PF Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Photo Sharing

[turbo]

Finally got the Panasonic DMC-ZS3. I tried using the closest macro settings, but the shadow of the camera mucked up the picture, so here's one from a little further out. Tight crop. Resized, but no processing.

 

[Borek]

Seems like I have to take some new pictures, you and Andre are obviously busy with a new hardware

 

[turbo]

Seems like I have to take some new pictures, you and Andre are obviously busy with a new hardware

It's a tiny little thing, Borek. I'm glad it has some fair macro capability. Now the next step is to learn what stuff to disable/enable and what custom settings to specify. It will take a while. I also have to learn where my fingers should and shouldn't be. While setting up for the penny shot, I accidentally hit the "movie" button and got a recording of what the penny looked like while zooming, repositioning, getting good focus, etc. That movie won't be released on DVD anytime soon.

 

[turbo]

Great thing about a tiny camera is that you can keep it in your shirt pocket. When my wife left to take care of her mother, I took Duke to the big grassy scenic lookout on the next hill to the west for a fun/training session, and the sun started peeking out a bit. We had rain yesterday and last night, it hasn't evaporated off well, so there is a great deal of haze between here and Sugarloaf. Not a great shot, by any standards, but if I had lugged along the Canons, keeping my eye on Duke and training him would have meant that the cameras would have stayed in the case and I would have gotten NO shots. If you are a busy person, or if you are often occupied with keeping any eye on kids, etc, this is a great camera. You can get snapshots, shoot video in HD, and toss it back into the pocket or purse.

My wife has a New Balance (athletic shoe co) neck lanyard, like you see people wearing their security/staff credentials on. I put the DMC-ZS3 in my shirt pocket with the wrist strap attached to the neck lanyard, and even if I have to bend over to help Duke get untangled or something, and the camera falls out of the pocket, it can't take a fatal drop.

 

[turbo]

Full-frame photos of a Texas militia button ca. 1855 or so, likely. No processing at all, just resized to 800x600.

Too bad it's not real. You could probably buy a new car for what a Texas militia button in this condition would bring.

 

[Borek]

Seems like buying new camera was a money well spent

 

[turbo]

Seems like buying new camera was a money well spent

It would be a great camera for a coin-dealer to document the condition of his stock. It's one thing to make claims about condition grades, but another thing entirely to prove it with sharp photos.

 

[turbo]

What a great little point-and-shoot! Here are my neighbors' grand-daughters who live with them along with their mother. They were standing on a very large granite boulder that my neighbor had hauled up with the old Ford tractor, but I had to zoom in on their faces because of the cute expressions. No processing at all. Crop the shot, resize, and that's it. I've been a film junkie for many years and only recently jumped into DSLRs. I am extremely impressed by the quality and accuracy of this tiny pocket-camera and would highly recommend it to anybody that wants to be able to snap off shots from wide-macro to 300mm-equivalent telephoto without having to lug around lots of equipment. I took the Canon 30Ds and lenses (and the massive Pelican case) to the scenic lookout today, and shot some images while my wife let Duke explore. I only saved one shot of Sugarloaf, but saved multiple shots of her and him snapped with the Lumix.

The little one is in pre-school and she loves anything to do with rocks - going to be a geologist for sure! The older girl is in 1st grade this year, and she is a sweetie. If she wants a hug, she'll run at you with arms out and "demand" one. The little one is more reserved, but is generally the first one at the door, hollering my name if I drop in. They both love me and my wife, with special love reserved for Duke. They're all over him when we visit, which is good, because he loves kids. Even with a properly-set-up training collar and tight control, Duke is willing to tug and pull when we're getting close to their house. Their dog Max would willingly jump into my vehicle and go anywhere if Duke is in the car. The converse is true, though. Duke loves my neighbor, and he could probably stop by any day and kidnap my dog with no problem.

 

[GeorginaS]

This thread continuously leaves me breathless.

 

[Borek]

Another attack of cuteness

 

[mavipooli]

hello

very nice

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[Andre]

So Turbo, will you ever dust off the Canons again?

Anyway I was walking with the junior today, looking for 'perspective' when we passed swan lake.

a juvenile one in unusual perspective.

 

[Kronos5253]

So I was sitting outside having a smoke break at work, and just out of curiosity I took this pic:

with my Nokia 6650 phone. Thought it turned out pretty good so I figured I'd post it up here.

 

[Borek]

Anyway I was walking with the junior today, looking for 'perspective' when we passed swan lake.

Who took the pictures - you, or Junior?

 

[turbo]

So Turbo, will you ever dust off the Canons again?

