Photographers: let's hear about your set ups!

[Nikkormat]

Primary camera: Nikon F3HP.

Lens/Tripod/Flashgun etc: 24, 50 and 85mm lenses. Uni-Loc 1700 tripod, not used for years. Camera bag is a gas mask haversack lined with cut up camping mat.

What you like and don't like about the camera: The LCD in the viewfinder is a bit crap, tiny and at the top left of the frame. Otherwise it is perfect.

Secondary cameras (and what you use them for): FM2n, Nikkormat Ftn.

Plus and minus points of your other cameras: The FM2 would be great if it had a HP viewfinder, I can't get on with it with my milk bottle-like glasses. The Nikkormat is beautiful but has a dull viewfinder with no split-image, only microprism; it's okay in good light.

Ideal/dream camera set up: The F3HP is staying, but I'm saving for a Fuji XT-1. I like the X-Pros, but I like big viewfinders and am not sure I could get on with theirs.

Photo software used: GIMP, gThumb. I'm learning.

I share my photos on Instagram here.

 

[mauvais]

I bought a D500 a week or so ago, supplanting my D300. It's really good. I've set it to Auto ISO which I'd never have done before - within sensible parameters, the thing is pretty much ISO-invariant.

Lenses these days are:

- Nikon 18-200 VR
- Sigma 10-20
- Tamron 90mm Macro
- Nikon 50mm f/1.8

At some point I might get the Sigma 150-600 or similar, and upgrade the Sigma 10-20 to the Nikon 10-20 VR.

 

[Tankus]

New daybag for my mirrorless and nexus 7

for my hols in Spain ....all the zips are against the back ....And I've a ripstop inner liner that's also waterproof ,,,if it gets sliced ,,,,very low profile

 

[Tankus]

Been using that bag for almost 2 weeks in spain ...a total recommend..a way more relaxed hol without having to be hyper aware on public transportation and crowds

 

[ViolentPanda]

New daybag for my mirrorless and nexus 7

for my hols in Spain ....all the zips are against the back ....And I've a ripstop inner liner that's also waterproof ,,,if it gets sliced ,,,,very low profile

I'm a big fan of either getting bags with built-in waterproof liners, or buying a separate waterproof stuff-bag to use as a bag-liner. Saves a lot of tears, given how much electronic kit everyone carries nowadays.

 

[kage]

Eagerly awaiting the arrival of a Fuji X100F to replace my x100S which was pinched last year.

 

[wayward bob]

my digi camera these days is a fuji x-pro1.

for xmas i'm getting a polaroid slr 680 <squee> my sx-70 broke years back and i figured that was was my cue to stop, but square format polaroid is my favourite thing ever

 

[pogofish]

Mr Sony dropped by yesterday - With lots of potential new toys for our consideration:

Hmmm....!

 

[editor]

Mr Sony dropped by yesterday - With lots of potential new toys for our consideration:

Hmmm....!

Can I have some please?

 

[pogofish]

I want them all..!

 

[alsoknownas]

So I tried out a native lens on my gh4 for the first time yesterday (panny 25mm 1.7).
Incredibly light, which made me realise how much weight I add to my rig using adaptor and ef glass.
Nice enough lens, but...
Focus-by-wire - completely kills it for me. I mean unusable (for video). That basically means that, as far as I can tell, the entire Panasonic and Olympus autofocus lens line ups are no go for me, which is a great shame.

 

[weltweit]

I recently bought a used Nikon D800 and as my Fuji Finepix S2 Pro was very much on its last legs the D800 is now my only camera. Really enjoying it, it wants to take pictures. Image files are large and nicely detailed and I have only just started toying with raw. There are some issues, a max 14bit raw is 70mb while a compressed 12bit is 30mb and a medium jpeg 10mb. Battery life is a revelation after my S2, something like 900 shots apparently, I never get near that.

Lenses I already have include: Nikon 20mm f2.8, Nikon 50mm f1.8, Nikon 85mm f1.8, Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 and Nikon 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 AF VR.

I am currently using Nikon NX2, FastStone Viewer, and Photoshop Elements 9. I may have to upgrade my PC at which time I may go for the Adobe LightRoom / Photoshop bundle, I haven't yet decided.

And I have a Manfrotto tripod and a monopod.

My small rucksack is becoming too limiting, it takes too long to get things out and put them back, I need a camera bag, at the moment though the vast array of options are confusing me.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I’m still using the Panasonic GX8 sometimes but I still end up taking far more pictures with my ancient GF2. I’m just far more likely to have it with me - I can carry that plus wide, medium and long primes and a spare battery and the accessory EVF without hardly thinking about it. (I got the Panasonic 42.5mm f1.7 recently and that’s even smaller and lighter than the 45-150 I had before. Really nice sharp lens.)

The GX8 is all around better in loads of ways and really not _that_ much larger/heavier, but it just goes over the important “fits in a jacket pocket” size. I should really have got a GX7.

Plus, while I’m having a whinge, the 14-140mm lens I got with the GX8 is one I’ve never really liked and recently it’s started buzzing when mounted and turned on, so I won’t even get much for it on eBay. It was refurb but is now way out of warranty.

 

[weltweit]

I just bought a fairly small camera bag from 7dayshop for the princely sum of £16. It isn't perfect but it immediately replaced my normal small rucksack because it is so much easier to put things in and take things out.

