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Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 10:22 pm
by BrigitDoon
I have a Canon EOS300D which I've owned for nearly seven years. The autofocus needed fixing in its second year but apart from that has been a joy to own. That was the entry level in 2004. I'm not sure what the current model is, though. There'll be a rival Nikon model which will be slightly better/worse depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 11:50 am
by Late to the Party
dpreview.com has reviews of just about everything.

I think that the latest in the Canon entry level is something like the 550D, or perhaps the 1000D. Not sure about Nikon. There's also all sorts of other options like the micro 4/3 systems that are worth looking into. Very compact but good value....

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 2:59 pm
by myfriendstan
Thanks for your replies, guys.

How about this one?

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electro ... Price&fb=0

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:21 pm
by The Egg Man
I've been really impressed by some of the black and white images shared on this site and stuff I've seen elsewhere.

I have a tiny Sony DSC-S730. There's nothing I can find in the instruction book about taking pics in B&W.

Do I have to take the pics in colour and use some form of editing software to get rid of the colour and just show B&W and, if so, is there free stuff out there that'll do this.

Thanks in anticipation.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:57 pm
by BrigitDoon
XnView will convert images to greyscale as part of its batch processing option. It's free. It's an all-round useful thing to have on your system and I use it all the time. Great camera, that DSC-S730. Mine goes everywhere with me :)

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:57 pm
by scotthiggy
I have a Sony A330 DLSR, which might be at the bottom end of the SLR market but is fantastic for my requirements. Only problem I have is that when using the "live view" mode the screen image quality is not great? Once the picture has been taken the image on the screen is perfect.....It just the "live view" mode! Common complaint perhaps or is it just my A330?
Thanks guys

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:02 pm
by The Egg Man
BrigitDoon wrote:XnView will convert images to greyscale as part of its batch processing option. It's free. It's an all-round useful thing to have on your system and I use it all the time. Great camera, that DSC-S730. Mine goes everywhere with me :)



Thanks. I'll try that.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:12 am
by Doorstop
Just as a point of interest, I've always found it a better option to take photos in full colour then desaturate them using whatever application is my tool of choice at that particular time.

If you take the images in black and white (or convert to black and white as opposed to desaturating the colours) it means you have less image information to fiddle about with in the production stages.

Just a thought.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 3:54 pm
by Late to the Party
I'm with Doorstop on this one. There are hunners of ways to convert to B&W, provided you are starting from a colour file. For best results, a RAW file to be honest.

A really good technique at the end of the post here: http://www.designbyfire.com/?p=17

Another tool that I've found exceptionally handy is the Nikon Silvereffects plugin for photoshop/lightroom. I'm a Canon user but use this plugin regularly (a mate passed it on to me but I'm sure that you can download it from the Nikon site somewhere). Loads of options and fairly easy to use.

http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/usa/entry.php

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:20 pm
by purplepantman
scotthiggy wrote:I have a Sony A330 DLSR, which might be at the bottom end of the SLR market but is fantastic for my requirements. Only problem I have is that when using the "live view" mode the screen image quality is not great? Once the picture has been taken the image on the screen is perfect.....It just the "live view" mode! Common complaint perhaps or is it just my A330?
Thanks guys


I don't know if it's a "common complaint" but the explanation as to why the images
are different is in here somewhere...

"As with its forebear, one of the main highlights of the Sony A330 is its Live View implementation. None of the currently manufactured competitor models - the 'non-SLR' Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1/GH1 aside - can auto-focus quickly in live view mode, and that's because competing DSLRs get the live view feed off the main imaging chip, which means their mirror must be raised while in this mode, blocking light from reaching their AF sensors. So they either have to temporarily lower their mirror for auto-focusing, which is loud and interrupts the live view, or resort to contrast-detect AF, which their lenses are not optimised for.
Sony have circumvented this problem by using a secondary imager. While the solution is not new - secondary-sensor Live View debuted in the Olympus E-330 of 2006, where it was called Live View Mode A - Sony took a fresh look at it when designing the A300/A350 and came up with their own version. Given that no other manufacturer - not even Olympus - offers this in any of its current models, it was logical of Sony to continue using it in the A330. The benefit of secondary-sensor Live View is that autofocus is just as fast, and shutter lag is just as short as when using the OVF, unlike in the case of competing models that offer main-sensor Live View. The downside of Sony's solution is a much lower Live View frame coverage (90%) and the inability to magnify into the live image for accurate manual focussing. We suspect that the properties of the secondary sensor might also be behind the fact that the Sony A330 does not offer a video mode."


More here...
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/ ... 30_review/

Hope this helps!

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:53 am
by myfriendstan
Went for the Nikon D3000. Will post some of the results.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:56 am
by rabmania
myfriendstan wrote:Went for the Nikon D3000. Will post some of the results.


Looking forward to them.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:03 pm
by droschke7
The Egg Man wrote:I've been really impressed by some of the black and white images shared on this site and stuff I've seen elsewhere.

I have a tiny Sony DSC-S730. There's nothing I can find in the instruction book about taking pics in B&W.

Do I have to take the pics in colour and use some form of editing software to get rid of the colour and just show B&W and, if so, is there free stuff out there that'll do this.

Thanks in anticipation.


If you use Picasa (which is a freebee from Google ) or something called Gimp2 (which is also freeware) Gimp is a wee bit more complicated than Picasa but you should try both to see how easy you find them. Both are capable of turning colour photo's into B/W or even Sepia photo's.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:11 pm
by droschke7
myfriendstan wrote:HI, I've posted on here for years without having a real camera. I've got a Nikon VR iso2000 and a Samsung phone. I've now retired and am looking for an entry level Digital SLR. Any suggestions?

Ta.


I have a Nikon D3000 which is a brilliant entry level Camera, and it's quite cheap to buy(I've seen them in Jessops for £350 with an 18-55 lense) on Amazon you can also get some great compatible extra's. I bought a new (spare) Battery for £5.85, a remote control (for night togging, it stops the Camera shake) for £5.95. I also got a Tamron 70-300 Zoom/Macro lens for just over £100, and a Jessops Flash gun for £79 (the Nikon was about £300) so it's well worth a look.

Re: Digital Camera Equipment. THE Help and discussion thread.

PostPosted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:35 am
by Nobby
Cheeky question, but wonder if one of you guys could help me out? Could one of you let me know what the cheapest price in Scotland (or UK) is for a Nikon D700, with Nikkor 24-70 mm AF 2.8 zoom?

Got laid off last year and now I have a new job, was toying with idea of using last of my payout to get some camera equipment to replace film based stuff I used to have.

Prices here in Australia are harsh, compared to rest of the world, but exchange rate is cheap at the moment if buying elsewhere. Was just curious to get a comparison with UK prices. Plus, am I right in thinking the D700 is the cheapest full frame DSLR on the market, or have I missed one somewhere?