Asking for help with camera choice

[Mark Hepburn]

I hope I'm not being too presumptuous here, also and not running afoul of the forum posting rules. I could use some help with camera selection.

Long story short: the Nikon D 3300 that I got was a refurbished from Amazon. However it simply would not focus correctly in any mode whatsoever so I sent it back. They're going to give me credit, and I have decided that I'm not going to buy a refurbished unit, but I knew one of some kind.

So I am awaiting credit and while I'm waiting I got to thinking, are there other options that might be better? Not really being knowledgeable about cameras, when I bought the Nikon I simply look for a good DSLR.

So I went into OCD mode and started researching and came up with some options I think might be good. So I'm posting not so somebody can validate my thoughts but to get me some real insight and options, and I know there are several of you guys who are professional, or very experienced and capable hobbyists.

I know this will seem like heresy to those of you, but my sole interest in photography is product shooting. But I DO want to have a clear and serious understanding of studio shooting to the extent that I can control the process. Thus, point-and-shoot and bridge cameras are out. I also don't care about video at all. I may never shoot closer than a couple feet or farther than ten. In a dedicated space with no window. Tripod mounted.

So, having gone through several days of research I have found several cameras but I would like to throw out there and hopefully get opinions. And if I'm headed down the wrong path, I'm all ears. Or eyes in this case.

The choices so far are:

DSLR
Nikon D3300. To replace the one I return, but I would buy new. It comes with an 18–55 kit lens.


MIRRORLESS

Canon EOS M3. Also with 18-55 kit lens

Sony a6000. With 16-50 lens

Olympus OM -DE M10 Mark II. With 14-42 R lens


ALl have an APS-C CMOS sensor.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[john lucas]

Well I'm not familiar with the other cameras at all. I've been a Nikon user since about 1978. I now have a D5200. I worked for a University as a photographer and my main job was photographing art work. For that purpose a camera with manual focus and manual exposure adjustment is all you really need. A good viewing image on the back is helpful. Just about everything else is done either with lighting or Photo shop.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Mark, I had 2 Minolta SLR before they bellied up and digital came in . Then 2 pocket cameras, the last an Olympus and it can do the job just maybe some editing. Now I am on my second Canon a T5 from Amazon (new). I had a refurb on the first and like you not again. The T5 will do anything you want to be done and gives quick options to change settings in each mode. I personally think DSLR is the way to go, but I am sure the others are probably good options too.

Don't forget you will need editing software and Canon comes with a pretty good set there too. For most cameras it is what you are comfortable with and since we are not pros it may be more about your setup as you have seen than the camera...........but boy that nice camera sure makes it easier.

 

[Bill Blasic]

Mark, My Rebel XT has now taken over 60 thousand pictures and is still chugging along. My Canon T2i has taken over 25 thousand now without problems. I'm having a ball with the Sony I bought from you, what did you not like about it?

 

[hockenbery]

Most of the photo journalists switched to Cannon in the early days of digital because the speed and quality of the canon was way ahead.
All the manufactures have caught up for what you want.
I think now all the digital cameras are going to give you a a good publish quality image of a still woodturning.
We use an EOS 7 paired with a 100-400 zoom it works great for wildlife photos. Might be the best wildlife setup for under $10k.

Last year we got an Olympus TG3 initially to take underwater snorkeling.
It would do nicely for woodturning photos to publish.
We used it for some of the photos published in the symposium handbook.
The current model is the TG-4

 

[Tom Cadwalader]

Mark, actually the Olympus camera you mentioned is a micro four thirds format. Which is something you may want to consider. I used to have a Canon 5D MKII and some very heavy and expensive lenses. I have switched to a much lighter and less expensive Olympus system. Picture quality of micro four third system is outstanding. Is it as good as full frame DSLR ? No certainly not. But I will never be doing bill board size prints, or anything of the type. I have had 16x 20 prints done and they are great.
For your needs a MFT system might be just the ticket and the cost and physical size will be much less.

 

[Justin Stephen]

Ask yourself what else you may be doing with your camera. You really don't need an amazing camera to take high-quality product stills. As Tom mentioned, you aren't going to be doing massive blowups.

