Basic DSLR camera?

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 20:42

F/stop is the unit to measure how wide open the lens is.

The number, I think refers to the F stop/focal length.

So a F/1.0 lens for a 50mm, will haven an opening inside the barrel of 50mm. A F/2.0 lens the hole how is 2/50 so it is now half the size. The math itself isn't important. You only need to remember the smaller number the better, and more expensive.

The bigger the hole, the more light can get in, means more control and more desirable, most of the time.

So a 50/1.0 is would be a BIG lens and expensive (large piece of glass) and a 50/1.8 would be a smaller lens, lighter and cheaper.

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 20:45

For example. Left to right.

85/1.4, 90/2.8, 105/1.4

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 20:49

The 105 makes the 85 looks small.

And that 85 is bigger than my old Canon 85/1.2! (Middle one)

Far left is Sony 85/1.8

and look at the opening of the 85/1.2

montymint · 19 Jun 2020 at 20:52

Raymond, that's a lot of porn right there!

And here I am looking at second hand X100 to see if I can pick up the spark again haha!

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 20:57

montymint said:
Raymond, that's a lot of porn right there!

And here I am looking at second hand X100 to see if I can pick up the spark again haha!

The X100 is retro but the AF on it is really bad.....my brother in law has one. Get the S or T, much more usable.

montymint · 19 Jun 2020 at 21:06

Raymond Lin said:
The X100 is retro but the AF on it is really bad.....my brother in law has one. Get the S or T, much more usable.

Noted, I could probably squeeze up to the T

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2020 at 21:39

Thanks guys. So the camera is sorted, I think I'm going to buy that Canon 5D ll.

Going back to my main reason for buying a camera, I want to have the ability to shoot pictures of birds (or any creatures) from a distance of about 20 foot away but so they look close up, like looking through my binoculars.

I'm now aware of 50mm and 70 to 200mm lens. These photos by The ReaperGuy who already posted in this thread, are how I want to mine to look.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/32532299

He says he was using a 75 to 200mm.
lens. What sort of maximum distance with that lens could he have been standing from those birds to be able to get those close ups? Is 20 feet possible?

The reason I'm asking is because perhaps I'm being unrealistic, or perhaps it's impossible expecting to get close ups like that from 20 feet away without some super expensive zoom lens?

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 21:45

I can do a test for you tomorrow with 20ft and at 200mm.

I only have a Sony A73 now but it is very close in pixel count on the sensor so it's not going to be much different.

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2020 at 21:55

Raymond Lin said:
I can do a test for you tomorrow with 20ft and at 200mm.

I only have a Sony A73 now but it is very close in pixel count on the sensor so it's not going to be much different.

Yes Raymond, please do that test, that would be awesome! Can you also take a snap 20 feet away of a bird or something similar size with your 50mm lens, just so I can see what that would look like?

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 22:03

I have Ironman to help

He is 6 inches tall.

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2020 at 22:08

Raymond Lin said:
I have Ironman to help

He is 6 inches tall.

Haha, thanks, looks excellent.

Was that 20 foot away with your 200mm? What would it look like with 50mm?

This must be the F4 200mm you mentioned on page 1 at MPB:

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equi...VXiiZA8yMAMqGs6u7zRoCMdsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 22:11

Merlin5 said:
Haha, thanks, looks excellent. Was that 20 foot away with your 200mm? What would it look like with 50mm?

This must be the F4 200mm you mentioned on page 1 at MPB:

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equi...VXiiZA8yMAMqGs6u7zRoCMdsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I forgot what I took that with, was ages ago so don't worry about the focal length used in that photo.

Yes, that's the lens I talked about. I don't have that, I have a Sony 70-200/2.8. I can even close it down to F/4 so to get the closes feel to the image.

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2020 at 22:34

Nice. Looks like some bit of gear I'd expect from Elon Musk and SpaceX .

Raymond Lin · 19 Jun 2020 at 22:55

Merlin5 said:
Nice. Looks like some bit of gear I'd expect from Elon Musk and SpaceX .

It's probably my least used lens as I don't shoot many things in that focal length. A lot of people consider this invaluable to their camera set up, but for me I live in between 24mm to 85mm 99% of the time of the things I like to photograph. Which brings me to my point, know what you like take photos of, get those lenses and don't be tempted to collect lots of lenses for focal length that you don't use. That's why I recommend the 50mm/1.8, not only it is a good starter lens, it is also affordable but for bang for buck in terms of IQ, it is unbeatable, perhaps just edge it by the 85/1.8 on Canon. or may be a used Sigma 50/1.4 these days. 50mm is also what i use for food and I know you cook a lot so it will be perfect for that.

Anyway, my point is that there are lots of things to photograph, the sooner you know what you like, narrow it down, and work at those. Don't dib your toes in "oooh I like to photograph bugs" one minute and next weekend "oooh, I want to photograph planes. They require totally different lenses and even camera bodies. So you will end up with far too much stuff and very expensive fast.

Now you think...."why did he get that 70-200 if he never use it", well, I already got all the other lenses I need for weddings and last year I planned to go to Japan and I had a photo in mind which I wanted to take. I wasn't sure of the exact focal length needed so I bought something that cover my bases.

I had seen this first back late 2018/early 2019.

