Just ordered a Giottos blower through Adorama since I was ordering couple of things from there (and I've found stuff from Adorama gets delivered the next day due to the proximity of their store). Unfortunately, I've found the locals stores (at least the ones I've been to) to be rather lacking in most things, except for albums and picture frames. What I should have done is grabbed those things when I was at a Hunt's branch last week. I wish there was one (Hunt's branch) closer.

I used a hotshoe-to-PC-cord adapter to connect my IR-modified PowerShot G2 to a gigantic speedlite meant for large format film cameras. The flash was easily 4x the size of the camera. Unlike the current model G11, the 2001-vintage G2 had no trouble triggering the flash.

Trying out a new lens.

Haj bought an 85/1.8!

Haj bought an 85/1.8!

Yep.

It's used, but I got a decent deal on it and included the Canon hood.

Bit off topic, but do you have any suggestion on insurance for camera stuff? I thought about adding it under my homeowner's insurance but that only covers in case of theft or house collapsing (or something like that). I was suggested State Farm elsewhere but they do not appear to have an agent in the state.

Edited April 7, 201016 yr by Salt Peanuts

Raccoon City?

Raccoon City?

Believe it or not, that's our City Hall. The original City Hall is a lot nicer.

i'm going to be receiving my first CPU lens tomorrow or Friday, so i've been reading the manual for my camera. is it just me, or is it a hell of a lot easier to just run the lens manually instead of mastering all the different modes? i either want to control the image, or i want the camera to do it, i can't imagine wanting the camera to control everything but aperture, for instance. maybe i'm just too used to manual cameras, and will decide that the modes are useful.

I find shutter priority to me useful only in rare circumstances (any time I'm really concerned about shutter speed, I am shooting manual.) I use Program with shift fairly often, and aperture priority with all my manual lenses (my 30D does TTL metering on pretty much every lens I mount to it.) Av is "program mode" for manual glass.

Which ones you will find useful I cannot say. The D70's meter is quite different than the 30D's so there's not much overlap in knowledge. Certainly the more you shoot on full manual, the better your skills will develop.

I believe you are correct, Reks. All the Dx0 and Dx000 Nikon only meter with AF or AI-P lenses (i.e. CPU lenses). You need a Dx or Dx00 to meter non-CPU lenses.

it just seems weird, but maybe nobody is shooting fully manual anymore and i'm the weird one.

That's pretty much the way it is. About the only people shooting full manual these days are the ones who still use film and those doing medium & large format photography. And people who use Leicas. Nearly everyone who uses a DSLR shoots in some form of automatic mode, full manual DSLR users are exceedingly rare as far as I know.

Well, I got one of those Giottos Rocket-Air blower thingie today and after couple of blow from it, the specs on the viewfinder is gone.

That's pretty much the way it is. About the only people shooting full manual these days are the ones who still use film and those doing medium & large format photography. And people who use Leicas. Nearly everyone who uses a DSLR shoots in some form of automatic mode, full manual DSLR users are exceedingly rare as far as I know.

To each their own, I suppose. I shoot the D700 exclusively these days, and I split my time fairly evenly between the M and A modes. I always use manual when shooting with flash, as well as for most all tripod-mounted uses. I also often like to use manual mode when shooting handheld, controlling aperture for the desired depth of field, shutter speed to counteract camera and/or subject movement, letting the ISO float in Auto ISO mode. This has been the best method I've found, for fast moving action where there isn't really a second chance to get any particular shot.

To each their own, I suppose.

Indeed. And I think a lot of advanced amateurs and pros are probably used to older cameras auto modes that suck, whereas the new DSLRs in the same class nail it 99% of the time.

FWIW, I'm a very rank amateur who uses program mode with my D90. I set my camera so that ISO will increase automatically if the shutter speed drops below 1/50, but sometimes increase the ISO when shooting long. In this mode I can also increase or decrease the aperture with the command dial. Quick and easy, but the camera typically makes much better decisions than I do.

With respect to autofocus, the camera is much faster and much more accurate than I am, and it picks what I want to focus on very well. I can't imagine how difficult using manual focus all the time would be.

it's not difficult at all. it's how everybody took photos for most of the history of photography.

And what do you think their success rate of hitting a moving target was, compared to a modern DSLR?

These are two frames from the shoot I did on Thursday where my phone mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately, I was able to reclaim it the next day. I'm not entirely happy with the exposure on the second one. After monkeying with it in PS for entirely too long, I'm willing to call it "good enough."

Over the years, I have photographed this bridge an awful lot:

3 years ago, lomofied:

One of my favorite older shots:

5 years ago, days after I got my first digital camera:

Spent the weekend at the in-laws for my wife's baby shower and got to play around with my 85/1.8. It was bit long (136mm equivalent full frame) since there were so many people, which limited the space in which I could move around, but I definitely like the lens a lot. Speaking of manual and automatic, shot mostly at manual mode (with autofocus) so I can get better at choosing various settings.

Random observation - there were many, many cameras at the gathering (including a Rebel and a G11), and they were all Canons. I guess they're still doing very well in the compact P&S arena.

Are those shots at the Cincinnati Zoo, Reks? I'm pretty sure I've visited there (and the Columbus Zoo) almost two decades ago when was I living in Columbus. I wish the local zoos were better - they're rather mediocre.

And what do you think their success rate of hitting a moving target was, compared to a modern DSLR?

Better. Say you have a pro photographer at a football game. A modern photographer with a DSLR will shoot off something like 5000 shots and come up with maybe a dozen good ones which get circulated on the newswires and published in various forms both in print and on the web. 30-40 years ago the pro photographer would shoot off a few hundred frames and get maybe half a dozen publishable pictures.

i was rather fond of this one. those buggers wouldn't stand still.

It's quite difficult to bugger and stand still at the same time. I'm just sayin'...

Reks: nice pics!

Better. Say you have a pro photographer at a football game. A modern photographer with a DSLR will shoot off something like 5000 shots and come up with maybe a dozen good ones which get circulated on the newswires and published in various forms both in print and on the web. 30-40 years ago the pro photographer would shoot off a few hundred frames and get maybe half a dozen publishable pictures.

Yeah, I can see your point there, but that is more a factor of the DSLRs being able to run off 5000 pics with no sweat. If the DSLR user was being more selective and limiting themselves to the same amount of frames as the old film photographer, I think that the DSLR would definitely come out on top.

Not the sharpest pics, but I had fun trying catch them as they're airborne.

Nice! I grabbed this last year......

Would have been much nicer if the green guy wasn't in the shade, but considering the crowd I couldn't be too picky.

Picked up a S90 over the weekend. Hope to get in some shots over the weekend.

Mmmm, beer (and a macro lens, I take it?).

Your pics are making me want to replace our glassware, Reks.