I recently started shooting a lot of 4K video on trips instead of just photography and also got rather weary of hauling around a bunch of lenses and extra stuff when I travel, and I use the same camera for that as I do for my woodturning shots. I recently bought a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 which comes with a fixed Leica lens and goes down to F2.8 and shoots excellent 4K video while also shooting very good stills and have been very happy with the choice. My Canon 70D hasn't been out of the closet since I got it. So basically it is an excellent 4K camcorder and a very solid camera all in one. It is about the size of a compact DSLR and is light.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Well I'm not familiar with the other cameras at all. I've been a Nikon user since about 1978. I now have a D5200. I worked for a University as a photographer and my main job was photographing art work. For that purpose a camera with manual focus and manual exposure adjustment is all you really need. A good viewing image on the back is helpful. Just about everything else is done either with lighting or Photo shop.

John, thanks. I definitely need a good viewing image because of my eyesight. I truly was wondering if it was the camera that was out of focus or if it was me. Seriously. So the larger the image the better. I looked at the D5200 and it seems to be everything I'd want, with the bonus of an articulating display. I see that there are several other recommendations on this post but the Canons seem to be in the majority.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Mark, I had 2 Minolta SLR before they bellied up and digital came in . Then 2 pocket cameras, the last an Olympus and it can do the job just maybe some editing. Now I am on my second Canon a T5 from Amazon (new). I had a refurb on the first and like you not again. The T5 will do anything you want to be done and gives quick options to change settings in each mode. I personally think DSLR is the way to go, but I am sure the others are probably good options too.

Don't forget you will need editing software and Canon comes with a pretty good set there too. For most cameras it is what you are comfortable with and since we are not pros it may be more about your setup as you have seen than the camera...........but boy that nice camera sure makes it easier.

Gerald, I looked up the T5 and, as I mentioned to John about the D5200, it seems to be everything I need. I'm definitely not a pro, so comfort with the camera controls is huge for me. As to software, I use Photoshop CC and Lightroom. Boy do I HATE subscription software, but because of some special needs for work, I've opted for that instead of an older version.

I hadn't even considered anything other than a DSLR, but while researching those I stumbled upon the mirrorless and there's definitely some appeal to me. Canon happens to have some good ones there too.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Mark, My Rebel XT has now taken over 60 thousand pictures and is still chugging along. My Canon T2i has taken over 25 thousand now without problems. I'm having a ball with the Sony I bought from you, what did you not like about it?

Hey Bill. I'm glad you're enjoying that Sony. I just seriously had a hard time with the icons and the camera settings. It seemed to be more like Greek to me, and some of the icons were just hard for me to make out (trifocals wearer, here). I'll say, though, that I loved some of the features about it.

I see you're a Canon user. Sort of, I mean, only tens of thousands of photos...

I looked up both the T2i and the XT. Again, the Canons seem to be everything I need.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Most of the photo journalists switched to Cannon in the early days of digital because the speed and quality of the canon was way ahead.
All the manufactures have caught up for what you want.
I think now all the digital cameras are going to give you a a good publish quality image of a still woodturning.
We use an EOS 7 paired with a 100-400 zoom it works great for wildlife photos. Might be the best wildlife setup for under $10k.

Last year we got an Olympus TG3 initially to take underwater snorkeling.
It would do nicely for woodturning photos to publish.
We used it for some of the photos published in the symposium handbook.
The current model is the TG-4

Al, I think you're right about all the cameras pretty much being capable. I notice that your lens costs about twice what I was looking at spending on a camera. But everything I've read says it's the lenses, not the camera.

I looked at the TG-4 and that's a pretty awesomely ruged camera; one I might even trust my grandson with. I like the EOS 7 better personally when comparing the two. And, this camera may never see the outdoors at all. Sort of like a house cat.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Ask yourself what else you may be doing with your camera. You really don't need an amazing camera to take high-quality product stills. As Tom mentioned, you aren't going to be doing massive blowups.

I recently started shooting a lot of 4K video on trips instead of just photography and also got rather weary of hauling around a bunch of lenses and extra stuff when I travel, and I use the same camera for that as I do for my woodturning shots. I recently bought a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 which comes with a fixed Leica lens and goes down to F2.8 and shoots excellent 4K video while also shooting very good stills and have been very happy with the choice. My Canon 70D hasn't been out of the closet since I got it. So basically it is an excellent 4K camcorder and a very solid camera all in one. It is about the size of a compact DSLR and is light.

