Random Picture Thread...(part II) - Page 20

Stew_Matthews · #**286** 01-14-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuzeQuze

Did you get the camera for Christmas? I have an old Canon EOS film camera and will eventually upgrade to the digital. Why did you choose the 5D over the Rebel? I agree the pics are really good.

I didn’t get any Christmas presents or birthday presents

.

The Canon EOS 5D wasn’t a particular choice. I had a couple of Canon EOS 30D cameras that I used and a NikonD40. I really like the Canon cameras, though with the SLR’s, it is the lenses that make the difference rather than the camera bodies, so that‘s where to spend the cash. The EOS5D was a gift from work and I subsequently bought an EOS20D in Shanghai last Autumn and that is the camera I prefer. The pics above use the lens kit, but with a more appropriate lens and filter, the 5D photos look like this (all Iran) -

Much clear than the earlier set.

Oh an EOS5D costs $US 600 at the Shanghai factory now and that is with lenses. You don’t get a receipt of course. Orders taken (from people I like

!)

ps - I was joking about my presents - I'm celebrating on Friday when I get home - just in case anybody felt compelled to go out and buy me one

.

Betsy · #**287** 01-14-2008, 07:04 PM

^^^

I just found these photos ---

I watch video on the news, but to see your photos makes the place less abstract.

It is not everyday you see a camel, sitting down and taking a break. (Unless, you're "Stew Mathews"....)

Stew_Matthews · #**288** 01-14-2008, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Betsy

^^^

I just found these photos ---

I watch video on the news, but to see your photos makes the place less abstract.

It is not everyday you see a camel, sitting down and taking a break. (Unless, you're "Stew Mathews"....)

Cool - glad you like them!

Sadly the camel was dying - there were hundreds down the beach. There is a myth that camels can go ages without drinking water. If they get fresh grass/palms everyday, they can last about 3 weeks without water. If they eat dry food they can't manage much more than 6 days. Unfortunately the lights of the refinery draw them and in desperation they drink the sea water and don't last too long after that.

Iran is a beautiful country and I've enjoyed working there, but like most educated people I can't reconcile the way in which women are treated. I respect many aspects of Iranian life (it has been a real wonder to visit Tehran and the mosques) but don't agree that women are in any way subservient to men.

Betsy · #**289** 01-14-2008, 09:50 PM

Stew Mathews:

Sadly the camel was dying - there were hundreds down the beach. There is a myth that camels can go ages without drinking water. If they get fresh grass/palms everyday, they can last about 3 weeks without water. If they eat dry food they can't manage much more than 6 days. Unfortunately the lights of the refinery draw them and in desperation they drink the sea water and don't last too long after that.

Iran is a beautiful country and I've enjoyed working there, but like most educated people I can't reconcile the way in which women are treated. I respect many aspects of Iranian life (it has been a real wonder to visit Tehran and the mosques) but don't agree that women are in any way subservient to men.

The "life education" you are getting, speaks volumes.

I would love to hear more commentary...with or without pictures. I hope you find the time.

What I find frightening is the talk ... that before he leaves office, our leader would like to "visit" Iran ... and the word "visit", is a euphemism...

Lisa1769 · #**290** 01-14-2008, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

and a NikonD40.

The clarity of your pictures is unreal. Very crisp and clear. Nice Job!

About a year ago I got the Nikon D40 Digital SLR and I really don't care for it all that much. Maybe I'm just not using it to its full potential. It takes some nice shots, but my old camera(stupid tree log) took better and it was half the price.

I'm ready to add a lense and tried some out at Best Buy and still was unimpressed. I'm wanting a good zoom lense for it. Any suggestions???? I tried 2 kind, one was around 250 and the other 800 and couldn't tell much difference.

Gypsy-Rhiannon · #**291** 01-15-2008, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

I didn’t get any Christmas presents or birthday presents

.

The Canon EOS 5D wasn’t a particular choice. I had a couple of Canon EOS 30D cameras that I used and a NikonD40. I really like the Canon cameras, though with the SLR’s, it is the lenses that make the difference rather than the camera bodies, so that‘s where to spend the cash. The EOS5D was a gift from work and I subsequently bought an EOS20D in Shanghai last Autumn and that is the camera I prefer. The pics above use the lens kit, but with a more appropriate lens and filter, the 5D photos look like this (all Iran) -

Much clear than the earlier set.

Oh an EOS5D costs $US 600 at the Shanghai factory now and that is with lenses. You don’t get a receipt of course. Orders taken (from people I like

!)

ps - I was joking about my presents - I'm celebrating on Friday when I get home - just in case anybody felt compelled to go out and buy me one

.

More great pictures. I take it $600 is a lot less than I would pay for a camera like that over here?? I'd love a decent camera but not sure I would know what to do with it!

SuzeQuze · #**292** 01-15-2008, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

I didn’t get any Christmas presents or birthday presents

.