I certainly will, especially in controlled environments or when my wife is available to keep track of the new dog.. I'm busy training Duke and trying to make him safe around roads, etc, so most of my current photo-opportunities are more appropriate for the pocket camera. It's a handy little package, and I can shoot lots of stuff automatically with just one hand.

Going out with Duke, a training aid or two, a 30-foot training lead, treats, etc, doesn't leave a lot of spare resources to handle DSLRs with manually-zoomed lenses. Maybe if I had an extra hand or two.

 

[Andre]

Who took the pictures - you, or Junior?

Must have been junior, considered the frog perspective. At least the neck strap got soaking wet.

He also took this pic at the other extreme, about 13 mm wide angle, practicing 'perspective' shots on the same swan

Right Turbo, I'm happy to drag all the stuff around and switch lenses frequently, shooting always in RAW, just to get the highest possible quality on the big prints

Nice job, Kronos

 

[Borek]

with my Nokia 6650 phone

Just wow.

That's probably the first time I see picture taken with mobile and I like it (meaning technical side). So far everything I have seen was crappy, unles it was in an ad Could be subject helped.

 

[Andre]

Well, my first bird in my garden shot, a blue tit:

but it was a though one, the light was bad deep down in the shrub; From the exif:

Shooting Mode... Program AE
Tv( Shutter Speed )... 1/100
Av( Aperture Value )... 5.0
Metering Mode... Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation... 0
ISO Speed... 800
Lens... EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Focal Length... 165.0mm

and the window was refecting a lot, as you can see on the unprocessed jpeg output of the full shot:

 

[Kronos5253]

Just wow.

That's probably the first time I see picture taken with mobile and I like it (meaning technical side). So far everything I have seen was crappy, unles it was in an ad Could be subject helped.

Thanks :) I appreciate it!

I have a bunch more that I want to put up on here, I just haven't switched them to the computer yet

 

[turbo]

I took Duke to the scenic lookout to exercise and walk a bit, and in between his unplanned visits to every rock and tree, I managed to snap off a shot of Sugarloaf. Winter is here - at least in the higher elevations. There was a picture in todays paper of some Sugarloaf employees riding a Snow-Cat on their way back from tending to snow-making equipment.

Noting the softness, I should have been using a tripod, but that's just too much extra gear to lug. I have a hiking staff with a 1/4"x24 stud under the knob, so maybe next time, I'll at least take that and have a monopod for support.

 

[Andre]

Hmmm maybe more a focussing problem Turbo? Check the tree low corner left, appears sharper than the background.

 

[turbo]

Hmmm maybe more a focussing problem Turbo? Check the tree low corner left, appears sharper than the background.

Could be. Next time I'm up there, I'll compare hand-held with monopod-mounted, in Auto, Custom, and Scene(landscape) modes to see what's up. This camera (at least in iA mode) fires a burst of flash as a focusing aid, and perhaps that foreground tree caught enough of it to sway the autofocus to the foreground.

 

[Andre]

I find myself focussing manually more and more. In a burst sequence for a more or less static subject like grandson babies for instance, there is no need for distracting in between focussing. Also working with wide angle to optimize depth of field, as well as macro tripod work when quick reaction is not a factor.

 

[Borek]

Interesting. We bought in June second hand (but barely used) A590 for bike trips - and this is uncropped zoom:

and same picture, not cropped, just resized:

To some extent similar lack of sharpness.

I forgot to reserach it in more details, could be that happens only on the long end when taking pictures that need DOF. Most pictures were taken in just a landscape mode, and they were reasonably good and sharp:

At least they are much better than no pictures from bike trips at all

 

[turbo]

Interesting, Borek. I hope the ZS3 performs better than that at full telephoto, and it's just a matter of user-error. Certainly, normal and macro shots are top-notch with this little pocket-cam.

 

[Kronos5253]

Interesting. We bought in June second hand (but barely used) A590 for bike trips - and this is uncropped zoom:

That looks really awesome zoomed and cropped like that. Makes it look kind of like an old oil painting.. It's a pretty cool effect

 

[Kronos5253]

Here are the few more that I said I took with my Nokia 6650 phone :)

I have another version of this taken with my Nikon coolpix.. I'll post that up when I get home, the quality is 10x better

I took two of these.. One with the auto setting on the phone, one on the "sunny" setting

This is auto

This is the "sunny" setting

If you can't tell I like taking pictures of the sky haha

 

[turbo]

Kronos, that phone has a pretty decent camera function, and at least you'll always have it with you so you can snap off a shot anytime.

