Evan's photography phun (5 Viewers)

[evangilder]

Thanks guys. Not only was it fun to get stills, but I got to get video as well with my new Contour camera

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkdHJWKTwTM

Watch at about 7:58 for the roll. Just after that, you hear me yelling "Wheee" followed by a laugh.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

That was definitely some GOOD THERAPY!!!! Excellent video Eric!

 

[evangilder]

Ok, I said it before, and I will say it again. There is definitely a metering issue on the D80. The shot below was sandwiched between 2 shots that were properly exposed with no change to settings.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Wow, that's really odd.

 

[GrauGeist]

That washed out shot looks like something my Kodak would do once in a while when it was locked in on a subject and sunlight would strike it just right as I was releasing the shutter...

My K100D hasn't done that so far, but I can tell you that it's seriously frustrating when you have the shot lined up and then *poof* it goes to hell like that

 

[evangilder]

Judging by the position of the airplane and the angle, it probably wouldn't have been a killer shot anyway, but it's still vexing when you get one that is that blown out. I only got one like that yesterday, thankfully. But that is the one thing that I find very annoying on the D80. Otherwise, it's a pretty good camera. It has suffered some substantial abuse and keeps plugging along.

 

[GrauGeist]

Seeing as how you come up with a huge number of kickass shots, I suppose you're allowed to have a bummer once in a while (excluding external influences such as: heads, hats, stray balloons, etc.)

Out of curiosity, how often to you upgrade/replace your camera? Reason I ask, is because I got my Pentax over 4 years ago, and it's still going strong, though it's outdated as far as features (and warranty) is concerned.

The way technology is today, they don't seem to last like our old 35 m/m cameras used to :/

 

[evangilder]

I don't have a hard and fast rule for that. It's usually when I see something that I think is worth upgrading to, and I have the money for at the time. I've had my D50 for over 5 years and I still use it for statics and as a backup camera. Its been dropped a few times and has taken over 50k shots. It's metering is way better than the D80 and I will probably never part with it as long as it is working. I've been using the D80 for about 3 years and it has taken over 60k shots on it. Allegedly, there is a shutter count lifetime on DSLRs, but I have seen many that go way past the expected lifecycle. If you are happy with the camera and it's working well, you don't necessarily need to upgrade, unless there is some really kick-ass thing that you want. I'd personally rather spend the money on a great lens. Having a great camera body doesn't do you a lot of good if you have average glass in front of it. You'll get better results from a lens upgrade.

 

[GrauGeist]

I have to agree about the lenses, that's why I bought a K mount!

I was curious what the average life of a camera used in professional environments would be.

I'm perfectly happy with my DSLR, though some folks kid me that it's "old", doesn't shoot vid-caps, have a zillion megapixels or a ton of other add-ons.

I simply wanted a sturdy DSLR that, well, took good pictures and could use any K mount lens...

 

[evangilder]

I don't shoot video with my SLR and that wouldn't be a reason to buy one, in my opinion. I laugh at the megapixel argument from people. If you have crappy glass, or take crappy photos, your just going to have more information to show you how crappy the photo is. Film was around 10-12 megapixels, so anything over that is pretty much overkill, unless you're looking to crop the bejesus out of a photo.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Nikon won't fix it either will they Eric?

 

[evangilder]

Nope, Aaron. They claim there isn't a problem with it. I know that it is a complaint with almost every Nikon D80 owner. I am guessing that it probably doesn't happen on Auto, but I don't shoot on auto.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

That's just LAME!!!!!

 

[evangilder]

A little movie magic for you. Laura and I went to Universal Studios today and I will be spending more time there to photograph when the off-season comes. I have some ideas for more shots when there aren't half a billion people there. But I did manage to do some Hollywood style editing to get this result.

 

[evangilder]

And now, the non-cropped version to see how it is done.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool!

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

I'm with VB!

 

[GrauGeist]

Now that's cool!

 

[Gnomey]

Nice ones!

 

[evangilder]

I got the photos from the flights last friday posted to the website. Click the banner below to check them out. Enjoy!