Of course Friday night I realised I had left all sorts of items like cable release, filters, lens hoods in the old rucksack, got to have a proper sort out.

One of the reasons it isn't perfect is that I have had to extend the straps to their maximum to be able to even get it on my back and that is with just a tee shirt. So with a jumper and a jacket I am not going to be able to get it on. Not sure if I can do anything about that, but for the price I decided I would have it and then work out what features are important before buying a more suitable one.

 

[weltweit]

Update on the bag, I can actually wear it with a jumper and jacket on so perhaps it is going to be more useful than I thought. If I leave my 80-400 out, I can fit everything else that I own in the bag at the same time, the benefits of tiny prime lenses, it does feel odd having it all with me.

 

[alsoknownas]

My collection of bags is almost certainly more impressive than my collection of gear! I've been lugging this lot between London and Essex lately, drawing angry glances from fellow commuters :

 

[weltweit]

I now have a calibrated monitor, for the first time. The old profile was only a little bit out as it happens but now my bluebells are blue which is great.

I used a colormunki which my camera club owns, it was a little fiddly at first but in the end fairly straightforward. Very glad to have done it, now what I see is what I got!

 

[alsoknownas]

I felt it was important to share that I have upgraded the wheels on my long Portabrace bag to off-road style ones. This is just in case I have to drag my gear through the Peruvian jungle one day*.



*There is actually a vaguely sensible reason why I have done this

 

[weltweit]

Ok, there is an issue with my D800. The shutter / mirror action is quite positive, it had never bothered me before, in fact I like that it has a positive click/clunk sound. But, recently photographing wildlife closeup, I pressed my shutter button, and it went clunk clunk clunk clunk and hey presto the wildlife scarpered so it looks like from closeup range I get one picture before my quarry exits the scene!

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Shutter on the way out?

 

[weltweit]

Shutter on the way out?

No I don't think so, it is very low mileage, I gather all D800s are quite loud.
Someone on dpreview who shoots timelapse - his D800 had gone to 1.5million clicks and still going strong.

 

[alsoknownas]

I know this doesn't apply to the D800, but is there any inherent disadvantage to using electronic shutter? I've had it switched on since I got my camera, and never really thought about it since.

 

[weltweit]

I know this doesn't apply to the D800, but is there any inherent disadvantage to using electronic shutter? I've had it switched on since I got my camera, and never really thought about it since.

What camera do you have?

 

[alsoknownas]

What camera do you have?

GH4. Though it's a marked (camera) - I have plans for an upgrade!

eta - that is Panasonic DMC-GH4

 

[weltweit]

Is that a mirrorless? - if so it will be quieter anyhow ..

 

[alsoknownas]

Is that a mirrorless? - if so it will be quieter anyhow ..

Yes, but it has options (I assume all/most mirrorless cameras do?) to use either the physical shutter or an 'electronic shutter', which I've always assumed is just a timed scan of the sensor.

I don't take stills very often, so when I got the camera a few years ago, I just dialled in some recommended settings for stills, but have never really questioned them to this point.

 

[weltweit]

Yes, but it has options (I assume all/most mirrorless cameras do?) to use either the physical shutter or an 'electronic shutter', which I've always assumed is just a timed scan of the sensor.

I would expect electronic shutter would be pretty much silent.
Don't know the pros and cons versus a mech shutter though.

I don't take stills very often, so when I got the camera a few years ago, I just dialled in some recommended settings for stills, but have never really questioned them to this point.

I was looking at the website of someone who took photographs of musicians and they said specifically that their gear was totally silent and guaranteed not to distract. I hadn't thought of it before, but for some applications it is definitely an advantage.

 

[alsoknownas]

I would expect electronic shutter would be pretty much silent.
Don't know the pros and cons versus a mech shutter though.

I was looking at the website of someone who took photographs of musicians and they said specifically that their gear was totally silent and guaranteed not to distract. I hadn't thought of it before, but for some applications it is definitely an advantage.

Yeah, that's kind of why I switched it on. But it makes me wonder why there is still the need for a physical shutter at all?

 

[weltweit]

Yeah, that's kind of why I switched it on. But it makes me wonder why there is still the need for a physical shutter at all?

Any mechanical shutter needs to be open all the time you are using the EVF so it is a good point, why have it at all? I don't know the answer to that.

 

[alsoknownas]

So, I've gotten myself a GH5S now. [Aside - kind of weird how even Panasonic sometimes capitalise the S and sometimes don't .]

Anyhow, I haven't gotten out with it yet, so we will see, but this is really what I would have considered a real 'dream camera' only a very short while ago. I really loved using the GH4 (now sadly departed ), but the only real let down was that it wasn't very flexible to use in some of the low-light situations I find myself in (nothing as exciting as traversing the catacombs - just events at moodily-lit venues, museums and the like).
I really wanted Panny to make a low-resolution version of the camera with a few stops more usable ISO. And they did, so I'm excited.

In the meantime a bunch of other brilliant looking cameras have come out - BMPCC4K (Raw!!!), Fuji XT-3, Sony A7iii, etc. All with stunning video, but in the end the choice was a fairly easy one. I just love the usability of the GH range, and I'm hoping and trusting this too will be a really well thought-out tool.