Find Answer

I’m curious. Having just aquired a cheapo fisheye lens for my digital camera (~15mm length, not a proper 8mm one), how many architectural photographers actually make use of these to good effect. Are there any people in particular whose work/portfolios I could look at for inspiration? Thanks.

I was listening to podcast #108 where Martin dabbles in a little astrophotography. Up until I joined this community, my photography experience was limited to astrophotography. I had free access to a small observatory with a LX200 telescope (2000mm f/10), which I no longer have access to (moved). I thought I would put together a few basic tips for anyone interested in this fascinating type of photography. As I like to say, it’s all about the light. Gathering photons on that sensor.

Believe it or not, planets and the moon get boring pretty quickly–the real action reveals itself in galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. For the first time in history, anyone with a DSLR and even a low-range telescope can access vast expanses of our universe, full of color, shape, form and all of the other wonderful things that make up good photographs. But, occasionally, and especially to start, the moon is a nice target. Also, the preferred method of capturing planets is video! Don’t ask me why, but it is pretty much a hard fast rule. The idea is to get the planet in the viewfinder and roll HD video at 60 fps. The hard part of astrophotography is focus. Even if you get just 5 seconds of video, that’s 300 frames to choose from–and as the camera autofocuses, it inevitably nails a few frames spot on. You just go through the frames and find the best focused shots. Here’s an example of Jupiter–though not particularly in great focus




Here’s an example of a moon shot grabbing the camera straight out of the bag with no telescope or insane telephoto lens (I can’t remember which lens–probably 50mm):



Here’s another shot of the moon–this time with a tripod and a 300mm zoom lens. You can get pretty close with a 300mm lens and a tripod. Tip–white balance off the moon itself.



And finally, here is a shot with aforementioned telescope (2000mm f/10). Know that this telescope could optically get way down to inside of a tiny crater and fill the frame. Again, focus is the key–and shooting HD video at 60fps.



I’m going to update this post with some of my own images when I can get into my archives–so the next part about “deep sky” images (galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, etc.) will have some examples I just grabbed off of google images.


Deep Sky

Martin had mentioned in the podcast that he couldn’t get a particular shot because the stars were moving too fast. Indeed, they move faster than one might think. The closer they are to us, the faster they move–so the moon, planets and local objects move faster than say, the Orion nebula, which is millions of light years away. What many of the mid to upper tier telescopes do so well has to do with “tracking”. They have motors on them that move the telescope imperceptably to keep the subject in the frame in the exact same place as it moves across the sky. Have you ever seen star trails in photographs? No tracking system is used in these photos–so you’re essentially looking at the subject as it moves from east to west across the sky.

….

So just recently I sold a bunch of my lenses and 7D to trade up to a 5D Mkii and zeiss 50mm f2.0. A couple of weeks later a family called me to do a portrait session. I was a little nervous because my zeiss is manual focus only, and I would be shooting 3 dogs, and a 2, 5, and 6 year old. I did the session and it went great

I thought some of you might be interested in how this went as well as how the lens performed. Zeiss recently started making manual focus lenses in canon and nikon mounts. In the canon version, you have all the usual metering, aperture control, and even focus confirmation. The missing element is autofocus. This zeiss lens is a couple hundred bucks cheaper than canon’s 50mm f/1.2L, and the build quality of the zeiss is far superior (all metal, even the hood, and buttery focus ring), but you do lose some weather sealing, and an f-stop. Most of the reviews state that the sharpness of the zeiss is better than canon’s L, at least in the corners — they may be equivalent in the center.

The manual focus (MF) requirement of the Zeiss lenses was the biggest adjustment after relying on AF for many years. That said, you’d be surprised at how quickly you get accustomed to MF. The first obstacle I ran into was that manually focusing the Zeiss was almost impossible with the stock focus screen on the 7D and 5D. The stock focus screen is optimized for both fast and slow lenses, but if you look through your viewfinder with a 50mm f1.4 lens, you aren’t viewing a DoF of f/1.4 (even with the depth of field preview button on). Instead, the depth of field you’re seeing is only about f/4.0 — this is due to the microprisms embedded in the stock focus screen. So, step 1 was buying canon’s “S” focus screen, optimized for f2.8 and faster lenses. With this screen installed it’s WYSIWYG when you look thru the viewfinder, and manual focusing is a much easier.

