RIP Popular Photography

[joelbnyc]

Yeah, one of the benefits of the D7000 and full frame Nikons is they have auto focus motors in the camera, so they can use older (cheaper but still great) Nikon lenses that do not have motors inside the actual lens, AF as opposed to AF-S lenses. The, I think, 3xxx and 5xxx crop frame lines require AF-S lenses to autofocus.

 

[RedLED]

Yes, of course RBG Jpeg. RPG is a JPEG, And I have never seen a professional with any of those brands. Not yet, anyway.

Fixer, you got it, except I have all 1.4, thousands of dollars more of lenses in all focal legenths.

 

[RedLED]

Not to start any trouble, but no, and I mean no, professional even ownes or carries nor has a 50 mm lens in his possession.

Fixer, yes. Longer, you bet but, never a 50mm, the worst lens in the lot. No professional even has one, except as a loupe used upside down. You have to trust me on a 50mm, the most useless.

 

[bykfixer]

Love that Pentax $99 50mm..

Not to start any trouble, but no, and I mean no, professional even ownes or carries nor has a 50 mm lens in his possession.

Fixer, yes. Longer, you bet but, never a 50mm, the worst lens in the lot. No professional even has one, except as a loupe used upside down. You have to trust me on a 50mm, the most useless.

No trouble her mon-frier. Yeah I can see a person whose photography involves lenses that need their own monopod or tripod not having a "wedding lens" in their kit. I would also suppose they don't carry a 105 or 185 macro either.

But for a hobbyist who crosses over tons of genres as it were, or the nature pro who covers many bases those are certainly good ones to have. Still life photography involves a totally different set of tools. And the "wedding lens" got its name long before zoom lenses became the norm. Probably not a big seller these days but at one point if you did weddings you had a 14, a 28 and a 50mm lens on your Minolta, Canon, Pentax or Yashica. (Who remembers those rigs?)

Heck, even a Hassleblad comes with a wedding lens from the factory. That or a 35 iirc.

 

[StarHalo]

Not to start any trouble, but no, and I mean no, professional even ownes or carries nor has a 50 mm lens in his possession.

You should try one, it's ~$100 for a lens that's as sharp as the best in any given ecosystem; Canon's 50mm has a sharpness score approaching that of the Zeiss Otus/Milvus lenses. Excellent for dramatic shots of small items (like flashlights,) it's what I used for the antique mall shoot.

 

[RedLED]

I'll make up a list of what is in my bag, I don't have time to do it now though.

 

[bykfixer]

^^ This guy...
Nor his assistant probably have a 50mm lens.... at least in that setup, but I'm speculating the assistant is learning the ropes of the pro circuit and provides pretty good help to the photographer while she hones her skills. So perhaps she has a 50mm in her personal quiver.

He was near first base taking photos in the first baseman's direction shortly before I took this snapshot.

 

[StarHalo]

I might not have a 50mm lens with my theoretical lottery windfall Leica S setup either, but bear in mind that flashlight pic above, the antique mall series, that's a $500 new-in-box body with a $100 new-in-box lens; the bang-for-the-buck force is strong with this one..

 

[ssanasisredna]

You should try one, it's ~$100 for a lens that's as sharp as the best in any given ecosystem; Canon's 50mm has a sharpness score approaching that of the Zeiss Otus/Milvus lenses. Excellent for dramatic shots of small items (like flashlights,) it's what I used for the antique mall shoot.

It has high resolution .... Over a certain aperture range ... In the center. The vignetting is okay. Chromatic aberattions okay.

That's the difference compared to really good lenses. The good ones are sharp under a wider aperture range especially wide open, sharp corner to corner, and minimize other issues.

 

[bykfixer]

I might not have a 50mm lens with my theoretical lottery windfall Leica S setup either, but bear in mind that flashlight pic above, the antique mall series, that's a $500 new-in-box body with a $100 new-in-box lens; the bang-for-the-buck force is strong with this one..

Agreed. Not bad for $600.
Now my lottery windfall would involve a Zeiss 50mm prime. I almost bought one when they were like $500. When the next B&H catalog arrived they were $750. Doh!!

But if a winning ticket falls in my lap I'd still use my D7000, but I'd opt for a titanium tripod instead of alluminum.

Edit: It just dawned on me that I opted for alluminum back when for better shock absorption as the mirror slap of my camera caused slight blur when I used my wifes titanium tripod. My Kirk ball head is so dang rigid even the slightest vibrations were not attenuated and that showed up in my long exposure night shots. Decent 8x10's resulted but crops were out. Even using a remote. I did discover the shear brute weight of my D700 and good lenses did a proper absortion. Or at least much better. Plus the weight of alluminum seemed to play nice with mid speed sundown shots in windy conditions...

 

[NoNotAgain]

Now my lottery windfall would involve a Zeiss 50mm prime. I almost bought one when they were like $500. When the next B&H catalog arrived they were $750. Doh!!

The Voightlander 58mm f/1.4 is sharper than the ZEISS 50mm. Plus the Voightlander is chipped so just like the Nikon P series lenses talks with the body.

