Which camera do you shoot with?

CJ Matt

Registered User
I finally stepped up to a DSLR camera after wanting one for a long time. I decided to do with the Pentax K-30 because of the weather and dust sealed features it has. Most of my picture taking is hiking, camping or off-roading so I wanted something that would hold up longer to those environments.
 

RogueJeepr

Here!
Location
Utah
I'm really thinking of downsizing my gear. I just don't shoot enough anymore to justify it.

Anyone want to buy some camera/gear?:D

Whatcha selling ?

Anyhow, ive been wanting to upgrade my camera for awhile . What is everyones thoughts on the Cannon T-5 Rebel .
Id like to improve my nightsky pics and need something with alot of shutter speed . My current cam only has 8 seconds. Lame , really lame.
 

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
I picked up a Sony a7sii last month and I'm absolutely loving it for video. I'm a little dissappointed with the lack of native lenses from sony, but with adapters, I'm able to run just about any lens on the planet.
 

RogueJeepr

Here!
Location
Utah
Thanks steve for replying. Kind of a noob still, but learning.
Im not sure about getting something used electronic like that. Unless its someone I know, Never know how it been abused or not.
I saw this and wondered about it . If its a good deal or not.
http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/AMZSL1KB3LK.htm
I also saw costco had some cameras too.
http://www.costco.com/.product.1001...vc=itempageVerticalRight|CategorySiloedViewCP

Maybe point me in the right direction for a camera shop selling new or used gear. I didnt see much on ksl .

.
 
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sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
What's your budget? What type of photography are you interested in? Do you need interchangeable lenses, or are you ok with a great camera with a great built-in lens? Are you sold on the Canon brand? Are you interested in video, or just photos?

The costco link is a better deal. I highly recommend a touch, articulated screen, unless you're trying to get as small as possible. The SL1 doesn't have an articulating screen. My buddy has one. It takes decent pics, and it's small for a DSLR, but I'd rather have a mirrorlesss camera. I'll bet in 5 years, 95% of all prosumer cameras are mirrorless.


Here are a few that I like:

Sony a6000 (mirrorless). This is an absolutely fantastic camera. Nice and small, and it takes great pics. Supposedly the fastest autofocus on the planet.
http://amzn.to/1lG3AOY

Sony a5100
http://amzn.to/1lG4awi

Panasonic G7. I have this camera and I absolutely love it. It shoots 4k video too. I paid $850 for mine. The price has come down a ton in just a few short months.
http://amzn.to/1R2huqw

Panasonic lx100. Small, compact, fantastic photos and 4k video. Kinda hard to handle, but it's got a great lens on it. No interchangeable lens on this.
http://amzn.to/1R2ipXZ


I've owned the Canon EOS M. I didn't like it, and I don't imagine the M3 is much better. I don't like it, other than how small it is, and that it's mirrorless. Slow autofocus, hard to handle, and I don't care for the pics it takes. If you MUST have a Canon and you want a mirrorless, this is supposedly the best option. The M10 is brand new, and it's the cheaper little brother to the M3. Canon is falling behind in the technology race, and desperately trying to catch up. They're 3 years late. Panasonic and Sony are destroying them.
http://amzn.to/1lG3Sp9
 

RogueJeepr

Here!
Location
Utah
Cool thanks for the info . Im not dead set on Cannon . Im just not all updated about the new stuff coming out.
As far as the photography im intested in . Id just like to get something to last me a few years for my trip reports and id like to get that elusive night star shot ive always wanted to do.

Video ; I guess I beter get something with that, cause my current gear im sure is outdated . A Sony Handycam DCR-HC36 with a seperate wide angle lens I bought at the time. Also my Midland XTC action cam that I still use for "go-pro" type of stuff.

My budget is $4-500 and maybe 600 if I push it.
My woman bought me that Fujifilm finepix S 2 years ago. Which was cool to get back into manual mode type pics I remember from my photog class way back in high school but I want more. 8 second shutter speed dosent cut it for me.
Black friday should have a good deal. So I'll keep an eye on those you posted or any other you suggest . Thanks again steve.
 