Justin, I've pretty much said that I have zero interest in video but you've got me thinking that I should never say never. I actually read lots of great reviews on the Panasonic Lumix line of products and, with that lens it's impressive.

By the way, I see you're in D.C. I loved going there when my brother was working there for AD Little over at L'Enfant Plaza. It was great seeing the city with an "insider". He lived down the GW Parkway somewhere near the Potomac. Beautiful countryside views there along the river.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Mark, actually the Olympus camera you mentioned is a micro four thirds format. Which is something you may want to consider. I used to have a Canon 5D MKII and some very heavy and expensive lenses. I have switched to a much lighter and less expensive Olympus system. Picture quality of micro four third system is outstanding. Is it as good as full frame DSLR ? No certainly not. But I will never be doing bill board size prints, or anything of the type. I have had 16x 20 prints done and they are great.
For your needs a MFT system might be just the ticket and the cost and physical size will be much less.

Tom,

I guess I got my sensor sizes confused for some of the cameras. I did get all hung up on sensor size and, in my mind, decided on the APS-C as the smallest crop sensor I should get. But, if one can get good 16 x 20 prints from a smaller format then there's really no reason to not consider them. I'm really more concerned about ergonomics, ease of using the menu system, good auto focus and lower ISO levels (so I read).

I looked at and like the Olympus cameras quite a bit. One of my concerns about all of the mirrorless cameras so far is that, it seems the SD card slot is on the bottom, making it very hard to get to without removing from the tripod - and the quick release. I really don't want to have to do that every time I want to pull the card, and if I could get definitive information on how well the wi-fi works for file transfer (to a MacBook, in my case) then that would be good. I don't care about having access to the card if I can pull the photos across the network.

I do like the idea of fewer moving parts of a mirrorless, and also don't really care about a viewfinder. I find that the image is too small to be meaningful to me (maybe I should get LASIK before picking a camera ). I also found on the Nikon for the short time that I used it, I used Live View more than the viewfinder, and one of the irritants to me was that it timed out and I'd have to press the info or shutter button to bring up the screen again.

I actually thought about getting a small monitor to attach through the HDMI out on the Nikon, but still can't find out if it gives a real-time view or if it's only usable in playback mode. I know that other cameras support this function but don't know if it is supported in this particular camera.

Also, based on my reading, with a mirrorless, I see the actual image the sensor sees, rather than the pentaprism/pentamirror of a DSLR. If this is meaningful or makes a difference I don't know.

At this point, it seems that all of the cameras mentioned in this post would be great choices, and the difference may be the lens. So, there's the 18-55, 14-42, and 16-50 - not to mention the fixed lens on the Lumix that Justin mentioned.

So, to everyone: if you were picking a camera based on the kit lens, which would you prefer? And given the intended use, does it even matter?

 

[Tom Cadwalader]

Mark I shoot with an Olympus OMD EM 1, so I can't speak to the OMD EM 10, but my card slot is on the side of the camera.
But I also want to point out the camera can be controlled from a iPhone or iPad. Also with the soft ware that Olympus provides you can shoot tethered, so for product shots you work from the computer, much larger screen. Other makers can do that as well and if you are a Lightromm user many cameras can shoot tethered from Lightroom.
Like you pointed out, it's the glass, so lens cost is a very big influence for me. I use pro lenses and the MFT pro lens are WAY less expensive than the full frame lenses I had before.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Hey Tom, will that sounds pretty intriguing. I like the idea of shooting from my computer. I'm running Photoshop CC, and the one advantage of that is that it's always up to date. Therefore support for various devices should be current.

Am I correct in assuming that by operating tethered, I'm literally using say, an HDMI cable? Or are you meaning tethering through a Wi-Fi connection?

 

[Tom Cadwalader]

Mark, with the iPhone and iPad and O I Share software its wireless. With Lightroom, I cant say for sure. Iam still on LR 5 and my camera is not supported for tethered shooting. With the Olympus software its hdmi for what I have. If I get a chance tonight I will do some checking on the MFT forum. Iam sure someone on there will no.

