The Photography Thread

[nudge+]

3 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

Diving back into things as my interest had stagnated somewhat with my limited and dated gear. Upgraded from my D90 to a D7500. Sorting out some things with lenses but going to have a decent little setup for nature and landscape photography 

On a side note my old man has offered me his Nikon F601 film camera to which he has two lenses both AF; a 28mm and a 70-210 f4-5.6. Will have some fun tinkering around with that as Ive never used film before. 

Nice gear...

The prices of film are completely bonkers now thanks to global shortages. Last time a week or so ago, I've been quoted 16USD for a roll of Fujifilm Superia Xtra, 18USD for Kodak Portra, and 13USD for bloody Kodak Gold... That's just mental. 

I gave away all my digital gear for young aspiring local photographers a while ago... But if film prices keep on increasing by 100% each year, I might have to get a digital camera again at some point  

[Viva la FCB+]

5 minutes ago, nudge said:

Nice gear...

The prices of film are completely bonkers now thanks to global shortages. Last time a week or so ago, I've been quoted 16USD for a roll of Fujifilm Superia Xtra, 18USD for Kodak Portra, and 13USD for bloody Kodak Gold... That's just mental. 

I gave away all my digital gear for young aspiring local photographers a while ago... But if film prices keep on increasing by 100% each year, I might have to get a digital camera again at some point  

Thanks! The timing was right for a bunch of reasons but also my better half has shown some interest in learning as well and I figured the D90 would be a great learning camera. 

That is absolutely insane. Im headed to the store today so Ill find out what our local prices are for film. I know the god damn battery is nearly 20$ cad to buy on amazon so im already a little iffy if its going to cost 40-50$ to try this out I might wait a bit  

 

[nudge+]

5 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

Thanks! The timing was right for a bunch of reasons but also my better half has shown some interest in learning as well and I figured the D90 would be a great learning camera. 

That is absolutely insane. Im headed to the store today so Ill find out what our local prices are for film. I know the god damn battery is nearly 20$ cad to buy on amazon so im already a little iffy if its going to cost 40-50$ to try this out I might wait a bit  

 

D90 is a nice camera, it has absolutely everything a beginner might need... How do you like your new D7500? The specs look pretty impressive! And I guess with everyone switching to mirrorless, the "older" F-mount lenses will only get cheaper with time, especially in second hand market, so that's a huge advantage...

I'd just get a roll of B&W film for trying the old film Nikon out, it's much cheaper and I genuinely like the results better... Easy to develop at home later on too, if you get into it  

[Viva la FCB+]

2 minutes ago, nudge said:

D90 is a nice camera, it has absolutely everything a beginner might need... How do you like your new D7500? The specs look pretty impressive! And I guess with everyone switching to mirrorless, the "older" F-mount lenses will only get cheaper with time, especially in second hand market, so that's a huge advantage...

 

I  just bought it last weekend, ordered a memory card and some odds and ends so havent used much yet but I am trying it out a few places on the coming weekend . 

I looked at the mirrorless but its just too expensive to justify and like you said if anything it will give me more opportunities for second hand f mount gear in the future, even now some is still quite pricey. I only really had one good lens left over from the D90 so it would have been feasible but I looked at the prices of Z glass too, dear lord. Funny enough the guy I bought this off of was selling because he bought a Z7. He literally used the D7500 for one field trip and trials. Shutter count was like 240...

Cute story I bought it second hand off and older fellow not far from me. I went with my Fiancee to meet him and he was adorable. Invited us into his apartment and offered to make us coffee and let me check out the camera, went for a short walk over to our local department store he bought it from to verify a few things (I felt fine once I saw it and tried it out but he seemed like he wanted the walk and the company) he ended up asking us what we were doing for New Years (as it was NYE) Im pretty sure he was trying to invite us over, unfortunately we did have plans but made for a fun few hours.. anyways warmed the heart a tad. 

I'd just get a roll of B&W film for trying the old film Nikon out, it's much cheaper and I genuinely like the results better... Easy to develop at home later on too, if you get into it

 

Ok cool Ill keep this in mind. I definitely want to try and develop too that seems like half the fun of trying out film 

 

[Viva la FCB+]

@nudge what do you shoot with then out of curiosity? Im surprised you're using film!

[nudge+]

9 hours ago, Viva la FCB said:

I  just bought it last weekend, ordered a memory card and some odds and ends so havent used much yet but I am trying it out a few places on the coming weekend . 

