S 35/1.4 seems a bit overpriced for amateur use. Koreans have a manual Zeiss formula clone for a lot cheaper, might be worth looking into. I guess that there was an old manual 35/1.4 but also wide open it wasn't much to write home about. If you like that length, by all means, go ahead. I find it useful as well but bright 35's are quite big and heavy compared to the fifty and f/2.8 20-28mm fixes.

P.S. What's not to like about the fifty? It's the hardest lens to screw up because of the simple optical formula. My AF 50mm f/1.8D works like a charm especially when one considers the price. Haven't looked that hard at f/1.4 fifties, they should reach peak sharpness earlier at the expense of slightly increased distortion. The f/1.2 is for connoisseurs only, especially the Noct.

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The 58mm Noct Nikkor is an amazing piece of glass, but borderlines on unobtanium. Nevermind its Leica class price for a second, Nikon could never make enough of them. Even by their infamously low production numbers, the Noct Nikkor was a small batch lens. The newer AI-s versoion commands a tidy sum on the used market, but the people lucky enough to own a copy seldom seem interested in parting with it. Our own KG has a pile of classic Nikkor glass, I wonder if he's got one?

Unsurprisingly, K-Rock got to play with a copy a while back and jizzed in his pants over it.

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I have shot the 58F1.2 and will pronounce it jizz-in-pants worthy, although simultaneously a big pain in the ass.

CAUTION!!!

Link to head-fi.

http://www.head-fi.o...10#post_7781720

open pics in new window for original "Jpg Large" files from D200.

In the last photo of the guy, you MUST view at full size. His beard and one eye are in focus, ears are gone! Woot!

I took another photo of the window in the bar... at about 30ft the window frames are in sharp focus but the store across the way is way out of focus.

For a great combination of availability and a good balance of size and weight, 50F1.4 is a favorite.

As another cool Nikon lens check out one or another of the "DC" lenses. They sound very intriguing to me, but only for portraiture really.

Edited by nikongod
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Man Ari, you must be busy with all your weekend clubs. Photo, Audio Society, Headphone Molesters Anonymous grin.gif

Did you ever develop your Zoo shots? I have been seeing cameras like yours on CL and while they are gorgeous, I do not think I have the skill or patience to work in film.

That club looks like an interesting one. I have not found many group outings in my limited searches in the area.

Edited by VPI
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I've had my (second) PowerShot S95 for about a month now, and at this point I'm pretty used to it. The combination a 28mm FoV (and 6mm DoF) at F/2 is nice after working with APS-C and 50mm for so long. Since there is basically no need to stop down, I use the second control dial to adjust ISO and shoot in full manual. The controls on the S95 do feel painfully slow to me. I know it's fast for its class, but I'm spoiled by the physical controls of an SLR. I've shot with my 30D for 5 1/2 years now and it's essentially an extension of my hands. I rarely I have to think about what I'm doing. Not so for the poor S95. I am forever waiting for it to catch up with what I want to do.

Likewise, the S95 kind sucks at autofocusing in low light, especially when the brightest light source in the room is pointed at the camera (as is usually the case in my nightclub photos.) Again, I'm spoiled by my 30D and more to the point my 580EX's AF assist beam. I've experimented with manual focus on the S95 (leaving it set to infinity focus, which is more or less always what I want.) Unfortunately, it has a bad habit of going back to AF if I power it down or change modes. :palm: The fastest technique I've founds is to focus on a distant, but well-lit object then recompose on what I want to shoot. Since I'm shooting full manual, exposure is not an issue.

Even though it has a comparitively diminutive sensor, the S95 has arguably better high ISO performance than the ancient 30D. Also, it autodetects tungsten and corrents for it, which blew my little photographer mind when I first discovered that feature. So anyway, some pix: Late last month I helped run lights for Steve Aoki who is apparently a big deal right now. I'd never heard of him before and wasn't overly impressed. That didn't matter though, as the younger generation of club kids who attended this show (in droves) loved him. It was a great opportunity to test out the S95 again.

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As is often the case, the best photo of the evening was taken with my 50mm (on the 30D, of course.)

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I have two other shows to post photos from, but they'll have to wait for another post. The software gets ornery if one puts too many images in a post.

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The Nikon experiment has begun.

i-rDH9XBR-XL.jpg

First surprise, Nikon screws their lenses in backwards.

This is very different than my Canons but the size/weight feels good and the build quality or the CF door alone is far ahead of the 5D mk II. Seems to be just about as complicated at the 1D mk IV.

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Yep, the D3 is a great cam, the high iso was borderline revolutionary at that time. I almost bought one two years ago for 2 kilobuck, good thing that I listened to reason and ended up getting the D300 for one kilo. Also a swell shooter. Still sometimes wonder about that choice, though.

And yeah- the only thing I don't actually like about the 14-24 is the supersize front element, easy to smear/damage. And on that wide end every mark will show up on the pictures. Also filters...

Edited by RudeWolf
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Just about everything Nikon does is opposite of Canon. I even remember in the AI-s days, Nikon's aperture catch was spring loaded so that the releasing it closed down the aperture (which makes more sense) while Canon was the opposite. And of course, you'll have a hell of a time getting used to the EV dial/indicator.

One thing I'd love to know though is, how is Canon 7d AF (current mainstream generation) vs. Nikon's AF?

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