The photography thread

RaymondLin

zepp76 said:

zepp76 said:

As I want to get into landscape photography I've been looking for a suitable lens, would the    Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM be suitable for a beginner? It states that it is a wide angle lens, is that what I'll be needing?

I've ordered the lens, I couldn't not as it was a great deal! I went to slr hut where I bought the camera and saw that the lens was the cheapest on the net and then to top it off there was a £20 off offer on all orders so it was only £185 all in, not bad at all. I've also ordered a polariser and I am looking for a reasonably priced nd filter. I think that's it for spending for now, now I just need the free time to get out and start taking photos.

Do your research on filters, some are not so neutral.  Meaning you get a tinge of green or purple into the photo.

zepp76

RaymondLin said:

zepp76 said:

zepp76 said:

As I want to get into landscape photography I've been looking for a suitable lens, would the    Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM be suitable for a beginner? It states that it is a wide angle lens, is that what I'll be needing?

I've ordered the lens, I couldn't not as it was a great deal! I went to slr hut where I bought the camera and saw that the lens was the cheapest on the net and then to top it off there was a £20 off offer on all orders so it was only £185 all in, not bad at all. I've also ordered a polariser and I am looking for a reasonably priced nd filter. I think that's it for spending for now, now I just need the free time to get out and start taking photos.

Do your research on filters, some are not so neutral.  Meaning you get a tinge of green or purple into the photo.

Will do, thank you for the tip. There's a confusing amount of companies making filters, it's quite bewildering!

RaymondLin

zepp76 said:

RaymondLin said:

zepp76 said:

zepp76 said:

As I want to get into landscape photography I've been looking for a suitable lens, would the    Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM be suitable for a beginner? It states that it is a wide angle lens, is that what I'll be needing?

I've ordered the lens, I couldn't not as it was a great deal! I went to slr hut where I bought the camera and saw that the lens was the cheapest on the net and then to top it off there was a £20 off offer on all orders so it was only £185 all in, not bad at all. I've also ordered a polariser and I am looking for a reasonably priced nd filter. I think that's it for spending for now, now I just need the free time to get out and start taking photos.

Do your research on filters, some are not so neutral.  Meaning you get a tinge of green or purple into the photo.

Will do, thank you for the tip. There's a confusing amount of companies making filters, it's quite bewildering!

Lee are considered the standard, there are cheaper.  Some are way cheap like under £10, and they can cause your photo losing sharpness and colour shift, a lot of the times you do what you pay for.

zepp76

RaymondLin said:

zepp76 said:

RaymondLin said:

zepp76 said:

zepp76 said:

As I want to get into landscape photography I've been looking for a suitable lens, would the    Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM be suitable for a beginner? It states that it is a wide angle lens, is that what I'll be needing?

I've ordered the lens, I couldn't not as it was a great deal! I went to slr hut where I bought the camera and saw that the lens was the cheapest on the net and then to top it off there was a £20 off offer on all orders so it was only £185 all in, not bad at all. I've also ordered a polariser and I am looking for a reasonably priced nd filter. I think that's it for spending for now, now I just need the free time to get out and start taking photos.

Do your research on filters, some are not so neutral.  Meaning you get a tinge of green or purple into the photo.

Will do, thank you for the tip. There's a confusing amount of companies making filters, it's quite bewildering!

Lee are considered the standard, there are cheaper.  Some are way cheap like under £10, and they can cause your photo losing sharpness and colour shift, a lot of the times you do what you pay for.

Are the variable nd filters any good or should I stick to standard set filters? The more I search the more I see these adjustable filters but am a little dubious as to whether they are just a bit of a gimmick.

RaymondLin

zepp76 said:

RaymondLin said:

zepp76 said:

RaymondLin said:

zepp76 said:

zepp76 said:

As I want to get into landscape photography I've been looking for a suitable lens, would the    Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM be suitable for a beginner? It states that it is a wide angle lens, is that what I'll be needing?

I've ordered the lens, I couldn't not as it was a great deal! I went to slr hut where I bought the camera and saw that the lens was the cheapest on the net and then to top it off there was a £20 off offer on all orders so it was only £185 all in, not bad at all. I've also ordered a polariser and I am looking for a reasonably priced nd filter. I think that's it for spending for now, now I just need the free time to get out and start taking photos.

Do your research on filters, some are not so neutral.  Meaning you get a tinge of green or purple into the photo.

Will do, thank you for the tip. There's a confusing amount of companies making filters, it's quite bewildering!

Lee are considered the standard, there are cheaper.  Some are way cheap like under £10, and they can cause your photo losing sharpness and colour shift, a lot of the times you do what you pay for.

