Photography

gosh the top photo is so pretty

Haze? Was it a used lens?

Yeah, a film of nasty gunk. Usually a sign that the lens was in a high humidity environment and water vapor got in the lens. It was an Amazon Warehouse deal, but I wasn't crazy about the lens with the haze problem aside. I am just going to wait until we get another stimulus check and use a small portion to buy a proper Olympus lens. I honestly prefer autofocus these days. My vision ain't what it used to be.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

Oh yeah, haze inside a lens will kill IQ. Strangely enough a scratch on the front lens glass will have little to no effect. But if the scratch is on the back element, the lens is crap. Hope you get a good lens, and post some pics for us to see

@Citizen Rules: Well, after messing around taking photos around the house I broke down and bought a proper prime lens: Olympus 45mm f1.8.

I chose this particular focal length because while dorking around with the 14-42mm kit lens I gave some serious thought to “how can I boost my mediocre skills”, and I have always avoided the portrait range length because I feel uncomfortable taking photos of people. I thought to myself well it’ll challenge me to take portraits, and it’ll also challenge me to find interesting ways of using it for landscapes/street photography. It also doesn’t hurt that the ND filters I already have for the kit lens fit the prime, too.

I primarily got it for video work, though. There are a few other lenses I really want but they are too damn much; $500-$1200. That’s just insane, so I’m sticking with the kit lens for now and supplementing it with the 45mm prime. But I do have my next lens purchase planned and it’s the Olympus 9-18mm f4-5.6.

I had considered another prime in 17mm or 25mm, but the wide angle will cover focal lengths I don’t have and will allow me to maybe make money doing real estate photography. Good tripod and the slowness won’t matter.

@Citizen Rules: Well, I think I found a different lens that is going to jump ahead of the Oly 9-18mm. A Panasonic 25mm f1.7.

I've been researching lenses for like the last month. I have read so much crap but I looked at video test samples last night for the 25mm and holy crap, it is an amazing lens for the price. Brand new it's on sale rn for $150, and comes with a rebate to extend the warranty out from 1 year to 3. Totally in my price range!

And with a 50mm FOV (35mm equivalent) it is a considerably better choice for video work.

Sweet! and not a bad price either. Hopefully you'll post some test photos you take with it.

Eh. I miss Joao's posts in this thread. =*(

I was hoping to be doing some video experiments this year but so far, the job is taking my weekends. Maybe next quarter. I picked up a 24mm f/2.8 lens in November to start screwing around with home videos. Like for YouTube, covering songs but I'm gonna have to kick that down the road a bit too it seems.

McClane, this is what I was referring to btw. Take advantage now.

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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear

What camera model do you own?

And yeah, I totally get what you're saying. I've always shied away from positions of advancement because I like having the freedom to do whatever. Granted, as a worker bee you really don't have any freedom but I am trying to change that by chasing dreams.

It doesn't hurt that I used to work in A/V for live events, so I learned a LOT just from going to work everyday. No expert by any means but I know enough to be dangerous. I'm ordering a soft box tomorrow to improve my video lighting, and then the plan is to finally start a video series of some kind (movie reviews, finger drumming sessions, or something else...open to suggestions from anyone on what I should do).

On the fence if I should buy that lens now or wait till we get another stimulus. I'm worried it'll go off sale, though.

I've got a canon 90d. Great camera btw. 4k video, image stabilization, flip screen, and it's light. Just I haven't been able to use it as I had hoped... yet. I'll PM you a link to some light options if you're serious about that.

I still have an old 1d Mark III I got used back in '09 I think. Shutter is starting to go at high speeds, but works great still in normal conditions. I used to do wedding photography when I had time as a side-gig. No video there though. I kinda would like to get back into that more once my job becomes less of a necessity. If that ever happens. Lack of confidence to venture out on my own back then and I've let work expand into life where I should have drawn more boundaries years ago. I've learned a lot about myself though, since then, so I feel I'd make a better go of it. Now it's just finding the time. Always an excuse for the ever-procrastinator, eh?

The extent of my photography is a class in high school (35mm film, which I would totally love to do if it wasn’t a rich man’s hobby) and taking photos of a coworker’s band at all their local shows. My coworker always inflated my ego and said “you take the best photos I’ve ever seen”. And let’s be honest...lead guitar players are prima donnas so I feel like that’s a major compliment. But he probably just liked the price: FREE!

Eventually I got tired of it because it was just the same stuff over and over again. At this point in my life I don’t like doing stuff unless I’ve never done it before and I feel like I’m going to challenge myself.

Money being no option I’d probably go with these three lenses:

https://asia.olympus-imaging.com/pro...pro/index.html

https://asia.olympus-imaging.com/pro...pro/index.html

https://asia.olympus-imaging.com/pro...pro/index.html

Here’s a review of that first one:

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/field...-f4-is-pro.amp

New and out the door, though, that’s over $3k just in lenses. Rich man hobby.

EDIT: I’m sold on the M4/3 platform. I think we still have another decade at least to look forward to tech advancements. I want to get a Panasonic body (the GH5) for video, but that’s just stupid unless I’m making money with it.

Welcome to Mars!




That's actually Green Bay so I can't figure out why it's so red. I was planning on taking some photography classes at the local tech school this spring but you had to have a DSLR camera, which I don't have, and if I was gonna spend big money on a camera I wanted to go mirrorless. So I'm still using the phone and this is about as good as it gets for me. Pics don't do the sunset justice. It was pretty neat

It's Solaris!..Those sunset pics look pretty cool to me. I've taken dozens of sunset photos and like you say the pics just never seem to do the real thing justice.

Gotta get creative with sunset photos to capture their majesty. For sure



HDR

That was the only one I could attach. The others are too large.

EDIT: OK, learned something new and found a quick way to resize. Here's the other two.




EDIT 2: And yes, I am sharing this one again because it's just one of my favorite photos ever.



EDIT 3: Would you believe that those were all handheld shots? Olympus stabilization cannot be beat.

OK, wow, I am so glad I bought the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens. That **** pops!

I’ll share some snaps later tonight or tomorrow. I got a great one of my dog and he’s like more ADHD than me so that’s impressive.

@ynwtf @Citizen Rules

Took that after like 5 minutes dorking around with it first. Once I felt confident I said Hunter, he went squirrel mode, and I got it!

I like to torture test my gear by taking really weird shots to find the image flaws. This is not original size but I am impressed by its ability to keep lines straight. This thing takes better stills than my Nikon D7000 with a 35mm f1.8.

That’s straight out of the camera, too.

Wise man and his eyes..

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