My first worry when shooting portraits with the Zeiss was, “how many shots am I going to miss?”. After a bit of practice, the answer for me is “not many”. Even with AF, when shooting kids, you’re going to miss shots. One issue with shooting AF is that you have to rely on a focus point. Previously, I usually set the middle focus point, focused on the eyes, then reframed the shot. The problem with this technique is that you have to move the camera when reframing the shot, and the subject or camera may move throwing off focus in the process.

….

I purchased Lightroom 3 and I am very impressed so far. A question though, does anyone know how to automatically apply lens correction on import?
I have a couple different cameras and the exif data is available on the 5D and 20 D, and I have set a preset to apply
Lens Correction but it simply will not work. I have to go into each pic and enable profile correction. I can apply corrections to multiple pics with Sync Setting once imported.

I have gone thru 2 manuals and various queries thru Adobe but I can’t see where it says that Lens Correction can not be applied – it does say that Develop Presets can be applied on import.

Now let me clarify, I am importing from my hard drive – not the camera. I have not tried importing from the camera/memory card. Would that make a difference?

Hi, I’m looking for a walk around zoom to take some wildlife/nature shots and I don’t know what else right now. Has anyone used this lens and what do you think of it? BH has it for $570.I looked at one as it was amazing how it took the shake out as compared to one without IS. I also looked at the 70-200 f4 L. I didn’t see much difference in the shots that I took in the store.

Thanks for your input.
Ray

Is anyone who owns this lens experiencing the wierd flare issues that have been reported on various forums?

Martin – I know you have this lens. Have you had any problems?

I was pretty close to buying one of these, but I suppose I’ll now wait until the issue is resolved.

Marc

For all of you podcast lovers, I just bought a Video Ipod. Now there’s a whole new dimension to Podcasts called “Videopodcasts”. These are being developed now and there are currently about 78 of them. For podcasters who want to do a little demonstration (for example, how to clean a lens, I haven’t seen this one but it’s a good idea), you can put a little capsule on this theme and watch the whole procedure in the Ipod for just 5 minutes or so. It can’t be that difficult to make, because you set the video camera on a tripod, have somebody help you with lights and audio, and off you go! And there aren’t any Photography VideoPodcasts yet, so it’s a whole new field. Up to now I can recommend “The Photoshop TV” ; “KQED Gallery Crawl” ,and “DV Gear Talk”.
Also, as you all know, the ipods have 30 and 60 GB drives so you can store your photographs in them to review. The new Video Ipod has a larger screen (2 1/2″ by 2 1/2″ wide) so it has a better picture viewer than the previous models.

I am considering purchasing a Sigma 28-105mm F2.8-4 DG lens. (For Canon 20D)
Can anyone offer any advice on the quality of the lens or recommend any alternatives lenses to buy?

Thanks for your time.
Clive.

Surprise to all, this is the camera I’ve been using for all my shots! I still have not moved on to the Digital SLR as of NOW, but I’m planning daily on doing so! I’m leaning towards Canon now, but who knows! I just wanted to share with you the review this camera got as the first Super Steady Shot camera with a 12x lens! It got a very good review as a small all-around super zoom camera to take along. It’s also the closest to Digital SLR’s (along with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 which is 8 mega px)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz30/ (and the Fuji Finepix S9000 which is 9 mega pixels) http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms9000/
The problem with these cameras is not their lenses (they all have IS ). It’s their small sensors. They only deliver good image quality when the ISO is low and the light is bright, so you don’t get that ISO good image versatility a good Canon or Nikon D SLR provides you with a variety of light situations. Here’s the review for the Sony I still use: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydsch1/
The Sony’s equivalent is the Canon Power shot S2, also with Image stabilization.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons2is/

I purchased Lightroom 3 and I am very impressed so far. A question though, does anyone know how to automatically apply lens correction on import?
I have a couple different cameras and the exif data is available on the 5D and 20 D, and I have set a preset to apply
Lens Correction but it simply will not work. I have to go into each pic and enable profile correction. I can apply corrections to multiple pics with Sync Setting once imported.

I have gone thru 2 manuals and various queries thru Adobe but I can’t see where it says that Lens Correction can not be applied – it does say that Develop Presets can be applied on import.

Now let me clarify, I am importing from my hard drive – not the camera. I have not tried importing from the camera/memory card. Would that make a difference?