The Photo Snob Thread

[CraigS]

Hey all,

I have an incredible opportunity to go back to Africa at the start of next year. I went when I was quite a bit younger and couldn't take an DSLR at the time and this time I will not be making that mistake. I want to take every bit of my kit that I can, but unfortunately I will end up having a 15kg limit on luggage TOTAL! Leaving me with little room to move. I have a beautiful set of primes which I'm sure I'm going to take with me (24L, 35L, 85L, 135L) but I need something longer and I know that is where I'm going to tip over the limit. Have any of you had any experience with mirrored lenses or alternatively can you suggest some long tele lenses? I have an 80-200L and a 35-350L also but they're both quite heavy.

Which part of Africa are you going to be based in?
Have you thought about hiring a big lens? Have a look at http://www.odprentals.co.za/?cat=44 who are based in Pretoria. If you're doing a safari I'd be looking at a 400-500mm prime at $53AU plus $10.60 insurance per day.
Other than that the lenses you have will cover you for almost everything else.

 

[Gluey_trails]

Which part of Africa are you going to be based in?
Have you thought about hiring a big lens? Have a look at http://www.odprentals.co.za/?cat=44 who are based in Pretoria. If you're doing a safari I'd be looking at a 400-500mm prime at $53AU plus $10.60 insurance per day.
Other than that the lenses you have will cover you for almost everything else.

Most likely Kenya and Tanzania. I have considered hiring a lens, but its the same issue. Flying to Africa is easy enough with all the gear, it's the smaller internal flights that is the killer (I feel it's a bit of an arbitrary thing in the sense that my brother weighs literally twice as much as I do, yet I have the same bag limit).

 

[Rendog]

Hmm, can you not increase the weight limit on the flight? I travelled in South Africa domestically with 30kg limit, and it was still cheap.

 

[AngoXC]

Hmm, can you not increase the weight limit on the flight? I travelled in South Africa domestically with 30kg limit, and it was still cheap.

Could be flying in a light plane as part of a regional / remote service perhaps?

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Invest in a light jacket with lots of big, strong pockets.

Everything that you're carrying that's heavy (lenses, batteries, tablets, bocce balls etc) can be stored in there and will be ignored by the chicks at check-in. Security will make you take it off and put it through the X-Ray but they are usually clueless as to how much carry-on luggage you are allowed. If you can be buggered with emptying out all your pockets at the x-ray, cargo pants are another great way to sneak a few extra kilos on to the flight.

Alternatively (or in addition) get a decent sports camera strap like the Black Rapid RS and attach your 35-350mm to your camera and carry that around with it under your arm. Again the check-in counter won't take any notice of it and you can wear a light jacket over it if you're really paranoid. It's not that uncomfortable either. I had my camera with a 300mm lens attached to one for 3 very long days last month at the Singapore GP.

If you use a bit of ingenuity and don't mind a bit of discomfort you can get anything up to an extra 15-20kg onto a flight by carrying stuff on your person. Just hope that you don't ditch over water!

 

[rabatt]

don't mind a bit of discomfort you can get anything up to an extra 15-20kg onto a flight by carrying stuff on your person. Just hope that you don't ditch over water!

Last time I flew I had 31kg checked in, and 29kg carry on, mostly in jacket pockets (and doubling up jackets) It really does seem unfair to me that even with 20kg over in hand luggage, my total flying weight is less then then the body weight of plenty of people, yet would still have to sell a testicle to check my gear in.

 

[Unlearn]

New 58mm lens, $1700US....... wait, what...!

http://www.nikon.com/news/2013/1017_lens_02.htm

 

[24alpha]

Security will make you take it off and put it through the X-Ray but they are usually clueless as to how much carry-on luggage you are allowed.!

It's not their job to enforce what you carry on, only what you carry in. ;-)

I often take my fully loaded Dakine bag as carry on....chargers, 70-200f2.8, MacBook Pro, 2x iPads, 24-70 2.8 Siggy, 10-20mm, GoPro (+ accessories) and flashes. Easilly over 20KG!

If it's a small plane like Angus mentioned.....I wouldn't be hinding what you're carrying on! :scared:

 

[wombat]

Having a couple of friends who are flight crew, they've both mentioned seeing lockers fling open under turbulence, and bags get dislodged, hence why having a bag with 20kg of bodies and glass up there can be a problem, copping that in the head would be a real bitch.

I guess the moral is that if you can't get it under your seat (exit row legroom, woot!) then make sure it's in a locker a good few rows away from you!

 

[Chalkie]

Where to buy + Warranty?

Any advice on best place to buy lenses? Think I'll bite the bullet and grab the new Sigma 35mm F1.4

Also, if buying off a grey import site is it worth buying the generic extended warranty (think its normally a 3yr warranty for lenses under $X)?

 

[AngoXC]

New 58mm lens, $1700US....... wait, what...![/url]

View attachment 275068

A remake of the 'Noct' I hear. Specifically designed to be AWESOME wide open.

It's easier to make a highly-corrected lens through the use of a longer focal length (hence "58mm"). This is as a direct consequence of the comparatively long distance between the sensor and lens mount imposed by the mirror box in Nikon DSLR / 35mm cameras.

I must have fallen out of the game - passed by the local camera shop and saw that they've released a D610 and updated both the 18-35mm and the 80-400mm with AF-S motors.