I looked at the mirrorless but its just too expensive to justify and like you said if anything it will give me more opportunities for second hand f mount gear in the future, even now some is still quite pricey. I only really had one good lens left over from the D90 so it would have been feasible but I looked at the prices of Z glass too, dear lord. Funny enough the guy I bought this off of was selling because he bought a Z7. He literally used the D7500 for one field trip and trials. Shutter count was like 240...

Cute story I bought it second hand off and older fellow not far from me. I went with my Fiancee to meet him and he was adorable. Invited us into his apartment and offered to make us coffee and let me check out the camera, went for a short walk over to our local department store he bought it from to verify a few things (I felt fine once I saw it and tried it out but he seemed like he wanted the walk and the company) he ended up asking us what we were doing for New Years (as it was NYE) Im pretty sure he was trying to invite us over, unfortunately we did have plans but made for a fun few hours.. anyways warmed the heart a tad. 

So that camera is basically new  nice find... Make sure to share some shots once you try it out!

That's a heartwarming story... And yeah, this is the best part about hobbies in general, but also about photography specifically - it can truly connect people... For some reason, whenever you comes across someone who shares your love and interest in it, there's a feeling of instant mutual respect and approval  You should definitely keep in touch with that older gentleman 

I also agree about mirrorless - I am fascinated by the progressing technology, image quality, speed and what not, but there's no way I could justify the costs, haha. 

[nudge+]

9 hours ago, Viva la FCB said:

@nudge what do you shoot with then out of curiosity? Im surprised you're using film!

I started with film when I was 15, then switched to digital years later, then lost interest at some point as the process just wasn't rewarding anymore, and switched back to film again about 4-5 years ago. Digital is definitely very useful, accessible and has many other advantages, but it doesn't do much for me in terms of enjoying the process... I only use digital + a telephoto lens when I'm doing some bird/wildlife spotting these days.

Otherwise, I'm currently shooting exclusively with my Pentax ME Super... 

That's literally my setup now, there's nothing else.

[Coma+]

Some pics from the deep freeze here last week.

[Viva la FCB+]

8 hours ago, nudge said:

I started with film when I was 15, then switched to digital years later, then lost interest at some point as the process just wasn't rewarding anymore, and switched back to film again about 4-5 years ago. Digital is definitely very useful, accessible and has many other advantages, but it doesn't do much for me in terms of enjoying the process... I only use digital + a telephoto lens when I'm doing some bird/wildlife spotting these days.

Otherwise, I'm currently shooting exclusively with my Pentax ME Super... 

That's literally my setup now, there's nothing else.

Beautiful! I definitely agree with you it was the part I had the hardest time with was going through the photos after the fact in digital. I loved going out and shooting but they would just sit there on my memory card with no motivation to do anything more to often. Theres just something that seems satisfying (at least from the outside even) about doing your own developing hands on. Im going to spend sometime looking into the processing but it looked like my local store sold everything ill need to toy around with the film camera. The battery wasnt too bad I picked that up but as far as the chemicals and film I didnt really realize how many options their actually is so Ill do some more research first. I had no idea you buy the film with the iso you want to shoot for starters  let alone colour and black and white. 

8 hours ago, nudge said:

So that camera is basically new  nice find... Make sure to share some shots once you try it out!

That's a heartwarming story... And yeah, this is the best part about hobbies in general, but also about photography specifically - it can truly connect people... For some reason, whenever you comes across someone who shares your love and interest in it, there's a feeling of instant mutual respect and approval  You should definitely keep in touch with that older gentleman 

I also agree about mirrorless - I am fascinated by the progressing technology, image quality, speed and what not, but there's no way I could justify the costs, haha. 

I will definitely try to share some more, might help make me keep up with that too. 

We are planning too. He was talking about how hard it was to get out to meet up groups for photography which is what he was trying to do because of how far it is. Fairly sure he wasnt driving anymore so that could work out nicely. I've only got one Grand parent left and shes 94 who we just spent Christmas with and my better half doesnt know any of hers. 

 

[nudge+]

5 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

Beautiful! I definitely agree with you it was the part I had the hardest time with was going through the photos after the fact in digital. I loved going out and shooting but they would just sit there on my memory card with no motivation to do anything more to often. Theres just something that seems satisfying (at least from the outside even) about doing your own developing hands on. Im going to spend sometime looking into the processing but it looked like my local store sold everything ill need to toy around with the film camera. The battery wasnt too bad I picked that up but as far as the chemicals and film I didnt really realize how many options their actually is so Ill do some more research first. I had no idea you buy the film with the iso you want to shoot for starters  let alone colour and black and white. 