I wanted my own photo of it. I wanted it really bad. ( I don't get gear envy, i get photo envy lol )

I went to looked on Google Maps, finding Mt Fuji and looked on the map to see any street going in the direction of Mt Fuji and I did a LOT of street walk to find the spot. Marked it, booked a trip...

It wasn't going to do all that and have a lens that is too short or too long so I wanted to be safe. In the end it was taken at 135mm ish.

I am still not 100% happy with the colours. I was limited by time so couldn't get there before dawn to get that level of light and had no model to pose for me.

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2020 at 23:18

Stunning photos, both of them. Great job. You composed the shot beautifully, it's almost identical. Yours seems to have the same level of detail and clarity, it's only the colours, extra traffic and shadows that are different. What a backdrop of that mountain, holy crap.

Merlin5 · 20 Jun 2020 at 15:23

Guys, I've been checking out alternative telephoto lenses to the Canon 70-200mm F4.

The Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD has image stabilisation and is a fair bit cheaper. Even brand new at £299 on ebay it's cheaper than a used Canon that has no image stabilisation. Would you recommend it or am I better off going with a well used Canon non image stabilisation lens?

This video comparison shows great results, well, good enough for me as a noob to this hobby, so I'm very tempted to go with the Tamron instead. https://youtu.be/pzI0JbMQdKM

Also, some are listed as compatible with Canon EF, some for Canon BNIB and some just say Canon. For the 5D mk2 I guess I need the EF version?

montymint said:
Since this is all new I REALLY recommend this book:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/understanding-exposure-3rd-edition/bryan-peterson/9780817439392

although there now is a fourth edition, which is probably better but as I don;t own it I can't say for sure

Bryan explains how the various settings you have control over change how the photo will look, using pictures as examples.

Forgot to say thanks for this recommendation, I think I'll probably buy it.

Raymond Lin · 20 Jun 2020 at 20:04

Merlin5 said:
Guys, I've been checking out alternative telephoto lenses to the Canon 70-200mm F4.

The Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD has image stabilisation and is a fair bit cheaper. Even brand new at £299 on ebay it's cheaper than a used Canon that has no image stabilisation. Would you recommend it or am I better off going with a well used Canon non image stabilisation lens?

This video comparison shows great results, well, good enough for me as a noob to this hobby, so I'm very tempted to go with the Tamron instead. https://youtu.be/pzI0JbMQdKM

Also, some are listed as compatible with Canon EF, some for Canon BNIB and some just say Canon. For the 5D mk2 I guess I need the EF version?

Forgot to say thanks for this recommendation, I think I'll probably buy it.

Just did the test, you will probably need 300mm, or even 400mm.

Long telephotos are not cheap, they get expensive fast.

This is at 20ft/21ft

70mm

200mm

1:1 pixel at 200mm

Merlin5 · 20 Jun 2020 at 20:42

Raymond, thanks, that's just what I wanted to see. You had me worried when i saw the first image but then realised that was only at 70mm. So the second image cropped gives you that close up last image, right? If you're getting that from 200mm, then the Tamron 300mm will be fine. I've decided I'm going with the Tamron zoom. Here's my basket so far, I'm still below £600.

I know it doesn't affect the final image, and can't remember if I asked this, but will I see lens dust through the viewfinder, is it reflected back up from the lens to the viewfinder?

I also need a memory card. I read that compact flash cards are better than a regular SD cards. Will this be good and give me enough photo storage space?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ex...3722&sprefix=sandisk+comp,aps,156&sr=8-4&th=1

Raymond Lin · 20 Jun 2020 at 20:45

Merlin5 said:
Raymond, thanks, that's just what I wanted to see. You had me worried when i saw the first image but then realised that was only at 70mm. So the second image cropped gives you that close up last image, right? If you're getting that from 200mm, then the Tamron 300mm will be fine. I've decided I'm going with the Tamron zoom. Here's my basket so far, I'm still below £600.

I know it doesn't affect the final image, and can't remember if I asked this, but will I see lens dust through the viewfinder, is it reflected back up from the lens to the viewfinder?

I also need a memory card. I read that compact flash cards are better than a regular SD cards. Will this be good and give me enough photo storage space?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Extreme-UDMA7-CompactFlash-Card/dp/B00NUB2Q9E/ref=sr_1_4?crid=205QMK5KNLKSD&dchild=1&keywords=sandisk+compact+flash+card&qid=1592673722&sprefix=sandisk+comp,aps,156&sr=8-4&th=1

Its an optical viewfinder so you can't shoot through the LCD, you have to look through the viewfinder.

And yes, Compact Flash only, actually only 1 card slot in the 5D2 and its CF.

Merlin5 · 20 Jun 2020 at 20:56

Raymond Lin said:
Its an optical viewfinder so you can't shoot through the LCD, you have to look through the viewfinder.

And yes, Compact Flash only, actually only 1 card slot in the 5D2 and its CF.

What size storage card do you use most of time and can you get a few hundred shots on it?
Regarding the viewfinder, that's what I meant. Looking through the viewfinder and not at the LCD screen. Just wondering if the small amount of lens dust that both lens I'm buying apparently have a little of, will be seen through the viewfinder.

Basic DSLR camera?

Pet Northerner

Pet Northerner