D850

heartyfisher

Pistnbroke said:

WTF are blinkies ?

LOL !

paulr

Over/under exposure showing on the rear screen when adjusting for exposure.

Pistnbroke

Zebra Zone Ok ..I must have a more advanced camera than you ..mine has a computer in it that adjusts the exposure...Never chimp too busy setting up the next photo

spraynpray

egosbar said:

what they need is adjustable blinkies , i have a d500 and the blinkies on the jpeg back of camera are way to sensitive by nearly a stop, ive toned down the contrast and set at neutral to try to tame them a bit , but it would be better if they tried to replicate the blinkies of a raw file , whats the point if having blinkies if its easily recovered , i want to know the blinkies are showing not recoverable then i can shoot for the blinks

You make a good point. My clickin' buddy is a Canot shooter and he says the same of his 6D, 7d and 7D2. I have found the blinkies very accurate on my Nikons so am surprised to hear you say your D500 is so far out.

paulr

Zebra Zones show items in focus not exposure, the D810 has this facility, Blinkies just advice areas in the image that are over/under exposed. Better to check the histogram, it works better outside ,

Pistnbroke

pistnbroke keeps life simple ..shoot everything at f8 auto iso and tape up those wheels ..concentrate on the subject matter not the camera .

IanG

Pistnbroke said:

pistnbroke keeps life simple ..shoot everything at f8 auto iso and tape up those wheels ..concentrate on the subject matter not the camera .

Love the "Pistnbroke he eat gravel for breakfast" ! But strangely, I have to agree - people spend so much time tweaking, chimping, all sorts of 'ings' that the picture opportunity has come and gone before they're ready.

I'm not the only one here (or elsewhere) to say that the current level of sophistication is way too much for most humans - sure, do some tests, but then leave it all alone and concentrate on picture taking - something obviously lost on a large number of people here.

DenverShooter

Pistnbroke said:

pistnbroke keeps life simple ..shoot everything at f8 auto iso and tape up those wheels ..concentrate on the subject matter not the camera .

Sure that kinda works but you will miss all of the creative things you can do by manipulating the camera..

Off the top of my head those include (but certainly not limited to):

Flash/fill in/flash balance/stop action
DOF/bokeh
stop action (or not)
ISO vs exposure vs noise for low light shooting
Blue hour work
Portrait work (F1.4 85mm)
Color balance

None of thats going to happen at F8 with the camera making all of the decisions.

But hey I grew up on film and shot medium format for 40 years. You had to think though the whole process as film was expensive (when processing was factored in it was about $2.50 a shot) and you didn't shoot a couple of hundred images as a result... And ISO 400 was considered to be really fast film.


Denver Shooter

donaldejose

Pistnbroke shoots weddings. He is speaking in that context. People getting married are paying for the capture of "priceless" moments; not for artsy fartsy photographs. I would encourage scheduling at time for artsy fartsy photographs before, not during, the wedding if that is the type of image you want to produce and they want to have.

vtc2002

@donaldejose , @Pistnbroke and @Ian_G have good points. Lately I have been shooting some of my daughter's figure skating club competitions and exhibitions. When they are doing their program the parents and skater want the shot of them in the air during their jumps, facing the camera during their spins, etc. It really is about keeping it simple, properly exposed and focused image at the right moment. The parents and skaters love having images that they can't get with their phone or point and shoot camera. It has been fun to see the skaters get excited when they see their photos.
If they want the artsy stuff that comes after the program.

DenverShooter

vtc2002 said:

@donaldejose , @Pistnbroke and @Ian_G have good points. Lately I have been shooting some of my daughter's figure skating club competitions and exhibitions. When they are doing their program the parents and skater want the shot of them in the air during their jumps, facing the camera during their spins, etc. It really is about keeping it simple, properly exposed and focused image at the right moment. The parents and skaters love having images that they can't get with their phone or point and shoot camera. It has been fun to see the skaters get excited when they see their photos.
If they want the artsy stuff that comes after the program.

And that stop action everyone loves is not going to happen at 1/60 of a second shutter speed...

I shot some HS basketball with my Elinchrom Quadra with "action" head at 275 wS bounced off the ceiling. The effective flash duration was about 1/4000 of a second (at 400 wS the T0.5 is 1/2800. Less power equals faster flash duration).

