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The Official Head-Case Photography Thread.


Knuckledragger

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That should be a great setup for you.  I've seen a lot of great comments about that head, never used one, though.  Please let me know if you can find a way to make it NOT "stable enough" for a D800, and no, raising the center column in hurricane-force winds doesn't count ;)

I've always wanted to do stuff at the beach/pier early in the mornings or late at night with long exposures but the little Joby Gorillapod was not stable enough and was too low to the ground for my comfort. It's great for wrapping the camera around a tree for a quick shot or even longish exposures but not for the beach. I don't foresee having any stability issues with the Induro but the last time I was taking pictures at the beach with a friend's not so great tripod, the waves kept digging it deeper into the sand as they receded leading to blurry images. I don't expect it to have any issues on solid ground but since the beach is where I wish to be whenever I get a break and essentially the reason for purchasing a tripod, I want to make sure it is stable there. Although, I do see myself being unfair in judging the legs when I am not giving them a stable platform to rest on. Hence the, "we shall see how stable it is." I am not going to be shooting anything longer than the 135mm lens I have as anything longer costs too much and it is also my heaviest lens. The Sigma 35 is heavy but not Zeiss 135mm heavy. Might spring for the inexpensive Rokinon/Samyang 14mm to try some night time stuff. Julie's sister lives waaaaaaaay out in the middle of nowhere and there is considerably less light pollution compared to where I live - 15 miles from FLL airport. I don't think that lens is heavy enough to cause trouble either. 

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Jacob, depending on exactly when in August you go on vacation (I am trying to get in on a medical mission trip to Vietnam around then) you are welcome to borrow my D800 for the cost of shipping and a promise that you will take care of it :)

 

All this assuming I haven't sold it for the D900000000. 

Edited by crappyjones123
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Just got the tripod. Not as shiny as perhaps the Manfrotto I had in the past but certainly lighter and seems more stable. I prefer the low key look as it doesn't seem to attract as much attention. Ballhead is out for delivery but the quick release plate won't be here till next Monday :< Good thing I have exams until next tuesday.

Also think that UPS has a personal vendetta against my packages. The box the tripod came in was basically held together with a few strings from the box tape. The tripod seems fine so I won't go through the ups return bullshit with it.

Update on Adorama - EXTREMELY unhappy with how they are handling my order of the Zeiss lens with the box that was split open. They sent me a shipping label. I dropped it off and I received the box back from UPS a couple of days later saying the shipping label was for only 4 lbs when the box was heavier. Adorama refused to pay the difference. I paid it and sent it off. Now they are saying that they won't send me a replacement lens or give me a refund until the investigation from UPS was done. UPS called me and asked for someone to come over to take a look at the box and I told them I had already sent it back. UPS denied the claim and now Adorama has resubmitted the claim and are saying it can take 2-4 weeks before UPS mades a decision and then another 7 business days after that for Adorama to make a decision. I certainly shall not be going back to them again.

Edited by crappyjones123
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Adorama has resubmitted the claim and are saying it can take 2-4 weeks before UPS mades a decision and then another 7 business days after that for Adorama to make a decision. I certainly shall not be going back to them again.

I also had decided not to deal with Adorama long ago. It was the time the Canon EOS-M/lens package was on sale, and after taking a bunch of orders, Adorama unilaterally cancelled their customers' orders without any replacement or offers when Canon did not have more in stock. On the other hand, B&H Photo, in same predicament, decided to honor their customers' orders and shipped out the EOS-M/lens/flash package they DID have in stock, at same price. Needless to say, B&H gets all my business since.. Talk about short-sighted business practices.

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The EF to FE adapter situation is very mirky.  I would like an adapter with better AF speed than ones on the market right now, even Metabones III.  Also, even the better-reviewed ones like Metabones and RJ adapters are supposed to not work well with third-party lenses especially Sigma, which is disappointing since the advent of Sigma ART 35 and upcoming ART 50mm lens.  My research so far turned up the following.

