Indecent Exposure 31: Infant expressions
Listen now:
Download today's podcast
 |
Episode 31 |
Hey Lori and Matt,
I had a question pertaining to SDHC cards for DSLRs. I have a Nikon D40 that currently uses a 512MB SD card from Sandisk. I am looking to upgrade and was able to find some very inexpensive 8GB SDHC cards from Sandisk. My question was if I'll notice any speed difference from the card while taking pictures with my camera and/or transferring images to my computer via a card reader.
Love the podcast, keep up the good work.
Regards, Josh Holat
http://www.joshholat.com
I recently purchased a D80 (July) with an 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 VR lens. I love the camera and lens combination in the majority of situations.
My wife and I are preparing for our first child in April and in lieu of a video camera, are looking for a great fast portrait lens. We can imagine flipping through still images, but would dread sitting down in front of the TV/computer to watch/edit hours of videotape, much less watching our child growup from behind a video camera.
I've seen the recent announcement of the the new Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G, several websites indicate that this may make a great portrait lens on Nikon's DX cameras as an equivalent 75mm fast prime lens.
Are there better options for portraits with the DX format at or below the approximately $450.00 price point? I am specifically looking for spectacular low light performance. Is there a faster zoom lens which would still work great for the situations I am likely to find myself shooting in? What are the pros and cons of using a full frame lens on a DX camera, if any, beside the 1.5 crop factor?
Any help you could offer would be appreciated.
Thanks again, and love the show
-Scott
Senior Editor Lori Grunin has been covering digital imaging for two decades, but her memory's kind of sketchy on the details. You can hear about it every week on Indecent Exposure, the podcast she co-hosts with Matt Fitzgerald.
Lori Grunin has been an avid photographer for almost 30 years, and spent the past 15 attempting to master every aspect of technology.
Matt Fitzgerald has been involved with digital camera technology and the photo industry for more than 15 years. Matthew's background includes work as a professional photographer, a technical representative, and a repair technician.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walakazoo/2809642481/in/set-72157606529672221/
This comes for a set of pictures I took by bouncing the flash off the floor instead of the ceiling, giving that creepy scary movie lighting. More pics from that set can be seen in my photostream.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_le_fucker/36430605/sizes/l/
The kids aren't the creepy but the woods are. Took it on a old Kodak 3 megapixels. The kids were standing next to me, i just put the camera to my chest, pointed it right and took the pic, everything seemed to line up, weird. i think the Kodak was a better photographer than me.
I am not sure what you will think of this shot of my daughter...as I recall she was VERY cross with her brother!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeadc/2789844218/in/set-72157604711580290/
Lee.
Wrong system, buddy. No good lens from the Canonikons will be cheap, and much less a good zoom. And nor will the fast fifty be cheap now. Next time, think ahead and go for, say, Pentax or Sony [you could have had a cheap, very cheap but very, very good K10d or A700, a notch and a half above your D80].
The cheapest zoom at your range, top tier, is the Pentax DA* 16-50 2.8 AL ED IF, which is weather sealed, for around 650 US Dollars.
The equivalent Nikkor will be the AF 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX which goes as to 1150 US Dollars.
The only lenses that could fit your budget are the second tier options: Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron. You can have the very same Pentax [a very good lens] OEMīd to Tokina for the Nikon mount [around 650 US dollars]. The Sigma can be had for around 400 US dollars NOT STABILIZED.
Donīt get me wrong. The D80 is a good camera, but on the pricey side of it, too close to the upper tier old 40D-30D, Alpha 100, K10d and Evolt, and too far away from the lower tier.
About the fast fifties:
The best 50 Nikkor is the 1.8, not the 1.4, as a whole package.
Though, they are the worst of the fast fifties [by a narrow gap]. Fast fifties are the older goodies of photography, and all of them are pretty good. But for the new fifties, take into account the following example:
SMC Pentax FA 50 1.4: 190 US Dollars
SMC Pentax DA* 55 1.4 ED SDM: circa 550 US Dollars.
Do the math yourself.
And were you buying a fast fifty, do not forget to get a hood for it [as they are very prone to veiling flare, which washes out the picture].
Cheers, and have a nice shooting.
Just in case, I want to make something clear. Iīm not bashing out your decision of entering the Nikon system. When we buy a slr or a interchangeable lens camera [be it a rangefinder as the Cosina-Epson R1D or the Leica M8, a Digital Medium format as the Mamiya or Phase one system, an EVIL as the PanaLeica G1, or a DSLR] we get into a system that ties us to that brand or approximate to that world. Because of that, there are some issues you might think ahead when getting into that.
First things first, all the brands are not equal, specially now. On the days of yore, when ALL the brands shared the most important part of a camera, all the brands share the SAME FILM [this is a very important factor]. It didnīt matter that much body you bought for the image quality as the lens system you got into.
With digital, however, each brand gets a specific sensor or sensor manufacturer: Nikon gets Sony, Olympus gets Panasonic, Canon does Canon, Pentax does Samsung and Sony, and Sigma does Foveon. Hence, the differences are not only the lenses, but the very sensor as well.
That being said, usually the first thing you think about is servicing your camera in case of failure, and that is where the canonikons get a big advantage of shelf exposure, something only Sony has been able to propperly address.
But then, you get into lenses, and lens avaliability. And that is where the other brands kick in. There are over 25 million usable Pentax lenses alone that will at least meter, confirm focus and transfer information for Pentax. Sony, on the other hand, got the Konica Minolta heritage, and their lenses branded as Konica-Minolta are stellar performers and have bargain-basement prices for being phased out.
Thing is, due to all of this, you will never get top performers cheap from the canonikon brands. That was my point. Nevertheless, most probably your camera will outperform you still when the next revolution in digital still cameras kicks in. So do not be afraid.
[apart from that, think this: the pro level cameras -including aps-c pro cameras such as the D300, 50D, k20d and Evolt E3- produce such HUGE files, that you will have to think twice about using them at their greatest performance level].
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambindslev/3086583895/
hope this submission can be accepted. Keep up the good work.
Adam
Denmark
Here are my submissions for 'creepy' kid pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/3096159211/in/set-72157608145806652/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital-salsa/3096176433/
I purchased a Novatron studio light kit from a friend of mine last spring. I love the control it has allowed me to have over the creative process.
My daughter is a ham and was doing all sorts of otherwise predictable poses when she suddenly decided to act as though she was smashing the guitar. The series with her pretending to smash it were the best ones of the session.
The photo of my son with the sax isn't so much creepy as moody. Either way, I thought I'd give it a shot.
Love your show! Keep up the good work!
Eric
Plainfield, IN
www.studiodigitalsalsa.com
-
by atfr
December 11, 2008 7:11 AM PST
- This is the single child photo that I've got:
-
Reply to this comment
-
(8 Comments)http://www.flickr.com/photos/allex/3099724179/