I used 1/250 of a second shutter speed at F/5.6 @ ISO 400 to "remove" much of the existing venue lighting. Worked perfectly.

You just have to think about what you are doing and how to manipulate the camera parameters to get the results you want.

With practice it will be come second nature and it won't get in the way of being creative, it will expand it.

Denver Shooter

vtc2002

@DenverShooter I agree with you. This is photography 101. That as you said comes from practice and knowing your camera.

donaldejose

I don't think of using a fast shutter speed to stop action as being "creative." I think of it as solving a problem: the fast moving subject. When I shot HS basketball I wasn't allowed to use flash because it distracted the players. Thus, my solution was to use high ISO and f2.8 at 1/500th second minimum. I think of "artsy" as using f1.4 for bokeh, special unique poses, special unique backgrounds, etc. If you are far enough away from a still subject you can use f1.4 but I found I needed more DOF for moving subjects. I did see one photographer shooting a bit with the 200mm f2 lens, but only for a short time. I don't know how they turned out. I would have loved to be able to use your techinque: blinding flash overpowering existing light. Surprised you didn't disturb the players with that light.

Pistnbroke

Fat photographer has a new post on the D850 with specs inc a new battery. think I will buy another D810 as its half the new 850 price and all my pictures will match camera to camera ....

egosbar

i dont chimp all the time but i do have a look at the start of a shoot , i check histogram mainly but the highlight warnings annoy me that they are so far off being a jpeg , would be much more sensible to replicate raws , or just give an adjustment to tone them down in the settings menu

spraynpray

I know what you mean. If it were mine I would send it back for Nikon to look at.

DenverShooter

donaldejose said:

I don't think of using a fast shutter speed to stop action as being "creative." I think of it as solving a problem: the fast moving subject. When I shot HS basketball I wasn't allowed to use flash because it distracted the players. Thus, my solution was to use high ISO and f2.8 at 1/500th second minimum. I think of "artsy" as using f1.4 for bokeh, special unique poses, special unique backgrounds, etc. If you are far enough away from a still subject you can use f1.4 but I found I needed more DOF for moving subjects. I did see one photographer shooting a bit with the 200mm f2 lens, but only for a short time. I don't know how they turned out. I would have loved to be able to use your techinque: blinding flash overpowering existing light. Surprised you didn't disturb the players with that light.

At 1/4000 of a second flash duration their brains didn't register it.

Denver Shooter

donaldejose

Also, I suspect that bouncing it off the ceiling helped so it was not a direct flash in anyone's eyes. How did you install the flash to give even illumination across the floor?

DenverShooter

donaldejose said:

Also, I suspect that bouncing it off the ceiling helped so it was not a direct flash in anyone's eyes. How did you install the flash to give even illumination across the floor?

I didn't. I was only concerned with jump shots in front of the hoop. I only worked the "Home" team which meant covering only one end of the court and I only needed that half illuminated. I toyed with the exposure so the rest of the court was about 1.75-2 stops down. I used a 9 foot stand and the EL26056 56 degree grid reflector up against the wall and pointed up and a bit towards the court. The wall was white and so was the ceiling. And I ran the EL Skyport Speed Transmitter which let me adjust the flash power output remotely so I could dial it in against the existing lighting and the desired results. I did the power/exposure tweaking during the pregame warmup. Used the Nikon 24mm to 70mm F/2.8 and hung out by the hoop. Worked great.

Denver Shooter

framer

Pistnbroke said:

Fat photographer....

ROFL

framer

donaldejose

Denver shooter. Thanks for the details.

Pistnbroke

ROFL ....yes you can do that with Rockwell and Northrop who thinks you multiply the aperture by 1.5 on DX but he does have some good points on the image processing and potential highlight problems as well as the battery situation. I dont want the expense of XQD when I can stick a 32GB SD in a CF adaptor for $10. and I dont have focus issues . I had just hoped fo 54 MP and U1/U2 style controlls Though these days I just just use A and P

Pistnbroke

Well got tired of waiting and bought another D810...the new Nikon will be too llittle too late and too expensive ....

framer

It's a great camera for the price.

framer

Pistnbroke

£1665 From Kachashop ..used them before and ionorchard + I got a very new but used 28-300 for $435 this is for the wife..Just going to use the D7100 x2 for birding with my pair of sigma 300mm f4 + 1.4 conv or the 150-600 tam