A.R.S.E.

Awesome!! You gunna come diving with me?


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

Picked up a second hand GPS unit for my camera today

I was hoping to try out the Astrotracer function on it this evening, but there's cloud cover for as far as the eye can see

My plans to buy a Pancake lens were scuppered by a serious commission for some portraits that I should really do well (quite flattering to be asked given the number of photographers this guy must have dealt with) ... so I bought a load of miscellaneous Strobist gear (sync cable and boxes; umbrella/flash stand which fits to my seldom used tripod; and an umbrella). Renting a flash still because budget didn't quite stretch to a second hand one and I'm trying to live within my means at the moment - will complete the kit with my own flash in a month or two.

Happy to have got the gig, but kind of lucky my company didn't pay me on time or I'd have bought the Pancake lens and not had any money left in my Photography Savings for this stuff and had to bodge the portrait session, potentially badly. Sometimes these things work out strangely for the better ...

EDIT: Also ordered a Chinese flash that should get delivered on Monday. It was the same price as renting one locally and is for keeps. One of these:
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Found out about it here ... http://fstoppers.com/rebranded-lighting ... at-you-buy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; as the one they recommend you do buy, rather than the other one not to buy. Reviews on Amazon were also good enough to make it worth a punt. I'd have to return a rental flash, and for the same price I can use this one quite literally 'more than once'.

As the Good and Bad implies some form of verdict be taken on the gear ... I have to say I'm quietly impressed with the flash. It performed well off camera in Manual Mode. Recycling was quick and I've no complaints. For a cheap flash, it certainly does the job, and I'd recommend it as a first flash.

Recently acquired an Olympus E-P5 with 14-42mm kit lens.

So far, very impressed. Even the in-camera jpegs are good. I'm staying with raw though.

Good points:

On-board stabiliser absolutely rocks. The best I've ever used in a still camera
Excellent screen
Very high build quality
AF is dead on
MF assist is very good and includes focus peaking
Punchy colours

Not-so-good points:

Flash design is pants. Pops up too easily and drives me potty
Menu layout could be better implemented
Lenses are quite expensive
Rear screen is odd shape and covers are hard to get

I recently sold my Canon EF 17-40 f/4 to fund a Zuiko 12mm f/2 but it's a very expensive lens, almost as much as the Canon! I think I'm either going to have to buy 2nd hand or look at a different model, such as the 17mm f/1.8. Still hanging out the 12mm for the moment.

Now have a Zuiko 12mm f/2.

Noticed that the megapixelmonsterphone Nokia 1020 can be bought at a very reasonable price. So far I've just snapped away but yeah, I've had DSLRs that were not as capable :O

Shot-to-shot time is pretty weak and it does not excel in action photography (though neither does the Fuji X100S and it can do BMX quite well after bit of practice) but it's mind-boggling that you can get 7000x5000 (good) pixels out of a phone.


Click through for a full-res snapshot

How does it go in low light?


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

DexterPunk wrote:How does it go in low light?

Haven't done any real low light so far. Normal interior light levels, EV6'ish come out nicely. It does seem to rely on the stabilizer and favours low iso, low shutter speed as opposed to higher iso, faster shutter speed which would be nicer with my often moving subjects - the shutter speeds tend to go quite low if left auto.

Would be pretty impressive if it goes ok in low light without too much detail loss. I imagine the photosites would be quite small. I haven't really looked at it much, is it a Bayer array? Or something different altogether?


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

DexterPunk wrote:Would be pretty impressive if it goes ok in low light without too much detail loss. I imagine the photosites would be quite small. I haven't really looked at it much, is it a Bayer array? Or something different altogether?

It's a back-lighted CMOS. Huge sensor compared to point and shoots and cameraphones. Tiny compared to APS-C or Full-Frame, something like a 3rd of a four-thirds sensor, IIRC. No rewriting of physics so it doesn't do miracles

Still promising that it has a larger sensor!


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

As I wasn't poor this month, I picked up a 40mm pancake before I go to Portugal with Ana next week. Looking forward to using it properly, as I've not given it much of a run out in the past week ...

Back from the trip now and I must say I'm really pleased with the little lens, perfect for travelling light and enjoying yourself - light and small so you don't have to worry about it. The focal length is really nice too, in between 35mm and 50mm so it's wide enough without giving everything wide-angle treatment. Great for snapping people in the street as well with the small size making it much more discreet than a 24-70 or what-have-you. Camera feels really balanced with it as well because it's so small. AF is good too generally.

Flare resistance might be a worry for some, but that could have been due to no hood - I didn't mind too much as I was on holiday and based on the LCD, some of the flare effects I've got with it look really cool, one in particular.

In general, if you're looking for a lens to make your DSLR a bit lighter for every-day carry-round, this one's pretty great. Cheap and very cheerful. A happy camper.

Watch this space.

That probably goes for both of us.

A recent acquisition:



More to come.

10fps is like a bloody machine gun!!

Yep. I rarely use the high frames on the 1Dx but it's always good for shooting pretty girls and making them feel like a celeb.

Iphone because im poor and only 16 =c

DexterPunk wrote:Yep. I rarely use the high frames on the 1Dx but it's always good for shooting pretty girls and making them feel like a celeb.

Just shot photos of dancers on the weekend, and actually used burst the whole time. Went through about 2500 photos in an hour :/

I think it's the first time I've actually wanted to use burst properly.

Got a new 50mm lens ... well, new for me. Up at my mum/step-dad's found an old 35mm Yashica SLR ... doesn't work. 50mm lens off it with an adapter should do though, so ordered an adapter for when I get back to Spain. Looking forward to playing around with it. f/2 manual focus lens. Nothing stunning but for the price of a 15€ adapter, it's a new lens.

50mm Yashica is go ... camera thinks it's a 1.4 but it's not ... aperture is done using the aperture ring anyway so that's hardly important as I still get the exposure meter reading. Sharp in the centre but easily noticeably not so towards the edges ... I'm not that fussy on less sharpness and haven't shot a test chart in my life, but I've spotted it ... thought I'd missed focus on a shot, then recomposed with in-focus area at the centre and it was nice and sharp. Still, it didn't cost me anything other than the adapter.

Came into a bit of money and picked up a Black Friday deal on a Fuji X-Pro1 with 18mm f/2 and 27mm f/2.8 lenses for £500. I'm going to use this as a trial for the Fuji cameras while I'm down to just my 5DII, 40mm Pancake and adapted 50mm in terms of DSLR gear.

I'm excited about the 27mm lens - it's tiny, like a body cap. I reckon I could fit that and the camera in my coat pocket for climbing mountains where my Mum lives - might even be possible with the 18mm. Not possible with the 5D due to body size, even with the pancake lens - and the weight would be weird in a pocket. So even if I don't end up selling my DSLR, I'll have a great travel camera. Pretty much bi-winning.