RE: A camera to capture the light

[Digital Latte]

Penny,

Your thread has had me thinking for a few days now and this is my reply.....

I have seen several people run out and buy the newest, best camera on the market, thinking this will give them the edge on great pictures....and you know what, every once in a while they get lucky in AUTO mode (Green Mode) and the CAMERA takes a decent picture.......

But why spend that much money hoping that you can get a great picture when you have the option to learn what it takes to get a decent picture almost every time instead?

While these images are not the "greatest images of the day" , They are taken with some pretty basic gear, I think most would agree they are decent images, with decent light.....with more then 5 minutes spent on them we could improve them even more, but this is just a demonstration

THE CAMERA for these images was a Canon rebel XTi....I think it has around 10MP (less then your P&S I would guess), you can buy them used for around 300.00 and you know what, It was WAY MORE camera then I needed for these shots. link

THE LENS was an old PENTAX I picked up just for the crazy painterly Bokeh it makes, its old and kinda crappy,its a manual focus lens (no auto focus and the focus confirmation misses because of the adapter I bought), But it was plenty of lens for what I needed.... link

THE LIGHT, for both images I used a old Nikon SB-25 I picked up for 50.00 on Craigslist by watching for deals (yes, I shoot Canon, but a flash is a flash when you shoot off camera (for the most part) )

LIGHT DIFFUSION - for both shots I used a old t-shirt. For the first shot a helper held the shirt close to the subject (a shoe).... The second shot (I lost my helper) I stretched the shirt over the bottom of a stool and shot through that.

My point in all this? I'm begging you, save your money, buy a cheap old beat up camera that still gets the job done, there are tons out there for sale.... grab a old 50mm lens that is in decent shape and works......put your camera in Manual mode and shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot until you fully understand how every aspect of your camera works....read all the books that I and others have posted. Make sure your camera is by your side while you read and truly do the exercises in each book, master them, understand them...


The images .................

THE SHOE

MY BOY

The Fancy Set up



THE LIGHT

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LIGHT

 

[penny]

my dad is leting me use his camera until i get my new camera but tonight we just notice that my dad camera he didnt change the battery in it the battery was very bad. it has battery acid on it. so i have to take it to the camera store to have them remove the battery from the camera thing my dad didnt use his camera for 25 years. so i told him i would try to see what i think about it. it is a SLR one but not diginal. the lens is what make me worry now because he has a big one for it. it is heavy a little bit too. it is 200mm and it is heavy too. i never shot a picture with a heavy len before. i guesss this will be a perfect lesson for me to learn

 

[penny]

thank you im going to try to get the best one too. i see a bunch of sales in the newpaper this morning too on DSLR camera i still like nikon and canon too i just dont know which one i should get.

 

[Digital Latte]

thank you im going to try to get the best one too. i see a bunch of sales in the newpaper this morning too on DSLR camera i still like nikon and canon too i just dont know which one i should get.

I don't think our message is getting through to you.........

 

[BobH]

I went to a Nikon lighting seminar a couple weeks ago, and the instructor said that one of his favorite light difussion tools is a cheap sheet "the rough scratchy kind you'd buy your Mother-in-Law" was how he put it.

He said the cheaps ones with low thread count are best, as they let more light through. He does all kind of stuff with them, block direct sun, softens a flash, bounces light off of them. Not bad for something you can probably buy for under $10 at Walmart. Heck, for that matter, one from Goodwill should work too.

 

[Digital Latte]

I went to a Nikon lighting seminar a couple weeks ago, and the instructor said that one of his favorite light difussion tools is a cheap sheet "the rough scratchy kind you'd buy your Mother-in-Law" was how he put it.

He said the cheaps ones with low thread count are best, as they let more light through. He does all kind of stuff with them, block direct sun, softens a flash, bounces light off of them. Not bad for something you can probably buy for under $10 at Walmart. Heck, for that matter, one from Goodwill should work too.

right, we have used all sorts of stuff to modify light, dirty windows are cool too