ArtistsRifles Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Possibly the topic closest to our collective hearts, after actually owing vehicles, is the taking of pictures of them. For years I was into 35mm photography but costs of film and development with the inherent risk of loss of results by the printing labs aimed me off to digital photography.. The compact digitals worked OK but - as I found in Saumur the other week - have very definite limitations. So - rather than wait, as I was, for a digital back to come out for the Canon A1 and EoS Rebel that I use I went shopping for a 35mm digital camera and yesterday got a good bargain on Amazon the package of an EoS 400D body, 2Gb CF card, battery pack grip, 18-55mm and 55- 200mm lenses. To this I added one of the dedicated flash guns for museum use and now I'm all set. Need to get back to Saumur again though :-) I'm keeping the compact ones as a reserve and also they can shoot video footage, something a 35mm obviously can't do. What camera do others here use for the same purposes??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick W Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Fujifilm Finepix S5000. Was a good camera in its day a few years ago, but the way technology has gone with the prices, what cost £450 about 3 years ago you can now get for about £180 ish. Good all rounder thogh, never had any problems with it, even though sand from Swanage is still to be found in varios nooks and crannies on it! Question though. I always thought that having interchangable lenses on a digital camera was a downside. Reason being that if any trace of dust got on the light receptor bit, it was a bit of a disaster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 Good question - and one of the reasons I opted for the Canon. apparently it has a CMOS cleaning process which is supposed to shake the dust off the sensors whenerver the canera is switched on or off plus an option for shooting a reference frame for stubborn particles that won't come off without a thorough cleaning. Time will tell how good this is!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny666 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 i have a digital video camera that i use for pics but i prefer to use my 35mm Canon EOS 300 served me exetremely well and i have not had a bad photo developed yet, i might just be lucky lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 I use a Nikon D50 Digi SLR with a 18-55mm & 70-300mm lenses. It's about 6.something MP giving a max picture size of 3008x2000 pixels. I also have a x2 converter for airshow pics turning my 70-300 to a 140-600mm. You don't really need a large flash gun for museums, just a tripod. With the tripod, you can have a longer more steady exposure with natural lighting and no harsh shadows that flash guns create. I'm sure you seen plenty of my pics around the site, I'm pretty happy with them. Dust can be a problem, but there are plenty of lens and sensor cleaning kits available to keep you dust free. Even a brand new camera will have some dust 'built into it' during manufacture. You can never escape it completely, no matter what camera you have! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Just call them orbs like Jack does :whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Just call them orbs like Jack does :whistle: :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 I use the Fuji 9500s after upgrading from a 5600. would throughly recommend it. It does most things an SLR will do plus video with sound. The lens is superb and saves having to carry a box full of bits around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthyMarksman Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Im using a Nikon D40 with an 18-55mm lens and hope to get a telephoto sometime soon :-) Snapper told me a Nikon D40 would be a good first-time SLR and so far it has been great for all types of shots - action, macro, etc. At 6.2mp and 3008x2000pixels you can get a very high resolution A4 print, and an A3 print. It is also very small for an SLR and fits nicely in the hand, weighing (without the lens) only around 500 grams :tongue: A great camera and definitely worth the money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 Nikons are very nice bits of kit. Sadly for me I can't get on with them - tried their 35mm units a number of times - both frends ones and shop ones on loan but they didn't fit my hands (if that makes any sense?) whereas for me the Canon range did.. It's a weird world!!! :-D :-D :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmite!! Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Did you get it by the end of August to get the 50quid cashback :dunno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 No, alas. Didn't get home from France till the 2nd Sept. and it was the Saumur trips that prompted me to go do it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogi Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I am useing at the moment a Canon 350D EF-S18-55MM & AF70-300MM. My other camera is a Fuji S5500, which I use for up close pictures and walk arounds. This is my first Canon camera and still trying to get to grips with the thing. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Auto focus on Canon can be awkward for fast moving subjects. Switch it off and use the smallest possible aperture for the light, that will give greatest depth of feild. The websites for the equipment give a lot of help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogi Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Chears for that Tone. Will go and have a look at the website. I have always used Fuji finepix cameras and found the same problems with them. They do not like taking pictures of fast moveing objects, hence the reason why I photograph modern British vehicles. They can only do 30 MPH on the SPTA which does me just fine. I have a link on the Plain Military website called Target Aviation, Man does this guy know how to get a good picture of fast moving jets. (way out of my league). Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted September 11, 2007 Author Share Posted September 11, 2007 Auto focus on Canon can be awkward for fast moving subjects. Switch it off and use the smallest possible aperture for the light, that will give greatest depth of feild. The websites for the equipment give a lot of help. Thats what i used to do with my A1 when i was into aviation photography. Used to use a Tamron 200 - 500mm lens mounted on a 2x converter - needed a rifle grip to get a steady shot.... :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogi Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Neil How much does a X2 converter cost? I like the sound of that, I did hear that they can make your pictures slightly grainy. Is this true? Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 I got mine, a Jessops brand, for £79.00 suitable for Nikon or Canon. Steve PS I'll post some pics from it shortly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Here's four pics using my x2 converter and a 70-300mm Nikkor lens. They have been resized and lightened, but that is all. At maximum 300mm x2 zoom, the pics all seem slightly out of focus. Backed off a little to 270mm x2, all seems better. The aperture seems to be around F7 to F11 for best results. The x2 will cut the light by two stops. Holding it still ( or panning smoothly ) for flying shots is quite difficult at max zoom. Some of the slight loss of quality could be my 70-300 lens which has never been as sharp as my 18-55mm lens. Auto focus works through the x2 on the 70-300mm lens but the 18-55mm lens constantly hunts for the focus, hardly ever locking on. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted September 12, 2007 Author Share Posted September 12, 2007 Nice shots Steve!! All my stuff is on 35mm slides - one day I'll get a slide scanner and be able to put them on the web. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogi Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Cheers for posting Steve. I think I have to go out and get me one of those X2 converters. I am going to start with helicopters and work my way up to fast jets. Will have to take it to work with me and pratise on some of the helos that fly in and out. Nothing speical just civvie stuff in Thruxton air field. Thanks Neil for pointing me in the right direction, I owe you one :beer: Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john wheatley (R.I.P.) Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Hi Gang, Don't know anything about digital cameras, I have been observed wandering about with my little brownie in my hand but that's another story. John Blackman from CMV took some great shots of Bertha at W & P which he was kind enough to share with me and they were excellent so if I were about to buy a new camera I would pick his brains and if it were more than I could afford then with Christmas soon upon us I would start to drop thinly veiled hints. Regards, John. :whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 as to a slide scanner you could consider using something like an all in one scanner like the Epson photo rx620 which is a scanner printer and will do color or black and white printing or slide and negitive scanning along with multi memory formate transfer. something to look at if you like an all in one unit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogi Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I once owned an adapter that fitted to the leanse of my camera, this allowed me to put slides into it and photgraph them. They were't that speical but it worked. Dont know if you can still get hold of such a thing. It must still around here some where Il have a look and see if I can find it. It fitted my Canon EOS film camera so it should fit my Didgie as well. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Trouble with converters is that they do slow the lenses by cutting the f stop. If you want fast subjects at a distance the only real option is bite the bullet and get a big fast telescopic lenses. Haven't any experience of this on digital cameras, but there was some good Russian lenses about a while ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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