If you're not going to be color grading 4k video, the A7S II is overkill. You're not going to be using the most expensive feature of the camera. The camera has a 12 MP sensor for larger pixel pitch, for a higher dynamic range, that can only be taken advantage of if you color grade the footage. A better camera body is towards the bottom of the list of things that will improve your production value.

It's definitely a good sign that people want to hire you for work. If that's something you want to pursue, it'd be smart to have a backup body. As for lens selection, have you looked into adapting lenses to your camera? There's lots of M42 mount lenses out there that absolutely destroy modern glass. The tradeoff is that everything is manual and the thorium in the lens elements might give you cancer.

Lighting, light modifiers, external audio recording, lavalier mics, a slider, and a fluid head will open up a whole new world of production value. I would rather have a potato and good lighting than the other way around. A camera cannot light someone. You're not taking full advantage of any camera until you have control over your lighting. People don't pay for cameras or lenses, they pay for lighting. No one talks about lighting because there isn't any money in shilling lighting equipment.

I think you'd get the best value for your money by buying another A6300, camera batteries, SD cards, a couple tripods, a slider, a fluid head, and spending the rest on lighting. LED panel lights, a light meter, light stands, battery packs, soft boxes, reflectors, reflector stands, reflector holders, a boom arm, and then more lighting. If people are asking you to do work now, throwing in lighting is going to cause a tidal wave of people ringing you up.

That's some really good advice! Really appreciate you taking the time to leave a few comments.

Lots of other things I could invest in besides a new camera. I wish I lived in a bigger metropolitan area so I could actually test some cameras and see what I like. I do agree that the Panasonic line of cameras is a much better option, but I'd like to play with one first.

Then why not go visit a place? Not really crucial with buying a camera like it is with a car, but visiting a large retailer can really let you compare before you buy.

Fortunately, there were lots of stores in my city and that's what I did with my first camera (back when I didn't have a clue). With the second, I was in school at the time so I just checked it out for the weekend and put them through all the paces. You can also rent.

After that, I just picked the most popular camera that the school used. Even so, I still did a lot of research (for good measure) before I made the purchase.

I would, but the city in which I reside has a poor selection. All I have here is a BestBuy (which completely sucks for Camera's) and a London Drugs. That's it. It'll be a couple weeks before I'm in Vancouver again, so I will have to wait or order online.

Shot some new faces yesterday


Yve and Kara by Gary Hebding Jr. , on Flickr

I'm practicing PS on removing objects and backgrounds at the moment if anyone would like to submit.

Do you need a new camera? What's wrong with your current? Are you utilizing all of it's potential?

Yve by Gary Hebding Jr. , on Flickr

lol… Look into the GH4 with the metabones adapter with some sigma glass 18-35 1.8. First type of prime zoom lens that goes as low as 1.8… However that glass is not available on full frame, only on the APS-C format… Glass can last you decades…

I recently shot a wedding and while editing the pictures I found myself wishing for less DoF in some of my pictures. Those of you shooting portraits/weddings what FF camera are you using and why? Thanks!

First, too much DOF for portraits? Second, I have the venerable workhorse 5D – mine is the MKIII. Finally, DOF is a product of sensor, lens and settings.

I concur, never enough BOKEEEEHHH… the 5D is a beast and so reliable, too bad the 5D MIV is SAD. More of an incremental upgrade as opposed to an innovative product. I've heard peeps go with the classic 24-70 and 70-200 2.8 or even the 35, 50, and 85 for a prime combo…

About to buy my first "big boy lens" (sigma f/1.8 18-35mm) am I on the right track?


This is a big purchase for me (650-700$). I do mostly (actually all) vlogging and video work. I use a canon 70D and have been using a stock lens , I also use a canon G7X and a sony RX 100 mark 4.

Is this a good lens for video/YouTube?

its great for video but if you vlogging it has 3 downsides

1. heavy lens for holding in one hand while vlogging.

2. lacks image stabilization so it wont be smooth.

3. autofocus on sigma lens is iffy, if you can test the lens in store before buying too find a good copy.

Went ahead and pulled the trigger on it this AM.

Won't be using for vlogging primarily, everything will be stills. (for the most part)

That's how you say it no? Less DoF = more bokeh (or maybe I have it mixed). What do you love/hate about your 5Diii?

The only sad thing about the mark IV is the price I think. I want that DPAF and touchscreen so bad but mot of all I want the FF for a certain look I have in mind so it doesn't really matter if I get Canon, Nikon or Sony but it's best to ask those that already own said FF systems so that I can get an idea about the good/bad of each.