I hope you get into film, but to be honest, it sounds like you already have  I might be biased, but it's extremely rewarding and even cathartic at times. It's probably no surprise that in the tiring world of fast consumption and instant gratification, the younger generation is actually rediscovering film photography... I mean, the demand has grown so much that Kodak have hired over 300 film technicians and are looking to hire more, and Ricoh/Pentax have recently announced their plans to make a new film camera, and are getting the veteran film engineers to teach their skills to the young ones. I honestly never thought I would ever see it happen again, but I am very happy about the revival. 
Oh man, you're in for a real treat!  Shooting film is great, but developing film is even more fun, and there are so many things you can actually experiment with, both while shooting and processing, especially with B&W film... Since you mentioned ISO, there's a fun technique called pushing or pulling film, and it can produce some very interesting results in certain situations. There's even infrared film which you use with certain colour filters for taking some totally crazy, psychedelic images. The options for creativity are literally endless... One advice I would give is to actually take notes of each picture you end up taking - basic information such as the aperture, shutter speed, film type and ISO, lens used, metering mode, lighting conditions, etc. It will help a ton later on.

 

[Viva la FCB+]

1 hour ago, nudge said:

I hope you get into film, but to be honest, it sounds like you already have  I might be biased, but it's extremely rewarding and even cathartic at times. It's probably no surprise that in the tiring world of fast consumption and instant gratification, the younger generation is actually rediscovering film photography... I mean, the demand has grown so much that Kodak have hired over 300 film technicians and are looking to hire more, and Ricoh/Pentax have recently announced their plans to make a new film camera, and are getting the veteran film engineers to teach their skills to the young ones. I honestly never thought I would ever see it happen again, but I am very happy about the revival. 
Oh man, you're in for a real treat!  Shooting film is great, but developing film is even more fun, and there are so many things you can actually experiment with, both while shooting and processing, especially with B&W film... Since you mentioned ISO, there's a fun technique called pushing or pulling film, and it can produce some very interesting results in certain situations. There's even infrared film which you use with certain colour filters for taking some totally crazy, psychedelic images. The options for creativity are literally endless... One advice I would give is to actually take notes of each picture you end up taking - basic information such as the aperture, shutter speed, film type and ISO, lens used, metering mode, lighting conditions, etc. It will help a ton later on.

 

Im excited to try it out, thats a pretty ringing endorsement. The guy at the camera store was telling me all about the options and film and chemicals mixtures and even packages when buying certain films they charge a small surplus and included is developing that film after. Its kinda crazy, he was talking about the same thing about film making a very large comeback with the younger generation. He was also mentioning they even offer film classes these days again with all the renewed interest. I remembered Polaroids where doing the same thing maybe 10 years ago or so, its interesting how things seem to always come full circle. Ill have to dig out a little notpad or notebook thats a great tip for when I get into this. Again I just take for granted how simple digital is, never having to worry about any of that. If you ever want to circle back all the info is inbedded 

[nudge+]

57 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

Im excited to try it out, thats a pretty ringing endorsement. The guy at the camera store was telling me all about the options and film and chemicals mixtures and even packages when buying certain films they charge a small surplus and included is developing that film after. Its kinda crazy, he was talking about the same thing about film making a very large comeback with the younger generation. He was also mentioning they even offer film classes these days again with all the renewed interest. I remembered Polaroids where doing the same thing maybe 10 years ago or so, its interesting how things seem to always come full circle. Ill have to dig out a little notpad or notebook thats a great tip for when I get into this. Again I just take for granted how simple digital is, never having to worry about any of that. If you ever want to circle back all the info is inbedded 

Keep me updated with your film adventures, please. I hope to finally be able to set up a proper darkroom this summer too, once I take care of some important things and can hopefully go back to living my life. It would be cool to exchange experiences and tips as we progress  

[Viva la FCB+]

5 minutes ago, nudge said:

Keep me updated with your film adventures, please. I hope to finally be able to set up a proper darkroom this summer too, once I take care of some important things and can hopefully go back to living my life. It would be cool to exchange experiences and tips as we progress  

Will do. I still owe you beer too, let me know when thats possible 

[nudge+]

5 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

Will do. I still owe you beer too, let me know when thats possible 

We'll sort something out...

[Bandito Burrito]

On 06/01/2023 at 16:39, Coma said:

Some pics from the deep freeze here last week.