 

[Tom Cadwalader]

Ok, I just check on the MFT forum. Lightroom does not support tethered shooting for any cameras except Canon, Nikon and Lecia.
Also the Olympus OMD 10 doesn't appear to have tethered shooting available, but you might look into that further if that's a concern. You can shoot with wifi control though on a phone or iPad.
So for Tethered shooting in Lightroom, looks like Canon or Nikon have the better options
Hope this helps.

 

[Justin Stephen]

Justin, I've pretty much said that I have zero interest in video but you've got me thinking that I should never say never. I actually read lots of great reviews on the Panasonic Lumix line of products and, with that lens it's impressive.

One of the great things about 4K video is that each frame is an 8MP still, which is still a fairly large, detailed picture, certainly more than good enough for the way most people use vacation pictures, etc.

One of my favorite TV shows is Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" as well as his previous Travel Channel show. Watching his show made me realize how much better high-resolution video is at capturing the essence of a place than pictures are, so I started shooting more and more video when I travel.

By the way, I see you're in D.C. I loved going there when my brother was working there for AD Little over at L'Enfant Plaza.

Yup. Until very recently, I was actually in DC about 8 blocks from the White House. I doubt there are too many woodturners who lived closer than that. I just moved out to Virginia near the Pentagon.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Ok, I just check on the MFT forum. Lightroom does not support tethered shooting for any cameras except Canon, Nikon and Lecia.
Also the Olympus OMD 10 doesn't appear to have tethered shooting available, but you might look into that further if that's a concern. You can shoot with wifi control though on a phone or iPad.
So for Tethered shooting in Lightroom, looks like Canon or Nikon have the better options
Hope this helps.

It does help. I just got in from work a short time ago and have been looking around at support issues. Luckily I didn't upgrade to OSX 10.11 because Lightroom tethering is crippled for a bunch of cameras.

Tethering isn't really a big issue for me to be honest; it's a nice to have, not a need. I do like the idea of using a large monitor for display prior to or during shooting and, if that's something that I can do with a cable and a spare monitor, then I'm in business. The PC is right there in the same room as the camera so it's not like I'm walking to New Orleans (Fats Domino plug there ...

I do have a spare iPad and if I can use that as a monitor/control then that's plenty big a display. Truth is, I really like the Fuji XT10 but keep reading that a) it has poor color rendition compared to Canon/Nikon, and b) Lightroom doesn't like the RAW files it produces and there are issues there.

I know, I can shoot JPG but I'd like to learn more about image processing since I have this software.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

One of the great things about 4K video is that each frame is an 8MP still, which is still a fairly large, detailed picture, certainly more than good enough for the way most people use vacation pictures, etc.

One of my favorite TV shows is Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" as well as his previous Travel Channel show. Watching his show made me realize how much better high-resolution video is at capturing the essence of a place than pictures are, so I started shooting more and more video when I travel.



Yup. Until very recently, I was actually in DC about 8 blocks from the White House. I doubt there are too many woodturners who lived closer than that. I just moved out to Virginia near the Pentagon.

If it weren't against forum rules, there are so many jokes about moving away from the white house and closer to the Pentagon (and that's regardless of your political party).

But I digress...

Bordain's show is a good one.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Mark I do not know about the Canon kit lenses. I have a Tamron 18-270 and it is a little slow at 3.5 but with what the camera can adjust to it is great . I paid more than twice what the camera cost 7 years ago (the broken camera). Now I see this lens looking smaller and at $150 . The only problem with this lens is that it creeps when held lens down and the zoom is sticky at 100mm. It does have auto /manual switch and antivib switch.

There are lots of good lenses out there and for what you plan to do look in the $100 to $200 range and should be good to go. With a light setup lens speed is not a problem , but do look for a zoom so you can move the camera back and get the shot in the setup.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Thanks Gerald. I'm going to look into getting a body and lens separately.

 

[george watkins]

I am by no means a camera expert, I use a nikon d3200 with a kit lens and just recently with a nikon 35mm prime.
I use a tripod with a wired remote shutter button and i have two 5500k lights, I dont use a light tent
I find that i only need one mode and that's "A" or aperture priority
have a look in my gallery for examples, all of the pictures in the last two years were taken on the nikon d3200, it has completely transformed the quality of my product photography.

