I gotta say that I would prefer constructive criticism on my photos. "Great shot" really does not help me progress. I am in a photo club that has professional come in to evaluate our photos...and it is really helping me. I think we can ignore the "that's a horrible photo" and accept good criticism.

Welcome to the UHH. My first question for you would be what is your photographic mission (or area of interest)? Wrap your equipment purchases and self-improvement around that. For instance, I had to define what it is I shoot, how I display the photographs and under what circumstances I gather those pics. In looking back, I found that most of my photography was travel photography which I displayed in self-published books. I take some photos of family, etc during events, but for the most part my photos come from travel. And those photos are captured while on vacation, often during hiking trips, not necessarily on led photo tours. I further went back and used a data-plot program to look at the focal length I use most often and found that about 80% of my photos are in the wide to very wide angle range. As I travel more and more, I try to interact with people so as to get more street scenes. I also like taking in-door pics of people and events so fast glass was needed. So...given all that, my photo mission really does not require certain equipment but mandates other equipment. I found that I was probably not carrying the right stuff, so I changed. This is a long way of recommending that you define what it is that you want to shoot, decide if you have the equipment or need additional equipment. If the answer is that you are equipped, I would spend the money learning new techniques, on trips, or something else. If you find your needs are such that your style will be improved by glass or a camera, get it.

These are exceptional photos. Very well done, great clarity, bird in flight, wonderful tone. Congratulations on great work.

I may just follow your lead!

em5ii...

You are right on the good glass...I have a junky telephoto that is going back to the store. But I also have a 17 mm prime which is quite fast and crisp. With 5 way stabilization I can hand hold shots pretty well and keep ISO down. So, after I get a 12-40 pro lens, it will be about 85% in my range of use. My good friend, and excellent photographer, uses Olympus when traveling. He recently purchased the pro wide zoom (to the tune of about $1k) and is happy with it.
Best regards,

Dear Friends...I wanted to follow up on this post. After all the outstanding comments and recommendations on this topic, I did the following: I wanted to see what focal lengths I use the most whilst traveling. I downloaded Jeffrey Friedl's Data Plot Program which is a plug in for Lightroom. The plug-in plots various data sets such as how frequently a photog uses a particular focal length, aperture, etc. I had the program look at my various travel adventures to US and foreign spots such as Israel and China. The program indicated that 86 percent of my usage was at very wide or wide zoom focal lengths. Based on that, I determined that I can probably use one lens which has wide to about 80 mm focal lengths. Also, although not in the data, I like taking photos inside various dining places to personalize our travel pics...so I need a wide aperture lens capable of low light hand-held shooting. (For instance, we were in a pub on an Ireland island when school children came in and started playing Irish music...not to be missed once-in-a-lifetime opportunity).

Next...I went back and looked at how I really used the pics I did take...I don't typically blow many up...almost all are placed into a self-published book such as Mixbook for memorialization. Not much is ever over 8X10. So, I used my purchased a color card and shot some pics using my typical settings (low ISO's, mid-range apertures, A-priority, hand-held) and compared my Canon 60d with the Olympus OMD- em5Mark ii using a few zooms and primes. Frankly, when blown up to 8X10, I can't really tell the difference in color or clarity. I can edit the saturation as I see fit and often use HDR. So, what does all this mean? I will used the em5 for travel and light weight purposes. I will keep the Canon for more localized events when I can carry more weight.

You could certainly use this methodology to determine what camera and lens you would like to carry for travel. Or you could follow my wife's advice who said, "uh...dont you complain a lot about the weight of that camera and lenses and don't you usually just come home and put the pics on a book? Just carry something small and quite thinking about this. Aren't you doing this for fun? Go cut the grass!"

Hey, Cam...you did great. My point was that you the pic really is a nice one...and you know to hit the button at the right time...I also like the way the photo is processed....nice balance, etc. Well done!

This is a wonderful photo,that shows the photographer has an "eye" for the moment. It has the bird running through the picture, placement is interesting, shows motion. It also proves that content is better than equipment, settings or all the other stuff more frequently discussed.

I carry a full size dslr there with no problems. Once dropped a lens cap and some guy chased me down over a block to give it back. You own the camera, not vice versa. Also, I recommend a field trip to B and H....a lot of fun.

I typically shoot in raw and over expose by at least a half a stop (maybe not the smartest thing but I adjust later in post.) More often than not, I use aperture priority to control depth of field. I also have a custom setting for bracketing in aperture mode so I can do HDR later. If an ND filter goes on it is usually to allow for longer shutter times so I use manual. Finally, if for some reason something rapidly happens that I did not anticipate and want to shoot, I use what ever auto program I can find to get the shot.

Great question. I'm still a newbie at all of this...but here is what I do: I upload my photos to a portable hard drive via Lightroom. I also have several back ups and an on-line back up as well. I go through the photos and flag those photos I intend to use for my purposes (described in the following). I delete unwanted photos (its hard to do but I now see the wisdom in getting rid of junk). After processing the desired photos I typically make single topic photo books via Mixbook for the vacations we have taken where there are a lot of pics (Ireland and China for example.) I am now creating a book summarizing each year with very select photos from the smaller vacations and from the various holidays, events that took place during the year or notable photos I might have taken. Then, every few years I identify the more artsy photos and put them into a selected works book for display on a coffee table. I also upload very select photos to my Facebook page. Finally, what I have found to be helpful is I joined a photo group where we have professional photographers judge our work. I process/edit my favorite photos and submit those for judging. Entries are often submitted electronically for display on a projector during the club meeting, however, on occasion, they have printed judging as well.

I concur with Freddussel that there are actually very few pic worth spending a lot of money printing out. The few critiques of my work has humbled me quite a bit...but had been very helpful. Hope this helps.

Best regards,

God Speed on the deployment, thank you for the service and prayers for a safe return.

I attached a few pics taken with the Tokina. I like the wide angle lens a lot. Given the price I think it is a worthwhile purchase. The only down side is that it is limited to the EFS crop sensor cameras...but other than that, I think it works for me.

Very good resources. Thanks.

Just saw that you have Nikon glass...stick with Nikon...better suggestion than purchasing new stuff when not needed.