Doesnt quite get that cold in Dubai

[Viva la FCB+]

My first foray with some nice weather since picking up the new girl. I played around last weekend but weather was shite so nothing really turned out but was a good refresher. Few shots here I liked in the end. I still need to learn some editing here but one step at a time so these are unedited. I liked the first one here underexposed but its a little too much probably so Im sure I could make it a better when I dive into that world at some point. The last one I tried to get but was a little slow on the shutter speed as its a tad blurry but I still tried.

Just a local man made lake in the middle of the city, kind of tucked away. Lots of birds

[Tommy]

4 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

My first foray with some nice weather since picking up the new girl. I played around last weekend but weather was shite so nothing really turned out but was a good refresher. Few shots here I liked in the end. I still need to learn some editing here but one step at a time so these are unedited. I liked the first one here underexposed but its a little too much probably so Im sure I could make it a better when I dive into that world at some point. The last one I tried to get but was a little slow on the shutter speed as its a tad blurry but I still tried.

Just a local man made lake in the middle of the city, kind of tucked away. Lots of birds

Some lovely pictures that! 

I like the one of the sunset (sunrise?) and the skyline shot! But they're all great! 

 

[nudge+]

Brilliant shots, @Viva la FCB! I love the moodiness of some of them (the first one, the last one, and the skyline one), and this one is probably my favourite:

1 hour ago, Viva la FCB said:

Love how much there is going on in that picture! The swimming birds, the flying birds, the one caught in the mid-jump and all the water drops around it. Really nice capture  

So how does the new camera feel??? 

[Viva la FCB+]

9 hours ago, Tommy said:

Some lovely pictures that! 

I like the one of the sunset (sunrise?) and the skyline shot! But they're all great! 

 

Sunset! thanks! 

7 hours ago, nudge said:

Brilliant shots, @Viva la FCB! I love the moodiness of some of them (the first one, the last one, and the skyline one), and this one is probably my favourite:

Love how much there is going on in that picture! The swimming birds, the flying birds, the one caught in the mid-jump and all the water drops around it. Really nice capture  

So how does the new camera feel??? 

Thanks! I just wasn't quite fast enough on this one but I still liked the idea too  There was a little kid running around scattering the ducks and birds I tried to get some of that to but nothing turned out. One of my favourite spots anyways thats like a 5 min drive away.

I love it so far. So many features and options.. still alot to learn but it felt great again. I also realized when I went to wireless upload to my computer it doesnt have a wireless card   Definitely noticed my one lens is kinda dated, the auto focus is fairly slow but thats a problem for another day. Got to play around with a few different lenses anyways so worked out great. 

[CaaC (John)+]

4 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

There was a little kid running around scattering the ducks and birds

You get that here in the square in Leith, a load of pigeons merrily pecking away on the square and some brat of a kid decides to run towards them and the bloody pigeons take off and it's like trying to duck flying pigeons, feathers and pigeon shit. 

[nudge+]

Bought two rolls of Kodak Ultramax 400. 16$ per roll. Fucking hell. 

[Mel81x+]

Viral Instagram photographer has a confession: His photos are AI-generated | Ars Technica

My my

[nudge+]

16 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Viral Instagram photographer has a confession: His photos are AI-generated | Ars Technica

My my

 

To the surprise of absolutely no one... Digital photography and Instagram in particular has always been subject to extreme manipulation and dishonesty, he just took it one step further. There's nothing wrong with doing what he does per se, but maybe call yourself a digital artist instead of a photographer and do not mislead people... I chuckled at him trying him to rationalise it by comparing it to people wearing makeup or having plastic surgery and then having their photos taken. Right, because that's totally the same...  

Anyway, I'm annoyed the article didn't reveal which of the photos were real... I would guess the 3rd and the 5th ones... 

[Mel81x+]

8 minutes ago, nudge said:

 

To the surprise of absolutely no one... Digital photography and Instagram in particular has always been subject to extreme manipulation and dishonesty, he just took it one step further. There's nothing wrong with doing what he does per se, but maybe call yourself a digital artist instead of a photographer and do not mislead people... I chuckled at him trying him to rationalise it by comparing it to people wearing makeup or having plastic surgery and then having their photos taken. Right, because that's totally the same...  

Anyway, I'm annoyed the article didn't reveal which of the photos were real... I would guess the 3rd and the 5th ones... 

This is the only reason I posted it here. the comments section tries to give explanations about how the AI was poor with fingers or teeth but I dont buy that.

[nudge+]

8 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

This is the only reason I posted it here. the comments section tries to give explanations about how the AI was poor with fingers or teeth but I dont buy that.

I can't even give any rational explanations, it just that those are only two images that actually feel real to me... That's why I would like to know the correct answer!