Random Thoughts... [Photographic Edition]

Urright, everything's exponents and roots of two. I don't know, IMO lighter ND filters aren't very useful except for running around in daylight at or larger than f2. Basically just get as dark as you can find? :dunno: You normally don't want to use f22, most lenses get noticeably soft after f16 or even f11, so darker is better to be able to use a more optimal aperture.

If you want to overthink it (usually my preferred mode for doing things), 4 seconds is probably good enough for smooth water.
 
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^ Perfect, awesome. Thank you sir.
 
I took this photo a very long time ago (back when I was a senior in high school.)

https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mo/mooglebunny/2011/04/29/DSCN0181.JPG
It's my Dad's cat. It's unedited, I did nothing to it at all.

(Kitty cats!)
 
another advice on nd filters.. i have bad experiences with stacking filters in general so going for the single darker one route is better imho than two not so dark ones.
 
I've been thinking of getting a ND 3.0 filter (10 stops) to do really cool stuff like this:

41075.jpg
 
I think this is what he wanted to paste in here but there might be some hosting issues. I put it up on phyrefile (YOINK)

https://pic.armedcats.net/l/lu/lurkerpatrol/2011/04/29/41075.jpg

It's prey coo.


I'm going to stick with Ramseus and sifu on the ND filters and get like a 5-stop or higher. I did the calcs and I don't think anything below that can give enough light reduction.
 
I shoot a combination of 2x, 4x, 8x and stack as needed in combination with a ND grad. Go back through Lens Flair a year or two and you'll find plenty of my junk featuring milky water from both day time and the golden hours. The question you need to ask is what type of water are you shooting and how smooth/milky do you want it to be. Shooting a coastline like that you'll either need very cooperative waves (10sec), good timing(3sec), or a very long exposure(~45-90sec) that will cover multiple wave periods. If you're shooting something like a stream or river flowing or a waterfall you can get smooth/milky in just a few seconds. Lakes can be tricky if you're going for a reflection; shooting the Seattle skyline reflected in a lake took ~8min of exposure whereas shooting the reflections of a tree line across from a small mountain lake at sunrise took 30sec. Examples available upon request :p
 
There aren't really any rivers here or waterfalls, so it's mainly the ocean and skylines at night. I've noticed that my exposures can get down to a second at max when the light goes down (sun sets) but otherwise the exposures are relatively fast.

I came across this variable ND filter earlier today on B&H. The reviews say it's good but there are only 12 reviewers (probably because it's based on individual filter thread sizes rather than 1 whole object). Any ways, here's the 72mm version of the variable ND filter I was looking at: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/676822-REG/Genus_GL_GNDF_72_72mm_ND_Neutral_Density.html

2-8 stops of reduction.
 
I tried one in a Henry's (Canadian camera store); it was garbage. The heavier end was very uneven.

I suspect the $400 Singh-Ray Galen Rowell model is better. But it's $400. For a filter.
 
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^ Good to know! I need to head down to the camera store near my place to order some prints. Maybe I test stuff like that out as well (and possibly play with a 7D and an 85 f/1.2 :evil:)
 
As I understand,the singh-ray is no better. Note that they say something like provides up to 8 stops reduction, is capable of more but with poor unpredictable quality. Exactly the same results as just using two polarizers, which from a high end filter company could be about $400 anyways.
 
For a new camera this D7000 really picks up muck on its sensor. It's not even dust that I can blow off, I'll have to buy a sensor cleaning kit. I hardly ever needed to clean the sensor on my D40 and certainly didn't need anything more than my air blower.
 
Do you use live view/video much? If you do, there's your answer.

I haven't even seen one speck of dust on my 7D yet, yay auto sensor cleaning. On the other hand, I fucked up the glass on my 300D, I think it happened when I had to sand it because I cut it very slightly too big, but it's covered in very very very small scratches that barely show up normally but look like doing IR macro will be a huge PITA with a thousand little black specks. I hope the remainder of my little sheet of glass is clean, because if it is I'll have to redo the sensor glass eventually. Damn scratches, I thought I was careful too!
 
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Ramseus said:
Do you use live view/video much? If you do, there's your answer.
Click to expand...

I do use it but not all of the time. Makes sense though, the D40 had nothing of the sort. I'm looking at getting the little cleaning pads that Peter Gregg shows on his site, he seems mad enough to make something that works and he's a fan of the D7000 so wouldn't go around instructing other owners to damage their cameras. :D
 
There's two things about my E-3 I brag about. First and foremost the fact I can pour a bucket of water over it without any real risk of harm to the camera. The second thing is the fact that it's sensor cleaning mechanism works. It actually works. I've had it for three years or so now, and in that time, I've swapped lenses in the field more times than I can count, be it out in nature, at a concert or in an industrial hall.

I haven't noticed spots. Not one.

That, coupled with the lenses, is probably the only real advantages I've got over you guys shooting other stuff.

:p
 
You have a much much much smaller chance of a dust particle landing on your tiny sensor though. :p :p
 
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