So many camera stuffs.

Any advice on best place to buy lenses? Think I'll bite the bullet and grab the new Sigma 35mm F1.4

Also, if buying off a grey import site is it worth buying the generic extended warranty (think its normally a 3yr warranty for lenses under $X)?

Avoid DDP.

 

[LJG]

Any advice on best place to buy lenses? Think I'll bite the bullet and grab the new Sigma 35mm F1.4

Also, if buying off a grey import site is it worth buying the generic extended warranty (think its normally a 3yr warranty for lenses under $X)?

If you are buying Sigma buy one with CR Kennedy warranty. Buying grey is more problem than it is worth if you get a dud one (which with Sigma happens a bit). CR Kennedy will price match grey imports anyway, you give them the price and then select which local warranty seller you want to go through and they send one out to them. Places like Digital Camera Warehouse aren't that much dearer on Sigma anyway, well, they never used to be. I've read good things about that lens in particular, but sure would not sell my 35L to get one!

My problem is there is never enough room.........................

 

[valium]

looking for a little help in coming to terms with a decision I think I've already made - that I'm tired of the bulk of dslr's and moving to a smaller format.

Right now, I've a Canon 30D, 17-40L, 70-200 f2.8L and a range of filters. Had been planning on upgrading the body for the past year to the 6d but just couldnt pull the trigger as the bulk of everything was too annoying - I'm not a photographer, I just like taking photos when I'm doing other things.

As such, looking very hard at the fuji x-pro1/x-e1 series cameras or the m4/3ds oly omd cameras. My shots are normally while hiking (lugging a dlsr on a 20 day hike is a bad idea) or on travel - and on the travel front my sony rx100 gets used a lot more currently.

Anyone whose been through the same got some words of encouragement/discouragement?

 

[24alpha]

My problem is there is never enough room.........................

Get a bigger bag!:first:

 

[wombat]

looking for a little help in coming to terms with a decision I think I've already made - that I'm tired of the bulk of dslr's and moving to a smaller format.

Right now, I've a Canon 30D, 17-40L, 70-200 f2.8L and a range of filters. Had been planning on upgrading the body for the past year to the 6d but just couldnt pull the trigger as the bulk of everything was too annoying - I'm not a photographer, I just like taking photos when I'm doing other things.

As such, looking very hard at the fuji x-pro1/x-e1 series cameras or the m4/3ds oly omd cameras. My shots are normally while hiking (lugging a dlsr on a 20 day hike is a bad idea) or on travel - and on the travel front my sony rx100 gets used a lot more currently.

Anyone whose been through the same got some words of encouragement/discouragement?

What about the new Sony thing, ar7 maybe? Mirrorless compact system with a full frame sensor. Lots of adapters for it and plenty of pancakes out there.

 

[valium]

What about the new Sony thing, ar7 maybe? Mirrorless compact system with a full frame sensor. Lots of adapters for it and plenty of pancakes out there.

I love the look of them but think they will end up being a bit bulky with FF glass attached, and and the lens line-up is both limited and expensive. But I hadn't considered adaptors so will have a look...

I'm a fan of what sony are doing, the rx1 was my dream hiking camera - but a bit too expensive and inflexible to actually buy.

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-alpha-7-7r/

 

[Nick53]

Don't often upload what I shoot however opinions on this would be great. Harsher the better :faint:

 

[No Skid Marks]

Don't often upload what I shoot however opinions on this would be great. Harsher the better :faint:

It's a female Galah ;-)
Must've had a bath recently, it's pink is rich. Nice pic.

 

[Tristan23]

Harsher the better :faint:

Yes! This is my domain!

1. Framing. Seems a little odd with a bit too much pointless negative space above the bird and the eye smack-bang in the centre of the frame. The bokeh is nice, but I would've included more of the bird to fill up a larger portion of the frame while still having some of dat creaminess in the background. This goes for portraits as well: eyes in the very centre is a no-no in my opinion, unless there's much more going on around the image and the subject is staring directly at the camera.
2. Cropping. Similar to above, it seems like you could've included more of the bird and less of the background for a shot with more "interest" to it.
3. The face/body is very dark, and the background is very light. Assuming the bird is subject, the face and body need to be correctly exposed, even if that means dat creaminess in the background blows out. Same goes for portraits, unless you're purposely shooting silhouette's. All you'd need to do is drag up the shadows using levels or curves.
4. Colours are good, perhaps a tad warm, but that's not a bad thing.

OMG IM SO DAMN MEAN HOW COULD I BE SO MEAN?!

 

[Nick53]

It's a female Galah ;-)
Must've had a bath recently, it's pink is rich. Nice pic.

Shame it's a female as I called it Gareth. Thanks though!

Mean stuff

Funny you mention the first two points. I originally cropped it so there was hardly any blank space above it's head but in general I was/still am a bit lost at how to frame it and in the few minutes it was there I only managed to get this and one other where it's face was sharp (f1.4 + MF = lots more practise needed). Are you sort of saying have less blank space above and maybe more to the left so the subject isn't directly centred?
Colours/brightness wise I pretty much agree with what you're saying. Probably got a lil carried away with trying to make the lighter part of it's head look cool while just ignoring the main body. I'll have a play around on the weekend to see if I can improve on it.

Thanks heaps for the help!