But if a winning ticket falls in my lap I'd still use my D7000, but I'd opt for a titanium tripod instead of alluminum.

Titanium wouldn't make a good tripod material due to the spring property. If money is no object, a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod is the way to go. For a carbon tripod suitable for long heavy glass, you're looking at $1k minus the head.

I've got a few of the Gitzo mono pods, one medium duty Gitzo tripod and numerous Bogen/Manfrotto aluminum super duty tripods. Arca Swiss B1 and Z1 ball heads.

 

[ssanasisredna]

Agreed. Not bad for $600.
Now my lottery windfall would involve a Zeiss 50mm prime. I almost bought one when they were like $500. When the next B&H catalog arrived they were $750. Doh!!

But if a winning ticket falls in my lap I'd still use my D7000, but I'd opt for a titanium tripod instead of alluminum.

Edit: It just dawned on me that I opted for alluminum back when for better shock absorption as the mirror slap of my camera caused slight blur when I used my wifes titanium tripod. My Kirk ball head is so dang rigid even the slightest vibrations were not attenuated and that showed up in my long exposure night shots. Decent 8x10's resulted but crops were out. Even using a remote. I did discover the shear brute weight of my D700 and good lenses did a proper absortion. Or at least much better. Plus the weight of alluminum seemed to play nice with mid speed sundown shots in windy conditions...

In a pinch, hang your camera bag (filled with whatever clean you have on you) from the center of the tripod. It works well for stabilization. These days you may be using a stabilized lens, but you need to be careful as depending on the lens, shutter speed, and focal length, you could be better off without the stabilization.

 

[joelbnyc]

a 50 on an APS-C sensor is equivalent to like ~75mm, tho, right? And the 35mm on a crop is more like a 50mm on a Full Frame. So, what might seem a boring lens on a full-frame is maybe less boring on a crop... people always get confused by the multiplier.

I take it the $500 body is obviously not a full frame? Or maybe a D610 that got dropped in a swamp?

 

[StarHalo]

a 50 on an APS-C sensor is equivalent to like ~75mm, tho, right? And the 35mm on a crop is more like a 50mm on a Full Frame. So, what might seem a boring lens on a full-frame is maybe less boring on a crop... people always get confused by the multiplier.

I take it the $500 body is obviously not a full frame? Or maybe a D610 that got dropped in a swamp?

75mm and fast, a $100 portrait lens..

The body is a bright and clean APS-C Pentax (shown with the matching kit lens, not the 50mm prime)

 

[bykfixer]

The Voightlander 58mm f/1.4 is sharper than the ZEISS 50mm. Plus the Voightlander is chipped so just like the Nikon P series lenses talks with the body.



Titanium wouldn't make a good tripod material due to the spring property. If money is no object, a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod is the way to go. For a carbon tripod suitable for long heavy glass, you're looking at $1k minus the head.

I've got a few of the Gitzo mono pods, one medium duty Gitzo tripod and numerous Bogen/Manfrotto aluminum super duty tripods. Arca Swiss B1 and Z1 ball heads.

I meant carbon fiber. Had just returned from wedding band shopping and had titanium/tungston on the brain.

I like the ziess better. I prefer manual focus for macros anyway. Autofocus is like google. It tries to guess what I'm thinking and gets it wrong 98% of the time.

 

[irongate]

Take a look at these pictures-yes they are clean

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...6/Some-best-photographs-2017-Sony-Awards.html

 

[NoNotAgain]

I meant carbon fiber. Had just returned from wedding band shopping and had titanium/tungston on the brain.

I like the ziess better. I prefer manual focus for macros anyway. Autofocus is like google. It tries to guess what I'm thinking and gets it wrong 98% of the time.

Bykfixer, the Voightlander lens' are manual focus lenses. The lens has a chip inside so that you can get full info transfer between the lens and camera. Ya still gotta focus.

Macro/micro lenses are best used in manual focus. The 55, 105 and 200mm macro lenses are some of the sharpest lenses Nikon ever produced. I recently started using my Nikon 70-180 micro zoom again. If traveling light, I'll carry my 20-35, the 28-70 and 70-180 lenses.

Zeiss lenses have for years had what was referred to as Zeiss pop. The 58 Vioghtlander has better pop than the 50mm Zeiss.

The lens is retro old school in design, all metal and glass. They look like the 1970's Nikon AI lenses.

 

[bykfixer]

I like zeiss better... let's say we just leave it there,
But thanks for the tip(s).

 

[vestureofblood]

I had a subscription to one of those magazines when I first got into the hobby. Really great work in there. Cant say that I miss using film, but it's very sad that really good photographers are struggling. I will certainly miss the photo mags...

 

[ssanasisredna]

I meant carbon fiber. Had just returned from wedding band shopping and had titanium/tungston on the brain.

I like the ziess better. I prefer manual focus for macros anyway. Autofocus is like google. It tries to guess what I'm thinking and gets it wrong 98% of the time.

Like you I use manual for macros, but rarely use manual for anything else. It's usually easier to just move the autofocus point and let the camera do its work. I hated taking pictures of people before autofocus. They move too much!! The touch screen on the D5500 is great for quickly picking the focus point.