nice thread, and i appreciate reading all the free tips. i'm the classic "dad who needed a better camera to take pictures of his kids" upgrader from a point & shoot. after a lot of research, i settled on micro four thirds as the best compromise between camera size, image quality, and system flexibility, and i bought an Olympus E-PL1 with its kit 14-42m zoom (comparable to 28-84m in 35m camera terms). pretty quickly i added the 14-150 (28-300) zoom, and a Panasonic 20mm f1.7 prime, effectively 40mm. it's the latter that i use most often now. 40mm is sort of an odd length, too long to be a real landscape lens, but too short for a real portrait. it feels very similar to a classic 50mm focal length, and one needs to get used to moving your feet to get the shot. it's a wonderful piece of glass however, probably the best m43 lens, along with the newer Olympus 45m f1.8, which is next on my list. in the main, i've been very happy with the E-PL1- it's perhaps a little slow to focus, and the screen can get washed out in very bright sunlight. i've learned to work around these limitations, but i've aslo been eyeing a new body, either an Olympus E-P3, or the new panasonic GX1 i don't have time, or patience for tweaking images, other than basic cropping, and I've been very pleased with the olympus jpeg quality right out of the camera. most of my pictures are of kids, friends and family, which i wouldn't want to post here, but here a few landscape shots i like. for focal length, think half of typical 35mm DSLR. ISO 200, 14mm, f4, 1/200: Spoiler ISO 200, 54mm, f10, 1/500: there was something on the lens, in the upper right corner, but i still like the shot. Spoiler ISO 1250, 20mm, f10, 8.0: it's a little noisy, but it doesn't bother me. Spoiler ISO 1600, 20mm, f1.7, 1/200: Spoiler ISO 1600, 20mm, f1.7, 1/4: Spoiler in the last example, the street is a little over exposed- i'd like to learn how to get the exposure correct for the street, but keep the sky the same. i didn't use a tripod, just braced the camera against the window guard.
Many thanks for the links and advice. I shoot 300+ around 35% of the time. It seems the sheer versatility of the 70-200 makes it the winner for my purposes at this juncture.
Nice shots, basso. You don't have to learn Photoshop extremely well to be able to easily remove that little black dot. The Santa picture, I couldn't find the point of focus on it. The background bokeh is pretty decent for that camera. As for the last picture, maybe a smaller aperture but longer exposure? Not sure if that will work.
yeah, i like bokeh. the lens is not really a macro lens, and that shot was probably taken from less than a foot away, and it was difficult to get the sleigh in focus at all (it's a miniature). i think you're right about the last shot- i assumed i needed the widest possible aperture- it was 1am and really quite dark, but i suppose a longer exposure would compensate.
You're talking about two different things though. Digital does not have the dynamic range of film. But using film won't help with improper exposure. I don't do a lot of nightshots, though I love how they look, but I know what he wants to do is possible. I just don't have the right technique for him.
He wants a properly exposed street without the sky getting too dark. To do this requires HDR. You use bracket exposure and then merge them.
Not familar with your camera but it will have an auto bracket function that will take two frames a few stops apart. like -1 0 +1. Should be in your manual.
new Olympus m43 camera announced: <iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6i2dlKvv170" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> looks gorgeous, and addresses most (all?) of the shortcomings of the existing m43 cameras.
The Fuji X-1 Pro is due to be released soon as well. Less choice in lenses at launch but has a larger APS-C sensor. The Panasonic GX-1 is also out which improves ISO performance. The Fuji is the higher quality product though, for not significantly more. The OM-D is 1000 bucks, but finally they are starting to release premium lenses for the M43 system.
this is cool- demo of weather seal. <iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fhO9YDI8cHk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> i think the major difference between m43, the Fuji, and the Sony NEX system (and other EVIL cameras) is the wide variety of lenses available for the system. I just ordered the Oly 45mm f1.8 (90mm equivalent). hasn't arrived yet, but should be a fantastic, and fantastically small portrait lens.