Are the variable nd filters any good or should I stick to standard set filters? The more I search the more I see these adjustable filters but am a little dubious as to whether they are just a bit of a gimmick.

Variable filters are prone to the X pattern problem at certain rotation.  Variable is basically 2 pieces of glass with different strength stacked and as you twist them, the ND level increase or decreases so at certain point the lines of will cause a kind of X shadow on the photo.

It works but you got to know this can be a problem.  

Variable filter is best for video work and in fact critical for video work but for photos single ND is considered best.  I do have one variable filter, a 77mm B+W 1-5 stop ND, it costs a small fortune at like £150 so a good one is not cheap.

Grumpyrocker

Ooh can I play. Been messing around with photography as a hobby since 2007. Started with Canon gear but use Fuji now. Not that the camera is particularly important. Here are a few of my current favourites.

soma1975

RaymondLin said:

Variable filter is best for video work and in fact critical for video work but for photos single ND is considered best.  I do have one variable filter, a 77mm B+W 1-5 stop ND, it costs a small fortune at like £150 so a good one is not cheap.

Sorry to disagree but i would never in a million years use a variable ND (basically 2 x polas) in place of a single 'proper' ND for video.

Vari NDs are soft, have much more pronounced colour casts and can introduce all sorts of artifacts.

They are basically the devil. Why have a £1,000 lens and put a shite cheap bit of glass in front of it unless it's deliberately to screw an image?

I've a fancy eye watering set of 4x5.65" NDs and grads for video and a basic Lee set for stills. 

And then you can't go wrong with a Big Stopper or (my preference for more neutral casts) a Firecrest 8-10 stop for long exposures. 

@Grumpyrocker love that last shot mate. 

RaymondLin

soma1975 said:

RaymondLin said:

Variable filter is best for video work and in fact critical for video work but for photos single ND is considered best.  I do have one variable filter, a 77mm B+W 1-5 stop ND, it costs a small fortune at like £150 so a good one is not cheap.

Sorry to disagree but i would never in a million years use a variable ND (basically 2 x polas) in place of a single 'proper' ND for video.

Vari NDs are soft, have much more pronounced colour casts and can introduce all sorts of artifacts.

They are basically the devil. Why have a £1,000 lens and put a shite cheap bit of glass in front of it unless it's deliberately to screw an image?

I've a fancy eye watering set of 4x5.65" NDs and grads for video and a basic Lee set for stills. 

And then you can't go wrong with a Big Stopper or (my preference for more neutral casts) a Firecrest 8-10 stop for long exposures. 

@Grumpyrocker love that last shot mate. 

I don't disagree with you that Single ND are better but I guess I should add that for video work, the level i am thinking at would be your Youtube vlogging level, not commercial level.  I personally hasn't used them (actually never used my B+W one since I bought it) but heard and seen videos with video through vari ND to no detrimental effects.

RaymondLin

And they are not cheap…

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/905893-REG/b_w_661072522_77mm_xs_pro_nano_mc_nd_vario.html

soma1975

Each one of my single NDs was over £350. 

To be honest youtube Vlogging is very very rarely anything to do with having good quality or production values as opposed to having (good or a lot of) content. I can probably count on one hand the number of channels that actually know what they are doing in that regard. 

EDIT: Moan over

Grumpyrocker

I do use a variable ND for video. I'm not making serious films, just family stuff, but having the right shutter angle makes things look good and only an ND will get that in bright light. 

I do sometimes use a single 10-stop ND for effects on clouds and water. It wasn't hugely expensive but am happy with the results.

soma1975

Yeah got to love a 10-stopper..

Jesus how do you link from flickr on this forum without it going mental?

RaymondLin

I use imgur.

soma1975

Ah okay. Not uploading my personal pics to somewhere outside flickr.

stickyfiddle

You can upload from flickr. 

Click the share button (bottom right, swoop arrow symbol), selection the "embed" option, and the size you want (usually 800 wide is about right) then copy the text it gives you. 

Come back here, hit the </> button (top right of the edit box), paste in your text, and hit the </> button again

soma1975

Tried that and got the weird aspect  ratio above, cheers.




EDIT: Ooh it worked that time. Thanks

RaymondLin

soma1975 said:

Tried that and got the weird aspect  ratio above, cheers.

Try a direct image link then put it into the IMAGE IRL button.

stickyfiddle

It seems to bugger the aspect ratio on mobile, but is ok on desktop. 

The other option is to paste just the direct link from the embed link (the bit from http:// to .jpg") and use the insert image box in the forum

soma1975

Cheers chaps. 

zepp76

Another question, is Photoshop the final word in photo editing software or is there something better tailored to beginners? I've done a bit of searching but it just keeps coming up with different versions of Photoshop.