To be blunt, the 5D revolutionized the digital filmmaking industry. It allowed regular people like me to enter the once hallowed halls of Hollywood type film. So what the 5D MKII was good at the MKIII evolved even better.

Its that reputation that attracted me to the camera in the first place. Especially since video was my first love. OK, technically that was a Polaroid Land camera then film SLR but video was always a close cousin and because of its continued development, held my attention the most.

That said, the full frame sensor which allows for a shallow DOF remains #1. If you're comparing it to the MKII, the additional video features: a headphone jack, larger screen, 61- point AF and the addition of the SD card slot.

What I don't like or more precisely what it lacks, is the ability to auto focus in video (added in MKIV), and slow USB 2 port.

I also find so many photo situation (say limitations) lost due to the fixed LCD screen. I really wish it could articulate or better still have a connection where an external could be attached.

Broken screens was the biggest reasons restricting its implementation which is pretty understandable since unlike cameras from Sony or Panasonic, the 5D tends to be used by professionals in harsh environments.

Most comparisons fail to address this but the pro DSLRs can take a real beating and keep on ticking.

It'll be an excellent lens, but you could of accomplished the same thing with an iPhone and the DJI Mobile OSMO which is freaking awesome for vlog. If you have the iPhone 7 or Galaxy S7 you can easily shoot in 4k. The beauty of the DJI MO is that it is essentially a gimbal stabilizer that can track you as you move around. All you would need to invest in is some decent lighting and you would be good to go. Upgrading to the 5D MK3 is a too expensive, unless you got money to burn. I would say your content is more important than the production value. People wanna see ur face and hear u clearly, but content is king! Ur new setup should more than enough, but you should youtube the DJI Oslo Mobile, you might like it!

I screwed up my photo shoot. I'm going to get my ass reamed out if you're unable to remove the shaker from the background. SRS.

Spoiler!

Here's a good YouTube lecture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_sJFslHQsg

You might also find this article helpful:
http://neilvn.com/tangents/full-fram...epth-of-field/

Before you go dropping money on new camera gear, what lighting, lenses, and camera do you have?

I've got a Nikon D750. The flippy screen is great to have for cranking through photos of junk I sell on eBay. If I was going to do portraits, I'd get a D810. For weddings a D810/D500 combo. One of the nice things about Nikon is the mountains of high quality inexpensive glass out there. As long as you're not doing anything that requires auto-focus, there are great deals to be had on primes from 35mm on up.




So uh… I bought a gray market Panasonic G7. I'm trying to find a replacement for my Sony RX100 IV to do vlog and crappy videography with. My initial thoughts so far are that it feels cheap because it's plastic. The refresh rate on the EVF is bad, but the refresh rate on the flippy screen seems a little better. The screen on the RX100 IV seems a bit better. The kit lens has a plastic mount. Just LOL at any lens with a plastic mount. Only a matter of time before it breaks.

On the plus side, the kit lens is cute looking when it's off the body. The flippy screen is also a touch screen (I didn't read the product description before I bought it.) that works decently well for changing focus. My plan is to pickup a couple cheap used lenses, so I hope they're also cute. It weighs 18.5 ounces (525g). That's 8 ounces (227g) more than the RX100 IV (10.5 ounces/298g). However, due to the difference in the ergonomics, the G7 feels lighter and can actually be used with one hand. The G7 also turns on much faster than the RX100. It's like watching paint dry waiting for the RX100 to turn on.

Hopefully I don't hate the video quality of the G7 so I can sell the RX100 before it continues to depreciate like a rock.

question for brosephs who do/have done senior portraits.

any basic types of packages i should offer to a hs student of mine? i don't want to charge much (her fam isnt rich and she was a favorite former student). have about 5-6 keepers from a simple shoot at a park. she has a couple favorites.

mom wants a couple of 8x10s, 5x7s, and several wallets.

im just curious if i should give something more than just an envelope of some lustre prints from my local photo shop. framing? different type of print? also, they have the idea that they can give me a flash drive for me to put the files onto, so they can print more down the line if they wish. the student will likely also post them on fb, IG, etc. if the flash drive is provided. should i put a small sig/logo in the corner of these files for promotion considering this? or give the pure jpegs as well as the marked ones and ask that if she post the pics she use the marked? or just charge an extra fee to have the pure files for themselves and simply ask that i get mentioned if she posts?

thanks

Best I can do.

brahs, I have question for aperture mode on nikon. What can be done when you shoot in scene when there is plenty of light but in the shade, yet your camera sets the shutter speed very low and causes blur?? Im on D7100 with 35mm 1.8g is something wrong with camera or am I doing something wrong.