 

[Steve Worcester]

All of the cameras you asked about will do what you want. My suggestion would be to look through the dpreview.com reviews and look at the good bad and ugly on them. Personally, I would go with a kit lens to start. For what y-u are doing, it will be fine.
In regards to 4K video, it is awesome, but the downside is you need 4K monitors and more compute horsepower (or a lot of patience) to edit it. But downscaling to 1080 would give you a better picture than shooting in 1080 native, and most 4K cameras will give you higher 1080 frame rates to allow for slow motion.
On tethering, it sucks. But in the traditional sense, tethering is a wire between the camera and the control unit (computer, iPad, etc) most any of the newer cameras with wifi will do what you want if you have the device to control it. iPhones work too, but I prefer an iPad bs an iPhone because of the larger screen size.
But don't think about the control device to edit, you won't be happy with the results. 4

 

[Bill Boehme]

... Sort of like a house cat.

You rang, sir? May I recommend the Leica SL to go with your VB36?

First of all, you don't really need full frame. All three of my DSLR cameras (XTi, 7D, and 7D Mark II) are APS-C format and they produce satisfactory results for everything that I shoot.

Like Bill Blastic and Al Hockenbery, I am also a Canon shooter. Back in the early days of DSLR cameras, Canon basically owned the DSLR market. Since then the playing field has become fairly level, but I feel like I get more true to life colors with Canon cameras (based on a comparison with a club members Nikon, but that was about six years ago so that might not mean anything now). There are also some advanced P&S (point and shoot) cameras that would be good choices. Some examples are the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II, PowerShot G9 X, or PowerShot G3 X cameras. However the prices are in the same ballpark as the Rebel line of DSLR cameras so it boils down to what you want. I believe that the DSLR camera sensors have a wider dynamic range of exposure sensitivity than P&S and phone cameras. This is important when it comes to highlights and dark image details.

I looked at the Canon EOS M, M3, and M10 mirror less cameras and they are fine, but for about same price you could get one of the Rebel models and would be able to use any Canon lens without needing to buy an adapter.

Regarding tethered shooting, Canon's EOS Utility which comes with EOS cameras is the perfect tool for that. I'm not certain if you can do remote focusing with all EF lenses, but I have done tethered shooting connected to my desktop PC as an experiment and I had full control over all camera functions. A laptop would have been much more useful in the real world.

I usually do live view shooting and with most Canon DSLR cameras you can zoom the rear LCD to X5 or X10 magnification during focusing to make sure that it is dead-on. I also use the ten second time delay so that any vibration when I press the shutter will have dampened out.

If you get a DSLR camera I would recommend a zoom lens that covers the range of about 70 - 100 mm such as the Canon EF-S 18 - 135 mm kit lens although I haven't read any reviews on it. I use a Canon 70 - 200 mm for woodturning photos, but it's a rather pricy lens that I originally got for nature photography because it is fast (large aperture) and has image stabilization for moving shots. You don't need a fast lens for woodturning photos because it will be stopped down in the range of f/11 to f/16. Canon has a 28 - 135 mm lens for $300 that I've heard is pretty good. You might want to read reviews on B & H or Adorama. The recommendations that I stated for aperture and focal length are based on the shooting distance that I use which is eight to ten feet.

All of the above is just my slightly biased opinion. Whatever you decide to get will work well.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

I am by no means a camera expert, I use a nikon d3200 with a kit lens and just recently with a nikon 35mm prime.
I use a tripod with a wired remote shutter button and i have two 5500k lights, I dont use a light tent
I find that i only need one mode and that's "A" or aperture priority
have a look in my gallery for examples, all of the pictures in the last two years were taken on the nikon d3200, it has completely transformed the quality of my product photography.

George, you do have some really great photos. I've been keeping up with your posts. what kind of lights are you using?