 

 
The ones without AF are pretty cheap, but there are quite a few that preserve AF, IS.  From researching these in an effort to find a reliable one, the user experience seems to be that AF is similarly slow via all of them, and each has different electronics/software leading to one working better with some lenses while another adapter may work better with other lenses (Canon or third party).
 
Metabones Mk III adapter seems to be the most popular with most user reviews but also the most expensive at $400.  It does not work with all lenses at all, however:
"Only Canon-branded lenses introduced in or after 2006 are officially supported. Autofocus may be disabled for older Canon lenses and most third-party lenses, including most Sigma, Tamron and Tokina lenses and all Contax N lenses modified by Conurus."  A lot of users are reporting internal reflections causing funny colors and CA at edges, and there is a DIY fix using adhesive-backed velour to cover up the adapter internals.
 
A Youtube video showing the AF speed with Metabones adapter.
 
My next choice would be RJ Electronics one which is cheaper with good user reviews available. Some claim it gives sharper results than Metabones III (how?) and works with older Canon lenses unlike Metabones.  RJ admits it does not work well with Sigma lenses.  I read one user who said that Canon 100L Macro did NOT AF when focus limiter was set to 0.3-0.5m (Macro range) but AF was fine at other settings including "Full."
 
 
This Viltrox zinc-alloy one seems okay as well.  I have a Viltrox Canon EF to M adapter which works OK though a bit loose on camera end.  One can find a couple of user reviews on line, so at least you know it "works."
 
I found a video on Youtube that shows AF speed with Viltrox adapter and Canon 17-40L.
 
 
This Chinese one is claimed to be made from brass with AF intact.  Unfortunately, no user reviews can be found.
 
 
This "King" adapter looks interesting as well but again no reviews can be found.
 
 
TechArt version II adapter.  
 
It's thought TechArt and RJ adapters may be from same oem, sharing the black finish on the camera side and also sharing the inability to recognize focus-limiter on Canon lenses.  It's selling a little cheaper than RJ.
 
 
 
Deo-Tech Falcon adapter
 
This one also looks to be the same adapter as RJ and TechArt
 
Upon further research, some users including Fred Miranda are reporting that RJ/TechArt/Deo-Tech adapters are softer with more CA in the edges compared to Metabones III.  
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EqvfqFX.jpg

 

 

You should experiment with mixing ambient light with the light off of the tubes to get the thing to look SICK in the dark.

The worlds cheapest flash (preferably with adjustable power levels, although the worlds cheapest flash is probably pretty low power anyways) bounced off the opposite wall of the room should do nicely.

 

Set the camera to take a good long multi-second exposure. 

Fire the camera. 

While the shutter is open fire the flash. 

Depending on your mood and equipment you can fire the flash several times, pointed in different directions for some really crazy light. 

 

adsc0022.jpg

 

I probably should have used less flash :( Ooh well. 

 

Looks great and sounds even better. :)

 

That's enough audio-gear related chatter. This is a photography forum :P

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The amp is out of my visual field so don't care about the different colored led. 

Ari, this was my one and only attempt at light painting. Took a flashlight and swung at it the amp for a split second but the flashlight was too powerful it seems. 

 

y9n3f3Q.jpg

 

Hmm. I posted that picture already. :face palm: 

Edited by crappyjones123
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Ari, this was my one and only attempt at light painting. Took a flashlight and swung at it the amp for a split second but the flashlight was too powerful it seems. 

 

y9n3f3Q.jpg

Hmm. I posted that picture already. :face palm: 

 

Facepalm at me for not seeing it. 

Nice. 

 

Try bouncing the light off of something. Or use a stupid-small F-stop (F16-22) and low ISO so that it takes a goooood long time to expose with the flashlight. 

 

The way the vignette on the back wall forces the viewer back to the center(ish) of the image is pretty neat. 

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