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Rock Taco

Well-Known Member
Location
Sandy
I picked up a Sony a7sii last month and I'm absolutely loving it for video. I'm a little dissappointed with the lack of native lenses from sony, but with adapters, I'm able to run just about any lens on the planet.

Steve could you elaborate about the lenses and what lenses do you recommend? I have been thinking of going mirror-less mostly due to the more compact size. I was looking at the a6000 the other day at best buy.



What's your budget? What type of photography are you interested in? Do you need interchangeable lenses, or are you ok with a great camera with a great built-in lens? Are you sold on the Canon brand? Are you interested in video, or just photos?

The costco link is a better deal. I highly recommend a touch, articulated screen, unless you're trying to get as small as possible. The SL1 doesn't have an articulating screen. My buddy has one. It takes decent pics, and it's small for a DSLR, but I'd rather have a mirrorlesss camera. I'll bet in 5 years, 95% of all prosumer cameras are mirrorless.


Here are a few that I like:

Sony a6000 (mirrorless). This is an absolutely fantastic camera. Nice and small, and it takes great pics. Supposedly the fastest autofocus on the planet.
http://amzn.to/1lG3AOY

Sony a5100
http://amzn.to/1lG4awi

Panasonic G7. I have this camera and I absolutely love it. It shoots 4k video too. I paid $850 for mine. The price has come down a ton in just a few short months.
http://amzn.to/1R2huqw

Panasonic lx100. Small, compact, fantastic photos and 4k video. Kinda hard to handle, but it's got a great lens on it. No interchangeable lens on this.
http://amzn.to/1R2ipXZ


I've owned the Canon EOS M. I didn't like it, and I don't imagine the M3 is much better. I don't like it, other than how small it is, and that it's mirrorless. Slow autofocus, hard to handle, and I don't care for the pics it takes. If you MUST have a Canon and you want a mirrorless, this is supposedly the best option. The M10 is brand new, and it's the cheaper little brother to the M3. Canon is falling behind in the technology race, and desperately trying to catch up. They're 3 years late. Panasonic and Sony are destroying them.
http://amzn.to/1lG3Sp9

If you are interested in seeing the a6000 in person best buy has them.

I also have been looking at some different reviews. http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/15/9326599/best-mirrorless-camera-2015-sony-fujifilm-nikon-olympus
 

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
That's a great article you posted.

Steve could you elaborate about the lenses and what lenses do you recommend? I have been thinking of going mirror-less mostly due to the more compact size. I was looking at the a6000 the other day at best buy.

Lens selection depends entirely on budget and the type of photography you'll be doing. Keep in mind, although I've done a lot of research lately, I am not the expert on these things. Now, if we're talking DSLRs and Mirrorless Cameras strictly for video, then I know quite a bit, but I'm behind on the photography side. I'm 100% sold on mirrorless technology. There's no need for a mirror these days, the tech has caught up. They're lighter, smaller, have fewer moving parts, and you can use more lenses on them.
 
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Rock Taco

Well-Known Member
Location
Sandy
That's a great article you posted.

Lens selection depends entirely on budget and the type of photography you'll be doing. Keep in mind, although I've done a lot of research lately, I am not the expert on these things. Now, if we're talking DSLRs and Mirrorless Cameras strictly for video, then I know quite a bit, but I'm behind on the photography side. I'm 100% sold on mirrorless technology. There's no need for a mirror these days, the tech has caught up. They're lighter, smaller, have fewer moving parts, and you can use more lenses on them.

I'm mostly just doing outdoor photography and some night shots. I am also interested in doing video of my adventures. I'm sure you are still more informed than me. What is the limiting factor on the sony lenses? What are you using for an lens adapter.
 

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Here's the easy answer:

1) Get a lens with the smallest f-stop number you can afford.

2) Get a camera with the biggest sensor you can afford.