 

[Mark Hepburn]

All of the cameras you asked about will do what you want. My suggestion would be to look through the dpreview.com reviews and look at the good bad and ugly on them. Personally, I would go with a kit lens to start. For what y-u are doing, it will be fine.
In regards to 4K video, it is awesome, but the downside is you need 4K monitors and more compute horsepower (or a lot of patience) to edit it. But downscaling to 1080 would give you a better picture than shooting in 1080 native, and most 4K cameras will give you higher 1080 frame rates to allow for slow motion.
On tethering, it sucks. But in the traditional sense, tethering is a wire between the camera and the control unit (computer, iPad, etc) most any of the newer cameras with wifi will do what you want if you have the device to control it. iPhones work too, but I prefer an iPad bs an iPhone because of the larger screen size.
But don't think about the control device to edit, you won't be happy with the results. 4

Steve, I did exactly that and, although I really like the Fuji XT10 for its design and all the controls being available without digging through menus, the Canons kept coming out ahead on the pros/cons list. I'm planning on tethering to a macbook instead of an ipad. I keep going back to what Justin said about video capability, but I think that, by the time I'm ready to seriously consider video, I'll be ready for a new camera.

Going down another rabbit hole...

 

[Mark Hepburn]

You rang, sir? May I recommend the Leica SL to go with your VB36?

First of all, you don't really need full frame. All three of my DSLR cameras (XTi, 7D, and 7D Mark II) are APS-C format and they produce satisfactory results for everything that I shoot.

Like Bill Blastic and Al Hockenbery, I am also a Canon shooter. Back in the early days of DSLR cameras, Canon basically owned the DSLR market. Since then the playing field has become fairly level, but I feel like I get more true to life colors with Canon cameras (based on a comparison with a club members Nikon, but that was about six years ago so that might not mean anything now). There are also some advanced P&S (point and shoot) cameras that would be good choices. Some examples are the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II, PowerShot G9 X, or PowerShot G3 X cameras. However the prices are in the same ballpark as the Rebel line of DSLR cameras so it boils down to what you want. I believe that the DSLR camera sensors have a wider dynamic range of exposure sensitivity than P&S and phone cameras. This is important when it comes to highlights and dark image details.

I looked at the Canon EOS M, M3, and M10 mirror less cameras and they are fine, but for about same price you could get one of the Rebel models and would be able to use any Canon lens without needing to buy an adapter.

Regarding tethered shooting, Canon's EOS Utility which comes with EOS cameras is the perfect tool for that. I'm not certain if you can do remote focusing with all EF lenses, but I have done tethered shooting connected to my desktop PC as an experiment and I had full control over all camera functions. A laptop would have been much more useful in the real world.

I usually do live view shooting and with most Canon DSLR cameras you can zoom the rear LCD to X5 or X10 magnification during focusing to make sure that it is dead-on. I also use the ten second time delay so that any vibration when I press the shutter will have dampened out.

If you get a DSLR camera I would recommend a zoom lens that covers the range of about 70 - 100 mm such as the Canon EF-S 18 - 135 mm kit lens although I haven't read any reviews on it. I use a Canon 70 - 200 mm for woodturning photos, but it's a rather pricy lens that I originally got for nature photography because it is fast (large aperture) and has image stabilization for moving shots. You don't need a fast lens for woodturning photos because it will be stopped down in the range of f/11 to f/16. Canon has a 28 - 135 mm lens for $300 that I've heard is pretty good. You might want to read reviews on B & H or Adorama. The recommendations that I stated for aperture and focal length are based on the shooting distance that I use which is eight to ten feet.

All of the above is just my slightly biased opinion. Whatever you decide to get will work well.

Hey Bill.

Well I did it. Got the Leica M Rangefinder and the 50MM lens. What a deal at only $17,000. Oh, and I sold my car...

Seriously, I did go ahead and get a Canon T5 with the kit 18-55 lens and also the 75-300. I really did want the mirrorless but on further evaluation, really just because it's a gadget that I thought would be cool. Stupid reason so I went with the DSLR.

I think that, based on everything everyone told me, I'll probably have a good learning curve before I bump up against any of the camera's limitations. I don't need wifi at this time because I'm okay with a physical connection and don't want to put photos on an IOS or Android device and so dont' need NFC either.

Otherwise, the differences between the T5 and T6 are small enough that it shouldn't matter to me for a while. And 18 MP vs 24 is irrelevant for posting on Etsy or here. So it'll be arriving Tuesday and I'll see how well I can take bad photos with the new camera!

Thanks everyone.