ate fresh seafood til nightfall in Pattaya and snapped this one with 20 seconds exposure, turns out pretty aighttt.


not sure if posted this one before in previous threads, its damn grainy but im happy I managed this with a 35mm with such a small spider (hopefully I kept the RAW file of this, would like to revisit it to reduce the grains)

Is the picture coming out over exposed? If so then matrix metering might be thinking the scene is darker than what it is overall and over compensating with the shutter speed. You should switch to either spot or centre weighted metering and centre your viewfinder on the point of interest and focus (ie subjects face, object you are shooting etc) and then use the exposure lock button (AE lock - hold it down) and recompose the frame to how you want it to look whilst still holding AE lock and take the shot.

If your picture is not coming out overexposed then you need to manually set your ISO higher to give more room for your camera to choose a higher shutter speed. here's an example: you are in aperture prio mode, your ISO is manually set to 100 and you choose f/1.8 and the camera decides you need 1/60s to get the correct exposure, if you were then to manually set ISO to 400 whilst still keeping your aperture at f/1.8 that would give you 2 stops more in regards to shutter speed in this case your camera would choose a shutter speed of 1/250s and you would still have the same exposure but enough shutter speed to eliminate handheld blur.

Hope this helps.

Good advice.

Just to add to that, it's worth trying one more semi-auto exposure mode on a Nikon in situations where light conditions and subject is constantly changing: manual mode + auto ISO manual mode + auto ISO .

The camera cannot touch aperture or shutter speed — you have full control there — but in accordance with the metering mode selected (e.g. matrix) and your minimum shutter speed and maximum ISO values set in Auto ISO, will scale ISO up and down for you. You can override the ISO at any given point with exposure compensation.

It's also worth mentioning with candid shots as opposed to portraits, especially with subjects moving erratically like children or pets, you'll probably need a faster shutter speed to get consistently sharp images for larger prints or if you're cropping. It's all good and well to shoot at 1/100 with a 35mm lens and know camera movement won't be an issue but if your subject is moving you might need 1/500. Photographers shooting sport and BIF will be at 1/800 or faster all day long until they run out of light.

Lastly I highly recommend assigning spot metering to a function button so it's there when you need it. Matrix metering is fine for a lot of situations but is still easily fooled. An advantage with Nikon vs. non pro Canons is you can spot meter off any focus point. Happy to go into more detail about this.

Will rap again once I can spread more around. I thought that'd be difficult to do. I'll try to think of something else.

I use a 6D Canon. If you're not doing video it would save you a few pennies over the 5dmkIII. I've seen them running used for $800-900. It fits the bill for the uses you mentioned.

thx brahs, will try these tricks out next time I shoot. And yeah for sure I wanna hear more about metering, it's something I can't quite get a grip on despite reading a few articles on it.

In a nutshell, (light) metering is a built in function of your camera that can "read" the light hitting your cameras sensor and from that decide what settings a well exposed shot would require (ie not too dark not too light), when you look through your viewfinder you'll see that little bar chart in the bottom in green that looks roughly like ……..l…….. with a marker in the middle showing what the camera believe is the "correct" exposure and a 2nd marker showing where your current settings will end you up on the scale.

As for metering modes on Nikon, "matrix" metering takes into account the WHOLE frame, from the darkest areas to the lightest and decides a middle ground. "Centre-weighted" takes into account the centre portion of the scene and will take a reading from there, and "spot" metering will allow you to move a focus point around the viewfinder and take a reading from that one very small area.

They all have their uses, but here's a very simple image that gives you a quick idea of how the different metering modes will affect a pictures outcome: https://d2r5da613aq50s.cloudfront.ne...138.image1.jpg . In this example Matrix reads the mid tones very well and gives a somewhat balanced exposure, though you are losing detail in the statue as its quite dark, with centre weighted you are saving a bit more detail in the statue but its still quite underexposed, in the spot metered shot you can see that the camera is correctly exposed for the statue and the detail is clearly visible but due to the bias to exposing for the shadows/blacks the sky is overexposed and so are they grey mid-tones.

Edit: I wouldn't worry too much about the built in light reader, its a rough guide at best, if you truly want to be able to look at a screen and instantly see how the image is exposed learn to read your histogram, its much more powerful, when I take a shot ill check first the histogram to make sure it matches what im after (no blown highlights in a landscape shot for example), then check critical focus (ie eyes on a portrait shot) then ill move on to my next picture.

New shot from yesterday's shoot


Kansas by Gary Hebding Jr. , on Flickr