Woohoo!!! Major Upgrade Arrived Today - Camera Lens

[pappymac]

A darkroom was truly a magician's cabinet. Watching an image appear on a sheet of paper always caused a thrill of excitement. I still have all that old gear in storage, the military surplus 4x5 enlarger, steel developing tanks and sinks, trays, all of it. Lord knows why. I crossed over to the dark side of the force 5 years ago when I went digital. I don't see any need to return.

The plasticity of a digital environment, including greater retention of details in the shadows, offers me a much wider range for play than analog/chemical ever did.

As for the film VS digital arguement, it's fun, but it's also pure bollocks. They're both perfectly fine. It's not the technology, it's the user, that determines the benefits, drawbacks, or limits of either. Most users go nowhere near the barriers of what image making tech, old or new, can do.

You are correct about it being the user. And that's something else I've argued with other photographers over the years. I've seen some really beautiful shots made by people with 110 and 35mm instamatic cameras and really bad stuff shot by people using expensive 35mm film cameras who didn't know how to use them.

But there are still things I used to do on film that I haven't figured out how to do with digital and I've been using photoshop since Adobe first came out with it. On the other hand, doing color correction in photoshop is way easier than it was on a color head enlarger for me.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

Sounds like there's quite a few photogs trolling these forums, be curious to see a dedicated thread or something... We literally have a thread for everything! Be keen to see some nice photographs.

 

[sandollars]

The new Darkroom is actually (a) Lightroom

But Lightroom is only as good as the Monitor you are using..... Don't ask me how I know this

I miss the days when you could buy the software and not just "rent" it, but the advantage of always having the latest, greatest version at no additional cost is a nice advantage.

 

[olkofri]

View attachment 25593

That's desktop wallpaper material!!

 

[olkofri]

I'm still trying to find software that's a good fit for me. I have a friend who can to can work wonders with his software but it's complex and he's also a programmer by trade and has a level of knowledge in that regard that I'll never have.

I used to have some astrophotography software that was excellent. You could click a button and a histogram would pop-up where you could slide tabs from either side to cut-off top and bottom end noise from the CCD. After that you could click another button to apply a maximum entropy algorithm (filter) that would clean-up the in-between. Super simple to use and graphical so you didn't really need to know anything. Everything else I did to create a better picture was done with the camera and picture setup. Sometimes setup was a simple waiting for a could to pass, or get in the way, to create a good condition.

I have a full Adobe suite that came on a laptop I received but man is there a lot to learn.

PhotoMechanic 5.
CaptureOne Pro 10 (it makes Lightroom look like Darkroom).
Adobe Photoshop CS4.

That's all I use. Oh, I also use PTGui Pro for panoramas and 360° virtual tours.

 

[olkofri]

The new Darkroom is actually (a) Lightroom

But Lightroom is only as good as the Monitor you are using..... Don't ask me how I know this

I miss the days when you could buy the software and not just "rent" it, but the advantage of always having the latest, greatest version at no additional cost is a nice advantage.

Spyder Pro colour calibration to the rescue!

I ditched Assobe when they moved to subscription only. I want my perpetual licences and don't want auto updates for software that's working just fine.

 

[docrameous]

Didn't think I'd see this for at least another month:

I've still got some macro stuff on its way but I can start practicing now. Hopefully I'll be able to post better pics of pipes.

Awesome lens! It's been on my wish list for a long time. I was suckered into buying the 18-35 1.8 Sigma. Great fast lens, but always wanted the 17-55 for a walk about.

 

[jpmcwjr]

My pipes aren't worth of a good camera like that. No one wants to see the destruction up close in macro!

Oh, but we do! At least three of us, anyway.

 

[sablebrush52]

But Lightroom is only as good as the Monitor you are using..... Don't ask me how I know this

Digital color is extremely fugitive, so if you're not using a calibrated monitor and working within a specified color space and/or color management you're not going to get accurate color. That said, a lot of people can't discern the color differences.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Quite right. I used to use a calibrated monitor in a carefully lit room- a Blue something or other- but when I stopped printing it seemed a waste of time and energy, as most everything I do is viewed on a monitor- mine or anyone else's- and their settings are likely to be further off than the original balance. Besides, I am now married to a laptop, so the 90 lb CRT is someone else's.

 

[donjgiles]

Quite right. I used to use a calibrated monitor in a carefully lit room- a Blue something or other- but when I stopped printing it seemed a waste of time and energy, as most everything I do is viewed on a monitor- mine or anyone else's- and their settings are likely to be further off than the original balance. Besides, I am now married to a laptop, so the 90 lb CRT is someone else's.

I still have a Sony Artisan sitting in my spare room gathering dust...

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

View attachment 25593

Please tell me this has been printed and hung on a wall somewhere.

 

[warren]

Eizo if your are shooting for a living, minimum 30 inch, self-calibrating. At least it's what I've found as the best monitor available.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Warren- Do those who shoot for electronic medium generally go for such precision?

 

[warren]

Don't forget the electronic medium, if I understand your reference, includes 4k movies exclusively for the net, so yes. Those monitors are used in the movie industry, primarily for computer generated stuff. But, most of the viewers, of course, will not notice the quality. Yet. Posting a shot on here? A waste of time but, my few posts here were shots which were readied for printing first and then put up here as an after thought.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yeah, and, no I wasn't thinking movies, or anywhere where the color balance, exposure, sat., etc., etc. have to match up. Just stills on a computer.

As you may be implying, you can have a file that's golden for A+ printing, and it'll display fine here- but you can't have a medium shot that's good for anything but a small computer screen.

 

[sablebrush52]

Eizo if your are shooting for a living, minimum 30 inch, self-calibrating. At least it's what I've found as the best monitor available.

What I'm using.

 

[aquadoc]

Please tell me this has been printed and hung on a wall somewhere.

It hangs on my wall and a close friends wall. The original photo that has not been manipulated by FB and then downloaded by me for this post is much richer and detailed. It was a perfect day to be on the marsh.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Turns out I still have a Yashica A 6x6 TLR with a partly shot roll in it.