Back into photography after many years
Apr 15, 2017 08:16:49 #
Hi All,
After being away from photography for many years, the fire has been lit again! From the time I was a teenager, until the early 90s I had been into it at various levels and have a LOT of experience with emulsion photography, including darkroom work.
Digital photography is new to me, and from what I can see, it's apparently completely different! I was also into astrophotography for some time as well.. My understanding is we dont have things like reciprocity failure, but we have new things like dynamic range, noise, bias, etc..
I am currently borrowing a friends Sony a100, and it's great for starting out; however, the lenses he has are slow, and I was a Nikon guy for many, many years, as well as a Bronica medium format.. so I dont think it will last too long for me. I will probably get into a Canon or a Nikon because I've come to understand that they're both a great choice.. However, I'm leaning toward a Canon 5d 12.8 because it's a great way to get into a full frame camera for just a few hundred dollars, and I can find out if the Canon system is right fo me.
Of course, I will practice with the Sony for a while, and read around these forums and hopefully gain some insight into the digital world first.
Of course, if anyone has any suggestions for someone starting out, I would appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks,
Dave
After being away from photography for many years, the fire has been lit again! From the time I was a teenager, until the early 90s I had been into it at various levels and have a LOT of experience with emulsion photography, including darkroom work.
Digital photography is new to me, and from what I can see, it's apparently completely different! I was also into astrophotography for some time as well.. My understanding is we dont have things like reciprocity failure, but we have new things like dynamic range, noise, bias, etc..
I am currently borrowing a friends Sony a100, and it's great for starting out; however, the lenses he has are slow, and I was a Nikon guy for many, many years, as well as a Bronica medium format.. so I dont think it will last too long for me. I will probably get into a Canon or a Nikon because I've come to understand that they're both a great choice.. However, I'm leaning toward a Canon 5d 12.8 because it's a great way to get into a full frame camera for just a few hundred dollars, and I can find out if the Canon system is right fo me.
Of course, I will practice with the Sony for a while, and read around these forums and hopefully gain some insight into the digital world first.
Of course, if anyone has any suggestions for someone starting out, I would appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks,
Dave
Apr 15, 2017 08:23:46 #
Apr 15, 2017 08:27:25 #
dlavallee wrote:
Hi All, br br After being away from photography f... (show quote)
Welcome to our forum!
Some comparison sites -
Read comparisons and specs, and decide what features are important to you.
(Reviews) https://www.youtube.com/user/TheCameraStoreTV/videos
http://www.cameradecision.com/
http://cameras.reviewed.com/
http://camerasize.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
http://snapsort.com/compare
http://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/cameras?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu
Apr 15, 2017 08:34:49 #
Apr 15, 2017 08:50:38 #
Apr 15, 2017 08:54:17 #
dlavallee wrote:
Hi All, br br After being away from photography f... (show quote)
Yes, you are correct, reciprocity failure with the sensors is pretty much a thing of the past, the exposure in those situations is pretty constant! When it comes to dynamic range, film was/is a lot more forgiving, noise is a lot (really a lot) less apparent than film grain!
But away from that, the basics are still the same! Enjoy and have fun! The 5D is a great camera, but the 12.8 is a way outdated (although very capable camera) but I would at least go for the Mark II (or even higher) to start (a good one should be had for just a few hundred as well). I hope you will get your feet wet in the right way and once again enjoy a wonderful hobby for many years to come!
Apr 15, 2017 09:02:18 #
dlavallee wrote:
Hi All, br br After being away from photography f... (show quote)
Hi, Dave and welcome to the UHH forum. I'm no expert because I have never been a "photographer" just a "picture taker" and pretty much just a "picture taker" with a digital camera now!🤓 But from what I have learned so far huge aperture, like in the analogue film days, are not as much of a requirement for good photos. Although that would be depending on what you plan to photograph and under what kind of lighting conditions. Real fast lenses are available but most digital photos you see on the internet are not photographed with them. By fast I mean f1.4 range and faster. I have seen for Canon and Nikon most luxery lenses seem to be in the f2 - f4 range and a few f1.2 and some exotics less than f1. With very high ISO ranges on DSLRs good pictures are possible under some very adverse conditions especially with todays post processing programs, a necessity for digital photography when shooting RAW. Good photo shooting and have fun!
Apr 15, 2017 10:45:58 #
Apr 15, 2017 12:52:51 #
Welcome! Looking forward to your posts and pictures. Happy shooting!
Apr 15, 2017 13:00:52 #
Thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions! Good points also as far as fast lenses go! I can see where they are not as much a requirement for digital, because the noise gained in higher ISO settings isn't nearly as much as the grain we used to get for high speed film. However, I do have some interest in wide field astrophotography, and in that area fast lenses are a real benefit. As far as other photography, you can also get a shallower depth of field with some of the shorter focal lengths in the normal to short telephoto range..
Apr 16, 2017 06:21:04 #
Apr 16, 2017 07:17:45 #
Apr 16, 2017 08:43:27 #
Apr 16, 2017 10:05:59 #
Apr 16, 2017 11:29:50 #
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