Photography - equipment, help hints

[evangilder]

It's just good practice to remove the lens cap when you go shooting and leave it off so you are ready at a moments notice. Unless you are going through a real dusty area or have some rain, that's the best way to be prepared to get the shot.

 

[GrauGeist]

Agreed, Eric...it's just second nature for me to pop the lens cap off when I'm preparing to shoot and it usually remains off (in my pocket) until I'm done shooting. If there's windy or rainy conditions, I'll shoot with the cap in my left palm while shooting, then popping it back on after the shot.

It's habit more than anything, after all these years...

 

[gumbyk]

I leave a clear filter on my camera, so even if it is a bit dusty, I can leave the cap off, and just give it a wipe every now and then.

 

[Gnomey]

Nice flash Aaron! Got one of them myself, has probably seen more use this year than any of the other bits of camera I own. Had great fun shooting events with it. So far done 2 balls, 1 charity auction and a couple of med school nights out. Had some really good shots out of it as well, does tend to chew through the batteries though when in constant use.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Nice flash Aaron! Got one of them myself, has probably seen more use this year than any of the other bits of camera I own. Had great fun shooting events with it. So far done 2 balls, 1 charity auction and a couple of med school nights out. Had some really good shots out of it as well, does tend to chew through the batteries though when in constant use.

Thanks Hugh and Eric, I'll bet it does eat batteries. I'm having to get use to the extra weight to. I have been experimenting with it, bouncing light of the ceiling and walls. Jake and Elwood got to where they would run and hide if they saw me with it.

 

[ontos]

That is a nice Flash Aaron, I was looking at them too. Someday I'll flip the bills, looks like it would be worth it.

Question, does anyone use the Back Button Focus instead of the half press main button? If so, how do you like it. I just set my Canon Rebel Xsi to the BBF, I kind of like it, it seems to focus quicker to me, but that just might be my senior senses acting up. It will take some getting use to. The only problem I have is trying to figure out how to get my Exposure Compensation to work in Manual Mode.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

I will have to look that up Merv, I am not sure what you are speaking of.

 

[ontos]

I found out about Back Button Focusing in a book I just purchased, here is a link to an article from Canon on this.

Canon DLC: Article: Back-Button Auto Focus Explained, I haven't tried it on my 70D, I thought I would play with it on the Rebel first.

 

[Gnomey]

Only ever use the half button press myself, I'll have to look into though now...

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Thank you for the link Merv, I did not know of this feature, had I, it would have saved some photos from the trash bin, (maybe).

 

[evangilder]

So I bought a fisheye/macro adapter lens over the holidays. I didn't have the big $$$ for a real fisheye (about $700-$1000) for the one I wanted, so the wide angle adapter at .2x fit the bill. It's normally $150, and I found it on sale on Amazon for $50. I also got a set of adapter rings so that I could screw it onto various lenses that I have. It's fun to play with and interesting to work with, but it takes a little getting used to. For low light, you need a tripod as the on camera flash will get blocked by the lens and you have a narrow DOF on it, so you have to remember that only part of the image will be in sharp focus. I haven't had a chance to set up the studio lights to try it under controlled lighting, but did play around with it a bit around the house. It's fun to play with. Not sure if I would ever drag it around at an airshow though. Here are some samples with it.

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots Eric! Always fancied getting a fisheye / adapter to play around with just for fun, certainly can get some interesting shots with them.

 

[evangilder]

Yeah, they are fun to play around with. At $50, I figured if it wasn't very good, I haven't spent much. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool!

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Is it a Neewer piece? I love the shot of the fish tank.

 

[evangilder]

It's from Opteka. It's cool because it makes the 18mm on my 18-200mm down to 3.6mm. Pretty wide, almost 170 degrees!

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Interesting, the wide angle attachment I got was had the same effect as far as mm but the quality was decent. It was a Neewer piece.

 

[GrauGeist]

What are the odds that a fishtank would be captured by a fisheye lens?

Looks like some real fun, Eric!

 

[Shinpachi]

Very nice!

 

[evangilder]

Thanks guys. Been a bit under the weather, so I haven't had a chance to do any more experiments with it. Hoping for a sunny day to catch some flowers, bugs, etc.