Cameras and Photography equipment

I know we have a thread dedicated to pictures but not one to equipment. A great deal of us dabble in photography/video. Some have more indepth knowledge then others, so I figured this would be a good place to discuss. Cameras, techniques and additional equipment.

jaja great thread.
but im out of business

I would love a new camera, but mine does the trick for now. One day I'll switch over to Canon and get a 7D with a bunch of prime glass cause it's all about BOKEH. I also wanna purchase a go-pro of some sort, that will come way before any other piece of equipment I buy.

Here's my advice to all new automotive photographers, just a basic list of do's and dont's:

-Keep your background clean, try not to include dumpsters and any other kind of distractions!
-Since most people don't go straight into off camera lighting - always have the sun behind you, with my experience an optimal day to shoot is when its overcast.
-Find the most flattering angle of the car and then compose it with your surroundings(Google 'The rule of thirds'), moving the car around to where you want it.
-Shoot in RAW, in case you don't know the plus' of shooting in this format it basically allows you pull more data out of an image while editing. For example, your image came out the camera with a blown out sky, you'll be able to get more detail out of the sky(bring back clouds etc) than you would with lets say JPEG.
-Read your camera's manual and learn it well!
-Expose the car properly before anything else, I usually use atleast 2 exposures(2 pictures), 1 for the car its self and 1 for the background. You don't have to do this if your shooting in RAW. Check this link out for a good example of how layer masks work - http://forums.mycanikon.com/showthread.php?466-Tutorial-Layer-masks

Oh yeah, torrents are your best friend when looking for Photoshop(a big must in auto photography).

I am pretty certain that I am upgrading cameras. I am pretty much set on what camera I am going to get unless I can be swayed.

Currently I am using the Nikon D70, and for video I use a canon HV30. I have pretty much reached the limit of what I can do witht the video camera. The Nikon is decent but dated, I figured I would just upgrade to a DSLR that will do both things better then what I have now. Plus it will be easier carrying one camera around then having two.

Orginally, I was set on the Nikon D7000, but after talking to a few people who do higher level automotive coverage it occured to me that they use and somewhat recommend canon. So persuing that avenue, I looked into the 60D and that camera seems to be what I am looking for. Don't get me wrong I would like the 7D but the price tag is too high and the non-tilt screen could be an issue for video.

Camera's you say....

I have some shit lying around, but can't find the time to use any of it. If it wasn't for work...ahem...I would never get to browse the forums as it is.

I guess, I am curious if I'm on the right track or if anybody could add anything before I make my final decision. Ideally I would like to buy the camera without the kit lense and put that money towards a better lense.

Personally Ryan if I was you I'd hold off till you have the money for the camera you really want, save up the extra 500 for the 7D. This way you have a pretty much professional camera and will never reach the limit of it.

Canon is definitely the way to go for video capable DSLR's, don't get me wrong Nikons do a great job but they don't support 60 frames per second like the Canons do. The extra 30FPS creates such smooth slow motion shots great for drifting and everything else on the spectrum.

And as far as the whole kit lens thing goes, stay far, far away from them. There's nothing worse than a soft image!

The issue with the 7D is that the screen does not have the tilt. It is a great camera, but apparently the video quality is pretty much the same on all of them. Plus anything in that region will be better then my D70. I think apart of me only wants to 7D because it is so expensive. I don't know if I will actually benifit from it.

I really wanted the D7000 to be the one, but was slowly sawyed by the 60D.

Like most people your probably looking for the best bang-for-your-buck and if image quality is the same the 60D would be the right choice. Either way go for Canon!

abs0Lut wrote:

Like most people your probably looking for the best bang-for-your-buck and if image quality is the same the 60D would be the right choice. Either way go for Canon!

I am actually glad to hear you say canon. I think the photo quality would be a bit better on the 7D but video should be the same. I really want to have it before this season starts.

I know right, I regret buying a Nikon but I can't complain, it was my first camera. I just like Canon's selection of glass better than Nikons.

Not all Canon Kit glass is garbage.

Yeah the 18-55 you get with most Rebel's pretty much is (but some people have still had great shots with them), but say the 17-85 IS/USM from the D series is a decent walk around lens. It has Non-rotating front element so it won't be a pain in the ass to use with a CPL filter or petal hood, and constructed very much like the higher end L-lens, but without thew Aspherical glass.