3) It's better to have a mediocre camera with a great lens, than a great camera with a mediocre lens.

4) It's the artist, not the paintbrush.
 

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Here's a quick guide to camera terminology. You NEED to understand all this to be a decent photographer. It took me a while. When you do get a camera, I recommend only shooting in manual for the first month or two 'till you understand how everything interacts.

[video=youtube;Nzn6yKTVcfs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzn6yKTVcfs[/video]
 

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Here's how to read and understand lenses.

[video=youtube;0Y4D4_vaUx4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y4D4_vaUx4[/video]


Most people are after the shallow depth of field look, or bokeh. Like this:
Josefina_with_Bokeh.jpg


The girl is in focus, and the background is blurry. That's a shallow depth of field. The area that's in focus is shallow, like 4-8 inches max.

There are 4 ways to get a blurrier background.

1) Use the largest aperture you can on your lens (smallest f-stop number). The larger the aperture, the shallower the depth of field. There are lots of articles online that explain this far better than I could. Anything with an F 2.0 or smaller (f 1.4, etc) is considered a "fast" lens. Don't ask me why they refer to large apertures as "fast", but it is what it is.

2) Put more distance between your subject and your background. This applies to settings with an f-stop below 5 we'll say. The more distance there is between your subject and the background, the blurrier it'll be. Kind of like focusing binoculars, where something close requires a much different focus knob position than something far away.

3) Get closer to your subject.

4) Get a camera with a larger sensor (while using a large aperture). Cameras with larger sensors get an even shallower depth of field. Most cameras in your price range are either micro 4/3 (also called MFT), or APS-C (1.5-1.6 crop factor). To understand crop factor, you'll have to read some articles online, I don't know how to explain it quickly or easily.

Here's a fantastic video on the topic:
[video=youtube;mP1ubIs2vQg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP1ubIs2vQg[/video]


Ok. Even if you don't want bokeh in your shots, you're still going to want a faster lens because it allows more light to hit your sensor. If you're doing astrophotography, you want as much light to hit the sensor as possible, since the milky way is so dim.

So, a fast lens, like a 50mm f1.4, can be used at lots of different aperture settings, but the largest aperture is f1.4. So you can still use this lens at f8 or f16 if you want everything in focus. I didn't do a great job explaining this, but I don't have time at the moment to go any deeper.
 

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
What is the limiting factor on the sony lenses?

I'm not sure what you mean by "limiting factor." Sony lenses cost a little more money than their Canon counterpart. If you have a Sony camera, it's nice to have a Sony lens, so you don't have to run an adapter. Sony, canon, tamron, sigma, tokina, nikon, rokinon, etc. all make fantastic lenses. Unfortunately it's not as easy as just saying "all canon lenses are better than all nikon lenses." Learn to read the specs of a lens and understand what they mean. Then read a ton of reviews on bhphotovideo.com.


What are you using for an lens adapter.
Currently I'm only using native lenses. That means sony-compatible lenses with my sony camera. In the past I've used a metabones adapter (super expensive), and a fotodiox PRO. I prefer the fotodiox for the price. Adapters make autofocus slower, and it's just one more piece between your lens and your sensor. So, if you want to shoot canon lenses on your sony, you can use the Fotodiox, but at that point, I'd probably recommend buying a canon just so you don't need to use an adapter.

If you're shooting with an APS-C or MFT camera, you can also get a speed booster or lens turbo, which is a pretty cool device, but quite expensive. It turns "slow" lenses into "faster" lenses.
 
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RogueJeepr

Here!
Location
Utah
Ive been leaning towards that Panasonic G7 . It looks like Ritz has more for the same price.
http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/PNDMCG7KKKIT1.htm

We'll see what tomorrow brings or maybe even cyber monday .

I'll be hanging onto my sony handycam for some dirty work and it has great night vision.

BTW; what do you think about the 14-42 lens steve ? Maybe one day I'll get a 100-300 lens .
 
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