Novemeber 2008 Photo Thread!

[Lepperfish]

which lens dingus?

[siddr20]

Whats dingus??

Bought a sigma 17-70mm for my europe trip

Plus to also upgrade that stock kit lens

Edited November 24, 2008 by siddr20

[mad082]

i didn't take these pictures, the missus did.

haven't been edited either. camera is a canon 400d with the standard 18-55 lense or whatever the shorter lense is that comes in the twin lense kit.

[siddr20]

great start I like the concept!!

Tell her to bring down her iso to 100 - no idea to bring it to 1600

Also tell her to try it at f8 - sweet spot for the stock kit lens at night time!! Also the stars in the light will come out really nicely!!

Another tip with stock kit lens - If she is using a tripod then turn IS Off.

Eg) Lights shining like stars:

Pic taken at f8, iso 100 - with stock kit lens (18-55)

Edited November 25, 2008 by siddr20

[ZENNON]

Another tip with stock kit lens - If she is using a tripod then turn IS Off.

not that I own any IS (or VR for the Nikon people) lenses but why do you say that?

[siddr20]

Because if you got IS on with the lens attached to the tripod the lens will be thinking still that i gotta make sure the image is stabilized. But the lens is already stable on the tripod already. So it tries to correct even tho its not needed. So images become blurry and sharpness is lost.

Also the earlier versions of the stock kit lens states in the manual not to use IS with tripod.

I hope this helps

Also if you do turn IS off and are using a tripod its best to have a shutter release cable, or use the 30 sec timer.

How do i know? i experienced it first hand. All my images were soft and i hated it. I posted a help topic on canon forums and i was told to turn it off. My images drastically improved!!

The stabilizer system compensates for motion by "floating" some of the elements in the opposite direction of dectected movement. If there is no movement, the IS system introduces it

Edited November 25, 2008 by siddr20

[barnoon]

that looks real good sidd nice and clear, love the orion pic too

[siddr20]

Cheers dave

I love using the stock kit lens at night..

But i just bought my self a sigma lens!! cant wait till i use it in europe!! so excited lol

[dodgsun]

recent night excursion

[Basti]

great start I like the concept!!

Tell her to bring down her iso to 100 - no idea to bring it to 1600

Also tell her to try it at f8 - sweet spot for the stock kit lens at night time!! Also the stars in the light will come out really nicely!!

Another tip with stock kit lens - If she is using a tripod then turn IS Off.

Eg) Lights shining like stars:

Pic taken at f8, iso 100 - with stock kit lens (18-55)

interesting. man i gotta update my pic thread. no photoshop and just fnished exams means i have a lot of photo's to process

[mad082]

great start I like the concept!!

Tell her to bring down her iso to 100 - no idea to bring it to 1600

Also tell her to try it at f8 - sweet spot for the stock kit lens at night time!! Also the stars in the light will come out really nicely!!

Another tip with stock kit lens - If she is using a tripod then turn IS Off.

Eg) Lights shining like stars:

Pic taken at f8, iso 100 - with stock kit lens (18-55)

i just looked through the pics we took earlier. we took some pics while it wasn't as dark with it on 100 ISO and f4 and they were pretty dark. i will post some up in a second. so sorry to say, using your settings the pictures would've turned out like shit without having a 30 second shutter time.

and i have ordered a shutter release cable. now i am trying to track down an AC adapter cable so that i don't have to use the battery when i have it plugged into the computer.

[mad082]

ISO 100

f4

8 second shutter

27mm focal length

ISO 1600

f4

4 second shutter

27mm focal length

these pictures were taken within about 30 seconds of each other, the darker one first. the second pic pretty much shows how dark it was actually when the picture was taken. it may have been a touch darker. when all those other pics i posted up were taken it was much much darker than in these pictures. so remembering that having the apeture at 8 would've made the first picture even darker than it is wouldn't mean a shutter speed of close to 30 seconds to get a picture anything like the second one. since on ISO 100 it already had twice the shutter time and was still much darker.

and your picture had a shutter time of 32 seconds, but you had a shorter focal length, but were also taking pictures of bright lites. we were taking pictures of lightning where you were only seeing the light reflecting off the clouds. there were no visible strikes. and the only lights were a street light and a car going past.

[siddr20]

Yes but you are shooting lights of oncoming traffic or traffic going away from you.

If you would have shot a car going past in the first pic it would have a more dramatic feel to it. That is the surroundings would be dark while the subject (car lights) would have been in focus and bright.

This is what i was trying to achieve: Its not at f8, but i took this pic last year when i got into photography.. didnt know f8 was the sweet spot..

Also i should mention that it was pretty dark down there. Dont be fooled with those lights..

All im saying is for the stock kit lens the sweet spot is at f8. You can ask anyone on the canon forums if you wish.

Im just saying there is no need to shoot at such high iso.

The shutter release cable will deff help.. but im guessing you didnt have it so you had to shoot at high iso..

But i can understand what you are saying by the first pic is dark..

NOW in regards to IS turned on or off issue on tripod. (no editing in these pics at all - that is no photoshop work.. yes i know its not straight, i blame the tripod)

Here is a pic with it turned ON at f13, 52 seconds

Here is a pic of it turned OFF AND at f8, 57 seconds

I got told by at least 20 people on the canon forums to try it at f8, turn off IS on tripod and do mirror lock(but i didnt do that as i didnt know how to on my old 350d)

Anyways i dont want this to turn into a fight..

Im just suggesting and recommending to use f8 at night time, have a shutter release cable, and use iso 100. Use bulb mode too

Here is another pic taken at f8:

My friends s15 (took this ages ago with my old camera)

My car (took this ages ago too)

under the bridge!! I got hundreds of these shots at f8

I got plenty more

there were no visible strikes. and the only lights were a street light and a car going past.

Here is a pic taken into pitch black!! NO street lights or a car light etc etc.. Check exif data if you wanna know the time the pic was taken..

Also taken at f8.. but with a very long exposure.. its noisy already at iso 100.. so imagine iso 1600

ANYWAYS all good man..

Each to their own..

Like i said earlier i like the concept and as a veiwer/photographer i would have like to seen the surroundings darker while the main focus of the subject is the car trail lights!!

Exactly like this: http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/3480/storm8nc8.jpg

I like this photo.. Just saying i wish it was a tad darker..

Edited November 26, 2008 by siddr20

[ZENNON]

mad082 if the photo is too dark just leave the lens open longer - dont crank up the ISO

(higher ISO = higher noise)

ps. above statement asumes you are using tripod (if you are shooting hand held you have to crank up ISO sometimes as you cant stand there holding camera for ages)

[siddr20]

Yup if you dont have a tripod then shoot at high iso..

but im assuming he had a tripod coz he took pics at 8 sec exposures..

Anyways all good

ZENNON - can you see the difference with IS turned on and off in the pics up above??

Im not to sure if its the same for your stock nikon lens?

I know some lens have the option of IS modes on and off on tripods..

[Sl!m]

and you can see the tripod in the shadows of the photos..

so .. Canon EOS 450D Body for $850..or Canon 40D for $1,095.00 should I or shouldnt I? lol

[Lepperfish]

40D absolutley man!!! it shits over the 450D..

[Sl!m]

*strokes beard

I dont .. need.. it... but I sure would like it.. lol

[ZENNON]

ZENNON - can you see the difference with IS turned on and off in the pics up above??

not really no - how about next time your out you do a test - take the exact same pic - one with IS on and one with it off

and then upload full res copies so we can compare

Im not to sure if its the same for your stock nikon lens?

No idea

[mad082]

well i will drag the camera out tonight if it isn't raining and have a play around and see how they turn out.