 

[Kronos5253]

Kronos, that phone has a pretty decent camera function, and at least you'll always have it with you so you can snap off a shot anytime.

Ya that's what I love about it :D The quality is alright.. It's grainy though. If I would have posted the full size pics you would see the colored grains in it. It's actually only a 2MP camera haha I just like to think that I'm pretty good with a camera

 

[Andre]

Nice work Kronos, composition ideas are great but you notice the hardware limitations indeed.

Next shots in one session ware made with a EOS 450D with a Tokina 12-24mm wide angle zoom, mostly at 12mm wide in the hunt for the photo contest perspective, all but one are on 18% of the real size, with some crops on the original 100% size, so you can judge if you can settle for a camera phone or if you need heavier hardware.

crop on 100% of the standard jpg output.

Same crop from a RAW image after some processing, sharpening, reducing noise reduction, and some more image tuning

and the uncropped frame again on 18% after RAW processing, obviously the changes will be more clear on a poster of 24 inch.

Some more unprocessed JGP's:

(this one was cropped to remove some nasty signs)

 

[Kronos5253]

Nice work Kronos, composition ideas are great but you notice the hardware limitations indeed.

Next shots in one session ware made with a EOS 450D with a Tokina 12-24mm wide angle zoom, mostly at 12mm wide in the hunt for the photo contest perspective, all but one are on 18% of the real size, with some crops on the original 100% size, so you can judge if you can settle for a camera phone or if you need heavier hardware.

crop on 100% of the standard jpg output.

Same crop from a RAW image after some processing, sharpening, reducing noise reduction, and some more image tuning

and the uncropped frame again on 18% after RAW processing, obviously the changes will be more clear on a poster of 24 inch.

Some more unprocessed JGP's:

(this one was cropped to remove some nasty signs)

Oh I'd love to have a better piece of equipment rather then use a phone.. But I be poor haha My wife is big into photography and she wants a nikon D90, but we don't exactly have the spare cash for that haha The Nikon Coolpix actually takes really decent pictures though, but I'd much rather have, say, my dad's 35mm manual focus. It's like, 20-30 years old, but it takes BEAUTIFUL pictures. Someday I'll inherit it.. Some day. But for now I guess I'll just have to stick to my phone or the Coolpix.

Those are great pictures though... I think I would have used the under the tree picture (5th one down) for the perspective shot. I like the angles and the way the line for the water passes through the picture.

 

[Andre]

Right the fifth one down was on the short list as were all these. However maybe a bit too artifical looking. Suspicious persons could think of photoshopping. I almost went for #1 but that was maybe too dull. So I thought that the one I selected had the most extreme perspective.

Anyway, nice to have a hardware dream. I do too, it's called Canon EOS 7D, but there is also something like rational acceptance factors. The Nikon D90 is a fine piece. Just keep an eye on the sales market. It's prices will come down as new hardware floods the market.

 

[Kronos5253]

Right the fifth one down was on the short list as were all these. However maybe a bit too artifical looking. Suspicious persons could think of photoshopping. I almost went for #1 but that was maybe too dull. So I thought that the one I selected had the most extreme perspective.

True true, and I agree, the last one has the most extreme perspective. Makes the building look way bigger than it is, and the cannon adds a nice touch to the line of sight :D

Anyway, nice to have a hardware dream. I do too, it's called Canon EOS 7D, but there is also something like rational acceptance factors. The Nikon D90 is a fine piece. Just keep an eye on the sales market. It's prices will come down as new hardware floods the market.

Of course, good advice, and dually noted :) The one you posted is the one I'm looking to get, but my wife adores the D90 lol She likes the way it fits in her hand. Prices are a bit much, but it'll happen soon enough.

 

[GeorginaS]

A friend of mine got a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS for Christmas. Apparently it takes pictures on the macro setting, but she can't figure out how it works. (This camera is more automatic and less manual.) Anyone here familiar with the camera and have any hints and/or tips for taking amazing bug shots like Andre and Turbo and Borek do?

 

[turbo]

Hi, Georgina. It's my understanding that the manual shipped with that camera is a truncated version (though it ought to have SOME instructions for putting the rig in macro mode) and you have to go on-line and download the remainder of the manual. In a review, I read that the manual in the box is more like a "getting started" guide, still there ought to be an intuitive way to get to macro mode. Often, there are quick menu options, and "macro" will often be signified by a symbol that looks like the silhouette of a tulip. My Panasonic DMC-ZS3 is a bit too automatic, too, but it has pretty decent macro performance. I bought it because walking a rambunctious young (and incredibly strong) dog several times a day has cut into my DSLR forays, and I needed a pocket camera.