**Photography Chat** Version 1.0

phelan

Those food shots were taken in Indonesia. And if you saw their menu...yeah, I'd use my photos too

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kenchan

ha! wat is on the menu next? your shots are definitely professional grade!


indonesia... huh, ive not visited there. you should make menu's for them and sell 'em.

Nitex

Thanks ken! Long ways from anything that has "pro" in it. But im enrolling in the local CC for photography this fall.

Next up is a Nikon prime 50mm 1.2 manual focus. They have a 30year old used one thats cheap, would be really fun to play with. Much cheaper than the newer, and albeit better version for $724.


Phelan - Nice! i wondered where that was, what with all the mopeds

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HKYStormFront

here's a couple pics i took with the 85 f/1.2 L last year in savannah just for comparison. 50mm on a crop body will be about the same focal length since this was on my FF 5D camera:

son


father

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Patrick // 06 Frontier 6spd Nismosis // Mods: Uprev Tuned @ Z1 Motorsports: 257whp & 292 ft lbs
09 Pontiac G8 GXP // M6 // Sunroof // Tint... For now

k20z3

Good for you I have the 85mm 1.2 II as well, my permanent lens, the sex on lenses love it!!

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HKYStormFront

unfortunately i was only borrowing it from a friend. tho it is on my "want list" along with the 35L, 135L, and 200L

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Patrick // 06 Frontier 6spd Nismosis // Mods: Uprev Tuned @ Z1 Motorsports: 257whp & 292 ft lbs
09 Pontiac G8 GXP // M6 // Sunroof // Tint... For now

phelan

anybody have pointers on what to watch out for when purchasing used lenses?

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凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z
With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.

HKYStormFront

make sure the lens is in good condition (obviously). look for scratches/dents on the outside casing. if there are more than one or two marks it could have lived a rough life and be soft when focused. i would take your camera with you to buy the lens (if possible) and make sure the AF works and doesn't sound harsh. if a zoom lens, make sure it is smooth action completely through the zoom range. it's not unreasonable for a higher priced lens (let's say $500 and up) to ask the seller to take the lens to a local camera shop and have a 3rd party evaluation (which you can pay for) to be sure the quality of the product in question. also worth noting, L-glass in canon and nikon's top shelf lenses have such a good construction that i would be less hesitant to buy one used than a cheaper lens since it takes a good whack to do any real damage to one...

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Patrick // 06 Frontier 6spd Nismosis // Mods: Uprev Tuned @ Z1 Motorsports: 257whp & 292 ft lbs
09 Pontiac G8 GXP // M6 // Sunroof // Tint... For now

phelan

well i'm meeting with another seller off of craigslist (yeah i'm bargain hunting) for a BNIB SB-700 that he's letting go of, and he also has a nikkor 50mm f/1.4G on sale. i'm gonna bring my d5100 and attach both and make sure they work okay.

someone else was telling me to make sure the lens internals aren't messed up, but i've no idea what exactly to look for. i mean...unless it's a big mess, how are you going to tell if there's fungus and what not in there O_o;

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凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z
With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.

HKYStormFront

take both caps off and look down the barrel, if it looks weird or there are any cracks/spots, avoid buying it. 50 f/1.4's are pretty good lenses for nikon

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Patrick // 06 Frontier 6spd Nismosis // Mods: Uprev Tuned @ Z1 Motorsports: 257whp & 292 ft lbs
09 Pontiac G8 GXP // M6 // Sunroof // Tint... For now

Nitex

^ storm, excellent portraits. FF 5D never fails to amaze me, especially when mated to top quality glass.

I did notice a minor scratch on the glass of the used 50mm 1.2 and im sure thats why the price is low. I may just hold out for a new one.

Phelan - 50mm 1.4 gets great reviews. Also seems to be built well, and is G series glass!

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wilsonp

I like some of the pictures, but I think you might want to watch your verticals and horizons some - I'm personally not a fan of wierd angles in most pictures, such as the squirrel or some of the food shots (though I like the squirrel picture otherwise).

I was going to suggest considering the Sigma 105mm Macro 2.8 that I got for about half that price, but it looks like it was just replaced with a much more expensive model However, Tamron makes a couple of 90mm, 100mm macro lenses in Nikon format that are under $500 that might be worth considering.

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phelan

Yeah, after a couple hundred shots on vacation, by the time I hit Bali, I was being a little experimental. Thanks for the heads up though, appreciate it. It is rather jarring to see the ground at an angle.

If I'm taking a picture of a long table, though, is there a good way to frame the shot? That was a photo I put a lot of thought into, and nothing else came out quite as well. Here's the other one I took, I thought it was 'meh' (and yes I'm aware it needs work in more way than one! That's why I'm trying to learn...):


...I'm a bit of a nut with taking food photos. I used to run a little food blog, so I guess it's still an old habit; but now that I have a DSLR I can actually take half decent photos, not just point, shoot, hope it wasn't terrible.

Any input on taking better shots of food would be appreciated - I might even start the blog up again

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凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z
With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.

kenchan

Boost- nice shots of your friend's coupe!

phelan

Nice shots, first one seems a little too cold to me though

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凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z
With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.