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Camera Upgrades!

Discussion in 'Tilted Art, Photography, Music & Literature' started by Speed_Gibson, Mar 5, 2012.

  1. Speed_Gibson

    Speed_Gibson Hacking the Gibson

    Location:
    Wolf 359
    This would be the first piece that arrived today. I will post pictures of the other stuff when it arrives which should be in the next day or two.
    [​IMG]
     
    • Like Like x 1
  2. Bear Cub

    Bear Cub Goes down smooth.

    Sweeeet. The 50mm f/1.4 is a great little lens. Should get super bokeh out of it. I'd pick up one myself, but already having the 24-70L and the nifty fifty, I can't justify spending the money for such a narrow DOF when I rarely even shoot at 1.8.
     
  3. greywolf

    greywolf Slightly Tilted

    Very nice, very fast lens. I have nothing faster than my Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 zoom, and it's too long for most indoor work I'd like to do.
     
  4. Speed_Gibson

    Speed_Gibson Hacking the Gibson

    Location:
    Wolf 359
    Arrived on schedule. :)
    [​IMG]
    That would be a high speed SD card that I originally did not plan on buying or was even aware of in the first place; the 16 GB 20 mb/s card ordered via Amazon arrived first and is the backup I suspect will be seldom if ever used. I distinctly remember talking to the representative on the phone and hearing they were offering me a "double upgrade" and giving me the 8 GB for the price of the 4 GB card, and also throwing in a battery upgrade for free (some kind of Christmas deal they gave me according to them). No complaints at all about a 16 GB card, a quick search told me this sells for $300 on most sites just by itself.
    The 50mm F/1.4 lens was through Amazon - used in "like new" condition, and the 18-55mm IS II lens was part of the kit deal.
    Not sure how much all of this would go for at "full retail" but I definitely got a fantastic deal on everything and would buy again from this NYC based company in a heartbeat. They called me before finalising/shipping the order and made sure I was ordering what I needed and that I knew exactly what I was getting.
    Unfortunately my wishlist of upgrades now are all lens that start at $500-600 and get worse from there. I will call this a good learning experience with two solid lens, a significantly nicer DSLR, and eventually save up for that zoom, macro, and whatever else lens down the road.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2012
    • Like Like x 1
  5. Manic

    Manic Getting Tilted

    Location:
    NYC
    That's cool. What are you going to do with all of this stuff?
     
  6. Zen

    Zen Very Tilted

    Location:
    London
    This is magnificent, Speed. I saw the picture of the 50mm and felt the bloodrush. And now the rest of the package. I'm looking forward to seeing the first fruits :)
     
  7. paddyjoe

    paddyjoe curious

    Location:
    ROC boy gone south
    I am very psyched for you, SG. Nothing like a wack-load of new camera gear to get the juices flowing! I wish you lived around here, we could go on a shooting spree....
     
  8. Speed_Gibson

    Speed_Gibson Hacking the Gibson

    Location:
    Wolf 359
    Beyond expanding my personal porfolio with hopefully that much nicer pictures (Yes 18 Megapixels is just a number, but RAW files at 18 MP sound better to me than at 10 MP and I never know when something will be a good choice to print at a huge size), I am hoping to get into the stock photography websites. I just need to take the kind of pictures that people will think are worth paying for to use for whatever purpose. Most of my pictures have been outdoors/nature kind of stuff so far over the years.
    I would love to spend some time again on the East Coast/Northeast. I visited Savannah back in the late 90's when it was just a 3-4 hour drive (I think, something like that) and that ranks high on my list to shoot there. Never have been to Boston but the very idea resonates with me and sounds like rich fodder for a photo shoot. I would also love to visit St. Maarten again, that old cemetery that dated back to the 17th century stuck in my head more than the beaches or the partying kids.

    I took a walk today after the battery charged. This is what an 90 minutes or so round trip relaxed walk will get you around here. Did not even attach or touch the 18-55 lens as I have taken literally thousands of shots with my last one on the Rebel XS but this was my first time with the 50mm F/1.4 option.
    pic 0 -
    [​IMG]
    pic 1 -
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    pic 2 - This kind of picture looks better at the full resolution. As is true for all of these, this is scaled down from a 5184x3456 50 MB RAW file converted to a 100 MB TIFF file scaled down to this much smaller JPG file.
    [​IMG]
    pic 3 -
    [​IMG]
    pic 4 - A few feet closer with a different view
    [​IMG]
    --- merged: Mar 7, 2012 at 9:10 PM ---
    pic 5 -
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    pic 6 -
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    pic 7 -
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    pic 8 -
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 14, 2012
    • Like Like x 1
  9. greywolf

    greywolf Slightly Tilted

    LOVE the tree/hill/sky one... gorgeous!
     
  10. Speed_Gibson

    Speed_Gibson Hacking the Gibson

    Location:
    Wolf 359
    Not sure were to put this observation but this will do well enough. I cannot recall or at least am not going to search for a thread dedicated to camera lenses. And yes I am stating the obvious but I felt like writing it still.

    Tried the 18-55mm lens for a few shots just a bit ago while the younger kids were "playing" chess with my old chess computer. The nicest I can say is that it is "adequate", especially if it is your only option.
    When compared to the 50mm F/1.4 option it starts to look really bad on a good day. I had "less than optimal" light when I was shooting and the image quality (going from what I saw in the camera display window, still have not downloaded them but it was crystal clear even then) was so much better with the 50mm lens. No bokah to speak of with the 18-55mm and the shots looked like fairly poor snapshots even with the flash or too dark without it.
    The 50mm gave me some shots quickly that I was considering posting on here or on my mostly neglected website. The "wow" factor is so much easier to achieve with a decent lens attached to your camera.
     
  11. Speed, that 18-55 is a terrible lens. The more you use it, the more you will hate it. You'll notice distortion when shooting scenes with vertical or horizontal lines, like city scenes.
     
  12. Speed_Gibson

    Speed_Gibson Hacking the Gibson

    Location:
    Wolf 359
    I never had anything better to compare it to before in a true hands on fashion. I was browsing the lens selection on the site I purchased most (all but the 50mm lens) of the gear from and the kit lens sells for $129 on there, not much more than my point-and-shoot (AKA budget non RAW macro lens) cost. I would love to buy a 15-85mm lens for my ensemble but that lens hits around $750 for a good price and will definitely have to wait.
    EDIT: was just thinking that when my car is carrying the camera gear it literally doubles in monetary value if not more.

    No plans to really use it now but it does stay in my bag just in case. There were several comments/reviews on Amazon and elsewhere that I read prior to this purchase that said how the older 12 and 15 megapixels versions of the Rebel showed the limitations of the kit lens and that is no doubt worse on these 18 MP models.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2012