And as you get into the full frame Canon camera's you start getting L-Glass (aspherical) paired with the Camera. There is nothing better in the Canon line up.

If you get a Canon buy the $100 Nifty Fifty first, I love that lens!

what are some other pretty basic lens, we only have 3 right now that the wife uses, 55-250mm 1.1m, ef 35mm 1.2, and the normal 18-55mm that came with the camera of course. I know it kinda depends on what kind of pic's you take, she wants to start taking portraits, and I really want a better indoor action lens

currently my set up is:
Canon XTi - software upgrade, canon 18-55mm efs, Sigma 75-300mm ef, macro fisheye lence.
Flashes - 2 vintage vivatar flashes and a pocketwizard.
GoPro - with external backpack screen and all mounts. including home made mounts

But i dont do any photo editing, and am looking for both a decent cheap or free photo editing program. suggestions.
also im looking for a cheep or free video editing software any insight would be appreciated. im running a MAC setup.

its.eric wrote:

But i dont do any photo editing, and am looking for both a decent cheap or free photo editing program. suggestions.
also im looking for a cheep or free video editing software any insight would be appreciated. im running a MAC setup.

Im sure you could find Photoshop for a mac online somewhere? Google torrents if you dont know what they are. Only if your going pro and own your own business will you want to spend 1000 on Photoshop, IMO Lightroom or Photoshop are the only real photo editing programs.

toddler wrote:

what are some other pretty basic lens, we only have 3 right now that the wife uses, 55-250mm 1.1m, ef 35mm 1.2, and the normal 18-55mm that came with the camera of course. I know it kinda depends on what kind of pic's you take, she wants to start taking portraits, and I really want a better indoor action lens

For portraits I hear primes are where its at, people love the 85mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 to shoot people. Even a 135 f/2.0 would get the job done great. As far as a better indoor lens goes you'll want something atleast f/2.8, and a camera with great ISO capabilities if you want quality shots.

its.eric wrote:

currently my set up is:
Canon XTi - software upgrade, canon 18-55mm efs, Sigma 75-300mm ef, macro fisheye lence.
Flashes - 2 vintage vivatar flashes and a pocketwizard.
GoPro - with external backpack screen and all mounts. including home made mounts

But i dont do any photo editing, and am looking for both a decent cheap or free photo editing program. suggestions.
also im looking for a cheep or free video editing software any insight would be appreciated. im running a MAC setup.

Well, I to run a Mac. Editing for photos I use Photoshop CS3 and for video I use final Cut pro. Really for Mac I would only recommend final cut. If you were running a pc you could chose from Avid, Sony Vegas or premier.

So I bought the new Camera on Saturday. Pretty excited.

1eightySX wrote:

So I bought the new Camera on Saturday. Pretty excited.

what is it?

abs0Lut wrote:

As far as a better indoor lens goes you'll want something atleast f/2.8, and a camera with great ISO capabilities if you want quality shots.

Indoor you need a low as F stop as possible. or this



With this.

Heretic wrote:

abs0Lut wrote:

As far as a better indoor lens goes you'll want something atleast f/2.8, and a camera with great ISO capabilities if you want quality shots.

Indoor you need a low as F stop as possible.

x2, but its impossible to find a wide angle zoom lens that will do f/1.8 and especially f/1.4 and changing lens' during any kind of party/get together will get old quick.

lu!$ wrote:

1eightySX wrote:

So I bought the new Camera on Saturday. Pretty excited.

what is it?

I bought the 60D on Saturday. I was going to get just the body but the sales person was very convincing.... so I got the kit with an extra lense. The sales person apparently has inherented her other halfs abillity of convincing me of things.

Now to post a practice video! What are the lens'?

Nice pick up. Now, would this camera let you do slow motion vids or what's the usual frame rate for this type of video captures. I see the highest frMe rate for that camera is 60fps at 720.

I just find really amazing the slow motion captures and maybe you might get into this once you learn the camera.

60fps is great for slo mo, but it's all how you render the video to make the slo mo look any different than a 30fps clip would look like. I found a tutorial on google - and i'm pretty sure on the Canibeat forums too - that shows you what to do, all I know is a 3rd party program is needed..