Your gear. The good and the bad.

KNAPPO · Post by **KNAPPO** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:29 pm

What a score!

MADCAP · Post by **MADCAP** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:28 pm

GUYS TRIPOD TRIPOD TRIPOD, i seen good comment son the MANFROTTO 190XPROB - what do you guys use and why?

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:45 am

Slik here.. it was cheaper than a Manfrotto and for the money you got a better tripod... It got put through three years of hell at uni.. chucked around on a daily basis, and survived.

http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod2534.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Think I paid a fair bit more than that for it when I bought it.

markus · Post by **markus** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:19 am

I've got a Gitzo

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:07 am

MADCAP wrote:GUYS TRIPOD TRIPOD TRIPOD, i seen good comment son the MANFROTTO 190XPROB - what do you guys use and why?

I looked at the 190XPROB & decided it was a bit flimsy for my needs & also a touch too short.

Emjay & I both use 055XPROBs with 3 way heads & we're really happy with them.

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:04 am

avro707c wrote: So I use a Wimberley Tripod Head version 2. It's a good combination, robust tripod and the gimbal head is also very tough.

Very nice. It's on my list but my list is huge & instead of shrinking it keeps growing.

Ah, I thought the grease from my 3 way head was just me.

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:13 pm

Emjay & I shoot a lot of gymnastics where the lighting is terrible but the subject is moving fairly predictably.
We shoot at 4000 iso & f/2.8 to get a shutter speed of between 1/250th & 1/400th. We definitely can't go lower than 1/250....a D3S would be nice but we have too much invested in lenses to change brands.
We're very keen for the new 1DSs when they are released.....shouldn't be too long now.

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:43 pm

Picked up a few bits and pieces the last few days for my trip over to Thailand/Laos. Among them are two sandisk 16GB CF cards, a 77mm B+W 10 stop ND filter, smaller and lighter Manfrottto tripod, and my fave... A new bag... Lowepro Dryzone 200AW. It is a fully waterproof bag, submersible. And will float with 30lb of camera gear in it. It's basically a dry bag with a backpack built around it. Only downside is the REALLY tough and hard to move zip for the dry bag bit. But you can leave that undone unless your going on boats or it starts to pelt down with rain. Was an expensive bag, but considering the cost of replacing my gear, I see it as worth while. It's a kickass bag regardless of it being waterproof.

J.D. · Post by **J.D.** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 2:25 pm

DexterPunk wrote:smaller and lighter Manfrottto tripod

For posterity!

I thought you were a Slik fanboi...

Post by **Big Kev** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:13 am

Just got this.
Found a great site that does grey imports and saved £200 over the high street stores.

First pic.....

Post by **norbs** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:47 am

Nice job Kev. Cracking lens that. If I was still right into photography I would be saving my pennies for it.

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:57 am

Yep, great lens & cool shot. Damn macro photography is hard.
That lens can also be a really nice portrait lens.

Post by **norbs** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:02 am

Speed wrote:Yep, great lens & cool shot. Damn macro photography is hard.
That lens can also be a really nice portrait lens.

It would be a lot easier with stabilising though. Wish my 100mm had IS.

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:29 am

norbs wrote:It would be a lot easier with stabilising though. Wish my 100mm had IS.

Indeed.

KNAPPO · Post by **KNAPPO** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:27 pm

I've wanted a Bluetooth or wifi enabled dslr for a while now but this might be the next best thing. Wifi enabled memory cards.

http://digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/ca ... dm1Jun2012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:37 pm

That's pretty cool.

Nice lens too, Kev. I love my 100mm macro, even for everyday shooting it's a ripper. Some of the best shots I got in Laos were using it. I too wish I had the IS version. I always thought it was only a whisker short of being called an L series lens. I'd say mainly due to the lack of weather sealing. The image quality is certainly wonderful.

Sent from Han Solo using TK-421's phone.

Duke · Post by **Duke** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:16 pm

As I stated in another thread I'm now an owner of a DSLR, my 1st. Got myself a Canon 60D (free with frequent flyer points). Canon was my only choice as I already owned an old EOS300 SLR so had lenses to suit as per below.
Haven't been shooting with a SLR for ages so some re-education on the basics of photography will be the 1st step.
The best thing about the extended lay-off will be that I don't have to try transition between the old & the new body as the 60D is bloody daunting as it is, with all the menus & options in it.

EOS 60D.JPG

Body : Canon 60D (ordered the battery grip for it Fri as well)

Lenses : Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-S IS II (came as a kit with the body)

Canon 28-90mm f/4-5.6 EF USM II (from my old EOS300 kit bag)

Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 EF USM III (from my old EOS300 kit bag)

Canon 50mm f/1.8 EF II (borrowed from my Bro-in-Law on norbs advice)

Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 (won't see much action now given I have the range in the EF-S lens)

Bag : Lowepro BeltPack Camera Bag like this Outback 100 model (holds all my Canon gear)

Tripod : Manfrotto 190Nat (nature series, green colour) with 222 joystick quick release head.

Monopod : Manfrotto 276B Junior

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:54 pm

60d is a great entry level dSLR. not really a fair comparison to what you're using.

J.D. · Post by **J.D.** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:56 pm

I think the Blunderbuss (300mm f/2.8 ) has carked it. That one isn't really repairable any more either.

At least I've still got the Battleaxe (500mm f/4).

J.D. · Post by **J.D.** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:03 pm

Cheers mate. Yeah, it was disappointing.

Aren't CF cards still faster than SD?

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Wed May 01, 2013 9:58 am

Emjay bought me a CamRanger a couple of weeks ago for tethering wirelessly to my iPad.
It's seriously handy. I shot 15 basketball teams a couple of days ago & being able to review the images immediately & to show the teams if I wanted them to make any changes, was invaluable.
When I do team photos I usually average about two or three head swaps per team in editing. Being able to show the teams & in particular the individuals who like to be smart, meant that I averaged less than one head swap per team.
It's also great for portrait shoots for the same reason. Being able to show the model what they are doing & help them make adjustments is too cool.

Late last year I bought 5 x 640W Einstein lights with Cyber Commander (to adjust them remotely with a handheld meter) & Vagabond batteries for outdoor shoots, to replace my aging Bowens setup, & although the Oz distributor is massively disorganized, the lights are awesome. The batteries weigh less than 2 kilos each & are good for over 200 full powered shots.

Edit: tethering not thethering.

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Wed May 01, 2013 11:08 am

Sounds great speed. I could do with some decent lights.

Sent from Han Solo using TK-421's phone.

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Thu May 02, 2013 11:25 pm

The Einsteins are great much as I hate to say it......the Australian Distributors, 1st Line Digital, are honestly the worst company I have dealt with in all my life.

The colour temperature of the strobes remains constant regardless of the power setting & the flash duration is 1/13,000ths at low power settings.
And of course the batteries are compact & light weight so I can shoot anywhere with them.

DexterPunk · Post by **DexterPunk** » Fri May 03, 2013 12:37 am

That's fairly fast. Is that t=0.5 or 0.1?

Sent from Han Solo using TK-421's phone.

Speed · Post by **Speed** » Fri May 03, 2013 11:53 am

t = 0.1

The colour remains exactly the same in constant colour mode.
In Action mode the speeds are faster but the colour changes slightly.....still, the colour is given on the digital display on the light.

Capture.JPG

The lights also have 9 stops of range so you could use big apertures in studio. My last lights would power down enough & I don't like to use a ND filter if I don't have to.

A.R.S.E.