 

[Bill Boehme]

If you can send the 75 - 300 back, i would do it. Well, there two different 75 - 300 lenses. I need to check to see the exact model. I started to mention it, but didn't want to clutter up things more than I already had. I bought my 75-300 when I bought my first DSLR. It almost made me write off digital photography as a passing fad. But, then I got a real lens ... a Canon EF 70 - 200 mm f/2.8L IS USM and it absolutely knocked my socks off. I was so stoked that I went back to Arlington Camera and bough two other Canon "L" lenses.

Back to the horror story, when I bought the 75-300, they tried to talk me out of it, but it was on sale for 50% off, so what could go wrong with getting a $200 dollar lens for $100? Well for one thing, I was out a C note and it wasn't even a good boat anchor because it would float if I threw it in a lake. It's an all plastic lens that suffers from poor sharpness, low contrast, purple fringing in bright light, and the worst chromatic aberration imaginable. It's OK at the 75 mm end, but at 300mm it is just awful. I would give it away, but I don't hate anyone that much.

I'll see if I can dig mine out of the closest to verify the model.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Okay, just cancelled the boat anchor. I mean, channel marker

 

[Bill Boehme]

Well I did it. Got the Leica M Rangefinder and the 50MM lens. What a deal at only $17,000. Oh, and I sold my car...

You sold your Beamer?

I managed to dig out the lens that I love to hate. It is a Canon EF 75-300mm 1:1.4-5.6 III. To think that it's the third generation of that model and they still haven't gotten it right.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Okay, just cancelled the boat anchor. I mean, channel marker

I would give you this one for free, if you promise not to hate me for my lack of compassion for humankind.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

I promise.

You sold your Beamer?

I managed to dig out the lens that I love to hate. It is a Canon EF 75-300mm 1:1.4-5.6 III. To think that it's the third generation of that model and they still haven't gotten it right.

At least they're consistent.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

I would give you this one for free, if you promise not to hate me for my lack of compassion for humankind.

I not only promise, but would heartily endorse it. If it's working for you why change right?

I sent you a PM.

 

[george watkins]

George, you do have some really great photos. I've been keeping up with your posts. what kind of lights are you using?

thank you Mark, I had remembered it wrong as my lights are not 5500k but 5000k here is a link to the ones I use

 

[Bill Boehme]

thank you Mark, I had remembered it wrong as my lights are not 5500k but 5000k here is a link to the ones I use

That doesn't matter as long as you do a white balance with the lights that you use.

 

[Justin Stephen]

I keep going back to what Justin said about video capability, but I think that, by the time I'm ready to seriously consider video, I'll be ready for a new camera.

Quite possibly, but every it won't be long at all before just about every TV sold will be UltraHD and most computer monitors as well. Doesn't hurt to adopt to the standard now, especially since 4K video can easily be down-converted to HD and excellent pictures can be extracted from the stills. Plus, you can always just shoot regular pictures. I think my camera shoots 20MP stills.

Re: Canon lenses, I am quite fond of the Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM. It is an excellent all-around lens for APS-C cameras that only lacks substantial zoom. It was almost always on my 70D when I was doing touristy stuff unless I was shooting wildlife or sports.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Since the subject of video has come up. what software do ya'll use for editing the video?

 

[Bill Boehme]

Since the subject of video has come up. what software do ya'll use for editing the video?

Adobe Premiere Pro, but I wouldn't recommend it for the normal person who isn't a professional videographer. The learning curve is fairly steep. The only reason I have it is because it was part of the Adode CS6 Master Suite. However, if you have an abundance of time and money and need another hobby, this might be just the thing for you.

 

[Michael Schneider]

I just made the switch to digital. I used to use contax 35 + zeiss lens and an hassleblad

I went with the micro four thirds mirrorless.

I went with the panasonic gx8 for 4k video and I liked the Olympus em1. I have a mix of panasonic/leica lens and olympus pro lens. It is a really nice system and very portable.

They will be releasing the new version of the Olympus em1 soon, that would likely be my first choice since I like still + 4k video.

panasonic will soon be releasing their gh5 camera and that will be a great camera for video + still.

Notice I like olympus better for still shooting and panasonic for videos.

I usually buy used lens, since serious phototographers take good care of their glass.

The lenes are interchangeable between the panasonic and olympus.

Note: you will be able to get some good prices on the old version of these cameras soon. I do like the improvement and would pay full $$ for new, but make your own call.