Hot answers tagged equipment-recommendation
8
This is difficult to answer because each one of us has different shooting styles, goals, and preferences.
Here is my big tip: Less is more
Hiking is much more enjoyable when your pack is as light as possible. Five extra pounds of unnecessary gear can turn a fun trip into a chore. You might consider 1-2 lenses that aren't that heavy, or you might even be a ...
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The 70-200 F2.8L IS II works fine with a 2.0x teleconverter. That's my standard birding and critter lens these days. It's sharper than a 300F4+1.4x (my previous go to lens), and MUCH sharper than a canon 100-400 @ 400mm (my initial birding len). All are acceptable, the 70-200+2.0x is incredibly sharp and I'm really impressed with that lens combo. I use that ...
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For camera equipment on a day hike, I take one body and two lenses (18-55mm and 55-250mm) a tripod, wired shutter release, a waterproof case with my memory cards inside, spare battery and polarizing filter. You can see more in my blog post at http://www.thecreativescorner.com/2012/08/21/my-new-ultra-adaptable-and-inexpensive-camera-daypack/
Some of my ...
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I'm not fully sure why you think you need to go as far as a D800, whilst it is an incredible camera (I have one) I see it as overkill for what you are looking at doing.
The D800 is no more complex in general use than most other DSLR's, however it has a lot of advanced features that you will likely never see/use/need.
Nearly any new dslr is capable of full ...
3
There's never going to be a shot which can't be achieved on the 6D or the 5D Mark II due to the lesser AF capabilities of those cameras - with enough precognition (also known as experience), you could have manually focused on exactly where the action was going to occur and not needed any AF at all.
That's not to say that you won't get a higher proportion of ...
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In my opinion, the EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 lenses are some of the very few lenses in Canon's current lineup which should be avoided (the others are the unstabilized 18-55 lenses, because the price premium for the stabilized version is so small). As can be seen from this review, it's not a good lens; all that applies to both the USM and non-USM variants. You'll ...
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I consider the lens to be 2/3 of the equipment equation with everything else being the other 1/3. Camera bodies, lights and modifiers, tripods, monopods, gear bags, etc. are worthless if the light in front of the lens can't reach the sensor at the back of the lens reasonably intact.
Having said that, I think your first priority is to concentrate on the ...
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Do not take a DSLR and a couple of lenses and a tripod.
Rent a Fujifilm X100s. Take it and nothing else. When hiking, your most important criteria is weight, and second, size. David Hobby has written extensively that its the only camera he takes when he is going light.
Review: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2013/03/in-depth-new-fujifilm-x100s.html
traveling ...
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Spend $100 on the 50mm F1.8. Take photos with it. Its a nice lens, very inexpensive. If you still think your photos are not sharp, you will know that its you, not the lens. If you like the new photos, then think about spending more on a better lens.
I replaced my kit lens with the EFS 17-55 F2.8 and love it. It changed everything about my photos. But its ...
2
Most of my photographing is outdoors while hiking, so I have some experience with this.
There is no one answer, since it depends on how much you are willing to take (lug around) versus how much flexibility you want in capturing something you see. The longer the hike, the more you may want to minimize the gear and live with the realization that you're just ...
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1) Yes, the price difference is because of image stabilization. It is not an unreasonable price difference for IS vs non-IS because of the cost and complexity added by the IS mechanism. The optics quality between the older 75-300 and the newer 70-300 is also significant.
2) Yes, it's hugely significant, particularly on the longer focal lengths. You can ...
2
You mentioned that your main subjects are landscape and architecture, for these 2 you will mostly need the wide lens, specially for architecture, and the Tokina 11-16mm will be great for that use.
The lenses you listed are all super zoom lenses and I don't think you'll ever have to use 100mm or more in landscape and architecture photography. The super zoom ...
1
With Phase Detection Auto Focus it is ultimately about how accurate the system is. To put it another way, it is all about how often the the system is accurate enough. Every system will have variation from one shot to the next. The question is what is the average difference from sharpest focus for each shot.
The best single place I've seen describe the ...
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While we don't deal with shopping questions on this site because they are too localized in time and needs, your questions are answered more generically by What to look for in a flash and What do I gain from moving to a full frame?
As far as lenses for events go, your costs are a big factor, but for parties you'll want something that goes from fairly wide to ...
1
There are plenty of similar questions that demand highly and restrict things with a completely unrealistic budget. No wedding photographer would show up with a lens worth under $1000, nor with a single lens or a single camera. Getting a semi-acceptable wildlife lens is also not possible for much less than your entire budget.
There is good news and bad ...
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I just take my Panasonic Lumix GF-1 with the 14mm f/2.5 pancake. It’s my only camera and I have picked the combination of a Micro 4/3 camera with a wide-angle pancake lens especially because I like to go outside and wanted something small & light. The whole thing including the lens and the battery is around 400–450g, which is great when compared to a ...
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As far as lenses go, the EF 400mm f/5.6L is slightly sharper at the center than the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II paired with the EF 2X III at f/5.6. Center sharpness is pretty much the same at f/6.3 and up. Edge sharpness is another matter. Both are extremely good at this focal length, but the 400mm f/5.6 is clearly sharper at the edges. Where the 70-200/2X ...
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In that price range if you want a great ~400mm lens you want the 400 f5.6L, your other options compromise focusing speed and image quality giving you a 'good enough' ~400mm lens.
Yes you can put the 1.4x or 2.x teleconverter on the 70-200 f2.8L IS or 300mm f4L IS but in comparison to the 400 f5.6L you're going to be making a dramatic sacrifice of focusing ...
1
So, I recently bought a used camera. To decide which to buy, I developed this technique:
Make a list of all features that are important to you.
Assign a point value from 1-10 to each feature. Give a 10 to something essential, a 1 to something that barely matters.
Write down the stat for the feature for all of the cameras that you are interested in.
Give ...
1
Recently i'm looking for two new cameras (for me and for my wife). Wife got one - myself not yet ;)
I was reading thru many tens (maybe hundreds) of reviews and must say: every camera todday make good pictures. Of course, here is many professionals who sure saw some differences, artifacts, purple contours and so - but - honestly must say- i'm probably ...
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I think keeping things simple will help narrow the choices, and focus your search to a handful of cameras that should be examined directly.
Afterall, purchasing a camera that you will actually USE is the whole objective, and whether you use a camera or not is very dependent on how it feels in your hand, what the controls are like and how the software/menu ...
1
If you want a point-and-shoot camera, then you will probably stay away from the bigger (and costly) SLR types..
There are so many cameras out there that give you and advice is quite not feasible..
But I can point you to a site I often look at, which I hope you'll find useful too: try the dpreview site which has a lot of in-depth reviews, with sample photos ...
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I’m going to start off by assuming you’ve got something capable of taking (digital) photos, whether that be a phone, a “hand me down” camera from a friend/family member or anything else. If you don’t, I’d recommend buying something cheap and starting there rather than spending a larger amount of money – this will let you know what sort of photography ...
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