The Canon EOS 5D wasn’t a particular choice. I had a couple of Canon EOS 30D cameras that I used and a NikonD40. I really like the Canon cameras, though with the SLR’s, it is the lenses that make the difference rather than the camera bodies, so that‘s where to spend the cash. The EOS5D was a gift from work and I subsequently bought an EOS20D in Shanghai last Autumn and that is the camera I prefer. The pics above use the lens kit, but with a more appropriate lens and filter, the 5D photos look like this (all Iran) -

Much clear than the earlier set.

Oh an EOS5D costs $US 600 at the Shanghai factory now and that is with lenses. You don’t get a receipt of course. Orders taken (from people I like

!)

ps - I was joking about my presents - I'm celebrating on Friday when I get home - just in case anybody felt compelled to go out and buy me one

.

That camera does a good job of getting different areas of brightness to come out with detail. Or did you manually meter for that? I have a couple of Canon lenses which is why I will go with them when I get the digital SLR. I have the standard one and also a 100 to 300mm zoom.

I agree, keep the pics and commentary coming if you get a chance. And I was thinking of sending a card or something! Haha, you had me for a minute there.

Stew_Matthews · #**293** 01-20-2008, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa1769

I'm ready to add a lense and tried some out at Best Buy and still was unimpressed. I'm wanting a good zoom lense for it. Any suggestions????

When I used a Nikon a lot I had a Nikon 200mm f4.0 D ED IF Lens. It is pretty reliable and was really good for taking photos of things that were particularly small – flowers, insects etc. What were you going to use it for?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuzeQuze

That camera does a good job of getting different areas of brightness to come out with detail. Or did you manually meter for that?

Normally I manually set the camera. There are two ‘tricks of the trade’ that make the photos look better than they actually are. Firstly I almost always use a wide angle lens (Canon 14mm f2.8 USM II), not on an excessive setting but enough to get more image into the photo than a normal camera would. The pic at the mosque that I posted is a good example of how I lengthened the vertical view – more than you could with a normal lens. Here is a smaller image of it - you can see better at this size how I lengthened the shot.

The other thing I do is to use polarizing filters. I use one to take off reflected light. That creates the crystal clear view if you take a photo on a bright day. It just removes all reflected light, the glare you often see with the human eye. Again with the pic above the white marble created a haze so I removed it with the filter. On the pic above I also added a second filter to change the colour of the sky. I have a filter that has the effect of making the colour blue darker. The sky was actually light blue but as you can see I made it darker because I knew the white building would look better against a darker sky colour. The final thing, I usually focus the camera on the left as our eyes usually view things left to right.

So it’s all trickery really

carrie721 · #**294** 01-20-2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

I didn’t get any Christmas presents or birthday presents

.

The Canon EOS 5D wasn’t a particular choice. I had a couple of Canon EOS 30D cameras that I used and a NikonD40. I really like the Canon cameras, though with the SLR’s, it is the lenses that make the difference rather than the camera bodies, so that‘s where to spend the cash. The EOS5D was a gift from work and I subsequently bought an EOS20D in Shanghai last Autumn and that is the camera I prefer. The pics above use the lens kit, but with a more appropriate lens and filter, the 5D photos look like this (all Iran) -

stew! i should poke around here more often. do you prefer the 20D to the 30D? i would miss the spot metering.

Quote:

this one's my favorite. lovely.

Stew_Matthews · #**295** 01-20-2008, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrie721

do you prefer the 20D to the 30D? i would miss the spot metering.

spot metering - well 99% of the site will be baffled now!

The 5D is probably the best camera but I really love taking photos of people and the 20D is best for that for me. Yes I sometimes have a few problems when the subject is backlit because I don't have spot metering but I use a filter to try and help. Your work has more detail in it usually than mine and a number of your photographs such as the seeds photo, have interesting lighting in them. I agree you need spot metering to make such a success of those.

You may have seen these elsewhere but this is what I'm interested in and all of them were taken on the 20D. The one of me ( No4 not No2

) was done on auto.

carrie721 · #**296** 01-20-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

spot metering - well 99% of the site will be baffled now!

The 5D is probably the best camera but I really love taking photos of people and the 20D is best for that for me. Yes I sometimes have a few problems when the subject is backlit because I don't have spot metering but I use a filter to try and help. Your work has more detail in it usually than mine and a number of your photographs such as the seeds photo, have interesting lighting in them. I agree you need spot metering to make such a success of those.

good point, we do have different styles. oh, and i really like the 5D b/c of the full sized sensor.

Quote:

You may have seen these elsewhere but this is what I'm interested in and all of them were taken on the 20D. The one of me ( No4 not No2

) was done on auto.

i really like your black & whites. i think b&w is hard to do with digital, so often they end up looking sterile and lacking the character of film. here are a couple of mine i'm pleased with tho, i've recently started fiddling with the channel mixer after converting:

and here are a couple others from a while back i haven't gotten around to posting:

Stew_Matthews · #**297** 01-20-2008, 06:52 PM

^^^^^

Really good job. I like the two coloured ones particularly, the last one is outstanding. What a beautiful location, a photographer's dream.

Look after yourself - and really nice pictures indeed.